Saturday, October 12, 2024

Bensentials Session 4

Game Date: 10/12/2024

LocationHome Game
CampaignBensentials, Session 4

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Baileigh - Tiefling Druid (Circle of the Moon - 2024 rules)
Ben - Changeling Sorcerer (Draconic)
Bryan - Shifter Monk (Way of Shadow), Human Fighter (Champion)
Rick - Assimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance), Tabaxi Rogue (Assassin)

The Session
: When we left off last week, they were finally ready to face the dragon. Today they bought a few things in town to get ready, then climbed up the mountain on horseback. They fought a few ice mephits while on the chasm-lined path (this encounter isn't in the book but it felt interesting), and then they made their way into the guardhouse.

They knew they weren't alone when they saw that there were already other horses in the stables. They listened at one door and heard four bandits talking about how they knew a party had arrived. They bandits agreed that they would con the PCs into helping them defeat the dragon, and then they would betray the PCs while they were still recovering from the battle.

So the PCs decided to pull the same con - they befriended the bandits, with the understanding that they would kill them after the dragon fight. The group continued to explore the guardhouse, then they crossed a bridge over a chasm, and searched the keep. They fought a few more ice mephits (they were stirges in the module, but I wanted something a little tougher), then finally made their way up to the roof where the dragon slept.

The module called for a young white dragon, but I've had my adult white dragon mini for 15 years and I've never used it. So that's what we used. I still used the young dragon stats, though... mostly.

They spent several minutes deciding on how they would approach the fight. Finally they decided to sneak into positions around the edges of the roof. The paladin's opening move took off a huge chunk of the dragon's health. Then the dragon turned around and used his frost breath on the paladin, taking him down to 0 hit points. 

Some of the others tried to help the paladin, but the icy roof meant people kept falling down when running to his aid. He failed three consecutive death saves over the next few rounds.

The dragon took to the skies for a round, then landed and knocked a bandit off the roof with a swipe of its tail. Everyone converged on the great beast and finished it off with no further lives lost. Then the PC and the bandits turned on each other. This proved to be harder than the dragon fight, but the PCs prevailed in the end. They gathered up the treasure and returned to town.


Then everyone leveled up, except the paladin, who remains dead. He replaced his character with a Tabaxi rogue. Next we discussed what to do next. It looks like we'll be trying out the Strixhaven module, though we're going to take a quick detour to White Plume Mountain (the version from Tales of the Yawning Portal) first.

The rogue solved the sphinx's riddle, and they started with the western path. They dealt with hallway that heats metal, fought some ghouls, and spent a while getting through the frictionless room. Finally they reached the "inverted ziggurat" room and spent the next hour or two fighting the multi-tiered menagerie. They managed to open the safe at the bottom without setting off the vibration trap, and convinced the oni to give them their prize: the legendary sword Blackrazor.

Afterthoughts: White Plume Mountain is a fun, wacky module, with a variety of encounters that don't really make sense when put together. I read the novel 11 years ago (yeesh time flies), and I've been wanting to run it ever since. Next session we will finish White Plume Mountain, and then possibly start the Strixhaven campaign if there's time. We also plan to update all the characters to the 2024 rules before next session. 

Unfortunately this group's days are numbered, as I will be moving out of state in a few months, but we're going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Bensenstials Session 3

 Game Date: 9/14/2024

LocationHome Game
CampaignBensentials, Session 3

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Baileigh - Tiefling Druid (Circle of the Moon - 2024 rules)
Ben - Changeling Sorcerer (Draconic)
Bryan - Shifter Monk (Way of Shadow), Human Fighter (Champion)
Rick - Assimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
TJ - Elf Ranger (Hunter - 2024 rules)

The Session: We left off halfway through the Woodland Manse quest. This time we added two new players. Note that the two new players are using 2024 character creation rules, while the three original players are still using the 2014 rules. Note that the new players had never played D&D before.

Woodland Manse: Last session had the players finding a secret room in the top floor of the mansion. Then they heard some orcs entering the room they'd come from. The two new players, a druid and a ranger, had been watching the mansion from the woods, and saw the party go in. This led to a very large battle between a bunch of orcs and the players.

Axeholm: This is the biggest dungeon they've conquered so far. It took a couple of hours, but the PCs eventually cleared out every room. The druid spent most of her time transformed into a rat, scouting ahead of the party in the inconspicuous form.

Shipwreck: This encounter killed the party's monk last session. Today it was much easier. The new druid turned into a shark and retrieved most of the treasure with no combat required.

