raging_swan

At the end of our last session we left our heroes considering a flooded passageway deep under the main level of the cairn. They had previously defeated a number of large beetles and a swarm of acid beetles and now seemed to have nowhere else to go.

After a discussion, some of the PCs decided to explore the dark water filling the passageway while others elected to remain in the dry passage ready to tug on the safety ropes tied to each swimmer. (It is possible that passing out this handout may have added to their temerity...)

Undeterred, Alecso, Tarrak and Chipper heroically ventured forth into the darkness. Moving forward they discovered a flooded chamber dominated by one large central pillar and four smaller ones (which Chipper identified as showers). As they moved further into the chamber, Tarrak was surprised when a creature seemingly composed of pure water slammed into him.

Such was his fortitude and toughness, however, that he took no damage. A ferocious battle swirled about the chamber with the watery creature using its superior mobility to split up the explorers. However, it spectacularly failing to damage any of the explorers and eventually, it was slain. Returning to the dry passages to catch their breath, the three intrepid explorers returned to investigate the central portion of the chamber. Chipper discovered some clogged up drainage grates and started to clear them. Tragically, this distracted him from the arrival of a skinny, hairless humanoid that immediately attacked . Immediately, Chipper was paralyzed by the creature's attacks. Ignoring the helpless dwarf it moved forward to attack Alesco, who luckily identified it as a ghoul. The divine radiance of Heironeous twice filled the chamber; Tarrk heroically placed himself between the priest and the undead.Within mere seconds, Chipper had overcome the ghoul's paralysis and rejoined the fray. The creature quickly fell. Again, the PCs retreated to the dry passages to rest and recover their breath and hit upon the idea of draining the chambers by clearing the grates. This they did, but it took several hours for all the water to drain away.

Venturing back into the now dry(ish) chambers, they discovered no more monsters and a series of abandoned waterlogged chambers. The PCs found some small amount of treasure, including a magic short sword and a ring with the eight-pointed star of the Seekers, as well as the missing red-coloured lantern. With these victories behind them, the PCs returned to the cairn's main chamber where they discussed what to do next. Eventually, they decided to dare the cylinder below the indigo-coloured lantern. Lognar volunteered to ride the cylinder downwards. He stepped inside and after a short delay, the doors closed. The cylinder disappeared into the floor and moments later several of the party heard muffled screaming that was abruptly cut off. Summoning the cylinder back swiftly, they discovered Lognar's crushed body. Alesco quickly tried to aid his companion, but nothing could be done. Seeing this, the priest along with Rihannah conveyed his remains outside and buried them beneath a large oak tree. The hapless dwarf's wolf companion followed the two outside and lay down over his master's grave.

Meanwhile within the cairn, the other PCs tried a number of clever plans to disable the trap within the cylinder. None seemed to work, and seeing this no one else elected to try their luck within. With this avenue shut, the PCs discussed their next options. They lit all the lanterns and twisted the sarcophagus to point at each lantern, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. With much reluctance, they turned to the passageway in which their companion, Garak died. After discussing a series of bizarre plans to mollify the danger of falling from the high ledge at the top of the shaft, Tarrak climbed the shaft and disappeared into the passageway above. Moments later he shouted down that all seemed safe and the rest of the party, except Clawar, joined him.

He discovered a long straight passageway ending in a huge carving of a screaming mouth. Beyond, another passageway extended away into the darkness. Moving up to the mouth, he discovered that the floor of the further passageway was covered with a multitude of iron balls. A narrow wooden plank extended above the balls to a door at the end of the passage. Moving forward, he triggered a trap and iron balls - fired from the walls - started pelting him. His companions rushed forward to help, but swiftly they were all knocked off the plank. Worse was to come, however, as a creature of writhing tentacles and sharp maw burst from the balls and savaged Tarak before dragging him downwards. Alesco's healing magic kept Tarak alive barely as his companions tried vainly to save him. As the party struggled to avoid the balls and slay the beast, high-pitched cackling and taunts echoed over the battle seemingly coming from the very walls...

Eventually, using his magical short sword Tarak struck the creature a mighty blow, causing it to retreat (gravely wounded) deeper into the balls. As he did so, the translucent image of a young farm boy, with a broken neck, long black fingernails and a demoniac glare faded into view above the battle...

