Resting in Ceawla

Our group of adventures rests a few weeks in Ceawla, fully recovering from their recent adventures, living off their craka beast steaks they brought in as well as coin from their adventures. Jenforth, their erstwhile guide, has left as they are not paying her to sit about a couple of weeks while they recuperate from various wounds. The Runt Gubbler spends time honing his ability to draw power from the various power stones he has, while Crut skulks about and practices various acrobatic maneuvers and poses while trying to come up with a new theme song, something reflecting the desert, perhaps. Agaric, our scholarly werewolf, tries to read the book they found in the desert, the Watching Book. It is a history of the people of the Singing Plain, a place he has never heard of. Nova has been offering her services to the various caravans that come along, and befriended many with her kind words and gentle healings. She has also managed to accrue 5 healing potions, between her own crafting and trading amongst the caravans passing through.

Evenings are spent under the watchful eye of Khali Kamel, the Dwarf in charge of the oasis security, and not fond of tossing anyone, even Goblins, about. Crut has managed to stay out of trouble so far, but his fingers are starting to itch. He has been practicing on his companions much to their annoyance. As caravans pass both ways, they continue to hear rumors of cities that always rain. of fabulous islands peopled by all sorts of creatures, of small cities made up of ruined air ships, of Liche Kings at ruined fortresses. At one time Runt could have sworn he saw an Amazon walking through, though to him all human women are pretty tall to begin with.

They learn more of the silent cave people who attacked them one their approach to the Ceawla. Agaric managed to condense the rumors for his companions

The People of the Dunes are a mute race of cave people. Their origins are shrouded in mystery—they have been living in the Kalor desert for as long as any can recall, but never mingle with other people. Rumors are they are from the distant past, somehow transported to the present. Somehow they survive in the desert, so they must have access to water and food. Only males are ever seen, and there is never any sound from them as they attack.

No one has tracked them back: either they all get killed in the raids or they kill all the people in the caravan. And the drifting sands leave no traces.

They managed to get a map of the southern part of the continent (very much a WIP as I am sticking various Kickstarted projects into this map, including the Watching Book, the Yol'Najj Forest, So'lan from the Creative Multi-race Heroes, and a few others). I actually have some packing paper, sort of like butcher paper, so I may try a hand-drawn scrolling map if I can muster the old drawing skills up. 

We've not been playing the last few weeks: theater of the mind, while acceptable for adults playing, is a bit harder on younger people. So our last session was a bit shorter as they get agitated. Plus we've had some nice days between all the rain, and it is really better to be outside playing. My friend and his sons are actually building a shop/gym in their backyard, and he indicates that there will indeed be a gaming table there. Perhaps my old HD TV that has no HDMI as well: I refuse to buy a new TV until I get rid of the old one that still works just fine, but lacking HDMI input is not compatible with much of anything, though he said he would take it. I did see an HDMI to component device at Wal-Mart, so in theory we could use that, But I am wanting to get a smart TV so I can watch Netflix and Amazon mostly. 

Regardless, we've not yet been able to resume our face to face gaming sessions. Our Monday night game is going well, but we're not pre-teen and teenagers with a limited amount of patience and easily distracted. Though I'll admit I am easily distracted. Hopefully we'll be able to play face to face soon - I do have more miniatures and terrain on the way (my collection of toys). 

And my personal status in the lockdown. Living near Asheville, NC, we are still under a few restrictions. As my wife is a cancer survivor with no immune system (amazing how much damage radiation and chemo can do to a person) I take as few chances as possible, so wear a mask when in public spaces and rarely get out (my car had completed died as I had not driven literally for weeks!). And work is changing a great deal: the owner has discovered that out of the 40-50 people working in the office, only 5 or so, which includes me, want to go back. And he has discovered that people can be productive working from home. So he is going to greatly reduce office space and it looks as though I will be working from home forever more. Coming full-circle in some ways: I worked from home for 14 years or so, and really liked it then as it allowed me to really help raise my son as a baby. But now I'd rather work in the office as when I leave, I leave. I've checked in on stuff a couple times this weekend for instance, something that would not happen should I be working from the office. Yes, I know, it is my own fault, and I am working on it. This pandemic will have a long-lasting effect on our culture. Like many previous, large scale social changes, I think we may end up with one of several possible outcomes to this. First, more people will be working from home than before, that if just about guaranteed. But I also would not be surprised if a universal basic income, a universal medical or a universal internet, federally supported process comes out of this. 

