Fate of the Realms: Session Four

Well, we've had some... chaos. Some players have left, others have joined. So last session we had the group start off back at the beginning of the dungeon. They decided to explore the north, where the goblins of the Sluggard tribe inhabit. They explored the regions around their lair. They discovered a group of goblins that, unbeknownst to them where spying on the Sluggards. They still managed to pass them by peaceably. Then they encountered some ghouls, that they quickly dispatched, though the Dagger of Savras, our mage-hunting ranger was exposed to ghoul fever.

After that they discovered a long corridor filled with statues of warriors. In this corridor they encountered orcs that they decided to allow to pass uncontested. They found a large room with a bejeweled statue of bones. They decided to leave it alone. They then discovered more barricades of the Greyhawk Construction Company, so decided to go south.  However, they soon found a room that had a trapped door. They did trigger the trap, avoiding being hit with a clever maneuver, but then managed to disable it. In the room they found a chest of gold and silver. Then they did a little more exploring of some confusing corridors, but heard some fighting to the south. At about that point we decided to wrap up for the night.

 I find the players to be very cautious. At first they didn't want to open doors at all. They are also very task oriented. They want to find that runestone and are less interest in incidental treasure. 

Fate of the Realms: Sessions One and Two

 So, we started the campaign and the first session was a bit chaotic. I must admit that "roleplay" isn't my forte, but I was perhaps anxious that day. So I decided to play that up with the NPC patron- a wizard named Qia Lien, secretly a chronomancer from the time of 5e. I didn't describe her as being from Kara Tur, but perhaps I should with that name. I had to cut the session short, but before that we got the initial meeting and objective of the adventure down. The PCs have to seek out a Runestone that Halaster was using to try to forestall an upcoming disaster. One character was able to get a bit of an indication of the secrets surrounding the wizard.

 So in the second session they descended into Undermountain.  They almost immediately encountered a lesser caryatid column (actually a modified animated object) in a antimagic field in a hall full of pillars. This... was a slog. It was a slog the first time even without the antimagic field (I forgot about that in the first attempt at this campaign). I'm not running it a third time, but if I did, then it would not include this encounter. The encounter as written in the module (Expedition to Undermountain), would have probably been even worse, with an actual caryatid column. Honestly, if you ever want to run Undermountain in 3e other modules featuring the megadungeon may be better.

  After the exploration of some corridors north of the hall of pillars. They found a barricade with "Greyhawk Construction Company" on it. Bypassing it they encountered a recently constructed brick wall. Confounded by this they withdrew.

Soon afterwards they encountered some goblins. Seeing them to not be immediately hostile they parlayed. The goblins explained that this was their territory and that the PCs could obtain a token in exchange for gold. The PCs reacted by claiming that by destroying the lesser caryatid column. The goblins agreed and they got the token. They then returned to the hall of pillars to rest. 

Fate of the Realms A Forgotten Realms campaign

Fate of the Realms is my newest D&D campaign, using 3.5 with the Trailblazer rules. Trailblazer is something of an overhaul of the 3.5 system, but more compatible with it than Pathfinder. The basic premise of the campaign is that a Chronomancer travels back in time from about one century in the future and seeks to prevent the Spellplague from ever happening. She recruits our heroes for the task, actually knowing them from the future. Unfortunately, she doesn't actually know exactly what started the Spellplague, though she knows it was triggered by Mystra's death at the hands of Cyric.

Therefore she has our heroes enter Undermountain shortly after the death of Halaster Blackcloak,who also sought to avert the coming disaster though he did not know the exact nature of the threat. Their goal is a Runestone that may allow the Chronomancer to forestall or even outright prevent the Spellplague. Unfortunately, I experienced a mass defection of players so I've had to restart, with the first game of the restarted campaign being this Saturday.

Campaign concepts I'd love to play

Here are some campaign concepts I would like to play, but have not gotten a chance to. More may come later and I may elaborate on one if there is interest.

Alfheim Wasteland: The elves once had a highly advanced technological society, before war split their race and resulted in the use of weapons of mass destruction. The elves' civilization was destroyed and most of their lands ravaged. Now ten millennia later the remnants of ancient ruins dot the wastelands, guarded by mechanical and mystical guardians. Techno-barbarian orc tribes rule much of the continent, though the remnants of the ancient elven empire hold fiercely on to the territory they retain. They have reached out to the great elven diaspora and their allies for help, promising them territory in exchange for their military services.

