Mutant Future Campaign done and done

Really, last night I was finally able to admit to my players that we have really been doing Metamorphosis Alpha, just using the Mutant Future rules. The big reveal. OK, they didn’t really know what Met Alpha was. Makes me feel old.

The forest valley is not the entirety of their world, and they finally passed into the between decks areas and eventually to the command deck to meet starship captain and other unfrozen crewmembers, who are striving to save some of the ships failing systems, all the while fighting an ongoing war with androids who have taken over sections of the ship.

The characters learn of the original home known as “Earth,” and that the world they know is a starship that has long since passed it’s intended destination, and now hurtles through space. It was fun role-playing all this, and seeing character reactions.

Actually Andy knew, as he had read many of my blog posts after a mysterious emailer hipped him to my blog, that was formerly only a rumor amongst my players. Well, with the big reveal completed along with this campaign, I was able to go ahead and inform the others about my blog, which they can now read with impunity.

Two secret things, my blog and the Metamorphosis Alpha nature of the Mutant Future sessions, were never that important to keep secret. It’s easy enough to refrain from foreshadowing game events in the posts, and as far as any hard talk about Andy or Dan or any of the others, well, it’s nothing I don’t really say to their face. I think I can continue to be open and honest about my player’s headache inducing foibles without offending anyone. And for the starship nature of the characters world, well, Met Alpha was not designed as a game with keeping the secret. The players knew what they were playing in Met Alpha originally back in the old school heyday of that game, and that fact that only the PC’s were ignorant of the true nature of their world was fairly superfluous. Fun gameplay is fun gameplay no matter how you slice it.

For Posterities sake, here are the characters from this campaign:

Gamo-Ik (Andy): with a hillbilly persona and look inspired by Billy Bob Thornton’s Slingblade character, Gamo has teleport and disintegration powers. He also has Slowness, which makes him take actions every other turn. How did a slow moving humanoid survive the dangers of the valley? Well, he also has Teleport. So he cannot run faster than any of the characters in the party, but his still often appears in front of them when they travel. Slow of body, he is the most intelligent and wise of all the characters, so he is more accepting of the true nature of the world once it is revealed.

Rizgar (Dan): I mutated bear with Quickness, Telekinesis, and Dwarfism mutations. Belligerent and contrary (like most of Dan’s characters).

Will O. (Paul): a mutated tree-man. When travelling with the group, some characters keep a distance from him. See, he gives off a damaging Shriek when damaged to those nearby, and also bleeds out acid sap when he gets damaged. At one point got his hands on a large cell-powered chainsaw that he uses to great affect. One scary tree. Often damages himself in combat to get the Shriek power activated.

Korm (Big Ben): no obvious mutations and looking very much like a normal human, he has Weather Control and combat intuition powers. He also has increased metabolism, so the character is always looking for his next big meal. His use of weather control on the forest valley level over the years may have made the breakdown of ship atmospheric systems occur more quickly than they otherwise would have.

Donald “Don Juan” John Garth (NPC): a ship engineer who got trapped on the forest level over a year ago, he has become a known as a wise travelling shaman to many of the valley people. Let himself be known as “Don Juan” to many as an inside joke to himself – he was a big reader of Carlos Castanada. Eventually led the party out of the valley level and to the command deck at the end of the campaign.

Also, little Ben played in one game as a lizard man from the valley, but actually I forget his name.

Oh, in last night’s final game I got to use classic beasties from The Barrier Peaks D&D module in encounters, including VegyPymies and hostile Android weight trainers in a gym area. Nice.

So there we go, one little campaign wrapped up. We usually played this alternate when Terry could not make a game, so we’ll have to find some other alternates for the future, including White Box OD&D, of course.

WOTC I do not wish you well

In a recent post over at Cyclopeatron. Cyclo talks about a new trading card element for D&D from WOTC, and of course it is just a lame move by this company to try and recapture a collectable card fad that had its heyday over a decade ago; plugging it into a game with a name that has serious geek zeitgeist. This was the first I heard of it, and I still do not know all the details, but jeez, what utter shit this once mysterious and wonderful game has been made into by these modern marketeers. No wonder so many of us hold on to the retro.

