Scarred Lands - Island of the Dead

Game Date: 8/21/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast Flashing, Jr. (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Shade (Jesse) - Drow Rogue
Thorfin (Ted) - Goliath Fighter

Notes:
This session introduced two new characters. Ted is playing Thorfin, the Goliath Fighter, while Jesse has started a Drow Rogue known as Shade.

Recap:
Last session we saw the death of Alek Corman. The party was very broken up about it.

According to Ted, Alek's last words were, "I must be going. No guest shall stay in one place for ever. Love will be lost if you sit too long at a friend's fire. Farwell my friends." (Which he ripped from a Norse poem called Hávamál.) Just for the heck of it, Jesse has decided to roll up a new character as well.

The Session:
When we first met Alek Corman, he had been on a pilgrimage to Hedrad. His last wish was to be buried there. Since we were on our way there anyway, we were more than happy to oblige.

Our boat trip ended at a small town called Barel, where we bought some mules and continued our journey. After a while, we encountered a Taurosphinx, like the one in Aria's dream (last session). This one seemed friendly, but it could be a bad omen that it ate the entire party in the dream.

The Sphinx claimed to be the Herald of Hedrad. He told us that the answers we seek would not be found in Hadrad, and that we should instead seek the ruins at Skykeep. He mentioned that he'd been trying to find us, but for something had been blocking his ability to locate us.

That something turned out to be the brooch Alek had "stolen" from that merchant in Lave. It was a magical device that prevented the Sphinx's scrying... but most likely enabled scrying for certain parties. So, we attached the brooch to one of the mules, and sent it running away.

Skykeep was not close, but the Sphinx offered to fly us part of the way there. This is where we parted company with Gorn, who elected to continue the journey to Hedrad in order to give Alek an honorable burial. Aria and Blast climbed onto the Sphinx's back, and they were off.

The Sphinx dropped them off at a small fishing village called Mansk. There was some sort ruckus in town, so we decided to investigate. We found that a lynch mob was preparing to hang a couple of prisoners. Thorfin was being executed for being a Titan-spawn. Meanwhile Shade was accused of committing some murders in town, but it was their distrust of Drow rather than actual evidence that convicted her.

Though they were scary-looking and possibly evil, Aria felt bad about these two getting executed simply for their race. So she sweet-talked the leader of the mob, and ended up paying 100 gold to have the two released. The four of us continued on together.

Beyond the town, we found we had a lake to cross. We managed to get free passage on a ship, due to a letter of credit we had from the Vigil of Vesh. Even that turned out to be overpriced, as the trip proved to be a disaster. Partway through the voyage, we encountered a bad storm. The weather turned out to be the product of a Storm Hag, who delighted in throwing lightning bolts at the ship.

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of fearless crew... well, the ship was pretty much lost anyway. Our party managed to escape in a rowboat. Thorfin even made a hero of himself by jumping back onto the sinking ship and helping some of the NPC crew to escape. We rowed on until morning.

Eventually we saw a small island in the distance. The first thing we noticed was a church steeple. Obviously a sign of civilization, but this island wasn't marked on our map. Thorfin rowed the boat ashore (hallelujah). We hid the boat and investigated the island.

The island was home to a small town. The people on the island acted oddly. They didn't seem surprised by our unusual mix of races, and they wouldn't give us any helpful answers, sometimes completely ignoring us. However, one guy - who seemed a bit drunk - called out to us. He said, "You shouldn't be here. I've seen things you can't unsee." He then offered to let us stay at his house for the night.

...And then, he was shot twice in the face by a crossbow. (We still haven't ruled out Shade as the killer.) We decided to stay in his house anyway. We hadn't been there too long when the church bell started ringing. Then the temperature dropped, the sky grew dark, and the whole world seemed to change. In a transformation reminiscent of Silent Hill, everything - walls, floors, etc - started to look old and weathered. We looked around the town, and all the townspeople were lying on the ground. Then they started getting back up, but now they were undead.

The next battle was incredibly long, but to be honest that's probably our own fault. We were mobbed by hordes of infinitely-spawning zombie minions (and a few non-minions), and we should have taken the hint earlier that this battle could not be won through fighting. Instead we just fought and fought, killing zombie after zombie.

We went through all our healing powers, and some of us were picking off zombies from the roof, when it occurred to us to use that vantage point to look around town. We saw that the zombie crowd was all over the city, except around the church. So we fled the encounter and made for the church.

Unfortunately the church door was locked, and was protected by some sort of Rune of Warding. It had a very specific-shaped keyhole, and so Shade started sneaking around town hoping to find the key. Meanwhile, the rest of us tried to find other ways into the church. Thorfin thought about climbing to the bell tower, but the walls shocked him at the touch.

Blast managed to dispel the Warding with an Arcana check. With the ward gone, the door was now pickable, but of course our lockpicker was exploring the town. And worse - it turns out the Rune of Warding was the only thing keeping the zombies away.

The bell tolled again, and all the town's zombies started walking our way. Shade took the hint and sneaked past them, while Thorfin kicked the door open and shoved Blast and Aria through. Once Shade arrived and we were all inside, we slammed the door shut.

The door then vanished, turning into a blank wall. And that's all we know for now; we haven't even looked around our current room yet.

Reminders:
Aria paid for Blast's mule, and the 100 gold to free Thorfin and Shade. She does not actually expect to get paid back, but she wouldn't object to it.

We haven't had a chance to take an extended rest, so we might be going into the next encounter with fewer healing surges and Daily powers.

Rewards:
All characters are now Level 5.

Scarred Lands - Rolling on the River

Game Date: 8/14/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Human Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast Flashing, Jr. (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger

Notes:
Ted will be playing a new character next week.

Recap:
Last session we were sent to find a magic bell. We explored some ancient dungeon tunnels, and saw a historic vision involving a Titan.


Um, yes. That's... that's exactly how it went down. The story climaxed with an epic battle against a colossal demon. We were granted the title of "Kelder" (clanless Dwarf), and each of us was given a runic tattoo.

The Session:
As the new heroes of Burok-Torn, we took a much-needed rest. As we prepared to leave town and resume our travel to Vesh, we had a big decision to make. Leave from Burok-Torn, and take a path through the swamps? Or go back through the mirror to the other town, and leave from there? We finally settled on the latter, which was a much easier route. Other than a long rope bridge and a 10 gp toll (plus tip, for the nicer party members), it was an uneventful trip.

We arrived at Vesh, where a Vigil escorted us to the capital city of Lave. Lave turned out to be a cosmopolitan town, bustling with activity. As we prepared to meet the commander, we found that a few other adventuring parties were sitting in the waiting room as well. Gorn tried desperately to flirt with a female Half-Orc in another party, but he kept getting interrupted.

We met with the commander. We read "The Tale of the Serpent Amphora" which tells of the defeat of Mormo by Madriel. This helped us understand the origins of our Amphora, but the commander still wanted to know more. He asked us to travel to Hedrad, which is apparently has second greatest Library in the world. He is paying us 300 gold each (half now, half when we get back).

He also planned to send out those other adventuring parties with fake Amphoras, in order to throw off our enemies. He even gave us the option to give them our Amphora and carry a fake one ourselves, but for some reason we decided to hang onto the real one (it seemed like a good idea at the time).

While in town, we also finally dropped off the dead Ranger we'd been dragging around since our first session. I don't know if they plan to raise him or just give him a proper burial, but at least it's out of our hands.

Hedrad was best reached by river, so we started for the docks. We were passing through the merchant district, when we caught a pickpocket trying to steal Alek's coin pouch. We thoroughly searched him and let him go. As we were heading out the town gates, a merchant started running after us. He was calling for the guards, and accused us of stealing a brooch from his stand.

We told them about the pickpocket, and told them we weren't thieves. Aria managed to roll a whopping 38 on her Diplomacy check (using Words of Friendship and with Blast assisting). They let us go and said they'd do further investigating on their own.

We hired a boat. We spent each day traveling down the river, our speed slightly increased by Aria's "Traveler's Chant" ritual. Each night we camped on the riverbank.

On the first night, Blast was keeping watch when we were attacked by some Acid Shamblers, led by an Ice Ghoul. You know, Aria should write a ballad about this someday...