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XP: many different totals this week as some of you did not meaningfully participate in  some of the encounters: Tarak: 545 XP, Clawar 345 XP, Alesco 545 XP, Gorlic 545 XP, Rihannah 270 XP. Keep in mind that the XP totals do not include any bonus XP I gave out during the session for such things as good roleplaying, giving me Jaffa Cakes and so on, or any XP for the last fight (which doesn't seem to be over yet...)

At the end of last session the PCs had discovered a small cache of treasure in a sublevel of the Whispering Cairn. As we rejoin our heroes they have identified some of the treasure and are just about to continue their explorations...

The PCs searched two nearby rooms discovering a toilet and what appeared to be a bedchamber of sorts. Further exploration was blocked by a large patch of brown mould and unfortunately no one in the party could remember its vulnerability. Clawar elected to try fire and bathed the mould in the flames of a burning hands spell. Unfortunately, this did not kill the mould - in fact it had exactly the opposite effect; the flames caused the mould to grow. A wave of super-chilled air swept through the surrounding area and Clawar fell. Even more disastrously, the mould's sudden growth blocked the only exit, trapping the party in the chamber. Alesco pulled Clawar from the zone of super-chilled air and healed him, saving him from a terrible death.

While this was going on, Lognar still in the chamber above heard footsteps approaching. Taking cover behind the sarcophagus he saw a stunning beautiful human woman carrying a very large axe enter the chamber. The woman bore the lightning-fisted symbol of Heironeous about her neck and seeing this Lognar emerged to greet the lady. It emerged that the woman, Rihannah, was here looking for Alesco whom she had been sent to assist. Discovering this Lognar offered to take her to Alesco if she would help lower his wolf down to the rest of the party. Rihannah readily agreed and soon all three discovered the predicament of the balance of the party. Rihannah, immediately leapt to assist, using her large axe to scrap away the mould covering the corridor. Miraculously, she survived repeated exposure to the super-chilled air and soon the rest of the party were free. However, by then the party's spells were depleted and the remainder of the mould yet blocked their progress to the unexplored areas of this sub-level. Returning to the surface to rest and regain spells, most of the party rested but Tarrak, aided by Gorlic, built a long kind of "snow plough" to scrap away the mould.

By the next morning they had succeeded and after the party had hunted and foraged for food they returned to the cairn. Tarrak's plough worked well and he quickly cleared enough of the mould away to allow the party to continue their explorations. The chamber beyond was a workspace of sorts. The roof glowed with the radiance of daylight bathing a number of empty workbenches. The main features of the chamber included a huge unfinished statue carrying a finely balanced quarterstaff and a red metal pedestal atop which rested an ebon egg. The party took the quarterstaff but as they touched the egg it changed and shifted taking the shape of a roughly man-shaped creature made of a strange, unknown type of stone. The creature spoke; only Gorlic(who speaks Terran) could understand it. The creature told of the history of the tomb, but got more agitated as it become clear to it that the party would not release it. Combat ensured and the creature was dispatched with ease.

Discovering that they had explored the entire sub-level, the PCs returned to the surface to rest and return to Diamond Lake to sell some of their loot and re-equip themselves.  Unfortunately, many of the items they had recovered did not realise as much wealth when sold as the PCs had hoped; the cantankerous gnome jeweller Tidwoad proving particularly stingy. Clawar gained some information from his master, Allustan, and Alesco and Rihannah managed to secure some healing magic from Valkus Dun (high priest of Heironeous). After a few days, the party returned to the cairn to try their luck in the unexplored portions of the cairn. They briefly discussed using the cylinder in the indigo corridor but eventually decided to use the cylinder under the yellow lantern.

Below, they discovered a small network of chambers; the first they encountered contained another swarm of acid beetles led by a large, acid-spewing beetle. A desperate battle ensured. Clawar was repeatedly knocked unconscious by the beetles and as although his burning hands spells did damage the swarm, an ill-advised healing burst by Alesco healed the injured creatures. With their spells exhausted and all bearing wounds from the swarm, it seemed that the party's luck had run out. However, in desperation, Tarrak set fire to his cloak and with Alesco burning his tabard, the swarm was eventually defeated.

