I DID IT!

I bought a 3D printer for my Birthday/Xmas present. Hopefully I'll have something to show for next game session.It's a Creality Ender. Rated best in it's price range and there's tons of youtube pages for it. Open to suggestions for figures, terrain, whatever!

Upcoming Schedule of Game

Holidays and my wife's surgery and ferrying kid to/from college has the next few weeks jammed up for me.   It looks to me like the next time I can schedule a game is Sunday, January 13.

So, barring any weird developments, pencil that date in.

Blurry Buildings for EVERYONE!

On Sunday, Andrew, Jason and I did some building and painting of miniatures and terrain.  Unfortunately, when I went to take pictures this morning, I found that my phone camera lens now has a huge crack in it.     Here's the best I could do:

Thranconia Hack wiki populated

The wiki for the new campaign for probably this winter has been created by Andrew and has begun to be populated by me.   So far, I've put in the House Rules (some important combat modifications and some less important magic item creation rules) and lists of races/species from the Blueholme creature section that could be used for PC's.

The wiki is located through this link:

Thranconia Hack

And now also appears on the Interesting Links to the right of this page

Next I'll begin to add Setting Information

Next Game Announcement

Our next game day is Sunday November 25.  Because it is the holiday weekend, we have decided to schedule a "paint and build day."  So bring your brushes, minis and chunks of cardboard or Styrofoam.

Hercu Beer

HERCU-BEER

75gp

50 pounds

Contains 40 pints of Hercu-Beer.  Once the cask is opened, anyone who drinks will keep drinking until the cask is empty.  All who drink will have a delightful night’s sleep, during which nothing short of powerful magic will awaken them.   Overnight, all lost HD will be restored (not just half).

FALL OF CAER RANDOS

Our heroes approach the fortress of the robber Lord Randos:

Randos's pet giant wades into Lord Fist's men:

ACTION SHOTS: KRONDOR 19

These shots were taken following the liberation of Herculaneum.

ACTION SHOTS: KRONDOR 13

Shot 1:  The team has crossed the Stockade Wall, the Wrecker and his men approach from the huts ahead, while the crossbow men threaten from the back!

Shot 2:  Close up of our team as the wrecker and his men approach from ahead

 Shot 3:  The Ettin Guards the well

SHOT 4:  Thunder and Rango fight the helmed horror as the Hag escapes in the next corridor

Session 11 Action Shot

Owlbears attack the village of Berrywood!

Session 10 Action Shots

Here are some photos from the last game.

Sunday's Game

For Sunday's game, have anyone given any thought to what characters you are interested in playing? I've got three adventures planned, and each has a different flavor.

• Strike Breakers - The PCs must investigate why serfs refuse to work the ginster fields right at the critical harvest time! This adventure requires some diplomacy skills with some muscle to back it up.
• Mage's Fortress - The doors to a ruined Smirkenburg fortress have been thrown open, unleashing abominations near Wulf's Swamp. PCs will have to do a little dungeon crawl to unravel this secret while perhaps making some side money completing the survey of the province.
• Two Houses Alike in Dignity - Nobles with more money than sense want to dick one another over during the ginster harvest. This adventure screams for unscrupulous skullduggery to show that in cases where noblemen quarrel, it is only the opportunists who prosper.

Upcoming Game Schedule

Because of various scheduling issues, I will have to depart from our regular 2-week schedule for the next 3 months.   Here are the dates I will be opening the doors of the fabulous Leaderton Estates for games:


April:   15th and 29th


May:  6th and 20th


June:  3rd and 24th


Notice 1-week gap between April 29 and May 6
Notice 3-week gap between June 3 and 24

Buildings Updates

I've updated the Buildings section of the Krondor Wiki to add my 10 new crappy primitive huts, and my stone church building.   More structures for your shopping pleasure.

Memories

I was looking at a 5e message board and reading a long post about how the weapons table was messed up, especially the spears.


That just gave me a flashback to the old Eric Noah 3rd edition website/forum (The ancestor of the EN World Site), where I put a complaint about the way they handled spears in 3rd edition.