...or maybe not. The boat captain helped us fight, mostly protecting Aria throughout the battle. His crew high-tailed it back to the ship. Blast kept getting grabbed by the Acid Shamblers, who delighted in chewing on him (Nom nom nom Gnome gnome gnome...). As usual, our heroic Alek kept most of the enemies busy while the rest of us offered support.

Aria rolled a rather entertaining fumble this encounter (using our Fumble Deck). She used Scorching Burst on a group of enemies. Not only did she miss every single one, but one of her attacks was a 1, which summoned a hostile Fire Beetle. Not really helping!

After the battle, we searched some nearby ruins, and found a little treasure.

That night, Gorn had a dream about a maze of doors. Aria had a dream where a bull-headed Sphinx ate all of her friends and chased her.

At our next campsite, we heard some music in the distance. The captain said he knew of no towns in that direction. We decided to check it out. The source of the melody was a beautiful Dryad, who requested that we keep her company. Gorn and Blast were very eager to make her acquaintance. Aria tried to play some music with her, but the Dryad didn't seem as interested in Aria as she was in the men. Alek decided to stay back and watch.

The Dryad entranced Blast and Gorn, and the rest of us were attacked. Alek and Aria were stuck fighting the Dryad, two dogs, two birds, and our teammates. Luckily Blast and Gorn were able to shake off their enchantments in a few rounds, but it still wasn't easy. Early in the battle Aria was dive-bombed by a bird and lost a huge amount of hit points. We eventually defeated the animals, but the Dryad escaped.

After the battle, we found that merchant's brooch was pinned to Alek's cloak. We debated a little, but we've decided to sell it. (Though we probably do have time to change our minds. Personally I think we should wait until our next trip to Lave, and pin it to the outfit of someone we don't like.)

Another day of river travel, another night of camping. This time we were attacked by 3 swarms of Needlefang Drakes and one large Mockdragon. The swarms were able to knock us prone, then did extra damage to prone targets. The Mockdragon was no picnic either.

Alek bravely took enough damage for three Paladins, using every power in his disposal to keep all attacks on him. Aria buffed his defenses, and we all did everything we could to keep him on his feet. But it wasn't enough. With just two bloodied enemies left on the board, Alek failed his final death save and went to the Great Beyond.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The rest of us managed to finish off the enemies. Ted has asked us not to raise him, as he wants to try a new character. Aria is using the Gentle Repose ritual on the corpse, but only to preserve it for our journey so we can give him a proper burial later. We have decided not to loot his magic items.

GP:
-10 each (toll/guide on way to Vesh)
+150 each (half of reward for trip to Hedrad)
-5 each (boat ride)
+45 each (180 gp found in ruins)
Total +180 each for the session

XP:
+220 (Ice Ghoul encounter)
+175 (Dryad encounter)
+194 (Drake encounter)
Total 589 each for the session.
Aria, Gorn, and Blast are at 5083 (Level 4)

Scarred Lands - For Whom the Bell Tolls

Game Date: 8/7/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Human Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast Flashing, Jr. (Bryan) - Gnome Warlock
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger

Notes:
Nick could not make it, so Bryan played his character. Despite previous posts to the contrary, Alek is a Human, not a Half-Elf (apparently his parentage was questionable until recently). We're not quite sure what happened to the Changeling that joined our party last session, but then, Changelings are unpredictable.

Also, we tried something new this time: a Critical Hit Deck and a Critical Fumble Deck. Although we rolled a lot more fumbles than crits during the session, it still made the game very entertaining. And the monsters used it too, to make things fair. The cards weren't designed for 4e, so we had to reinterpret some of the outcomes.

Recap:
Last session we left off just after a battle with some undead, in the failed Dwarven Kingdom of Bareth-Marn.

The Session:
We fought one more battle in the Bareth-Marn dungeon, during which we discovered the stand for a missing bell. (In the previous session, we heard a ringing bell just before the appearance of some undead.) After the battle, our Dwarven allies arrived and requested we return with them. King Thane the Redundant wanted to talk to us about the bell. (Thane's name has become a running joke with us, since "Thane" means "king".)

The bell is known as Goran's Rebirth, and it has the ability to raise the dead. When the bell tolled in our previous session, they had heard it in the Burok-Torn as well. He wanted us to stay nearby in case it went off again, so we stayed the night.

In the middle of the night, Gorn was awakened by the sound of the bell. He woke us up and we went down to the courtyard, where spirits were rising. The King soon joined us, and sent us on another mission. We were to travel to Gamble's Bridge, the site of a decisive battle, where history claims the Dark Elves betrayed the Dwarves.

They gave us climbing gear and a Dwarven escort, and sent us through an underground pass. In one tunnel we came across some Dwarf warriors fighting a metal skeleton and some carnage demons, and their fight soon became ours. After the battle we continued our explorations.

We eventually came across some massive gates, which had been bashed open by giant fists. We then found the remains of the Gamble's Bridge. The bridge was no longer there, but a ghostly flashback played for us, showing us the true events of that fateful day. In the ethereal rerun, it was the Titan Chern who betrayed both the Elves and the Dwarves.

After the history lesson, a giant demon appeared with the bell, which he rang. Wraiths and ghouls soon swarmed us, causing us a lot of grief. The demon kept pelting us with his own powerful blasts, and he would occasionally ring the bell again to call more minions.

It was a difficult battle, and nearly wiped us out. The bell was across the chasm the bridge once spanned, and jumping across would have been very risky. Blast heroically teleported across the gap and braved several undead to reach the bell. Unfortunately the demon picked him up and threw him back across the chasm, hitting Aria. Ouch.

We finally started firing at the bell from our side, and its peal had immediate positive effects. It wiped out nearby minions, then summoned Goran (the Dwarven god), as well as avatars of our patron gods to our sides. Soon the demon fell, and the remaining undead re-died.

After the battle, we argued a little with Goran, since the Dwarven version of history didn't seem to line up with the vision we'd witnessed. But we decided it wasn't an issue worth pressing, and we returned to Burok-Torm as heroes.

We have been given "Clanless Dwarf Status", which gives us permission to enter the city at will, and the right to use "Kelder" as a last name.

Reminders & Rewards:
We are currently back at the Dwarven kingdom, taking an extended rest. We should have plenty of time to do more buying/selling/trading before we're given the next plot hook.

GP: 452 gp, 8 sp each
XP: 200+385+425= 1010 each
Items:
5 Potions of Healing (1 each, 2 Alek)
4 Fire Beetle Potions (1 each)
3 Belts of Resilience (1 each except Alek)
1 Floating Shield (Alek)
4 weeks worth of Stonemeal Biscuits (1 week each)
1 Lifeshroud
1 Nail of Sealing
1 +1 Skybound Leather Armor
1 Lens of Reading
1 Magic Whetstone

Scarred Lands - Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, It's Off To War We Go!

Game Date: 7/24/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Half-Elf Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast Flashing, Jr. (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger
Pyro (Daniel) - Changeling Sorcerer

Notes:
New to the group is Pyro, and fire-obsessed shapechanger.

Recap:
Last session left off with us just about to clear out the final room of the Ratman dungeon.

The Session:
Once the final ratmen were exterminated, we found the corpses of two children, which we respectfully wrapped up and took with us. We returned to the Burok Torn and told them of our success. The Dwarves set up an appointment for us to meet with King Thane the following day. While taking advantage of their hospitality, we spent some money at their shops. It was there that we met our newest party member, Pyro, who had stowed away in a merchant's box of fireworks. Later, Pyro and Aria met a mysterious Dwarf with a scarred face.

The next day we met the King, and we found out that the scarred Dwarf was actually Goran, the Dwarven God. We also learned some new details about our amphora. It holds the essence of Mormo, a Titan who created many serpentine races.

We offered to introduce the Dwarves to the townsfolk who lived above the ratfolk, but they decided they would handle that themselves. Instead, King Thane asked another favor of us. We were to investigate a failed Dwarven Kingdom called Bareth-Marn. Apparently some Dwarves had gone missing there, and we were to find out why. The kingdom was guarded by many undead Dwarves, so we were escorted by a small Dwarven army.

We fought in a large battle between Dwarves and undead, after which we left the army behind. We crossed a chasm and entered the dungeon. Inside, we fought some spider-like goblins. Then we met three dead Dwarven Guardians, who initially fought us because of a miscommunication. Once we convinced them that we were on the same side, we took them outside to meet the Dwarven army.