Back to Ceawla and an Encounter

Playing via Skype is still not as fun as face to face, yet we persevere. The last Fantasy Trip session, as the adventurers were heading back to the tent city with their new found riches, were accosted by three of the craka beasts, rising up through the sands to surround our poor Runt Gubbler! There was a bit of warning from the kunio, with a bit of chirping like ground hogs. The kunio are native desert animals from the Desert Dwellers Kickstarter Zine from a year ago...

His companions quickly moved to help him, depsite the enormity of the attacking beasts. Of course, two were still injured, though somewhat healed, but there was a third one as apparently they brought friends. The Runt, though surrounded, immediately cast a flight spell on himself. As he was engaged, he managed to shift 1 hex upwards, leaving his feet dangling well within reach of the deadly craka beasts! Crut, Agaric, Nova and Jenrith surrounded the beasts and started to attack as well. The first round proved deadly to one of the beasts, struck dead with two attackers. Agaric managed to hit but the hard, leather like skin deflected his blow. The craka all missed the rapidly rising Runt, focusing their attacks on the magic user.

Next round, the 2nd beast was slain as Runt went higher and cast a 2d lightening blast on the monster below. The 2nd craks was killed, and with a keening wail, the final beast started to turn insubstantial and sink into the sands. Crut managed a critical hit, and killed the beast before it could get away. Unfortunately, the beast turned tangible on death, and his arm was encased in the dead craka beast. Unable to pull it out, Agaric helps to cut him free, yet managed to slice Crut's arm in the process doing more damage to Crut than he levied against the beast.

Nova bandaged Crut up (a master physicker can heal 3 points of damage after a battle). Cutting up the beasts, they managed to get 13 steak filets out of the skinny beasts, as well as some interesting organs and fluids Nova took to see if there were medicinal properties.

Getting back to Ceawla, they give the horse man a few gold, indicating that was half of what they found. Apparently, despite being a horse trader, he was surprised to get anything at all, so seemed satisfied.

Trading the steaks, which go for 40 silvers each at the Sarap Evi, they managed to barter for a couple of weeks to rest up. And that's where we stopped that session.

They all got 60 experience points for the session, and I am thinking I may give Crut and Runt some extra as they played well within character. Agaric's player is a bit more hesitant to get into battle despite being a werewolf as his last character died in session. Perhaps he is a cowardly werewolf, as he is much more suited for scholastic adventures. So with that in mind, he may also get some extra experience points.

The game map we used for that session is below, with about to scale of the craka (nee makdu I tink from one of the people I donate to on Patreon). Trying to play around with tracking initiative and adjDX better - found a white board and may bring that when we finally get back to face to face!

From the Desert Dwellers zine:

Revered  as  sacred,  Kunio  are  trusting  and friendly  animals.  Though  they  do  not  travel  in  packs, Kunio are very social and will follow travelers across the desert, warning them of danger with their chirping barks. Kunio drop "offerings" of large insects or small animals  near  travelers  in  hopes  of  reciprocation. Recieving an offering is considered good luck by many. Kunio  will  help  themselves  to  travelers'  rations.    If threatened  or  not  welcomed  warmly,  they  will  steal something important and flyaway.

On a non-game related note, it has been a crazy few weeks, and not being able to get out of the house much has had its effects on me. I tend to work more hours working from home, and as my work from home is on the same computer I do all this on, sometimes I just want to get away. So this blog is not as updated as much as it could be.

I've also greatly reduced my Kickstarter habit: having a significant pay cut, and soon putting my son on my insurance, has taken away most of my disposable income. Not to worry - I am still in better shape than a lot of others and I am not complaining. I just tend to be financially pretty conservative personally (getting laid off over a decade ago taught me that money may not always be coming in, so plan accordingly!)

And - Happy Memorial Day! Fortunately we got emailed, else I would have probably worked Monday and wondered why no one was answering email or messaging. 

The Desert Cave

This time with hexes!

A small labyrinth for a quick side trip to raise money for the horses: the horse dealer has this map, and for only 50% of the treasure they find, will let them have it. The players never questioned why he had this map, and why he has not himself gone to visit the caves. And if they had looked closely, they may have noticed that the map was not particularly old despite the initial appearances. And of course, I've not thought that through either, though I am now thinking about possibilities!

Anyway, the cave is a few miles west of Ceawla, in a ravine that those with woodmen skills will recognize as an old riverbed. The well itself is a jumble of stones, most fallen down. A few walls made of sandstone show that this is an old village of some sort, long gone back to the sands. The well itself is boarded over, and does have a still active trap: 3 arrows will shoot out in 3 random directions (fortunately we play on a hex, so pick 1 hex as 1, and pick a direction and go around, rolling a die per arrow).  They may also note some tracks about the area: those with woodsmen or area knowledge of this area may roll 2D vs IQ to note that they are the tracks of at least one craka beast! See the previous entry for the craka beast stats and image. It is from a Patreon account that has some pretty cool and dark creatures.

