Weekend O' Gaming

Salutations,

I got quite a bit of gaming in over the weekend. I kicked it off with a game of Flames of War with Paul at the house. I was suppose to go to the slow grow league, but forgot to pack my toys! Paul was nice enough to come over that night so we could knock out the game.

The game was a great game of my Recon Italians versus Paul's Motorized Brits. It was a blood bath on both sides with me having a clear line to the objective, but loosing one stand too many and loosing enough platoons to force a test. Since Capitino had passed away, that wasn't happening. Paul got the win with a 4-3.

Saturday I had a game of Warmachine with Adam. I started my Khador stuff and used a Sorcha rush with four Shock Troopers, a Kovnik marshaling a Berserker, Mechanics Marshaling a Juggernaut, Widowmakers, & Grey Lords. Adam was running Magnus with a Mangler, a Mule, 2 Renegades, Herne & Jonne. I moved everyone up pretty aggressively, and on turn two I popped Icy Gaze to freeze all the 'Jacks, allowing me to run my heavy hitters in position. Won't be able to do this trick in MkII, but it worked for now. The Kov & Berserker took the Mule while the Shock Troopers worked on the Mangler. Neither finished the job, but they did some serious damage. The Widowmakers exchanged rounds with Herne & Jonne and came up on top. I used the Juggernaut and Grey Lords to tie up a Renegade and keep Magnus worried. Game ended with Sorcha doing a few solid hits with Ice Fang. It was a good game from my point. Adam and I discussed tactics, like hiding the lights behind the heavies so they could both fire. Also discussed swapping the Mule for a Nomad so he could bring the Pirate McNale into the fight.

Saturday afternoon I was at Rob and Steve's and we rolled up Savage World characters. It is interesting system and I hope to run a modern setting game in Las Vegas. The characters are all 'real world' entities. Rob and Steve opted to make a larger version of themselves at 'GAMA Trade Show' while Eric made an employee of the Excalibur in full medieval attire. Paul rounded up those present with a cowboy reenactor from one of the sideshows on the edge of town. We tried the combat system versus a pack of dogs and it wasn't pretty. That lead to some minor character mods to help things along. Hope to have a real go in a few weeks.

Later Mic showed up and we played a bit of Rob's Forgotten Realms D&D game. I rolled up a new character, a 5th level Tempest Fighter that had lots of attacks, but low damage. One encounter was good, but I was dead tired and headed home about 11pm.

On Sunday, The Eldest and her Roommate came over for dinner. I roasted a chicken with potatoes, carrots, & green beans. It was pretty yummy if I say so myself. We played a three handed Ticket to Ride with The Eldest winning with a whopping 8 routes complete. We then introduced her Roommate to Pandemic. We lost to virus outbreak in the first game, but one the second.

Lots of games... :)

Finally, I worked on the WARMACHINE MkII Slow Grow League Rules. You can find them on The Game Shoppe Forum for review and comment. It should be fun.

jp
Play!

Moon Frenzied Halflings

Due to some trips, I seem to be in bachelor mode for a few weeks. I took early advantage and invited James over for a Rampage game of Warmachine. I played my Epic Magnus versus Madrak's trollbloods. It was a great game with both sides forcing death and destruction. On my right flank I had Alexia and Steelheads take on Troll Buffalo Riders and a Pyre Troll. I lucked out and the Pyre frenzied out of Madrak's control range and he ate one of the Riders. A few chargers later and a bunch of Risen later I cleared the edge. On the other flank, my Mangler and Lady A & Master H squared off against the Dwarf & Bear as well as the Trollblood warrior solo. The Mangler 'should' have taken the bear out, but failed on one of the attack rolls and some bad damage. That left the opening for James to move in and destroy the Mangler with the solo and have the Dwarf & Bear squish A & H. In the middle the chunks of the beast and jacks squared off along with the obligatory block of Champions. Magnus did his best and took out many of the Champs, but the last one, was able to finish him of in the end. Win for the Troll. It was exciting game!

That night, the gang got together for a great and long session of D&D. I didn't show up until 4 as I was taking care of the Dog, but we cranked out five tough encounters and I stayed up way past my bedtime to 2am.

The group is quickly approaching paragon path and it is showing in their ability to rather handily take care of the encounters. The group was able to motor through the five encounters without an extended rest, which is a good showing compared to some early outings.

The first encounter had the party facing foulspawn guards and their demonic faces allies. The sliding foulspawn and the biting faces put up a good fight, but in the end it was the party that was victorious. Moving to the south they encountered a series of gates... One would whisper others would try to munch you, others showed snakes and warned of blind dangers. After facing the doors, the players ran into a Medusa and her Ogre body guard. The party worked together to take the shots at the high point elites.

Afterwards, the party returned to the north and encountered a room of Eladrin, but they seemed to be living in freezing conditions. A tough battle ensued with the Blizzard Speaker harassing and teleporting around the board. It also brought out the Moon Frenzy in Eldacar who had a hard time controlling his urges and would randomly attack player or characters. Darn Werewolves!

Moving deeper into the ice caverns the party encountered an Adult White Dragon. Despite the dragon trying to have a conversation with the party, he became annoyed after a few failed stealth checks from those tyring to jump over the lake. The battle that ensued involved flames, fire, ice, snow, and a snot load of arrows. After defeating the worm, the party was able to find some treasure at last, plus the next shard belonging to Vyrellis disembodied head.

Break Break -- This brings up one of the issues that I have so far with 4E. The big guys, just can not stand up against an organized party. If the party cooperates, like ours does rather well, the sheer number of attacks that they can put out just out ways the abilities of the solo/elites to dish out damage.

The final encounter had the party going back to the south into what appeared to be a living cavern. The party encountered more Foulspawn and the creatures they controlled. After the party started to take the enemies apart, cavern's corridors started to grow shut, trapping the players with an acid atmosphere. The purple sludge 'blood' continued to flood out of a wound. Zolton, Eldacar, & Sliver took to the wound, while the others struggled versus the last of the monsters. It was close with Splug dropping several times and Eldacar going frenzied... Again... But Zoltan and Sliver took the damage to the heart of madness, ending the menace. The party decided they needed an extended rest. This will allow Sliver to move to 9th, Kaz to 8th, Splug to 8th, and Zarzathor to 9th.

Good Saturday of gaming, despite being up from about 4am to 2am... :)

Coming in the future Rampage continues and we have a Steamroller on the 12th.

jp

"M O O N, that spells Moon!"

Saturday Night Action

Greetings fellow gamers!

I met up with the gang for a rousing game of D&D on Saturday night. It was a good turn out with the entire gang present as they continued their adventures in the Pyramid of Shadows.

