|
|
|
June 27th, 2009
06:36 am - New Campaign Kick-Off - read your DMG!
Last night was actually the second session of my new D&D 4e campaign, Agents of the Prime, though it felt like we're still kicking it off as it was the first combat the group had been in. And what a combat it was! Perhaps the most important thing I did all week was re-read the 4e Dungeon Master's Guide for ideas relating to encounters. I decided to try some things to ramp up the combat from the ordinary for my 7 player group. Bullywugs from MM2 were the opponents.( More thoughts on a fun game night after the cut... )
|
May 30th, 2009
08:48 am - Avengers and Crunch Time
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
This came from an ad banner on Monstropedia, a cool website I just found via Gnome Stew , and then from Monstropedia to this site. I like it. I think the avenger fits me pretty well - a dose of coolness, a dose of religion, and a sometimes single-minded determination to achieve a goal.
It is crunch time. On Monday all my master's work is due. This weekend will be spent on the computer completing it, then after a little over two years, after Monday I will return to the land of the living. My sojourn in the shadow-world of higher education will be done, at least for a little while. And I think it was my avengeriness that got me through. That and a wonderful wife and family. Almost done. Take a deep breath - time to dive back in...
Current Location: At the computer for the weekend
Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Coming soon... Ode to Joy
|
March 24th, 2009
01:19 pm - Spring Break Tasks...
Well, I'm enjoying Spring Break. I really needed it.
I really haven't gotten done anything I wanted to until today. I committed to my wife that I would do a few things. One of the major two was to move the wood pile that was left beside the driveway for a few months to the backyard. It took me a few hours this afternoon, but I finished before lunch at 1pm. Woo! The kids helped a bit, too. That was good because I firmly believe that children learn a work ethic through working with their parents when they are young. I'm beginning to feel the soreness from the exertion already. Man am I out of shape.
There were all kinds of interesting things under the wood pile to look at - slugs, millipedes with bunches of clear eggs, termites, pillbugs.... like a mini-dungeon delve or something. The kids were interested, anyway.
Hopefully I'll get to do some other things this week that I want to - Warhammer modeling, priming, painting. More D&D campaign stuff. Finish a cool book I'm reading (Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher) and tomorrow or Thursday my new PC components should arrive from Newegg, so I'll be building my new machine, and finally be able to play games again, I hope. I'm also thinking about buying FFG's Talisman Revised 4th edition. It looks like a great game to play with the kids. Date night tonight with just me and the missus - the babysitter confirmed, so we are good to go. Yay!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) excited
|
March 14th, 2009
09:36 pm - Checking in
Just wanted to say I'm doing fine. This is a working weekend - Monday is the end of the term, then I'll be two-thirds of the way done with my masters. Yea!
Teaching is teaching. Keeping super busy as only a father of four with limited time at home can. The baby is giving us some sleeping trouble - mostly the wife, as she will get up with her because I go into work early the next day. Wish I had more time at home with the wife and kids, but that will come when night classes and such are over, and I'll be glad I sacrificed the time I did for the career advancement.
The Justicars campaign is still going strong, though we've fallen far behind on updates on Obsidian Portal, though they're coming eventually, just at a much slower pace than the actual gameplay. I'm still working toward having a viable Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves Army - just acquired a cauldron (buffing station). I'm thinking of modding the hag to a battle standard bearer. I'd like to have all of my pieces together, if not totally painted, by the summer. Well... back to work I guess... *sigh*
|
December 22nd, 2008
08:36 pm - Winter Battle
We currently have about eight inches of snow outside, but this morning we had around six. And of course before the last two inches fell I went out to clear the walk - which was 30 minutes of torture. I've never seen this much snow in Oregon, and I've never cleared a walk before. I remember hearing how hard it was, and my wife had a snow shovel that was her mother's - so we decided I should probably do it today, for the mailman if no one else.
So the kids played in the yard, and I cleared the walk, breaking through the middle ice layer with the edge of the shovel and then throwing each shovelful into the yard. I felt like I had run a mile or so after I finished. And now, if I squint just right, I can see the dip in the snow that is the result of my hard work.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/tired.gif) tired
|
December 15th, 2008
08:40 pm - ...and again
Today's snow day was a good day. We got out in the yard fairly early, fearing that it might begin to melt before too long. Got some great photos with the kids playing. Then the rest of the day was at home, and very enjoyable, excepting the recurrence of my old stomach complaint. Thank heavens for pharmaceuticals. Finished watching Star Wars IV A New Hope with the kids (their first viewing) with the kids this evening, and then we had a few home-made cookies after. Russian Tea Cakes, or Mexican Wedding Cakes, as they're colloquially called, if you're wondering.
