gaming

Librarians – In The Market

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We picked up the D&D game I run with colleagues and their ongoing attempts to find out why books in the library keep turning into strange creatures that try to eat their readers. So far they’ve narrowed down the stall that each of the books was bought from, attempted to distract Korvala, the rather intimidating woman who owns it, and accidentally collapsed the market tent while sneaking around.

This week they decided to go back to check out one of the books that had stood out – a rare volume that Caitriona the elven priestess had been trying to track down since it had itself been stolen from her homeland. A combination of bluffs, quick talking, and downright blind luck found her walking away with it for a reduced price – and the group was just debating what to do next when Roghan the sorcerer spotted Korvala coming out of a nearby garden.

Portrait of Korvala - a darker skinned woman wearing a plain blue headcovering

He attempted to surreptitiously cast a hex on her to blunt her charisma, but she noticed him and stared him down across the marketplace before turning abruptly and heading off down an alley. Moderately surprised that she hadn’t called the guard, the group stealthily (mostly) managed to track her back to the more run down neighbourhood she lived in. They watched her enter a ramshackle house and decided to follow her. They found the door unlocked, and quietly opened the door to reveal a homely room with rough chairs, a thick blanket on the floor, and two other doors leading further in to the building. There was no one immediately in sight.

And that’s where we’ll pick up next week (hopefully)

Unused Scenario – Recruitment Drive

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When working out the key elements of the DDC game I occasionally come up with events and encounters that don’t end up seeing the light of day. Sometimes I recycle them and sometimes they sit in my DNDBeyond encounters list becoming less and less likely to get used. In the spirit of giving some inspiration therefore, I sometimes write them up in general terms for people to use or avoid depending on whether they see it as an idea or a warning.

In this case I had an early idea that the group might stumble upon someone working for or with the trolls in the middle of negotiating with potential allies. In this version of the timeline I hadn’t quite worked out the dynamics of the Circle of Rot or its driving principles and so the back story to this was one of attempted conquest rather than a nihilistic drive to consume and destroy.

map plan of a misty evening view of buildings on the edge of a graveyard with a large bonfire in a courtyard.

The inspiration for the scenario came from a map that i downloaded from Reddit from a post by u/Dreadmaps and was a large bonfire in a graveyard. I did some lighting level work in Roll20 to add wall boundaries and light sources once I’d uploaded it and put the player tokens in the top left corner as a default ahead of any actual encounter.

The concept was that a Tiefling druid working with the Circle, backed by some mutated ogres, would be trying to recruit a hill giant and his pet manticores. The group would have a chance to overhear some of the villainous plans and then either interrupt or sneak away from the scene, depending on how brave they were feeling.

As it turned out, the DDC hasn’t adopted a strategy of creeping about the valley in search of creatures to slay, and the concept of the trolls co-opting outsiders didn’t ring true with the way the group was experiencing the story either. As a result, the encounter has languished and been overtaken by events and power levels. I may throw some variant of it at them as a random encounter if play allows, but otherwise I throw this open to the floor.

The antagonists, if you want to build it for yourself, consisted of a CR2 4th level Druid, 4x CR2 Carrion Ogres (essentially ogres with carrion crawler heads), 3x CR3 Manticores, and a CR5 Hill Giant Sergeant. It was aimed at being a Medium difficulty encounter for 5x level 13 adventurers rather than a grand battle royale.

DDC – Now What?

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It was only a short session by our usual standards yesterday – mostly down to tiredness and health – but it was an important breather for the group. Having had such a fraught fight previously, they needed to recuperate, and on contacting Auntie (Deadeye Alice) she told them it would take her a couple of days to narrow down where Rufen – or at least the token – had been taken. This was because she could tell he was on the move and wanted to get a definite fix on where he ended up.

With that in mind, the DDC had a quiet day. They divided out the various magic items and weapons thay had taken from Rufen, and tried to use the sending stone they’d taken from one of the trolls to see who was at the other end. A furious and almost gutteral voice yelled back that they were going to kill them and then the stone snapped in half. Despite attempts to fix it, the magic of the stone was gone.

Later, an inhabitant of New Town – a sorcerer who had accompanied one of the stranded merchant trains – came up and asked to use the library and was a bit star struck by Kerne. After some attempts at modesty by Kerne, Katya was allowed access and the two began comparing notes on aspects of their shared specialities. Kerne heard how Katya’s previous tutor had held her back, and so offered to help with their studies. The ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon in the gardens practicing their magics.

Meanwhile, Bennet the Bard who works both in the Hold and in the newly established town below it approached Arwan and Valenia and advised them that a number of the townspeople weren’t content to just sit and wait to be rescued and were determined to start checking for cave systems or unblocked passes to try and find a way out. He’d decided to approach the pair to see if they would be willing to be called on if people got hurt or found anything too dangerous like angry bears. The pair agreed to be on call and to make themselves available as needed.