There is an old ladder, still intact, that leads down 15-20 feet below the sands and through natural sandstone caverns. This used to be an underground river but has dried up. The passageway is narrow, just barely five or 6 feet wide, meaning the characters have to go single file.

At the junction, there is a deep pit filled with cold water, about 15 feet down. Normal saving throw to avoid walking into the deep hole. Those with armor will sink - the water is at least 10 feet deep! Those with cloth or leather, at GM's discretion, may want to have a -1 DM on their adjDX as their amour will be a sodden, heavy weight for a while (they are underground and it is cooler. Assume at least 30-45 minutes before drying out).

To the north, the map indicates a pile of bones and a chest. Those are both there, though there is yet another hole at the entrance here without the water below, and what looks like may be another level to the labyrinth. It is not, but from the torchlight at 15 feet or so it is really hard to tell.

As they enter the cave, they can hear an odd sound, and rising out of the floor are 1d6-2 beasts, a minimum of two. Adjust for party strength! Craka beasts will attempt to kill magic users first if possible and always have initiative. If they are wounded to more than 75% of their hit points, all will turn insubstantial and float back into the walls, escaping to lick their wounds. They may be waiting for the adventurers on their return trip to the Tent City of Ceawla!

Assuming they kill or drive off the beasts, the treasure chest itself is locked with a non-magical lock. Inside will be gold and jewels as well as a battered book entitled The Watching Book. (yes, another Kickstarter, and I think I know where to place where this book takes place, assuming the players keep it. It is an evocative and somewhat sad exploration of a society long gone. I just thought it was really interesting and I like that people try really different things).

There will be 3d6 jewels, total worth jewels x 100 gold each. Coins from various realms will also be there, including a really odd coin that no one in Ceawla will take. Coins are about 200 gold.

Upon leaving this cave, at the junction, they will hear the sounds of someone or something moving about in the southern chamber. Should they go to explore, as they get close enough they will see that there is torchlight flickering in the chamber. If they make a detect trap roll, they will also note there appears to be a freshly painted eyeball on the walls as they approach.

A Brief Stay In Ceawla

We did manage a Skype session with playing the Fantasy Trip. Now as people who play TFT know, this is a much more tactical game and needs a battle map and tokens to play correctly. We faked it via Google drawing with a hex background & I just moved "tokens" around. Not as exciting as the minis, but at least basic functionality.  The map also benefits from the fog of war: I only drew what they could see as they could see it. Now we can do the same thing with the megahexes but this was an interesting way of handling remote playing.

So, the group said goodbye to the growing Lollipop, and according to Belinda and Wode, this completes their side of the bargain. The dragraffes even managed to leave a small bag of coin somehow. Dragraffes are the magpies of the world and collect shiny things, but they also know how to share unlike dragons. And they seemed truly thankful for Lollipop's return. The characters get paid as they approach the tent city, and will decide later if they want to go back to Edge City with Binky, Belinda and Wode, or continue on.

The guards check in on the group coming in the deepening dusk, and admonish them to not cause any problems. The get to the Sarap Evi, where the dancing Anin is swirling about in veils and finger cymbals. Yet all the Runt sees is the power stone in her belly button. They partake of some craka beast steaks, but only drink water much to the dismay of the Dwarf wine steward, Thrinin Duri. The Runt, greed for a new power stone overcoming his normal fear of fights, hatches a plan to get that power stone. Getting Agaraic to toss him at the dancer as a distraction, Crut is to steal the gem in the confusion. Unfortunately, Agaric does not quite make the throw and the Runt ends of a few feet short and to the side. Crut, noticing the lithe ease in which Anin does a flip backwards to avoid the incoming Goblin, decides it may not be the best of choices to see about stealing something from her. Thrinin, meanwhile, has reached back to the battle axe on the wall, the head being almost as tall as the Run Gubbler, and rumbles out, "You may not want to be starting anything here. What be ye doing?" A quick mention of Goblin toss seems to mollify the stout Dwarf, who reminds them of the same thing the guards said - do not cause a ruckus here. There is an implied threat that is ill-defined.

Leaving not long after, the group decides to continue south to the ancient city of Tuvano, where treasures are hinted at, as well as liche kings and the living dead. But they will need horses to travel, so decide that the next day they will see what is available.

