Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

I suspect that started about 30 minutes after someone decided that people churn out potions, but can't be bothered to label them...

In this case though, it seems that the label was "#9"

(cue background music by The Searchers)

- Bun

How did the campaign turn out?

Ok so near the end of my last gaming session, my group (a Neanderthal fighter, a Neanderthal shaman, a human shaman/bard, what i think was a human barbarian, and myself, a human bard) opened a large pair of doors, which revealed a group of five "statues" lining a hallway. Each one of them had their mouths sewn shut, and their eyes literally followed anyone who got close to them.

Entombers.

First to enter the hallway was our barbarian, she tumbled to the farthest entomber, only to realize that the whole lot of them refused to move. So, just in case of a surprise attack, our fighter entered the hallway, the heavy twin doors shutting behind him, locking myself, and the two shamans out.

As the three of us desperately tried to pry the doors open (myself using a crowbar to give me an edge) the fighter and the barbarian began getting attacked. as far as i can tell the barbarian was able to make all of her reflex saves, preventing the entombers frokm pounding her into the ground. The fighter on the other hand, was not so lucky. evry die the DM rolled would either hit, or crit (the guy changed dice like ten times) and sent the fighter down into the dirt. The fighter would then make his saves to crawl out again, however any attempt at standing up again would simply land him in the dirt again.


Eventually me and my fellow casters pried open the door, and three of the five entombers came up and engaged us. (so it was the barbarian fighting one on the far end of the group, the fighter being reputedly pounded into the ground by another between the barbarian and the casters, and the two shamans, and myself fighting another three.)

If I recall correctly, us castors were able to kill one entomber without much difficulty (think I was slammed into the ground, but i got out) and were now facing two of them. the fighter had resorted to digging himself up, hitting his entomber while still on the floor, and then being pounded into the ground again, and the barbarian was nimbly avoiding all the blows being delivered to her. (Their MIGHT have been a 2nd entomber pounding on the fighter, I cant recall)


Eventually I (the bard) realize our fighter isn’t looking too good, so I tumble over to him just as the Neanderthal shaman takes out another entomber, and attack him. Now, on the entombers turn, it attacks me instead of the fighter that is lying on the floor, and sends ME ten feet underground. This gives the fighter a chance to stand up, and attack with full damage. The entomber isn’t dead, but the third one that was targeting the castors leaves them alone, and arrives behind me just as I dig myself out of the ground, giving both entombers a flank against me.


essentially I proceed to provide a distraction while the two shamans and the fighter kill the two entombers, i think the barbarian finished hers offs all alone.


The same fighter later died thanks to an ogre magi and was brought back as a chaos gnome. I’m going to ask the GM if i can alter my plans to make an Effigy (robot thing from complete arcane) and instead make a robotic body for him to control so he can at least have the illusion of still being a Neanderthal XD

Assuming this is directed at my post, our "opposite" game turned out okay with lots of funny situations, but our success on the main plot was marginal. But this was a case of the journey itself being more important than the goal, as everyone's role-playing and improvisational skills definitely improved several notches, as well as breaking at least one player of their habit of running similar characters all the time.

Another game idea (that I have experienced) along the same "journey more important than the goal" theme is to have the players "write up" each other in the game system. This gives the target player insight into how he or she is perceived by the group, and is best used with game systems that require characters to have "Disadvantages/faults" as well as skills and abilities. The game itself, of course, involves the "characters=players" being cast into another dimension as themselves, or suddenly gain super-powers from some cosmic event, etc.
Obviously, your players need to be mature enough to deal with such "constructive criticism" and not have any major adversarial parties.

Anyway, I will think about posting some of the more funny encounters from the opposite game in the near future... but I hesitate because many of them involve themes that are not "politically correct" at all and may make a few folks uncomfortable (which is not my goal) and this is a public forum...

- Bun

Well, this isn't exactly a gaming story per se, but

Ah, farg it. You can read it for yourself, and decide if it belongs here.

Lo, these many years ago, sometime in the mid-1990's to narrow it down, I happened to go to a "local" sci-fi/fantasy convention. (Large metro areas have a somewhat more expansive understanding of local that might be common.)