But what strikes me even odder is the commentary you hear from blog followers who do not play current WOTC products, but “wish them well.” What kind of “happy happy joy joy” mentality does somebody have to have to wish this corporate crapola well? Who that does not play with current WOTC merchandise would give a flying rats ass about WOTC and it’s chickenshit schemes for its product. These well-wishers are more Pollyanna than the chipper gay policemen from Demolition Man.

OK, you say “it’s good to get new people into the hobby.” Why? Because you can’t get/keep a group together? Do you hope D&D will take off gigantically like the mid-80’s again when groups were too full and closed to new players, starting a soup line of hungry players wanting to play at your table? Or is it so it becomes more mainstream and therefore you no longer have to have some weird guilt/shame thing in your gut when you are around people who are talking about wine and cars and The LA Lakers and who think this kind of activity is for the proverbial geektards?

I mean, when I started D&D the late 70’s, you talked about it in school in whispers. Just like comic books and being into Sci Fi movies instead of cars, it was like we were part of this little secret society. “We” watched Star Trek and Dark Shadows reruns, “They” watched C.H.I.P.S and Movin’ on (you may not remember it, but it was an action drama featuring truckers that all the dipshits in “special” classes watched in the early 80’s). Even in elementary school I remember the class voting on it's favorite TV show, with "That's My Momma"( a piece of junk Sanford and Son rip-off) getting the winning nod, and me being jeered for voting for Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

By high school, I would sneak away after football practice to run Tegal Manor for the Fantasy Role Playing Association meeting in some unlocked classroom. If word got out to my teammates what I was doing, I’d have probably gotten goofed on relentlessly in the locker room, and the cheerleader dates would have dried up. I loved that this was a small, underground, niche hobby. That was half the fun for me.

Patton Oswalt, D&D playing geek comedian, puts how I feel well here in one of his rants about underground geek culture:

“…Admittedly, there’s a chilly thrill in moving with the herd while quietly being tuned in to something dark, complicated, and unknown just beneath the topsoil of popularity. Something about which, while we moved with the herd, we could share a wink and a nod with two or three other similarly connected herdlings.

When our coworkers nodded along to Springsteen and Madonna songs at the local Bennigan’s, my select friends and I would quietly trade out-of-context lines from Monty Python sketches—a thieves’ cant, a code language used for identification. We needed it, too, because the essence of our culture—our “escape hatch” culture—would begin to change in 1987…”

I don’t think anybody needs to hate WOTC, and if they actually play their products then more power to them. But if you don’t, you at least wish them well? Do you actually know the people who work there? The top brass all the way down to the lowest goof-off file clerk who after hours pisses in the office coffee pot? Fuck them. I don’t wish them anymore well than I do any other souless corporation in this country. That they are in the game-making business holds no mystique for me, and does not for sure automatically garner my well-wishes. James Raggi I wish well. Geoffry McKinney I wish well. Goodman I wish goddamn well! WOTC I wish them all a jolly springtime standing in the goddamn unemployment line.

Wizards of the Coast, please fail horribly and die a miserable bankruptcy court death. I still have my copies of OD&D and 1st edition, and it is all I will ever need for my D&D.

Blood Meridian and the Immortal Warrior

“Whatever exists.” He said. “Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.” He looked about at the dark forest in which they were bivouacked. He nodded toward the specimens he’d collected. “These anonymous creatures may seem little or nothing in the world. Yet the smallest crumb can devour us. Any smallest thing beneath yon rock out of mens knowing. Only nature can enslave man and only when the existence of each last entity is routed out and made to stand naked before him will he be properly suzerain of the earth.” – Judge Holden

Judge Holden is like something from another world. A kind of mutant in the old, pre- civil war west. He is almost 7 feet tall, an albino, and is completely bald and hairless right down to the lack of eyelashes. Seemingly strong as an ape, he has been observed to lift a large anvil up over his head, and then toss it nearly ten feet on a bet. He has escaped near certain death by doing outlandish things like firing on his enemies point blank with a Howitzer under one arm and a lit cigar in the other hand. He is widely travelled and highly educated, maybe self so, and can converse with others in multiple languages (German, French, Italian, etc.) about such far ranging subjects as philosophy, paleontology, archaeology, linguistics, law, geology, and astrology. At night in the wilderness he will often spend his time collecting natural specimens of flora and fauna, keeping careful notes. To even those who know him, the Judge seems more than a little supernatural and fully out of place in most situations.

