Lets get ready to rumble!

 

Ok another short on players week, 

Players out of town, players recovering from toddler attack so....

Reduced size group...........................

Pais, Halfling thief 

Elkhorn, Dwarven fighter (fill in for now deceased Bestie Vellyn)

Rod, Human Duelist (save a friend? no go for the kill!)

Babs, Harengon monk Num chucks are fun!

Harry Cottontail, Harengon Wizard  aka Hare-trigger

Returning to Downfall they looked around a bit and then went to speak with the Hag. Bringing the stolen picture to get their reward. (as all their curses have been removed the Hag can not complete the deal)

Confronting Lorna and pissing her off leads to massive brawl!. In the end Lorna fled the scene and they proceeded to loot her cottage. 

Alot of fun was had by trying to pull things from the frogs mouth. 

The group then proceeded head to Yon to interupt Endalyn's play per their deal with Scabatha. 

The fight with Lorna was interesting, the lornlings are nasty! Team work was a bit shakey in the fight. Lorna deals alot of damage, her lornlings do too. Everyone was on the edge of dieing at the end of the fight. Lorna escaped with 6 hps left. 

Side note after alot of musing and trial i believe i have the final form of my skill system ironed out. 

Quick and dirty C&C skills by me:

Start with int in number of skills, each level gain one plus int mod in additional skills. 

skills provide a plus 2 with related checks. Taking a 2nd level in a skill allows you to check that skill as a prime. Taking same skill a third time will make you a "master of that skill" (not available until aftter reaching 5th level) Mastery gains roll 2 take the best on skill checks when you can take your time. ie (potter making a pot).

Group finds their spine!

 

Getting back on track this week, missing players returned and we had a full house! 

All nine players present. 

The usual suspects:

Lily Tigress: Fairy Illusionist (aka Tiger lily) Has wand will travel

Fiona (and cake) Halfling Warlock (with fairy cat familiar) (bestie of Vellyn) (foreshadowing tears to come)

Vellyn, Dwarf Fighter (bestie of Fiona) 

Pais, Halfling thief and Monarch of the Witchlight

Delphine, Even Cleric of Demeter. (cant heal dead)

Rosetta, Dryad Druid and Juniper(awakened sapling- her tree)

Rod, Human Duelist (carpet inspector)

Babs, Harengon monk 

Harry Cottontail, Harengon Wizard  aka Hare-trigger

After reviewing and discussing options, they returned to Loomlurch to get the painting by any means! (oh also they were gonna try to free the children too)

A quick stop to visit Chucklehead and sample more goblin candy. They barged into the tea room and then into the workshop. 

Confronted by Pincushion and Cradlefall a fight ensued. Tin soldiers summoned and joined the fight. 

Review of the product: absolutely the worst laid out adventure i have EVER SEEN. combat stats are either scattered or missing. Important details like villain's list of items are in room descriptions not the characters description. I know this is supposed to be an adventure that can be beat sans combat, but even the best RPer will resort to the blade occasionally! (side note wyrmling dragons are still nasty) Asside from the fact this "campaign" is really just a module thats been bulked to milk cash. The official minis are a rip off as they are nearly all of non combat people. The stuff your group will fight are not included, premium or rare.. if you intent to run this: look up 3 d prints of the figs and save your wallet. 

The fight was fast and brutal. The wyrmling fled badly injured, Pinchusion torn to bits and the tin soldiers smashed. and Bestie died. Vellyn took an 18 point green dragon breath to the face while at 2 hitpoints.

A quick search of the building and freeing of the kids,

 and other prisoners (Elkhorn the dwarf of Valors Call) they fled the scene before Granny Nightshade appeared.

returned to Little Oak and met Will of the Feywild and the Get away gang for a celebration, tinged with loss. The session wrapped with Elfhorn joining the party (Kenneth is playing the freed dwarf to replace Vellyn) 

Return of the plague!

So players still out sick, 2 mia, 2 late due to car repair and 1 off on a drinking trip. 

No game this week. 

So instead we played Red Dragon Inn. 

We tried a variant where everyone played boss with the boss cards. 

I played Pooky, Zots familiar got a boost from the Evil Pooky set. Boss cards plus epic Pooky! If Pooky gets to Psychotic and would get madder, he gets to draw an epic Pooky card. These cards are great!

