Campaign Logs/D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign/General

FRC Session 4…Stipulations of the Will

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The last session ended in carnage with the party of PCs somewhat caught between caravan guards and attacking cultists of some sort. Although the PCs took their share of beating, they were the only ones left standing at the end (although a couple of them were down from wounds). The battle had been rather chaotic with multiple fronts, cultists fighting guards and PCs, guards fighting cultists and PCs, and PCs fighting caravan guards and cultists. There was no sign of why these cultists had attacked with such savagery, brutally killing all that they could, and the PCs had not yet found the item that they were hired to acquire…a brass and copper chest. We pick up with the aftermath of the battle after the break.

This recap is from Thomas. RJ was missing and so Thomas played Adran. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. We finally get to some of the more direct elements of the old Dungeon magazine (Issue #26) adventure, “The Inheritance,” that is the inspiration of the initial “plot hook” of Adran being the heir to a keep. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but there are still potential spoilers below.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign/General

FRC Session 3…Adran and Acquisitions

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In our last session, the PCs had learned that someone else had taken up residence in Cagair Keep. They had also defeated some bandits who had preyed upon a small homestead and fought a fairly large band of guards serving someone named Lady Hawke…the same person, it appears, who now hold Cagair Keep! They had made it back to Daggerford and had provide the constable, Sherlyn Miller, information on their discoveries and they planned to head back to Waterdeep to speak with the Magister about the things they had discovered. We pick up with their departure from Daggerford below the break.

This recap is from RJ. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. Some might recognize the idea of a PC inheriting a keep from an uncle as this is all inspired by the old Dungeon magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” in issue #26. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but I have shamelessly appropriated the concept of the adventure.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign

FRC Session 2…Daggerford

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Our first session of our new Forgotten Realms campaign found the PCs coming together for various reasons and learning that one of them, Adran, had a potential opportunity to inherit his uncle’s holdings…an uncle, Caill Dafad, he hadn’t seen since his childhood. All Adran had to do was provide some proof of his relationship to Caill. Unable to think of some sort of proof and finding little such evidence in Waterdeep, they party had set off for Daggerford as they had learned that Caill’s holdings, Cagair Keep to be exact, lay somewhere in the vicinity of that town. We ended the session after the party and the merchants that they were accompanying had been ambushed by some pitiful hobgoblins.

This session’s recap is from Todd and starts below the break. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics]. Some might recognize the idea of a PC inheriting a keep from an uncle as this is all inspired by the old Dungeon magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” in issue #26. Many (if not most) of the details aren’t quite as written in that adventure but I have shamelessly appropriated the concept of the adventure.

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D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign/General

Forgotten Realms Campaign (FRC) Session 1

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Our first session of our new campaign, set in the Forgotten Realms, was this past weekend. We did a potluck and so got started a bit late and began with character creation so we had a bit of an abbreviated session of play. You can see the cast of characters in the immediately prior post. After character creation, we jumped right in with the seven PCs arriving in Waterdeep on three different ships at the same docks.

For this campaign, I’m asking the players to write the session recaps again. Is it because I’m a lazy GM and don’t want to do them myself? Well, I’d be a little less than truthful if I said that I didn’t like the idea of not having to do the full writeups each week but that’s not the main reason. I want the recaps to be from the players’ perspective and not just mine. That’s the main reason.

So, this week’s recap is from Rachel and starts below the break. My GM comments are in [brackets and italics].

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D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign

Forgotten Realms Campaign Intro

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Delimbiyr Vale Regional Map by Mike Schley

Our past session marked the beginning of a new campaign here at Fat Rat Games. This campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms and using the 5e D&D rules (since everyone still seems to be enjoying them). The campaign is starting centered in the area around Daggerford using the map by Mike Schley from Scourge of the Sword Coast. We are not, however, playing that adventure.