Shrine of Savras: The party explored the ruins of an old church, where they fought some orcs. Then the Paladin received a vision showing him the location of the Dragon's nest. We had to end the session at this point.

Notes: All that's left is to fight the dragon.They know where it is, but reaching it won't be easy. Since this is likely to be a short session, I will try to find something to prepare to keep it going.

Afterthoughts: Using old and new characters together seems to work just fine. The druid seemed to be the most valuable charcter of the session. Her versatility made her useful in every situation.

Thursday, August 22, 2024

First Impressions - PHB 2024

So I’ve had a chance to browse the new version of D&D 5e, and I have to say I’m quite pleased. It’s not as big an overhaul as I’d feared, and most of the changes make sense. Disclaimer: I haven't actually played under the new rules yet, nor have I really read the book in-depth. Plus, I've been told I have a tendency to misunderstand things that are obvious to everyone else.

The biggest thing, to me, is how the book is organized. It looks like it will be easier than ever to find the exact rule you’re looking for when you need to know it. The first 30 or so pages offer a very organic explanation of the game’s rules, with plenty of gameplay examples for the inexperienced. It uses clear, simplified language to keep from scaring off the newcomers.

Next we have the Classes. Each class has four subclasses now. A lot of these are ones that initially appeared in other splatbooks, and they picked some good ones to port over to the PHB.

I’m a huge fan of Bards, and this PHB doesn’t disappoint. It includes my favorite Bard subclass, the “College of Glamour,” which previously appeared in Xanathar’s. It also includes the “College of Dance,” a subclass that makes Bards play a little bit like Monks. I definitely want to try that one sometime.

Speaking of Monks, I was pleased to see the “Warrior of Mercy” subclass, which previously appeared in Tasha’s Cauldron. I like this subclass because it allows you to heal your allies by punching them in the face. Okay, maybe not exactly, but you can provide healing touches as part of your Flurry of Blows, which is pretty funny.

I’m always a fan of giving healing options to non-healing classes that way. I was disappointed that they didn’t include the “Divine Soul” Sorcerer (Xanathar's), which gives Sorcerers access to Cleric spells. That’s one I’ve always wanted to try. I mean, I suppose I still can – old splatbooks are still mostly compatible - but it would have been handy to have all my favorites in one book.

Next we have Backgrounds. These are more important than ever, since these are where you get your stat bonuses. Each background lists three stats, and you have the option of picking two (+2 to one, +1 to the other), or +1 to all three. Each background also gives you a feat, skill and tool proficiencies, and equipment (or just gold if you like to buy it yourself). Despite the extra importance of these backgrounds, they actually take up less space than they did in the original PHB, with two on each page. They no longer give you roleplay bonuses like “you can always find a place to stay in an unfamiliar town,” but honestly I never saw anyone use those anyway.

Then we have Species. These also take up less space than before. The biggest change here is that there are no longer any half species. Instead, we get Aasimar, Goliath, and full-blood Orc in the PHB. If you still want to play a Half-Elf or Half-Orc, you would probably just build an Elf or an Orc and use a background appropriate to your upbringing.

Some will freak out at the fact that Races are now called Species, but then, some people freak out when they see a female Jedi, so apparently some people just need to get out more.

Then we have Feats. These are also more organized than before. The feats section is divided into Origin Feats (which you get from your background), General Feats (the ones you’re used to), Fighting Style Feats (like Duelist or Two-Weapon fighter, which used to be in the Class sections for those classes), and Epic Boon Feats (the level 20+ feats which used to be in the DM guide). This makes it much easier to find the feat you’re looking for, IMO.

Next is Equipment. Not much has changed here except for the Weapon Mastery options. If you’re playing a class that has the Weapon Mastery feature, then a lot of weapons do extra things they didn’t do before, such as cleave. In a way it makes fighters feel more like they did in 4e, which might not be a plus for everyone, but I’ll wait until I see how it plays before I pass judgement. It's a great way to give martial classes a few more options, but I'm a little worried it might undermine the simplicity I've always loved about 5e.

Next up is Spells, which as usual takes up nearly half the book. I have not gone through and read all the spells yet. I panicked a little at first when I saw that Bards have to prepare spells now. There’s reasons I prefer Bards and Sorcerers over Wizards, and one of those reasons is that their spell system is slightly less complicated. However, nothing has actually changed here except the terminology. All spellcasters “prepare spells” now. It just that Wizards prepare them every long rest, and Bards/Sorcerers prepare them whenever they gain a level. The system is the same, but the language is applied more universally.

