http://www.enworld.org/forum en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:17:48 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.enworld.org/forum http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268066-rips-adventures-rip-tunnel.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:51:06 GMT Introducing a brand new story hour: Rip's Adventures!

Set in the world of Rifts Earth, Rip's Adventures follows the exploits of a juicer (a human with drug-induced augmented strength, agility, and endurance) named Rip as he wanders from one tantalizing locale to the next in search of action and excitement.

As of this post, there are currently three episodes. This link will take you to episode I (and the disclaimer at the bottom), and you can get to the next two episodes by clicking on the November link on the right side of the page. New episodes follow once a week every Thursday night.

Enjoy! ]]> Story Hour airwalkrr http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268066-rips-adventures-rip-tunnel.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268024-phdungeons-nentir-vale-homebrew.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:34:11 GMT We recently finished our Second Darkness campaign, which followed on the heels of our Savage Tide campaign. It was very enjoyable, though I liked Savage Tide a little better, and now I've decided to take a break from the APs and go with my own homebrew.

I'm using the Nentir Vale from the 4E dmg as a starting point, but I've given it a much more Norse feel. I won't be writing journals of the sessions because I don't have the time, but I will post the ones my players write and hopefully through those anyone who chooses to read this will be able to piece together the jist of the storyline.

Our party is beginning with the following characters

Darren Androsax- human, male fighter 1
Deryl Androsax- human , female sorcerer 1
Belladonna- changeling, rogue 1
Bjorn- human, male cleric of Thor 1
Torfinn, deva, male Invoker of the Aseir gods 1

The heroes begin the campaign having made their way north to Fallcrest from the city of Grimsburg. Bella is on the hunt for a killer name Randall Flagg and has tracked the man to Fallcrest. ]]> Story Hour PHDungeon http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268024-phdungeons-nentir-vale-homebrew.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268001-adventures-eastern-provinces.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:52:15 GMT 4/1/2530 S.C. It’s a nice spring day. The weather is just right- a little overcast, a little windy, warm but not hot. It’s the perfect kind of day, Shifty reflects, for a mark to come into town. The balls arc in the air, from one hand to the other, then reversing direction. He adds another... 4/1/2530 S.C.

It’s a nice spring day. The weather is just right- a little overcast, a little windy, warm but not hot. It’s the perfect kind of day, Shifty reflects, for a mark to come into town.

The balls arc in the air, from one hand to the other, then reversing direction. He adds another ball to the mix. Most of the locals have seen it before, but it still gets him a drink or two from time to time- not to mention the occasional coin from visitors. Of course, most of Overland’s traffic comes from Woodcut, which is a small, not-too-wealthy village a little less than 20 miles away. That means that the average visitor doesn’t have much more money than the average local. Things used to be busier, but that was before the river shifted, drying up the creek that the village had used to float logs to Overland. Now the lumberjacks have to haul their timber by wagon, which is slower and more expensive.

Shifty catches all the balls in his small, weathered hands, tucks them into his satchel and bows to the smattering of applause from his regulars. Someone buys him a cheap cup of wine and he sits at the window and sips at it, hoping he will see an opportunity coming his way.

The small gnome strokes his van Dyke beard and nurses his wine for a few moments before he sees a pair of figures crossing the creek on the ferry. The Swift Wagon is at the edge of town, just below the ferry itself. As it is so close to the crossing, the inn attracts a lot of the strangers in town and is therefore a wonderful place to find a mark to steal from. That is why Shifty hangs out here so much. At first, as the figures approach, his interest deflates, for he recognizes them as a pair of locals. But then it is piqued again, for they are battered and bruised! The two figures look like they have been beaten, and both of them look scared and shaken.

Shifty tries to hide his keen interest in them as they sit at the bar. Curly, the man tending said bar, exclaims, “What the hell happened to you two? Here, these are on me!” He pulls the bung from an ale keg and pours each of them a draught.

“We were at the mud baths,” one of them says, “and we were attacked. A group of frog people came and drove most of the people there off!”

“I think they killed the old man that tended the baths, too,” adds the other.

”They beat us- we were lucky to escape alive.”

”Were there other people at the baths?” Curly asked. “What happened to them?”

“I don’t know for sure. They drove us off. But I saw that they captured a couple of other folk.”

