A Life Full of Adventure

Gnome Stew posted an article about standing at the crossroads , wondering whether or not to take the adventure/campaign up a notch. The question reminds me of various scenarios of inviting people over to play games. Everyone showed up under the expectation of playing, but we never actually got around to playing. Everyone was having so much fun chatting and catching up that gaming never even began. This has happened more than once. Now, when (or if) the fun chatter stops, then start the game or next phase of the game. For certain, don't ruin anyone's improvised fun to get to your planned fun. Fun is fun, and whether we play or not, we are all going to look back a the good time we had. This happens often in our games as well. Improvisation takes over, and fun is had by all. Don't stop actual fun for expected fun. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

My PC Kryphon - Half Elf Rogue (Bounty Hunter) My Companions Kerun - Half Elf Berserker (twin brother to my character) Gemmabink - Gnome Fighter Leonardo - Human Summoner Session 19  Mirtul 3rd (04/14/2008) The party encountered a Deck of Chance. I don't know what the rest of the party did, but I have marked down that Kryphon was suddenly 52 gold, 180 platinum, 224 silver, and 199 copper richer.  Everything except the platinum was put into a chest Leonardo had (chest of holding?). Session 20 Mirtul 3rd 04/21/2008) Something happened to age (doppelganger) Kryphon 10 years. Then something else happened that gave Kryphon a wish. Doppelganger Kryphon wished to be whisked back to his doppelganger home with all the treasure he had accumulated. The party was caught completely off guard. Here's what he made away with: 180 plantinum, 601 gold, a plain shield, a vial of perfume, 7 various gems worth 260 gold in total, a pewter beer stein worth 85 gold, a potion of subst...

(Interludes are a place for me to note everything that happened in play-by-post between Hangout sessions.) My character Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Protagonist My companions Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Barber-Surgeon, ex-Student ( Previously in the adventure ) Wincing from the blow to her chest, Vaervenshyael is aided across the broad street to Johann's shingle and laid in a chair. Vaervenshyael grimacing hard, raising her arms to aid the removal of her mail and loosens her jack. Mail rings, blasted from the shirt by the blow, have torn though the jack's leather and shirt below. A dark red stain of blood is evident. Johann generously applies a stinking propriety blended poultice to wound. (Meta: Heals 5 Wounds.) He tells her it will be about five more days before she back to full health. He may be able to apply another poultice the following day to accelerate healing to two (2) days, but since she does not know what is in the poultice yet and Vaervenshya...

http://scifi-fantasy-horror.com/post/108933328661/by-xiaodi It's always risky, carrying the Old, Great One from one ziggurat to another, but the skinks remained wary at all times...

Some talk lately about keeping track of the passage of time in games reminded me of a simple thing we did during battles while playing D&D 2e in the 90s. Rounds 1-10 were written on one line of squares on the wet-erase battle mat, and segments 1-20 were written on the line underneath. We'd just use a dice to mark our place on each line. After turn 10 we'd get fatigued. Luckily fights didn't normally last that long. Any initiative after segment 20 all went off at the same time. I've tried to use similar timekeeping strategies since then. I've had little picture representations of the characters to put on the segment numbers representing their initiative for the round. That took a little more time to swap around each round, but the pictures were cool. In all, however, nothing beat our original strategy. The player just had to keep track of the current segment and when they were going next, which kept them paying attention to the game.

My character was critically hit in the last session , and I'm pretty sure it was my own fault. With a duelist mindset, I charged someone, however I'm not a duelist yet. I'm a weak, first-career elf with little armor (except over the body). I didn't size the guy up first (does he look strong or tough, does he handle himself confidently, does he look like he knows how to use that sword, etc). I just went in swinging. That strategy worked for my troll slayer, but it's not going to work for my elf. Since then, I've read over the combat rules a little more. I think I can make more use of two-weapon fighting style, guarding, parrying, and dodging (not that I didn't try to dodge...). They are rules I've never used before, but this is a new character and a time to try new things. I'm kind of excited. I hope the next combat goes a little better for me.

My PC Kryphon - Half Elf Rogue (Bounty Hunter) My Companions Kerun - Half Elf Berserker (twin brother to my character) Gemmabink - Gnome Fighter Leonardo - Human Summoner Session 13  Tarsahk 23rd (02/04/2008) We found the Eternity Bow which kills a vampire automatically on the roll of a 20. There is also a Brass Lantern ring which makes a single globe of light for 2 hours. Kryphon used the eternity bow to kill the horror. It was a little girl who was a vampire. Rolled a 20. Overheard at the gaming table: Kryphon: "I'm going shopping. You don't need anything, do you?" Kerun: "No. I've got pants." Session 14 Tarsahk 23rd (02/11/2008) Set up contact with a 9 year old boy?? Kryphon visited temple of Lathander. He was hailed as a hero. He didn't want the attention, so he told them he was Kerun (they are twins). Found the general direction to the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Session 15 Tarsahk 24th and Mirtul 1st (02/25/2008) J...