Mythrus Tower Maps - NTRPGCON 2011

Mythmere gave me permission to share this little artifact from the Mythrus Tower sessions last year, enjoy.

You can download the file to access the sticky note comments.

If you have notes you'd like to add to the map for events or locations you remember from last years game, contact me and we can try to get those added.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B0ENvQ09Kp6mM2E5ZjNkY2MtOTIyMy00MjUxLTkyOTktNzZmMzU4MGI3M2U1&hl=en

Hey, I'm Still Here

Stuff is coming, just slower than I expected.

Roobiks Redux

Take a look at what Norm over at Troll and Flame has done with my roobiks geomorphing dungeon idea. I love it! http://friendorfoe.com/code/geomorphcube/ Great work, Norm.

New Generator - Magical Weapons

I've got yet another "All the Dice" generator for Swords and Wizardry in the newest issue of Knockspell (#Four). This one generates magical weapons and I think it's pretty nifty. Run and go get yourself a copy.

Roobiks Geomorphing Dungeon

I was looking at my Sudoku Rubix Cube and realized I could use it as a template for interlocking geomorphs. The orientation of each tile relating to a geomorph numbered 1 through 9. I'm going to have to experiment with this idea. Obviously 9 tiles is not enough so perhaps theres 6 sets of 9 since it is a cube. (9-a through 9-f). By manipulating the cube an endless city or dungeon could be generated.

Edit* I was fixing the link above when I came across THIS! Oh hell yes!

The mind boggles.

Uh-oh. Boggle Dungeon? Scrabble Dungeon? I better stop while I'm ahead.

Homemade Miniatures

I created this pair of tentacles out of sculpy. woohoo!

More adventuring in Cromlech Tor

Yesterday saw an 8 hour game in Philotomy's Megadungeon. Actually, we spent a great deal of the session above ground. The updated campaign thread is here http://swordsandwizardry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=537&start=50

This was the first time we've gotten together since before sometime in late spring and it was one of the best yet. We learned a great deal more about PJ's dungeon, and mapped out some new territory. Everybody was making good rolls and the new guy fit in well also. Hopefully we can meet up again soon. PJ was full of surprises this time with lots of interesting encounters. Even letting us draw our own map of an ideal ambush site at one point since we spent time scouting one out. I managed to drop a huge albino ape with a little help from our fighter. A pretty good feat for my puny 4hp Cleric considering it took 21 pts to drop the ape (14 from me on two lucky hits). Mythmere escaped one situation by the skin of his teeth as well, I really thought he was about to bite the farm when nearly the entire party fled some kind of undead thing that he managed to take out single handedly.

Fresh Paint

Been grabbing a few mini's here and there for a while now. Here's some Reaper skeletons and barrow rats along with a couple older mini's, "Fat Cleric" and and old school Gandalfy Wizard, I think they are Grenadier). These are the first mini's I've painted since I was about 13 years old, it was a lot of fun and I've done a few more since these but I don't have pics yet. These got an ink wash after this.

Game Report: HackMaster Basic: Basement of Zenopus

SPOILERS AHEAD!

So, last night I ran HackHamster's hacked old-school module "Basement of Zenopus" for some freinds. I had drawn up an oversize map to use for Salthaven. A bit of obligatory roleplay around the tavern got our party into the clues they needed to get into frame of mind for the dungeon crawl that was to come.

The group was composed of Dwar and Human Fighters, an Elf Mage, and a Halfling Thief.

Upon investigating the entrance chamber and it's exits they quickly deduced the nature of the illusionary rubble that blocked one of the passageways. Feeling that it must be hiding something, they continued beyond the mirage.

The sleeping goblin in the next room was a bit more trouble. The Dwarf almost bought the farm when the goblin awoke and fired of the booby trap. It escaped into the next area and the party gave chase. A good melee resulted with the goblins therein being slaughtered handily by the party.

After looting the area thoroughly they headed to the next area. Again, not heeding my clues of a spiked door with cobwebs and cold air blowing from underneath it, they pressed on.

The gigantic spiders trap lured them right in... "what's in the bucket?". Only one party member got bitten, the poison was quite lethal.

We ended the game here, agreeing to meet again and continue the adventure.

Main impressions of the system as a DM. The countdown initiative isn't too hard to keep track of, i found myself utilizing a grid and checking off boxes as each second went by. I could see where this would be a good job for a dry erase board, perhaps. Weapon speed took a few go-rounds for the group to get a handle on but they were soon into the groove, "Hacking!", "Jabbing!", "Firing!". Everyone enjoyed the penetration dice and the gritty realistic feel of the combat and felt that it seemed to make more sense than abstract rounds and hitpoints. We're going to keep trying it a couple more sessions but we did discuss possibly switching to swords and wizardy to cut down on math. The good thing is, I could still continue the campaign without really changing anything. :)

Big Gaming Weekend

I'm quite excited to report that I have three games in three days this weekend. Kicking off a new campaign tonight, it will either be S&W:Core + Skathro's Companion or HackMaster Basic. Either is fine with me, I'm letting the players pick, my notes will work either way since we are starting with Basement of Zenopus.