The next morning saw pillars of smoke on the north of the plains from the direction of the various farms. A quick expedition by the DDC to the nearest one found all the building destroyed and on fire, the wells poisoned and blocked with the bodies of animals, and the crop lands salted and polluted. There were heavy troll footprints and the signs of heavy objects being dragged. Fearing that this might be a decoy to pull them away from the Hold, they doubled back and called for the townsfolk to be called inside the Hold for their own protection. A small number of guards were sent as scouts to the other farmland locations.

Not long after, while Kerne and Karkanna were discussing wedding plans, Caeluma noticed sparks of energy at the dormant portal stone and went to investigate. Small shakes and shudders sent the snow sliding away from the construction, and the sparks began to converge to form a small bubble of liquid-looking energy. Caeluma sent someone to go get the others. As the rest of the DDC began to converge, a portal began to haltingly form. It wasn’t stable, and a lone figure could be faintly made out in the shifting view that was forming. On a hunch, Kerne stood forward and poured raw magical potential from her latent pool of sorcery into the vortex to act as a stable anchor.

With a silent flash of force, the portal expelled the figure within and vanished. It left a battered, frozen, wounded Faye Hagsworn standing on the platform, leaning heavily on a rune-carved staff to which was lashed the petrified claw of a dragon.

Image of Faye Hagsworn - a dragon-like red scaled dragonborn with thorns around her horns. She wears yellow clothing with yellow details that resemble leaves, and a cloak. She holds a spear in one hand, and a fox stands at her feet as a companion

And that’s where we left the session. I have so much lined up in terms of lore and possible events based on what the DDC do next. We’ll see, if nothing else, why Faye has sought out her sister now. The last they’d heard, she was on the run from the Winter’s Knight…

NPCs – Riklun’s Raiders

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I made these models a while back and thought I’d bring them up as another example of a group of mercenaries for a game encounter. I’ve nothing particularly made up for them, but I like the designs and thought I’d share them

Riklun - dark skinned dwarf with a prosthetic right arm, dark tunic, and strange energies darting from his outstretched left hand
Orc warrior in chainmail with sword, shield and helmet obscuring most of their face
Orc warrior in chainmail with sword, shield and helmet obscuring most of their face
Orc warrior in chainmail with sword, shield and helmet obscuring most of their face
Orc warrior in chainmail with sword, shield and helmet obscuring most of their face
Lamech - heavily muscled and green-skinned warrior with blue leather armour and a battleaxe held in one hand
Farrd - hulking ogre with a spear and rough furs as a mantle on his shoulders. His spear and arm are stained red with blood up to the elbow
Barrgh - large ogre in tattered blue rags easily hoisting an enormous stone bludgeon above his head

These mercenaries are led by Riklun Steelfist – a duergar psionicist who lost his right arm in a skirmish and had it replaced with a darksteel prosthetic. With his original warband destroyed in the encounter, he sought out and slew the leader of a small orc mercenary group, offering new direction and more profitable work. He rounded out the group by recruiting two ogres and an ogrillon as extra muscle and worked up a number of simple but effective ambush routines with simple labels.

Riklun portrait
Orc mercenary portrait
Orc mercenary portrait
Orc mercenary portrait
Orc mercenary portrait
Lamech portrait
Farrd portrait
Barrgh portrait

The Raiders have a small but growing reputation for tracking down bandit groups and for retrieving goods stolen from merchant trains. These jobs are often undertaken away from civilised eyes and are brutal and sudden strikes bolstered by Riklun’s stealth and psionic powers.

The two ogres – Farrd and Barrgh – defer to the ogrillon half-ogre Lamech when it comes to plans, and so those three are sometimes split off from the main force to act as reserves or a nasty surprise to close a trap. Riklun sometimes joins his orc mercenaries as obvious guards for merchants and has the ogres take a parallel path, ready to rush in when summoned in the event of an attack

Riklun token
Orc mercenary token
Orc mercenary token
Orc mercenary token
Orc mercenary token
Lamech token
Farrd token
Barrgh token

So there you go – a ready made mercenary band that can be allies or enemies as your game needs – feel free to grab the tokens and have some fun!

DDC – Fall of the Forge

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We picked up this week where we left off with the battle at the Troll Forge. Arwan was unconscious and ground into the soil by a frost troll while a venom troll and an armoured troll raider fought the rest of the group. Worse for the party, the trolls had been joined by Rufen, son of Irreck the Watcher. Rufen was a barbarian with features of both a troll and a hag, and he was closing on Kerne.

Things got very busy, very quickly. Thorin traded blows with the raider nearest the forge – almost enjoying himself. Kerne cast a banishment on the venom troll while Valenia managed to drop the other raider with fiery arrows on top of spell damage inflicted. Caeluma meanwhile swooped across the battlefield to heal Arwan. Within moments, and in quick succession, Arwan, Caeluma, and Kerne were down, and Rufen had moved to close on Valenia.