I've been working on assembling my Dark Elf Hydra lately, and got a nice chunk done on it as well - pinned some heads together. Now all I have left is the attachment of neck/head assemblies to the body, and from there basing the piece, and the model assembly will be done. Then it will be time to prime and paint, assuming the weather warms up.. which isn't really a good assumption at this point. I understand for multiple reasons that spray priming in a garage that is under 30F could be bad. Of course, if I don't find an alternative, I may not be able to prime until February. I hope that's not the case.
And I just found out that tomorrow is another school closure day - so my three day weekend just turned into a four day. Woo! Bring on the plastic Cold One Knights.
Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: Star Wars Theme
|
December 14th, 2008
08:31 pm - Snow
Woo! Snow in Oregon, in the valley no less. Very rare. Several inches within two hours, even rarer.
I'm crossing my fingers for a snow day at home with my kids tomorrow. There are some perks to being a teacher.
|
December 9th, 2008
07:40 pm
Just a week and a half before winter break. Woo hoo!
I've been spending my time lately putting together the Warhammer Dark Elf Spearhead I bought several months ago, but I haven't gotten very far. I've concentrated the last few times I've gotten out the stuff (I don't have a dedicated assembly space, and usually assemble at the table or on a dinner tray in front of the TV after the kids go to bed) on assembling the metal hyrdra, and it's a beast in more ways than one. I'm very meticulous about cleaning, and then about pinning, and then.. you get the idea. It'll take a while.
Summer is when I'll finally have time to get together with friends and play, anyway. Weekly we have the D&D game, and I'd much rather devote my time to that - but when more free time is available, I'm looking forward to rampaging across the table with my Druchii horde - if I ever get it finished. I need harpies, but the current scultps are off-putting, to say the least. So I'm pondering ideas for customizing some other pieces to replace them with.
The D&D is good. We're still updating our Justicars campaign wiki regularly, particularly the adventure log. Everyone seems really involved, and it looks like we're finally getting around to more storyline, diplomacy, and plotting. So far it has been a "chase the bad guy with the artifact and take care of problems they've created along the way" story, so I'm looking forward to a change of pace.
In other news, my kids seem to have finally overcome the flu, but my stress-induced stomach issues came back today. I don't do pain and sickness very well, but I'm grateful to my good wife for taking care of me. I did make it through my teaching day before I came home, and I'm debating whether I call in sick tomorrow. Drugs and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (urg!) and plenty of water seem to be doing the trick.
Current Music: Hum - You'd Prefer an Astronaut
|
November 22nd, 2008
08:49 am - Martial Power, your players, and you
Our weekly game session occurred last night. Just prior to the game, my 7 players leveled their characters from 3rd to 4th level. One of the players had just gotten Martial Power, and it was no surprise to me that 3 out of the 4 martial characters chose new feats from the new book. I looked at them briefly and was fine with the increased advantages of the new stuff, but I hate to think that additional 4e books will often make the core book feats and even some powers suboptimal choices. I guess what I'm saying is:
Let the power creep begin!
Current Mood: Sarcastic
|
September 6th, 2008
02:04 pm - Loot, how we split it, and other gaming issues...
Before our first D&D 4th edition campaign began, a few members of the group got together and had a brainstorming session. We did a few unique things when discussing what our first 4th edition campaign would look like:
( Interest piqued? Read more by clicking here... )
|
August 31st, 2008
05:46 pm - So ends an epic...
My group's Ptolus campaign finished last Thursday evening. What I had thought would take us one session ended up taking the last two weeks. It was an exciting finish, but perhaps less impact then I anticipated, and with some of my players left scratching their heads as to what it all exactly meant. So this entry is a recap and explanation for the players. If you don't want Ptolus spoilers or the topic doesn't really interest you, there's really no need to read any further. Next week we'll continue with our new Justicars campaign.
( Click here to read after the cut... )
Current Mood: accomplished
|
August 21st, 2008
07:50 pm - A smorgasbord of gaming...