The game was fast and vicious, the dragon cards for bosses are mean! We had a blast and i recommend this variant for high powered shenanigans. 

Back to regular game this weekend. 

My house rules

 

Tenkars Tavern mentioned house rules so i thought i would share mine. 

Wizards and their familiars share hit points. This means if your familiar is about to die you can give him some of your life, or vice versa.

2 handed weapons deal an extra 50% damage. There are studies that prove using 2 hands increases the hit by just over 50%. It makes 2handers a little better vs dual weilding. 

everyone rolls init, winner goes first and sets the chain of who goes next as either clockwise or anti-clockwise. 

Magic items can be enhanced with items of special properties. Adding dragon leather hand grip to your sword may enhance it. (this is an example. can be anything a creative comes up with. I prefer to enhance items as opposed to trading up. Make your sword better, don't replace it)

Plague strikes! game goes on!

 

Four players absent, the cast from last Saturday:

Lily Tigress: Fairy Illusionist (aka Tiger lily) 

Fiona (and cake) Halfling Warlock (with fairy cat familiar) (bestie of Vellyn)

Vellyn, Dwarf Fighter (bestie of Fiona) 

Pais, Halfling thief 

Rod, Human Duelist (hater of bullies)

After having all their curses removed at the Unicorns lake they made to Loomlurch. 

Along the way they found a fairy ring and sang and dnaced with a cluster of Campestri!

(having aquired the adventure pack for Thither from: (sorry cant figure out why this isnt a link)

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/383985/Thither-Adventure-Bundle-for-the-Wild-Beyond-the-Witchlight?filters=0_0_0_45535_0_0_0_0

I sprung Fablerise and Yarnspinner (the story telling spider) on the party. 

The losing of their names was quite funny, 

Interesting night as the whole campaign has been odd, my players are acting odd.

Running total of magic items the players have missed skipped or ignored: 9 

Visiting Loomlurch the group tried some goblin candy and chatted up Chuckle head... A goblin with a caramel apple for a head. 

They arranged a meeting with the second Hag and had tea with her, Tiger Lily was nearly attacked by the Hag when they asked about the painting Bavlona had tasked them to steal. The group eventually decided to accept a mission from her as well to disrupt a play of her sister Endalynn! 

Now aiming to steal the picture and disrupt a play, they dont realise they missed Will of the Fey wild's attack on Loomlurch due to spending the night in Fablerise. 

Whoops, missed a week.

 The holidays are very busy at work for me. Also putting in a bunch of over time made me miss an update. So here is two in one!

Two weekends back:

The entire party showed up!

Lily Tigress: Fairy Illusionist (aka Tiger lily) 

Fiona (and cake) Halfling Warlock (with fairy cat familiar) (bestie of Vellyn)

Vellyn, Dwarf Fighter (bestie of Fiona) 

Pais, Halfling thief 

Delphine, Even Cleric of Demeter. 

Rosetta, Dryad Druid and Juniper(awakened sapling- her tree)

Rod, Human Duelist (hater of bullies)

Babs, Harengon monk 

Harry Cottontail, Harengon Wizard 

 They began their errand for Bavlorna, off to Thither with Clapperclaw as guide. Thither is a fae woodland with faerie rings and was agreed to be much nicer than the swamp of Hither. 

The majority of the party now 3rd level. Encountered Nib in his cave. each acquired an enchanter item from Nibs. 

They wound their way through the forest running into the various random encounters. Biggest issue was finding meat to feed Juniper! Once Juniper was fed, the new proud owlbear rider  Tiger lily with her noble steed. 

Meeting the get away gang (totally not the lost boys) They agreed to help free the children from Granny Nightshade. They went to consult the unicorn of the wandering lake. 

A miracle occurred, when the orc assassin attacked the unicorn...they didnt kill him. Instead the murder hobos talked and made a deal with him. Sending the assassin to Nibs cave for just deserts. 

We called it there. 

Yes, man. Yes men. (and women, you get the idea)

 

Last week was... odd.

Players who claim they want certain types of adventures, probably dont. 

Two or three of my group claim to want more RP and less whack a monster. 