American Fairyland: It's Earth, but not as we know it. Two planes have collided, resulting in a fusion between the two, which resembles the world outside your window, but with magic and mythical creatures. Few remember the world as it was, with an entire history of magic having overridden our own. The culture remains fairly similar, only altered by the presence of magic. Creatures like dwarves, elves and orcs all have a place in this new world.

Guardian's Realm: A more "gonzo" setting, with inspiration taken from anime, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, etc. A deity has created their own demiplane and filled it with bits and pieces from other worlds. This deity resides at the top of a great tower, surrounding which is the principal city of the planet.


Star Wars: Destiny of the Republic: The players follow Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn on "damn-fool idealistic crusades," as the Galaxy falls into the chaos of the Clone Wars in an alternate universe. The Mandalorian Clan Wars rage, but a possibility of peace exists in the young Satine of Clan Kryze.Out of the Arkanian Civil War a galactic threat emerges, the lifeform known as Atha Prime, as well as Clone Masters who desire to gain profit from their now unused skills.

Galactic Empire Table of Organization: Lines of Battle

I am working on a revised table of organization for the Imperial Navy. Particularly, in order to provide for the larger vessels of the Empire. This post will cover Lines of Battle.

Lines of Battle

Attack Line: An attack line will contain from three to six vessels, with lines of larger vessels, heavy cruisers and Star Destroyers, being smaller and lines of smaller vessels, frigates and cruisers being larger. Their role is to engage opponents of equal size and protect larger vessels.
Battle Lines: On rare occasions multiple battleships will make up a single line, found only in the highest-priority sectors. These battle lines will include three to four battleships, i.e. battlecruiser or larger vessels.
Bombard Lines: Bombard lines can include several assault ships equipped for planetary bombardment, or one or more battlestations or dedicated siege platforms. These lines are devoted to such tasks as orbital bombardment or disabling planetary shields.
Element: In some cases a single vessel is directly assigned to a Squadron as a line unto itself. This is most commonly an Imperator-class Star Destroyer, but also includes several of the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts.
Heavy Attack Line: A heavy attack line contains four to eight vessels, each no smaller than a light cruiser. They can perform the same roles as attack lines, but are also considered capable of operating separate of the main fleet.
Pursuit Line: A pursuit line contains between four and ten starships, usually light cruisers, but sometimes smaller vessels, like corvettes. Their role is to maintain contact with fleeing vessels and attempt to calculate their jump coordinates. Carrack-class light cruisers or Velox-class Star Frigates tend to be assigned to these lines.
Recon Line: A recon line contains two to four vessels, usually recon variants on existing light cruiser hulls, or dedicated reconnaissance vessels. These lines do not participate in combat, but instead attempt to discover the enemy's position and then report back.
Specialist Line: Including such roles as carrier support and troop transport, these lines consist of one or more specialist vessels as well as two to four escorts of a type depending on the vessels they are supposed to escort.
Skirmish Line: Consisting of at least four vessels, but frequently at least three times that many. These are usually corvettes, but can also be smaller carriers such as the Quasar Fire-class or Ton-Falk-class as well as small gunships like the Skipray Blastboat.

Hello!

Hey, long time no post I know, but I am going to try to post again. Right now I am not doing much gaming, but I am hoping to start. I am playing a one-on-one game with my sister, set in Greyhawk and using first edition Pathfinder. I am also starting an Edge of the Empire campaign on roll20.net: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/144352/rise-and-fall-of-the-zann-consortium

Temple of the Underworld: Adventures on the Planes

I have been playing a new campaign for a few months now. It is 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons rules in a campaign world of my design. It is focused on a megadungeon called the Temple of the Underworld, which was, as it's name suggests was devoted to deities of the dead or the underworld. The elven deity Labelas Enoreth, though devoted to longevity, is the closest thing that the elves have to a deity of the dead and thus also worshiped there.

The first couple of sessions were rather routine explorations of the first level of the dungeon, with a very brief foray into a flooded sub-level. However the campaign would be uprooted by the actions of the dwarven fighter Grell defiled a shrine devoted to a demigod son of Zeus. This angered Zeus, so Zeus sent a spirit to confront the PCs and give them a quest to fulfill. They were to travel to the Temple of Zeus far to the south and present themselves to the priest their for further instructions. They... didn't make it.