Our final battle of the day was against several undead creatures, but we didn't have much trouble wiping them out. We are now resting in a room with multiple exits.

Reminders:
In addition to the other exits in this room, there is a portcullis-blocked passage upstairs we haven't investigated.

Rewards:
GP: 15 each.
XP: 325 (all but Pyro); +180+180+150 = 835 total
Misc: Everlasting Provisions for Aria, Amulet of Health +1 for everyone else.

LFR: Lost Temple of the Fey Gods

7/10/10 - Next Level Games

Module AGLA1-1: Aglarond: Lost Temple of the Fey Gods (1-4) (High Difficulty)

Characters:

Kryla Bloodfang (Matt) - Level 1 Dragonborn Sorcerer (Cosmic)
Rhogar Bloodfang (Bryan) - Level 4 Dragonborn Fighter (Great Weapon)
Vanri - Level 2 Genasi Stormsoul Swordmage
Pak'Cha - Level 1 Thri-Keen Shaman (Dark Sun Pregen)

Hooo boy. This was a doozy.

We knew in advance that it was this DM's first time running LFR. And I want to mention in advance that he did a great job for a first-timer. Anyway, we started out with an abundance of players, and an extra DM who just wanted to watch. With such a large party, it looked like we were going to breeze through the session. We did our introductions, found the plot hook, and were just about to leave town when... another player showed up.

This put us over the max limit, but we had an extra DM so we split into two tables. Ours was the "high" table, because we had the only Level 4 character (Rhogar), even though there were only four of us and most of us were Levels 1 and 2. One of our players (Pak'Cha) had never played 4e before. He still impressed us with his strategies (especially since he was playing a complicated class), but it still put us at a disadvantage.

The first encounter was a bunch of skill challenges. We had to entertain some creatures. And not a bard in the group. Rhogar thought it would be funny to throw his sister Kryla up into the air. Rhogar nailed his Fastball Special roll, but Kryla fumbled the landing. The good news is, that probably made it even more delighting to our audience.

Without wanting to go into too much detail for those who haven't played the module, there were three more encounters in the session (all combat). They took a lot longer than they probably should have. Now, I would have expected the combination of small/low-level party + high difficulty + 1 new player + newbie DM to equal a long session. Not to mention we had a lot of bad die rolls, which wasted some of our best attacks.

However... the game was scheduled for 12:00 to 4:00. We got out of there sometime well after seven. We had fun, and if it weren't for real-life concerns (we were hungry and Bryan needed to walk his dogs), we would have been happy to play all night. But as it was, the nearly double-length session made us a little impatient towards the end. But I don't blame anyone. I think both players and DM did a great job, all things considered.

Btw, this was our first time playing at The Next Level Games in Rivergate. It is very nice, clean, and surprisingly large. I know gaming stores tend to do poorly, but I really hope this one manages to stay in business for a long time.

Rewards: 560 XP & 100 GP

Scarred Lands - To The Ratcave!

Game Date: 6/26/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Half-Elf Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger

Notes:
Dornn has left the group. Gorn - who had changed his name Kobaka to prevent confusion - is now known as Gorn again. So no more Kielbasa jokes. We're handling things okay, but we are looking for a fifth player. If the new player names his character anything that ends with "-orn", we'll lynch him.

Previously, on the Scarred Lands:
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Ratman!
A suspicious well? A secret passage? A dungeon full of Ratmen? A temple to the Titans? A Ratman guide? Some unexplored hallways? An annoying recap? Our adventure continues!

Tonight's Episode:
We continued our rat-ridden dungeon crawl. The next room we found was a sleeping room, where we satisfyingly slaughtered several sleeping scumbags.

We took an extended rest back at the previously-explored temple room, and upon waking we found that some traps had been set up in the halls. Next we found a tiny room containing only a snakelike metal guardian. It was here we found our perfect single-file marching order. Alek in front, since he can take the most melee damage. Then Gorn, because he can do melee from one square away. Then Blast and Aria, who are completely ranged. After killing the guardian we discovered a secret door leading to a room with a magic mirror in it.

Upon gazing into the mirror, I saw my long-dead parents, and my reflection was holding the Quiddich cup. No, wait, wrong campaign. Actually, this mirror turned out to be a portal leading to a Dwarven kingdom. We went through and met some dwarves, who were surprised by our sudden appearance.

We had dinner with a Dwarven Runepriest named Duvall. They allowed us to rest and sell our loot, and they asked us to be their liaison to the impoverished town above the rat dungeon. We agreed, but we decided to finish clearing out the dungeon first. Back through the looking glass.

A couple of dwarves came with us, but only to guard the mirror. We fought through one difficult encounter, made either harder or easier by the fact we were stuck single file in a tunnel the entire time. Our perfect marching order wasn't quite as effective, especially since one of the baddies had a ranged At-Will that could stun. But the melee enemies were bad off because only one of them could reach us at a time. Two enemies fled, but we caught up to them later.

Our next encounter was a large cavern with only four ratties (two were from the previous encounter), but we went into it low on health. There was a river cutting through the middle of the room, and in the process of trying to cross it, our paladin fell down into the river. Much like the guy in Unbreakable, our Alek seems to have a supernatural weakness for water. He tried climbing back up, but fell back in, and was swept further down the river. It was there he discovered the secret fifth baddie, a giant glowing Cave Squid.


Aria, who couldn't roll a high number all session, also fell into the river while trying to jump across. It was a DC 10 and she has an Athletics of 5... seriously, who can't do that? Apparently, Aria can't. But at least she managed to crawl back out. The rest of us finished off the ratguys, then went about trying to save the now-dying Paladin. We couldn't quite get a rope out there to reach him, and we were about to write of his character as seafood. Luckily (and by "luckily" I mean the DM felt sorry for us), the squid only took a bite and swam off. We retrieved Alek and took a much-needed rest.

Later we found a room full of drakes, who we killed rather effectively. They were guarding a trapped treasure room, where we finally got our hands on a little bit of phat lewt. There appears to be only one more room in the dungeon. At the end of a trap-filled hallway (now disarmed by Gorn), there is a door. From within, we heard someone whispering about how this is their last stand. We broke session there, standing outside the door, ready to kick it in and waste some ratdudes.

Reminders:
Some of us are still diseased.
We need to tell the townsfolk about the dwarves.
We now have some spending cash, and a place to spend it, which is good because we all need some upgrades.
After we've exterminated the dungeon, we need to search for any missing children. If we can't find any alive, we may just have to dress up the gnome as a child again. I mean, we have to give those townspeople something.

Rewards:
XP: 120+60+345+150+150=825 each.
Gold: 258+50+185=493
Misc: Ironskin Belt (Alek), Amulet of Health (Aria), a rod (Blast), and a few healing potions.

Scarred Lands - Rats!

Game Date: 6/12/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Half-Elf Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Dornn (Adam) - Minotaur Cleric
Kobaka (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger

Notes:
Due to the addition of a Paladin and a Cleric, I rebuilt Aria so that she isn't so focused on healing. She is now more of a versatile dabbler type.

In order to prevent confusion with Dornn, Gorn has been renamed Kobaka. I think he was actually called "Kobaka" correctly maybe once during the session. Popular nicknames included Kabbalah, Kielbasa, Kasaba, Baklava, Baraka, Chewbacca, Carrabba, and "The Half-Orc."

Recap:
When we last left our heroes, they were on a ledge in a well, having defeated a group of Ratmen.

The Session:
After a short rest, we rest found a secret passage that led into a series of tunnels. Kobaka disabled a trap or two, and then we found a door. We managed to surprise a room full of Ratmen, and made short work of them.

We continued to explore, passing up one door in favor of a larger set of doors. In the main hall, we fought a huge group of Ratmen. It was a long battle, which left us in a very bad state. We took an extended rest in this room. There were three additional exits from this room, two of which were hidden. We took the non-hidden one, a hallway which led us into a fight with four rat swarms. The hallway was a dead end, with no treasure or other points of interest.

We left that hallway and did some more exploring, and eventually found ourselves in a room with a collapsing ceiling. At first we exited the trap in two different directions. Kobaka and Aria found a passage that looped around to one of the areas we'd already explored. Once we regrouped, we continued deeper into the dungeon until we reached a trident-shaped set of hallways. The left and middle passages led to doors, while the right passage stretched on much farther, with a few visible doors in the distance.