Some new gaming purchases today - my first in a while. The new DM's screen. I think the art is great, though I would have liked the creatures to be in different positions, as what will be the center of the screen on the table, and therefore what my players constantly look at, is Galeb Duhr (bipedal rock creatures, I think that's what they're called) and the iconic D&D creatures - beholder, mindflayer, roper, etc. aren't as central to the design. Just a little nitpick. The other thing I haven't checked yet, which is the tables, or should I say the possibility of errata making some of the tables out of date. I'll have to look into it. But the important things seem to be there, at least for me: conditions, cover and concealment, player actions (though not always spelling out what the attributes and target DCs are) and the like. All in all, not everything I would like to have, but I'm pleased never the less.
I also bought pot of black wash from the new line of citadel washes. I was tempted by the FRCS, if nothing else but to stripmine it for ideas, monsters, and the like (I do have one FR fan in my game, so a future FR-based game isn't out of the realm of possibility), but the siren song of future Warhammer Fantasy purchases was too great. I need to save my pennies. Adventurer's Vault is on my must-buy list, however. I'll probably pick up FRCS eventually.
Speaking of WHFB, I played my third game ever yesterday, the second game with all the rules intact, and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately my dwarfs got beat down with a big ol' night gobbo stick once again. My friend and I each purchased the Battle for Skull Pass beginner set, and he's bought a few new pieces to build up his greenskins. I plan on going with the dark elves eventually. Until then, it's dwarfs and goblins. You know a game's got you hooked when you enjoy it despite being on the losing side.
We've played two weeks of our new 4th edition campaign. We started it despite not being done with our Ptolus game, due to players' schedules conflicting, and no one wanting to miss out on the concluding session of Ptolus. So we've had a different roster each of the last two weeks. But the summer's ending, and so are the vacations. The stars have aligned, and tomorrow night everyone will be attending, so Ptolus it is... should be a fun one. Our first two weeks of The Justicars campaign is outlined on our wiki, if anyone else is interested. I'll let you know how the final Ptolus session goes.
Monday night I DM down at the FLGS for all comers - doing Keep on the Shadowfell demo by request of the management. Should be fun.
|
August 5th, 2008
08:12 pm - Baby - and the gaming continues...
Yes, it's been almost two weeks since she was born, but my daughter Zoe, she of the raven-haired beauty, was born on July 24. We're finally settling down to a regular routine. I'm glad as a teacher to be off during the summer so I could spend more time with the family. It's been great. New school year is on the horizon. *sigh*
Our gaming hiatus is almost over. Gaming this Friday or Saturday with the group, probably Friday. We have 1-2 sessions left of the Ptolus campaign we've been playing for.. I think almost two years now.
Our new 4e campaign, The Justicars, is really shaping up on the wiki over at Obsidian Portal, and everyone's excited about the new system and the new stories that will come from it. I'm excited to be up to my neck in homebrew potential. Now to come up with some great plothooks and the like.
Current Mood: happy
|
July 21st, 2008
09:07 am - When it rains... or is it the circle of life???
What a day yesterday. My wife's blood pressure sent us to the hospital, and now she's on "moderate bedrest" until the birth of #4. At least she didn't have to stay overnight. The downside is that I get to take over most of the household chores, which I really don't mind. In reality, the worst of it is that my wife won't be able to be out and about with me or with the kids. We were hoping to see Indiana Jones before it left theaters, but it doesn't look like it will happen now. And that's only one of several movies in the theater this summer that I've wanted to see but probably won't. Ah, well, no biggie I guess - we'll just catch it on DVD. I'm really glad I get the summer off as a teacher - can't imagine having to ask for emergency leave or whatever with a full-time job for over two weeks (that's when the baby is due and this ordeal will be over).
The same day, in a totally different wing of the same hospital we visited, my maternal grandfather passed away. He'd been on hospice and declining for a while, and so it's not totally a surprise. A WWII vet, my grandfather was really pretty cool as I was growing up. I remember him fighting off the neighbor's pit bull with a 2x4 when it got off leash and came after my brother and I in the backyard one day. He was always very fit, intelligent, and he had a lot of faith. He was a sergeant in the army, and belonged to a "marine tractor battalion" that fought in the pacific. I've got old propoganda of the battalion, like army posters featuring their amphibious tank-like vehicles. Pretty cool stuff. So there will be a funeral coming up sometime soon. I think this may be the first death in the family that my children have really had experience with, as far as having known the person. We have pretty strong religious beliefs, and my daughter has already said she knows that papa went to heaven. And you know what? I do too.
|
June 29th, 2008
08:13 am - What's your inner D&D 4th Edition Character?