When we last left our band of adventures they had finished clearing a central sewer that hosted a few Sahuagin. At this point the party had two ways to move forward, and opted to move north. When they entered the room they encountered the Dragonborn Warlord Bandit Garash and his lackeys. Battle quickly ensured as Garash raised the alarm and decided to attack the 'heroes' that sent him to this location. With a half dozen lackeys and a few bowmen, the fight was looking solid in the adventure's corner, when the booming from the backroom let loose a werewolf to even up the odds more.

After short rest the party continued deeper into the final section of the first level of the pyramid. They next encountered a young and pretty lady that was entrapped in a chapel. When they attempted to speak with her, they found out that the halfling rouge, Eldecar, had become smitten to the lass. After trying and failing to deactivate the entrapment, the devil legion guards came forth. Spurned into action, the lady turned back to her true succubus self. Her kiss snared a few of the team from time to time, but the pain of reality would set in when damage would be intercepted.

The next series of rooms was taken from reverse. A strange device in the wall made of bronze and a dozen handles that was to tempting to Zoltan and he started pulling leavers. The noise of roaring fire behind a door sent the team of gang members in the opposite room into action. Three fighters and two crossbowmen kept things hoping as Zoltan continued to try and manipulate the leavers. Players and enemies got toasty but nobody got seriously burnt (4D8 fire can hurt if your caught in it!)

The final move forward was to tackle the stairs that lead higher into the pyramid. A harpy and a pair of gargoyles and two trapped stairs made the going ruff and the party nearly fell as ash blasts and fly-by attacks made it difficult. In the end an extended rest was in order. Five of the party members leveled up. Two to nine, one to eight and two to seven.

Good night and hope to get some more in next weekend!

jp

DM in training

Thron, Dwarf Invoker

I made it back late Friday night and had a good training session, but still glad to be back. Saturday was quite as The Other Half had to work in the morning. I did go see her for lunch and she cut me loose in the afternoon go play some D&D with the guys.

Rob was running his campaign that he re-booted, so since I am only a part timer in that adventure, I re-booted as well. They have another controller on their team, but like me his is a part-timer, and since he created the atypical wizard, I decided to try another route.

I like the Invoker class. It has quite a bit of power to it, even at lower level, but the trade off is self inflicted wounds. One power caused 5 points of damage when used, but my favorite caused damage, and pulls the enemies toward you, but then your dazed, limiting your ability to follow up. Kind of tricky to play and really requires teamwork, which is good.

In the morning The Other Half and I did the big lake at Zorinsky. We got caught in a light shower about half way around, but it cleared quickly. Luckily the heavy stuff waited until right now to come down so I won't be mowing today. :)

jp

Avoider of Lawn Work

Boston Day IV - No Chowda for you

So, here I am in Boston and I haven't had any 'Chowda'. What is the world coming too? Wednesday Night I had dinner with The Other Half's sister and her husband. We went to the historic Union Oyster House, the oldest running restaurant in the US. The company was great. Had a wonderful conversation with the sister-in-law and her husband about the kids, their get away house in New Hampshire, the upcoming trip for The Other Half to Europe with their parents. Good stuff. The food... Well... It was OK, but not a WOW factor by any means. It was loud and the wait staff while polite was very slow. I made major blunder and ate either too fast or something didn't sit well and I did get sick for the first time. After we left the restaurant we walked for 10 minutes while I was in serious pain, but then I found a deserted trash can and let it go and felt 100% better. It was freaky. The three of us walked out to the harbor and continued talking. Other then getting sick it was a good evening.

Class today was a discussion on Intellectual Property and Risk Management among other topics. I pointed the teacher to techdirt.com, which is a great site on IP, privacy issues, and other geeky news. If you follow the IP discussion, regardless of your view point, it is worth having in your daily scans.

Dinner tonight I took the instructors advice and hit a a place called Kaze Shabu Shabu. I had not heard of a Shabu Shabu before, but being a sucker for Japanese cooking in general (Still waiting for an invite to Gyoze night at the Rief house... Hint, Hint!), I thought I would give it a go. Wow. This one was good. It is basically a Japanese version of fondue, but for me, just the good parts... A few tasty veggies and meat. Each person gets a personal pot to cook their meat. I had chicken with some seafood, mainly scallops, salmon, fish cake, and some white fish. You throw it into the pot to let it cook usually veggies first to let them cook the longest, then a piece at a time of the thinly cut meats. Great sauce as well that you could make spicy to taste. In the end you make a broth that is tasty after all the stuff you've ate has cooked. If I was staying another night, I would most likely do this one again.

RftG update on solo play. Robot 7, Me 3. Stupid Robot.

I got cleared to play some D&D on Saturday since I'm getting back early and I've made a Dwarf Invoker for the game since Rob is running his campaign. Should be interesting. I'll post later this weekend on Thron and his exploits.

jp

Swish-Swish

An update, my kingdom for an update

Greetings fellow gamers,

As I said before, I've got a ton of updating to do.

First off on Warmachine. Since the last post I have had two games versus Phillip down at the Shoppe on Tuesday. Turn out is pretty light, which is a sad reflection on my Pressganger skills, but I hope that it will pick up the closer we get to MkII release.

The first game was my Gorten force against Phillip's Severius. At 500 points it was a solid game with Phillip taking a Crusader, Devout, and Blessing of Vengeance, a Choir and a full unit of Temple Flame Gaurd w/ attachment. (I'm sure I'm missing something else... Come on, its been a week!) With my Gorten, I had Meg + mule, Min unit of Steelheads, a full unit of Precursors w/ attachment, Lady A & Holt, Bokur, and Rupert (I think). The game was well played with me picking at the edges of Phillip's force, eventually taking out his 'Jacks, except for the Blessing which in the end took out Gorten. The highlight was the two shield wall units poking each other with sticks and not getting much movement.

The second game this Tuesday was 750 points. Again I played Gorten (Alexia, Steelheads, Meg w/ Mule, Thor Stienhammer w/ Driller, Capt Sam & DD w/ Nomad, Rupert, Lady A & H, Eyriss). Phillip played Epic Krueger (WoldWyrd, WoldWarden, Gnarlhorn Satyr, Blackclad, Sentry Stones, Shifting Stones, Tharn Ravager Whitemane, War Wolf, Ravagers w/ Shaman, Wolves of Orboros w/ attachment). We didn't get a chance to finish this game as we were both taking a bit too long on the turns. Phillip tried to overload around a terrain feature, I shifted my forces back to the middle. Hero's from my side were Lady A & Mr. H. along with Eyriss took the Wolves to task as Phillip had spread them along the whole board. The Tharn Ravegers got tangled up with Steelheads and a Nomad that contained them long enough for the two casters to throw everything they could at each other. It was a great game, only wish we could have finished.