Then there’s a small section on the Multiverse that honestly I think should have been in the DM’s guide.

Next there’s a section of Creature Stats – similar to the original PHB, it’s mostly creatures a PC might summon, ride, or transform into. It’s always nice that they do this, as it keeps non-DMs from having to buy a monster manual.

And finally we have the Rules Glossary, a place where you can quickly look up any rule or term in the game. Honestly the way this section is organized is fantastic, even if parts of it are redundant with the “how to play” section earlier in the book.

As far as Player’s Handbooks go, this version is top-notch. It excels as a guide to teach new players how to play, and it excels at helping experienced players find specific rules more easily.

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Bensentials Session 2

 Game Date: 8/17/2024

LocationHome Game
Campaign: Bensentials, Session 2

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Ben - Changeling Sorcerer (Draconic)
Bryan - Shifter Monk (Way of Shadow), Human Fighter (Champion)
Rick - Assimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)

The Session: This was a continuation of a practice campaign we started in March.

Butterskull Ranch: The party went to the basement at first and rescued Big Al. He came with them and helped clear out the orcs.

Logger's Quest: The party only had to fight one ankheg. Then they found and destroyed the totem that causes the rest of the ankhegs to leave the camp.

Dragon Barrow: The party did not find all the treasure. Once they aquired the Dragon Slayer Sword and fought the invisible stalker, they left the rest of the tomb undisturbed. 

Tower of Storms: The party fought the boss and returned the conch shell to the banshee. Then they explored the shipwrecks. They only had one potion of water breathing, so they sent Bryan's monk. Unfortunately he was killed by the sharks before he could find any treasure, and he had to roll up a new character.

Woodland Manse: The party made their way through most of the mansion, found the secret room and aquired the removeable rod. They made a lot of noise and the orcs came to investigate, but they closed the secret door. We had to call the session short, so next month they will have just have the one final encounter to finish this quest.
 
Notes: The party is currently at level 4, but will level up to 5 after they finish the Woodland Manse quest.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Bensentials Session 1

Game Date: 3/23/2024

LocationHome Game
Campaign: Bensentials, Session 1

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Ben - Changeling Sorcerer (Draconic)
Bryan - Shifter Monk (Way of Shadow) 
Rick - Assimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)

The Session: A friend's daughter's boyfriend (...'s brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate) wanted to learn how to play D&D, so I ran the Essentials Kit again. We played for about four hours and got through the first three mini-quests. We spent about as much time building and leveling up characters as we did playing the actual game, but that's only because none of the players had played 5e before.

Dwarven Excavation Quest: The very first hit in combat brought the Monk down to zero hit points. I do think that the oozes in this quest are a little overpowered for level 1 characters, but at least we had three people in the party this time. The other two players were able to kill the monster and heal their fallen friend.

Ghomengarde Quest: Because it worked pretty well in the last Essentials campaign, I had them rescue a wolf whose pack had been killed by the white dragon. They healed the wolf's injuries and it joined the party as a DM-controlled NPC. This job had more exploration than actual fighting, and the battle against the mimic wasn't too difficult for them. 

Umbrage Hilll Quest: With three attacks per round, the manticore is pretty tough. The Monk and the Paladin both went down, but the monster only had a couple of hit points left at that point, so it turned out okay. The woman they rescued was a professional potion brewer, and she brought everyone back up to full health afterward.

Afterthoughts: I think it went well. The players seemed to have a good time. I don't know if we'll meet back for another session, but if we do, we're off to a good start.

Note: Everyone is now level three. They started the Butterskull Ranch quest but had to end the session shortly afterward, so if we do play again we'll start there.

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Praktas Essentials - Mountain's Toe and Axeholm

 Game Date: 10/22/2023

LocationRoll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 3

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian
Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard
Nymeria (NPC): Wolf

The Session:
Today they managed to get through 2 quests.

Mountain's Toe Quest
They had to escort a man named Don-Jon Raskin to some mines, which ended up being overrun with wererats. Rayna attempted to talk to the wererat leader, but a fight was inevitable. The PCs slaughtered most of the wererats, including the leader, and made a deal with the final survivor. After this quest, the characters leveled up to level 4.

Axeholm
They were tasked with clearing out all the dangers from an old Dwarven fortress.

First they encountered two ghouls, which was pretty easy for them. Then they went upstairs and fought some spiders, which gave them more trouble, but they survived. After that they took a long rest, then spent more time exploring the two levels. A banshee scared them off at one point, and they involuntarily fled back to the lower level. The fought a few more ghouls and a stirge, then prepared to face the banshee again.

