Wish I Could Cast "Summon Guy to do Paperwork"

Between work, researching and playing games, I'm finding myself with very little time to actually write the games. I guess you could categorize it under the 'Game Master Problems that Others don't Understand' file.

I would like to take some time to acknowledge the players in our current campaigns and their abilities to drive the story ever forward, sacrificing (fictional) life and limb. Without their efforts, our game would be little more than a series of people saying "I hit, I miss."

I will be adding a "Story thus far" link at some point, but until then I will give you the very brief history of our main campaign...

Two of our PC's had managed to get themselves incarcerated within the walls of Atkinson Prison. The first, a dim witted orc barbarian by the name of Ong and the other was a bard by the name of Kraven. While Ong's main problem was crippling stupidity, Kraven had a more serious dilemma; he was the unfortunate host to a split personality. When the opportunity for malicious crime or mischief arose, a sociopath alter ego would attempt to wrest control.

The mini I painted for Ong (Reaper Minis), including a small diorama base I made for him.

The two unlikely companions used a botched escape attempt by another inmate to get away. During their exit they made an ally in Marie Voluer, a mousefolk rogue who was mysteriously absent after their liberation.

Making their way far from the penitentiary, Ong and Kraven joined forces with another PC - Edward; the aristocratic Marquess and son of a local Duke. (Ironically, the Duke who had Kraven put in the slammer!) Edward was looking to prove himself as a true warrior and bring glory to his family name. In order to do so, he disguised his true identity and was 'slumming it' with regular adventurers.

The trio were hired by a group of elven emissaries to retrieve the Scrolls of Accord, which were stolen from the elves by a group of bandits. The scrolls were to be used to forge an alliance between a nearby elf settlement and the human city of Enchester.

The mission was a less than stellar success. The party would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of Marie Voluer. The mousefolk rogue maintained a romantic relationship with the bandit leader and pleaded that he release the party, as they had helper her escape prison.The bugbear bandit agreed and so the party left the tower solemnly, yet victorious. Unbeknownst to the bandits - the group had managed to pilfer the Scrolls of Accord.

The group agreed to escort the elves for the rest of their trip to Enchester. Upon their arrival the party was lured into a back alley and attacked by a group of thugs. They were assisted by a cloaked and masked rogue by the name of Gertrude. She informed the party that they were being followed long before they entered the city, and that the bandits belonged to a gang run by a psychotic leader known as The Jester (yes sir, it is a Batman reference! What better plot for urban adventures?).

Our Gertrude figure, also from Reaper!

The party, now numbering four, set off to investigate this nefarious criminal. In their sleuthing they managed to uncover an elaborate bomb making facility and interrupt a planned terrorist attack on the human capital city of Sessovir! After their victory they were rewarded by Reginald Slawter, captain of the Enchester guards and future ally.

Having some down time, the companions approached the Enchester Arena in the hope of retrieving Ong's former belongings. He claimed to have a magical map which he required for his mystic quest. Ong's owner however, was not so willing to give. The group agreed to participate in one fight on behalf of the owner. In exchange, Ong would earn his freedom and have his belongings returned to him. The party agreed and bet heavily on themselves.

The arena battle was fierce. The companions were lumped in with a group of slaves and prisoners to do battle against an ogre and two elven archers. The slaves were quickly disposed of but the heroes did not lose courage. They fought valiantly until the ogre struck a mighty hit against Edward, ending his brief career as an warrior in one crushing blow. The rest of the party fought on, eventually defeating the beast and winning Ong's freedom at the greatest of costs.

Saddened by their loss, the three discovered Edwards signet ring and discerned his true identity. They rushed him back to the castle and presented him to the Duke, the Duchess and his younger brother, who were all mortified. Not content with losing his eldest son, the Duke reached deep into his pockets and arranged for Edward to be reincarnated (while wealthy, the Duke of Enchester did not have unlimited funds and paid for a service he could afford.). Edward survived the spell and returnedto life; transformed into a hideous gnoll. Seeing himself in the mirror, Edward's psyche cracked and he ran off into the wild, never to be seen again...

---Jeeez, on a side note, maybe I'll break this up into a few posts. This campaign has been incredibly fun and what I'm giving you here are the bare bone details. Each of these characters are fleshed out with elaborate histories and intricate personalities. We like to focus as much on character as we do on action.

In addition to the tale of our campaign, I have been looking into the summoner class more. Using the synthesist archetype, I managed to create a ridiculously powerful beast. I find myself more than skeptical at this point and am leaning heavily towards eliminating it from our game. Just to put it in perspective, I managed to create a character at level 6 that deals out this kind of punishment.

FULL ATTACK: Claw+11 (1d4+7+1d6 acid) Claw+11 (1d4+7+1d6 acid) Bite+10 (1d6+5+1d6 acid)

Until next time, cya!

