When Pirates Attack

Well I managed to finish off the session last night with the group repairing their ship and sailing it back to Far Shore. They arrived just in time to vote in the election for Lord Mayor and managed to get their patron elected Mayor of Far Shore. Then they prepared for the attack to come and were busy working away the next day and were at the harbor when the alert went out that the pirates were on the horizon. Now to see if their planning works.

Playing Politics

Well the group has now spent two weeks in the settlement preparing for the attack to come. Most of the group turned their attention to the upcoming election for Lord Mayor of Far Shore. Seeing as their patron, the Lady Lavinia is in the running, they have decided to sway some votes to her side. There are enough undecided voters that they can get her elected if they can convince enough people to vote for her. Just as things are starting to heat up, they have sailed back around the island to try and repair and float the Sea Wyvern. But when they got there, they found that something else had apparently taken it over. Now the fight is on...

Starting to Upgrade Farshore

Well the group has made it back to the colony and is now helping out in some upgrades before they sail off to repair the Sea Wyvern. I managed to split the party up with the big half-Ogre heading off with his kobold flunky and a pair of the gnomes to investigate some frog-men. Little do they know that they were really Trogs but the four of them still made mincemeat out of the two dozen Trogs and their pet monitor lizards. I ended the session with them being attacked by a half-dozen frog-men who were just passing through. Next week should be interesting to say the least.

Playing With Snakes

Well I had the group manage to get past the huge snake guarding the temple and then they had to play with the flying feathered serpent. Good thing that a couple of the PC's were very diplomatic otherwise it could have gone very badly for the group. But they managed to find the racks of weapons just waiting for someone to find them. Now to get them back to the settlement of Far Shore before its too late. I still have them playing in the jungle and this week it was a shambling mound that almost did them in. Hopefully I can get them back to civilization next session to start planning on the Crimson Fleet Invasion to come soon. More to come...

Playing with Plants in the Jungle...

Well the second session the group didn't get as far as I planned but that's OK. They headed out from the village into the deepest part of the jungle and ran afoul of a massive sundew plant that almost had the group for lunch. It was the grapple that almost did them in as it snagged three of the group and then started constricting. They managed to overcome it but it was close. Then I almost lunched on one of the gnomes when a huge tarantula approached the camp and caught the gnome fighter with his pants down. The group was very lucky in that they made the Fortitude saves when it counted. After that I had them come across an emerald anaconda that was so big...

That the group eased back from its hiding spot and is now debating in trying to get the gnome druid to talk to it. When he spotted it for the first time it was all the group could do to prevent him from high tailing it the other way. We ended the session with the group still debating...

We will see next week what will come of the encounter with the massive snake.

The Savage Tide Returns

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything here so I thought I would post some thoughts on the Game Session tonight. It took a while to get going seeing as the group had not played since late march. We finally got into the swing of things and the group managed to kill a couple of critters thanks to wandering monsters. I managed to get them where I wanted to for the night but was hoping to get further.
Now they get to explore in the deepest jungles on the Isle of Dread for an abandoned temple to the cat people. This is going to be fun.

Dak-kon Convention Nearing

Wow has it really been 8 months since I posted something here. Oh Well.
Just around the corner is our annual game convention and I am looking forwards to it.
I will be GMing the 4th Edition D&D demo scenario that I got when the game came out.
We will see if anyone wants to play compared with the other games available.
Maybe I will be playing something instead.

D&D 4th Edition

Well I managed to run a demonstration of 4th Edition Sunday night in lieu of our regular game as a few of the players were unable to make it. The four players that played the mini adventure had some good comments about the new system and a couple of them said it reminded them of World of Warcraft that is played online. There were no negative comments at this time but I do not plan on playing 4th Edition in the foreseeable future as the adventure we are currently running could take another four or five years to complete.
I must say that I like what has been done to improve the gain and only time will tell how popular the game gets.

Sailing, Sailing, Over the Bounding Main

Well the group has set off from Sasserine in a caravel that they acquired after spending some time checking out a ruins. They had lots of fun there as they uncovered a Deck of Many Things and the group quickly used it up. I was intrigued by the cards they drew as three of them drew the Rogue card and are now worried about someone or something turning on them. They now have 5 cohorts so the party is getting rather large and now they have set off for the Isle of Dread following their patron as she is sailing there in her ship. Humphrey has tried his hand at fishing but has been warned not to tempt fate. They are following along the coast as it is the easiest to do. I have now finished GMing for the season and look forwards to playing again. My homework for the game is to update the old classic dungeon Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. It's an original 1st Edition Competition Dungeon that the group is willing to play through and we should be getting to it with the next session when we start up again in Sept.

