Take that Mr. Crock

 

Almost Awesome

I was looking around on Amazon for model castles and the like.   I found a bunch by a Spanish company called "Aedes Ars" (Latin for Building Art).   They make a ton of really beautiful medieval buildings for a more or less reasonable price:

Above is one kit  with 2 models for about $70, nice looking and approximately game appropriate scale (a little smaller).

Then I looked at the "approximate number of pieces" which clocked in at like 3400!!!!!

Wait, what?

It turns out that you get cardboard pieces that assemble to the shape of the building, then glue on tiny ceramic pieces, shaped almost to fit (you have to sand some of them) that mimic the look of the stone.  Apparently, from checking around, they give you just enough pieces, so don't drop any (but they're apparently cool about sending extras).   

Even dedicated scale modelers say "these take a long time".

Maybe when I retire I'll get one to build, probably take the rest of my life.

Deadman's Town--Sector 2

 Deadman's Town, Sector 2 will be ready for all future adventure sessions.  Since you guys had been taken there by portal the session before last, I'll post the pictures below.   You can reach it by entering the portal in the large obelisk in sector 1 (inserting an Atlantean Orb), or by walking overland, which takes about an hour.

This area is rated at Danger-Rating 2:  meaning that the typical encounter has 3d6+1 HD of bad guys and about 150gp of treasure (apart from the hoard of the level--rated at 1000gp per HD of the "boss").   Up till now you've been doing DR 1 encounters (1d6+2 HD,  50gp) as the standard.  So, I'd suggest having some or most of you being 2nd level and having a few retainers before going there.

On Retainers

 Just thought I'd remind everyone about the rules for retainers, since we are beginning to acquire enough cash to be interested in them and many of us are coming close to 2nd level and might want to branch out into more dangerous areas with more treasure.

I have a good retainer deck ready.

Here are the Rules from the Wiki:

Retainers

PCs are powerful leaders, and as such will acquire NPCs in their service. Retainers are controlled by the GM, but given orders by their PC commander. Retainers generally demand 10gp or more per HD per day for service under dangerous conditions and a fraction of that if serving in a less stressful capacity.  

A PC can’t command more than their Charisma score in retainers.

Retainers only advance in skill and power under certain circumstances.

Commentary:  On an adventure, the retainers get 10 gp per HD per day, but do not get a share of treasure.  Generally, when the adventure is over the retainers depart.   For Chester Porkins who lives in Worm's Ferry, or for laborers or militia recruited from a PC lord's own land, recruiting the same guys again is easy.   If you want to keep a retainer for the down-time, you only need to pay him 1gp per HD per day for the time between adventures.  This is cut in half if you can house the retainer.

Recruiting

If players want to recruit Retainers or Henchmen, they must spend at least a week of time and money in town. During this time, they are doing their best to find able-bodied free men interested in work.

Retainers are all created from one of the retainer classes and are hired from the retainer deck. If players want to recruit Retainers, spend 1 week (and maintenance) looking. In Kingston, roll 2D6 adding the player's CHA bonus to the roll for the number of retainers drawn from the deck. In smaller towns, roll 1D6 plus CHA bonus. In a village roll 1D4, but only Laborers will be available. Retainers expect 10gp per HD per day and are hired for a single expedition.

The Retainer Classes:

Laborers:  Mostly used to carry stuff, usually poorly armed and equipped

Militia: used for fighting, usually come with a few pieces of poor equipment, but can be given or loaned better gear.

Experts:  usually have skill in 3 different specific areas (hunters, thieves, alchemists etc).

Adepts:   either Monks (with divine spells) or Conjurors (with arcane spells)).

A Letter to Father Kildare

 Dear Father Kildare, parish priest of Worm's Ferry,

It is with gladness in my heart, that I've heard that your church will be ready for Easter on April 6th, while the duties as bishop will keep me at the cathedral on that most holy of days, I am pleased to tell you that Archdeacon Festus will be there in person to witness you performing the Easter Mass.  I'm sure you will not fail me or God.

          Humbly  Yours in Christ,

          Bishop Oswald

Retroactive XP awards

The character advancement has been slow.   While I like slow advancement, it's getting a bit too slow.   I've decided to add a per session award to the gold.  It should speed things up some, but not overwhelmingly so.   

Basically, if you show up and play, your active character gets 200xp, and your inactive character gets 100xp.   If you don't show, your characters get 50xp each.

I've calculated the awards retroactively and applied them to each character.

Wulfric:  1300

Johnny: 1000

Angus:  950

Sean: 850

Raoul: 950

Duda:  650

Neil: 800

Taffy: 700

Welshie:  900

Father Siegfried: 600

Father Kildare: 750

Tariq:  750

Deadman's Town: River Bank Section

Jorvikburg Town Map

 The town of Jorvikburg follows the following plan:

Secure Server

I'm sure you guys couldn't care less, but after years of running an insecure website I've finally managed to take the time to lock the Lords of Hack website. Please feel secure with traffic to and from our website not being snooped or stolen!