Late Night Gaming

Well we played well into the night last night. We didn't wrap up until around 2:30 am but everyone had fun.

We had a player try the summoner character class for the first time. I don't think I like it and am considering removing the class from our world. I'd like to spend some time here going over it. I would like to start by saying that I have read a bit about summoners but I don't have the kind of time to know every in and out about new classes. (well, new to us.)

Our current party is made up of of level four and five characters, all single classed. Last nights game consisted of a fighter, a wizard, a rogue, a cleric, a summoner(with the synthesist archetype) and a lower level fighter NPC.

Of those players, the summoner sythesist seemed to outshine them all. With 4 attacks per round at full attack bonus, an AC to rival the fighters, the ability to fly (perfect) at will with no duration, cast plenty of buffs and heals on itself. To be honest, the class itself feels greedy. One look at it's spell list and you can see a pile of spells that benefit only the summoner or his eidolon with a few offensive spells thrown in the mix and almost nothing that helps a team mate.

I am trying my hardest not to pass judgment too early, as I haven't read enough into it but that will have to wait until later. Now- I'm taking my younger siblings out to see Star Wars in 3d!

To Prindepth We Shall Go!

The adventure is due to begin shortly! (and a certain GM is running late!) Today the players find themselves venturing to Prindepth Keep, an ancient dwarf stronghold that was converted to a mad gnome illusionists lair. They are in search of an NPC's heirloom sword and perhaps a spellbook or two.

Will they be able to outwit the tricks and traps of the master of illusion? Only time and a few lucky dice rolls will tell!

Hate the player, not the game.

Well that title isn't exactly fair but I wanted to make a point. I've been lurking around reading various reviews and concerns over the upcoming Fifth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons and have come to a realization.

I am (was?) a total jerk.

I started playing RPGs with AD&D Second Edition. My group continued to play it well after 3rd and 3.5 rolled out, resorting to places like ebay and amazon whenever a new player started or a book needed replacing. After years of time and hundreds of dollars spent, the very thought of permanently shelving all that great stuff seemed out of the question. It had value besides monetary. It was nostalgic, we were used to it and it's simple black and white art (sometimes black BLUE and white!) was just our style.

To an avid tabletop gamer; changing a long-use game system is like changing your lifestyle or social scene. Imagine being a disco fan in the late 70's. (admittedly a bit before my time.) Clubs were drying up and the radio going to rock or even country. It would be scary for any die hard fan of the genre. Do you keep haunting the near empty clubs and playing records at home, or join in the new scene and be part of something fresh? It's a hard pill to swallow.



A pill that my group and I have swallowed a few times now. After years of sticking with 2e we had finally made the switch over to 3.5 right before 4th edition came out and to be honest, we liked it! Gone were pesky Thac0 scores and negative armor classes. Weapon and non-weapon proficiencies replaced with skills and feats. There were quite a few useful rules that replaced years-old house rules and grappling still sucked.

We played 3.5 for about a year and took a brief hiatus for a few months. A few of us got new jobs, two of us bought new homes, etc. During the time off I looked into 4e and slammed it, referring to it as a 'tabletop MMO.' On our return to gaming we moved from 3.5 to Pathfinder. It took the system we liked and turned it into a system we loved! It cleaned up a lot of stuff -auto success spells, combat maneuvers, skill point distribution and more. To date it is still what we play and I don't anticipate switching any time in the near future.

Just because we've found something that we enjoy is no reason to bash the current or even next edition of D&D. I was being stupid to bitch and moan about 4e being like an MMO. WotC is taking their product in a direction that they feel will be more profitable and draw new gamers to the table. You can't knock them for that. There are plenty of other games out there to play, old and new alike. Just because you don't like what a publisher is putting out doesn't mean it's complete garbage - maybe it's just not the right game for you. Just because I don't play 4e doesn't mean I want to see it die. I want it to thrive and continue to introduce new players to the hobby. You never know, maybe one day they'll be sitting at my table playing a different game.

If he had legs his jeans would be so tight.

Don't get me wrong here, I have nothing against being a grognard or single-system gamer. What I do see as a problem is veteran gamers smashing and down-talking new or different games when they've never ventured out of the comfort zone. Tons of sites out there are already slamming 5e when it hasn't even been released yet. WotC says "We're going to try and make the players happy by asking for feedback," and many reviewers respond with "Oh god, how unprofessional, it's gonna suck extra hard if they talk to all these new/young/opinionated/etc players." Yet if they said nothing about it besides "Hey we're making a new edition. We'll let you know how its going." Players would get angry for not feeling involved, they would be upset that their opinion didn't count.

I think WotC is doing the right thing. They are (in their own way) acknowledging the failure of 4th edition and are trying to work with the community to make a better game. Backed by a parent like Hasbro, they really have the ability and cash to push pen and paper gaming back out into the spotlight, to revamp a culture that is being consumed by CCGs and MMOs and no one should hate them for that.