This time it was a little tougher because they ended up fighting the banshee and four ghouls at the same time. Quosh and Nymeria faced the ghouls while Rayna fought the banshee. First Nymeria went down, then Rayna, right as Quosh finished off the last ghoul.

It finally came down to Quosh - who was down to 3 hit points, versus the banshee, who was down to 4. The next hit from either side would determine the outcome. But Quosh prevailed, and saved the day. They still had to fight a pair of stirges before the quest was completely done, but after facing a banshee, that was nothing.

They returned to town and rested up.

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Praktas Essentials - Butterskull Ranch

Game Date: 10/15/2023

LocationRoll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 2

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian
Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard

The Session:
Continuing this catch-as-catch-can practice campaign. Today was a short session, with the PCs only fulfilling one quest from the mission board.

On the ride out to Butterskull Ranch, the PCs saw the white dragon for the first time, as it flew overhead. Then they heard a pained howling from the woods to the north. They went to check it out, and found a pack of wolves in a clearing. All but one of the wolves were dead, and the survivor was injured. It looked like they'd been attacked by the dragon.

Rayna healed the surviving wolf, while Quosh used his Animal Handling skills to gain its trust. The wolf then joined the party, following them the rest of the way to the ranch.

When they reached the ranch, they found signs of battle. The farmhouse held six orcs, all in different rooms about the house, three on each floor. The PCs peeked in one window, and accidentally caught the eye of one orc. He went outside to fight them, and the PCs managed to kill him without attracting the attention of the other orcs.

They peeked in another window, and decided to get the next orc's attention to hopefully take them out one by one. Rayna used her Wand of Pyrotechnics to get its attention. Unfortunately she forgot to read all the instructions first - in addition to a light show, it also makes a noise that can be heard up to 300 feet away. All five of the remaining orcs were alerted, and started running around the house looking for the noise.

They fought one of the orcs through the window, while the rest moved down the stairs and made their way to the front lawn. Still, they managed to control the fight to where they only had to face one or two orcs at a time. They also had a lot of luck with the dice, so Quosh was the only one to take a lot of damage.

Once all the orcs were finished, they found the ranch's owner tied up in the basement. He gave them an additional mission of finding his lost cow. Then they returned to town for a well-deserved rest.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Praktas Essentials

Game Date: 9/10/2023

LocationRoll20
Campaign: Praktas Essentials, Session 1

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:
Quosh (Alan): Half-Orc Barbarian
Rayna (Mandi): Half-Elf Bard

The Session:

A couple of good friends have been wanting to give 5e a try lately, so I’m running them through 2019’s Essentials box set.

We spent the first hour getting all the equipment to work and building the characters. Later I realized I was doing character creation the hard way, filling out PDFs when I should have just used Roll20’s character creator. Next session should go a little smoother.

The session started in the town of Phandalin. The rumors in town centered around a white dragon that has been terrorizing Phandalin and the surrounding areas. The dragon has really upset the local ecology. For example, the dragon drove the orcs out of one area while making its lair, so the orcs invaded another monster community, and those misplaced creatures invaded another area, and so on.

The dragon obviously has to be stopped, but that’s not going to happen for a few sessions. In the meantime, the PCs have their hands full with smaller quests related to the dragon activity. They checked the job board and took the following jobs:

Umbrage Hill
The characters went to Umbrage Hill to do a wellness check on a woman who brews healing potions. When they arrived, they found a manticore attacking the brewer’s windmill. A manticore is a bit of a tough opponent for two level one characters, so when the battle started going downhill, I adjusted the monster’s stats a bit. I reduced its hit points by about a third, reasoning that the brewer had already damaged it a little bit. Also I reduced the number of attacks it could make in a round – Maybe the manticore was tired.

Gnomegarde
The PCs were sent to visit a local gnome community, to see if the gnomes had any magic items they could spare to defend Phandalin from the dragon. When they arrived, the found that the gnomes were in a state of chaos. One of their kings had gone mad, and a mimic was terrorizing their tunnels. The PCs found the mimic disguised as a wine cask, killed it, and calmed down the king. The gnomes awarded them with three magic items, two of which they got to keep.

