Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 13

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In out last session, the party continued their explorations of Castanamir’s home. They had solved the riddle of how to get around the place but they still had not found an exit. There was one room that they had not really explored, one with a pool of water with much treasure at the bottom. Although Bronn had wanted to take some of the treasure, he had been convinced to leave it alone by the rest of the party. Fresh out of ideas for what to do next, they all agreed to tamper with the pool and that’s largely where we had ended the last session with Bronn and Lavinia in the pool room and the rest of the party and Castanamir in a different room. Neither location looked to be safe as the session ended.

This session we had Geoff, Rachel, RJ, Thomas and were joined by Geoff’s son, Alex. So we had Redwulf, Morgraen, Riordan, Lavinia, Rurik, Lilly, and Bronn who were joined by Pablo, a dwarven monk. We’re pretty much sticking with the Basic Rules for this campaign but Alex wanted to play a monk and it was pretty much a one-time thing so why not.

It also turned out that Session 13 was an unlucky number for one of the PCs who died. I won’t tell you who…you’ll have to read this session writeup to find out. 😉

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 12

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Session 12 of The Side Quest was our fifth with the party on the Lost Island of Castanamir. In our last session, the party had recovered all six of the books on Chakos’ list. They had also gained an “ally” (or at least a new member of their entourage). Lilly had stayed behind with this new ally to learn “some” secret after the rest of the party passed through another of the portals. But before I get to what happened, a bit of housekeeping first. Morgraen and Riordan have both made it to 3rd level at the start of this session. Aelwulf, Callie, Grim, Lavinia, and Rurik are all 2nd level with the remaining characters (Baern, Bronn, Lilly, and Redwulf) are still being 1st level. Why the discrepency? Characters only get XP if the player is in attendance since the character isn’t played when the player isn’t there and, of course, the strings of deaths that Theo’s characters suffered. Since Rachel has missed the fewest sessions, Morgraen and Riordan have reached the loftiest heights of all the characters.

This session we had Geoff, Muse, Rachel, RJ, and Thomas in attendance…only missing Theo and so had a nice full table and nine characters in play. So away we go…

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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General

Rest in Peace Brian, Mastermind of Secret Headquarters

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In somber news, Brian Jacoby, the owner and Mastermind of Secret Headquarters, passed away suddenly on Thanksgiving evening. Brian’s passing will leave a huge hole in the Tallahassee community that will likely never quite be filled. Brian was a passionate advocate and supporter of comics, games, and much more. He truly lived up to his shop’s tagline of “Comics and Games for EVERYONE!” Bright, airy, clean and organized, with a children’s area, and with table space to play games, the shop was a reflection of Brian’s attitude of inclusiveness. It didn’t matter if you were a Tolkien scholar who could argue the minutia of Middle Earth, a comic book fanatic who knew the origin story of every obscure comic book superhero, or you were absolutely new to the world of fantasy, sci-fi, comics, and gaming, you found a welcoming place at Secret Headquarters. I have never been in a store quite like it or that had an owner quite like Brian…the combination was near perfect.

Brian will be sorely missed by so very many.

Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 11

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This marked our fourth session with the PCs lost on the Island of Castanamir. In our last session, they had fought then allied themselves with some hobgoblins. They then convinced one of them to start a revolt against the hobgoblin commander. Private (recently promoted to God-King) Leigh, however, was the only hobgoblin to participate in the revolt…although it did lead to an all out battle between the hobgoblins and the party. After winning that battle, the party set out to explore another, new to them, area of Castanamir’s home.

This session we had Muse, Rachel, and Thomas in attendance plus we had a new player, Geoff, join us. Thomas had made a second character and Lilly’s twin, Bronn. Bronn is a halfling rogue. Geoff rolled up a elven cleric named Redwulf. So with seven characters participating, we continued with the party’s search for the six books for Chakos and for a way out.

Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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Campaign Logs/D&D/General/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 10

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In our last session, our party had continued their exploration of Castanamir’s abode in search for both the six books that Chakos had retained them to find and for a way out as well. In this session, Rachel, RJ, and Theo were in attendance and so Morgraen, Riordan, Lavinia, Rurik, and Aelwulf were played. As Theo had lost another of his characters in the prior session, he was also going to introduce Beorn this session…a dwarven cleric. We have also had an old player rejoin us…Thomas. Yes, the Dire Rattitude has returned to Tallahassee and wanted to get back into a game. To add to his list of quirky and memorable past characters, Thomas has now added Lilly. Lilly is a halfling cleric who can be briefly best summarized, at least from the first session, as a hippy stoner! Well, a hippy stoner who has visions that (conveniently) fit with what Lilly happens to be interested in doing. 😉

We began this session as Morgraen passed through a portal to find herself confronted with the two human thugs that the party had encountered a number of times already…encounters that largely consisted of the thugs taking a shot at the party and then fleeing. Spoilers: There are, of course, spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 9

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In our last session, our intrepid adventurers had begun their task of searching for six specific books in the lair of the wizard Castanamir. They had been hired by Chakos of House Cadryenne, a drow elf, to accomplish this task. As there would be many spoilers even just giving a brief recap of what happened last week, I’m going to save that for after the break. This week both Muse and Theo were missing so it was just Rachel and RJ playing and thus just Morgraen, Riordan, Lavinia, and Rurik. Spoilers: There are definitely spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets].