In Cormac Mccarthy’s 1985 book Blood Meridian, Judge Holden rides along with a group of border scalp hunters, fighting renegade Indians for a price. Apparently, the Judge met the current group he rides with as they were fleeing from superior numbers and low on ammo. Holden is sitting on a boulder in the middle of nowhere as if waiting for them, and in mere moments after their meeting, the Judge has gathered the proper local materials to show them how to create gunpower, with which they chase off their foes. Every man in that group of disparate men claim to have met the Judge at one time or another in the past, adding to his spooky mystique.

On top of everything else, Judge Holden seems supreme in his evil. Even among cutthroats, bushwackers, rapists, murderers, and thieves he stands out. When the group of outriders devolve into killing and scalping innocent villagers and pilgrims, the Judge takes no hesitation in slaughtering children when others flinch. An obvious pedophile, the Judge will keep a young captured boy or girl alive for a couple of days, before tiring of them and scalping them to add to the loot pile. He flatters children with sweets, and in communities the Judge arrives in a young girl or boy will invariably go missing or be found murdered.

In Blood Meridian the brutally biblical seems to meld into the blatant metaphysical. The colors and textures of the Southwest, much like those Carlos Castenada’s Don Juan experienced, take on an alien life of their own. But here it is more sinister. Every sunset seems like an open gateway to hell. When a lone tree in the prairie is struck by lightning at night, tarantulas, lizards, scorpions, and vinegaroons seem to gather around it in natural awe as if summoned by demons.

Judge Holden walks this landscape like some sort of ancient and devilish warrior of a bygone fantasy age. Like the good hearted immortal warrior John Carter of Mars, Judge Holden seems to come out of nowhere in the past and is not necessarily restrained by natural laws. Decades after the beginning of the novel, towards the brutal and controversial end of this visceral epic, Judge Holden seems completely unchanged and unaged in any way, his great strength and great appetite for evil undiminished.

I just finished this book, and one thing was on my mind at the end. What a great character Judge Holden would be to insert into a Boot Hill, Old West Cthulhu, or any weird west. The Judge could obviously appear in any age one wished, him being a supernatural entity and all (at least in my conclusion). A Roman citizen; a black knight in the Middle Ages; or even a futuristic setting. But I think to use him in the Old West would be best, to portray him as he appears in the book. And as I said, he appears to be the same in the 1850’s as he is in the 1870’s. I feel he could easily show up in the 1920’s, prancing to dark music arm in arm with Alister Crowley at an occult function.

If you haven’t read Blood Meridian: or the Evening Redness in the West, do so. But only if you can stand the brutality; inhumanity; and Cormac’s ruthless use of metaphors. I think that if you are a descriptive game master (or even not) you can up your game by making as study of this author’s colorful and flavorful (to the point of delirious overload) prose.

In true gamer fashion (and because this is a game blog) here is the basic Call of Cthulhu stats for The Judge as best I can make them on the spot. I may just use him if I ever get around to my Old West Cthulhu campaign. Hey, what if the Judge is yet another avatar of Nyarlothotep? Hmm…

Judge Holden
Occupation: Soldier/Warrior. Holden is an unapologetic lover of war and conflict.
Age: unknown. Appears generally to be in his late 30’s/Early 40’s.
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 17
Education: 17
Constitution: 16
Power: 17
Charisma: 16
Size:18

*Note: as a supernatural/near supernatural being, Judge Holden is already “crazy,” and therefore immune to sanity affects.

Skills:
Anthropology, archeology, paleontology, geology: 60%
History, linguistics, chemistry, physics: 50%
Accounting, law, psychology, calligraphy, occult: 40%
Climb, jump, ride, sneak, drive carriage: 50%
Oratory, persuade:65%
Pistol: 70%
Rifle: 75%
Knife, club, brawling, grapple: 80%

*The Judge likes to dress in clean white clothing whenever possible, including a hat to cover his bald head in the sun. If he finds himself hatless in outdoors, he will first bargain, then kill, for one. Same for weapons if he is weaponless. Gaining a firearm, especially a pistol, will be a priority if he is unarmed.

