Dolmenwood: Side Adventure

As I've said way too many times before - adulting is hard! One of the players could not meet up this weekend for our bi-weekly face-to-face game. Rather than skip or play without him, I did what our missing player has done when running games: a short 1 off for the other players using different characters but in the same game.

I generated 5 characters via the excellent Dolmenwood character generator, so that there would be a bit of a selection for the 3 layers, and one for me as an NPC. The quick backstory: Lord Bluewater, a Fey Count from outside the Frozen Prince's demesne, had sent in a few to recover the Gem of Yindra, a magical gem that can grant a minor wish once a month. Getting into the frozen lands was as simple as walking across the barrier, getting out would require using the wish as that was a barrier to keep the Prince in. While not in the main adventure this is based on, I decided to extend the Dolmenwood limits even to the land of the Fey. 

Our story starts with the 4 characters hiding at the edge of the woods, watching as characters from Dolmenwood head to the Princess' castle. The troll, Grimmlegridge, is tromping to the pile of corpses for a snack, while the Goblin Griddlegrim escorts the adventures, after they've eaten his magic mushrooms, into the tower. Not knowing how long the troll will feed, the party splits up with the Grimmelkin Topper moving off to distract the troll with the two Woodgrue and the Mossling going to the pile to search for the jewel. Unfortunately for the cat-Fey, the deep snow slows him down more than it slows down the troll, yet he manages to get to the forest fast enough. With the snowy chase on, we find the jewel in the 1st few minutes oddly enough. Meanwhile, a glamor on the troll makes him think he has done what needs to be done and he turns about, leaving the hiding Topper watching him lumber off. Though the glamor is short-lived as he scratches his head, but, upon seeing the pile of bodies, he heads that way to get to his snack. 

Our party moves back to where they came. However, the snowy forest is a bit confusing as they are not sure they are heading in the correct direction. Hearing something heavy come towards them in the woods, they prepare for battle when a large brown bear approaches. Before they can strike, he suddenly asks if they have berries. He's been lost in the woods as well and is getting hungry. Introducing himself as Gunther, Topper feeds him the last of his rations and Gunther seems quite content to munch on the dry food. He mentions that they should be careful - there are harpies in these woods. But he would be happy to go along with the group, esepcially if they can help find berries. 

Moving along, still not quite sure where they are going, the go deeper into the woods. Soon they hear the warbling of song. All but Gunther actually make their saving throws, but Gunther, being a bear, is not easily stopped as he tries to approach the harpies. Fortunately, the 2 Woodgrues play a song, and the harpies both were suddenly filled with laughter, and unable to continue singing. That is also when the party noticed they were eating. While playing their pipes, Topper searched under the tree to find an armlet made of pellucidum with some words engraved on it. They decided it was time to leave, and while the two Woodgrue rode Gunther and played their songs, the harpies did not quite fall out of the tree from laughing so much.

a tree full of harpies

They found a good cave to sleep in that night. Even with a fire and their cloaks, it was a hard sleep, and they were restless all night. From a mechanical viewpoint, this would have meant not renewing spells or healing, but as neither were an issue, it just means they slept poorly. They managed to forage enough to last the evening at least.

They next day they were pretty sure they were coming up on the edge of the Frost Prince's kingdom when they came upon 4 bedraggled humans. Holding scythes and wearing ragged farmers clothes, it was obvious they were somehow lost in the frozen lands. As they could see the scintillating lights of the border, the group took the humans, and bear, and went to the border. Gunther bumped his nose against the barrier, then Mabmungle made the wish with the crystal as they all linked arms and walked through barrier to the eternal spring of Lord Bluewater's domain.

As the farmers warmed up, and Gunther found some berries, they got ready for the next part of the journey. From here they knew where to go. Even though the Fey lands can twist and turn and not be the same day to day for mortals, for the Fey who live here it is home and they know where to go. They hike all day and set up a good camp. During the 2nd watch, they hear 5 people coming up to them. There is a fairly quick battle where they kill the 5 thieves. And yes - Gunther did manage to get a bear hug in. As the thieves were all 1st level as well, it did not take much to kill them. What was interesting was all the thieves were mortal humans, so it was a wonder as to why they were here in the Fey lands. They also all had a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, so appeared to all be from the same gang.

heading in different directions

After that, the farmers, along with the Woodgrue I was playing, headed off to a nearby fairy circle to get back to the mundane world while the rest of the party went to Lord Bluewater's castle. Where they passed over the gem and were rewarded with a minor magical weapon or armor of choice. Just in case we play them again.