Anyway, as was the custom, there was a room given over to tabletop role-playing games, and my roommate and I tracked it down shortly after our arrival, mainly to establish just where in Pheasant Run it was located. We weren't the only people to have this idea, and before long, along with a number of other people that we'd never met before that moment and some I hadn't seen in years, we found ourselves in a series of rollicking conversations.

Well, after not quite a half-hour or so of this, I happened to notice some of the hotel's housekeeping staff clustered near the door of the room, engaged in a quiet conversation of their own. Shortly after this, one of their number entered the room, apparently having drawn the short straw. She was the very stereotype of the diminutive Latina hotel housekeeper, complete with immaculate black-and-white uniform. And as she approached us, her middle-aged face bore the worried mien of someone who suspected that her name was on the menu -- and not as a guest.

Anyway, her approach braked the conversation to an awkward halt, as everyone immediately started wondering what we'd broken, spilled or moved somewhere we shouldn't have.

"Excuse me," the housekeeper said, meekly. "Um... do you really worship the Devil?"

Were I indulging in clichés at this point, I'd relate that you could have cut the air with a knife. But I won't say that, if for no other reason that this particular silence was thick enough that the blade would have snapped off, and left you with a broken handle in your hand. After a few moments of confused looks back and forth, everyone started talking at once, hurrying to reassure the woman that none of us had ever done any such thing.

Reassured, the housekeeper strode back to her companions with considerably more confidence that she'd evinced coming in, and we watched with amused confusion as the group of them went back to the business of keeping the hotel tidy.

As soon as they were out of sight, the laughter began.

"Do we worship the Devil!" someone managed to gasp out.

"Not always," I quipped. "Only when virgins are in season."

We spent the next hour or so contributing ever more witty rejoinders, lamenting that we hadn't been quick on the draw with them when the question was first posed and bringing up to speed the stream of confused newcomers who wanted to know what was so funny that they could hear us from the far end of the hallway.

Okay, here is another amusing (to me) tale:

Some GM's are very had core and insist that all characters start at 1st level, and this can be an issue if the group is very advanced. Also, training for levels usually happens "off screen" or via a "training montage".

So, in one game I was in, a first level character is added to a group of 6th-level, dual-classed characters in a AD&D (2nd ed) game. Rather than proceed on the planned adventure, the group decided to roam around and actively court the wandering monster table. Whenever one (or more!) did show up, the group would hold back and keep a "safe corner" while the new character went out "alone" to deal with the monsters. Many of these encounters went much like the first...
New Character: "Umm... what are these monsters in front of me?"
Old Character 1: "Don't worry about that. Worry about holding your sword right! Pointy end towards the monster over there!"
Old Character 2: "Don't forget to follow through on each strike! Extend!"
[NC engages monster(s), gets reamed, and staggers back to the "corner"]
Old Character 3: "Ouch. That will leave a mark."
Old Character 4, to NC: "Watch carefully as I demonstrate parry kata #4"
[OC4 engages the monsters with only parries and non-damaging attacks, while the party cleric heals the NC]
OC1: "That's okay lad" (pantomimes brushing dust off the character),"You'll do better in round two"
OC2: "You need to change your grip. See, this is how you should be holding your sword" (pantomimes some grip changes and a 1-2-3 step attack)
NC: "Oh... now I see what you were saying! My foot should be turned inward! I got it now!"
OC1: "Alright, work on that this time and get back in there"
OC2: "Hey, OC4, let's let NC try a new attack routine on this monster"
[OC4 swaps out with NC]
[NC gets a few hits in...]
OC2: "Good shots lad. Now remember... "
[...NC gets eviscerated at this point. NC staggers back to the "corner", holding parts of himself in]
OC2: "Now, you over extended your lunge on that last strike, and this is what happens when you do that."
OC1: "Maybe you should try another line of work? Have you considered farming?"
NC: "No, I really like... (gurgles through sucking chest wound)... being a fighter. The army recruiter promised that the girls would be impressed...."
OC1: Throwing his hands up in the air, "I guess there is no help for it then."
[Party cleric heals NC]
OC2: "Once more into the breach..."
OC3, to OC2: "Are you from Britannia or something?"

...Rinse, lather, repeat... all night....

By the end of the night, the character was power-leveled to 6th level (single class), and much role-playing fun was had by all (though after that night, the GM did decide to relax his rule about 1st level characters only ).

- Bun

And I thought my initiation into the dorm foosball league was bad.