Group arrives at Downfall the Bully wug court. They explore a little, help put out fires at the ballon shop. Enjoy a tussle with some Merrow. briefly visit the Bullywug court and hurry on to a little B and E at Bavlorna's house. 

Inside the house they proceed to blunder about missing all the good stuff. They wander upstairs and confront the Hag in her parlor. She tells them, "do three tasks for me or i wont even deal with you" Tasks: Fix her broken pool, find her latest shipment of taxidermy stuff and find her missing book!. 

The usual suspects had the book, the bullywugs had given it to them. So (fanfare) they split the party to go look for the crate and to fix the pool. 

Group one: Murderhobo, Drama teacher, Librarian, and Secrets dont make friends. Spent an incredible amount of time (hours in game) searching for a drain plug to empty the pool. They examined EVEY tile, the entire pool. They inspected the bottom of the house as well. 

Group two: Helper, Follow them, Stabby stabby and Me too, head back down to the bullywug town to search for a mission crate. The search takes on many, many i look for a crate moments. Asking me in excess of 15 times (at three locations) if they see a crate. 

Mean while, group one spends fifteen minutes looking down the well in the pool. being afraid to investigate it and boggling over how it is deeper than the floor. (fantasy game!) They finally investigate the well and end up fighting! (spoiler alert)

Lucky saves prevent anyone being devoured but it is a close fight. Session paused as they try to figure out why they cant get in one hut (one of the rp desirers sat on a rp clue instead of sharing it).

Will the clueless brigade solve the mystery of the missing crate?

The RPers skipped all the main RP opportunities. The combat crunchers did more RP than the "RP crowd" Frustrating night on so many levels.  

Back from the long break!

 Due to covid in the house, we missed 2 weeks of play time. 

Saturday began the 2nd night of the Wild beyond the Witchlight campaign.

We were down 3 party members due to out of game concerns. 

Leaving tonights party to be:

Fiona (and cake) Halfling Warlock and faerie cat familur

Vellyn, Dwarf Fighter 

Pais, Halfling thief 

Delphine, Elven Cleric of Demeter. 

Rosetta, Dryad Druid and Juniper(awakened sapling- her tree)

Rod the overly aggressive duelist.

The wrap up in the carnival involved some rigged games i swiped from a redit list.

Darts and balloons (dull darts), Strength test hammer and bell (rigged to have a slack cable unless carny stands on a board). Ring toss  (rings too small to go on the bottle) Archery test with repellant arrow tips to move the targets)

Due to some clever thinking they managed to win at all the rigged games, removing arrow tips, sharpening darts and standing on the board, and placing the ring on the bottle while the carny was distracted.

After Pias was crowned Monarch they were escorted to the portal and sent to Prismeer. Arriving in Hither on the raised causeway. 

Pixie dust used to rescue Sir Talavar. They mostly submitted to the Harengon Brigands, save the duelist who tried to kill one. The six brigands all teamed up knocking out Rod.

Rod really seems to hate the brigands, he also tried to cut Agdon's brand off his own leg when fighting the scoundrel. Pais caught Agdon by his scarf and lept into the swamp to stop the fleet footed robber. 

I am using all the "random encounters" 2 before each set encounter. I am also using some random fae encounters i found on line via web search. Trying to stretch out the campaign a bit since everyone seems so engaged. 

The party is nearing the Soggy Court and they will arrive next session.

Notes on conversion oddities with the 5e rules to C&C the Warlock requires alot of finesse to function in the rules light system. 

I am handing out chocolate coins that can be used to add a plus 2 to a roll for good RP or cleaver ideas. 

The players enjoy eating them to get the plus. 

Used scented oil , (cotton candy) to simulate the sweet smelling Faewild. Bunny ears on myself when playing the Harengon Brigands. 

Found someone had up loaded Agdon's song to You tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPGAVgcDnAw

The words are a bit over powered by the music. So i sang along to it with the bunny ears on. This made my daughter scramble to get a pic. As soon as i have a copy I will upload it. 

Time out !

 

No game this week due to a covid issue (wife got it, is now recovering and testing negative).

Awaiting the finale of the Carnival and the first steps into the realm of the Fae!

If you are interested in the Fae realms, this book....

Its stated for C&C but it is a d20 system and easily adapatable to any other d20 system. 

The rules in it for faeries and how iron effects them is great. 