It was a pretty decent game I think, low stakes. We took advantage of some of the kindred things based on the character sheets.  And everyone gained 250 XP I think.

Characters we met

Bilibom Mulchwump, Mossling Fighter

Danklob Woodfuffle, Woodgrue Bard

Madmungle Persnickle, Woodgrue Thief

Toppsy Flippancy, Grimalkin Hunter

Gunther, talking brown bear

Lord Bluewater, Prince of the Eternal Spring 

5 dead mortal human thieves

4 confused farmers

2 harpies eating a mortal

Traveller System Update 35 - Maybe A Better Menu

Though totally blown away by this application, As Above So Below,  I'll still poke along with my stuff. Not much progress lately honestly - searching for work is exhausting from a mental perspective. But I hated the UI so made it a bit better. Really need to make it snap even more - graphics perhaps, and a few things like I did with the old UWP version. 

Anyway, at least some cosmetic updates to help corral things a bit.

I did update this from 6 or 7 to .NET 10 which ended up being mostly easy, though somehow it lost some of the things in the automated process. But it has images and is a UWP application. Was going to be a ship tracker (again!) but Windows only. So many half-started applications, but without a clear end-goal or user it makes these just toys that never go anywhere.

TFT Death Test 2, or, Dead Again

Our 2nd run through this programmed adventure left us dead in the 2nd room. Again. And we even had 6 characters, 3 each. One got killed in the Black Room with the skeletons - they had a couple lucky hits, we did not. The next room we rolled up the mercenaries, and unfortunately for us they got 2 big bruisers with really good dexterity (which hindsight, I just realized when we rolled up the armor, we forgot to adjust their dexterity for attacks!) We died in that room. Next time we try this, I'm getting some 36- or 38-point characters with more armor. We just picked random character cards from the card deck I backed years ago. See - using my toys!

Skeletons attack!

On the bright side, I do have a lot of skeleton minis - a whole bunch of metal ones from the 80s as well as a lot of plastic ones from various Kickstarters. I can field a small army of them.

I am still looking for a job, 2 months on. Being 62 in the IT world, and all the crazy things that is happening in this field now, means it is a lot harder than it used to be. 176 applications out, 30 or so actual rejections, and at a guess, 20% of those jobs are "ghost" jobs: not real but put out there for any number of reasons. And I've been almost scammed twice - a few people ruin it for everyone else. And preying on vulnerable people is just so wrong. But I'll give it another month, then see about some job at a WalMart, Lowes or something. I can put boxes on shelves! But I've been lucky in many ways: the 1st time I got laid off about 15, 20 years ago I learned several valuable lessons about always being prepared. I am not in any sort of dire financial straits, and technically I could retire now. But I am just not ready to retire. I actually like working. Guess technically being a baby boomer does that for you - it has been engrained upon us that working hard pays off. Sadly, I feel that is no longer the case, but now we are getting maudlin and potentially veering into political stuff, so, distraction: spaceships!

Even unemployed, I did back for more little spaceships. One of these days we'll play something where we can use them! I no longer back at the posters unless it is something really different - at this point I have probably 100 or so posters and have only used 4 or so!

Dolmenwood Session 2: To the burial mound

Out intrepid adventurers, now back to full size and enjoying a meal at the Giant's Nose, were discussing future plans. The magician Breggle, Elrod Bumble, shared a map and was willing to share the reward for getting a ring from a burial mound. Friar Henry Moon had his own reasons for wanting to go, of which were not shared. And the Dwarf, Lozebell Nightmail, and her friend and occasional co-worker, Keir, had time on their hands and agreed to go along. 

Listening in was the Elf Fern Evergreen. He also had some time on his hands, and after some discussion, the group decided that as he seemed nice when they passed paths in the nose, he could accompany them. 

They eat and enjoy the music and have a good night's reset at the Giant's Nose. The next morning is a cold fog, unusual for this 2nd day of Iggwyld (see the Dolmenwood calendar in their amazing list of downloads). Thinking Fern should be a good guide, and having an inexact map with a few landmarks, they head off into the woods. A failed roll later and Fern may admit that they may be a bit lost. At that point, a large rat shows up. The group, seeing a rat of unusual size, is not sure what to do. The good Friar (I think - I really need to take notes!) tosses the rat some food. Who quizzically takes it, seems to enjoy it, and then scampers off. 