Dwarven Excavation
They did not complete this one. They were sent to warn some dwarven miners about the dragon, but when they arrived, the dwarves asked them to kill some ochre jellies that infested the mines. The first jelly they fought split apart and took out both PCs, though they did get it down to 4 hit points. While they were unconscious, two dwarves came to their rescue, finishing off the jelly and reviving the characters. The dwarves then sent them back to Phandalin, where they collected their reward for warning the dwarves.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Blood Samples

 I've just published my fourth "book," though this one is just a collection of six short stories. It's called Blood Samples, and it's a prequel to my other books. It's also free on most e-retailers (99 cents on Amazon). You can get it here: Amazon  Other Stores

If you like it, please check out my other books here:

Xine Fury's Books

And if you haven't already, make sure you check out my writing blog:

Bloodhunters Blog

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Playtests and Other Updates

Since I haven’t been gaming lately, I haven’t been posting much on this blog. But I have been keeping up with the hobby, even if I haven’t been playing.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a really fun movie, for both D&D fans and non-fans alike. I’m sad that it isn’t making as much money as it should. If you haven’t seen it yet, please go. If your theater no longer has it, buy the blu-ray when it comes out. They need to know that there’s a market for this, so they’ll make more good D&D movies. You can read my full review on my other blog here.

I have been following the playtest, though I haven’t had a chance to try it out. As expected, there’s a lot in there that I like, a lot that I don’t, and some improvements that seem more complicated than they needed to be. Overall I think it’s an improvement, but I’ll reserve judgment until I get a chance to play the final product.

As usual, these playtests bring out the worst in the RPG community. With every update, the most vocal idiots whine that “D&D is now RUINED!” Guys, this is how playtests work. They brainstorm, you test, you report, they fix. This is not a final product, this is just how they find out what works and what doesn’t. If you don’t like one of their ideas, test it first (some ideas sound bad on paper but work well in game), then fill out their surveys. But stop spamming Twitter and Reddit with how much you hate every proposed change.

I love the idea of tying ability scores to something besides race. Yeah, I know we’re going to see a lot of campaigns where the party’s halfling is stronger than the party’s half-orc, and I don’t care. The strongest guy I know IRL is about a foot shorter than me. I have no problem believing that a halfling who grew up bodybuilding could outwrestle a half-orc who grew up studying literature.

Plus, I’m so sick of seeing the same race/class combinations all the time. Tiefling Warlocks. Halfling Rogues. Half-Elf Bards. Whether you’re a min-maxer or not, it’s always felt like you’re better off picking the race that has the bonus to your prime stat. Changing how you get your ability bonus opens up a world of creativity.

What’s that? You prefer your fictional world stick to the tried-and-true tropes, where half-orcs are stupid and elves are scholars? Great! Build your world that way. But recognize that the PCs aren’t meant to be average examples of your world’s population; the PCs are the standouts. The party’s half-orc wizard probably became an adventurer because his own people didn’t accept him. This doesn’t hinder your world, it helps it.

Okay, but should races even be called "races," or should they be called species, heritages, ancestries, bloodlines, etc? First off, I fully support the change. It’s more future-proof. I’ve heard all kinds of arguments about whether race is more or less accurate than species, but being a fantasy universe, our English definitions don’t really apply. But the bottom line is, some people are bothered by calling it “race,” because it has negative connotations. It’s a tiny change that doesn’t affect gameplay, and makes some people feel better. Call it “bowing to the woke mob,” if you want, but you sound like a jerk.

That said, I’m honestly not sure it matters. Whatever they stick with, it’s only going to be called that in the Player’s Handbook. Most existing players are going to keep calling them races. It’s too deeply ingrained in our language. I called it races for most of this blog, and I’ve preferred species for years. It’ll take several generations of players before the new terminology takes over. But they have to start sometime, now’s as good a time as any.

The latest playtest had an interesting Wizard feature that’s causing some buzz, basically a new way to customize spells. Personally, I thought it was simultaneously too complicated, and potentially overpowered. I do like the idea of customizing spells, though, I just don’t like how they did it. But I also don’t play a lot of wizards, so I’m not the best one to ask. But I bet this version doesn’t survive the playtest.

I’ll say it again, for the Bard, I wish they’d implement an actual “bard song” feature. I’m tired of bards basically just being inferior sorcerers. Inspiration is not enough. I either want a buffing song that gets more powerful as I level, or a set of songs I can choose from (not bard-themed spells). Something I can start performing as the battle starts, that buffs all allies within 30+ feet of me, that I can maintain as a bonus action each round. For bard songs done reasonably well, check out the battle hymns in “Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition” (A5E). Their version is a little more complicated than I’d like (as is everything in the A5E book), but they’ve got the right idea.