Instead, we’re just going with Forgotten Realms as a bit of a backdrop and this map as our playground. We aren’t concerned about staying true to Forgotten Realms’ canon in any fashion whatsoever. Instead, we’re starting with the old “Grey Box” Realms and treating it as a dark and grim, “points of light” type setting with islands of civilization floating in seas of wilderness. The ancient empires of elves and dwarves have fallen and the lands of mankind have not yet grown strong enough to replace them. Even where the dim light of civilization of humanity shines, foul things lurk at its porous edges and may even hide in plain sight amongst those very lights of civilization. Our Forgotten Realms will become a thing of its own…which is, in my opinion, what every campaign should do!

Our “theme” for the player characters is something along the lines of “mercenaries with hearts of gold.” We are not going with an outright heroic campaign this time around. Instead, my analogy was something like the crew of the Serenity from Firefly…as a whole, not your goody two-shoes nor black-hearted villains.

The cast of characters include:

  • Adran Amakir: A half-elf draconic sorcerer played by RJ.
  • Bran Lackman: A halfling barbarian played by Todd.
  • Drusilia Moonwhisper: A high elf ranger played by Muse.
  • Luther Brightbriar: A half-elf warlock (Great Old One patron) played by Andrew who is a new player joining us.
  • Rory: A half-elf rogue played by Rachel.
  • Sabrina: A half-elf ranger played by Bridgett (when she can join us).
  • Strik: A half-orc cleric of Shar played by Thomas.

For a campaign setting where humans vastly outnumber demi-humans, that sure is a lot of demi-humans. 😉

There is an initial plot hook that I’m “requiring” that the players buy into but after that, we’ll just see where things go. The hook, which was not shared before character creation or the first session, is that one of the PCs (who had to be human or half-elf) is going to have the opportunity to inherit a keep of some sort. They came across this plot hook in the initial session and it is Adran who had an uncle recently pass away. Yes, for those who remember it, this is the premise from an old Dungeon Magazine adventure, “The Inheritance,” and I’m shamelessly employing it here.

The writeup of the first session will follow later this week.

Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Deadliest Link

The Deadliest Link – Season Premiere (Season 1, Episode 1)

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Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Deadliest Link!

As you know, the Deadliest Link is Faerun’s most exciting entertainment where we link you with individuals, our Daredelvers, exploring and surviving (or trying to) in Undermountain. Let’s get right to the show and introduce our Daredelvers.

Daredelver #1 is a Piper, a shadowy figure who has walked many alleyways to avoid the long arm of the law.

Daredelver #2 is Rurik and this half-orc hunter comes to us from the deep wilderness, far from civilization.

Daredelver #3 is the gnome Nilbas and this short wizard knows death in a manner that most of us would shudder to even think about.

Daredelver #4 is Isaac, a priest of an unknown god from far off, unknown lands.

Daredelver #5 is the half-orc Igmut and he combines his orcish savagery with the finesse and stealth of the city’s streets.

While I may be known as the Queen of Mean, I am not heartless. Our Daredelvers could use a little aid this episode and so I have gifts for them! For Piper, a Potion of Healing. For Rurik, a Ring of Thunder Resistance. For Nilbas, [I forgot.] For Igmut, a Cloak of the Bat!

[Random magic items can be so much fun.]

With all our housekeeping out of the way, audience, are you ready to play…the Deadliest Link?!?

{The linked audience cheers with unbridled enthusiasm.}

Daredelvers…prepare to be…The Deadliest Link!