In order to get horses to expedite their journey they agreed to do a task for the local count. They followed a map to what was once a bandit's lair, but turned out to currently be inhabited by orcs. They did alright at first, but due to my lack of understanding of 5e encounter difficulties ended up running into an overwhelming group of orcs that quickly defeated them (I am strongly considering using converted stats from 1e or 2e rather than the existing 5e stats). Instead of allowing this to end in a TPK I judged that Zeus, wanting to insure that the PCs did not die without fulfilling their obligation to him rescued them.

They awoke in the presence of Zeus himself. Zeus bade them again to go to his temple, but this time the one in the extraplanar city of Sigil. The PCs agreed, but before leaving Olympus sought an audience with Ares, who granted it because the Count was preparing for a war and had his favor. So Ares granted them another quest in exchange for assistance, including a guide, which was a new PC (one who only showed up for one game as it turned out). The PCs then sought out the Great Eagles of Zeus, the descendants of the giant, golden eagle that is Zeus's personal companion.

Before they made it to the roost of the Eagles they encountered a dryad in a grove on the slopes of Mount Olympus. It charmed their guide and when they attempted to leave with him she summoned two wolves to attack the PCs. However they were able to smooth things over by mentioning their obligation to Zeus. When they met the Great Eagles they again mentioned their obligation to Zeus in order to secure their aid. Thus they secured a ride to the town of Thrassos, where there was a portal to the gate town of Glorium, from where they could get to Sigil. However, to access the portal they needed the consent of the town elders. It took some time to secure that consent from the busy elders, so while they waited they sought out a mage to send a message to the Count on the Material Plane. The halfling rogue, Himaru, was dismayed that unlike many of his companions he could not see in the dark and so commissioned a magic item that would make up for this weakness. The mage agreed in exchange for money, trade and a service. It seemed a certain house in town was the site of mysterious events.

They set out for the house and quickly experienced a number of strange phenomena, including two parallel passages that led back to the other and an unusual creature, like an ambulatory bush that was responsible for the strange phenomena. I used the The Random Esoteric Creature Generator by James Raggi to create this creature. They did not want to fight this bizarre creature and so parlayed. The creature seemed interested only in being left alone, so they left, but warned the creature that they could not guarantee others would not come. They did advise the mage of what they found. The PCs also took on another quest in order to hopefully expedite their audience with the elders. They pursued a priest of Loki to a nearby cave where they discovered a hidden, ruined temple to Loki. They soon found the priest, accompanied by hirelings and learned that he was searching for what he described as a Hammer of Thunderbolts with a short handle.

After a short time they fought a group of norkers and their orc allies. While the PCs were dealing with a group of goblins that arrived as a random encounter, pursuing them as they fled, the priest and his party slipped away and discovered their goal in a nearby hidden room. The PCs soon realized what was happening and hurried after them, discovering the priest trying to tip over a pedestal so that the hammer would fall in. After the battle the PCs realized what the hammer was, no mere Hammer of Thunderbolts but the Hammer of Thor himself, Mjolnir. The PCs resolved to return the hammer to Thor, not wanting to anger him by trying to keep it, not that they had any way to use the hammer. Of course by hindering Loki's priest they attracted the attention of Loki, but would hopefully have the favor of Thor.

After another week they elders could finally let them through the portal. In Glorium they sought out the Temple of Odin, which contained shrines to other deities, including Thor. They prayed at the shrine and Thor himself appeared. After a demonstration in which a tree was demolished by Mjolnir's power Thor granted boons- Boots and a Cloak of Elvenkind for the rogue and a ring of Enlarge/Reduce for the dwarf. Thor also directed them to the portal.

Finally they arrived in Sigil, the portal leading to the Great Gymnasium, headquarters of the Transcendent Order, one of several factions that held influence over the city. They were ushered out of the building by guards as the gymnasium was closed to the public at that time. They sought out a guide and found one, an Azer. He agreed to show them to the Temples of Zeus and Ares in the city and they got their new quests- find the relic that started the whole thing and bring it back to the Temple of Zeus and travel to a dungeon on the world of Abeir-Toril and share it with the Count. They were able to find a portal that led to the depths of the Temple of the Underworld (one I intended for them to find during there adventuring originally) and started searching for the shrine, since they came out in an unfamiliar area. They encountered Manes demons and Shadow Demon and a swarm of ambulatory fungi, before deciding to take a rest, which is where things stand now.