Dice

I have a thing for 20-sided dice. I've always thought they were neat, even when I was a little kid who thought D&D was satanic. I've always wanted to find ways to use them in other games. I wonder how much it would change Monopoly to use a d20? You'd get around the board faster, but you'd also have a chance to roll a 1 (which is impossible in normal Monopoly).

I started collecting RPG dice about a year before I actively started looking for a D&D campaign. Here's some pics of my collection:


I know it's silly, but I like to match up dice with the personality of the character I'm playing. A magic user might get something clear or sparkly, while a melee type might get darker colors. I also like to get matching dice bags if possible.


I also like collecting weird dice dice, in strange sizes or that show funny results. Clockwise from top left: Large dice, glow-in-the-dark dice, tiny dice, and clear dice.


Here's a few unusual ones, including astrology dice, d1000, d100, d30, d24, pizza toppings, months, round dice, mood dice, weather dice, rock/paper/scissors dice, and a few odd finds.


I used the mood die once while DMing, when playing a mentally unstable character who had violent mood swings. Some day I hope to do something similar as a player.


This is a solution I had for playing in the car:

These bead boxes are made by Craft Mates; I bought mine at Joann. You shake the whole thing then look at the die you needed to see. The compartments lock shut so the doors shouldn't open while you're shaking it. Of course, 4e is difficult to play without minis, but if you run a low-combat module, you can probably get away with just writing on graph paper. I put them together when planning our last Florida trip, but we didn't get around to playing D&D, so I still don't know if it's a workable idea.

Miniatures

While I've played individual D&D games from just about every edition, my first full campaign was for 4e. Tantris was a very good campaign, run by a veteran DM. However, the DM was new to 4e, and we played using a lot of elements from previous editions. Most notable was the lack of miniatures. It worked for us - it was a low-combat campaign, and we were running fairly simple characters. But in general, 4e just doesn't work without miniatures. There's way too many powers involving zones and "burst 2 in 10" spells and tactical moves. But beyond that, I just don't think I want to play in any non-mini campaign again.

My reasons are threefold:

1. I just really like minis. I've always enjoyed collecting things, and I was collecting D&D minis long before I actually started looking for a regular game. But my minis aren't doing anyone any good just hiding in a box.

2. My mind wanders. During the Tantris campaign, I had to give the DM my full concentration every second, which is hard for me. Sometimes he'd say something that would spark an idea in my head. I'd suddenly think, "Oooh! That gives me an idea for a story!" And I'd start writing that story in my head. When I finally returned to the present, I had missed three paragraphs of exposition. It was even worse in combat. Our DM was great at describing action scenes, but it's hard to keep an entire battlefield in my head. I'd constantly lose track of who was standing where. With minis, one glance at the board and you know where everyone is standing, who are affected by which status effects, and even which enemies have taken the most damage.

3. Breaks. When everything is in everybody's heads, then we all have to hear every word to know what's going on. If somebody has to go to the bathroom, then the game has to stop. Otherwise you'll just have to catch them up when they get back, and what's the point of saying something the first time if you know you're going to have to repeat it in a minute. With 4e, you just wait until combat, then get up right after your turn. Someone else can look at your character sheet to help determine if an attack hits you while you're gone. By the time you get back, it might be your turn again, but you can plainly see where everyone is standing now, which creatures are bloodied, and who is dazed/prone/blinded/etc. Nobody has to repeat anything.

Some people think using minis limits roleplay. I disagree with this totally. For starters, out-of-combat roleplay is unchanged. In combat, well, admittedly 4e's combat rules are tighter, which in itself might limit roleplay. But that has nothing to do with the minis themselves. And I don't see how knowing where all the creatures are standing affects roleplay. Personally I've seen some pretty neat roleplay in combat regardless. It really just depends on the player, and whether the DM is willing to allow off-the-wall combat moves.

Anyway, that's a lot of buildup for what is basically a blog to show off pictures of my minis. It's nothing special - I don't like painting minis, so I pretty much collect WOTC's prepainted stuff. But regardless, here's some pics of my collection.