We took the left passage and found a worship room, complete with statues of the Titans. We fought another group of Ratmen, leaving the final minion alive so he could lead us to treasure. We took a short rest in the worship room, and ended the session.


Reminders:
From the trident-shaped hallways, we haven't yet explored the middle or right passages. There was also at least one door we haven't explored in the earlier areas. Some of us are still suffering from diseases contracted from our enemies.

XP Rewards:
500+100+175=775 each. Dornn and Corman reached level 2.

Scarred Lands - Well, Well, Well...

Game Date: 6/5/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Alek Corman (Ted) - Half-Elf Paladin
Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard
Blast (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Dornn (Adam) - Minotaur Battle Cleric
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Ranger

We lost one party member (Paige), and gained two new ones (Alek and Dornn).

Recap: Last session, we were given the quest to carry the Amphora to Vesh. After traveling for a while, we fought some kobolds at the bottom of a gorge, then sought shelter.

As the party explored the area, Aria failed a spot check and fell into a pit. (Holes: 1, for those keeping score.) In the pit was a large Minotaur, chained to the wall. Aria befriended him and he joined the party.

Soon we found ourselves in a battle involving crazed cultists, some giant ants, and some sort of Fell Taint chaos beast thing. It was in this encounter that we first met Alek, who was tied up in a burlap sack. During the fight he failed many times to extract himself from the bag, and got himself pulled into an ant pit. (Holes: 2)

We spent a couple of days building a cart, a process which involved many skill checks. Once it was up and running, we continued our course to Vesh. We were then attacked by bandits. We left the final one alive. If we ever see him again, Elmore the bandit owes us a favor.

We rode into a tiny settlement, hoping to sell our loot. Unfortunately this town had very little money and no interest in our items. They did, however, need help. Recently there had been a lot of livestock disappearances, and now even children were starting to go missing. One child had been abducted from his own bed, while sleeping between his parents.

We explored the settlement, asked lots of questions, and became suspicious of a well in the center of town. Blast and Alek lowered themselves into the well to look around. They found a ledge, but nothing else of interest. Alek went the extra mile - he tied a rope around his waist and had us lower him deep into the water, in hopes of finding an underwater passage. When we ran out of rope, he cut the line and swam even further downwards. Eventually he saw a magical portal, which was linked to the Elemental Plane of Water. At this point he decided he'd seen all he could safely see, and started swimming back up.

It was a long swim, taking many Endurance and Athletics checks. When he finally surfaced, he had used up all his healing surges and was in dire need of an extended rest. (Holes: 3)

Next we decided to disguise Blast as a child, and see if he could get kidnapped. While Alek and Aria slept, Blast tried playing out in the middle of town for a while, but nothing took the bait. Then Gorn, Dornn, and Blast went to bed, while Aria and Alek took the next watch. Walking around outside, Aria was the first to notice some movement over by the well. She tried to get Alek's attention, but he didn't see her. She tried to sneak over to him, but failed her stealth check and was attacked.

Alek and Aria soon found themselves in battle against some Ratmen from the well. Aria started her turn by making some noise, and in a few rounds the rest of the party was awake and present. These Ratmen had some nasty poison attacks.

The final Ratman tried to escape back into the well, but the party followed him. (Holes: 4) We finally defeated him on the ledge deep within the well, but kept him alive in the hopes that he can lead us to their lair. We then decided to rest there, on the ledge in the well, and ended the session.

XP Rewards: 120+75+121=316 for the session. Aria, Gorn, and Blast reached level 2.

LFR: Patronage and Pestilence

5/29/10 - The Game Keep

Module CORM1-7: Cormyr: Patronage and Pestilence (1-4) (Low Difficulty)

Characters:

Kryla (Matt) - Level 1 Dragonborn Sorcerer (Cosmic)
Blast (Nick) - Level 1 Gnome Warlock (Feytouched)
Thorn - Shifter Warden
Mark - Cleric
Stefanos - Half-Elf Paladin
Ander - Halfling Rogue
Vin - Human Paladin

The scheduled DM had to call out, and it was too late to cancel the session. So Kristi, the LFR organizer, took over. She didn't have time to study the adventure, so she ran it on the fly, and did a very good job of it.

We had a couple of players who had never played 4e before. One of them had to build his character on the spot. I tried to help, but once you're used to the Character Builder, it's very hard to make one manually.

I rolled very badly this session. I swear, I have one encounter spell that I've yet to cast successfully.

The module itself wasn't great IMO; most of us agreed that our motivations just weren't very motivating. Also, the final skill challenge left me with no choice but to attack an innocent horse, which was sad for me.

Rewards: 400 xp & 75 gp

LFR: Darkness Falls Over Moray

5/29/10 - The Game Keep

Module MOON2-1: Moonshae Isles: Darkness Falls Over Moray (4-7) (High Difficulty)

Characters:

Voranna (Matt) - Level 5 Eladrin Ranger (Archer)
...also an Avenger, an Artificer, and one other character.

This was a short one. We started an hour late (a wreck on the interstate prevented some of the players from making it on time), but still somehow finished an hour early. Because of some cancellations, we only had four people in the party, but we played the High Difficulty version anyway. The first encounter had an ungodly number of enemies, but we had a couple of really good rounds where we wiped out several baddies at once. Voranna even had one of those magic moments, earning her the nickname "Blaster".

Rewards: 980 xp & 150 gp

The Scarred Lands - First Session

Game Date: 5/22/2010
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Gorn (Jesse) - Half-Orc Tempest Fighter
Paige (Leigha) - Half-Elf Sorcerer
Blast (Nick) - Gnome Warlock
Aria (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard

This was our first session of a new campaign. It takes place in the "Scarred Lands" setting, but we're using D&D 4e rules. It is a world recovering from a relatively recent war between gods and titans. Our adventure began in the little village of Trela, where they were holding the Carnival of Flowers.

Slightly reminiscent of the opening of Chrono Trigger, we got to visit the festival and participate in the activities. Gorn fought in a mock duel, Paige ran in a foot race, Blast rode as a jockey in a horse race, and Aria performed in a bardic competition.

Late in the day, a plot hook came riding into town, in the form an injured man who handed Aria a mysterious artifact before passing out. He pleaded with her to deliver the Amphora to Vesh. However, other parties preferred that we deliver the item to the local ruler, a course of action we did not feel was in our best interests.

We soon found ourselves under attack by kobolds (or this setting's equivalent), and shortly thereafter we fled town on a stolen wagon. During our travel we defeated another band of the kobold creatures that we met on the road, and eventually came to a large chasm.

Unnatural storm clouds threatened to follow our wagon, so we sought shelter in the chasm. We took the wagon around a dangerous path to the bottom of the chasm, where rested a small kobold village. Luckily only a few inhabitants were present, but unluckily one of them was a troll. A few rounds later found our cart smashed, our horses slaughtered, our party's blood painting the ground, the party healer stuck in a river, and dark clouds converging overhead. We might not have made it if not for divine intervention.

As things looked their bleakest, a pair of spine devils - servants of the god Chardun - came to our aid, and we soon finished off the rest of our enemies. Badly needing rest and suddenly finding ourselves in a deserted village, we located a safe spot and ended the session for the day.

XP Rewards: 245+200+288= 733 xp each

The Philosophy of the Healing Surge

The debate should be over by now. At this point, you either like 4e or you don't, and h4ters shouldn't waste their time ranting about it any more. Pretty much everything that's going to be said, has been said. But I still keep coming across threads where people complain about surges and compare 4e to MMOs. So I'd like to respond with a rant of my own.

When 4e was released, one of the biggest complaints from the grognards involved the healing surges. "You can heal yourself freely!" they shouted, without fully researching their claims. "You're health goes back up when you rest! That's too much like a video game!" they whined, condemning the new system without even playing it first.

I think the problem comes with the idea that Hit Points represent life. Here's a quote from the Fourth Edition Player's Handbook (page 293):
"Hit points (hp) measure your ability to stand up to punishment, turn deadly strikes into glancing blows, and stay on your feet throughout a battle. Hit points represent more than physical endurance. They represent your character’s skill, luck, and resolve—all the factors that combine to help you stay alive in a combat situation."