I’ve been meaning to write a blog about the A5E system, but the truth is, I’ve tried twice to read the full rulebook and I always get overwhelmed. A5E is full of excellent ideas, it really is. Every page has something that makes me think, “I want to add that as a house rule in my own campaigns.” But as a whole, it’s just too much. I love 5e because of its simplicity, but A5E takes 5e and turns it back into Pathfinder. That’s great for some people, but it’s not why I play RPGs.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. I recently self-published my third book, which you can buy here if you're interested. I’m taking a break from writing for a couple of weeks so I can get a few things done around the house, and reorient my brain for my next big project.

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Bloodhunters

My first novel is now available on the Kindle Store. If you're interested, you can purchase it here:

Bloodhunters v1: Bad Blood


For more information on the series, visit my Bloodhunters blog here:

Bloodhunters Blog


But wait, there's more! In honor of releasing this book, I've also written a simple, free RPG based on the Bloodhunters universe. It's a skill-based dice pool game. It steals a lot of mechanics from other RPGs, but I'm not selling it, so bite me. If you don't like the rules, you might like the lore, or vice-versa, so feel free to give it a download. You can find the files here:

Bloodhunters RPG

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Note

 Note: Sorry for the lack up updates. I've dropped out of my group for a while so I can work on a novel. I'll start playing again when I run out of words.

Saturday, March 19, 2022

Daggerford Militia: Quit Hitting Yourself! Quit Hitting Yourself!

Game Date: 3/19/2022

LocationRoll20
Campaign: Daggerford, Session 26

SystemD&D 5e
DM: Mike

The Party:
Azul (Cliff) Dragonborn Fighter (absent)
Nikolice Gomez (Steven) - Human Fighter
Khemed (Rusty) Half-Elf Wizard
Navine/"Spider" (Steve) Elf Rogue
Vanya Bennett (Matt) Half-Elf Bard

The Session:
Today we continued our hexcrawl on the unfamiliar planet. We followed the base of the mountain. The alien sun had an exhausting effect on our bodies, but the mushroom milk we'd harvested earlier was good out counteracting this effect. Zeus, our guide, insisted we eat the hearts of our fallen enemies, to keep them from coming back as ghosts. We showed him how to cook food so it tasted better.

Our cooking attracted some gribbs (vulture lizards). They got a couple of good hits in, but we took a few out and the rest flew off. We decided to start sleeping during the day and travelling at night. During our downtime, Nikolice tried to figure out how to use the raygun gauntlet he picked up last session.

We saw another Kith patrol in the distance. It seems they were attracted by Nikolice's gauntlet tests. We decided to greet them and try to convince them we were gods. As we got close, one of them rushed forward and fell at our feet, groveling. They mistook Navine for their "chosen one", finally returned to them and ready to lead them to victory. Navine accepted her role as queen, and they awaited her orders. 

We found a tomb that the Kith said was full of ghosts. We sent Azul and our guide to help the Kith hunt for some food while the rest of our party explored the tomb. Navine got shot by a trap, a black box that shoots death rays. Scouting ahead, Navine and Nikolice kept an eye out for more traps like that, and disabled the next one with an arrow. 

Around the next bend we ran into a pair of Strekelions (big rat things). Once they were dead, we turned South and found a burial chamber. Navine found some tiles that looked like the same eight runes we've been seeing everywhere. They experimented a little pressing some buttons, until a door opened on the East wall in the chamber North of us.

The next chamber looked very sci-fi. There were six cylinders lining the walls. The door on the East side had more of those runes. Pressing buttons 1 and 5 opened the door. The next room held a large casket, and six pillars with levers. There was a mummified Kith in the casket, but he didn't look like a normal Kith. There were control panels on each side of the casket.

Nikolice and Khemed stood at the control panels and pressed some runes. Then they started pulling levers. The room started to cool down, and the casket opened. The creature inside awakened. It had one one functioning eye, and one glowing eye. It spoke in a barking language, so Vanya cast Tongues. He asked us which house we aligned with, and what the status of his house was. He was very threatening, so we told him his house was fine. He identified himself as Sotark the Destroyer, and ordered us to accompany him back to his people.

Sotark requested green stones to restore his energy. Luckily we had some from a previous session, which he gladly took and used to power up. He appeared to be some sort of cyborg. He asked us to donate genetic material to create more soldiers. Nikolice, Khemed, and Vanya each made donations. Mutant clones of us grew in the tubes. 