And I'm not even sure why....
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/confused.gif) confused
|
June 28th, 2008
09:31 pm - Preparing a new campaign...
Our group is pretty excited about 4e D&D. I know it's not for everybody, but from the previews we've played, the players in my group want to give it a go. We have three or four game sessions left of our Ptolus Campaign, and it's great to see the culminating events coming together.
We discussed what a new 4e campaign might look like. Despite some ideas for adapting 3.5 stuff to 4e, and a few other things, out of the several ideas I pitched, one seemed to really get the feel we were looking for. It's got major politics, major adventure, and PCs that are really going to matter. It's called The Justicars, and after seeing this website advertised as a wiki and blog for RPG campaigns on Roleplayingtips, I decided I'd try using this tool for our campaign. Not only has it aided me with the preparation of the campaign (which is the stage we're in now), but it has allowed the players to see the ideas coming together, and comment and even edit the wiki. I think it will also be a boon during the campaign, a place for players to blog about the campaign (posting journals will have in-game rewards) and add to wiki pages with additions to character stories, current PC stats (invaluable in planning encounters for 7 PCs), NPC plotlines, villains, locations, items, rewards, etc. I think it's great, so far, and probably a bit of a time waster as well - but during my summer vacation, that's not a bad thing. So.. go see what The Justicars is all about so far and let me know what you think!
Edited for links that weren't working but now they are (crosses fingers).
Current Mood: happy
|
June 11th, 2008
10:22 pm
Yay!
Done with college for the summer. Also done with students at the high school. Tomorrow I go back to complete my checkout, get my grades in, and blow that popstand for the summer.
It's been a bit, so I'll catch you up: I've gotten pretty involved lately with my FLGS, Borderlands in Salem, Oregon, specifically with D&D events. I'm doing it for the joy of bring the game to the masses and being involved, but the perks are fun too. I've really enjoyed my experiences as a 4e DM so far. On WWDDGD I ran Into the Shadowhaunt twice - spoilers for the adventure ahead, by the way - (had to make my mentor teacher's retirement in the afternoon). The morning group of 5 did very well, handily beating the encounters and deciding to take the kidnapped kids and run for it. So the BBEG had to run after them, and there was a running combat in the caves with the ceiling falling down around them.
Apparently for the evening group of 6 players (only added one hobgoblin to the first encounter) it was payback time for the bad guys. TPK. The characters were a dwarf wizard, dwarf fighter, 2 human fighters, a tiefling warlock, and a human cleric. The TPK occurred because the players tried to stealth into the area with the BBEG, he and his skeletons began attacking, and then he was able to "call" the animated statues in with their nasty knock down, kick them when they're down, keep them down on opportunity attacks abilities. Players not focusing fire, getting split between a bunch of opponents, and down they all went.
I liked that the FLGS ran a character creation table with a couple of PHBs for people to use and some DMs mentoring new people through creating characters, which they could then turn around and play through the adventure.
Well, I've got some exciting news on my group's upcoming 4e campaign, but that'll have to wait. The Ptolus campaign is beginning its final stages - we probably have a month or so left. Wish we could play more. Too bad we can't all be teachers. :)
|
May 13th, 2008
09:12 pm - My birthday and other news...
So it's been awhile since I've updated - kind of in the end of the school year crunch right now, and it's killing me on a couple of different fronts, those being the teaching work front and the studying college front. I can't access my LJ from school, as it's blocked, so the only time I get to post is in the evening at home, and I'm out a couple nights a week in Portland at classes.
Anyhow, it's my birthday today, and all things considered for a workday, it was pretty good. I enjoyed going out to dinner with the family and then coming back home for a slice of the wife's homemade coconut cream pie. It was beautiful. Made from scratch - excellent. I once again had to thank my lucky stars for the wonderful and talented woman that I married.