Early morning, they eat some craka bacon and more of the blue waters of the oasis before saying good bye to Wode and Belinda, who start their journey back north. At the small market, they do find a few nags for sale, for but 25 gold each, currently outside their price range (well, except no one asked Nova who has quite a bit, plus the additional 100 silvers, or 10 gold, she got as payment). The horse trader, seeing their plight, brings out a map his third cousin's 2nd child got from a caravan master a few weeks ago. A treasure map that looks like a group of adventurers as themselves could use. He is willing to part with it for 50/50. The Runt starts to bargain but is quickly outmatched by the horse trader, and they stay at the 50/50.

Heading west, our heroic group finds the well in the ravine. Seeing a trap, Crut, without warning, drops a rock and springs the trap. 3 arrows shoot out, everyone but the Runt managing to avoid the feathered shafts of death. Fortunately, his magically enhanced cloth armor absorbs the blow and he is unhurt. Getting down the stairs, searching for traps, Crut manages to overlook a deep, smooth shaft with cold water at the bottom. Falling down, his torch goes out, and he is gasping for air, not knowing how to swim. Jenforth tosses a rope that he manages to catch, and she and the Runt haul our soggy rogue out of the pit. He is at a -2 DX until he dries out - cloth armor can absorb a lot of water!

Heading north at the fork, they find the room with a chest, but also manage to see another shaft leading to what appears to be another level below this one. Ahead they see a chest and some skeletons piled up next to it. Before getting too far, two craka beasts flow out of the floor and attack! The battle is relatively swift, and even though the beasts get 2 attacks per round, they are soon getting hurt and disappear back into the ground to lick their wounds, and perhaps come back later.

The chest has a lock on it, but Crut manages to not properly cast the lock/knock spell and the rusty lock stays locked. The Runt decides to try whacking with his staff, and with a 17 rolled, manages to instead whack his shin as his staff rebounds from the lock. Getting angry he does a magical bolt to hit, and also rolls horribly, and whacks his other shin.

At this point we had managed about 2 1/2 hours of play, and decided this was a good stopping place.

As a side note, the craka beast is in the PDF from earlier. Below is the Google drawing / map and the map from the horse trader. That map is a black & white map - I bought some pre-colored paper that looks like old map backgrounds, and printing on them gives some nice results. I am thinking about putting up more maps, wanted posters, other kinds of handouts.

Not sure what I am going to do with the southern chamber, assuming they actually visit it. But something interesting :)

Entering Ceawla, and exiting Lollipop?

The group, lead by Jenforth Conefrid, crosses the last dune to see the glint of water ahead. With the sun setting on their right to the west, the trees cast long shadows across the dunes. A warm breeze ruffles the feathers on Binky, and Lollipop starts to bugle. Far behind the oasis, large winged creatures can be seen drifting in the evening sun. A faint bugle can be heard, a musical counterpoint to Lollipop, who is starting to become agitated despite the best efforts of Nova, to calm the dragraffe.

Wode and Belinda, looking south, both smile. Belinda is the first to speak, excitement making her stumble over her words. "Look! You can see some adult dragraffes! Looks like they are heading this way - they must of heard Lolli here or something...this is farther north than they usually fly about to."

Lollipop is rocking his cart, his wings stretching out as far as they can as he stands up. Perhaps no one noticed, but baby dragraffes grow fast, up to half a foot or so a day. What used to be a fairly roomy cart is now quite full of young dragraffe, and the wooden slats are threatening to break.

Not so far to the south, two winged creatures are fast approaching over the dunes, the sound of dragraffe bugling getting louder both from the adults flying in fast, and the adolescent bugling from Lollipop. While the Runt Gubbler watches from the safety of the rearmost wagon, Agaric and Crut watch from near the front of the wagons and the magnificent creatures settle down a few scant yards away, their heads towering above the group as they peer at the young dragraffe and the people holding him in a cage.

Wode, with a sense of awe in his voice, says "The dragraffes are a herd group - they are well known to protect and bring in orphaned young. I think we may have just been saved several more days of journeying - we can let Lollipop out here. He can fly at least a bit, and these two will guard him as they make their way back south to the southern hills."

And before I go any further, I'll get some feedback from the group to see if this is okay. We'll get back to some more traditional adventuring without having to haul a baby dragraffe (which, in reality, would have been a lot more problematical as we made out. And yes, baby giraffes actually do grow about 6" a day!)

Ceawla, City of Tents, part 2B

Ok, just dropping the PDF here as an embedded document and a link to my OneDrive. Never sure if all web browsers can see that embedded document. It is not complete, but I am hanging some rumors and encounters on there. so this becomes a poor version of the 'zines from Kickstarter )(of which I backed an awful lot of, and will try & actually use some of them!)