Judge Holden prefers to be naked when camped out or in private, sometimes donning a light robe. When travelling he likes to carry his gear in a European Portmanteau instead of the more rugged leather satchels of his companions. If encountered “in lair,” he will probably be only wearing an open robe or coat and otherwise nude. In this circumstance he is likely to have: 40% a young but adult female (50% whore/50% against her will victim), 40% chance of a child under the age of 13 (60% female, 40% male). In addition, there is a 10% chance Holden will also have some form of unusual person (mentally disabled person, midget or dwarf, carnival freak, etc). All will be naked and possibly assisting Judge Holden in his abuse of his other “guest.” The Judge seems to also be capable of restraining and raping a strong, full grown man.
In this case he may only commit this act out of some kind of vengeance, although it is possible he has an attraction to certain grown men outside of revenge. His preference for evening “companions” is almost exclusively children of a pubescent age.

The Judge loves to use his oratory/persuasion skills to cause ruin of others. He once convinced a mob at a church revival that an otherwise steadfast preacher was a child and goat rapist. This is the type of thing he might do in a town for laughs. Once somebody becomes his enemy, the Judge will seek revenge on them relentlessly, even if he has to wait decades for the opportunity.

Unafraid of the High Level Game

Well, this week we got in another session of the Night Below, and the second game of the assault on The City of The Glass Pool. The final stretch of the campaign.

I was sort of fearing this part of the campaign for a couple of reasons. One, I don’t have all that much experience with levels above 7th, even after all these decades. I’m not saying characters haven’t hit 8th, 9th, or even higher in past games. It’s just that my preference is to run for low to mid levels (1-7), probably because a campaign would end and I would be interested in new groups of PC’s. Secondly, I just thought that an assault on a city would be a logistic nightmare of the type I haven’t run for many a moon. Sure, I’ve had characters involved in wars and great battlefields, but an urban location being attacked by players is rare in my games.

One thing I do like about high levels is that things get more like comic book battles, which is what I was brought up on. And the last couple of games have been no exception. The COTGP is somewhat in lockdown mode, which means the streets are not exactly crawling with enemies. There are some large patrols, but in the first foray into the city the party used the 100 hydra teeth to create a small army of skeletons to run interference with patrols, and also Krysantha had whipped up an insect plague to mess with part of the city while they attacked the Illithid building and then in this game the slave pens before hoofing it out of the city and back to base for a rest (with some help from allies blowing up part of the city gate for easier exit). They got out and back to the safe place with around 100 slaves, many of them dwarves with skills that might come in handy. This was all much more fun than I thought it would be for me. It really is just like running a dungeon, just with much bigger corridors!

Back at the “Derro Town” captured mind flayer tower, the party found out that a band of drow, Avatara and her crew from games early this year, had taken over the tavern in the deserted under-town. Their goal is to eventually make their way to the site of the old drow city on the Sunless Sea. This is why they are rooting for the party to destroy the COTGP. Just one of many evil groups the party is forced to deal with.

As we are on the last couple of games of the campaign, here is a list of all the PC’s and NPC’s who are the “heavy hitters” of the campaign. For posterities sake if nothing else.

Vaidno (Andy): 8th level chaotic/good half elf bard from the big city up north. Not a btb bard, but my own more musically inclined bard class (based off the old houri class from White Dwarf magazine). Vaidno has survived many near death encounters, leading me to call him “Survivno.” Acrobatic, skillful with blades, Vaidno faces the nightmares of the Night Below setting with great bravery and is more like a fighter in mentality. Often gets short-shrifted on magic items. Recently gained both a tower and an 18 charisma from the Deck of Many Things.

Krysantha (Dan): 8ish level fighter/druid. Female drow raised by druids. Formerly lawful neutral, decided recently she was plain neutral. I think she is chaotic, but I’m tired of arguing with players about their alignment. Remorseless murderer of NPC’s, and big time grudge-holder. Along with Vaidno takes the most vocal leadership role in the group.

Helena (Terry): chaotic/neutral with good tend. 8ish level fighter/thief. Does not live a thiefly livestyle, is actually a kleptomaniac. Was raised in a house with several fighter brothers who taught her sword and shield. Has a knack for talking the other players out of magic items without even having to steal them. Like many of Terry’s characters, is obsessed with marriage. Got wishes from the Deck of Many Things, and used most of them for fairly petty gains.