Here's some of the ones my friends and I use for our characters:

Gygax High, Class of 2008

Top Row:
Krusk (Half-Orc Rogue, LFR, Rick)
Rhogar Bloodfang (Dragonborn Fighter, LFR, Bryan)
Kryla Bloodfang (Dragonborn Sorcerer, LFR, Matt)
Voranna Elun (Eladrin Ranger, LFR, Matt

Middle Row:
Dorath (Goliath Fighter, Praktas, Bryan)
Talindra Seryth (Shifter Avenger, Avatars of Torm, Matt)
Aria Thatcher (Half-Elf Bard, Scarred Lands, Matt)
Flint (Shifter Ranger, LFR, Bryan)

Bottom Row:
Damakos Redhorn (Teifling Rogue, Praktas, Rick)
Lia (Eladrin Wizard, LFR, Misty)
Drew Baker (Human Fighter, Praktas, Bryan)

Here's some other misc pictures of my collection. For most of these you can click on the picture for a larger version.

Let's start with some elemental types:

Constructs:

Other various creatures:

You shall not pass!

Lizardfolk, Kobolds and Goblins:

Animal types:

A few pics of heroic types and other non-monsters:

Some undead, insects, and drow:

If this one looks blurry, it's because they're using magic to distort your vision:

Orc fortress:

Okay, that was fun and all, but bring on the Dragons!

Most of these pictures were arranged and taken by KJ. Some of the props are pieces by Dwarven Forge.

Character - Talindra Seryth

This is my current character in the Artifact Hunters: The Avatar of Torm campaign.

Name:
Talindra "Tal" Seryth

Class:
Avenger

Race:
Razorclaw Shifter

Gender:
Female

Alignment:
Good

Deity:
Sune






Background:
Tal was born to a tribe of forest-dwelling Razorclaw Shifters. Though the members of her tribe all had tan skin and brown hair, Tal's colorings were shades of gray and black. This might have simply been a natural genetic mutation, but the tribe believed it to be the mark of an evil god. Fearing a bad omen, they took the infant to a clearing on the other side of the forest, and left her there to die.

Whether by pure chance or divine intervention, the infant was found by a member of the Talons of Retribution, a reclusive order of religious assassins. A somewhat darker offshoot of the Harpers, the Talons are a multi-denominational cult, united by their common hatred of Bane.

The Talons also thought this strange baby was a sign from the gods, but unlike the Shifter tribe, they interpreted it as a good omen. And so they took her in and raised her, training her from infancy for one purpose - to seek out and destroy Bane worshipers.


Personality, Mannerisms, and Appearance:
Tal has a kind heart, but others often see her as rude and unapproachable. She is obsessed with her life's mission, and has little use for hobbies or small talk.

When she shows a sense of humor at all, it tends toward insults and sarcasm, mostly because she holds her teammates up to her standards of discipline. When she fails at something herself, she obsesses over it internally, and will spend days replaying the event in her head and analyzing where she went wrong. Despite her single-mindedness, she has a soft spot for art and beauty.

Tal has catlike facial features, which become more pronounced when she is angry. While most members of her species have brown or tan skin and hair, Tal's colors are more gray and black. She has bright green eyes, often her only visible feature when she's in the shadows. She is missing part of her left ear, and has scars all over her body. Most are the result of a childhood spent in training. She has a small tattoo on her inner left wrist, the symbol of her religious order. She usually wears dark clothing.

Creating this character:
When our last campaign ended, we were in a bit of a rush to decide what to do next. I wanted to try something new, and was open to anything. Someone suggested Avenger, a class which I knew nothing about. I've had the PHB2 since it was released, but for some reason I'd never read the pages on that class. I've got to say, it's interesting. Not as damaging as a normal striker, but it makes up for it by hitting more often.

Originally Tal was going to be an Elf. I even chose the name "Talindra" by searching the web for pages on Elf names. The only thing that bothered me was I was tired of elves. Okay, technically I've not played a full-blood elf in 4e. I played a few in NeverWinter Nights, and in 4e I've played Half-Elves, Drow, and Eladrin. But I still wanted to do something less Elven. At the last minute, less than an hour before I left the house for our first session, I decided to make her a Shifter. I've always liked cats, and I've always wanted to play something catlike. Plus, Shifters have the same stat synergy as Elves for the Avenger class. Our resident statcruncher thinks I've made a mistake, since Elves are faster and can shift through rough terrain. But I've always preferred fluff over crunch.