Next week the Birthright Game starts up again and I am looking forward to it. The nice thing is that it is a smaller group and we seem to get more done. I guess that's my problem with having seven players in my group. Some sessions seem to bog down and I am forced to try and pick up the pace with the group.

Follow Up to Dak-kon

Well our annual convention here in the Comox Valley is done again for another year. It's amazing to realize that this was our 13th convention and we are already planning for Dak-kon XIV for 2009. There was a smaller turnout this year but I know that everyone that showed up enjoyed themselves even though it was quieter this year. I even managed to play a few new games this year in between running a few sessions of D&D third edition. The players that sat down at my table said they enjoyed themselves but we ran out of time before we could finish the adventure.
I am not sure I will be running a game for next year with 4th Edition due to be released in May. I will not spend more money on a game that seems to be constantly changing. My group is just now getting used to playing the current game and to be honest I have enough materials to play 3rd Edition for the next ten years.
Only time will tell.

RIP Gary Gygax

The passing of the Godfather of Gamers and the Ultimate Game Master.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Gary Gygax one of the creators of the original Dungeons and Dragons game from the seventies. His creation was a big influence on my life as I have played Dungeons and Dragons since high school in the early eighties. Though I never met the legend I will always remember him for what he created so long ago.
Here's to you Gary, you will be missed.

Dak-kon is coming

Well our annual game convention called Dak-kon is now right around the corner with the last weekend of February. I am going to be running a D&D game for Saturday if I get any players.
I actually have two adventures to run depending on the turnout for my game. Last year we didn't have any takers for D&D as there was too many other interesting games to play. It also depends on the turnout for Saturday as Sunday is always the busier day because of the Magic Tourney that runs.
This is the thirteenth convention that we have held and I will be interested to see who turns up. Because of the con we will not be playing our usual Sunday night game. As it is I have about six game sessions left before we end the Savage Tide for the summer and start up the Birthright game again. I look forward to playing again.

Hot Time in the City

Well the group spent the last game session trying to get through the city while it is packed to the gills with people. One of the encounters was with a drunken gnome and his burly half-orc buddy. Humphrey was stopped by the gnome and was attacked when his buddy defended him. They finally made it to the Manor House and found some bullywugs on guard inside the front doors. They managed to rescue their patron and started clearing the house. The three gnomes are finally starting to act like gnomes. It was an interesting watching the trio arguing about which way to go even as they were attacking some bullywugs. They never stopped the conversation once as they attacked and then healed themselves afterwards.

Next will come the challenge as I lead them south. But not before I give them a side trek to toughen them up.

Humphrey's Heros

Well the group has finally come up with a group name. Seeing as the big guy is the focal point of the group, they decided to name themselves after him as some of the other suggestions that they came up with really didn't work. Now to see if the group and the name survives.

Finishing Off Kraken's Cove

Well the group finished off investigating the remains of Kraken's Cove in their search for Vanthus. They found out that he had indeed been there but had left abruptly when he tried to steal a large black pearl that didn't go as planned. The pearl exploded with disasterous results causing some sort of savage disease that affected the majority of sailors that had been there. The group worked their way through the enemy and finally encountered a ships captain fighting for her life against the savage pirates. They helped her kill the pirates and then started talking with her.
They found out that she was very vindictive and had already sent her first mate to Sasserine in order to take out the Vanderboren manor. She was a bit dismayed to find out that the family had nothing to do with Vanthus and in fact they were looking for him. She told the group to head back there as quick as they could in order to save their patron.
As they were leaving, they encountered more of the savage primates and they managed to attack the party druid and his companion. The druid was forced to flee with his life but his wolf was not so lucky. He was bitten and affected by the savage fever. It then turned on the party and attacked Humphrey. It managed to bite him and now Humphrey is affected along with Wik.
There ship finally managed to rendezvous with them and they are now headed back to Sasserine as fast as they can. They arrived at the harbor to find the city packed to the gills with people. The city was celebrating the Festival of Wormfall. Can the group make it to the manor in time. The next session will tell the tale.

Finishing off the Lotus Dragon Guild

Well it took a little longer than I thought for the group to finally wipe out the rogues underground and to find the guild treasure. Some of it belonged to their patron so they returned it and kept the rest. The interesting part was when Humphrey the half-ogre acquired a follower when he found the cook of the guild and she was a kobold. She was intimidated by him and quickly agreed to follow him when she found that they people she cooked for were now gone. The rest of the group wasn't impressed at first until they sampled her cooking and realized that she was a good cook. So now they have a female kobold trailing around with them.