And here is a link to the same PDF. I *think* when I update the PDF the link is still good. And Happy Monday everyone!

Ceawla, City of Tents part 2

The Well House

The water building is a large, square rock building housing the well house. Dug deep into the sands and into bedrock, fresh water flows up from here to fill the oasis. The water is very cold coming up, and the well house maintains this colder than expected temperature with its thick walls. As water for animal drinking at the oasis is allowed, but filling barrels or other water containers, travelers need to refill their water supplies at the water house. It is this group that pays for the guards, as well as a small tithe on goods going through Ceawla. And the guards are watching visitors.

Thamus Cire is the head of the Well House. Dressed in ill-fitting desert robes, outside the well house is constantly sweating and fanning his face with an ornate fan. Also multilingual, Thamus is a short-spoken man who demands cash up front to the tune of 2 golds per large barrel of water, 3 if he has to supply the barrel as well. While pricy, unless a traveler knows of other water sources, this is the only known one for a days journey or more.

ST 11 DX 13 (12) IQ 12

Long Bow (1d+2), Shortsword (2d-1), Cloth armor under the ill-fitting robes takes 1 point of damage

Bow Weapons, Sword, Area Knowledge, Business Sense, Languages (Common, Dwarf), Literacy, Recognize Value, Streetwise

Water Guards there are 12 fighters of various abilities. Pick from the Decks of Destiny, but the captain of the guard is outlined here:

Khali Kamal An older female Dwarf, she is a veteran of the Plains Giant War from a few years back. Her hair may be greying in her braids but she is still a stout and dangerous foe. She maintains a command tent behind the regular guard tents near the guard tower. She is known to sing and has a melodious voice which is quite surprising to most people who don’t know her.

ST 15 DX 13 (11) IQ 10

Fine Battle Axe (3d; +1 to hit), Leather Amour takes 2 hits

Axe, Expert Weapon in Axe, Area Knowledge, Diplomacy, Shield Expertise, Toughness x2 (takes 4 hits), Bard, Poet, Literacy

Just  a quick note about a lot of this: I've been rolling on the quick generation for the races (p14), and then picking cards from the Decks of Destiny for the stats, as well as using the talent cards as at least the basis for the skills. These are not starting characters, so are not legal from that perspective. They are assumed to have been around the block a few times. For the most part I also do the d6 roll for male or female where even is female and odd is male (I figure guys are always odd anyway...not sure when I started that but I've been using that technique for years for random Traveller characters).

I also use various sites for the names. I am horrible at names (even in my real life programming world - naming is considered one of the hard things in development. You may not think that, but if you write code for a living you will understand!)

Finally, I added a wine list which I'll add here. There are so many wonderful random name generators out there! Prices are per bottle in silvers. Apparently Thrinin has some really good stuff! Some may be race-specific wines. I;d go with the fruity ones being Elven, Horrors and their ilk Goblin or Orc.

River Amigo.............$12

Vibrant Orb.............$14

Fantasy Buzzer.......$16

Strawberry Storm...$18

Capital Rum............$20

Blueberry Wave......$22

Yellow Horror..........$24

Gingerroot Blitz......$26

Black Drop..............$28

Potato Smash..........$30

Light Ale Cooler......$40

Oaken Wave............$60

Tea Wonder.............$100

Mad Blitz................$200

And really finally, I'll probably post the PDF later. All this is out of the document I am working on. I tend to go overboard in world detailing, but this time I am printing it out & putting it in a notebook so I can actually track things! I've yet to come up with a good organizational process despite reading a LOT, but I;ll figure out one that works for me.

Ceawla, City of Tents, part 1

People of Ceawla

There are several permanent residents at the Tent City. Guards tend to be mercenaries and hired for months at a time.

The Sarap Evi

Gauwis Jamis is considered the mayor of Ceawla. He is also the owner of the Sarap Evi, the winehouse at the edge of the waters. A little above average height and just past 50, he wears silks and a turban with a single faceted jewel. This jewel is actually a detect enemies magical item: Gauvis has made enemies over the years, and this helps to protect him. As does his quartet of bodyguards. He tends to smile a lot.

ST 12 DX 12 IQ 14

Sword, Area Knowledge, Languages (Elf, Orc, Goblin, Common, Reptile Men), Literacy, Recognize Value, Business Sense, Assess Value

Bodyguards His four body guards may be drawn from the Deck of Destiny 36 point characters.