Badly injured, the party again retreated before returning the next day to continue their explorations.They found some long-dead bodies each bearing the eight-pointed star of the Seekers and several magic items including a ring of feather fall and a pearl of power. Lognar wandered off and explored a hitherto un-entered chamber where he unfortunately disturbed a slumbering acid beetle; if his comrades had not intervened he would surely have died. With the beetle slain, only one avenue of exploration remained - a set of stairs leading downwards into a flooded passageway or chamber...

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XP: Each PC gets 283 XP except for Clawar (263), Alesco (263) and Tarrak (303). I doubt that anyone has enough XP to level, but by the end of next session (assuming there are any survivors) you should all have enough to reach the dizzy heights of 2nd-level.

"It is important in most campaigns to take excess monies away from player characters..."

E. Gary Gygax, 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.

That kind of passage warms the cockles of this old skinflint's heart!

Our second Age of Worms session got underway slightly later than normal and so the session was truncated by about an hour. Nevertheless, the PCs did a fair amount of exploring and discovered many interesting things about the Cairn. Unfortunately, everything did not go according to plan and one of the party met his doom in the sibilant darkness of the Whispering Cairn. Last time, we ended the session moments after the party had caused a strange metal cylinder to rise out of the floor in the hallway holding the yellow lantern. Caution won out over bravery and so the party decided not to explore the yellow cylinder instead opting to investigate the main chamber further. They discovered that moving the sarcophagus to point at each hallway in turn created a variety of effects.

Pointing it toward the yellow and indigo lanterns caused metal cylinders to rise out of the floor. The former was empty, but the latter contained a great number of crushed and pulverised bones along with a small pouch of treasure. The party declined to enter either cylinder. Pointing the sarcophagus at the other hallways produced no other discernable result (although they did discover a shaft in the ceiling of the hallway holding the blue lantern) except when they pointed it at the green lantern. When they did so, a grinding sound emanated from below the hallway and in under a minute the floor collapsed revealing a deep shaft. Moving forward carefully to investigate, the PCs heard the scrabbling of thousands of tiny feet drawing closer. Seconds later a geyser of beetles burst forth from the shaft along with an eight-legged aberration of indeterminable type. The creatures attacked and Garak was badly injured. However, both creatures were swiftly killed; Clawar doing much damage to the creatures.

After the battle, the PCs retreated from the cairn to rest. Both Clawar and Alesco had almost completely expended their magic and needed to rest. Overnight nothing bothered the PCs, but they discovered in the morning that many of then had not brought enough rations to sustain themselves during their explorations. Forced to spend the day hunting Tarrak and Alesco caught a deer and found a great profusion of berries.

Returning the following day to the cairn, the PCs took the time to make a detailed search of the areas they had already explored. The search turned up nothing but the finger missing from the carved sarcophagus. Gorlic also took the time to light several of the lanterns but this had no obvious effects. After a brief discussion, the PCs decided to investigate the lofty shaft at the end of the hallway holding the blue lantern.

After eventually attached a grapple hook to the lip of the passageway, Garrak climbed up the rope and disappeared within. As the rest of the watched about half a minute later, a terrible moaning and a stirring in the air heralded a great blast of air from above. Of Garak there was no sign and as the wind grew stronger Cladar shouted for everyone to get out of the corridor. All but Tarrak followed. Tarrak, fearing that something terrible was happening started to climb the rope to go to his friend's aid. He made it about 20 ft. up when Garak's motionless body tumbled out of the passageway and down the shaft. Tarrak, again risking his own life, grabbed his friend's plummeting body but could not arrest his fall. They both tumbled to the stone floor with a sickening, wet thud. Moments later Tarrak rose unsteadily to his feet, but Garak lay motionless in the centre of a spreading pool of blood. Alesco tried to heal his fallen companion but to no avail. Without bothering to try and ascertain how Garak died (or indeed gain any more clues about what befell him except that the wind filling the corridor radiated moderate magic) most of the party transported his fallen corpse outside where he was swiftly buried in the grounds of the abandoned mine office. Clawar stayed behind in the cairn.