...but if you really want to simplify it, just think of it as stamina. Remember, in real life, it only takes one hit to kill you. But an experienced warrior spends the entire battle fending off that one lethal blow, relying on his skill to dodge and block oncoming hits. When he finally runs out of hit points, that means he didn't have the energy to block that last hit, or wasn't quick enough to duck that last arrow. The last hit point is the one that nicks the jugular, pierces the heart, or bashes the brain.

I'd even go as far as to say that until the first time you're bloodied (1/2 max hp), nothing's even broken the skin. Until then all your enemy's blows have glanced off your armor, sapping your endurance but not actually harming you. After that the attacks actually begin to hurt, but you're still alert enough to keep your squishy parts protected.

So, once per battle you can spend your Second Wind, regaining a bit of your stamina as you seize a little respite and catch your breath. Between battles, you get a bit of that energy back, as you rest your muscles and bandage your minor cuts and burns. But you can only do that so many times per day before you absolutely have to sleep, which is why there's a limit to healing surges per day. And remember, those of you who think 4e has "free healing", once you run out of surges, even healing potions don't work.

I think it's the best of both worlds. Some people have always wanted a system where you fight worse when injured. After all, if you get hit in the leg, you should be slowed, right? And if you get hit in the arm, shouldn't your swings be weaker? But realistically, that would make D&D too difficult. If you're already losing, you don't want the battle to get even harder. It would be too much like Monopoly (the most unbalanced board game ever created): whoever starts out winning is usually the one who wins the game, because it's so hard to come back once you're at a disadvantage. But 4e is similar philosophically if not mechanically... the more hit points (aka stamina) you lose, the easier it is to get whacked by that death blow, because you're too weak to block it.

Doesn't that make more sense than a "life" number? Why not just give your character little hearts like The Legend of Zelda? It drives me crazy that the ones who preferred previous editions, where hit points acted like Gauntlet, are the same ones complaining that 4e is too much like a video game.


Plus, the stamina/skill/luck definition of hit points also explains minions. One-hit kobolds don't seem so strange when you're at first level. But later in your career, you might start to wonder why the Ogre Bludgeoneers (Level 16 Minion) only take one hit to kill. Do they actually have less "life" than other Ogres? Of course not. It's actually due to one of my favorite tropes, the Conservation of Ninjutsu. When the hero of our story is swarmed by an army of ninjas, he manages to take one out with every swing of his sword. But when he faces that single last ninja, you know you're in for a long bloody fight.

It's not that these Ogre minions are thinner-skinned than their tougher partners. It's not that they have less blood or whatever other measure of "life" the grognards think people have. It's simply that they're not as skilled in battle. They haven't learned how to block their vital areas, and they're easily tricked into revealing their weak spots. If a PC hits a minion, they hit them in a lethal spot. These are the ninjas our hero managed to throat-slash and groin-stab as he waded through the swarm on the way to the boss.

So in short, you can debate all you want about whether or not the surge system is better, but DO NOT tell me that surges makes 4e more like a video game, then turn around and tell me you preferred the old "life meter" system. Because I will laugh at you and take your lunch money.

Hybrids

Hybrids are complicated, especially if you don't have the Character Builder. They're a lot closer to Multiclassing than 4e's actual Multiclass system. You take two classes, take half of the hit points from each class, add them together, add your Aunt's telephone number and divide by the square root of zero. You lose most of the minor class features from each class, but you can gain one of them back later by taking a Hybrid Talent Feat. You get a few skills from each class, but some classes get extra skills. You take three points from your IQ and add it to your pants size. You get one At-Will from each class, and you can cherry-pick your Encounter and Daily powers from either class. If one of the classes uses Power Points, you can choose an option that makes them more like normal powers. You get all the weapon proficiencies but only the lesser of the armor proficiencies. If your paternal grandmother was a Half-Orc, you also get a fruit basket and a three-legged newt named Nadine. Or something like that.

Hybrids are great for jack-of-all-trades characters, but it's hard to come up with an optimized combination that works really well. I foresee them being used far more in roleplay-heavy campaigns than in combat-centric games. You can come up with some great combinations if you really work at it, but you'll still be giving up something somewhere. The difficulty is that the two classes need to have several points of synergy; specifically Primary Stat, Armor, and Weapon.

Of course, a Fighter/Wizard sounds awesome. You can rush into battle, slashing everyone around you, and launch fireballs at those farther away. But Wizard spells are based on INT, and you put all your points into STR and CON so you could survive the melee. You need to use your wand to cast that fireball, but your hands are full with your sword and shield. And Hybrids only start with the lesser armor of the two classes, so you're going to get cut to ribbons rushing into battle in your Wizard robe. Sure, you can take a Hybrid Talent Feat to regain the Fighter's normal Armor Proficiencies, but that's a feat that could have gone toward something else.

On the other hand, some classes work together pretty well, but upon closer inspection seem sort of pointless. I started putting together a CHA-based Warlock/Sorcerer, and it was looking pretty good... the stats, armor, and weapons all worked pretty well together. Until I realized that neither class was really adding anything to the other. The two classes are too similar - either way you're firing blasts of arcane energy from a distance. Unless there's a particular roleplay reason your character has studied the two fields, you'll probably be stronger as a full-blood Sorcerer or Warlock.

Now I'm not particularly good at optimizing characters, so I'm not going to run down a list of the best Hybrid combos. (The WOTC forums are probably full of cheesy builds by now anyway, so try there.) Instead I'm just going to mention a few observations, and notes about combos I'd like to try. If you want a quick reference to help you decide what might work, I put this together: Classes and Builds. It's a list of all the different 4e classes, the suggested primary stats, and the races that match the primary stats. It might help to have all the information in one place.

Class Features
Hybrids lose most of the features you automatically get with that class, unless you take extra feats to get them back. So the best Hybrids are ones where you didn't use the class features much anyway. For example, Rogues keep Sneak Attack, which is of course their best feature. But they lose First Strike, which is painful. First Strike allows Rogues to use their Sneak Attack in the opening round of battle, and a crafty Rogue can change the entire dynamic of the encounter if they use the right power on the right enemy. My buddy Rick once took out the boss in the opening round, which left the DM cursing. So most Hybrid Rogues will want to take the First Strike Hybrid Talent Feat.

Meanwhile, my Archer Ranger Voranna hardly ever uses most of her lesser class features. Of course she uses Hunter's Quarry all the time, but Hybrid Rangers keep that. The features she would have lost are Prime Shot and Defensive Mobility. Prime Shot gives you an attack bonus if you're the closest ally to your target. That's fine for melee rangers, but Voranna tries to keep as many allies as possible between her and the enemies. Defensive Mobility gives her a bonus to AC vs Opportunity Attacks, which can be very useful in certain situations, but in five levels I've still yet to provoke an OA. So while Voranna's not a Hybrid, I very well might not have noticed if she was.

At-Will Powers
Hybrids get one At-Will from each class. Keep this in mind. Some characters have a tendency to use the same At-Will every round, while others have cause to use both. My Voranna uses Twin Strike almost exclusively, so she wouldn't have minded giving up her second At-Will for that of another class. But a Cleric, for example, might miss having both Astral Seal (which is very useful but doesn't do any damage) and an actual Cleric attack power. The worst is the Hybrid Druid, who no longer gets that extra At-Will for their alternate form. I hope they errata that, but as of this writing a Hybrid Druid is pretty limited IMO.

A lot of players are talking about making Hybrid Rangers, because Twin Strike is one of the most coveted At-Wills in the game. Other players are condemning that combo as pure cheese, but welcome to the world of D&D.

Armor
As I mentioned earlier, Hybrids only get the lesser armor of the two classes. However, the armor prof for the other class is regainable with the Hybrid Talent Feat. This makes Paladin a particularly attractive choice because you're only one feat away from plate armor. So you could take whatever you want as your primary class, and use the Paladin simply for the armor.

Skills
Your skills are a mix of the two classes, but some combinations yield more skills than others. If you want a skill-heavy character, you might consider making a Hybrid Rogue, as they get two more skills than the norm. Bards and Rangers each get one more skill than the norm.

Personally, I'm itching to abuse this system with a character so versatile that she's not even playable. Have a hybrid that also takes multiclass feats. Make her a Half-Elf so I can take her Dilletante power from a third class. Make one of her classes Bard so I can take even more multiclass feats. And so on, until she knows how to do a little bit of everything (and sucks at all of it).