“One of them was that woman, what’s her name, Bylla,” the other says.

Curly whistles. “They say that she’s got some property down in Grumbleford. She’s a pretty wealthy landowner, isn’t she?”

Aha, thinks Shifty.

***

The hardest tavern in town is the Silver Fish. Tall-Oh-Gee (but call him Cavemouth) is trying, but he just can’t sucker anyone into arm wrestling him or engaging in a drinking contest. The fact that he is penniless doesn’t help, as he has nothing to wager (and the keeper has already stated that he will not accept a mace as payment).

Maybe the fact that he is an imposing 7’8” tall and nearly 300 pounds of rock-hard, dark grey mottled muscle has something to do with it, but it’s disappointing nonetheless. He could really use a drink. Too bad the townies don’t have any good old fashioned moonshine, but you can’t win them all.

“I’ll drink any of ya under the table,” he challenges again, but again, most of the tavern’s other patrons ignore him. This time, however, one of them responds.

“Ha! I’ll bet you the cost of the drinks that I can outlast ya!” the dwarf sneers.

“Um,” the goliath admits, “I can’t really afford that.”

“Well, then, what do you have to wager?”

“No maces,” the keeper says severely. “I only take coin.”

The goliath scowls. The dwarf laughs. “Here, I’ll buy you a round,” he chuckles.

“My thanks,” Cavemouth replies. He takes the watery beer from the keeper and sips it. Just a sip- he’ll need to make this one last. “I don’t suppose you need anyone to help you brew beer?”

The dwarf laughs again. “Not me,” he answers, “but if you’re looking for work, I know a farmer a few miles outside of town who needs some strong arms to split some wood and do some labor. And if you’re interested in brewing, I know he makes some very good applejack.”

Cavemouth grunts. “Thanks for the beer.” He scowls up at the keeper and stands. I think it’s time to find a new tavern, maybe see if I can find someone who’ll take the bait. He heads out to the street, limbering his arms as he goes. His plate armor clanks around him; his greataxe is strapped to his back. I should try the inn at the edge of town. Maybe I can get some out of towners to wrestle me or something.

He walks north to the edge of town and pushes through the doors into the Swift Wagon. An old gnome, with white hair, a combover and a van Dyke is walking towards the door.* He stops, stares at the huge goliath, and cries, “You’re exactly the kind of person I’m looking for!”

Cavemouth halts, somewhat puzzled.

“There’s a damsel in distress,” says the gnome. “A rich damsel in distress. I need some muscle to rescue her. By the way,” he adds, “I’m Shifty.”

“Call me Cavemouth,” the goliath replies. “All right, you’ve got my interest. Tell me more.”

“Well,” the gnome answers, “it seems that she’s been kidnapped by frog people at the mud baths north of town. I was about to go try to find out more information about them- I know a local sage.”

“All right,” nods Cavemouth. “Sounds good so far. I’m in.”

The two of them proceed across town to the tower of Karlinndan, the local sage and wizard. (Shifty met him once, long ago in the Feywild, before the terrible events that led to the loss of his village, and now Karl sometimes provides him information about interesting items that the gnome has picked up.) Shifty raps at the door, and a few minutes later the party is inside, conversing with a middle-aged eladrin with long hair and spectacles. Books are everywhere in his tower.

“Frog men, eh?” muses the eladrin sage.

“Yeah, and the guys I talked to said that they were repulsive to be around,” Shifty replies. “They used primitive weapons and armor, too.”

“Sounds like you’re dealing with bullywugs. They’re foul little buggers. It is said that they are the creation of primordials rather than gods, and that nature itself is revolted by them. It’s fascinating, really.”

“Well, we need some help to deal with them,” Shifty says, “and there’s a rich damsel in distress involved...”

***

Shifty, Cavemouth and Karl head to the market square, where (so Shifty says) they can probably pick up some more muscle to deal with the bullywugs. They find the person that he is looking for seated on a bench, watching the crowd (or rather, looking for marks, much as Shifty had been doing at the Wagon). Karl cocks an eyebrow at her startling blue color and horns. “Sepia,” he nods to the tiefling. “It has been a while.”

“You two know each other?” asks Shifty.

“We met about a year ago,” the wizard replies. “I was doing some research about tieflings, so naturally, it seemed logical to go to the source.”

