The Things We Do for XP: Belswick 12: "plan B - welcome back, master!"
From the journals of Tilbørd, missionary Searcher priest of the Order of Olmadicians.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Last session in Belswick, our band of luminaries got rid of the Brent-clones infesting the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, and killed the original Brent the bandit where he lay in the fungal cloning chamber. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
It's time to get married! Lomin has been playing the role of long-deceased Lady Olga of Culfield, who was a close friend and didn't have heirs or relatives who could inherit. Now Olga will marry Lord Kerjules of neighbouring Crossroads to cement the region against coming war with southern Arrayne. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
From the journals of Tilbørd, missionary Searcher priest of the Order of Olmadicians.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Last session of Belswick, the group decided to head back for the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, on orders from the manor knight Haine Kerjules to end the goblin raids on his farms.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
First session of a new campaign is always interesting: I want to introduce characters and immediately give the players something to do, but also want to give them options to approach the situation as they like. In this case, I tweaked DCC Masks of Lankhmar and added an intro scene before the adventure properly starts. Of course my players immediately found a third option and are now completely off the rails. Awesome!| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Part six of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
Part five of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
Part four of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
Part three of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
Part two of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
Part one of a series of reviews and notes| The Things We Do for XP
I just realized I haven't posted here in years and don't really have plans to start again. My writing itch is being scratched but good since I started new jobs as a science writer, and my group has gotten into the habit of quick summaries and highlights via Whatsapp instead of via this blog. | The Things We Do for XP
My group's regular Belswick campaign (medieval| The Things We Do for XP
We're taking a summer break from my| The Things We Do for XP
Last time in Belswick, the PCs negotiated for safe passage with a bunch of frost giants who'd lost their holy silver cup. These sessions they solve the riddle of who stole the Cup of Thrymm and get it back from a lake hag. Also: playing nice with Orcs, saving young love and getting adopted by a Roc.| The Things We Do for XP
Last time in Belswick, our adventuring party joined the Eagle Lances of the Rock, a mercenary company that's fighting off the invasion by nasty, possibly heretical and definitely semi-French Arrayne in the south. To open a new route for the company, the party is to negotiate safe passage with the frost giants of the southern snake mountains. Off you trot.| The Things We Do for XP
Last session in Belswick, the players vanquished Xiximanter the Lich and finally cleared the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Hoorah! Now they deal with the aftermath in a length downtime session, which ends with a double botch and sudden PC death. I already ran part of this haven turn for two players in a mini session for 2 players; this time, we pick up with almost the entire group - our wizard couldn't make it.| The Things We Do for XP
"What the fuck happened to your family's armor and shield?"| The Things We Do for XP
How does a lich manage to die at the hands of five level 6 rubes? Careful roleplay and following Keith Amman's advice, that's how! In The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Keith sets out how to have a lich lay waste to adventurers in style - but also explains how a lich's arrogance can have it make critical mistakes.| The Things We Do for XP
EDIT: sold all of these!| The Things We Do for XP
Session two in a second campaign to my main rural/medieval Belswick one. This one is a city campaign following the adventures of three people of the rogueish persuasion as they navigate the joys and perils of the great city of Lankhmar.| The Things We Do for XP
Last session in Belswick, our band of luminaries got rid of the Brent-clones infesting the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, and killed the original Brent the bandit where he lay in the fungal cloning chamber. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Part six of a series of reviews and notes| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
...it only just now hits me that "Death and Dismemberment" abbreviates to D&D. Anyway.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
First non-session log post in ages! I'm going to run a city campaign for/about a bunch of thieves, and I wanted to offer more explicit options to resolve situations than fighting, bluffing and stealth. Here's the chase system I'll be using; a slightly tweaked Night's Black Agents with encounters for a bog standard low-magic medieval fantasy setting.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Last time in Belswick, the PCs negotiated for safe passage with a bunch of frost giants who'd lost their holy silver cup. These sessions they solve the riddle of who stole the Cup of Thrymm and get it back from a lake hag. Also: playing nice with Orcs, saving young love and getting adopted by a Roc.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Quarantaine has weirdly increased the amount of D&D I'm getting. Once we figured out that rpg-via-skype is vastly better than no rpg at all, the choice was easy. There's even interest in forming a small extra group for a couple of oneshots. And so, I thought to quickly hash out a setting for a couple of dungeon crawls. You know, 3-4 lines as backdrop. Of course that went as well as you'd expect.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Third session over skype, no maps or battle and mostly court drama. My players are glorious assholes and they got away scot free with everything except for the crossdressing. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Another session via Skype, with a separate laptop calling in to run the battlecam. Worked fine for us, except that I couldn't see all the players' video feeds and the sound kept glitching on me. Looking back, I hardly remember that. Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds? Maybe at some point. Skype is fine for now, and allows me to keep playing with paper minis and Dwarven Forge terrain.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
LAST SESSION IN BELSWICK| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
A week ago my group sat around a real table again for the first time in a year and a half - great fun and so much easier than playing remotely. I'll make this a very short summary, because I've still got a lot of writing to do for the third story in this summer "break" from my main campaign. Next up is a couple of sessions romping through spooky scary Ravenloft...| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
We're taking a summer break from my| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Over 30 sessions of this campaign, unbelievable! I'm still enjoying it, even though Planescape, Eberron, Star Wars and Delta Green are very tempting. So many campaign ideas, so little time. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Much manoeuvering around the Arraynian woodsmen, who seem very in touch with each other, even finishing each others' sentences. Their leader appears to be a strawberry-blond woman in the habit of inhaling purple smoke, who claims to be a trader from Arrayne looking for a profitable route into Belswick. Or, you know, they could be a nest of psionics spies like the ones that murdered the group's last patron.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Last time in Belswick, the players fought off assassins at the wedding of lord Haine Kerjules the Hedgehog and Olga the Widow - not succeeding in saving either of them (although in Olga's case, she'd been dead for a few years already). Now under the control of Haine's son Silas, fiefs Crossroads and Culfield are preparing to join the war of wider Belswick against southern Arrayne.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Last time in Belswick, my players worked their| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
It's time to get married! Lomin has been playing the role of long-deceased Lady Olga of Culfield, who was a close friend and didn't have heirs or relatives who could inherit. Now Olga will marry Lord Kerjules of neighbouring Crossroads to cement the region against coming war with southern Arrayne. | thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
After 22 sessions of Belswick, my group is roughly back where they left the Tomb of the Serpent Kings 18 sessions ago: mostly cleared out, but with all the interesting bits left for the next band of squatters to move in. Last session they attacked the front door, this session they dug deeper.| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
Super quick recap, because I have a lot on my plate (such as running not 1 but maybe 2 more campaigns on the side!)| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
LAST SESSION IN BELSWICK| thethingswedoforxp.blogspot.com