Some combinations suffer or excel simply depending on which class you want to put in the background. For example, I've been considering making an Elf Ranger/Rogue, or possibly a Rogue/Ranger. Yeah, same thing, but stay with me here. With either combination, I'm going to want the following feats as early as possible:

Lethal Hunter (+ Quarry Damage)
Weapon Focus Longbow (+ Damage)
Weapon Expertise Longbow (+ Attack Rolls)
Treetop Sniper (Elf Only, Use Longbow for Rogue Powers)
First Strike Hybrid Feat (Have Combat Advantage at start of battle)
Backstabber (More Sneak Attack Damage)
Improved Initiative (+4 Initiative)

The first three are all I need to have a happy archer at level 4, and I already mentioned the Hybrid Rangers don't lose anything that I'll miss. But the other 4 feats are fairly important to have an effective Longbow Rogue, IMO. So my plan would be to simply forget the Rogue part until I'm level 6, other than the extra skills. Of course, this also means I can't take whatever else normal archers would be taking from levels 6-10, but them's the breaks with specialized classes.

Now, if I were to do it the other way around, emphasizing the Rogue over the Ranger, I'd probably want to take Backstabber and First Strike early on. I'd forget the bow altogether at first, and probably wouldn't even buy one until I had the Treetop Sniper feat. So for the first 4-6 levels I would act as a normal Rogue, my only disadvantage being that because of Hybrid First Strike, I'm starting one feat behind most Rogues.

The third way to approach this is to embrace the Hybrid - take Treetop Sniper first, because the combo is built around that feat. Then just live with the fact that I'm not going to be as effective as either class for a few levels. Maybe I'd use my 1st level experiences to decide whether I want to emphasize the Rogue or Ranger feats early on, or I could just alternate them.

Or course, this doesn't matter so much if you're in a campaign that lets you start at a higher level. But I've been playing for over a year and I still haven't played a character over level 6. So the order of feats at early levels is critical to me.

So in short, while you certainly can build some highly effective builds if you do the research, IMO Hybrids better thought of as flavor for people who want to play versatile characters. But useful or not, Hybrids are definitely one of the more interesting things in the PHB3.

Players Handbook 3

I realize I'm late to the game here, but it took me a while to actually look through the Player's Handbook 3 and play around with the new builds in the Character Builder. I still haven't looked closely at a few of the classes, but I've seen enough to know that the PHB3 is not quite as big a release as the PHB2.

Races: Githzerai, Minotaur, Shardmind, Wilden

We seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Not only are there only four, but they're a bit too exotic for a PHB, in my opinion. None of these are races you expect to see walking around town, or serving beer at the local tavern. But then that's one of the big differences between the tone of 4e as opposed to previous editions. D&D used to be about ordinary people who were destined for greatness, farmers and apprentices who only became heroes after doing great deeds and earning experience points. But Fourth Edition is about people who were exceptional to begin with, people who stood out from the crowd even before the first play session. I'm okay with that, but it turns some players off.

Of the new races, I really don't see myself trying any of them out. I can see Minotaurs appealing to the same people who play brutish Dragonborn, Half-Orcs, and Goliaths. The other three appear to have been added just to fit the new classes. The Shardmind seems especially alien to me; I just don't know how someone would roleplay one. It's hard enough to think through your motivations when you're playing a Dragonborn, but I can't even imagine the wants and desires of a creature made of animated crystal.

Classes: Ardent, Battlemind, Monk, Psion, Runepriest, Seeker, Hybrid

Well, we finally got the Monk, and we'd been needing that for a while. I like what they've done to the class, giving them both moves and attacks in their powers. I really want to try one sometime.

The new Psionic classes are very different. The biggest change is the "Power Point" sytem - instead of encounter powers, you get a certain number of PP per encounter. (C'mon, WOTC, think about the potential abbreviations before you name things.) The PP can be used to augment your At-Wills, to make them as powerful as Encounter powers. It's a lot more versatile than normal Encounter powers, because you can either spend 1 PP to make your At-Will a little bit more powerful, or 2 PP to make it a lot more powerful. So if you have 2 PP per encounter, basically you can use two mediocre Encounter powers that battle, or 1 really good Encounter power instead.

Since the Psionic power source is the PHB3's big thing, they had to make sure they had at least one Psionic class for each battle role. So whether you prefer Controllers, Strikers, Leaders, or Defenders, there is something Psionic you can try out. Personally I'd like to try the Battlemind. They're the second 4e class to use CON as their primary stat (the other being certain Warlocks), but they have the same armor proficiencies as Fighters. So they get high AC and a lot of hit points right off the bat. Plus their marking system is pretty neat - They can damage adjacent marked enemies who attack the Battlemind's allies, and they get to shift with their marked foe as an immediate reaction to the foe's shifting.

The Hybrids are complicated but interesting, and combinations range from useless to potentially gamebreaking. A lot of really creative combinations could come from this, and there's a few I'm hoping to try sometime. I'll give them a blog of their own.

Skill Powers

One of my favorite things in the PHB3 is the skill powers. These are utility powers that can be taken by any class, as long as they're trained in a specific skill. I used to hate the choices of utility powers, as a lot of them are worthless to me. So this is a nice way to give us more options.

A lot of them are kind of useless unless you're in a completely roleplay-based campaign. For example, they might let you reroll certain skill checks, or let you roll one kind of check in place of another. Meh. Some of them have been done before for specific classes, but are now available to anyone who trains in a certain skill. For example, Graceful Maneuver is a level 6 Acrobatics power that lets you shift half your speed, which is similar to the Rogue Level 2 power Tumble.

My favorites are the ones for Endurance and Heal, as they can give any class a little bit of healing. I'll likely make sure all my characters are trained in at least one of those from now on. One really neat one is the Level 2 Endurance Daily power Invigorating Presence, which allows you to give nearby allies 10+(CON mod) temporary hitpoints when you use your second wind. There's also Third Wind (Endurance Daily 6) which lets you spend a healing surge as a minor action, Physicians Care (Heal Encounter 6) which lets you or an ally spend a surge, Reactive Surge (Endurance Encounter 6) which lets you spend a healing surge as an immediate reaction to being bloodied, Miraculous Treatment (Heal Daily 16) which heals an ally without spending a surge, and so on.

In a pinch, almost character could fill in for the party healer. So in addition to Hybrids and Multiclass feats, we now have a third way to dabble in another role.

Feats

The PHB3 does include some new feats, but most of them are just extras for the new races and classes. There is one interesting feat that's been the source of a lot of debate on the D&D forums. Versatile Expertise is like taking Weapon Expertise and Implement Expertise at the same time. You can choose one weapon group and one implement group, and you get an attack roll bonus when using either. With two feats for the price of one, why would anyone still take Weapon or Implement Expertise? Some say that the feat is broken, giving an unfair advantage to implement users. Other say it's a math fix, helping the classes who unfairly had to take more feats to be as effective as their allies. And still others say we're reading the feat incorrectly, and that it's not nearly as powerful as it first sounds.

Wrap-Up

There's also some new items, but nothing really big to report. Overall, this was the least interesting of the PHB series to me, and I hope they don't feel the need to release a PHB4. Now that we have the Monk - the last missing "core" class - there's just no need for more. If they want to make more playable monster classes, like goblins or kobolds, I'd rather they make that a book in itself. Actually, a whole book dedicated to playable monsters would actually be kind of interesting. But I can't imagine where else the PHB series could possibly go.

A Year-and-a-Half Later...

I've just moved all my D&D-related blog entries from my general blog to this one. From now on, this will be my total D&D blog.

Several years ago, I picked up a copy of "Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated". It was so funny, I had to pick up a copy of their regular magazine. The comic strip in the magazine, for those who've not read it, basically shows these guys sitting around the table, playing Hackmaster (an RPG based on AD&D). These characters really made tabletop role-playing look fun to me. Between that and the old "Dead Alewives" sketch, I think I found my first itchings for a similar game.

I started reading up on D&D, which was on version 3.5 at the time. I bought a starter set, and read "D&D For Dummies". I started collecting miniatures and tiles. In 2007 I went to GenCon Indianapolis, and played my first (and so far only) 3.5 game. It was just a one hour "Introduction to D&D" game, but I finally knew that I really liked the game. I just didn't know how to get in one.