“What’s going on?” the tiefling asks, and Shifty explains the situation. “I’m in,” she says, “and if there’s room for one more, I see a friend of mine over there.” She gestures towards a small figure that at the others at first take to be a human child, but then realize is a halfling. She walks over to him. “Good afternoon, Hammhokk,” she says.

“And to you,” the small figure pipes up. “I was just looking to see whether you might have anything going on that you might need help with.”**

“Funny you should ask,” she replies.

***

The newly-assembled party heads out of town, going north along the creek side. It is early afternoon- they figure that they’ll reach the mud baths sometime the next afternoon. They make decent time, trekking along the rough, intermittent trails, moving amongst dry scrubs and brush.

Until, suddenly, parts of the brush come to life and attack.

Small, twig-like creatures that rush in, surrounding the party in waves of almost overwhelming numbers! Cavemouth starts hewing about him with his axe while Sepia and Shifty start fighting back with daggers. But the strange twig monsters leave an itching, burning poison behind in their wounds, and soon Sepia is retreating, trying to keep her distance from her attackers.

Karl fey steps out of a circle of the enemy, and then fires a scorching burst where he had just been, blasting two of the twig blights to pieces. Then, to his horror, he sees two large vines in the brush start to move. One creeps forward and lashes out, impaling Sepia. She screams in pain, almost fainting. The other impales Cavemouth, dealing terrific damage, and then draws back, pulling him with it. “It’s trying to eat me!” he screams, and hacks at it with his axe.

Sepia pulls herself free and tries to back away, but more of the twig blights scratch her and the poison grows worse. She falters, then collapses.

”You can do it!” Hammhokk cries majestically. “You’re my best friend!”

Arcane power courses from the halfling, and some of Sepia’s wounds close up. Her eyes flutter open and she groans in pain.

Shifty dispatches the last of the twig blights tying him up and bounds in to aid his goliath ally, slashing with his dagger. The vine writhes as he cuts it deeply, and then Cavemouth hews it in two with his axe!

Another explosion of fire nearby eliminates two more of the twig blights, allowing Hammhokk to withdraw and pull his bow out. He fires an arrow, but misses the remaining vine. However, the party is now able to focus on it, and in a few moments it dies, cut to pieces.

“What were those things?” wonders Sepia.

“The little ones were twig blights,” Karl states. “The vines, I’m not so sure about.” He picks one up and examines it. “But look, the thorns are hollow.” He looks up at Cavemouth. “These things are bloodsuckers. You’re lucky you broke free of it!”

***

The party rests and sets watches. The night is chilly and clear, and they are undisturbed. While they strike camp, Hammhokk- whose first name is Jexx- comments, “We should reach the mud baths today.”

“Hopefully,” Shifty says, “we can also rescue that damsel in distress.”

About an hour after noon, they do indeed reach the mud baths, immediately encountering a group of the strange creatures known as bullywugs. Ranging in size from about 4’ to about 6’, the strange frog-folk are surrounded by a miasma of foul air that almost makes our heroes gag just to be around them. They prove immediately hostile, hopping to the attack. Behind the mud pits is a large willow tree whose branches reach the ground; another bullywug proves to be lurking back in there. Two of the frog-folk hurl rocks while the others move up to engage our heroes. Two of the three of them fall and hurt themselves while attacking, and the party dispatches them shortly, leaving one alive but unconscious as a captive.

“I don’t see any sign of the damsel,” Sepia says, after the party looks around, “but at least they had a few gold and silver pieces.” The party splits the loot; each of them ends up with 7 gp and 10 sp. It is certainly better than nothing, and for Cavemouth, it is the difference between no money at all and a few coins! He grins happily.

Karl says, “We can ask this fellow where the captive is, once he awakens, and if need be, I have a ritual that will allow me to comprehend his language.”

This proves to be a good thing, because the bullywug proves to be very, very stupid. It doesn’t understand much that the party says, does or pantomimes, but eventually, after a very trying series of agonizingly-slow breakthroughs, the party gets the bullywug to start leading them in the direction that his fellows took their captive.

About 200 yards down their trail, however, there is a complication: next to a large mud pit lays a pair of dead bullywugs, and no sign (at least from a distance) of their captive.

“Do we approach?” wonders Hammhokk.