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Campaign Logs/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 8

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After a week’s hiatus due to too many missing players, we picked up our 5th Edition D&D Side Quest campaign again. In our last session, the party had returned from their harrowing and deadly misadventures beyond the Moon Door. They returned successfully and completed their task for Rowena Greyraven, turning over the recovered topaz to her. Prior to that, they obtained a new patron for their adventures…the drow elf Chakos of House Cadryenne. Their new job was to pass through one of the valley’s portals to the home of an ancient wizard, Castanamir, and recover six books for the drow. The six books include (author in parens):

  • Oculum Percussum (no author listed). This translates from Draconic as The Piercing Eye
  • Portal Magicks (Castanamir)
  • One Thousand and One Planes Parallel (Bulukiya Scheher)
  • The Blazing Eye (Caven Mardish)
  • His Dark Materia (Trahere)
  • The Parallax Veil (Gerro Zelaz)

None of these books are familiar to the characters.

So after a bath, some shopping, a night’s rest, and a couple of excellent meals, the party headed out to meet Chakos. Escorted by some of the drow’s hobgoblin allies, the party entered a new cave where Chakos led them to The Archway. The Archway is the name of this particular portal and was little more than a stone archway filled with flat black nothingness. Passing through, they were assaulted by a strong storm and immediately set off to see shelter. A shaft, with a spiral stairway leading down, was soon discovered and investigated. At the bottom was a short hallway that led to another archway that was pretty much identical in look and design to The Archway.

The party stepped through and that is where we pick up with this session below the break. Muse was missing and so Grim and Callie were also missing. RJ and Theo were back and so Lavinia, Ruri, and Aelwulf were back along with Theo’s new character, Vondal (a mountain dwarf wizard). My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets]. Spoilers: There are spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 7

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For our last two and half sessions or so, our intrepid adventurers have been in the land beyond the Moon Door. They’ve narrowly survived a rat infested inn (and demon possessed beast of a queen rat). Their luck did not hold quite as well when they encountered a vampire residing on a ship docked at the village’s pier. Half the party was slain. Then the party were subjected to the hospitality of the townfolk of Tepes and narrowly escaped the mob and then the wolves of the wood and even the vampire again…not without the loss of one more comrade, however. As we ended the last session, the party…sans Bulwein…had just passed through (and slammed shut) the Moon Door before the vampire could thin their ranks even more.

In this session, both RJ and Theo were missing and so it was a “girls’ night” of D&D with just Muse and Rachel playing. We also got started about an hour or so later than normal so it was a short session. This meant that Callie, Grim, Morgraen, and the currently unconscious Riordan all found themselves in a dark corridor on the “right” side of the Moon Door. As Grim summoned up some magical light, they found that Aelwulf, Lavinia, and Rurik had not appeared through the door. Concerned about the goblins that had always been found in this compound before, the conscious trio decided to make all due haste for the exit and then for Hell’s Haven.

As usual, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].

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Campaign Logs/D&D/The Side Quest

The Side Quest Session 6

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Wow…I never really expected we’d have six sessions of this campaign under our belts by this time. This was supposed to have been the alternate campaign but it has become (and will remain) our primary campaign through at least the end of the year. I also never would have dreamed that we’d have four PC deaths by the sixth session. Yep, we had another one in this session.

When we last left our heroes, their numbers had been cut in half by the predations of a vampire! The survivors–Callie, Grim, and Lavinia–had fled to the temple below the Silvery Eel Inn, hoping that the wolves chasing them on behalf of the vampire could not open the flagstone trapdoor. After briefly mourning their fallen companions–Ander, Aramil, and Gurdis–they collapsed, physically and emotionally exhausted, and succumbed to the peaceful embrace of sleep.

Muse had to miss this session and so Callie and Grim were missing. Rachel was back and so that meant that Morgraen and Riordan would also be back. RJ created Rurik, a mountain dwarf wizard, to replace Ander and Theo brought in the “viking” cousins Aelwulf, a human fighter, and Bulwein, a human cleric, to replace his fallen characters. This meant that Lavinia was the only PC that had been played in the prior session and I pick up with what happened below the break. My GM comments, as always, are in [brackets and italics].

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D&D/General

The Side Quest: Popcorn Initiative

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I admit it. I’m a lazy GM. I don’t enjoy tracking things like hit points or initiative or the like. It is probably one of the reasons why I like Savage Worlds so much. It is also why we adapted the Savage Worlds card initiative system for our 5e D&D games. However, we have been trying out something new in the last couple of sessions of our Side Quest campaign. We have been using the Popcorn Initiative system from the Angry DM.

In a nutshell, everyone rolls initiative at the start of a combat. Whoever gets the highest result goes first. They then pick who goes next who then picks who goes after them and so on. Whoever goes last in the round then picks who goes first in the following round.  It has been well received by the players in the game and I like it as well for a few reasons.

First, it appeals to my lazy nature. Like the Savage Worlds card system, it eliminates having to track and manage the initiative order from round to round. Yes, we have to keep track of who has and hasn’t gone but, as you’ll see, we have an easy fix for that. To be honest, with the changes that 5e has made to initiative and actions (e.g., eliminating changes in initiative order due to delaying and readying), this alone really wouldn’t be enough of a reason for me to switch.

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