And then Gary Gygax himself posted and called me a putz.   (Not in those exact words).

Action Shots: Bard Action in Newport

 Flex Macho and Gorgon Zola are given vague hints by the Good Fairy

Flex, Gorgon and Brother Thunder prepare to confront the skeletons

Victory is Mine, Deus Vult

Saturday I went to the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society(East) winter convention (Cold Wars).  I did 2 hours of serious shopping (see Doctor Skull's Workshop for a catalogue of my acquisitions).

Then I played in a miniatures game, The Siege of Acre, about a Crusader assault on the Syrian town of Acre.   A British teenager and I were the crusader side, and two other old guys were the Muslims inside.

Our plan was to use our 4 huge siege towers as basically a feint, drawing all their heavy fire, and concentrating their defenses on one end of the wall, while we used ladders to assault a tower on the far end.  

My teammate, however pressed home the attack with the siege towers, however, he just couldn't not use them, and pressed them the whole way to the wall, temporarily got some men in, before all 4 towers were destroyed.   However, the plan worked pretty well.   I put all my knights and billmen on the far right and rushed the tower, climbed it with ladders, cleared it and held it.  

Our 3 trebuchets blew open the front gate, and then destroyed a tower next to the one I took, this allowed all our archers to charge forward and rake the courtyard behind it.  We finally brke their resistance and won the day, praise God and not our strength for it.

I think the game master found me to be a little annoying.   Our side had 3 types of troops:  knights, billmen and archers.  Every time one of our billmen got killed I would say "Bill, Nooooo!"   Every time one of our billmen would do something cool, I would chant "Bill, Bill, Bill."

Above:  My half of the line advances toward the wall.   My knights and billmen clumped on the right long line of archers in the middle.

My knights hold the tower, while billmen hurry to support

Lords of Hack Website

I've finally getting around to putting the Lords of Hack website back up. I've moved to an Amazon server now, so it will be much cheaper and faster than GoDaddy. There will be some growing pains as I get it back online, but we should have our website back soon.

Castle of the Vicount

Not specifically preparing for anything, just playing with my toys.  Here's what the Viscount of Newport's castle looks like:

The upper bailey is a keep, surrounded by a stockade.  The lower bailey is the manor house, the chapel and the barn, surrounded by stone walls with battlements and a gatehouse.

Next Game Ideas

In preparation for next game, I would like to float a few ideas for what we as a party might want to do. If anyone has any ideas to contribute please add them in the comments below.

• We do another job for "Fishy Joe" in order to gain access to the basement and/or backroom for more PCs
• We return the village of Ebanflo and continue to explore the Dwarf Hole to finish what we started, perhaps regaining more of the artifacts Marlon's character is looking for
• Edwan Mirths would like to explore the ruined monastery of Monax in Nearbog province as he believes he may get a sign from Saint Steve the Pleasant regarding his future

Krondor Wiki Update

The Krondor wiki has undergone a re-organization, with the first page being mostly an index page now, leading you to the rest of the information.


I've also added a Game Rules Page that contains an updated House Rules Document, a document on Hirelings, and a brand-new Buildings Catalogue.


The Buildings Catalogue is an illustrated guide and price list for all the building types, and the number of physical models available, for civil and military buildings for DM's to use and for players to buy.

Sunday's Game: Batting Around Ideas

Because of the need to do advanced prep for a proper adventure, Andrew and I had discussed moving the campaign into a little more structured mode for DMing.   I had suggested we follow the following pattern:  session 1--Dave DM,  session 2---Andrew DM,  session 3--random/DM-less game.   Since, by coincidence, that's how our first 5 sessions shook out.  This way both Andrew and I get to play a character 2 out of 3 sessions, and the two of us get to be players together 1 out of 3 (a rare occurrence otherwise).

When either Andrew or I DM, you guys will still have adventure choice, but only the DM's job leads will be on the Job Board.   If you go to one of the Smirkenburgs or have your own quest, that's still fine.