After the rest of the party returned, they discussed what to do next and decided that it was too dangerous to retrace Garak's steps. Instead, they decided to climb down the collapsed shaft below the hall containing the green lantern, but discovered that they did not have enough rope. It took them two days to return to Diamond Lake to gather the necessary supplies and return to the Cairn. After a brief discussion, the PCs decided to descend the collapsed shaft and investigate the passages below.

Tarak descended first and discovered an empty room. More of the party followed but an argument broke out when only Lognar and Clawar remained in the upper chamber. Lognar wanted to lower his wolf down to aid him in any future battles, but Clawar decided it would take too long and refused to help. Hearing this, Lognar declined to follow. Clawar then climbed down the shaft leaving Lognar above. Meanwhile, the rest of the party had discovered that a large stone blocked the only passageway leading away from the shaft's base. Moving the block they set off a poisoned gas trap and even though they held their breath several of the party lost strength from its debilitating effects. Moving down the now clear corridor the party discovered three sets of statues. Behind one lurked a hideous creature composed of nothing more than two huge eyes linked by a strand of striated muscle. It repeated fired a black ray from one of its eyes at Tarrak and Gorlic but both resisted its effects. The party quickly dispatched the creature and moved on, noting as they did so that the corridor become very cold where it opened into a larger room. Brown mould filled much of the room but Gorlic managed to find and activate a secret switch that opened a niche containing a crushed skeleton wearing magical armour, two wands and a pair of goggles along with many other broken objects...

This week we started our new campaign, the Age of Worms. The chaps have started new 1st-level characters and so far we've had no TPKs! (But then, they've only fought wolves so far...) We've decided to play Age of Worms until we get to our first full or near TPK - I've read on a variety of forums that it's a pretty dangerous campaign and alas the characters we play always seem to attract all things sharp, pointy, heavy, poisoned and magical.

The campaign started on 4th Planting 595 when fate conspired to seat six fledgling adventurers at the same Bounder table in the Emporium (Diamond Lake's most famed entertainment venue).

Trying their luck that night were Tarrak ( a burly half-orc native of Diamond Lake), Clawar (a elven apprentice of Allustan), Alesco (a human cleric of Heironeous recently arrived in the town), Gorlic (a dwarven miner who has managed to finally pay off his father's debts), Lognar (a dwarven druid) and Garak (a dwarvan trapsmith). As the dice rolled and coins changed hands, the six players discovered that they all shared a common goal. Their imaginations fired by the recent arrival of three adventurers from Greyhawk City intent on searching Stirgenest Cairn, they all sought companions to search the lesser known Whispering Cairn.

After drinks (many drinks) the newfound companions went their separate ways, but arranged to meet up in the morning for then they would travel to the Whispering Cairn in search of adventure! The next day they gathered outside the Emporium with pounding heads and hastily packed bags. A hard days travel to the east through the rugged Cairn Hills got them to the cairn's vicinity and they rested overnight in an abandoned mine office. Early the next morning, the party explored the nearby mine, but quickly determined that it was partially flooded and had been unused for decades.

With their initial investigations complete, the party made their way to the Whispering Cairn and cautiously moved inside. From the darkness the whispering of many voices assailed them. (This strange affect of the tomb was later identified as the wind blowing through thousands of small holes in the walls). Moving down a wide passageway of obvious ancient design they discovered a moldy backpack and bedroll in one of the alcoves - obviously unused for years. The dwarves in the party confirmed that the cairn was truly ancient - but in surprisingly good repair. Moving deeper into the cairn, they discovered more alcoves; one was completely collapsed and impassable - the other contained the remains of some kind of old magical transport device.  Clawar identified some of the glyphs surrounding the device as personal runes of powerful long-dead individuals. Written in a form of ancient writing called Vaati, the runes seemed to be linked in some way to the legendary Wind Dukes of Aaqa (who forged the legendary Rod of Seven Parts and who defeated Miska the Wolf-Spider on the battlefield of Pesh). Ahead, a strange green light flickered.