“We ought to at least check out those bodies, I suppose,” Shifty says.

The group’s captive is clearly distressed. Karl can still understand its croaking, and he tells the others that it doesn’t seem to know what happened. “In fact, it seems to think that we killed its companions, and now we’re going to murder it.”

Hammhokk shrugs. “I’m going to let it go,” he says. “We’ve learned everything that we can from it.” With that, he unties it. “Go on, now. You’re free. Run!”

The bullywug bolts, hopping away, but as the party advances to examine the scene, the brush at the far edge of the mud pit rustles- and a pair of drakes emerges. Immediately, they charge at Cavemouth, working in concert and almost pulling him down before he even has a chance to draw his axe! One of them tears a chunk of his buttock out. Blood gushes and he bellows in pain.

“Uh oh,” says Shifty.

The mud starts to churn, and a pair of muddy figures rises up. They start throwing great big gobs of mud, plastering Sepia and Hammhokk, and the thick muck clings to them, slowing their movements.

The party starts to fight back, but then things get much worse. The ground starts to shake directly underneath Cavemouth, and in a spray of earth, a huge, insect-like creature emerges.

“ANKHEG!!” bellows Hammhokk.

Next Time: Will I TPK the new party so soon??

*Shifty’s player described him as “a fantasy Herb Tarlick.”

**Hammhokk’s player described him as “McCauley Caulkin with a harmonica.” ]]> Story Hour the Jester http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/268001-adventures-eastern-provinces.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267986-pool-first-time-family-fairy-tale.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:17:40 GMT I ran my first session of The Pool, this evening. This was also my first session of any game with a large degree of player narrative control over the story and the world. (My main game is "white box" original D&D, run "sandbox style," so it's player-driven in that the players have full control over where they go and what they do, and the story comes from that, but the DM still has complete control over what is there to be found in the first place.) I ran the game for my family: my wife, eldest daughter (10), younger daughter (7), and youngest son (5). My youngest son played about half the time; the other half of the time he was so excited that he had to get up and act out the story on his own. I invited my eldest son (13) to play, but he declined (he likes playing D&D, but wasn't so sure about playing a "Fairy Tale" game, which was the setting/theme I had selected). However, after listening to us play he started offering advice about half way through the session, and ended up creating a PC and joining in for the last part of the game. :)

Anyway, the session was a *HUGE* hit. I've involved the girls in other RPGs, before, but their interest has been hit-and-miss. This time, they were totally involved. Everyone picked up on the "narrative control" thing very quickly, and they took to it like fish to water. (Instead of "Monologue of Victory," I just called it "Direct the Story.") Actually, I think seeing the MOV element in action is what hooked my eldest son; like I said, he's used to D&D-style RPGs, so that was a novel element, for him.

The setting was "classic fairy tale world," and I borrowed heavily from Faery's Tale Deluxe for creating fairy PC concepts and for the introductory adventure (a spin on Jack and the Beanstalk). However, I didn't use the FTD rules/stats/mechanics. I considered it, but decided to go with The Pool, instead. The PCs, which were made in this order with minimal input from me:

(My wife's PC) Jewel is a pixie from the Misty Woods. She is a famous jewelsmith, crafting jewelry fit for royalty. Jewel is the fairy godmother of Lily, a girl whose evil stepmother beguiled and married Lily's father. Jewel seeks to unmask the witch and free Lily from this situation.
- Pixie of the Misty Wood (flies, uses magic pixie dust) +1
- Famous fairy jeweler, even known at court +2
- Fairy godmother of Lily, a young girl +1
- Searching for a way to unmask Lily's evil stepmother +2
Dice Pool = 5 dice

(Youngest daughter's PC) Nicky is a pixie from the Misty Wood. She loves puzzles and riddles, and is good at solving them. Nicky loves animals, and is friends with Penny the Field-Mouse, who was bitten by a magical fly that made her ill. Nicky wants to find a way to cure Penny.
- Pixie of the Misty Wood (flies, uses magic pixie dust) +1
- Good at solving puzzles and riddles +1
- Looking for a way to heal her friend, Penny the Field-Mouse +2
- Loves animals +1
Dice Pool = 8 dice