Jason said he wants to run an adventure some time.  If so, he can just shoehorn himself in as it seems best, if he wants to join the rotation, he can do that too.   Same with Miles or anyone else.

Okay, about this Sunday's game.  It's scheduled to be a Random Game.   There are a few ideas I had about it:

• Nothing happens unless Players make it happen. The job board is going to be bare.  It's the beginning of the Ginster harvest, and all eyes are on that.   If we don't decide what our characters want to do, nothing happens.
• We have some things to clean up from the past:   Finding the Wolf Chalice in the Dwarf Hole (Marlon's warlock should want to do this, since it is probably one of his heirlooms);  Mapping the Wulfswamp  (hey, a lot of wolves going on).
• Old Fashioned Random Dungeons:  we can go back to Caer Smirken or Smirkenburg Mines  the main advantage here is everyone is working together on the same adventure at the same time and we can get through a large number of encounters.
• Personal Plans:  I know that Sir Roderick would really like a horse and to capture some settlement of evil and make it a proper home and beacon of righteousness.   Other people may want to rip off some money from the Royal Krondor Company or Frank's Golden House of Wonders.   We don't of necessity all have to be doing the same thing at the same time, as long as we keep things moving and don't focus one scene for too long (maybe having a focus timer).  This could get wild and crazy, but might also get messy.

Action Shot, session 5

Sir Roderick, backed up by Yul Gibbons and Gorgon Zola has Divinely and Thunderously Smote the Manticore, who waits, broken and bleeding for Preacher Lightning to deliver the final arrow.

Henchmen

Here's a first rundown for henchmen.  Short version: easy to get some guys for outdoor stuff, expensive to bring into dungeons.

HIRELINGS AND HENCHMEN

 

Type	Regular Pay per day	Dungeon Expedition	Notes
Unskilled Hirelings	2sp	Won’t Go	Double pay to leave town
Skilled Hireling	2gp	Won’t Go	Double pay to leave town
Guards	2gp	Won’t Go	Will adventure in wilderness,  battles
Bandits	2gp	Won’t go	Will adventure in wilderness, rob and raid
Henchmen	1gp per HD	100gp per HD	Temporary
Vassal	1gp per HD	100gp per HD	Permanent

 

• Skilled and unskilled hirelings are people hired in town for non-dangerous tasks.  If they are asked to leave town, they require double pay (except ship and caravan crews). 
• Guards are armed men who are hired to fight and/or protect things.  They will take part in wilderness adventures, fight in battles and guard camps and homes, but will not enter dungeons or go up against magical or supernatural threats.  Taking part in illegal operations depends on their alignment, which is random.  If the guards fight and capture loot, they will want a share (1 squad= 1PC).
• Bandits are armed men who are recruited to steal, raid and terrorize.  They will not go into dungeons or face supernatural enemies, but will gladly steal and raid.   They are random alignment, but never Lawful  of any sort.  Good bandits will not hurt or steal from innocent people.  Bandits want a share of loot taken (squad of bandits=1 PC)
• Henchmen are budding adventurers willing to serve a character or party.  They will guard the camp and fight and adventure in the wilderness, but if asked to enter a dungeon or face a supernatural foe they require a bonus of 100gp per HD (which is good for a 2 week period  of such adventure).  At the end of each game session, make a Persuasion DC 15 or the henchman moves on to another job.  Decrease the DC by 1 for each session the henchman has served previously.
• Vassals are underlings who have sworn personal fealty to a player character “lord.”  This oath establishes a permanent (and indeed hereditary) relationship.  A household vassal serves his lord directly and personally and attends upon him, in exchange he must be supported by his lord, regardless of his health or usefulness.  A landed vassal gets an appropriate plot of land in exchange for 40 days per year of personal service.  In any case, according to law and custom a lord and vassal may not take up arms against one another, testify against each other, or in any way betray one another.  Of course, Lawful characters are likely to follow the code, and Chaotic characters are likely not to.  Convincing someone to become a vassal is difficult, a Persuasion DC of 25; however decrease DC by 10 if the potential lord has just saved the potential vassal’s life, and by 5 if there is an appropriate land grant involved.
   