Moving onwards the party encountered three wolves and although Tarrak was slightly injured the ferocious beasts were defeated swiftly. A partially collapsed alcove yielded some small treasure - including a strange indigo-coloured lantern while another displayed a picture of a large chamber lit by many coloured lanterns. The party quickly realised that the lanterns matched the colours of the rainbow and moved on. Tarrak forced his way through a cobweb-shrouded archway and discovered a huge chamber with many short hallways leading away from it that seemed almost identical to the chamber in the fresco. A green lantern glowed with green light, but otherwise the other lanterns were unlit. Investigating the chamber, the PCs quickly determined that the sarcophagus dominating the centre of the chamber could be moved clockwise to point at each of the alcoves. When they entered the chamber, it pointed to the alcove containing an unlit orange lantern. Moving it clockwise, they aimed it at the alcove containing a yellow lantern. As they did so, the ground rumbled and moments later a stone cylinder rose out of the floor at the end of the hallway. The cylinder's doors opened to reveal a small empty chamber within...

So I'm writing a Pathfinder compatible module that features lemure devils. Whenever I type "lemures", however, Word auto corrects it to "lemurs".

Imagine the party's terror: as they explore the caverns deep in the bowels of the earth below the desecrated temple, a pack of lemurs attacks! Arrggggh!

I'm pretty sure pretty everyone reading this has heard of Tom Clancy and his books. As often happens, I picked up one of his books in an idle moment and flicked through it. Doing so reminded me of how much I liked his work and so I've read four or five of his books in quick succession. From a writer/designer point of view several things struck me about Clancy's work.

Everyone's got History: Almost all of his characters - even minor ones - come from somewhere. That is, Clancy let's us know a bit about each character's background so that we can understand their actions better, allowing us to appreciate why characters act in the way they do.

Research, Research, Research: Anyone who has read even half a Tom Clancy book knows that he researches the sh*t out of his subject matter. While some people don't like the amount of detail he shoehorns into his stories I do. It gives me confidence that the plane, boat or whatever actually functions in the way he describes. His books reek of realism.

Short and Precise: Clancy's books often focus on many different characters at the same time. He breaks up the text into small bite-sized sections which are easy to read quickly, on the fly. I vastly prefer this approach to chapters that ramble on for dozens of pages. Given that I often end up reading books in my (brief) moments of spare time I like the fact that his books are easy to dip into.

From a player's point of view I've also learnt a couple of things about dungeon delving:

He Who Wins the Reconnaissance Battle Wins: If you know what lies ahead of you in the dungeon and it doesn't know what's coming, you are going to win.

If you are in a Fair Fight Something's Gone Wrong: This feeds into winning reconnaissance. Striking with surprise and knowing your enemies' weakness(s) means you'll win.

If You can See It, You can Hit It. If you can Hit It, You can Kill It: Use concealment, cover, invisibility, obscurement, and (my personal favourite) distance to thwart a monster's attacks.

Who would have thought that Tom Clancy was so pertinent to D&D!

Check out these amazing pictures on the Times web site. Crocodile vs. herd of hippos!

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across Hammerdog Games as I wandered the wilds of the internet, I was really intrigued by one of the products - the World's Greatest GM's Screen - and even though they were based in the USA I bought one of their screens. It turned up a week or so later and I've been experimenting with it ever since.

I went for a landscape version of their screen, because I think that sometimes portrait screens often obscure your view of the action.They also have portrait versions available, though, if that's more to your taste. The screen has a total of eight clear pockets (four player-facing and four GM-facing) that allows the GM to insert a total of eight sheets of letter or A4 (with a little trimming) sized paper. Of course, traditionally the player-facing panels of a screen feature decorative artwork but I've always seen this as a bit of a waste of space. While the professional screens all look lovely, looking at the same images every session can get a little boring. Much better to display useful area maps, handouts, lists of prominent NPCs or even perhaps a summary of the PCs' current quest. (And with this screen you can!)

The screen itself is very sturdy - I'm very confident that it will stand up to some serious abuse.

After experimenting with the screen and designing my own inserts I've got to say that this is probably the best GM screen I've ever owned. I've bought the official screen for every version of D&D but often end up wondering exactly why certain tables actually go on the screen. (Who needs all the DCs for Climb for example during every adventure). Having a completely customisable screen means that I can include exactly what I want (and can change it on a session-by-session basis depending on my needs). For example, if the current adventure takes place underwater, I can include a page detailing the rules for fighting underwater.