On Saturday's D&D, you might have seen the comments. We came within the razor's edge of a TPK. The dice swung around at the end, keeping the party alive, but it wasn't pretty. We had the only Defender (Kaz, the Dragonborn Paladin) and one of the Strikers (Eldacar, the Halfling Rouge) floating face down in the water as the party struggled to maintain their own against the Harpy and her accomplices. We did get four solid encounters, from the a big solo (440 hp worth) to the frozen room looking for treasure to a pair of water rooms that provided difficulty for the short ones in the party. Good times. Not sure when I'll be able to go again. Maybe on the 15th. Time will tell.

On Wednesday The Other Half and I had The Eldest, The Roommate, and the Eldest's boyfriend (hence forth known as The Boyfriend) over for dinner. The Eldest, The Roommate and I played two games of Ticket to Ride after dinner. It was nice to play a fun game and teach someone the cool new games around. The Roommate actually caught on real quick and won both games, plus she is the first person I ever see get a 'Longest Train' with every single train. Pretty impressive for a beginner!

Finally for tonight, Bloodbowl on the CPU. I've racked up a ton of Prestige points and should hit the actual Bloodbowl this season when it opens up. I am 33 wins and 2 ties so far. The AI, especially on the easy setting, is not that bright. I hope it gets a bit tougher on Medium when I finish up this campaign.

I'll update on the Race for the Galaxy expansion as I want to give it it's own space with pics. Short version is that is has some great cards added to the mix! :)

jp

Ah, a nail!

The one where I play a snot load of games...

Well, what a difference a healthy weekend makes! I don't think I had much rest for the past two days.

Saturday morning, The Other Half and I participated in the Run for Justin 5K event. We walked, obviously, but still had a great time and did better then I thought we would. We finished in under an hour (56 mins and some odd seconds) so about a 3 mile per hour pace. It was a good start to some more aggressive walking. It was funny that we each started pushing each other to catch the next walker group or stroller gaggle ahead of us.

Saturday night was some serious D&D action. The gang was all present and we completed four encounters, including a nice trap room...

Splug, a goblin thief, looked into the room. It was common, almost too common. A couple of statues of ugly humans sitting on tall petastiles on opposite sides of the room. Some stairs directly across the 20' room headed down and a door was on the far side down the 40' feet or so. It seemed too quite as he moved across the room, looking for anything that didn't fit. He glanced behind him to see the elf ranger, Sliver, slip in quietly after him and take up position in the corner by the door, his bow pulled and ready to respond. The dragonborn warlord, the only way Splug could tell them apart was the armor, Zarzathor wore chain and plodded noisily to the stairs to cover the approach. The other dragonborn, this one a nasty paladin named Kaznak wore plate and moved forward to support. Finally Eldacar the halfing, who was no thief in Splugs book and the old man Zoltan, a magic user of some skill moved in... They all stood well behind Splug.

Convinced that nothing was going to happen, Splug made for the opposite door. That is when the walls and floors began to spin and Splug found himself tumbling down a slope in a much darker area. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkened room and a pit was going to be his future destination if he didn't slow down... That was when he saw the first long and slimy tentacle coming out of the pit.

The adventures were stunned. The entire floor rotated up and sent Splug to places unknown. In his place large charnel rats and ridden the rotating floor up to the new position. It was quick work, but ensuring that the trigger was not switched and moving to get an attack was tricky. Finally Sliver noticed the scrape marks on the wall and spotted the faint impression of the trigger on the far side of the portion that rotated.

Splug soon found himself caught in the grasp of the fell beast, an eater of carrion, it didn't seem to mind that Splug was alive. With some effort Splug twisted and contorted his way out of the foul creatures grasp and squirm his way up the sloop.

Kaznak and Zarzathor jumped the trigger areas on the floor and together heaved the heavy statue on the wall to the floor. As it slammed onto the trigger device, the floor and wall began to rotate, rolling the statue to the edge and wedging the trap open.

Splug again found himself falling, this time into a dirt floor, surrounded by carnel rats, but it was better the the beast that was raising from the pit. Light from above showed his comrades, at least some of them had found a way to get him free. Arrows and flames reached around him, eliminating the rats with ease.

Eldcar leaped up onto the wedged wall and worked his way into the dark. He thought to himself that the damn goblin would be the death of him for sure. He slid down the slope a bit, it was awkward as it wasn't level at any angle, that is when the full beast appeared from the pit. Multiple tentacles, a wide round mouth in the center of its body with row after row of razor sharp teeth. It was an Otyugh of some sort, had to be, nothing could be as ugly as that and not meet the descriptions. It crawled toward Eldacar whipping both of its tentacles in an attempt to grab him. The pain hurt, but it could be worse. Eldacar glanced up the slope and saw both Kaznak and Zarzathor moving in as well. The warlord was shouting orders, wanting to retreat, but the rest of the party was having none of it.

Like I said, it was a pretty good night. We had some level ups at the end of the night and folks are progressing along nicely.

On Sunday The Other Half and I did some errands to include prepping for a garage sale (Yippee...) and had an early lunch. I bolted to the Shoppe as we were having a going away party for Becky. It was a great gathering, about 80+ folks at time. Lots of food and a good time. Becky cried from the moment she walked in to at least when I left. The highlight was her and Angie going all Office Space on the old printer. Having worked their it was a real sucky printer.

While at the Shoppe my copy of the new Race for the Galaxy expansion came in. Being the crack addict that I am, I talked Steve, Rob, and Eric to play a few rounds. I'll do a full review later, but we played three games.

1. Steve took the first game with the Development strategy. He had 35 points after getting five or six <6> cards out.
2. I barley took the second with a VP burn. I had 44 points, 20 from VP. Eric was close behind with 40 using the new military powers. He would have won if he got the conquest of Rob's world, but it missed in the end.
3. Finally game I won pretty strongly. I had the Separatist Colony and some great early cards that let me put down some heavy Rebel worlds.

Good weekend. Just wish that I didn't have to go back to work.

jp

Games.... Mmmmm....

A little behind...

So I haven't posted in about a week. My bad.

Game front: Saturday we got to play D&D with the whole gang present. They are working their way through the Pyramid of Shadows and have defeated the first shard of the bad guy. Pretty combat intensive so far, just finishing up a big battle against the plant creatures!

Wellness front: The surgery recovery was going good until Tuesday. Seems I've developed a bleeding ulcer, which isn't too uncommon after surgery, but not the norm. I'm on some extra meds to help 'coat the stomach' that taste like blah. The upside is I am down 47 lbs to date and the Doc is happy with everything else. I'm tired again, but will try to get to work tomorrow. Good thing they are letting me go a bit negative for sick leave.