Playing Neverwinter Nights helped satisfy my RPG urge, but I continued to look for a PnP group. The problem is, I'm shy. It's hard for me to put myself out there and meet new people. So while I knew about the bulletin boards at my local game stores, I didn't want to call anyone up out of the blue to ask about meeting them.

When D&D went to 4th Edition, I knew I wanted to get in on the ground floor. So I googled around a bit and found out that a former co-worker of mine was the organizer for Nashville's "Living Forgotten Realms" games. I e-mailed him a lot of questions, and signed up for the next LFR session (along with my friend Bryan). We played our first D&D 4e game on 11/22/08.

At the time I wrote this blog describing my first impressions. Since then, there have been a lot of changes. The game has had so much errata that the PHB is almost obsolete. The invaluable Character Builder has been released. A lot of supplements have been published. The "missing" classes (Bard, Monk) and races (Gnome, Half-Orc) have been restored. The whiners are finally quieting down (out of boredom or out of acceptance, I really don't know).

In the past year-and-a-half, my feelings haven't changed much. I've played in LFR games and home games, I've been a player and a DM, I've played it with and without miniatures, I've played both rules-as-written and heavily-houseruled.

I still love 4th Edition. It's a fun game. I still don't think it's as good a system as 3.5, and the LFR sessions especially feel a bit too much like board games at times. I still wish they'd kept 3.5 going and billed 4e as a spin-off, calling it something like "D&D Heroes" and marketing it to the Mutants and Masterminds crowd.

But so what. I could babble all day about mistakes they made, what I would have done different, and why previous editions were better. But the bottom line is, whenever I sit down to play 4e, I have a lot of fun. And out of all my complaints, my biggest gripe is that I don't get to play it often enough. So they must be doing something right.

Praktas - My Campaign World

I'm fleshing out the geography of the campaign I DM. It looks like I'll probably be DMing more often in a few months, so I want to have a solid world to work with. A good deal of this is based on Itropa, the module I built/hosted for Neverwinter Nights. But of course, a good deal of Itropa was based on some earlier stories I'd written. Apparently I was a lot more creative in my youth than I am now. Feel free to steal any ideas you find here, especially the stuff I obviously stole from other sources.

Most of the information in this post would be considered common knowledge to citizens of the area.

Geography
Praktas is the name of the region, and Trasa is the name of the city our heroes currently call home. Trasa is on sort of a small peninsula, jutting ever so slightly into the sea. North of town is Koramil Forest. In the West side of Koramil is Kora, home to an elven community. In the East side of Koramil is Mil, home to Halflings and a few Gnomes. East of Mil is Predek's tower, and northeast of that is an area called Silent Hollow. Far to the north are the towns of is Alta and Valos. North of Alta is Fertilund, and north of Fertilund is the Highpeak Mountains. East of Trasa is the Scarred Mountains, and eventually the harsh town of Fist.

The Koramil River runs between Alta and Valos, running south through the Koramil Forest, and passes through the middle of Trasa, where it eventually empties out into the sea on Trasa's south.

Trasa
Trasa is a large coastal town, and gets a lot of its income from fishing. The Koramil River divides the poor side of town from the wealthy, with the middle class houses and businesses bordering the river itself.

Government:
Mayor Dalewood is a good man, but the town only has so much money. While they do pay the guards to stop the most obvious crime, much of the law enforcement is actually done by the Bounty Hunter Guild.

Important Places In Trasa:

West Trasa (Poor side of town):
Blue Acorn (Inn, Tavern, Gambling)
Pleasure Palace (Gambling, Tavern, Arena, Companionship)
Shifty’s Supply Shop (Merchant, Pawn Shop, front for Thieves Guild)
Stew & Spew (Restaurant/Tavern)
Dreg's Shanty (Dockside tavern/seafood restaurant)
Poor houses

Central Trasa:
*Shopping*
Arcania (Located inside Arcane Guild)
Birk’s “Everything” Shop (Supplies, Misc)
Bjorn's Bakery
Carts Before Horses
Ellyniel's Apothecary (Located inside Arcane Guild)
Fine Blades (Swords and Daggers; located inside Swordsman's Guild)
Hunter's Cache (Ranged Weapons and Ammo, Located inside Hunting Club)
Just Rope
Krog Nito’s Costume Shop
Philip's Exotic Animals
Quality Armors (Armors and Shields)
Virtuoso Music
Ziza’s Zenzations (Stylish Clothing)
*Guilds*
Adventurer's Guild
Arcane Guild
Hunting Club
Swordsman's Guild
The Sisterhood
Bounty Hunter Guild
*Other*
Haunted Bed & Breakfast
Library/Museum
Multi-Denominational Church
Town Hall (Courts, Jail, etc)
Houses, Apartments
Andrik's Teleportation Station

East Trasa (Wealthy):
Dockside Delights (Restaurant)
Guardsman's Guild (Must be member of Town Guard)
Guilded Eagle (Restaurant)
Expensive houses

Other Cities

Kora (2 day horse ride from Trasa)
An Elven city located on the Western side of the Koramil Forest. Most of the citizens are nature lovers who live simple lives, peacefully trade with Trasa and Alta, and guard the Koramil forest from monsters. However, there is a small faction of Kora extremists who despise civilization's encroachment on the forest, and defend nature violently.

Notable locations in Kora:
Kora Bows - Very well-made bows.
Armor Dillo's - Custom-fitted armor, and animal barding.

Mil (Two day horse ride from Trasa)
A small town on the East side of the Koramil Forest. Mil was once an ancient graveyard, until a small band of Halflings (and a few Gnomes) converted the mausoleums into houses.

Notable locations in Mil:
Stuff I Found - A shop whose inventory changes constantly.

Alta (Five day horse ride from Trasa)
Located north of the Koramil Forest, Alta is a very cosmopolitan city, populated by wealthy nobles of all races (but mostly Humans and Eladrin). Citizens of Alta tend to look down on the other nearby cities. Alta has the strictest laws of any city in the region. Within Alta's walls, you must keep your weapons sheathed, and you can not wear helmets or hoods. The town does not allow gambling, prostitution, begging, public drunkenness, or arena fighting. (Actually, they do have a fighting arena, but all the fighters are magically animated golems.) Alta is ruled by Queen Wynnifred.

Notable locations in Alta:
Alta Arcane Acadamy (sometimes called "Triple-A") - A school for those who study magic.
Alta Bardic College (sometimes called "The ABC") - A school for those who study music.
Alta Bath House - Relax, clean up, get a massage.
Fine Armors - One of several stores owned by Darrian Fine. The best place in Alta to buy Armor.
Fine Clothing - Owned by Darrian Fine. Sells stylish outfits.
Fine Grooming - Owned by Darrian Fine. The best place in Alta to get a shave and a haircut.
Fine Weapons - Owned by Darrian Fine. Sells top-quality weapons.
Triple-A Arena - Watch magically animated golems fight. The arena is owned by the Triple-A, and the money earned from the arena goes towards the school. The golems are created by students, who compete to see who can enchant the most powerful golems. (Think of it as a medeival Battlebots.) It is illegal to gamble on the outcome, but a lot of students do it anyway.

Valos (Six day horse ride from Trasa)
To the Northeast of Alta, Valos was once Alta's prison. Though ruled by Lord Teykor Vermon, it remains nearly lawless. Most of the citizens are either starving beggars, or professional bandits. Valos may be home of the crime syndicate known as the "Inner Eye." Valos is also the home of the Darkshade Assassin Guild, an organization whose existence is well-known but never proven.

Notable locations in Valos:
Valos Weapons - Specializes in rogue/assassin weapons.
Valos Armors - Specializes in light armors.

Fist (3 day horse ride from Trasa)
Located in the Scarred Mountains to the East of Trasa, Fist is a very harsh town where might is right and leadership is determined by arena battle. Fist is populated mostly by the hardier races - Orcs, Half-Orcs, Goliaths, Dwarves, Minotaurs, and a few burly humans.

Notable locations in Fist:
Crush's Smashifiers - Sells all types, but specializes in heavy weapons.
Fist Arena - Has minor fighting tournaments every day, and major tournaments to celebrate each 10-day, month, season, and year.