Tomorrow is Philotomy Jurament's game, he runs OD&D and knows the system inside and out. This will be our fifth or sixth session in his MegaDungeon and we have a new player at the table as well.

Sunday is the third session of a HackMaster Basic game that I have joined over at Midnight Comics in Katy. That game has been a hoot so far. We are still learning HM:B but it feels like D&D to me, even with its funky opposed roll system and countdown initiative.

All in all it looks to be a fun weekend of gaming. Hope I don't drive the wife crazy!

The Old Story Teller

A chartless "All the Dice"

For a few coppers, and old timer will spin you a yarn.

Use d6A if your d20 is Even. Use d6B if it is Odd.

d4 Listen to my tale...

A forgotten secret ...

A dark mystery ...

An ancient prophecy ...

A family legend ...

d6 (A) about ...

A Hero's death ...

A Hero's true love ...

A Hero's great feat ...

A Hero's greatest battle ...

A Hero's legendary weapon ...

A Hero's final resting place ...

d6 (B) about ...

Treasure in a monster's hoard ..

Treasure bestowed by the gods ...

Treasure lost at sea ...

Treasure across the ocean ...

Treasure hidden by time ...

Treasure guarded by great danger ...

d8 Where it occured...

Deep in a forest

On a battlefield

In a Castle

In a dungeon

In a tower

Buried in ruins

Atop a mountain

Inside a cave

d10 Our hero/the treausure's owner ...

was poisoned by a rival...

was slain in battle by an enemy ...

was double crossed by a friend ...

was framed by a family member ...

was murdered by a rival ...

vanished without a trace ...

was devoured by a monster ...

was trapped forever ...

was struck by a curse ...

was blackmailed by a confidant ...

d12 The results of which were ...

A riot in the capital lasting d20 days

a clan war lasting d20 weeks

a manhunt lasting d20 days

a prolonged war lasting d20 years

a family feud lasting d20 generations

a string of murders d20 deaths

a witch hunt resulting in d20 deaths

a quarantine lasting d20 months

the wrath of the gods destroying d20 people

military intervention lasting d20 weeks

a plague of monsters lasting d20 days

appearance of d20 unusual creatures

A drawing of a plastic toy dragon I have made by Schliech. You can find them at Michael's. I added the whiskers...

Dungeon Survivor

Troll

Got the paints out and whipped up this old-school favorite.

Lineage Generator

A new generator has been released in the wild. This one is for Ruins & Ronin, Mike D's S&W: White Box spin-off of asian flavored old school gaming. Of course it will work for just about any fantasy game as well. Find it here http://swordplusone.blogspot.com/2009/07/grims-roll-all-dice-lineage-generator.html

Charge!

An after dinner scribble.

Drawing Again

Lately I've been trying to start drawing again, it's been awhile. I doodle alot but it has been a few years since I made any "finished" art. Swords & Wizardry in particular has inspired me to go back and revisit a lot of the old RPG art that I enjoyed in my youth. I've also been scouring the web for new inspiration at sites like trollboy's . I feel like I'm starting to get my chops back a bit. Here's a few recent sketches that I thought were getting me pointed in the right direction.

Potion Miscibility

I've added a page for Potion Miscibility to my potion generator. If anyone would like to critique it, let me know. I'm not sure it's too harsh or not. The majority of the effects are negative or open to interpretation.

Treasure Map Generator redux

I've been tinkering with my treasure map generator a bit and I plan on scanning a few things and showing how I think it can be used. I was a little disappointed that it did not receive much attention in comparison to the generators that were its predecessors and I beleive that this is due to the fact that it is not as obvious in its usefulness as the generators I created before it. Hopefully I can rekindle some interest in it and that will lead to some people sharing their own creations made with it.

If you have been using, I'd love to hear from you and see what it led you to create.

Back to the Grindstone

After a brief hiaitus centered around the birth and welcoming of my second daughter to the world, I have once again begun work on things related to gaming.  The illystrious Mythmere has handed me the keys to the Megadungeon Slam and I expect to attempt to revitalize that effort in the coming weeks. In addition I have started to flesh out maritime desitination for my homebrew campaign which will doubtless be geared for integration into any fantasy S&W campaign since that's what I run (and you should too). I must say I'm quite anxious to get back into the swing of things now that my normal schedule is being resumed. I do expect a generous amount of work to be waiting for me at my day job but it should not take too long to get caught up with that and find myself some free time for gaming.