Thorin started a whole chain of passing potions to stabilise the fallen and get them moving again, but the fierce cold from the ice troll and splashing damage from the venom troll nearly overwhelmed the group. Thorin and Kerne managed to hurt the ice troll severely and briefly take down the venom troll. The balance of the battle tipped back and forth very closely, and then Valenia was able to knock Rufen out and properly assess the situation.

The remaining trolls were battered, there was still a chance to win this. The whole mission hinged on being able to plant Alice’s token on Rufen so he could be tracked back to the Circle’s lair – and maybe, just maybe, the DDC would pull through. Thorin was able to finally drop the ice troll, but its horrible vitality meant it would be back up on its feet within moments.

Thorin threw the token to Kerne, who ran to the fallen Rufen and hid the hag-forged coin in his clothing. Valenia in the meantime was able to take down the troll raider nearby, channelling primal energies to augment her fighting prowess. The venom troll meanwhile lost its nerve and tried to flee, only to be knocked out by Caeluma’s spells.

In the sudden calm, there was a scramble to set fire to the fallen trolls and while the raider and ice troll were put to their final rest, the venom troll was able to regain consciousness and flee. The DDC knew they probably didn’t have much time, but they still took the time to strip Rufen of his armour and weapons and salvage coin and sundries from the forge before making their own escape. Rufen was left bound and bruised in his bed.

Their journey back to the Hold was uneventful, if slightly extended by taking a more circuitous route to throw off pursuit. Their return home was greeted with enthusiasm and concern in even amounts, and they eased into the evening in equal amounts of exhaustion and relief at having survived.

Valenia fell asleep in the bar, while Caeluma and Arwan settled in to drink and blow off steam. Thorin gathered food and drink and then retired to his rooms, and Kerne retired to spend time with Karkanna and Loris while researching the nature of the magical items taken from Rufen.

And that quiet moment is where we drew to a close.

It’s The Weekend – Have a Spare NPC

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It seemed like it wasn’t going to make it, but here we are with a screeching halt to the headaches, sinus pains, and tension headaches as various targets and goals were hit, and we had a massive rainfall that seems to have cleared some of the excess pollen for now. I’ve just had a nice relaxing session of shooting things in Destiny with boy s and Lady B and now to wind down before bed I’ve just had this wonderful mischief maker crawl out from behind the sofa and demand money with genteel menaces

Full body portrait of a green-skinned, large eared woman with purple hair in a victorian up-do, dark aviator sunglasses, and layers of red and orange skirts and a long sleeved top over a dark blue blouse. Her feet are bare on a wooden floor, In her right hand she casually holds a human femor, and has small fangs set in a gold neckalce. Her gloved left hand is open. Her smile reveals sharp teeth

Welcome to Mrs Hibbert, a fey goblin who wears dark sunglasses against the day’s brightness, and probably has a couple of ogres or hobgoblins standing just round the corner to loom when she clicks her fingers. She’s a lady of local standing from a well-known family, and she’ll brook no nonsense or any mess on her freshly-cleaned carpets. Now just leave your pocket change in the ashtray there on the way out the door, and we’ll be seeing you soon.

Overhead token for a virtual tabletop of the goblin lady described in the alt text of the image above.
head and shoulders portrait token for a virtual tabletop of the goblin lady described in the alt text of the image above.

So, I guess I made up a small business-goblin who rules her family with an iron fist inside her velvet gloves, and who is definitely, positively a legitimate member of the business community – or her money back. I sense a wonderful new contact for one of my adventures that I’ll be keeping in my back pocket.

DDC – Punishment

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We returned after a week off to find the DDC preparing to move against a hidden forge used by the trolls. Set on the shore of a frozen lake about ten miles from the Hold, someone was making weapons and armour in what once been a mill.

Moving carefully, the DDC was able to intercept a group of armed troll raiders from the Fists of Urash and then on to the forge itself. There were signs of activity within, and a large crudely-built snow-troll on the edge of the woods.

On investigation, this proved to be a snow-covered ice troll napping in the morning sunlight and it roared a challenge that alerted the forge dwellers of intruders. A bloated poison-dripping venom troll was the first to emerge.

Arrows were launched, axes swung, and a wall of wind sent debris exploding into air before the venom troll closed on Caeluma, Kerne, and Arwan. The ice troll chased after Valenia while Thorin raced to block the forge door.

The ice troll radiated a freezing aura, while damage to the venom troll sent gouts of venom across anyone near them. A fireball cast by Kerne did little to slow them down, and more bellows of rage could be heard approaching.

