Still not on the list - I declare a FLAME WAR!

Cyclopeatron has posted the latest list of hot Olde Skool blogs on the interwebs, ranked by number of followers.  There is also a list based on follower gain over the past three weeks.  I left him a message that I have two followers, if you count myself and that I am old.

Cyclopeatron did reply, stating that inclusion on the list required that this here blog needed to 'Old School' covering pre-1985 gaming.  I'm old school though, even if I don't focus on pre-'85 gaming.  Why?  I'm not sure, but I think its because I am older and the game changed during the period I had to take my hiatus from gaming and the mindset of the younger gamers is just different.

Earlier this year, while trying out a new to me game group and learning 4E, I had one of the regulars tell me I was doing it wrong.  And in my current 4E game on Fantasy Grounds, I get the feeling that goofy Adel is the only playing in character.  I just think that the current mindset is to not roleplay at all.  Now if I had to choose whether to play a game with no roleplaying versus a game where the bard had to be able to compose and sing ballads, I'd definitely choose the first choice.

So in the effort to increase traffic, please flame me in the comments section for being or not being sufficiently 'Old School'.  Thank you, come again.

The further adventures of Adelbert Vaksmann, Part III

We've had a few issues with our Sunday night game over the last few weeks, illness, visitors, hardware difficulties and software issues, but last night we had a full party and outside of one or two crashes, we had a full, fun session.

Tonight found the party in the room that housed the hell-hounds, where the party had ended the prior session taking a short rest.  Adelbert was about 75% of max hit points, but had all of his daily-ies, so he wasn't terribly concerned when he checked the door opposite of the entrance to the current room and found that it was both locked and trapped.  With Zeril, the Deva, poking him to go faster and being a general nuisance, Adel goofed somewhere (not sure how bad, the DM uses a tower and I wasn't privy to Adel's roll) and received a needle to his cheek and the poison was enough to bloody him.

Adel finished removing the trap and unlocking the door and let the others lead the way into the adjacent room.  Within a few feet of the door, black curtains hung from ceiling to floor and a terrible corpse-rotting stench emanated from the room.  Oren, our dragon-born warrior, strode into the room, followed by the pain-in-the-ass Deva, Zeril.  Zeril feeling brave stuck his head through the curtain and saw a room with four mirrors, an altar and a statue of a well muscled human.  Zeril immediately withdrew his head and exited the room, complaining of a weird feeling.  Those watching saw a misty essence in the shape of Zeril tear away from him as he exited the room and then the essence disappeared through the curtain.

The party then debated if we should enter the room.  We reminded ourselves that we had told the ghostly Duke that we would not disturb anymore crypts except in the removal of the orcs and cultists in exchange for the undead leaving us alone.  Despite the hell hounds presence, the party decided that the room probably didn't have anything to do with orcs and cultists, not wanting to chance distrubing the ghouls again.

We re-entered the main hallway again and proceed to continue in the direction we were originally travelling.  Adel was leading the way, trying to peer around the corner with Zeril poking and proding him to hurry up.  We made the turn and realized the hallway was sloping upwards and we started to worry that we missed the entrance to the lower lever when we saw a door up ahead on our right.

Seeing weak light and hearing some noise, Adel opened the door, sees a long hallway and crept inside.  Suddenly Oren comes storming through the door, pushing Adel aside.  Oren turns into one of the crypt alcoves where some light is coming from and runs into some Hobgoblin minions.  Next thing, bugbears and orcs come streaming out of the doors further down the hallway and battle is underway.

Due to the narrowness of the hallway, Adel spent most of the combat watching the action, but did find a chance towards the end to sneak in and get a whack at a bugbear.  When the last one finally fell, we searched the room at the end of the hallway and found a mirror-esque type device whose reflection showed the room with the black curtains.  While the party contemplated the meaing of the mirror, Adel and Kys were searching the crypts and a tunnel was found.  Therefore the party decided to take an extended rest before proceeding down the tunnel.

So, that is where we left it.  The DM said we'd pick it up at the decision so we could check for randon encounters during the extended rest.

In the news

Not much gaming of late.  Last Thursday I was supossed to be gaming with Clash and Tim, beta-ing Clash's Starcluster3.  Unfortunately, I was under the weather (my diabetes is acting up), Clash was late and I was exhausted.  Sunday's 4E game got cancelled due to the DM having technical difficulties with his port settings on his new computer.  Tuesday's WFRP game got cancelled because I only had one player show up.