One of the clones grew to fruition, and it was a horrible mess of a creature. Nikolice decided to put his clone out of its misery. The creature dealt acid damage, ruining Nikolice's rapier. Vanya's and Khemed's clones joined the fight. Vanya convinced Sotark to help us kill the rest of the clones. He turned out to be a hard hitter, and we were glad he was on our side... so far.

Khemed held his actions, because Sotark was doing just fine. But then Sotark ordered him to help, so Khemed let loose a fireball on the remaining clones... and Sotark, who was not pleased. On his next turn, he went after Khemed. Khemed went down, and on the next turn, a clone took down Nikolice. Vanya healed Nikolice, and Sotark finished off the final clone. Khemed rolled a 20 on a death save, returning to 1 hit point, but Sotark still believed he was dead. 

Nikolice accompanied Sotark out of the tomb. The other Kith were back from hunting. Sotark asked them which house they served. Zeus said he was loyal to Vanya, and the other Kith pledged loyalty to Navine. Sotark started to go into kill mode. Nikolice stood between Sotark and the Kith and attempted to calm everyone down. 

Sotark was not happy about this. We ended the session on this cliffhanger.

Friday, March 18, 2022

Alien RPG

Alien and Aliens are two of my favorite movies of all time. IMO, they’re the only two good movies in the series, and they’re nothing like each other. One is a slow, suspenseful horror film, and the other is an exciting action movie. They both feature beautifully disturbing creature designs, and a strong female lead. I love how the future is depicted as being low tech and dirty, as opposed to the immaculately clean Star Trek, where technology is basically magic.

It’s not easy to make an RPG system that works equally well for both movies. If I’d been in charge, I might have focused on one or the other. But the Alien RPG (2019, Free League Publishing) makes a pretty solid attempt. I’d say the system works better on the suspense side than the action side, but so far I haven’t played it enough to really judge.

In the Alien RPG, there’s two types of games: Campaign play and Cinematic play. If you’re only planning to run one-shots, then you don’t really need the core rulebook, and can get by on the Cinematic Starter Kit instead. Either style of play can be used for action or suspense themed games, but in my mind, the one-shot Cinematic games work better for horror, and the Campaign works better for those who want a marine-filled action fest. But YMMV.

Alien RPG is a dice pool game that uses special d6’s. Regular d6’s work, but you’ll want a bunch of them, and you’ll want them in two different colors. The first set of dice is the “Base Dice”, which you use for skill checks. They are normal d6’s except there’s a special symbol on the 6. When you need to perform a skill check (which includes attack rolls), you roll a number of Base Dice based equal to your skill level plus the governing stat. If you get even one six, you succeed. Additional sixes let you perform “Stunts”, which are extra effects.

Then there’s Stress Dice. A big part of the Alien RPG, and one of the elements that really helps it nail the feel of the movies, is keeping track of your character’s stress. Your characters can gain stress several ways, from taking damage to seeing a xenomorph for the first time. When you roll a skill check, you take a number of Stress Dice equal to your current stress level, and add them to your dice pool. These dice have the same special symbol on the 6 as the Base Dice, but they also have a facehugger symbol on the 1.

So Stress Dice can actually help you, in that they give you more chances to roll 6’s. Just like how being under pressure in real life can sometimes make you more competent. But if any of your stress dice come up as 1’s, you have to make a panic roll. This roll might result in your character fleeing, dropping an important item, or even attacking a fellow teammate.

 

For example, Bob has an Agility score of 4, a Range Combat score of 2, and his gun has a bonus of 1. His stress level is currently three. He wants to shoot at a xenomorph which is currently sticking its head in the door. Bob yells, “Eat this!”, then rolls 7 base dice and 3 stress dice. Among the 10 dice, he ends up getting three success symbols and one facehugger symbol.

 

Only one success is needed to hit the alien. The other two success dice can be used to perform stunts. Some of the stunts won’t apply in this situation, such as knocking the weapon out of your opponent’s hand. But one of them allows you to push your opponent backwards, so Bob uses this one to knock the xenomorph back through the open door it was standing in. For the other stunt, he just chooses to have it do one extra point of damage.

 

But since he also got a facehugger symbol, Bob has to make a Panic roll. He rolls a d6 and gets a 4. His current stress level is 3, so he adds that and gets 7. Looking at the Panic roll chart, 7 is “Nervous Twitch”, which causes Bob and his nearby companions to each gain 1 stress die. That could have been a lot worse. 

 

There’s a little more to it than that (the opponent may have an armor rating that lowers the damage it takes, their wounds might spray acid when hit, Bob’s distance from the opponent might change the number of base dice, Bob could use his Fast Action to aim for 2 additional dice, the weight of all these dice might collapse the table you’re playing on, etc etc etc), but those are the basics.