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Campaign Logs/General/The Deadliest Link

The Deadliest Link – Season Premiere (Season 1, Pre-Show)

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Since we have some scheduling issues with players missing and a holiday coming up, we aren’t going to start a new (regular) campaign for a few weeks. So tonight, instead, we’re going to go with our evolving The Deadliest Link alternative. I asked everyone to provide a favorite saying, theme, trope, what have you from game shows and I’ve tried to incorporate them to one degree or another into The Deadliest Link. Below the break is the introduction to the season premiere that I’ve shared with the players. I’ll be using another random dungeon tonight and pretty much winging it again so we’ll see how things go. 😉

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Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Wherever It Is Going Part 3 (Session 17)

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When we ended our last session, things were looking rather grim for the party. Pounder had been arrested for the brutal murder of the child, Kettilwig, and was locked up in the Warden’s stockade, waiting for his execution the following morning. Bay and Thalimor had headed off to the Temple of Velen but had been beaten there by two of the Warden’s soldiers. Worried about their presence, the two had decided to camp in the woods near the temple despite the potential threat of goblins or worse coming across their camp. The remaining three party members (Isenthorne, Magnus, and Osric) had received a rather cold welcome in Swallowfeld but had gone to investigate the site of Kettilwig’s murder. Isenthorne had just started climbing a tree to investigate the thick and rather numerous spider webs in the trees of the area. While it was already evening for Bay and Thalimor, it was still afternoon for the trio of characters, and Pounder was still unconscious. So we had some time differences that needed to be rectified early on in the session.

We had a full table with everyone present this session. As you’ll see, this did turn out to be our “last” session with the Lonely Coast campaign. I say last in quotes because I hope that at some point we’ll come back to this setting and play in it again. It won’t be the same characters because…well, I’ll save the because for after the break. 😉

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Deadliest Link

The Deadliest Link – Pilot Episode

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This past session we did something a little different. Muse was already going to be missing and Thomas had to cancel more or less at the last minute. Unfortunately, I was out watching the Champions’ League final at a bar when I found out and I didn’t get home until almost right before we were going to start the session. I am cruel and heartless enough to have run might be the last session of our Lonely Coast campaign without one player (sorry Muse…nothing personal) but, apparently, I’m not cruel and heartless enough to do it if two players are missing. Or at least not enough to actually make that decision myself…so I left it up to the players in attendance. The majority didn’t want to continue (end?) the LC campaign without the others present. So now what?!?

Rachel suggested that we could just play a board game, like Descent, but as the conversation continued, we settled on still playing D&D. So everyone created a character and everyone (with one exception) used the Fifth Edition Character Sheet app which made certainly sped things up and my brain continued to be muddled and not settling on anything (it was because I was tired and hungry…honest…I only had two beers watching the game). By the time everyone had a character ready and I had had some dinner, my brain was working again…more or less.

During the earlier conversation, murders, the television show CSI, and Orc & Pie had come up and that all somehow seeped through my brain as murder and television shows. Once it got through to the other side of my head and actually made its way out, the Deadliest Link pilot show was born (rather rough around the edges).

Four contestants awoke in a darkened room and, as they opened their eyes, bright lights flashed and a disembodied voice enthusiastically shouted out, “Welcome to the Deadliest Link!” The last thing each contestant [i.e., the player characters] could remember was signing some waiver or contract. The voice explained, directing itself towards some unseen audience, that the rules of the game were quite simple. One of the contestants had murdered the baker [a body in baker’s clothing was lying, facedown, on the floor nearby with a knife in its back with a pie sitting on a pedestal just behind the body]. It was the contestants’ task to not only determine which of them had committed the murder but to also survive the Dungeon of Doom. By the end, only one of the contestants would leave alive as the Deadliest Link!

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Lonely Coast Campaign

The Lonely Coast Campaign – Wherever It Is Going Part 2 (Session 16)

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When we last left the party, they had, well, they had pretty much become rather alienated from the authorities and townsfolk of Swallowfeld. Possibly with hopes of at least doing some good and to save the Warden’s nephews that had been taken by the goblins, they set out to follow the tracks. They had found the goblin compound and had begun their exploration/raid of it and that’s where we’ll pick up after the break.

This is probably going to be a bit more abbreviated than many of the session write-ups. Not because little happened but because the last session was almost three weeks ago, I’ve put off writing this until now, and it is getting late on a Friday night. We had a full table with all players in attendance and a bit of a twist near the end of the session that I think kind of threw the players…mwah ha ha!

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