(Eldest daughter's PC) Rosella is a brownie who lives in the Reed family cottage. Mrs. Reed has two daughters, but their father disappeared completely two years ago. Rosella lives with her best friend, Kelly the House-Mouse. Rosella loves to travel and explore; she makes friends easily, and likes meeting new people.
- Brownie of the Reed Household (turns invisible, uses household magic) +2
- Wants to find out what happened to Mr. Reed +1
- Best friends with Kelly the House-Mouse +1
- Loves to meet new people and see new places +2
Dice Pool = 5 dice

(Youngest son's PC) Bandit is a pooka who loves to take raccoon form. He likes to climb trees and eat nuts, but loves to sneak into houses and take shiny things to play with. A goblin named Brokenfang picks on him. He tries to avoid goblins.
- Pooka (change form into animals, travel magic) +1
- Loves to sneak into houses +1
- Loves to take shiny stuff +2
- Favorite animal form is a racoon +1
- Picked on by Brokenfang and tries to avoid goblins +1
Dice Pool = 7 dice

(Eldest son's PC) Flint is a sprite with a hummingbird steed name Steelwings. Flint is brave to the point of foolhardiness, but he inspires those around him. His blood-brother, Javen, is held captive by the Goblin King, who demands ransom for his release. Flint was recently captured by the giant, Burblegut.
- Sprite with a hummingbird steed (speaks to animals, battle magic) +2
- Brave to the point of being foolhardy +1
- Wants to free his blood-brother from the Goblin King +1
- Likes to make fools of giants (especially Burblegut) +1
Dice Pool = 8 dice

Play began with the PCs waking up one morning to see a giant beanstalk stretching up to the clouds. The pixies were some distance away, but could see that the beanstalk appeared to be rising out of the nearby human village. The brownie was close: the beanstalk was growing from the garden of a house down the street. She recognized the house as the one where a boy named Jack lived (Jack often played with the Reed daughters). The pooka said he didn't wake up; he wanted to sleep in. We decided he was in racoon form, curled up asleep in a human home's attic. The pixies started flying towards the village, but first Nicky the Pixie tried to use some pixie dust on her sick mouse friend [hoping to heal her right off the bat, I guess]. I called for a roll and let her try. She got a success and took a bonus die, so I narrated that the pixie dust made her friend feel better, but that it would only last until the next moonrise. The brownie watched out the window of her house, seeing people start to gather around the beanstalk. She also saw Jack's mother rushing around frantically, looking in bushes, behind barrels, and up and down the street.

Rosella the brownie turned invisible and headed to Jack's house. She found the door wide open, and Jack was nowhere to be found. Rosella snuck over to listen to the humans talking. About this time the pixies arrived. Nicky flew into some rose bushes to hide and listen to the humans, too. Jewel flew to the house where Lily (her fairy goddaughter) lived to check on her. She found the roof thatch disturbed, with a small tunnel burrowed through it. She cautiously entered the hole and discovered a racoon curled up, fast alseep and snoring gently. She was amused to see the dreaming raccoon had donkey ears, and recognized that it was a pooka: probably Bandit. She woke him up. Nose twitching in embarrassment, he got rid of his donkey ears (which sometimes come out when he sleeps). The pair snuck through the attic, looking for Lily through the cracks. They saw her sweeping the hearth under the direction of her stepmother, who was ordering her to keep away from the windows and to stick to her chores. Lily looked worried, and kept glancing toward the window.

Outside, the fairies listening to the humans heard Jack's mother asking if anyone had seen her son. Onlookers asked her about the beanstalk, and she paled and almost fainted. She said she had sent Jack to the market to sell the family cow, but he had returned after trading her for a handful of beans he said were magic. She didn't believe him, had thrown the bean out the window into the garden, and had sent him to bed with no supper. This morning he was gone. She just knew he had climbed the beanstalk which must have grown from the beans. She tried to convince some of the other villagers to help her look for him. Everyone claimed to have other things to do, and started backing away and looking away, leaving her alone. The fairies took that opportunity to talk to her, telling her they would help her if she would come back into her house and calm down. She was shocked, but grasped at the offer of assistance and did as they asked.