Fertilund (Five day horse ride from Trasa)
Located just north of Alta, Fertilund is a small farming community.

Notable locations in Fertilund:
The Trading Post - Where the farmers of Fertilund go to sell their wares to Alta's grocers.

Notable NPCs
Aaron Cobbler - Poverty-stricken man who sent Tirah and Dorath to find some missing children.
Alana Dillonniel - Female Elf, owner of "Armor Dillo's" in Kora.
Alton Drathiel - Half-Elf. Owner of the "Hunter's Cache", a hunting club and hunting supply store in Trasa.
Andrik Munitae - Male Elf, owns "Andrik's Teleportation Station."
Ardok DuMaj - A wizard who works for the Bounty Hunter Guild. He sometimes teleports Guild Members to other towns for a fee.
Bjorn Wallbanger - Owner/Bartender of the Blue Acorn, a small tavern on Trasa's West side.
Brutemaster Kragg - Captain of the "Stone Army" in Fist.
Captain Caleb Callahan - Another successful Trasa fisherman.
Captain Credence Horn - Leader of the Alta Guardsman's Guild.
Captain Nathanial Jarran - A fisherman who gave Drew and Damakos a ride to the Hells Fury island.
Crush Cudgel - Male Half-Orc, owner of "Crush's Smashifiers" in Fist.
Darrian Fine - Male Human, owns several businesses in Alta.
Darrow Lightbeard - High Priest of Moradin.
Darryl "Red" Thatcher - A farmer in Fertilund.
Dreg One-Fist - Aging Half-Orc, owner of run-down dockside bar "Dreg's Shanty". He lost his left hand to a pirate years ago, when he was a sailor.
Eroll Gold - The very charismatic owner of the Pleasure Palace, Trasa's largest tavern/casino/arena/brothel.
Grag Prime Arathnon - Goliath Barbarian, Current ruler of Fist. Fist's leader is chosen by way of an annual fighting tournament. Arathnon has won three years in a row, but fighting enthusiasts say he's slowing down as he gets older.
Hector Goldheart - Cleric of Moradin. He helped Drew and Damakos find and defeat Predek the Necromancer, to cure their vampirism. Hector has burns on one side of his face, from an encounter with a dragon in his youth. This prevents him from growing a full beard, so he shaves the opposite side as well, and wears it like a very long goatee.
Henna - A healer who works for the Bounty Hunter Guild. She is unable to speak, and is a pacifist.
Jordan Darkwynde - Leader of Bounty Hunter Guild.
Kim Shadowfoot - Female Halfling, leader of Trasa's Thieves Guild.
Krog Nito - Male Half-Orc, owns a costume shop in Trasa.
Kurn Icetooth - A blue-scaled Dragonborn. The Assignment Officer at the Bounty Hunter Guild.
Lord Teykor Vermon - Ruler of Valos, and also rumored to be the leader of the "Inner Eye", a crime syndicate that stretches even as far as Trasa.
Lucre Gold - Famous fighting promoter (and brother of Eroll Gold).
Madeline Starkraven - A crazy ex-pirate who hired Drew and Damakos to find Merea Scorne.
Predek - A Human Necromancer guilty of raising the dead and creating vampires. He was caught by Drew and Damakos, and is currently in Trasa Prison.
Queen Wynnifred - Elf bard, ruler of Alta. She is highly intelligent and very beautiful. While Alta's citizens have a reputation for elitism and snobbery, Queen Wynnifred is actually very generous and compassionate. Was once married to King Parras (human), until he was assassinated. Has a half-elf daughter, "Wyn".
Shifty - Runs "Shifty's Supply Shop", a Trasa pawn shop known for buying potentially stolen goods. Shifty is Trasa's go-to guy for all things of questionable legality.
Trent Dalewood - The kind-hearted but greatly overworked mayor of Trasa.
Wyn - Princess Wynnifred II of Alta. She's a bit of a tomboy, and doesn't enjoy palace life. She often sneaks out disguised as an ordinary citizen named Kya.

Hells Fury:
An all-female pirate crew.
Captain Merea Scorne (a.k.a. "The Pirate Queen") - Two-blade fighter. She is the leader of the Hells Fury. She was caught by Drew and Damakos, and currently resides in Trasa Prison.
Bruta Graxx - Dwarf Fighter, and Merea's bodyguard. Also captured.
Lyyra Syyr - Human Wizard, and Merea's advisor. Also captured.
Risha Thryst - Human Fighter, and Merea's lieutenant. Also captured.
Callexia Galean - Human Druid, and Merea's assassin. The only prominent member of the Hells Fury who is still at large.

Purple Mildew:
A popular music band that often played in the Pleasure Palace in Trasa.
Jeska Spartan (Lead singer) - Originally Jessiana Cole. She was arrested for setting fire to the Bardic College in Alta. She changed her name and formed the band Purple Mildew. The group became very popular until she was recognized, and she was eventually recovered by the Bounty Hunter Guild.
Todd Klute (Flute Player) - Has black hair.
Rash Decker (Harpist) - Has red hair, plays the miniature harp.
Drak Wilken (Drummer) - Bald, muscular, has lots of tattoos. Dates Jeska.

Fist Arena Fighters:
A few of the fighters often seen in the Fist Arena.
Brax "The Axe" Clovenhoof - An aging male Minotaur.
Travok Ballpeen - Male Dwarf.
Killian Krag - Male Goliath.
Orsik Cojones - Male Orc.
Tarn Gulag - Male Half-Orc with pet lizard.
Kren Starblaze - Male Dragonborn, young.
Mordik Morte - Male Human.
Rendar the Great - Male Human.
Krista Treehaven - Female Elf with pet tiger.
Skar Redscale - Female Dragonborn, killed in the ring by Throk One-Tusk.
Scrag Trakken - Male Dragonborn.
Glug Darkhammer - Male Dwarf.
Kirin Skeen - Female Goliath.

Dragons:
Kathernius - Young male Black Dragon.
Nyrithia - Young female Silver Dragon.

Bounties (Recovered):
Some of the criminals already recovered by the players.

Alas Mek - An Alta wizard whose consciousness was transferred into the body of an Iron Golem.
Jeska Spartan - See "Purple Mildew" above.
Skyrene Linnealinae - Wanted for taking her love of animal rights too far, this elf is wanted for killing hunters.
Throk One-Tusk - A former Trasa guard who was wanted for stealing an expensive item.
Victoria Vixen - A seductress who used her magical charms to aid her in her crimes. She was later revealed to be a succubus in disguise.

Bounties (at Large):
Here's a few of the criminals currently at large, whom the players will pursue in future sessions. Note that this is just an idea bank, the characters might change a bit before they make it into an actual session. To avoid spoilers, I'm only posting information the bounty hunters might have access to when signing up for the bounty.

Andar Thresh - Just a small-time thug.
Analon Leebo - Professional Hitman, expert at poisons.
Astral - High priestess of Tiamat.
Dante Bloodscale - Another Disciple of Tiamat.
Broono Grum - Former member of the Bounty Hunter Guild, expelled for carrion hunting.
Chane Tonson - Demolitions expert.
Dibny Kestil - Gnome bard, uses laughing spells to commit crimes.
Felinia Nulelve'tner - Cat-loving cat burglar.
Gar - Lizardfolk assassin.
Glognar Elgen - Dwarven miner who used his tunneling skills for crime.
Gludge - Disease-ridden victim of a transmutation spell gone wrong.
Kama Kur - Former member of the Hells Fury.
Khan Carne - Wanted for cannibalism.
Krimson Vize - A Swordmage.
Lilith de Fang - Death obsessed woman, possibly a dabbler of Necromancy.
Obsidia Pitch - A very stealthy Drow assassin.
Riith - A mysterious Assassin.
Rusty Krosion - Master of rust.
Sullax - Insane magic user, who specializes in mental spells.
Thaco Arclas - Possibly the world's greatest expert in armors.
Timmy the Tot - Halfling who pretends to be a human boy to aid in his cons.
Ug - A very strong barbarian.
Ursa Oso - Bear-loving mountain man.
Valindra Melin - An environmental extremist who loves despises civilized society.
Vana & Vena Kai - Twin assassins.
Zyx - A shapeshifting thief.
Shok Vrurk - Half-Orc Sorcerer who specializes in lightning spells.