The next problem was choosing a miniature. I didn't have a mini that really looked like a female shifter, much less one with a greatsword. I finally went with the Catfolk Wilder:

The problem is, Shifters don't typically have black fur. I could have lived with that - a mini doesn't have to look a exactly like your character. But I like the way the mini looks. So I wrote Tal a background that gives her darker skin and hair. The weapons are still wrong, but it's not like she couldn't hold two swords. Maybe that's what she looked like in training. These days she carries a single large blade and wears black robes, but she might occasionally look like her mini when she's practicing.

Artifact Hunters: The Wrath of Keanu

Game Date: 11/6/2010
DM: Nick

The Party:
Anna Bella (Leigha) - Halfling Monk
Gavail Pontiff (Ted) - Eladrin Wizard
Marek the Silver (Rusty) - Dragonborn Paladin
Morigan McBane (Jesse) - Human Artificer
Talindra Seryth (Matt) - Razorclaw Shifter Avenger

The Session:
Our last session ended with us agreeing to compete in three arena matches. While some characters were fighting, the rest of us were allowed to place bets on the outcome. We really cleaned up on this one.

First up, we had Marek the Silver vs a Half-Orc Hunter. Marek probably could have finished him off pretty quickly, but Rusty kept rolling badly. He was very close to dropping when he finally won. Next we had Anna Bella vs a Hex Knight. She creamed him pretty quickly. Finally we had Talindra Seryth vs the Gnome Arcanist. Tal managed to bloody him in the opening round, by using a charge attack, spending an action point, then using her daily. She finished him off a few rounds later.

After a brief celebration, we were back on the road to resume our quest. After a couple of days of travel, we found ourselves surrounded by a group of undead. There were two gray oozes, two ghoul fleshseekers, two ghasts (one of which looked like Keanu Reeves), and a plaguechanged ghoul. It wasn't an easy battle, and we lost a lot of blood, but we did win.

A couple of nights later, we were camping, and were attacked by an Owlbear and a Cave Bear (which we kept calling a Care Bear).

A few days later we met a trader, riding on the back of a scathebeast. He tried to sell us a few things, but his prices were a bit high. Then he tried to steal from us, turned invisible, and tried to ride away. We chased him down and fought him, and forced him to surrender. He turned out to be a doppelganger. After much debate, we executed him by feeding him to his own scathebeast. The beast is now Gavail's mount, which should make things interesting.

At the end of the session, we were preparing to fight a large number of bandits.

Obsidian Portal Entry

Rewards:

Total XP gained: 3050 (610 each)

Total GP gained: 6180 (1236 each)

+1 Flowform cloth Armor (Anna Bella) lvl 4

+2 Astral Fire Finemail (Julian) lvl 7

3x Potions of Healing (one went to Gavail, 2 to Sleepy)

Climber's Kit (Morigan)

Silk Rope

Couters of Second Chances (Anna Bella) lvl 5

Scathebeast Mount (Gavail) lvl 4

+1 Dark Leaf Armor (Gavail) lvl 4

Artifact Hunters: The Real Quest Begins!

Game Date: 10/16/2010
DM: Nick

The Party:
Anna Bella (Leigha) - Halfling Monk
Gavail Pontiff (Ted) - Eladrin Wizard
Marek the Silver (Rusty) - Dragonborn Paladin
Morigan McBane (Jesse) - Human Artificer
Talindra Seryth (Matt) - Razorclaw Shifter Avenger

The Session:
Today we began our true mission, to find Torm's armor. First we each bought a horse (Anna and Tal are sharing one), and then we were off. We spent most of the session town-hopping, traveling East and resting in each town.

In one town we encountered a group of thugs who claimed to be the town guards. They asked us for some gold as a "leaving town fee". We saw through the ruse and made short work of them.

In another town we were given the chance to play a game where we would have had to steal a woman's undergarments. We passed on that one.

In yet another town we caught a bit of a stage show. A Tiefling magician was performing magic tricks. For one trick, he asked for help from a child in the audience. Then the Tiefling unhinged his jaw and bit the kid's head off. The magician turned out to an Oni Devourer with a sweet tooth for kids.

Though it was five against one, we had the additional problem of innocent bystanders. The Oni kept eating more children during the fight, so we had to take the monster down as quickly as possible. Best line - "Damn, I really wanted to eat you." (DM Nick, to the childlike Anna Bella.)