She also got me a Plano fishing tackle box with several tiers of trays in it, great and fairly inexpensive carrying case for the growing minis collection. Some cash was given, and I got a fly fishing shirt from my parents that was too small - I'll have to return it and get something else instead. I'm thinking a gaming T-shirt or three is in my future. And of course with a few extra bucks that I get to spend, probably a gaming purchase as well. I'm thinking about hitting Auggie's Games online for some more plastic minis. Maybe I'll spring for a random pack from the FLGS. I need to fill out some larger creatures in my collection, and even though I love metal figs, the cost for this poor working gamer seems only justifiable for special projects lately. And I've got several on the backburner I want to finish up on like the eye beast (beholder) and a vampire and beast man (rhodintor) before I begin anything else - and those are Christmas gifts, so that just goes to show where I am right now with painting minis. At least they've been assembled.
I've also thought about adding a few other addictions to my summer of gaming. I'm not working this summer (I've taught summer school the last couple of years) as we have the new baby coming in August. So I figure I'll have more time to spend with the kids, more hobby time, and I want to dedicate some real time every week to writing fiction. I'm thinking about getting into Warhammer or something as well. Not sure about that, though. During the year I'm not sure I'll get to play very often. I'm lucky I get to play D&D once a week with the game group as it is. Maybe I can con the wife into playing with me. I've had a friend give me some Shadowrun Duels figs from Wizkids lately, but haven't gotten a chance to try out the game. The only other news is that I've agreed to help the FLGS demo 4e - I'm doing 4 events with them for now, ending in July. It's really for the fun of expanding the hobby, teaching people about the game, being a D&D ambassador of sorts. I've done this a few times before, and it's always a lot of fun, but very exhausting. Plus the perks are pretty good, too. Maybe I'll get to another post soon on what our game group is up to. Must get back to enjoying what's left of my B-day.
|
April 12th, 2008
02:35 pm - Smells and memories...
Play-Doh. Sweet yet very salty smell. Creating masterpieces that look like you've just squeezed a whole tube of toothpaste out on the table. Don't mix the colors if you want them to stay nice, unlike the professionally done mixed-color works of art on the play-doh contraption's box cover.
I remember playing with Play-Doh as a fun experience with a serious set of rules. Kind of like D&D. Strange connection, huh?
|
08:00 am - Choices, choices
Good RPG session last night. The party received a tip on where the Surgeon in the Shadows has holed up since originally disrupting his plans (during the Night of Dissolution adventure) in our Ptolus game. They followed the tip to the Necropolis, where a tomb not too far from the Dark Reliquary that they had heard called "The Ghoul Lord's Tomb" awaited them. They've encountered undead beasties galore, and some wicked traps so far. They've found evidence that the surgeon has been working here as well. I've really got to get them progressing into more of the unique areas of Ptolus, as PC levels are 12-13 right now. Next week they'll delve farther in, and some surprises await them, as well as more than one old enemy...
--
After the game session there was a brief discussion of what might come next after the Ptolus campaign, which we've all agreed will progress through 20th level (probably capping with 2-3 sessions at 20th level). 4th Edition D&D will be out by then, so I had always assumed that whatever we did, it would be in 4e - we had talked about doing a 4e Ptolus (probably not next, but perhaps one or two campaigns down the road to give Ptolus a break), Forgotten Realms, or a homebrew of some kind. During the discussion, several players voiced their interest in other games, perhaps even as their primary "votes" for a post Ptolus game - and several of those are not 4e. The list includes reviving or starting an Iron Heroes (Conan-esque) game or doing a Pathfinder RPG game, which has impressed several of the players with its alpha release. So my surprise here is that maybe a 4e game is not a done deal as far as our group is concerned, after all, despite my assumptions to the contrary. I have always been interested in doing a pulp Grim Tales/cthulu inspired/Slavelords of Cydonia type game, but some players don't want to leave the "purer" fantasy tropes of D&D in our gaming, so an early 1900s Grim Tales pulp type game doesn't appeal to them. I can always do something else with it though, genre wise. Shadowrun was floated as a possibility as well.
It sounds like we will do a week or two of what I call "detached" 4e dungeon crawling though directly after this Ptolus game. This will consist of our group rolling up characters without names and stories and doing a basic dungeon crawl for a week or two to try out the new system, character abilities and the like before we settle down to a new full campaign where people commit to characters and I weave a more complicated story. The reason for this is simply playtesting and showing players what 4e offers before we make a decision on a game we have no experience with (yes, I know D&D is supposed to be D&D, but I have always had the feeling that 4e is a distinctly different beast from what came before). Also, we don't want people to grow attached to their characters yet, and we want people to get a chance to try a few different characters to see what they like as far as the feel of the roles and abilities of the PCs before making a commitment.
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
smart13's journal