Dungeons & Dragons World Wide Game Day

We finally managed to play the adventure given to us by our local gaming store as part of the Game Day. I had just enough players show up at a session at the end of Nov to play it and I was impressed with the adventure. Even though it was only six rooms, it took the whole night in order to play it through. The group was impressed with the adventure and it was great that all of the minis were supplied.

Chapter Two of Savage Tide Begins

Now the group has sailed south-east to find the hidden harbor of the smugglers in order to investigate further for their patron. I have enjoyed the last few sessions as the gnomes in the group have finally decided to pick on Humphrey and have started casting spells on him at every opportunity. The player has been taking the pokes in good fun and is trying to get back at them but not too hard. He has just found a gnarly great club and is trying to figure out what it is. Time will tell.

Birthright Ends, The Savage Tide Rises Again

Well the last few birthright sessions were very enjoyable with our GM sending us across country to find some ancient ruins. This was very entertaining with the enemy in the one site ending up to be undead mind flayers. This was a brutal battle and we barely managed to survive with half the group drained of levels. Then we encountered the major leader of the area appearing and hiring us to investigate another ruins. We were headed there when we were ambushed by a pair of high level druids that proceeded to kick our butts. I managed to take out the boss druid by using up a high level lighting spell along with some fireballs and judicious use of a wand of lightning. It didn't help Lyle or his cohort Leon when they were both killed by the druid.
We were lucky to find a scroll with reincarnation which I then used on Lyle and Leon. Lyle returned as a Khinasi human while Leon's blood power returned him as a lion. So now we no longer have a halfling in the party and the enemy from the Shadow world is no longer after us. It will make for an interesting start up when we play again in Spring 08.

The Savage Tide Game started up with a twist as one of the rogues was trapped inside the Taxidermists shop while the others waited around for him to reappear. He finally did so and then the group was set upon by some rogues who led them into a courtyard with a well. Humphrey the Half-Ogre used one of the gnomes as a missile when he spotted one of the humans watching him with interesting results. He killed the human and almost killed the gnome in the process. Then they watched one of the others dive into the well to get away from them. the group checked out the well with one of the rogues climbing down to take a closer look.
He made the mistake of grabbing the rope while one of the gnomes was winching it up. Unfortunately he didn't realize that it was a gnome holding the handle and went for a splash into the underground pool to end the session realizing that a very large crocodile was also in the area and moving in to investigate. The next session looks promising.

Birthright Game Begins Again part 2

Well our GM has returned from his trip to Italy and we have started up the game again. We had a short game last night as everyone seemed to show up late. Thankfully we quickly got back into the game and started recovering from our last encounter with the Red Kings. There were four ships involved in the fight and all the ships were destroyed and we managed to wash up on the Isle of the Harpy all in one piece if not soaking wet. We then managed to get a ship to transport us back to the mainland and now had to wait to purchase passage on a ship to get us where we needed to go. We managed to arrive and have not met the Court in Exile for Aftane. The country was currently under the control of the Red Kings and we have to figure out how to remove them so the former consort of Amarinda can take back her country. We shall see what the next few sessions will bring but the way the Red Kings tried to take us out while at sea doesn't bode well.

Birthright Begins Again

We have now started the Birthright Game for the summer season and we will be taking a break for May while the gamemaster and his wife vacation in Italy. We will be playing a meeting engagement for Shako for one of the nights but otherwise nothing is planned. The game has taken an interesting twist as all of the group were knighted by the Queen for destroying the Temple of Evil. Now we are accompanying the former cohort of Amarinda back home to see her crowned as Queen of Aftane. The last session did not go well as the group got their butts handed to them by an attack of the Red Wizards, enemy of Aftane. We were on a schooner when we were attacked by three ships. By the end of the session, three of the four ships were seriously damaged and the group was fighting for their lives. We have one more session to go until we take the break and continue in June.

The Savage Tide Adventure Ends for the Season

The last two sessions dealt with the group finding clues and finally investigating the Taxidermists Guild in Sunrise District. While Adla and Cris'toff kept the merchant occupied, Sable managed to get past him into the living quarters and unlocked the back door and let in Wik the rogue. The merchant then caught Sable and kicked him out while Wik hid. The rest of the group then left the building and we ended Season One with Wik still inside the building.