We wrapped up that battle and headed out of town. Or next fight took place in a swamp. We faced four Greenscale Hunters, two Vine Horrors, and two Crocodiles. The Hunters were no big thing, but the Vines and Crocs had some fairly devastating moves. Luckily, Gavail managed to hit a large group of them with a Sleep spell early on, which dramatically shortened the battle.

We left the final Hunter alive, and he agreed to become Marek's squire. We're calling him "Sleepy", since he spent the majority of the battle unconscious.

In the next town, we agreed to help someone by fighting in the arena. We got as far as choosing our foes, then ended the session.

Next Session:
Three of us will be entering an arena for one-on-one battles. Marek will be fighting a Half-Orc Hunter, Anna will face a Hex Knight, and Tal will compete against a Gnome Arcanist.

Reminders:
I will be unavailable on the 23rd and the 30th. On the 23rd some of the group will be playing at a Gamma World event, and they have a special Halloween game planned for the 30th. Our next game will be on October 6th.

Obsidian Portal Entry

Artifact Hunters: Miniquestapalooza!

Game Date: 10/9/2010
DM: Nick

The Party:
Anna Bella (Leigha) - Halfling Monk
Gavail Pontiff (Ted) - Eladrin Wizard
Julien (Dane) - Kalashtar Cleric
Marek the Silver (Rusty) - Dragonborn Paladin
Morigan McBane (Jesse) - Human Artificer
Talindra Seryth (Matt) - Razorclaw Shifter Avenger

Note:
Call it laziness or lack of time, but I'm not going into as much detail this campaign as I often do. A more complete log of our campaign's story appears on our Obsidian Portal page (meticulously updated by Nick), while my blog is more of a summary with personal anecdotes.

The Session:
When we left off, we had a choice of four mini-quests we had to complete to make a name for ourselves. So now we simply had to choose: Gnolls, Orcs, Chapel, or Tombs?

1. First we went off to raid a tomb. We encountered a Howling Hag, accompanied by several zombies. Thanks to Julien's Turn Undead power, a lot of the minions were taken out in one round. We breezed through this battle.

2. Next we explored a cave full of Orcs. The battle was soon joined by a gi-normous War Pig. Nevertheless, we slaughtered them all and had ribs for dinner.

3. Then we investigated a church where strange whispers had been heard. We each picked a door or window, the plan being to all crash through at once and surround whatever might be inside. What actually happened was Anna Bella, our plucky mini-monk, made a dramatic entrance... while the rest of us kept failing our rolls to bash our own doors. The Halfling found herself alone against a Spine Devil, two Legion Devils, and Gnaw Demon with a sweet tooth for her face. She fought well and stayed on her feet. Julien managed to keep healing her through a window, even though he couldn't quite climb through it. Eventually the rest of us found ways into the building, and made short work of the baddies.

4. Finally we faced some Gnolls & Hyenas. Early in the battle, Talindra got flanked by the boss and one of his cronies, who managed to drop her in one round. She's really glad we've got a cleric in the party now. This was the toughest battle of the night, but we pulled through.

Afterwards, we returned to town, and impressed the head librarian enough to gain access to the main quest. Next session we'll be headed out of town, looking for pieces of Torm's wardrobe.

Artifact Hunters: The Avatar of Torm - Session 1

Game Date: 10/2/2010
DM: Nick

The Party:
Anna Bella (Leigha) - Halfling Monk
Gavail Pontiff (Ted) - Eladrin Wizard
Marek the Silver (Rusty) - Dragonborn Paladin
Morigan McBane (Jesse) - Human Artificer
Talindra Seryth (Matt) - Razorclaw Shifter Avenger

A New Start
With two character deaths (and some other factors), last week we decided to try something different for a while. So today we started a new campaign. It involves a mission from church of Torm, and combating the influence of Bane. Bane is the evil god of tyranny, corruption, power, and general nastiness. (He also broke Batman's back once.)

About Our Characters:
Talindra Seryth was raised by an anti-Bane cult. I say "cult" because even though they are technically eliminating evil from the world, they are obsessive about their cause, and they care little about the morality or legality involved in achieving their ends. Tal was raised from birth to be a holy avenger, dedicated to finding and eliminating Bane's followers.