I hope to get some more game info out soonest!

jp

Must get better

Review: Level Up Issue 1

After my half day at work, I went by The Game Shoppe quickly.  It was actually the first time I had been by in about a month due to the surgery and stuff.  I had a few things in my in box to include the latest No Quarter Magazine, a few comics I'm currently enjoying (Steven King's The Stand and Dark Tower stories), and Level Up magazine from Goodman Games.  Due to an order mix up, I didn't get the first round ordered so I hadn't actually seen it until today.  Had a chance to read a bit and check out some sections and thought I would give you my thoughts...  You know...  Game content! :)  With out further ado...

The magazine gets an solid 'A' from me.  The cover itself is pretty cool with a picture of Demon Knight (from a template inside).  As wonderful as the cover art is in all its shininess, the interior art is a little more mundane, but I guess you need to show the good stuff on the outside! :)

The magazine seems to have several features that will be used in most (all?) issues.  These include

• An adventure (5-7 encounters) - This months was a Hill Giant with some Ogres and Dinosaurs.  
• A player character section that adds some new Paragon Paths and powers 
• A Bestiary, which expands on the dinosaurs in the adventure
• A Pantheon expansion, assuming it comes from a Goodman Games world.  It also include new feats, weapons, and Paragon Paths
  
• Azagar's Advice a cute take from an imprisoned hobgoblin on what adventures do badly.  It also contains some interesiting feats for each tier that could provide some new fun. 
• A GM Section.  This one provides 'templates' that you can apply to a creature to make it different.  In this case the demon/devil focus to create things like Demon Knights (Fear the Gnomic Demon Knight!), Hellbeasts, and Hellfire Adepts.  
• Power Skins is an interesting concept where the flavor text and name of a power are changed to fit a campaign/player style.  Kind of 'techish' in a way, but it is a different approach.
• An Encounter: A complex encounter with multiple skill checks and combat situation that is furnished with a detailed map.  This one looks pretty involved and is pretty interesting.
• Short Reviews: Well...  This part was weak.  Really.  I like short reviews, no problem, but when the lowest thing you rank is 4 out of 6 or a 'Solid Product' your average score on the products you reviewed was a 5/6 or 'Great product, a must buy.  You shouldn't be playing with out this!'  Really?  Nothing sucked?  OK.
• Tool Kit: a quick filler this time that give a quick way to give 'impressive names' to those old enemies.  I liked Tunderpants myself and I'll be sure to name the next Orc leader that!
• Advise, in the form of Dar Archmage Abby...  Nothing earth shattering here, just the typical gaming advice column.

Not sure which of these will be present from month to month but it does look like a promising start to some solid 4E content.  Plus it is physical.  For being a tech guy, I just can't get my head around the PDF mags.  It is harder to read, I can't take it away from the desk unless I'm willing to pay a ton for printing cartridges.  

If you are a 4E player, or more importantly a 4E GM, consider Level Up, I think you will like it.

jp

13 - 18

Into the Fray...

Greetings,

Saturday saw the gang get together for some Saturday D&D action at Casa del Sphon.  We had a small group as two of the regulars were out with mother day obligations.  The core party, consisting of Eldcar (Halfing Rogue), Zoltan the Reformed (Human Mage w/ a minor in Cleric), Zarzathor (Dragonborn Warlord), and Splug (Goblin Rogue) headed to Fallcrest to gather some items, report into the local authority, and place a few specialty orders after encountering the bandit Dragonborn in route.   Kaznak (Dragonborn Paladin) and Sliver  (Elven Ranger) left the party to track down the bandit, giving me my out to bring them back next time :)

While approaching Fallcrest, the party saw the bodies of bandits strung up along the city wall, obviously something had changed in the fortnight that the party had last visited.  Speaking with the city guard, it appeared that the same bandit has been pestering the city proper and a reward was out for his capture.  This information was confirmed with Lord Markellay who encouraged the party to take on the task.   That night Zoltan continues to have dreams of a place of 'great power' drawing him to the north...  

After the better part of two weeks, the party follows the trail into the Winterbore Forrest and encounter an odd clearing with ruins laying about.  Movement caught the eye of a few as bandits with a rage drake charged across the clearing to engage.  The party was making quick work of them when a Tiefling vision appeared and destroyed the last remaining bandit with lightening and fire.  He called the players closer to explain the vision, only to get trapped in the ever growing Pyramid of Shadows.  The trailing voice of the Tiefling laughed and told them that they must kill him three times to save themselves.

The party suddenly appears within the walls of a room, that contains a large pit of dead beings, as well as  a pair of Carrion Crawlers and an Ettin, a two headed large giant who likes to collect heads.  The battle raged with Zoltan using Poison Cloud and Flame Sphere to cause auto damage that widdled down the three large base enemies.  The paralyzed attack from the Carrion did their effect as did the double activations of the Ettin.  The party found the 'Head of Valleyers' in cased in a black obsidian orb.  She offered her help to end the tyrants domain in this 'prison' and to assist with their escape.  She also explained the history of the Tiefling, her husband.  

As the party recovered, a Goliath Fighter named Grog materialized into the room.  He was confused, but the party took him under his wing as they continued.  The next room was relatively empty at first, only covered with bones and garbage in the corners until the Carnal Rats attacked.  These were quick work, and the door that exited was opened.  Unfortunately, the thief didn't do a good job on checking it and a wall of refuse came tumbling out of the room causing damage and immobilizing them as the garage continued to fall down on them.   After four rounds the flow petered out and the party decided an extended rest was in order. 

After an uneventful rest the party entered a library and were set upon by void spirits.  These psyicic  damage wielding beasts provided a great challenge that cut the party deep, but they survived in the end.  

That rapped it for the Saturday.  Not sure when I'll be able to hit it again, but hopping in June.  More to follow!

--Break Break --

This morning starts my third day of liquid diet...  I've had a pounding headache since last night and just plain tired.  I am going to see Star Trek at Noon, assuming I get all my crap taken care of...  I'll post about it later.

jp

Ettin 'Nothin

Review: Thunderspire Labyrinth

Saturday saw the gang finish up the Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure module from Wizards of the Coast. It took us sometime, mostly five or six sessions to complete, but that was over about two or three months do to our sporadic schedule. I thought I would provide my input to the world at large on the module. Some spoilers may be present, but lets be honest, the damn thing has been out for nine months and 'most' of you hard core games that are using the printed material ought to be way past this guy by now. :)

At the start the party consisted of 5th Level Human Wizard (Zoltan the Reformed), 4th Level Halfling Rogue (Eldecar), 3rd Level Goblin Rogue (Splug), 4th Level Elf Ranger (Sliver), 4th Level Dragonborn Warlord (Zarsathor). We were joined early on by a 3rd Level Dragonborn Paladin (Kaznak) and had sporadic guest appearances from a Human Ranger and a second Dragonborn Paladin.