Kayla (Terry): 8th level hobbit cleric of Sheenara and Sherriff of the southern hobbit border. A character of Terry’s since the early 90’s, I let her join the party pretty much just because she was in the area (and they did not have a cleric). A player kind of complained about Terry running two characters, which has some merit because Terry often takes a long time to take a turn for a character. As the other players did not defend her presence, I had her go back to her castle, where her new band of followers awaited her anyway. A high level cleric would be a big boon to survival right now, but since the players have not requester her they can lump it. If Terry’s Helena dies in the next couple games, I’ll have Kayla appear.

Lumarin (Big Ben): 8th level high elf lawful good MU. The main party magic user. Lost several points of intelligence from a Deck of Many Things draw. Originally joined the party early on in The Night Below campaign when the party saved him from being eaten by Gnolls.

Lily (Paul): chaotic/neutral (later evil) 7ish level thief/MU. Greedy harlot who was saved from Gnolls along with Lumarin. Got in many confrontations with Krysantha over stealing items from treasure troves. Eventually betrayed the party to her boyfriend Xavier. Ran off with Xavier and his gang after the fight. Officially out of the party, but still active in the campaign in case the characters want to find her and kill her. They kind of have bigger fish to fry right now.

Zith (Paul): I had sort of planned to have some Githyanki (extra dimensional anti-mind flayer warriors) show up at some point in this campaign. I didn’t, but when Paul could not run Lily anymore I just gave him an 8th level fighter Githyanki to run in the party. Paul seems to dig that character, but ultimately this is just a player running an NPC. If anybody dies in the next game or two, they can run a Githyanki as well.

Ormac (Little Ben): 6ish level gnome illusionist. Ben played for a while the other year, but had to drop out for work. He returned a couple months ago and so did Ormac. Ben misses a lot of games in general, so Ormac is kind of a “there not there” side player in the whole thing.

Major NPC’s

Dia: teenage ranger and (unknown to her until recently) daughter of Woodlord Arcturus Grimm. She pretty much got the party together over two years ago to go explore a dungeon. They got sidetracked by The Night Below. She is from the same town as Helena, and they knew each other growing up. She eventually took possession of the anti-Kuo Toa sword Finslayer.

Arcturus Grimm: One time Woodking of the ranger kingdom of Woodaria in the far north. A controversial figure, he is also known for having been possessed by evil decades ago when he caused great suffering in the land. He now lives in the southern frontier area in a garden temple dedicated to his sister Sheenara, goddess of the wood. Arcturus was my very first character as a little kid, and I kept him in my game world to use over the decades ( one of the few “super NPC’s” I indulge in). Arcturus has apparently spent the last few decades siring children all over the land with different women.

Clovis Grimm: underdark ranger in the Night Below, and son of Arcturus Grimm. Unlike Dia he is in frequent contact with his father, and has helped guide the party in some of their travels below. Currently protecting the freed slaves the party has saved.

Avatara: a fighter/MU/thief drow NPC and drow city expat I have used for decades in my games, going by a variety of names. She is best known for living in Tanmoor and acting as guild mage for the elvish thieves’ guild there. In the current campaign she is on some kind of mission with other, younger drow to find the lost city of drow on the Sunless Sea. After an encounter with Krysantha and Vaidno awhile back, Krys has sworn to kill her, but she is an asset currently (Avatara wants the party to destroy the City of the Glass Pool so she can travel down to the Sunless Sea). This NPC is personally responsible for killing one of Terry’s characters back in the 90’s. At one point in the late 90’s I successfully had her seduce a female wood elf PC.

Bonus XP after a long Campaign

I have always liked to give a little extra experience points towards the end of a D&D campaign (or for any game that involves XP, really). Not a ton of it mind you, but usually a decent chunk to award the MVP character or player of the campaign.

In last weekend's rainy day game, I decided to have a little fun with it. I would let the players vote on a 10,000 experience point award (not really a lot in this now high level campaign) for one character. I gave them each a scrap of paper with their name on it, and told them to write down a character other than their own. The pieces would then go in a cup and a reading of votes (like on Survivor) would take place. They would use whatever reason they wanted. They could vote for Andy's Vaidno the Bard because Andy is our usual host (although Dan had us over that day). They could vote for a PC who was close to going up a level. They could vote for whatever reason struck their fancy. No group discussion was allowed.