Below, I've included a few photos of my screen "in action".

In particular, note how much larger it is than a normal GM's screen. Being larger, you get more space behind it for your  notes, figures and so on. The picture below shows WoTC's 3.5 screen for comparison.

If you are in the UK and want one of these screens you might find it hard to get hold of letter-sized paper. If you don't want to go to the hassle of trimming all your inserts there are a few places you can buy letter-sized paper. I found Discount Office Warehouse to provide an excellent service. They charge £4.29 for a ream of letter paper and deliver it next day for a couple of quid. The paper is only 80 gsm but two reams is cheaper than buying a decent paper guillotine!

Verdict: I highly recommend this screen! Go buy it.

Last year I was lucky enough to write "Beyond the Mottled Tower", part of the Scales of War adventure path for Dungeon 163. This year, I got a similar chance when Chris Youngs asked me to write another part. Thus was born "Grasp of the Mantled Citadel", the 15th part of the "Scales of War". I'm quite proud of this adventure as it features some interesting terrain, which I hope many adventurers will enjoy interacting with...

;-)

Anyway, here's the blurb from the D&D website:

In "Grasp of the Mantled Citadel," characters enter the shadowed demiplane of Vaerothim, plunge through the skeletal depths of the Forest of Twisted Souls, and breach the Mantled Citadel's fearsome defense. This is an adventure for five 22nd-level characters. By the end of the adventure, the PCs should have accumulated enough XP to reach 24th level. "Grasp of the Mantled Citadel" is the second epic-level adventure of the Scales of War adventure path and a direct sequel to "Betrayal at Monadhan." With a little work, it can be adapted for use in any campaign.

From here I look out over the gloom of the Forest of Twisted Souls, and although my actions have brought me to this benighted place, I have no regrets. With new allegiances come terrifying opportunities. Who among those living upon the world now have the power, the discipline, and the knowledge to utterly destroy a god?

So as we drew to the end of The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth last night it turns out that occasionally (very occasionally) the gods of dice smile upon me. As you can imagine with Red Hodges DMing, at the time of My Miraculous Roll 2009 I was knee deep in dead and dying comrades and surrounded on all sides by nasty things that seemed to dislike me for some unfathomable reason. 45 from 10d6 worked for me. Luckily, I empowered the fireball in question so it ended up as 68 points! (Ah, death by massive damage, I've been expecting you).

Of course, with those dice rolls I immediately wished I was rolling stats for a new character, but that's beside the point...

Wizards of the Coast has just unveiled their new web site and it is so much better than their old one! As well as (obviously) comprehensive support for 4e, all the 3.5 archives made the transition which is great news. The look and feel of the site (and the load time) is light years ahead of the old one and a welcome addition to the D&D family. I particularly like the inclusion of the Player Hub and DM Hub which makes it easy for users to access the content they want.

I encourage you check it out and take a look around.

At the end of last week's session, the party descended to the second level of the tomb and began exploring. Claude kicked open a water-swollen door to discover a partially submerged crypt within which dwelt a giant frog. Sloshing through the water to assault it, his cries brought the rest of the party running. As his companions surged into the chamber two more frogs emerged from underwater and a lively battle took place. During them melee Kyrus was badly injured when one of the frogs briefly managed to grab him with its sticky tongue but eventually the beasts were slain.

After exploring the room, the PCs (lead by Elwen) headed through a door at the rear of the chamber and discovered a second flooded chamber behind another door. On the far wall, a great wheel attached to iron chains leading into the ceiling tempted the PCs to enter. Suddenly, six skeletons burst from the brackish water and attacked. During the melee that swirled up and down the chamber, Claude discovered a submerged pit by sinking into as he charged one of the undead. At the bottom lurked another skeleton, but Claude managed to quickly propel himself back to the surface. During the melee others - notably Dolgrim and Torgan - accidentally found another such pit and destroyed the skeleton lurking within. Eventually, the battle was won and the PCs investigated the wheel, eventually turning it. Far off to the west they heard clanking.