Finding a landmark, they get back on course and find a thorny patch that leads to 7 trilithons. Which I had to look up to see what those were:

Trilithons - you think I would have gotten that from the roots!

There is a twitching stag skeleton in the middle of the circle. The sound of metal clanking in the breeze is also heard. Turns out to be metal owls hung in the trees. The native Dolmenwood inhabitants recognize signs of the Drune. Friar Moon scrapes off the moss and sees carvings of what appears to be tormented Ice Elves. There are runes on the stones that appear to be summoning spells. While Keir climbs a tree to get a look ahead, Friar Moon tries to deal with undead. The stag skeleton gets up and wanders off. While Keir tries to shoot at it from the heights of the tree, they do miss. That and arrows do not do well with skeletons. Avoiding the green fumes, they proceed onward, and find the mound not too far up the path.

Checking around, Fern & Keir notice a hole, and 3 slime trails. Peeking down, Fern can see a chamber perhaps 15 feet down, but at around 2 feet wide, the hole is a bit small for anyone, even Belle the Dwarf, to fit down.

Deciding to muscle the stone slab, they managed to open the tomb. Dusty stairs lead down as Belle looks for any traps. A small foyer, with 4 religious items in each of its corners, opens up to 3 other hallways. Noticing the dust on the floor, they see a mosaic of Sir Chyde and his favorite two dogs on the floor.  As no one knows Old Woldish, they can only pick out King and Frost from the words spelled out. Heading to the right, there is a mirror that gives the willies to Elrod but nothing amiss happens.  There is a reflection of water from where the mirror is pointing - an archway with a carving of trees leads down below the current level. Friar Moon covers the mirror, an ornate floor-standing mirror that is probably worth a good deal. 

Belle, Keir and Fern go down the stairs. There are floating candles, and water is lapping at the bottom step. It is a circular room, with an Elf statue in the middle. Stepping down, Belle is suddenly in woods. And in deep winter, unlike the early spring when this jaunt is taking place. Keir and Fern follow, much to the consternation of Elrod & Friar Moon as their companions disappear as the end of the stairs. There is much discussion between the magician and the friar, but eventually they decide to step through as well. While they were waiting, the group in the woods saw a white messenger raven fly to the tower. 

At the edge of the woods, they can see a fairy castle on a frozen island. Standing in 2 feet of snow and slowly freezing, they decide to head to the tower. They do see huge footprints that lead to a pile of corpses next to the woods. But freezing to death overrides their concerns. Knocking on the door, they are met by a troll, Grimmlegridge, who has the goblin Griddlegrim riding on a palanquin on the huge troll's shoulders (and one of the players did mention he has a mini that actually is this very thing. We do have quite a collection between all of us!) Not having an invite nor being on the list, they decide to eat the mushrooms. Various impacts: Friar Moon now has glowing yellow eyes that he is unaware of, Fern shrank to 6" for almost an hour, Belle gained a bit of dexterity, and Keir had this warm feeling (and will automatically succeed on their next saving roll).

Now inside and warming up, the troll and goblin, who is laughing at the spectacle, tells them there is warm food in the kitchen and they should go there. Which they do, and two demanding Elf chefs through food at the group to carry up to the wedding feast. All but Keir take platters up the stairs. There they see a table with a few gentry Elves lounging about. Apparently, it has been a few centuries as they are waiting for this wedding. And apparently Elves have a lot of patience. The guard, Gierion, notices that they seem a bit out of place. He suggests that the group goes up to visit the princess. Keir decides to go back to their normal form: apparently this Changeling has to mold her face and body as they return to their base form. It was a bit disconcerting to everyone as only Belle (and I am not sure of that) knew she was a Changeling. 

Once upstairs, they meet the beautiful princess. Who looks like the statue in the pool room. A bit of conversation but she promises them a lot of things if they can just get the ring from Sir Chyde and bring it to her. A really powerful magical necklace that grants a single wish is one of the things they may be able to get. And of course, we also have some internal issues about the ring, and why the two male characters are actually here.

They head back to the woods and the passage back to the tomb. We made a quick peek into the main room, where Belle saw two dancing skeletons. And that is where we left things.

from Winters Daughter

Characters met

Player characters

Friar Heny Moon, human. Of which I still need to get which saint he said he is following.