We finished up with a 7th Level Wizard, Halfling Rogue, Elf Ranger, 6th Level Dragonborn Warlord, 5th Level Paladin and Goblin Rogue. In all not bad progress for the party. The party is, for the most part, a combat/tactical group. Role play, in the 'old school' since, is only present in a minimal way. I don't have a big issue with that as I think everyone really enjoys the combat and is trying in the role play category.

General: The module was constructed well. As with the new modules, it contains two booklets, one that lays the basics down for the adventure, has new monsters and has picture representation of some of the encounter areas. The second booklet has the write ups for each of the encounters using the standard Wizard of the Coast format. I thought the encounters were well balanced and provided the party plenty of opportunity to engage in their abilities.

Likes:

• The Maps: The provided map was very useful, as are most of them, for conducting encounters in those areas that are cinematic in nature. I also found that the encounter maps on each encounter were well developed and illustrated.
• Tactical Encounters: I can not think of a single encounter that was way over the top. Even the big battle in the Well of Demons wasn't too powerful. On many encounters it was not uncommon to have multiple players drop, but the limited healing of the Wizard (multi-class Cleric), Warlord, and Paladin allowed the party to usually return to the battle.
• Bronze Warder with Enigma of Vecna are a nasty combo! :)
  

Dislikes:

• The Maps: Wizards could have sprung for a second fold out map. It would have been nice to have the climatic end be on a map versus the evil wizard.
• Tactical Encounters: The standard 'hope' is that the players can continue to push through encounter after encounter, but I've found that after two encounters the players are starting to get thin and a third gets to be real tough. Given the dungeon crawl environment, the players were going three and full rest, three, full rest... Which is what Wizards was trying to avoid from the older system of big encounter, full days rest... Three in a row 'should' only take about 40 mins in-game time, but they team was often spent. I think our longest string was five encounters, and even that took about an 1.5 hours of in-game time. Not sure if that is a product of the system or the module.
• Skill Challenge Encounters: Well... This was the big shiny turd of the module. In two specific locations, a role play challenge encounter was set up, but they were very poorly executed. "The ghost is impressed by feats of strength. Do a DC25 str test to get his approval..." or something along those lines is just pretty lame. I think the challenge encounter can work, but it requires more prep time or thought then the ones included in this module.
  
• Better Back Ground: I would have liked to see a better write up for the Mages that ran the seven pillar hall. It would have aided the play and role play between the characters with the NPC that were tasking them to accomplish. The 'blank' page was just too empty and I would have liked some meat in my stew.

Things I Learned:

• Action Points: As I stated before, I am allowing the players to burn Action Points for re-rolls on missed attacks. This is to help alleviate the big daily missing syndrome. I think it has worked for the most part and I'll be keeping it in the campaign.
• Skill Challenges: I 'think' that skill challenges are going to be key 'role play' motivators. I'll be using them to get the players to open up on the character and actions by giving a hidden bonus or penalty to the die roll based on their response. In other words, if a player, out of character, says I'm telling the ghost a story it would be a negative to the roll, but if the player, in-character, actually tells the story, then it would be a positive. The notion of 'X' success before 'Y' failures just seems hard to pull off with out a lot of useless die rolls.

Expansion: The module does a good job of giving potential growth opportunities within the module. Given the Spire's position you could go Trog hunting, Find the Witch, Explore Underdark, or take over the Seven Pillar Hall. Lots of growth.

Overall: It was a solid module that could do with a bit of refining. I give it four out of five Vecna eyeballs.

jp
Warder of Bronze

End of the Race

I should go on travel more often. How else am I going to top this many blog postings in a single week? I'm getting ready to pack up the suitcase as I head back to the Big O! on Friday. Thought I would update you on my epic struggle versus the Race for the Galaxy Solo Robot. The end tally is as follows:
Robot: 16 wins, 6 losses
jp: 6 wins, 16 losses

Yes, yes, I was smashed by a random card flipping robot. Often badly. Here are some tidbits that might only interest me:

• The player that had the "Old Earth" home world lost every time. Robot lost twice and I lost three times.
• The most played home world was "Doomed World" with one player having it for eight games. Robot was 3-2 and I was 1-2 with the "Doomed World".
• Biggest disparity was with the use of "Ancient Race". The Robot won both his games while I lost the two that I played with the home world. It also had the largest disparity of points per game with the Robot having 48 per game while I had my lowest average of 24.5.
  
• Full stats can be found here. I think I'll try to keep tracking the games I play to see if I get better, which I think I am, and if the numbers start to average.

It will be good to get home, but the weekend is shaping up to be very busy. Playing WM/HD in the early afternoon and hopefully War of the Rings with Heath on Saturday in the late afternoon. What I am really looking forward to game wise is the following Saturday and being able to run the D&D game. We are very close to finishing the Thunderspire and I need to decide if we are going to continue the series or if I start my own adventure path... Decisions, decisions.

jp
Leaving on a jet plane

Roles and the Ki Power Source

With the conversation with Rob started up, I got to thinking on how they would cover the four basic classes for a Ki power source. What I hope doesn't happen is that PHB 3 becomes 'Oriental Adventures' for 4e. I liked OA when it was released for 1e, but I just don't see it fitting into the current setting. Wizards would have to make an alternate setting, which would 'spoil' the classes for the classic setting. I feel that they can reach into other cultures past Japan and China to acquire more Ki power classes that would make the book diverse enough, but still fit within the context of the points of light setting. It may be a reach at times, namely because the concept of Ki is a pretty heavy Chinese/Japanese concept, but if the book also includes another new power source (elemental?) maybe it will help dilute the issue too.

Below are some of my thoughts, feel free to chime in with yours.

Monk - This is a no brainer. The question for me, is will it be a Striker or a Defender? I think it would make a real interesting change to make it a Defender and let another class take on the Striker roll, but I'll most likely be wrong. Plus the concept of 'monk' can be taken from Japan to China, to India, to middle ages. In fact it would be quite fun to run him as an traditinal monk with the circle haircut and brown robes! Of course he would have to have the beer making ritual.

Immortal - This would be the Striker class for me. I think it would be cool to see powers that would stare down the bad guy. Builds would both have bow/ranged abilities but have a strong melee use that could follow Sword (Samurai) or Spear (Persian style).

Dervish or Sufist - I would see this one being a 'combat controler' that would sweep through an enemy line doing lots of little hits (bye-bye minions) and enemy movement for better position. This combined with Ki magic actions could be a cool list.

Mystic - Could be a leader with the healing and buff capabilities from the Ki power source.

So what is missing? Ninja? Yea, I know. But I think you can play the ninja using the current rouge. You get throwing stars, heavy stealth, hand crossbows, any small weapon you like... What more do you need? Heck Eldacar just needs to dress in black Gi and Tabi's and I would have a Halfling Ninja in the party right now.