It was fun reading off the votes. It was less fun when three characters each got two votes; Andy's Vaidno, Big Ben's high elf MU Lumarin, and Little Ben's gnome Ormac. I could understand the first two; these were usually the forefront leaders of battle and decision making. But little Ormac, run by fairly quite Ben, was a head scratcher for me. Everybody had a good laugh around the table at the three-way tie, but I just sighed and said "Ok, I have checked-out emotionally from this." That got another thunderous round of haw haw's.

Anyway, I made the popular decision of awarding 6,000 to each PC voted for, which was enough for little Ormac to go up. Then we got on with the game.

So...have you ever awarded XP at the end of a campaign, or in my little dramatic fashion as in this last game?

Spotlight On My Campaign/Group

Hats off to this interesting post at The Tao of D&D for inspiring me to ask these questions about my group and campaign to myself. It is actually pretty self-enlightening to question yourself like this from time to time.


1. How long has this present campaign been in existence?

The Night Below has been going on for a little over two years. The year before that was leading up to a high level dungeon crawl, but then I bought NB and said “what the heck” and switched gears to an Underdark based campaign.

2. How many players do you have, and how many right now were present at the beginning of the campaign?

Steady full group of the same six for over a year now. Andy (our host), Dan, and Terry (who I have known for over 20 years and played in a lot of my groups of yore) are still with me since day one.

3. How many of your players are family members?

Zero. Nobody in my family has any love for the rolling of the dice (unless it’s in Vegas).

4. How many of your present players began playing after the halfway point in the existence of your campaign? How many in the last year (if that applies)?

Big Ben and Paul started a little over a year ago. Paul is 20 and it was his first table top gaming (after playing a lot of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights). Little Ben (also known as Ben 2.0, Ben-ny and The Jets, and “Ben Dover”) played a couple of years ago, had to stop for many months for work, then started again a few months ago.

5. How many long-term players (played for more than a third of the campaign) have you had that dropped out? Were any reasons given?

All my guys who played for more than the first three months have stuck with the group.

6. How many short term players have you had since the campaign started who did not come back? How many of them gave a reason?

For that first year I think a total of four temp dudes played for a couple months or so each. Various reasons given such as work, school etc. In all honesty, I’m not sure my freewheeling style and lots of house ruling appealed to them. I was disappointed in a couple of them, because there was a certain amount of investment. “Caleb” is his own story (search his name in my blog if you want to read about that, but not really worth going into at this point), but one of these past guys before he came to the game called me on a Sunday afternoon while I was sunning and sipping beer in the back yard, and proceeded to grill me about the game. It was like an hour long job interview. I should have said “no thanks” at that point, but I kind of wanted more players. He showed for maybe two games. Waste of my time.

I’m more happy with all my current players than I would have been with those other guys anyway. A Couple of them were a bit weird (and not in a good geeky way). I hope they found gaming happiness, and managed to avoid the couple of groups I had terrible experiences in the area outside of my own. These experiences gave me new gratitude for the group and players that I have put together. Honestly, despite past gripes (what, me gripe?) about some of my players, there is not one "Rod-turd" in this punchbowl. I feel very fortunate as a GM to have these people to run for.

7. How many of the players in your world have never played a roleplaying game before?

21 year old Paul was a noob, but played a lot of fantasy video games. He is a natural at it, and has even caused controversy in the games (without being a trouble making douche).

8. Estimate the appearance rate of your players. How often does your campaign run?

Couple times a month. As I want all the long-time major players (Andy, Dan, and Terry - my original varsity team) there for my main campaign, we have often had to wait a month or two to get back to the Night Below. In those times I mostly ran some Metamorphosis Alpha (with Mutant Future), some OD&D, and a little bit of Champions. Terry makes more games than she used to, but still has a tough time scheduling. “I have a life,” she often says, despite the fact that most of us have more of a life than she does (sorry Terry, but “having a life” is not a rare condition, even among gamers).

9. Name the three principle reasons for people not appearing in your campaign.

Vacation, business trips, school, etc.