Anin Effrin is Gauwis’ dancer. Human, she moves more like an Elf according to some. Unknown to most, she is also a mage and does more than dance: she is a hidden body guard as well. She looks to be in her late 20s with long hair coiled about her head. A small powerstone is inset in her belly button and has 8 ST. The is also a small hidden silver knife in her sash, and a pair of silver hairpins that are enchanted for extra damage and about 8” long.

ST 11 DX 15 IQ 12

Spells Detect Magic, Reveal Magic, Dispel Missiles, 3 hex Fire

Talents  Sex Appeal, Knife, Dancer, Acrobatics, Unarmed Combat I and II

Weapons silver dagger (1d-1), enchanted silver hair pins (1d+1 damage)

Thrinin Duri The Sarap’s wine steward, Thrinin is a Dwarf with a bright red beard and apparently excellent taste in wines. With a Dwarven stamina, he has never lost a drinking challenge. Hired by Gauvis almost 5 years ago from a passing caravan, Thrinin seems to really enjoy wines and has an extensive knowledge of wines from all over the region. He has standing orders with many caravans to bring in new wines. Jovial with a constant twinkle in his eye, he also more of a wine snob than initial appearances would seem. And there is this quite large hammer on the back wall.

ST 14 DX 11 IQ 12

Vitner, Axes, Toughness 2, Languages (Dwarf, Common, Elf), Weapon Expertise in hammers

Fantasy Trip Games - Session 8 Recap

Okay, I've no idea what session it really was, but 8 sounds close. And as the last session was actually a few weeks ago, going by memory as sadly I was not keeping good notes. I do now have a notebook and I've started organizing that, so hopefully my organization will improve.

We had the characters heading out from Sunshi Troph, also known as the Elemental City of Athukthad. They had picked up a guide for the faster desert trek, and heading south over the dunes soon lost sight and smell of the border city. The oasis of Ceawla is about a day's journey south, if you know where to go. Midway through the day, while drinking from the water barrels (and Binky is one thirsty hippogryph) they are attacked by a small scouting party of what looks to be Neanderthals. The attackers did not utter any sounds and were obviously on the offensive. A quick battle came up, the attackers were all killed, and I do think the Runt Gubbler used a bit of magic and Crut's blur ring came in quite handy. Our werewolf friend Agaric is much more a scholar than a fighter yet he launched into an attack as well. I am unsure if this was the battle where, after the enemies were down, he did not manage to turn back into human, and started attacking his new friends. Regardless, soon thereafter he turned and, after cleaning up the minor wounds, pressed on the Ceawla with their guide, I had a name, and I rolled up a female probably so I could use one of the new minis that I had finally painted.  And pretty certain I pulled the card from the fighters card deck from the Decks of Destiny set. But with no notes and at least a month... As I've no stats at the moment, we'll go ahead & make a 35 point character that has the necessary skills (translating some of the woodsman skills to apply to the desert).

Jenforth Comefrid

Human Female  ST 10 DX 14 (12) IQ 12 MA 10

Weapons and Armor

Fine Saber (2d-2; +1DX)

Spear (1d)

Main-Gauche

Leather (stops 2 hits)

Skills

Sword, Knife, Pole Weapons

Alertness, Area Knowledge, Literacy, Naturalist, Running, Tracking, Woodsman

By the end of the day,already running low on water, they come upon the sights of the oasis, Caewla, the City of Tents. I've written up a bit of a a intro to that as a handout, but will also generate a post. But in summary, there is a small oasis halfway through the Kalor Desert if you know where to look. There are also smaller oasis scattered - the People (the Neanderthals are known as the people) live to the north of this oasis but obviously have their own oasis or water. To the east, plaguing the trade route, Raiders live.

As our group comes over the last dune, there is a stone guard tower standing before the oasis. The characters can see two guards up high, with what appears to be long bows and crossbows at the ready. Behind the tower, a fringe of trees surrounds the bluest water anyone has ever seen before, with a few small buildings and dozens of tents surrounding the sparkling waters, the last of the sun making long shadows of the desert trees. Binky is plodding, footsore from the hot sands, Lollypop's head is drooping, tired of being cooped up. Even Belinda and Wade, the drivers, are tired after the combat and traveling in the desert heat all day.

As they approach the oasis, two more guards come out to meet them, and this is where we'll start the next session.

RPG via Skype

The last two Mondays I've been playing Tumbleweed, a Western RPG, via Skype. As the place we normally meet has decided not to host game clubs for the duration, and we're supposed to be quarantined and stay at home, we started via Skype.

Both sessions have gone really well and we actually stay more on point in terms of the game: the 3 hours we played both nights was almost all part of the game. Our face to face games tend to wander all over the place at times, but for me that is part of the fun as well - I learn all sorts of things about comics, old games and stuff.