Dills' Burg

The notorious bandit Dill and his gang has maligned North West Jorvikshire for almost thirty years. Their operation started small, but has grown into a small hidden village of outlaws and cutthroats nicknamed “Dill's Burg” after its infamous founder. It is from this tiny seed of civilization that these unsavory types prey on those unable to defend themselves.

Over the past twenty-five years there have been exactly three organized attempts to break Dill's gang by the Earl of Jorvikburg.

The first was the biggest operation and the most successful. The Earl raised an army of over three hundred men and marched North and West into the wilderness to put an end to the constant banditry of the Dill gang. The army found the bandit encampment along the steep banks of a creek. Outnumbering the villains almost five to one they charged the bandits’ crude defensive works hoping to break their morale with minimal casualties and hang their leaders.

Nearly immediately after the battle was joined, the attack was scattered and broken when the Earl’s army was flanked unexpectedly by a huge force of eerily quiet irregulars. Those that fled and survived say that it was the restless dead fighting on behalf of Dill that day.

Ten years later, a smaller army than the first didn't even find the bandits’ camp in the wilderness. Instead, the army’s commanders reported that a titanic column of swirling smoke and fire appeared out of nowhere and raked through the ranks. The bodies of many soldiers were torn apart and splattered across the countryside. Meanwhile, other warriors driven mad by the power of evil turned on their brothers in maniacal bloodlust. The attack ended just as abruptly as it began, but it left the army shaken. The force turned away from their goal and stumbled back toward civilization.

A third and final operation of nearly eighty men simply vanished into the wilderness North West of Jorvikburg.

That was eight years ago, and there has been absolutely no discussion of breaking the Dill gang since then.

Land Wights,....zoinks!

Scary

The really expensive arrows...

Campaign Notes: Travel Times to Major Towns

 

TRAVEL TIMES:

WORM'S FERRY TO or FROM JORVIKBURG (23 miles, with trail)

Fast: 1 day on foot/wagon , ½ day on horse

Normal: 1-1/2 day on foot/wagon, 2/3 day on horse

Careful: 2 days on foot/wagon, 1 day on horse

KINGSTON TO or FROM JORVIKBURG (47 miles, with trail)

Fast: 2 days on foot/wagon , 1 day on horse

Normal: 3 days on foot/wagon, 1-1/2 day on horse

Careful: 4 days on foot/wagon, 2 day on horse

KINGSTON TO or FROM WORM'S FERRY (70 miles, with trail)

Fast: 3 days on foot/wagon , 1-1/2 day on horse

Normal: 4-1/2 days on foot/wagon, 2-1/3 days on horse

Careful: 6 days on foot/wagon, 3 days on horse

The Assault on the Manor at Worm's Ferry

On January 9, 1130, a party of 10 housecarls of the Earl of Jorvik, led by Angus McNasty assaulted the manor house at Worm's Ferry, which had fallen into the hands of bandits.

Pictured below,  Taffy the Welsh thief scouts the second floor entrance, peering into the window of the bandit captain's bedroom.  This would later prove a very dangerous position to Wulfric and Duda.   At the ground, Welshie stands guard with his warbow.  A donkey cart has been put into position in front of the south door.

Bob and Dave's Tentative Adventure

Bob and I created a pair of characters each and did a short adventure, hunting down stinking cattle thieves.  Below, you can see the ill-gotten cattle penned up at the bandit's hide out:

The link below leads to the pdf of the session log:
Jorvik 1 log

New Campaign Character Creation Page

Find rules for creating a new adventurer in the new Eldritch Earth: Five Hacks campaign here! Choose from one of fifteen archetypes in this retroclone games based on D&D 5th Edition.

New Campaign Gear Book Ready

Go to this link:  Equipment Page for a the most important combat gear, but near the top there is a PDF copy of the entire gear book for your downloading pleasure.

Danger 5

I pity the fools who don't watch this awesome series!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ87XSGBG9w&t=5s

Billy's been teaching Shifty some new tricks. What could possibly go wrong?

A Present for Billy

Grampa has sent in his $18.95, so Billy should get his monkey any day now.

Cold Wars 2020

I'm thinking about going to the Cold Wars Historical Miniatures Convention in Lancaster:

Cold Wars Website

I would be going for the day, on Saturday, March 14.   It looks like a one-day pass is $35.   If anyone's interested in going, let me know.

D.N.

Ain't that a Kick in the Head?

With the last minute illness emergency of Jason, we decided to use the Mythic GM Emulator to run an adventure anyway.   As before, the emulator has a good concept behind it, but all the rules details are opaque and not very useful.  

I was thinking that if (when) we do something like this in the future, we should make it more direct and more consistent.

We should always use, say, a d12.   We pick a likelihood out of 12 (3 is 1/4, 4 is 1/3, 6 is 50-50, 8 is 2/3, 9 is 3/4).   If we roll a "1" our guess about the future is super-spot on.   If we roll a "12" it is exactly the opposite of what we guessed (or on an 11-12, if the chance was 5 or less).

Night of the Chungus!

Good game, Jason.

Cash on the Barrel

We still have $4000 from our first consulting fee to deal with.   I'm in favor of splitting it up 4 ways., there's a station wagon with car payments with my name on it.   Any thoughts?