So last night after Elizabeth's field hockey game got called due to weather, I went and picked up my birthday present, the Orcs & Goblins Brigade from Games Workshop.  I haven't finished painting the Battle for Skull Pass set I got last year for my birthday and when I opened this set and realized just how big it was, I know I've got a lot of work ahead of me.  Hopefully I'll finish them and be ready to play before the 9th edition comes out. 

Ashes of Middenheim, Prolouge Part II

No session last night.  We'd had one drop, our unplayed apprentice wizard, due to course load at school, one drop because they didn't want to spend money to upgrade their Fantasy Grounds software, and one couldn't make it due to work.  So with only one making it last night, we stayed on and chatted a bit waiting to see if the two that had expressed interest, but hadn't contacted me to make characters would show.  No dice, so I packed it up for the night and went to bed.

We'll try again next week.

Ashes of Middenheim, Prolouge.

I haven't GM-ed a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game since the early 90s, which of course was 1st edition WFRP, not the 2nd edition I'm currently using.  Additionally, this is my first foray into GM-ing any game on Fantasy Grounds II.  And since I've got back into gaming about 3 years ago, this is only the third game I've run, two being one-shot Traveller adventures.

In order to make sure I am up to speed, both with the RPG and Fantasy Grounds, I am running the initial scenario that comes with the 2nd edition rulebook which preludes the separate campaign, Ashes of Middenheim.  So far the party consists of  a dwarf hunter named Grimbor Ironmane, a human thief named Bastien Beckenbauer, and another human Erasmus, a militiaman.  We not really sure how these folks got together, but we know why:

All of you grew up listening to stories of the Great War Against Chaos. The Tale of Magus the Pious and his victory over the armies of chaos is well known. While there have been wars and threats in the 200 years since, there has been nothing on that scale. Until now. This year Chaos Lord Archaon invaded the Empire with five mighty armies. They swept down from the Chaos Wastes, ranks filled with mutant warriors, nightmarish monsters, and power-mad sorcerers. Flagellants and other prophets of doom declared these the End Times. And as these armies pillaged and burned their way through the northern provinces of the Empire, it was easy to believe.

You've heard endless stories over the past few months. They say that Sigmar once again walked the earth. They say an army of wolves attacked the Kislevian city of Erengrad. They say the dead rose from their graves to defend the Empire. They say a mighty victory was won at Middenheim. They say a plague has choked the streets of Talabheim with bloated corpses.

You can only believe what is in front of your eyes. your are in the town of Untergard in the Drakwald Forest. A nine-day battle took place here, as Beastmen tried to force their way across the town's great bridge. They were rebuffed but the price was high. The town is in ruins and its remaining citizens struggle to survive. The Imperial army has long since moved on from Untergard, leaving behind only its dead. You've heard tell of more battles up north but the war here seems over. Or so you hope.

The players have been in town for a few days, just passing through, but stuck because of the bad weather.  They awake to find a commotion at the nearby plaza and upon investigation understand that a special announcement was planned among other rumors and such (all the players rolled terribly when it came to making their gossip checks, so a little help was necessary).  As the watch captain, the nominal leader of the remainder of the town's citizens, announced to those in attendance that the Baron of Middenheim had sent some bread and wine to the town, mutants attacked from across the river.  The watch captain and two watchmen, with major help from the PCs, quickly dispatched three of the mutants, making the fourth scurry back across the bridge and flee through the ruins.

As the excitement ended, word arrives from the town's main gate that they were also attacked at the same time, but were able to beat it back with minimal losses.  It would seem that the bridge attack was a diversion, but thanks to the PCs, forces needed at the main gate were not diverted to the bridge.  But bad news shortly followed, as Hans, a local woodsman that had been gone for about week, arrived with survivors from nearby villages and farms with news that a 200-strong herd of Beastmen were heading thier way.

After heated debate, the watch captain has decided to evacuate town for Middenheim, some 6 days away.  The townsfolk are told to enjoy what the Baron has provided, for in the morning, they are leaving at first light.  The PCs find themselves in the position to either help, or depart on thier merry way.

We also had a player make an apprentice wizard, but he wasn't available for Wednesday night.  And we are still getting interest by a few people, so maybe we'll have 6 for the next session.

I'm a bad boy.

I've been promising posts and updates and I'm just too busy lazy to keep up with a hectic life.  I started my first Fantasy Grounds II campaign, a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition game.  I'm working on the post now and hopefully will have it up tonight or tomorrow.

I've also been doing a beta test of Starcluster 3, a sci-fi RPG with the writer, Clash, on Thursdays.  Hopefully I'll get around to writing about it this weekend.