Also in the party we have Anna Bella, a Halfling Monk who kicks major ass despite her petite size. Gavail Pontiff is an Eladrin Wizard who studies history and dislikes the worship of gods. Marek the Silver is an honorable Dragonborn Paladin. Morigan McBane is a Human Artificer who enjoys exploring ancient ruins and hunting for treasure.

The Session:
We began in the city of Triel, where they were preparing for an event called the Divine Death. But soon we were given a plot hook that had us traveling to the city of Berdusk to look for the Gauntlet of Vestigius.

On our way we were attacked by a gnoll and two hyenas in the forest. Once we reached Berdusk, we found out that the gauntlet had been taken into some caves to the North. In these caves, we fought Goblins, Fire Beetles, and finally an Imp before finally getting the gauntlet back.

Next, we were told to head to the Elturel Monastary and speak to the head librarian. However, we were not allowed entrance until we proved ourselves. Next session, we will begin by selecting one of four mini-quests. One involves a Gnoll Outpost, another involves an Orc Raiding Party, another involves Haunted Tombs, and the last one involves an abandoned Chapel of Tyr.

A more extensive recap of our session appears on our Obsidian Portal page.

...And On A More Personal Note:
There's an episode of Daria where a student dies. Since Daria has a reputation for being unemotional, one of the dumber students asks her how to stop feeling sad. Daria charges her money for the advice, cash up front. After the student pays her, Daria says, "Find some other way to feel." The student immediately gets angry that Daria charged her for such simple advice. Then Daria says, "It worked, didn't it?" The student stops, thinks a second, realizes that getting angry really did make her forget about her grief, and walks away without saying anything.

Well, that's how I've felt ever since I started putting together this character. I mourned a little when my character died last week, but working up a new character made me forget about it. I'm very excited about Talindra, she's unlike anything I've played before. Writing her description and backstory is very cathartic, like being reborn after death. I do feel a little shallow though, as if I'm saying, "Out with the old, in with the new. Get your ass killed, we'll replace you too." But these are just fictional characters, how sad can I really be?

Scarred Lands - Gnomes Are Brain Food

Game Date: 9/25/2010 

DM: Rusty 

The Party: 

Aria Thatcher (Matt) - Half-Elf Bard 

Blast Flashing, Jr. (Nick) - Gnome Warlock 

Shade (Jesse) - Drow Rogue 

Thorfin (Ted) - Goliath Fighter 

Recap: 

Last week ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. We had fought our way up to the third floor of a four-story church. After clearing the level, we found and solved a puzzle box. Soon a figure began to coalesce, and... 

The Session: 

...we found ourselves in a battle with a gasty Nast (make that a nasty Ghast) and a ghostly Shadow. Additionally, some disembodied heads we saw earlier grew bodies and became undead minions. This was a difficult battle. Cecil and Paige (whose players were not present) stopped moving, as if they were frozen in time. This left the four of us to battle the monsters. The worst of the bunch was the Shadow. It spent a lot of time floating over a pit in the middle of the floor, which made it difficult for us to use anything but ranged attacks. 

At one point, Thorfin tried jumping at the Shadow and grabbing it in mid-air, but he fell down to the second floor below. To be fair, Ted knew it wasn't the best idea, but he likes to try interesting things. Eventually the Shadow escaped up the stairs to the fourth floor, while our party retreated back to the second floor for an extended rest. We slept in the room where we'd fought a bunch of spiders in our previous session. We went ahead and left Cecil and Paige in the spider room, then proceeded to the fourth floor. 

On the fourth floor, we found a Wraith, the Shadow we'd fought earlier, six Skin Kites, and a Giant Brain. The Brain was hooked up to a lot of tubes and wires, giving us the impression that it was controlling things. This was an incredibly hard fight, and for some of us, it was our final battle. The Wraith had a natural aura that harmed anyone who stood adjacent to us. The Skin Kits could adhere themselves to our faces, simultaneously restraining us and blinding us. 

While Thorfin was up and down several times throughout the encounter, Blast was the first one to actually fail his third death save. Shade and Thorfin barely survived the encounter, but Aria wasn't so lucky. She put up a good fight, rolling some of her highest numbers in the session, but it was just one too many rounds. She failed her final save right after the last hostile was defeated, but before the encounter was officially over. Shade and Thorfin then teamed up on the Brain itself, smashing it to pulp.