Submitted for your amusement, another episode of "The Dice Zone"....(where's Rod Sterling when you need him?)...

A while back our regular GM decided to do a short "retro" D&D adventure (note the lack of the usual "A").
When it came to determining what languages (in addition to the racially determined native) the individual characters knew, there is a random table. The Wizard (with the most language slots because the high INT) got a smattering of humanoid and fey languages, plus one very rare one: Red Dragon. The Cleric rolled Dwarven, Elven, and… Red Dragon! The Thief & Ranger likewise got Red Dragon. Even the the "dumb" burly fighter with a single extra language slot rolled... you guessed it...the rare Red Dragon!

Needless to say, the GM was stunned, but the rest of us had fun "talking in Red Dragon" whole night, making up proverbs and other such draconically-focused expressions (obviously in English. Game-wise, we keep getting strange looks from the NPCs, as "real" Red Dragon probably sounds a lot like speaking Klingon with a lisp….)

The very first campaign I GMed was a Star Wars one (WEG),12 years ago (I wasn't very old), and its first scenario started the second time I played RPG at all. As you can guess I was fairly green at the time and made a couple mistakes but overall the campaign went very well ... until the last session and the very last fight.

The campaign was centered around the activities of a transport company which, in order to save itself from bankrupcy, had turned to smuggling of illegal various goods, slaves in particular.

Eventually it stepped on the toes of a very big crime syndicate (The Black Sun for those who know the expanded universe) and to save the shipping company from the slaughter, its leader had decided to strike a bargain with another large crime syndicate : the Hutts.

The Player Characters were a near-human bounty hunter, a smuggler and a security droid loyal to a deposed government. The last member an ex-imperial officer on the run, joined the group in the middle of the campaign.

At the beginning of the campaign, the company leader, still known publicly as a honest man, had hired them to deal with pirates preying on his ships. Eventually it turns out these pirates are not cutthroats stealing legal goods but actually rebels liberating slaves.

After the players learn the truth, they vow vengeance on their evil employer and set up a plan to kill him / prevent his deal with the Hutts (which would leave him undefended against at the Black Sun assasins). They sneak on the enemy capital ship and eventually reach an elevator which lead them to the meeting room, preparing themselves for the final fight.

The doors open and they step in. Most of the Hutt delegation and company goons throw a glance at the new comers, including the evil company leader who recognizes them. He shouts to the group something along the lines of "You ! How dare you come here ?!".

Personnaly I expected them to throw a witty, vindicative one-liner and/or open fire or something like that and I got ...

... silence ...

... silence ...

... 30 seconds of complete silence...

Suddenly the ex-imperial officer steps forward and asks :

"... Do I know you ?"

While it is true that the ex-imperial character had never met the man, the group reaction made no sense at all and I salvaged it how I could but the "boss battle"tension was dead and buried ! ; )

What happened then?

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for a couple of days.

I .. fast-forwarded it. The Hutt asked what it was all about, was unimpressed by the company leader security and professionalism and left the room with his cohorts. As I still got no reaction from them, the company leader (Arramin I believe his name was) ordered his men to gun the PC down and I decreed things looked grim for them until the Rebel Alliance attacked and the big bad fled, swearing revenge.

I found out later that they stood silent because they had a big, group-wide "deer in the headlights" moment. They had not planned on being outed upon exiting the elevator and with about 40 people looking at them ( only 20 of which were armed and half that would not have intervened unless they fired close to the Hutt). They just did not dare open hostilities... Eventhough in SW WEG system, they risked very little.. "stormtrooper shooting academy" and all that.

It is the biggest regret in my GM carreer, I should not have fast forwarded but it was young, relatively inexperienced and had "the big moment is ruined" looping in my head.

I lived, I learned and my second SW campaign, with mostly the same group was a big success and perhaps the one I remember most fondly.. especially the big finale ; )

And now that you've baited us, you're going to tell us, right????

I shall then ; )

I will just have to look for my old backups, I should still have the campaign notes saved somewhere so I will be able to give the proper names and events without most of the nostalgic improvements I might make ; )

No need to go to that extreme... if you've read mine, I don't even bother with the names (as I usually only remember about half of them right anyway ), and nostalgia is great since it smoothes off the originally rough edges anyway... its not like you're giving testimony in court