  RECRUITMENT: 
  Unskilled Hirelings:  10-60 available in Newport at a time; 1d6 in a village.
  Skilled Hirelings:  in Newport, take 1 day and an Investigation check DC 12 to find one who will do a task that’s needed.  Negotiating with named shop-keeps can also be done, either in Newport or a village.
  Guards:  1d3 squads of guards can be found by looking at the Town Blacksmith’s shop, where their agents hang out. You must hire the whole squad, they won’t break up.
  Bandits:  1d3 squads of bandits and pirates can be found at Fishy Joe’s.  You must hire the whole squad.   
  Henchmen:  1d6 henchmen will be found at the Bottomless Mug, looking for work.
   
  ADVANCEMENT:
  Henchmen and Vassals can get a limited amount of advancement.  Each time a Henchman or Vassal is paid the dungeon fee, and goes on a dungeon expedition, he gets 1 “check mark.” When he has gotten 3 check marks, he gains 1 additional hit die.

Action Shots: Session 4

Le Gourd Sans Pitie approaches the hapless heroes.

The crumbled and cowering remains of the Rusty Bottom Tribe halfing holy questers.

Now Available at Salty Dan's

DAN'S BEST CORN DODGERS AND SAILOR SAUSAGE
1gp   1 pound

Acts as 1 day's rations, heals 1d4 hit points when consumed during a short rest

Now Available at Mort's Mining Supplies

Crackers & Bacon

1gp

1 pound

Acts as 1 day's rations. Tieflings and humans suffer 1 point of acid damage. Elves and half-elves suffer 1 point of piercing damage (crackers are sharp!) Dwarves and gnomes inflict 1 point of poison damage to all those within 5' for one hour after this food is consumed, and all other characters suffer 1 point of bludgeoning damage from the weight of this awful meal.

Now Availible at Sticky Vicky's

Grape Nuts

2gp         1 pound

Acts as 1 days rations.  Elves, Half-elves cured 1d6+1 hit points, Dwarves, half-orcs and tieflings suffer 1 point of poison damage, other characters cured 1d4 hit points.

 

 

Character Trees/Downtime/Game Structure Thoughts

I've been thinking a little more about the character tree, time-management and downtime procedures.
Here's how I'd like to modify them and why

• One Session=One Month:  our first three sessions all took place within 5th month of 1173, in that time we had  Find that Crab, Baldpate Beacon, Smirkenburg Mines 1-2, and Caer Smirken level 1, adventures, and they ran in pretty much a random order.  Downtime activities got short shift, wear and tear wasn't appropriate because half of the characters didn't have any money and so forth.   So, I think that going forward every game session we hold will represent all of the dangerous exciting action that takes place in one calendar month (unless an adventure ends unfinished).   So, all characters will have to pay maintenance and face wear and tear at the beginning of the session, even if they are not active.   All characters can go shopping, even if they aren't active.  And the non-active characters can count on 28 days of downtime.
• Free Money:  I propose that any character who begins session 4 with less than 100gp, will have his total raised to 100 gp, in order to represent downtime and to make it possible to pay some maintenance and do some shopping, correct for wear and tear.  This will be a one-time thing, except if a new character enters play in the future, he will start his first month with 100gp.
• Downtime:  I'm going to try to get the downtime rules worked into a 1-page summary, along with maintenance costs and wear and tear, so it will be easy to reference.  Doing Downtime at Dinner will then be easier to handle with quick reference and 28 days guaranteed.
• Real Estate:  I want to get a catalogue for buying houses, forts, stockades etc., put together.   I think that the PHB/DMG versions are a bit off, and there needs to be some accounting for location and so forth.
• Sailing Home:  need to codify more clearly sailing to the other continents, since this is how serious shopping trips will happen.  Good availability in Newport is limited and haphazard, being a small, frontier town.   With 1-month sessions, sailing home becomes a real option.