10. How often is it that players in your campaign do not appear without having given a reason?

Never.

Rainy Day, Stormy Game

Southern California has been experiencing several days of almost constant rain. I cannot remember the last time it rained so much and so hard. Well, as I said in a post from a year ago, I love rainy day gaming. The rain makes me want to game or at least to work on my game material. So inspiring.

Saturday afternoon we got to do one of our rare weekend sessions. Dan, freshly back from one of his international business adventures, was hosting us in his nice big house in the hills above Bel Air (near Mulholland Drive). It was just pouring non-stop for hours on end. I got soaked to the bone several times that day, but loved it. Dan’s living room has all glass walls looking out on his back patio (very “Los Angeles”). He has a view of a hill across the way, one of the Santa Monica Mountains, and it looked so wintery and wet. It had a real “misty mountains” look that had my “G Zone” (that hidden organ in us that demands that we roll dice and kill things) in high gear.

I went into this game really run down. I had been running ragged for weeks. Not just at work, but all the holiday parties and junk food, and all the high end booze had my innards working overtime. And at work I have been surrounded by sick, coughing and sneezing humanoids. Everybody who walked by my cube last week seemed to have this bad cold going around. Friday night I actually emailed Big Ben and told him to be prepared to run his D&D in case I was not up to it. You see, we are in the last couple of games (I hope) of the Night Below campaign, and running for high level characters is work enough. Adjudicating their assault on a Kou Toa city is another thing entirely. Walking into Dan’s house wet with shoes in hand had me doubting my abilities on this day, but the rain outside and the cheerfully snarky banter inside got my G Zone juicing and we were soon getting into the game after a relaxing half hour or so of goofing around, drinking Heinekens, and munching snacks and pizza.

Everybody seems to be enjoying their characters, especially Dan and Andy. I have to say, with my attitude towards their PC’s around a year ago or so at this time, I have to admit that I am fairly fond of these characters as well. Dan’s drow Krysantha is a killing and ass-kicking machine, and I think the others characters would be foolish to get on her bad side (and she only seems to have a bad side). Her murderous actions of the last game are forgotten now that the party is in situations that could translate into Total Party Kill. And Andy’s Vaidno, well, it is a great character. Not just heroic in good ways, but at the same time the bard is a hopeless showboater and showstopper who cheats death at every turn. Choices from the Deck of Many Things a few games ago gave him a tower (back home in the city area) and an 18 charisma, and it is kind of fun to see him beam with pride at this character that has survived one near-death situation after another and continued to thrive. “Vaidno SurvivnoThriveno!” Goddamn Andy.

Well, some time was spent preparing to sneak into the city (through cracked water pipes learned about from the thief Prentyss that Krysantha murdered last game). In they went and the action was truly on!

After dealing with crossing and fighting the affects of the Kuo Toa “Relaxation Pool,” Krysantha cast a mass insect swarm to molest a nearby section of the city, while the party ran through the town and towards the Illithid quarters in the hopes of taking possession of the Crown of Derro Domination. As groups of Derro and Kou Toa patrolled the streets, the party let loose with all 100 of the hydra teeth they had. *poit*poit*poit*poit* sounds filled the air as 100 skeletons appeared with sword and shield to do their bidding, and the skelly’s ran to attack the patrols to keep them off of the party.

At the Mind Flayer building, the party fought a hard battle against several of the monsters, but a combination of good tactics and good die rolls helped win the day there. Unfortunately, the main Illithid, Zantacore, was not present so the crown was not achieved. We had to end it around then, but we managed to leave off with the players having a great sense of the possibility of success in this assault on the city.

Really, my players are not known to me as great tacticians. With characters like Vaidno and Kryantha usually taking the lead, it was more about gung ho “let’s just take ‘em head on!” type stuff. But they actually thought this one out a bit, which made me kind of proud. It was a great game and a great wintery day to have it on.

Unfortuantly, we did not get to finish the campaign by the end of the year. But the good news is, by February I’ll get a break from AD&D and be able to refresh with some new genres. But boy, this is pretty exciting. I’m running a game for high level characters, which can be a decent amount of work. But now I am at a point where I can look back upon it all more and I have to say, this has been a fun campaign with a great group of people and characters.