So those are some quick thoughts... Anyone else have an idea?

jp
Hiya Karate Chop

Trip In Progress Report

Greetings from the east coast. Spent the day yesterday in the DC area and had a good meeting. Meeting today was in Maryland as is the conference I am at the rest of the week so I transplanted hotels. I read most of the good parts of the Player's Handbook 2 on the plane on Sunday and thought I would give you my quick thoughts on the product.

Races: Much has been written in better blogs then mine on the new core races for D&D. For my part, I think they are pretty good and diverse adds to the mix. If I had to pick my favorite I would have to say the Half Orc was the one that I enjoyed the most and wouldn't mind playing. He would make an excellent rouge. On the other end of the scale is the Shifters. In fact Shifters are the only other race I just don't get. Maybe it is the art, but they look like Furries. Below is my rank listing, top to bottom, of the new additions.

• Half-Orc -- A great return, and the turn on the fluff was well done too. +2 Dex was a surprise for most, but I see how it fits with this incarnation.
• Deva -- At first, I wasn't real excited about the 'undying' soul thing. Plus they are purple, but I can see the role playing potential as a DM. If I need to add a plot hook, how easy is it to have your Deva suddenly have a flashback to his/her/its past!
• Goliath --Big Bad Bruisers... How long until Mark wants to play a Goliath? :) The wanderlust fluff is very cool.
• Gnome -- What can you say. They are Gnomes. OK
• A
  
• N
  
• D
  
• Shifters -- Bring up the rear. I'm a werewolf, but I'm not. Fine.

The classes are a bigger set with eight new types. I don't think their is one that I really 'love' or 'hate', but here are some general thoughts.

• I'm not a fan of the Druid's "In form of..." power. Your armor/cloths/stuff/ merges into your body? Really? You still get bonuses too? Really? I think the Druid was the weakest of the lot because of that 'easy out' that WotC took. If you read my take on the Shifters, you must be thinking that I hate werewolfs and such, but nothing could be further from the truth, I guess I just hate poorly executed werewolf type things. Don't make a cool think suck is all I am asking... That and to win the lottery!
• Bard has always been a weird class for me. The 4e version continues to stretch the concept, but making it a leader I thought was the best thing. Also integrating magic and art together helped.
• Avengers are going to rock.
• Warden's could be cool to play
• Invoker is an interesting concept as well. The protector of the entire pantheon is a neat idea.

I skimmed the powers, to be honest, I don't have the patience to read every single power... I'll catch them when I need them. The rest of the book has some neat little adds. Magic and feats, mostly for the new races/classes as well as some background creation stuff that was 'so-so'.

What would have been a great add to the classes for me is the Monk. Not sure how, or if, WotC is going to add the Monk type. Will they make him a divine power or will we see a new power source a'la Primal. Can you say 'Ka' anyone? How that would unfold is beyond me.

The rest of my free time on his trip has been me getting my butt handed to me by the damn robot player in the solo version of Race for the Galaxy. Each game takes about 15-20 mins or so. I played a total of 13 games over two nights in the hotel room. The score so far is Robot 9 wins, JP 4 wins. Stupid Robot. What makes it worst if you total the VP's up (yes I am tracking that! Shesh!) it is 503 to 446... Advantage Robot. Like I said. Stupid Robot. The key seems that you have to create the end condition quickly, not allowing the Robot's culture counter to increase and that can be problematic if you just don't have the cards. I did have a cool combo by selling cards, I was getting 10 cards a sell of with all the bonuses, but the ability to sell off a card in the consume phase as well. I had to discard 12 cards to get back to 10 in one turn!

I had a bit of time and I swung by the GW store in a mall here in Maryland. I hadn't been in one in a long time. They were pushing hard for the War of the Ring, and even made the comment that the infantry trays were going like hotcakes and they were having a hard time keeping up.

Anyways, I'll post more on the Me vs. Robot battle for the Galaxy.

jp
Having Chic-fil-A for Dinner!

One Week, One Scolding

Adam, a true gentlemen if ever one existed or at least he fakes it pretty well, let it be known in a PM that he didn't want me to stop posting. I thought, gee, I just posted... Last week. Doh!

Game News First (After all, you must have priorities!)

On Saturday the intrepid adventures took on the rest of the Gnolls and the associated tasks. The other rooms were a mix of traps and creatures that made the encounters very interesting. The Mirror Pillared room was an odd one as 1/2 the characters got trapped in the mirror and it took nearly the full encounter to figure out how to get them out. That left the halfling rouge, and the two Dragonborns to finish off the exploding skeletons. The other combo room consisted of a large blood pool with demons that loved being in blood along with a pair of statues that whipped the snot out of everything they hit. The party collected all the artifacts and triggered the glyphs, which triggered the green dragon and a bunch of other traps... But it opened the door to the inner sanctum as well. A very draining fight left the party low on powers, but they needed to press on versus the Gnoll priest. They caught him in mid ritual (funny how that happens all the time), but couldn't stop him from killing the last two sacrifices and rededicated the temple to Yeenoghu. In the end we got five encounters for the evening and that was some solid playing. Lots of Fun. I won't be able to hit it again until April it looks like due to work and home, but hopefully early April.

Tuesday was the last of the league play for Warmachine. I got a game in with Erik at 750. I ran Haley w/ Sword Knights, Precursors, Thorn, GMA+Maj+Hunt, and a few other things. He ran Karchev with six jacks and some mechanics. I got some good turns off, but just had too many activations and was able to keep him at bay to win by scenario. Also played two games of Pandemic with Becky, Mike and new Guy Alex (who from this point forward is no longer the new guy). Those were fun. I truly like that game.

Wednesday the Eldest and I played some games. I guilted her into not going out every night and we played Pandemic at easy and won, but lost at medium twice. I think she liked it. We then played Race for the Galaxy. I won that one by a good 10 vp. I got a lucky draw on some alien tech + the 6 point Dev card for aliens and it really all added up.

Next gaming 'may' be on Sunday. I may try to sneak down to the Shoppe for a few hours and try a learning game of War of the Rings. I've got to get The Other Half OK with that first. (Wish me luck!)

On the home front, the Eldest made it back on Saturday Night late and promptly went out with her friends. She's looking for a new job, trying the usual suspects for Omaha... OTC/Omaha Steaks/Your Call Center Here... No bites yet, but hopefully soon.

Saturday The Other Half and I are going to try and hit the Joslyn since we missed it on V-Day. Then some very good Belgium beer and food at Darios Brasserie. If you haven't tried some of the Trappist ales before... mmmm... It's yummy!

I guess that should get me off the hook with Adam. I'll update on Sunday if I get a chance to go play.

jp
I have been put on notice

So, what are you playing?