As they beat up on it, the building shimmered, and they saw quick flashbacks of the creatures they'd defeated. When it was finally pulverized, the building started to collapse. Shade and Thorfin grabbed their teammates' corpses and started looking for a way out. 

From a hole in the third floor's ceiling they could see a bell on the fourth floor. But oddly enough, no such hole or bell existed on the fourth floor. It was an interesting mystery, but they didn't have time to solve it. They remembered seeing a grate on the bottom floor, and rushed to open it. But they couldn't get it open. Then they remembered that there was one room they never explored. Inside they found a chest full of gold (550 gp), and another grate. They opened this grate, and climbed down into a tunnel. 

After a bit of running, they found themselves in a room full of zombies. This is where we ended the session, and it might even be where we end the campaign. 

Next week we're going to give Nick a turn at DMing, in a Forgotten Realms campaign. We've got a couple of other possible campaign ideas in the works as well, so it might be a while before we get back to the Scarred Lands, if ever. 

Reminders: 

Next week we need to bring some Level 3 characters. So far we've picked our roles, but are still deciding on the actual classes/races. What we've decided so far: 

Rusty - Defender (probably Paladin) 

Ted - Controller (probably Wizard) 

Matt - Striker (probably Elf Avenger) 

Jesse - Leader (knowing Jesse, probably some sort of unholy monstrosity who can kill you by looking at you) 

On A More Personal Note: 

This is the first time I've had a character die in a pencil-and-paper campaign. I've been wondering for a while how I would handle it. As it turns out I'm not too upset - it's just ink and paper after all - but I do feel a little bit hollow. I mean, I had plans for this girl! I spent a long time working on her backstory, and fleshing out her personality. Just a few hours before the session I was perusing paragon paths on the Compedium. Heck, I even went as far as to memorize a bunch of dirty limericks just in case her comedy skills ever came up in session. 

I don't think the fact Aria died bothers me nearly as much as the senselessness of the death itself. It wasn't a very heroic end, and the girl who dreamed of fame very likely won't even get a public funeral, and instead might be left behind as zombie chow beneath a collapsed building. Her parents will never know what happened to her. But that's D&D for you. If things were always supposed to turn out the way we planned, we wouldn't even use dice.

Arena of Death!!

9/18/10 - The Game Keep

Great event. The Arena of Death pitted each player against 10 randomly-drawn monsters, in one-on-one matches. We each brought a level 7 character to the game, using standard rules for magic items and other equipment. The entire event took place in one day with no extended rests, so we had to make the most of Encounter powers while saving Daily powers for just the right moment. And with 10 consecutive encounters, healing surges were a valuable commodity.

The early favorite was Jesse's Half-Elf Paladin, who got all the way to the final monster before getting defeated. Very few of us got that close; my Dwarf Battlemind got five fights in before losing to a troll. But the final character - Nick's Gnome Warlock - actually won all ten fights. While the rest of us concentrated on building characters with lots of healing surges and high defenses, Nick focused on trickery. His character had multiple ways of teleporting and turning invisible, which made him difficult to hit. He had the fewest healing surges out of all the players, and he started the final bout with no remaining surges, and less-than-full hit points. But he got a lot of lucky rolls, and made the most of all his tricks.

A good time was had by all (except possibly one Dwarf Battlerager who stormed out when he couldn't hit his Thri-Keen opponent), and I hope to play in similar events in the future.



Btw, the arena is by Playmobil. It looked really good. WOTC should release something similar.

Worldwide Gameday - Red Box

9/11/10 - Next Level Games

Today's Gameday introduced us to the controversial "Essentials" line of D&D products. Essentials is a new line of D&D 4e options that are designed to appeal to new players, and to recapture some of the flavor of previous editions.

I played Brannus, a Human Fighter (Slayer build). He did not have any Daily powers. Rather than distinctive At-Wills, he just had basic attacks which were affected by battle stances. I had a couple of Encounter powers, but I spent most of my turns just making basic attacks.

Sitting next to me was an Elf Wizard, whose bread-and-butter power was the new version of Magic Missile, which uses neither an attack roll or a damage roll. On my other side was an Elf Rogue, who had some great At-Will movement powers to make up for her lack of interesting attacks.

So basically, it's all about simplicity. I can see how it would be a lot easier for someone unfamiliar with 4e to just pick up and play. I, however, missed having more things to do. Still, D&D is D&D, and we had a great time.