After I pointed out that we can share screens, we may get a bit more interactive. We've been sharing some images via the chat channel next to the audio. I'm also the only one, I think, with a webcam, so we don't do video although I think that would help a bit as well, or perhaps be distracting. 

While we could play Traveller this way, as it is mostly theater of the mind, The Fantasy Trip does not lend itself to a voice-only session. It's appeal to me is the tactical level stuff that requires the battle map and tokens or minis. And I do like minis!

I've signed up for Roll20 and have been going through the tutorials. That would work for TFT but it requires my Sunday group to get used to using computers a bit more. Our first attempt at it failed as they were having some technical issues on their side, then Bryson came by so I took a break for working out (I've a bit of stuff in my garage, but I really miss the gym!) We'll have to try again at some point, either via Skype, and I use a google drawing that I share for some real-time sharing/editing and they can move their tokens around, or we try Roll20 again. I just have to upload a bunch of stuff to be effective at Roll20, and practice. Like everything, it takes practice.

This is also the 4th week of working from home, and I am adjusting. I get sick at least once a week with fever or something but I think that is more a stress reaction than anything else. I did get to the grocery store last week, so now my wife won't stay here for the next 2 weeks (she is at her mother's house which is 15 minutes away. That's also where Bryson and the dog are, so it is usually just me and the cats here. I cannot blame them - there are a couple of acres and more space to move around outside. But it does get a bit lonely here at times).

Hope everyone is doing well and taking care of themselves through these interesting times. I do need to come up with the next adventure for the Sunday game, one that may be playable mostly via audio over Skype. And I need to work on the NPCs and rumors, make my little corner of Cidri a living world with more than just the labyrinths to delve into!

William Reese Sweeny, miner. And the mini:

Edge City - Armourers Guild

One of the players has this Dwarf smith, and he has stayed behind in Edge City to work on the armourers skill. We decided that a guild would be necessary to help him learn the skills. So borrowing a bit from the Compleat Guide to Ankh-Morpork (the book came with a huge map which is now Edge City in my universe) and expanding a bit on the rules, and adding a tad from the Hexagon #4, I came up with the following (link to PDF available at the end)

Guild of Armourers of Edge City is located at the Armory on Siege Street.

Lead by the estimable Mr. Burleigh, the Guild has not only supplied the city with Cidri-class weapon and armor smiths, but has trained generations of smiths through the greater regions.

Per the general guild rules (p60-61) Guild fees are 2% of your monthly income, but gives access to the library, workshops and Guildhall. Apprentices are allowed full access but pay their teachers an additional 2% throughout their journeyman years. Journeymen smiths can earn between 25 to 75 silvers a week making basic tools armourer or smith earns about 100 silvers a week, and a master armourer can earn 150 silvers a week, with their respective 8 to 12 silvers a month going to the Guild. Members also pay for the materials needed, but the Guild gets an excellent discount for most materials.

Learning skills takes time and patience, as well as the requisite IQ.

Armourer (IQ 10) build and maintain ordinary weapons and armor.  Once he character has the needed IQ, this will take 6-14 months to get to journeyman status. Roll (15—the number of months of training) vs IQ to achieve the skill. So in month 6, 15-6 = 9D vs IQ. Month 7, 8D to month 12 which is a 3D vs IQ.

Master Armourer (IQ 12) can make fine weapons. Requires Goldsmith to make silver weapons and armour. This takes more time, so the roll is 18—the number of months studying at the Guild.

Bypassing this, characters may of course use experience points to get the skills, with the assumption that they are adventuring between studying and gaining experience not only at surviving but honing their skills in the broader world.

In addition to the standard metals, as per Hexagram #4, there are additional materials that armourers, and particularly master armourers, would be familiar with. The rules are specifically laid out there, but mentioned here to broaden the knowledge that our would-be armourers should know.

Bronze is a softer metal, and easier to work with. Weapons require more care and are generally not as effective as steel.  Common.

Iron and steel. The basis of most weapons and armor in The Fantasy Trip. No changes as these are the assumed standard. Common.

Silver used by magic users to not suffer the negative effect of cold iron on magic. Rules per book p110.  Uncommon.

Meteoric iron star-stone stuff. Also known as starsteel. Has a huge impact on magical attacks. Rare.

Chryseton crystal formed deep underground that has caustic effects. Also known as blood crystal. Rare.

Volastre Found in dormant caldera of deep-rooted volcanoes and is prized by Goblins. Also known as Goblin Steel or volcanic iron. Rare.