On Sunday the gang got together for another round of the Thunderspire. We had solid turn out with the usual suspects in place. The party headed straight for the Well of Deamons to confront the Gnolls that were in kahoots with the rouge mage Paldemar. Rumor had it that a Gnoll cleric, Maldrick Scarmaker, was also going to reconsecrate the temple to Yeenoghu. The party encountered a nasty set of lurkers that was hard to take down, but did get through the Gnoll Defense force in place in the front of the temple pretty quickly.

After a rest to 'Ding' the party made it into temple proper and met three previous adventures that didn't fair as well. From them they learned what is transpiring and how to get past the magic barrier. Undaunted, the gang hit the first challenge and was surprised by the magic that was entrapped in the room. Teleporting heroes and raging pillars of doom messed up the standard plan of attack and made the team improvise a bit.

In all the night went pretty well. We got five solid encounters in the 7 or so hours of play. The one challenge encounter in the area (three fallen previous party) needed a lot of work. It just didn't flow and become more of a RPG conversation vice a challenge to earn xp. Come on, impress a ghost with a test of strength in the middle of the dungeon? Really?

"Lift this heavy weight three times! Oh your strong, here is a clue!"

Not to be mean, but that was just dumb. We did a bit of role play on it to get the salient points across, but the challenge 'as is' was just badly written. I'll need to do a better job of proofing it before we try another encounter like that.

On Monday, Privateer made the 'Big Announcement' that Warmachine Mk II was hitting the streets in 2010. I think this will be fine in the long run. Many of the ideas will help simplify the game and streamline the rules, but still keep the game its lovely combo-licious self. More to follow I am sure!

On other gaming fronts, I picked up a copy of Pandemic board game. I got to play a few games before the holidays and it is a great co-op game. I haven't gotten a chance to force the Eldest to play yet, but I think she will dig it when we do. We did play a few games of Race for the Galaxy and a game of Settlers of Catan Card Game. Both games were fun and the Eldest and I hadn't 'hung out' since she found some friends in the local area. Glad she found friends, now she just needs to learn to control the spending on going out.

Tuesday I got to go to The Game Shoppe and play two games of Warmachine in the Call to Arms league. I was second from the bottom from the previous weeks adventures and hoped to maybe get one win this week.

I played Adam a 500 point game to start. He had Magnus, 2 Renegades, Mangler, Crowes Cutthroats, and Iradians all under an Agenda contract. I had Lt. Cain and a Squire, GMA w/ the Dude and a Hunter, Sword Knights with a Cent, and Rupert. I had a great game. Systematically took out the Cutthroats with Arcane Inferno under snipe, then had a quick dual between Obliterators and Hunter rounds. Adam had some great uses for Magnus that usually don't get shown on the table and when they do usually don't work. He did two Rain of Steels that hit plus an Arcane Bolt. Totally shmushed Cain with arched spells FTW!

Second game was against Erik and his Khador list. We played 750 so I added Lady and Holt, an Ogrun, Lancer for Cain (?), Capt Finn, Trencher Chain Gun and Cannon (only things I had to add... Didn't have the rest of my stuff!). Erik ran Epic Sorsha with two winter guard units, one with UA, the other had Uncle Joesph for support, two mortars, full unit of demolishers, Gray Lords, Yuri the Axe and two compatriots and widow makers. I won this game on scenario. I kept mentioning the scenario conditions... Like a lot, but Erik didn't take actions to prevent me from securing the needed spaces. I felt kind of bad as his list was getting ready to steamroller right through my lines with little I could do to stop it.

No RPG this weekend as the gang is doing a Flames of War Doubles Tournament. I think I may get some painting done, but will most likely piss away the day. Maybe I'll work on the Runes of Gallidon adventure some more.

Watchmen in a week!

jp
Connoisseur of Fine Games since 1967

It's a trap!

The gang meet on Saturday night for a go at the old D&D adventure thingy. :-) We had seven players at the table, usual suspects with the inclusion of Greg as a new join as a Dragonborn Paladin (Yes the second one in the party).

When we last left our intrepid adventures they had busted down the back door of the Drueger hold, fought their way through the guards and encountered the boss. That battle was gruesome with the boss able to inflict some heavy damage along the way. At the conclusion they had spent most of their daily powers and were down in the surge category.

Not having found the prisoners, they decided to press on a bit further and Splug, following a secret door behind the fire place discovered a small hidden treasure which he kept, then another door into the slave pits. The Drueger cleric and guards, not to mention the Spiny Devils were not too pleased to see the Goblin Thief and decided to act. The party then became involved in a scrum, with the poor caravan crew hiding out in the slave pits. The two front battle made it a going concern, with the Drueger cleric dropping Brimstone and other nastiness. In the end some cleaver foot work by the team lead to all the Drueger's no longer alive and the Devils, being well wounded, deciding that perhaps their are better ways to serve and departed.

Taking the slaves back to the Seven Pillar Hall, the gang was handed a note from a kobold telling them to meet to discuss their operations against the Druegers. Sensing a trap, the party put the reformed slaves up at the Halfmoon Inn with some help from Erra Halfmoon and departed for their meeting.

The party followed the provided map into a small side room of the Hall of Shadows. Looking cautiously for a trap, the party missed the large Bronze Warder 'lurking' behind the boulder. Oh, and his three Tiefling companions. A tougher battle then I thought ensued. Some early misses with critical daily powers really swung the battle in the wrong direction early. It was noted around the table that sub-par die rolls can go along way to making a tough battle down right hard. In this case the Bronze Warder was an AC 25... The party had, at the time, a 5th level Wizard, Thief, Ranger, 4th Level Warlord, 2nd Level Paladin x2, Thief. The numbers of attacks outbound were in the parties favor, but the defenders were at a disadvantage due to the lower level. It is amazing what two levels will do to a to hit number. In the end, Sliver the Ranger was the hero, finally getting his Twin Strike Mojo working and dropping a ton of arrows into the pesky Tieflings that were casting a real annoying fire ranged attack.

With the bad guys dispatched, the party found a pair of scrolls that indicate that the rouge Wizard, Padamare, is behind the trap and wishes to dispose of their bodies. Even though they just left the Inn, the party needed to debate an extended rest (Adventures are lazy SOBs), but decided to take the reformed slaves back to Fellcrest.

The return to Fellcrest was uneventful, but the party did gain a bit of experience for finding the prisoners and returning them safely as well as destroying the Bloodreavers. A rest was had, as were magic items transferred before the party returned to the Seven-Pillar Hall to prepare to battle Gnolls.