The worst mistake made was when the party's other fighter opened a door before we'd had a chance to rest from our recent battle. So we went straight from one encounter into a boss battle without a chance to recover, and it very nearly killed us all. My character would have died if not for grace of the DM. But in the end we survived.

The characters (along with new Essentials-style character sheets) can be downloaded here.
The newest Essentials-related rules updates can be downloaded here.

Scarred Lands - Bats in the Belfry

Game Date: 9/4/2010
DM: Rusty

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

Recap:
Last session ended with the party fleeing hordes of zombies, finally taking refuge in a church. As soon as we entered, the door vanished behind us, becoming a blank wall. We turned around and...

The Session:
We found ourselves in a rather hospitable-looking room. There was a long table filled with food. There were various pieces of furniture to examine, and two very detailed statues. The room had five exits: four doors and a flight of stairs.

Not seeing any immediate threat, we ate some of the food and explored some of the side rooms. We found an unmarked potion, and Blast dared Thorfin to drink it. It turned out to be some sort of ice potion, but Thorfin managed to overcome its effects. While exploring a small library, Blast found a ritual scroll of Transmute Stone To Flesh.

Soon, a large Basilisk came lumbering down the stairs. It wasn't a very long battle, and none of us ended up getting turned to stone (Aria came the closest). Our characters realized that the well-sculpted statues were actually people who had been stoned by the Basilisk's gaze. We used the ritual scroll, returning Paige and Cecil to normal.

Aria and Blast recognized Paige from our very first adventure. However, we seemed to be under the impression that she was dead. Also, she had no memory of attending the festival which kicked off our quest.

Further explorations yielded some notes written in a strange language, which none of us recognized. Aria used her Comprehend Languages ritual to read the documents, which turned out to be research notes. Apparently the entire island was actually part of some psychological experiment.

When we were bored with the first floor, we went up the stairs. The second floor had more shelves and crates to examine, and four doors to check out. Shade opened the first door, and we were attacked by two Poltergeists and two Animated Corpses. We weren't worried at first, until Cecil fumbled an attack, causing Dane to have to draw from our Critical Fumble Deck. It cause his power to backfire, summoning two additional Poltergeists. And to make things worse, our party kept rolling badly, while the DM rolled a few crits.

It was a very difficult battle. Jesse - who has a reputation in our group for being the untouchable badass - kept predicting a TPK. And it was close. We fought hard, we bled a lot, some death saves were rolled... but in the end we survived.

After the battle we checked out the room the monsters had come from, then we went downstairs and took an extended rest. Now refreshed, we returned to the second floor and tried more doors. We found one room full of Giant Spiders and Skeletons, but it wasn't a difficult battle. Once we'd cleared the floor, we found the next set of stairs to level 3.

On the third floor we found more furniture to search. Upon opening one cabinet, we were attacked by some bats and swarms of rats. We killed them off and continued our search. We found a few odd items, the strangest being a collection of heads. Thorfin found a puzzle box, but couldn't figure out how to open it.

He handed it off to Cecil, who tried to solve it using his superior intellect. But nope. Finally Shade managed to figure it out using her thievery skills. As the box opened, bright light began escaping from it. It became very hot and Shade dropped it to the floor. A ghostly figure began to take form, and... we ended the session.

Reminders:
We believe there's only one more floor to explore, which will be the bell room itself. Our next session is in three weeks, on September 25th.

Character - Aria Thatcher

This was my character in the Scarred Lands campaign.


Name:
Aria Thatcher

Class:
Bard

Race:
Half-Elf

Gender:
Female

Alignment:
Good




Background:
Aria is a Half-Elf, but she was raised by two human farmers. She was the product of an affair between her human mother and an Elf. Aria has never met her real father, and knows nothing about him. Aria's stepfather forgave his wife's infidelity, but he never really grew close to his stepdaughter.

One day when Aria was six, a traveling minstrel passed through the area, and spent a few hours entertaining local farmers. He sang a lot of songs and performed some magic tricks. This was the first time Aria realized that the world was bigger than just the farm, and she knew right away that she wanted to know more about everything.

Growing up, Aria spent her days doing farm chores, and her nights studying any subject she could learn. She would pick up any books she could get her hands on, even if it was just a handful of torn pages from a discarded tome. Therefore she ended up learning a small amount on a wide variety of subjects. She found farm life to be a bore, and these books opened the world to her, showing her that the world was full of interesting things.