In the meantime, Jewel flew down to Lily and whispered in her ear, asking her what was going on. Lily told her she had seen the giant beanstalk and was worried about her friend, Jack, but that she didn't dare do anything because of her stepmother. Jewel and Bandit decided on a plan to get Lily out of the house. Bandit became an owl and waited for Jewel to get the front door open. Once that was done, he flew in and knocked over the fresh pitcher of milk that Lily had milked earlier that morning, then he flew back outside. Lily's stepmother, frightened by the sudden intrusion, slipped in the milk and was so shook up she had to go lie down. She also angrily told Lily to clean up the milk, and to go see if she could buy or trade for some more milk. [There were a couple of rolls involved in all this, and my wife took narrative control.] So Lily ended up joining her fairy friends outside. They converged on Jack's house.

With everyone together, the fairies quickly decided to follow Jack up the beanstalk. The pooka, in owl form, carried the brownie. The two pixies flew. After a brief misadventure with the winds at altitude, everyone made it to the clouds at the top, where they discovered they could walk on the springy surface, and could see a giant's castle not far away. On the way to the castle, they found Jack's jacket, the buttons popped and loose as if it had been ripped loose. In his jacket pocket they found some string and a penknife. They also found some giant footprints in the area. They followed these to the castle doors, which were huge and heavy: made of stout wood.

Nicky the Pixie flew off to look for another way into the castle. In the meantime, the pooka turned into a dog and tried to dig a hole in the cloud-stuff, under the doors. (This was my youngest son's idea. I decided that sounded reasonable in a fairy tale and let him roll for it. He succeeded.) While Bandit was digging, Nicky looked in several windows. In one, she saw a giantess hard a work at a spinning wheel. In another, she found the kitchen. A cauldron bubbled over the fire, and near it hung a cage containing a forlorn-looking Jack. Nicky tried to get his attention by banging on the glass, but he couldn't hear her. She found a stone, but it was too heavy for her, so she sprinkled pixie dust on it to make it lighter, then she backed up and flung it at the window. The stone broke the glass! The giantess came rushing into the room to see what happened. Nicky hid, and the giantess ended up shuttering and locking the window. [My daughter was upset at this outcome, but she bounced right back after a few minutes.] Nicky flew back to tell the others what she had found, and got to them just as they were crawling through the hole into the castle.

Once inside, they looked for the kitchen. They snuck past the room where the giantess was spinning and found their way to the kitchen. One pixie flew up to make sure Jack was okay. He was upset, but unhurt; the cage was locked. Jack reported that the giantess had the key in her apron pocket. Rosella the brownie used her magic to make Nicky temporarily invisible, and Nicky flew off to try and steal the key. The fairies also added copious amounts of pepper to the soup. About this time, the fairies noticed a dark green bottle on the hearth which was rocking back and forth: something shadowy moved inside it. The pooka, back in raccoon form, investigated and found that the bottle contained a captive sprite! [My eldest son's PC, joining the game at last.] Bandit uncorked the bottle, freeing the grateful sprite.

Nicky flew into the spinning room and hovered over the apron pocket. She could see the key, but it was large and heavy. She used her pixie dust again, making it light as a feather, stole it and rushed back to the kitchen. A sneezing fit distracted the giantess, and she didn't notice a thing. [My youngest daughter was thrilled at some good rolls, and took narrative control.]

Back in the kitchen, Nicky flew up and tried to use the key to free Jack, but dropped the key in the soup. [She called for a roll, trying to earn some dice, I think, but failed this time. She was upset, again…] Right about this time the fairies heard a yell from the giantess, who had just discovered the key was missing. The giantess was calling for her husband, too!

The fairies hid as the giants rushed in to make sure Jack was still in his cage. At this point, my wife used her pixie dust to create a phony key which she place on the floor. [She succeeded and took narrative control.] The giants were relieved and the giantess picked up the (phony) key and put it in her pocket. They decided to have some soup. She ladled the soup into bowls…and the real key ended up the giant's bowl! But just then there was a great banging on the door to the castle. The giant, annoyed, put down his spoon and went to answer the door. The giantess took a bite of soup and had a coughing fit from all the pepper. When her husband returned, he said that a messenger had delivered an invitation to a costume party in just a few hours. Everyone would be there, and they had no costumes. The giantess said the soup was terrible, anyway, and they should hurry to come up with costumes. Both giants left the kitchen.