With no option but to retrace their steps, the PCs returned to the entrance chamber and headed west. In another tomb, they encountered and defeated four plague zombies but not before those fell creatures had infected Polly, Torgan and Fritz with their foul contagion. After this battle, the party's magical reserves were all but depleted and they retreated to the fountain chamber to rest. There they discovered that the magic of the fountain only worked once per day for each person and so after they rested they all drank deeply of its sweet waters.

Pushing onwards through the zombie chamber, they discovered a long, narrow chamber containing a pool imbued with necromantic magic. The pool showed strange, sinister images of those reflected in its waters. Both Dolgrim and Torgan saw themselves seeming to rot away from the inside before turning to murder each other. These terrifying images almost panicked the brave adventurers but they kept their nerve and warning their companions of the pools warped nature the party moved through without incident.

Passing under a raised portcullis, the party discovered another crypt; countless thousands of bat roosting upon its ceiling. Luckily the party's approach had not yet alerted the bats and the adventurers (muffling their lights and creeping quietly) managed to pass through the area without disturbing them.

But one way remained and down a short chamber the PCs discovered a chamber containing a large pit over which a stone bridge ran. Beyond the bridge two statues guarded a pair of bronze double doors. Fearing a trap, Dolgrim searched the area and a pressure plate in the centre of the bridge, which he disarmed (or so he thought). He and Torgan crossed the bridge but unfortunately the trap was far from disarmed. As the adventurers stood on the pressure plate the two statues hurtled forward and bull rushed them off the bridge (but luckily not into the pit). After this, Kyrus made a second attempt to disarm the trap and succeeded.

Beyond the double doors lay the last areas of the crypt - the tomb of Kassen himself. Unfortunately, the undead taint that had plagued the rest of the tomb also lurked here. A skeletal warrior - later identified as Asar - rose from the tomb and attacked the PCs with the aid of his skeletal minions who issued from side crypts. This threat was dealt with swiftly. Fritz - calling on the power of Heironeous - constantly smote the skeletal warrior while Torgan tripped him to the floor. The real turning point came when Claude turned five of the six skeletons in the crypt allowing his companions to quickly surround and destroy Asar. Exploring the crypt the PCs discovered an unconscious woman laying on Kassen's crypt and reviving her learnt that she was one of the villagers sent here to set up the many harmless traps they had encountered on the upper level. As the PCs moved to take a fragment of the everflame, Kassen himself emerged from his crypt in ghostly form and thanked the PCs for cleansing his tomb. He gifted them with some small magics and allowed them to keep whatever else they found. Finding a few more trinkets on a rotting corpse found in one of the side crypts the PCs returned to the surface.

The dangers of the crypt defeated, the PCs returned through the winter snows to the town of Kassen. With them they carried the everflame - symbol of the town's resilience.

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This concludes the Crypt of the Everflame which I would rate at 4/5 (if I get a chance I'll compose a comprehensive review in the coming weeks). Next week we are generating characters for our new campaign - the Age of Worms - before my friend Danny is running a short adventure for a month or so to allow me to start prepping for AoW. Good times ahead!

This beginning of this week's session was tinged with sadness as the surviving PCs reflected on the Crumm's demise at the end of last week's game. Exhausted after their battle with the shadow, the PCs carried the body of their fallen companion to the entrance chamber. Outside a winter storm raged and no sooner had the PCs began to rest when two strangers seeking shelter struggled out of the storm. The strangers introduced themselves as Kyras a halfing "scout" and Torgan a scythe-wielding human fighter. The strangers were invited to warm themselves at the party's fire and after a brief discussion decided to join the exploration of the tomb. Reynevar volunteered to carry Crumm's body back to Kassen with news of what had occurred so far.