Keir, a Changeling as the group has found

Lozebelle Nightmail, a stout Dwarf warrior

Magician Elrod Bumble, a Shorthorn Breggle

NPCs

Pierogi Poundflour, Dwarf owner of the Giant's Nose

Louie, the Dragonborn lounge singer at the Giant's Nose

Fern Evergreen, an Elf met first in the nose, and now a companion to the group

Gierion, an Ice Elf guard at the tower

Princess Snowfall-at-Dusk, the Elf princess in the tower

Grimmlegridge, Troll doorkeeper at the tower, eats moss from dead bodies

Griddlegrim, Goblin doorkeeper and keeper of the guest list as well as a bag of magic mushrooms

Traveller System Update 35 - World Maps

Was lying in bed and realized I could probably get AI to generate a world map for me, as I am not great at the UX side of things. The first draft actually mostly worked: I had it create the service, show me the updates to a few of the associated things, and it does generate a graphic thing. That is sort of close if you squint sideways and have a few drinks.

But - it is a start. I'll have to look over the actual code to see what is actually happening. I think the math side of things is correct, but it did not generate the world map based on the Form 8 I dropped into the chat. However - it was also about an hour or two of work, versus a few days had I been trying to do this by myself. 

Which sort of brings to mind the whole set of changes that software has been through. I've actually worked with punch cards (24 rows of 80 columns), teletype machines on greenbar, vim editors, plain text editors, early GUI editors and IDEs that started with auto-completion for lines and now the AI (technically large language models) that can write most of the code for you. Production-ready or not is an entirely different discussion, and a matter of opinions (mostly based on if they are trying to sell you an AI system or "reduce headcount"). Of course, Claude, the most popular code generator, just jumped up significantly in cost. Remember kids - the 1st hit is free!

What I was aiming for

What I got

I will get back to the orbital stuff, but I wanted to get something a bit splashy out there. I see what others are doing and honestly get a bit depressed: they are writing consumer-facing software, and I am sort of stuck in enterprise backend ideas. Of course, that is what I've done for years so it is a natural fit for me. 

Edit: a bit closer!

Terrain

One can only job search so much. So I've been working on painting the terrain stuff as well as I've got time. And one of these days maybe I'll actually use it. I've had some interesting discussions over the years, both with other gamers and inside my head about theater of the mind vs immersion via terrain and minis. 

On the one hand, our minds can envision anything and make up the details as we need to. One of the reasons I like the early Traveller line art: it was not overly detailed and left a good bit to our own imaginations. On the other hand, sometimes you really do need to understand how things look and how various characters are in relation to one another. TFT of course covers this with requiring a hex mat to properly handle combat. Traveller combat ranges from grids to pure abstract range bands.  

The trick is to remember that the terrain on the table is not all that there is, it is still an abstract representation. Just with more details. And that is where I get concerned that the toys actually detract from the game. And pretty sure I've had this conversation before with my readers!

So, pictures of terrain. This is the spider caves from the Archon Caves Kickstarter a couple years ago. The plastic showed up a while ago, and I've been doing some painting.

this may not be a good place to set up a camp!

spider bridges

closer view of spider bridges

finally "good enough" as she has been sitting on my desk for almost a year now. Also Archon but I think from an earlier KS

and good enough for these two as well

and read a blog where the author was making cool terrain from household goods and realized that the sprues from the terrain could make for a space dock of sorts. Just need to get some foam core or something and add more greebling and some sort of habitat dome or something.

And still trying to decide about MTU vs OTU for the Kinunir Traveller game I'll be running in a bit.

ships from 0-Hr

A Breggle and an Archer

For our 1st session we grabbed some minis I had, and 1 player chose the archer for her character, a changeling. I backed with the minis for Dolmenwood so had a Breggle Magician. They were unpainted, so I decided to go ahead and paint them. As I have a bit too much time, still being unemployed (and searching for jobs is such a horrendous experience!) The Dwarf is an old Grenedier model I think that I got in high school, so it at least 40 years old! And painted with enamel model paints as that was all I knew about back then. The friar was from some Kickstarter - I'd have to check to see if it was Reaper, Wildspire or something else. But I had already painted him oddly enough.

I also painted some of the terrain from the Caves edition of the last Archon Kickstarter. I've got another set of sprues with a wash and will just hightlight the bones and webs from that one. I probably will not be backing their next crowdsourcing: I am not even using the sets now a lot, I am sadly unemployed, and they really just did not grab me particularly this time around.

Keir the Changeling and Elrod Bumble, Breggle Magician. 

The Dwarf Lozebelle Nightmail and Henry Moon with their friends in the abandoned mine.