The fairies immediately went after the key. They made it light, again, and cooled it in a water glass before flying it up to open the cage. With Jack freed, the fairies opened the shutters and the window, gave Jack the ability to fly with pixie dust, and everyone returned to the village and to Jack's house. Jack's mother was so grateful and relieved that she granted each fairy a boon, promising to help them if they needed anything and there was anything she could do.

*******************

This session went a lot longer than I expected. As I mentioned, everyone got very involved. I cut from player to player frequently, which I think helped keep everyone interested. I was surprised at how little prodding and "help" my kids needed. It was a huge success and we'll definitely be playing this again. Next time I'll be doing my own adventure prep, and will incorporate some more of the PCs' traits in the plot.

I didn't keep track of how many times we rolled, but I'd guess around a dozen times or so. Almost nobody took dice: everyone wanted narrative control. (The exception being my youngest daughter, who made several bad rolls and lost all her dice, so for all her later successes she took dice, instead.)

This was something of an experiment, for me. I had a great time with the game, and I'm definitely interested in trying out this approach to playing with a group of adult players. ]]> Story Hour Philotomy Jurament http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267986-pool-first-time-family-fairy-tale.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267843-diaspora-friday-night-science-fiction.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:20:20 GMT The Valiance Corporation started out as the humble Valiance Arms & Mercantile Company with nothing but 3 pre-slipstream technology old-fashioned rocket ships delivering goods and services to the space colonies all over the Vestal system.

How far we've grown together. Now our slipstream-capable armada delivers plague curatives as far away as the inhospitable frontier moons of Binghamton to ball bearings and microchips to the garden worlds of Ithaca. The post-war economy has allowed us to save countless clones from a life of slavery and we have the honor of depositing these sentient beings wherever a slipknot might take them so that they might start life anew.

Welcome to the Valiance family. We hope this guide might help you as you venture forth into the star cluster to enforce corporate policy and make the future more valiant.

- Valiance Corporation Employee Handbook: Introduction

Getting together with a group of fellas who have never gamed all together before to play Diaspora. We got along well last night and made up our star cluster. I would've liked to have seen more +4 and -4 stats on the rolls for each system (our highest and lowest were +2 and -2) but it remains an exciting place to get our game on. We fleshed out the aspects for each system, noticed where the resources and garden worlds had ended up, which systems were slipknot gate hubs and the political situation just kind of presented itself to us.

We bounced around campaign concepts...diplomats, journalists, archaeologists...and ended up as employees for the science fiction inter-stellar equivalent of the East India Trading Company.

The characters are absolutely sweet. I really liked what we came up with.

And that there is the magic of gaming. We got together, introduced ourselves, rolled some dice, drew some diagrams and a few hours later we had a setting.

Rock on.

It was important that we had a game where players could not show up week to week and we could keep on keepin' on.

I will likely write up each game as a company memo with out of game notes and player posts to talk about how the system and mechanics shook out for us. I will post up the contents of the setting bible google doc once it is more fleshed out. ]]> Story Hour Paka http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267843-diaspora-friday-night-science-fiction.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267427-pages-personal-journal-victor-von-vargas.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:49:34 GMT For the second time, I am running the Freeport Trilogy from Green Ronin. This is an account of the campaign as seen through the witting of Victor Von Vargas, a bard that is obsessed with death. Here is the cast of characters: Victor Von Vargas: Human Bard (Played by Chris) Kerishen... For the second time, I am running the Freeport Trilogy from Green Ronin.
This is an account of the campaign as seen through the witting of Victor Von Vargas, a bard that is obsessed with death.

Here is the cast of characters:

Victor Von Vargas: Human Bard (Played by Chris)
Kerishen Tormalyne: Human Swashbuckler (Played by Amy)
Frek: Hellborn Cleric (Played by Mark)
Verwyn Synt: Elven Wizard (Played by Robin)

From the pages of the personal journal of Victor Von Vargas…

I being a healer with a small amount of bard training, begin this journey with the intent to travel to Freeport to aid with the pains and suffering that must be being accumulating amongst the workers attempting to construct the massive Lighthouse of Drac, a.k.a. “Milton’s Folly”. I hear they are working night and day to complete the project and there are surly no small amount of injuries, petty or otherwise, that shall need tending to. I will be able to live quite comfortably after words, and continue my research on the great mystery of Death.