Personally, d6 games are usually a turn off for me. I’m a huge fan of 20-sided dice. But I have to admit that I associate unusual-shaped dice with fantasy, so Alien RPG’s d6’s do help set the futuristic mood here. Also, I’ve never really been in love with dice pool games in general. Honestly, the most recent Star Wars RPG (2012, Fantasy Flight Games) is almost incomprehensible to me. But I think Alien RPG pulls it off well.

This is a very deadly RPG. Player characters typically only have around 4 hit points, while xenomorphs have about twice as many. You are not meant to survive melee encounters with an alien. This is a “run and hide” RPG, not a “kill everything that moves” game. That is, unless your party is a group of well-armed space marines, but even then you’re going to want to engage the enemy on your terms. In any event, if you find yourself face-to-face with a xeno and you’re armed with a wrench… just run.

Death is interesting. Getting to zero hit points doesn’t kill you, it just requires you to roll on a critical injury table. Some of these injuries are fatal, some will put your character out of action for a few days, and some just leave you with battle scars.

Combat uses cards to determine initiative. On your turn, you get a slow action and a fast action (or two fast actions). Distance is kind of vague, so combat grids aren’t really necessary. For the most part you just need to track is which characters are currently in which room.


I tend to dislike encumbrance rules in RPGs. It’s not that I think PCs should be able to carry thousands of pounds of loot, it’s just that most of the time tracking weight is more tedious than fun. But Alien RPG’s encumbrance system is intuitive and easy. It’s based more on an object’s size than weight. You can carry a number of “regular-sized” objects equal to double your strength score. Larger objects count as multiple objects, and smaller objects count has half an object. “Tiny” objects (pen, ID card) can fit in your pockets and don’t need to be tracked. It’s a little thing, but it’s touches like this that win me over.

Reading through it, my first impression was that it looks like a "rules light" system. It’s really not, though. Sure, there are a lot of rules that won't come into play in every campaign, like the ones involving starvation, freezing, air supply, and so on. You put all of those aside, and it seems like you're playing with about two page's worth of rules. But when you actually start to play it, it does feel crunchier than it initially reads.


Aesthetically speaking, the books are beautiful. The designers are totally committed to the theme. The pages have a black background, with most information in green “pop up” windows, like you’re using one of the computer terminals in the Alien universe. It’s full of timelines and space maps, with nice artwork and quotes from the movies. The book looks great on my shelf, and I’m proud to own it.

But from a practical standpoint, the books are a little difficult to use. To preserve the aesthetic, they wasted a lot of pages. An entire page might contain a single paragraph, floating in the middle of a star field. Rules that ought to be on the same page are sometimes found 30 pages apart. At times I found the DM screen more useful than the rulebook, because it puts the most-used charts and rules in one spot.

Even the “Cinematic Starter Kit”, which includes an abridged version of the rules, feels disorganized. It basically copies the most important pages right out of the core rulebook, aesthetic and all, rather than reorganize the rules in a more intuitive way. Look, I love how beautifully these books are presented, but I wish it included a quick reference book. If condensed efficiently, it would be a lot easier to find the rules you need when you need them.

Even the bestiary section is presented in a confusing way, with a creature’s stats in one chart, but with special rules several pages away. During one fight, I kept having to flip back and forth between a xenomorph’s attacks, and what happens when they die. Unless you make your own monster cards, you’re going to be flipping back and forth a lot.

Bottom line? Well, there is no bottom line, because I haven’t played it enough to really judge it yet. So far I’ve only run a single session for one player, and we hand-waved a few rules because we were still getting used to the basics. But the feel of the movies is there. It would have been very easy for them to just churn out a quick Traveller clone, but you can tell this RPG was a labor of love. This is a game for Alien fans, by Alien fans.

If you’re torn on whether to buy the core rulebook or the Cinematic Starter Kit, I’d go with the starter kit. You get an abridged rulebook, some dice, cards, and more. And it’s usually cheaper than the rulebook. But if you end up liking the game, the core rulebook adds character creation, vehicle rules, a larger bestiary, and a ton of lore about the Alien universe. If you don’t care about having the physical book, you can buy the core rulebook a little cheaper digitally from DriveThruRPG.

By the way, the module I ran was a short Cinematic one-shot I put together, loosely based on the Commodore 64 game, “Project Firestart”. It’s not finished, but here are my notes for the module if you're curious.