<<>>

So the adventuring is going well, but I keep having this nagging feeling that I am taking to long to run folks through the adventure... Specifically that the encounters take too long. It may just be me. Some ideas that I think I'll try next time:

• Enslave, I mean, enlist one of the players to run the initiative for me. I'll give him the critters and let them track. The Loft has a white board that is tailored made for that effort.
• Roll Damage with the too hit. Zoltan, Eldecar, and Kaz'nak all do that already, but it may become game standard. The 'issue' will come with the double attack type of attacks like twin strike. Hmmm...
• Pre-Stage the bad guy minis... I'll do my best to get the bad guys all bagged up and ready, vice hunt and peck for the ones I need.
  

To deal with the daily powers missing and how badly that swings the battle, I was thinking of allowing players to spend their action point to re-roll a missed attack roll or any roll for that matter. I don't know how that would swing the power of the party, but at the moment, at times, they usually seam under power versus the enemy. Maybe I'm over doing the enemy, but it doesn't look like it.

And on the entertainment front...

The other half and I went to go see The Wrestler on Sunday. Not sure what to say about this one. I hated the cinematography. I mean hated. It was too jittery, like the Blair Witch Project almost at times at the camera was perched over Micky Rourke. I had to leave twice because I thought I was going to hurl. That combined with I think that Mr. Rourke is highly over rated as an actor and the story, although interesting wasn't really what I would consider 'Oscar' quality it was just OK. It was fine (other then the wanting to puke parts), on the small screen, it might be better for my eyes to watch. The highlight was Marisa Tomei who was not only hot for a 40+ year old stripper :-p but also the better half of the acting. Anyways, I give it two out of four WWF championship belts.

jp
Is it just me?

Ahoy!

Hey folks,

Just a short update for you too day with a few links of interest.

• http://zoltanthereformed.blogspot.com/ -- My Wizard player is kicking it! You go Zoltan! :)
  
• http://www.critical-hits.com/features/character-class-reference/ -- An interesting collection of classes from Wizards and 3rd Party vendors. Kind of stuff at a glance.
• http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/ -- This is Wil Wheaton's blog. Kind of a Geek-u-topia type postings. If you got some time to spare and like geek culture, give it a read.
• http://www.thenewfrontiersman.net/ -- If you have read Watchmen, you know about The New Frontiersman. Site is kind of cool!

Speaking of Watchmen...



:) :) :) :)

Lets just say I'll do my best to hit the midnight show... Maybe over in CB if it shows in the IMAX.

In gaming news a few small updates.

• Had a MonPoc tournament on Tuesday with 10 folks showing. It went pretty well and all seemed to have a good time.
• Saturday, 24 Jan is a WM/HD 500 point Steamroller followed by a MonPoc event
• Saturday 7 Feb is a WM/HD/MonPoc demo day at The Game Shoppe.
• Saturday 28 Feb is a WM/HD 750 Steamroller followed by I Chomp NY release event

Busy times indeed!

jp
Watch'n the Watchmen

A Full House and Slumdogs...

Salutations,

On Saturday the entire gang got together, with all in attendance. New faces included Kaz'nak the Dragonborn Paladin, on his quest to assist Zoltan the Reformed on his mission to save the, ah, slaves.

Having returned to the Seven Pillared Hall, the party too the opportunity to take a much needed extended rest after vanquishing the Bloodreavers. Before departing the Bloodreavers lair, Sliver found a gold coin with the symbol that looked like the one that was left when his family was killed. Upon regaining their abilities, amazing what a good six hours will do, the local enforcer, Brugg stated that the 'Wizard on Call' wanted to speak to them. Seems one of their own has gone missing and given the teams outstanding abilities was wondering if they could lend a hand!

With a new quest to add to the ever growing pile, the team heads out on the heels of the Duergar that had purchased the captured slaves the party headed out in search of the Duergar's lair. Following the Road of Shadows, the team decides to take the path lest traveled. A quick encounter with a pack of hungry hyenas was followed by the meeting of a Troglodyte party. This one didn't go so easy. The Trogs had brought an Angle of Torog that helped make some bloody attacks. Some of the 'younger' characters spent daily powers and were very low on surges, but resting in the open hall, was just not an answer. so the party continued to explore.

Back tracking they found a door down one corridor and beat in the door. A few Orcs and an Ogre are surprised and battle ensues, but once the players get the upper hand, the last Orc flees and gets the Duergar's boss and his posse. This battle, without a chance to reload the encounter powers, is a long and bloody ordeal, but the party does prevail.

I had to leave a bit early so I left them hanging, many in need for an extended rest to go up a level, let alone get their powers back. Be sure to check in later! :)

On Sunday, The Other Half and I went to go see Slumdog Millionaire. The film was wonderfully directed and acted. The children actors were outstanding in their performances. The older versions of the characters were very good as well. It is a drama/love story but still very entertaining. It is a great 'date night' movie, or one to see if you like good cinema. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 Illegal Taj Mahal Tours.

Next week is the WM/HD/MonPoc tournament extravaganza in The Game Shoppe. Be sure to swing by and say 'hey!'.

jp
Jai Ho Boggier

Dayton in the reaview mirror...

Well, not exactly.

I'm sitting in the Airport in Dayton OH typing my blog on my new 'toy'. I'm not a big fan of business travel, namely because I am so big and I hate the tiny seats and crappy service from the air lines, this time provided by our friends at United. Oh the Joy!

The trip was a mixed bag. Nothing great for business outcomes, but I did develop a 13 plus encounter outline for the gang's next adventure series after we finish off the Thunder Spire. After all, you have to have priorities. :)

The Spire should take a few more sessions, plenty of things to explore and get in trouble. I estimate that the gang should be around the 6-7th level mark when we finish up, which, if I remember stats right will be about right for what I want to accomplish. I would tell you the gory details, but I think that the only people who actually read this blog are the ones that playing! After all loose lips sink ships :) Or is it a big deception to throw you off the scent? Only time will tell... Mahhahahahahhahaha!

Other then business travel, not much new to report. I didn't even turn the TV on at the hotel as I spent the time listening to Pandora on the Intertubes and playing, you guessed it, Spider Solitaire. Stupid game.

Crap! I gjustt got dive bombed by a black bird here in the Dayton Airport! Birth place to aviation my ass! What kind airport lets birds freely roam the inside of the airport. The eaves must be full of bird droppings... Ewwww... And I thought Omaha was backwards! :) I keed, I keed. :)

I am also proud to announce that I made it through an entire trip with out the evil fried potatoes. I even worked out once. If I hit the gym in the morning, then I'll be all even in the end. Soda. That's a different story.

Damn bird. I think it after by $1.50 sandwich that cost me $10 in Dayton Airport.

Here is to hoping that I can get out on Saturday. That is my plan. I think that a new Dragonborn Paladin should be entering the fray!

Holy Cow... They just did a giant 'Bing Bong the local time is 530.' I could here it better then the flight announcements. Shessh! This place is scary... I want to go home. No bird strikes, no bird strikes!

jp
Defeated by Birds and Dayton