Day 1: Afternoon –
Arrive in Freeport, leave docks, and fight off press gang. I go down fighting.
The sinister looking Frek, a cleric of some sort, seems to have saved me.
Kerishen, a human woman of some nobility with a quick eye and hand for danger, was nearby during our attempted abduction. A female elven wizard called Verwyn allied herself with us a well. We fought our way free of the thugs. Verwyn lost a dagger to the back of one of the thugs. We received healing, and a job from a cleric named Brother Egil. He needed us to help him find one of his fellow librarians named Lucius.
Lucius left the employ of the Temple of Knowledge for reasons unknown and returned about 10 months ago. He seemed to have changed, but could not remember his travels. Lucius recently tried to retrace his steps and has disappeared. Brother Egil has provided a key to Lucius’s home and some payment, so we agree to investigate.
There are so many notes, papers and books, and so little time. One note points us to a Captain Scarbelly, the very definition of local thug. An Orc captain, with a Orc crew on board a ship called Bloody Vengeance. We took our rest at a fine local inn The Scholar's Quill as I contemplate my own mortality before a fitful sleep takes me.

Day 2: Morning –
We meet at the Temple of Knowledge and are introduced to Milos, a smarmy, arrogant bastard, of a priest. We found out little and he brushed us away and said he would make arrangements for us to see the high priest in two days time.
Back to the docks. Carashin speaks orcish and she takes Frek along for company, as they parley with Scarily. They are safer as I fear another attempt from a press gang. We learn that Lucius traveled with Scarbelly and spoke to him 1 week ago about his forgotten past. The year old dock records are also of little help.
Night –
We are ambushed by a group of Yellow Shield mercenaries. We prevail.
Rittoro, a Yellow Shield, is carrying Lucius’s dagger. He directs us to a man named Enzo.
Enzo relates that a cult known as “The Brotherhood” of which he is a new member, paid to have us removed.
He also tells where to find the cult’s hole in the ground.

Day 3: Morning –
We send for Brother Egil, who provides some healing. We inform him of the developments, and he joins us as backup as we go to the abandoned stone building housing the cult.
We buy some weapons. Kerishen generously throws money at everything. I knew she was some form of nobility, but what noble allows their daughter to learn to fight with such a crude weapon as a chain? I will look into her past later.
After entering the basement, we find that the Priest Frek, has the ability to disintegrate multiple foes with a mere word, at least undead foes.
We also encounter Serpent Folk, a race of snake people thought long lost to history. They are guarding the Brotherhood’s temple. An interesting development that needs proper research, perhaps they found a way to cheat death?
We enter the brotherhood’s yellow temple and find Milos presiding over an obviously evil alter. After we kill him and his giggling minions, Milos reverts to his true serpent form, leaving us to wonder how many and who of Freeport’s people are actually serpents in disguise. Lucius is also found as is a letter conveying that N’Tal is coming to Freeport and to make sure all is ready, signed “The Brotherhood.”
We Take our finding to the high priest of knowledge and retire. I should speak with Frek about his abilities and views on Death. ]]> Story Hour S. Baldrick http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267427-pages-personal-journal-victor-von-vargas.html http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267077-bad-news-bears-vs-red-hand-doom.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:12:26 GMT Having suffered a TPK that can only be described as a blood bath, our group decided to continue the module with new characters, but with a twist: our party consists of nothing but Werebears!

What's more, these aren't ordinary werebears, if there is such a thing. No, these bears are modeled after, and parody, some the most famous bears known to man! I present to you the Bad News Bears:

Smoke the Bear- Rage personified. A ranger who has dedicated his life to preventing forest fires. By any means neccessary. (Based off of Smokey the Bear)

Yogira- Clever trickster. A rogue skilled in the arts of misdirection and picknick basket snatching. (Based off of Yogi the Bear)

Winn da'Pooh- Lover of Honey. A gentle monk who believes in a life of peace, quiet, and honey. The bane of beehives everywhere. (Based off of Winnie the Pooh)

Oolab Graypaw- Collecter of stories. A bard responsible for singing songs, collecting stories, and passing down the laws of the jungle. (Based off of Baloo the Bear). (My character)

This is their story. ]]> Story Hour EroGaki http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/267077-bad-news-bears-vs-red-hand-doom.html