Her biggest love was music. Mostly she sang, but she would learn to play any musical instrument she could find or make. She also had a bit of natural talent for Arcane magic, but couldn't get her hands on enough magic books to fully study the subject. But she did discover early on that she could mix Arcane magic with her singing to produce some interesting effects.

The other farmers in the community adored her, and she would always entertain them at gatherings. She enjoyed the attention, but it also made her long for bigger audiences and larger towns. At 16 she left home. She knew that if she stayed, she would grow up to be just another farmer. There weren't any opportunities in the area for entertainers, so she decided to travel until she could find someplace where she could make a living as a singer. And maybe even become a world-famous performer someday.

As of the first session of the Campaign, Aria is 18 years old, and has spent the last two years wandering from town to town, seeing the world.

Personality, Mannerisms, and Appearance:
Aria wears bright-colored clothing, and wears her red hair in outrageous styles. She is very outgoing, and loves meeting new people.

Aria is flighty, and has trouble thinking far enough ahead to have long-term life goals. She would like to be a famous singer, recognized and loved everywhere she goes. While she does have a great singing voice, she spreads herself a little thin when it comes to her other hobbies: Learning new musical instruments, comedy, dancing (badly), the healing arts, exploration, arcane research, and collecting things. She collects musical instruments, rare books, rituals, wands, sheet music, pretty objects, and random things she finds that she thinks she might need later (before forgetting about them). She also tries to keep a stock of clothing dye, so she can decorate any new clothing in bright colors.

She is a bit clumsy. Sometimes she dances as part of her routine, but she is not a good dancer. Often her audience thinks her silly movements and accidental pratfalls are intentional comedy. She doesn't always realize whether she's being laughed at or laughed with, but as long as they clap, Aria is happy. People don't take her seriously, which is usually okay with her, because she's rarely serious. However, when she really is serious, and people still dismiss her, she finds it frustrating.

Aria is book smart, but lacks common sense. She's can memorize a book overnight, but still makes bad decisions. She puts her emotions above her better judgment, especially when it involves helping people. She is easily swayed by con artists with sad stories. She is impulsive, and makes snap decisions without thinking it through. She might be a handful at times, but people generally like her anyway.

As a general rule, Aria thinks the best of people until proven otherwise (and sometimes even afterward). She trusts every member of the party, and would probably continue to do so even if she were to find one stealing her coin purse.

Aria thinks of Blast as the little brother she never had. She thinks of Gorn as the big brother who protects you from bullies. For a while she had a small crush on Alek Corman, but he died before it could grow into anything more. She doesn't know what to think yet of her newest companions, Shade and Thorfin, but as usual, she trusts them more than she really should this early into the relationship.

On first impression, most people who meet Aria think she's angelic and pure of heart. And to some extent, they're right. Other people's double entendres often go right over her head, due to her naiveté. Under normal circumstances, the harshest curse she uses is, "Oh, gooseberries!" But there are two exceptions to this virginesque demeanor. When she is very angry, she has been known to let out a string of magically-enhanced curses and insults that are so strong they actually cause pain. Also, when she performs her comedy routines (if it is appropriate for the venue), she has been known to delve into the raunchy side of humor. She is especially proud of her collection of dirty limericks, which she has collected from many sources during her travels.

She also writes limericks of her own, but hers are a bit more family-friendly... and not very good. Here are some of her more memorable verses.  (Let's see how many recognize the reference to the movie "The Court Jester".)

There once was a red-haired Half-Elf;
Who put her life's dreams on a shelf
With no one to test her
skills as a jester
She just made a fool of herself.

There once was a man from Calasta
Who learned how to win at Canasta
His wife was his teacher
And when he finally beat her
He said, "The student has become the Masta!"

There once was a drunkard from Mansk
Who got caught in the park without pantsk
As he got arrested,
He loudly protested,
"I was just going to water the plantsk!"

There once was a Half-Orc named Gorn
Who met with the Minotaur Dorrn.
There was confusion with names
Until Gorn, now insane,
Had steak dinner... but spit out the horns.

A right motley group from Calasta
A Half-Orc, a Gnome, and two casters
With an item of renown
Took a cart and fled town
While the Half-Orc kept yelling "Drive faster!"