Its all based on Earths celtic myths and beliefs. Highly recommended. 

Adjustments required.

 

Due to the nature of the adventure giving milestone advancement ala 5e I have had to figure out advancement. C&C classes advance at different rates. I have broken down the xp charts for all the basic classes and figured out the benchmark. The benchmark is the human fighter. So i am figuring xp awards based on the fighter leveling at all the benchmark places.

So the Carnival has an xp award of 250 points an hour. plus bonus'.

Culminating in stepping into the Fey Wild.

Each benchmark beyond will have 4 xp awards built in at 1/4 the amount needed for the fighters next level. 

Wild beyond the Witchlight, party expose:

 

Group is consisting of the usual suspects playing.....(yes its a large group, we have varied up to 16 players in the past. I have put my foot down. No more new players! Group is too big)

Babs, Harengon monk (known tag-a-long)

Harry Cottontail, Harengon Wizard (hopping to learn fireball soon!) 

Lily Tigress: Fairy Illusionist (aka Tiger lily) (potential carnival Monarch) 

Fiona (and cake) Halfling Warlock (with fairy cat familiar) (bestie of Vellyn)

Vellyn, Dwarf Fighter (bestie of Fiona) Ignores custard damage like a champ!

Pais, Halfling thief (potential carnival Monarch) Faced their fears in the mystery mine.

Delphine, Even Cleric of Demeter. Snail riding master

Rosetta, Dryad Druid and Juniper(awakened sapling- her tree)

Rodrick, Human Duelist 

Session 1 Wild Beyond the WitchLight

 

First session played, 6 of 8 hours of the carnival have been played. 

Massively fun, the carnival is well designed and has been non stop fun.

The Snail race is possibly the single most fun activity. 

Have seen players who usually combat monster and ignore most RP, embrace the RP plots and pursue RP resolutions to problems. 

Though i am not a 5e fan, this adventure campaign is a blast. 

We have a week off before concluding the carnival and on to the Fey realm!

DM, me

Can you guess who had to bargin for a ticket and had to wear a flower crown?

(Fashion BAM! (tm) Skull-flower brand flower crown by Tiffany)

Jim and Michael, Fairy wings for everyone!

BTW the glitter fallout is insane, its everywhere!

Glitter: craft herpies!

New campaign

 Intrigued by the idea of a campaign that can be resolved with no combat, I bought this module when it came out.

I gathered minis, bought and 3 d printed. Made and gathered props. read and reread the book.

This week was session 0 characters completed and ready to start next week.
Running a 5e book with C&C, looks like fun!

Using Castle and Crusades rules, allowing 5e back grounds and my own modified skill system. 

Plus a bit of DCC (spell success roles , spell failures and the like.) 

Another Monster mash of editions in the Fae realms. 

Out of context gaming quotes.

 My gaming group from time to time will spit of the oddest lines. 

This is a list of all the famous ones from various players over the years.

Chris:

I am not a bank

All the monks lived except the ones that died

Peep peep, I’m just a bird

I will never have true sightsers staring at the sky looking for strange birds

They were only hijacking the ship. They weren't thieves.

Michael:

Ima going to play it safe like Wendy (pulls block and tower crashes)

There is no Anatomy in here - - Try 'A' - Wendy

I shot them all, but the ones I haven't shot yet

Rikki:

That’s some Slim Shady bullshit.

Why should I heal you? You’re just going to get hurt again.

Sexual favors for magic items

If you get hurt by the duck, I am not healing you

Next time don’t make me embarrass you!

Might want to let the two sides fight it out for a couple of days, cause I can’t talk to god right now

Not the evil barbarian king, the undead barbarian king

Your ugly but I am beautiful

Austin:

I didn’t okay that

I disbelieve

That’s not what you said last time

Ken:

We made it not glow

It left a bad taste is his mouth

The magical darkness is magical

Ram it in!!! Don't spit on it!

Jimmy:

I'm sorry your parents had sex

Tiffany:

It’s a happy fun time market!

Randoms:

What? Stop being so needy right now - Patti

Lavits is a litch - Rumor

Open door bad thing happen - Buller

It’s easier to protect the world, when you control it - Rich

Cannonball - Connor

Making a life alert necklace with unseen servant on it