Kerne narrowly escaped death in the opening moments of the fight. Protected by a death ward cast earlier by Arwan, they were able to immolate another troll raider approaching down the lake side. Meanwhile the forgemaster appeared in a berserk rage – a troll-blooded Barbarian with hag ancestry. This was Rufen, son of Irreck the Watcher, and he sprinted at the first person he saw – Kerne.

Arwan was able to bring mass healing to the group to offset the mauling they were receiving, but caught between the ice troll and the venom troll, he was himself badly wounded and fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

And that’s the cliffhanger we ended the session on and where we’ll pick back up next week!

Map – Winter Graveyard

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This is another new map that probably won’t see any immediate use in the game as it isn’t really the direction that the DDC or the Librarians are going, but it was fun to do. I went back to an old file I did when I first got Dungeon Alchemy, and reworked it. It wasn’t just a chance to bring in new textures and items, but also to enlarge the original small battlemap based on how I use them these days.

The original layout was a plain flat area of land with a large tomb and a nearby graveyard, separated by a river with a bridge over it. In this new version I’ve kept the basic layout but made a better bridge, edited the river, and manually reworked the landscape to give it more height and variety. The graveyard has been reworked to add some bigger monuments and features, while the large tomb has been turned into a mausoleum that someone has set up home in, complete with writing desk, tables and workshop items. A bed and some lighting complete the feel of an expansive place of study.

Overhead map shot of a snowbound graveyard and mausoleum in the middle of dense forest. A river divides the two with a stone bridge linking them. It is a nighttime scene with blooms of illumination from a number of small light sources and the overall glow of the moonlight

I also made use of the better tools now available to paint trees and rocks, and to layer the scene in snow as it is a winter scene. It also has the effect of making the light sources (various torches, braziers, and candles) stand out more. I envisage the map as either being one of investigation of mysterious sights, or the tracking of someone to a hideout so there’s all sorts of environmental storytelling built in.

I’ve created a zip file ( graveyard.zip ) with the map jpg and the text file with Roll20 lighting and wall information so you can import it to your Roll20 tabletop if you like – let me know if you use it and how it goes!

One of Those Days

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It’s a measure of how full and overlapping of events today has been at work that the first message I read when I switched my phone on was someone letting me know that one of my staff had had a bereavement. I puzzled over it on the way in to work and it wasn’t until I spoke to the person mentioned that I remembered we’d talked about and sorted it last week. Overlapping and intertwining meetings then dominated the rest of the day, often at short notice

Oh, and boy s was given notice to leave his rented flat as its been bought and the new owner presumably wants to do it up and rent it out for more money. He knew it was on the cards, but still a nasty shock to have to sign for delivery of the notice this morning.

All in all, most people today that I’ve spoken to have had frustrations or unexpected obstacles materialise. Tomorrow, as they say, is yet to arrive.

My eyes are still aching and a bit light sensitive, so not much else to update today beyond saying that I’ve been enjoying the new Guardian Games event in Destiny – there are some rough edges but there’s some elements that are unapologetically tweaked for fun and spectacle in the special activities and its been a good way to wind down online with boy s and Lady B.

NPCs – Kobolds Everywhere

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I’m not sure what it is about kobolds – those little dragon-dog-people with big toothy smiles who are small and clever and always popping up everywhere doing unexpected things when not carrying off livestock or trying to be noticed by real dragons. In Dungeons and Dragons they’re some of the weakest creatures individually in the game, and yet I’ve had tribes of these little critters give experienced players a really hard time. The secret is that they love to tinker and set traps. In 5th edition particularly they’ve been allowed to grow from something of a joke to a more rounded set of beings that work well together and have an egalitarian approach to overcoming life’s difficulties that is hard to resist.

As player characters, or significant non-player characters, kobolds have a similar charm to me as goblins – there’s perhaps not as much baggage to kobolds though. Kobolds don’t have the weight of Tolkien as a legacy and perhaps that’s why the tales of mine spirits have evolved into terrier-like mischief makers. The DDC has adopted a kobold baby – Odif – and there’s a new kobold in town by the name of Ufot Yloh, but I’ve also been tinkering around in Heroforge to make some new faces that may turn up in a game some time.

I’ve not given them any names other than Kobold Sorcerer and Kobold Artificer as yet. Sorcerers are natural casters of magic empowered by a draconic bloodline, so it made sense that a kobold would occasionally start being able to fling fireballs given their similar lineages and appearances. The Artificer is a natural extension of the kobold love of traps and inventions – so the appearance of a blunderbuss-style weapon in the hands of one seemed to fit their general feel.

I’m not sure how I’ll use them – maybe a one-shot delving into Odif’s lost family at some point. That has a certain appeal as it would be a very different feel from the adventures of the DDC. Maybe an adventure where all the players are Odif’s tribe and they’re hunting down the people who stole him away. That has a nice ring to it…

As ever, feel free to copy and use these tokens in your own games – and I’d love to hear stories of their adventures…