Abdurum forged by ancient dwarven masters, the formula has been lost through the ages. No known weapon or armor forged of this has ever been known to break.

Link to the PDF here

Just a little update

With all that is going on, I've not had time to post anything recently.  As an FYI, my entire company is now working from home. I did this a long time ago for a long time, but it is taking some getting used to. Plus so much has changed, as then I was the only developer and working on Unix & Linux machines for software. Now I am part of a 6 person team that was already a bit dispersed and we have so many channels of communication!

Anyway, I hope all who read this (as 12 I think now :) ) are doing okay. These are troubled times for a lot of people and it won't change anytime soon. Neither of my gaming groups are meeting for a while, and now I barely get out of the house. But as I live with someone with an already compromised immune system, I cannot take any chances!

The pandemic does bring out some potential seeds for gaming, though. There was an interesting conversation over on COTI about how to signal that your ship is a plague ship. There were some interesting posts, including links to the international code of signals. So, in light of the current situation but not in making light of it, here are some possible seeds as I riff off the top of my head:

1. plague ship seeds
   a. coming in system, there is a ship in orbit or at the jump interface with the signal for plague ship. no one is answering the comms
  b. some one is answering the comms and begging for help, life support is failing
  c. some one is answering and indicates nothing is wrong but they just can't turn off the signal
2. world seeds
  a. the port indicates a world-wide quarantine is in effect. no landings. yet there is no other place to refuel. Just how much life support do you have left?
  b. land at the port (or station) and all buildings/compartments are in lock down. is anyone alive?
  c. you contract some disease and are not cleared to leave port or your ship. quarantining on-board
  d. you contract some disease out in the city and are not allowed back to your ship. you may get hunted down

There are probably more. And for fantasy games, very similar things could happen:
1. you come to a village and the plague doctors are making house calls.
2. is the sickness magical in origin? can a quest for some magical cure save the town?
3. are their plague beasts about, prowling and making people ill?
4. everyone in the town is dead, some only in the last few hours. why? and do you just plunder the town?

None of these are meant to be in bad taste, and hopefully not read that way. Years ago COTI also had a run of "translate real-world stories into Traveller news posts". Basically take a headline & file off the serial numbers to create a news post for the Traveller universe. It was a flashback to the original Journal of the Traveller's Aid which started a series of news posts from various systems in the Traveller universe. I never paid them much attention as we were more sandboxy, but I can see playing in the bigger world as events transpire. I just was never good at integrating rumors and things as well as I should have been. Trying to get better for the games (both Traveller and the Fantasy Trip) so that players can feel that there is a bigger world around them.

Again - I hope everyone is doing well. Stay safe!

And yes, we have plenty of toilet paper! Hmm, another adventure seed: the life support resupply is out of toilet paper and you need to go across the world to the last remaining stash...

The Elemental City of Athukthad

The Elemental City of Athukthad, also known as Sunshi Troph by the original tribes that inhabited the city, is a small city located along the southern trade route at the junction of the Duchy of Windmere, the jungles and the Kalor Desert. It is a town of low, adobe buildings decorated with banners and tapestries of brilliant colors. The city is known for its rich plethora of merchants and craftspeople who create wonderful rugs, tapestries and clothing full of vibrant colors. This location has access to the grasslands and their multitude of plants that have an amazing assortment of colors, as well as the jungles that have at least as many plants that may be used as dyes. The grasslands are full of sheep, llamas, alpacas and other fleece bearing animals with some of the finest wools produced in the Puddlejumpers Quarter.

There are guards about the walls, a huge merchant quarter, camels, and a lot of noise. This is not a quiet town. There is enough water for all, and guides can be found to trek through the desert for those getting off the trade route to head south.

For our group, it would be 3 or 4 day ride along the merchant route to get to where the dragraffe Lollipop needs to go; heading directly south it is a 2 day trip. If they can find the oasis. And I think the dragraffe is starting to get antsy in his travelling wagon. So 4 days may be pushing it, or so I will indicate to the players!

The Elemental City also got its name as one of the origin stories is that a sand elemental created the city in a single day at the behest of a wizard. While the wizards don't deny this, nor do they confirm it.

The city has a few guilds in it, such as the Mechanists Guild, the Wizards Guild and a large Mercenary Guild. Guards are often used for travelling caravans. There is no known Thieves Guild as thieves tend to have severe and often fatal punishments when caught. Searching for such a guild could also have dire consequences. The Hanging Garden next to the Judges House is not for the botanists nor the faint of heart.

I'll have to see about comong up with some additional information, but it is a warm and inviting city yet has some dark undertones.