The next day, the PCs carried out a thorough search of all the areas they had previously cleared of monsters in search of more loot or hitherto unknown secret areas. While they did find a secret one-way door, they could not open it and so proceeded through the other door in the entrance chamber. They discovered a chamber containing a large, deep pool and two other doors. After a brief investigation of the pool, they tried the key found in the shadow's chamber and discovered it open the eastern door. Beyond they discovered a chamber with a mural of Kassen and another circular chamber containing an arrow-festooned pillar. Seconds after they opened the door, the pillar began spinning and firing arrows in all directions. Rather prudently, they immediately shut the door and waited for the trap to run down. Once the trap had finished they entered the chamber and investigated the other two doors. One turned out to be the other side of the secret one-way door they had found earlier. The other led to an oddly-shaped chamber boasting four pillars and a set of stairs plunging downward into the darkness. As they investigated the chamber, skeletons emerged from their hiding places and attacked, Although Claude tried to turn them, his divine power availed him little and he was quickly cut down by the merciless undead.The rest of the party destroyed the undead and revived Claude before daring the downward staircase.

The PCs discovered a small chamber at the bottom of the stairs with three exits. An inscription on the floor hinted at what lay down each corridor. However, the PCs realising that they had not yet explored the entire upper level returned up the stairs and made their way to the pool chamber. Polly cast detect magic in the chamber and determined that one of the keys was magical. After a brief discussion, she stripped off and dived into the pool. Making her way to the bottom she used detect magic to find the magical key before returning to the surface. The key worked on the as yet unopened door in the south of the chamber and the PCs cautiously proceeded onwards. A long hallway led ahead. Four niches on either side of the corridor contained statues of soldiers wielding huge swords. The first two pairs had their weapons bound with leather straps while the last two pairs did not. Suspecting a trap, the party sent Kyras and Dolgrim to check for such. Indeed, Dolgrim found such a trap when he stepped on a pressure plate. Suddenly, the statues scythed their swords downwards grievously wounding Dolgrim and injuring several other members of the party and creating obstructions which the PCs had to clamber over to continue.

Eventually, they traversed the corridor and entered another room. This was a split-level affair. On the bottom level (accessed by two staircases) stood a wooden statue of a muscular man carrying two large wooden shields. As soon as Dolgrim reached the bottom level, the statue stepped down off its plinth. At that very moment the stairs suddenly snapped forward turning each staircase into a chute dumping Torgan and Fritz onto the bottom level. A lively melee immediately ensued, the turning point of which was when Torgan tripped the statue. It was soon destroyed. The PCs found another room beyond the only other door in the chamber. Within stood a table containing several masterwork weapons, two wands and a collection of scrolls and potions. All were collected up, although Dolgrim, believing them to be offerings to Kassen, refused to take any.

Returning to the entrance chamber, the PCs rested overnight and shared out their treasure. Returning to the chamber containing the stairs down to the second level, the PCs were surprised to be attacked by the skeletons they had already defeated. Claude realised they were bloody skeletons and destroyed them permanently with a blast of positive energy after his companions had beaten them into submissions.

Venturing down the stairs they headed south into a chamber containing a fountain. Several of the party drank its waters and were miraculously healed of their injuries. Revitalized, the party then headed east and discovered a waterlogged chamber the walls of which were covered in azure-coloured fungus that occasionally discharged bolts of electricity into the chamber. Using a grapple hook the PCs recovered the body of a frog the size of a large dog and several large rats all slain by electricity.  While the majority of the party were trying (unsuccessfully) to destroy the fungus, Claude and Kyras found another door and determining it was not trapped smashed it open...

Last week I began a series of blogs highlighting bits of Pathfinder and 4e that I particularly like. This week, I'm talking about the DR system in Pathfinder. In 3.5 characters often had to carry around literally dozens of weapons to deal with all the different kinds of creatures they might encounter. They needed cold iron, silver, adamantine, magic and a variety of aligned weapons to deal with the vast legions of enemies that would otherwise be much tougher to destroy. Luckily, most of these enemies were encountered at higher levels giving the PCs time to accumulate the weapons (and often the extra-dimensional spaces required to carry them all!) The other frustrating thing about this system is that often only one or two characters could damage any given creature leading to the others standing around waiting for their companions to slay it. Not fun game play for the sidelined players.

Pathfinder modifies this somewhat. True, at low-level you are still going to need a silver or cold iron weapon to damage the occasional foe and magic weapon still comes in handy but it is kind of traditional that at low-level you find a couple of magic arrows and a silver dagger pretty quickly (just look at Keep on the Borderlands!) At higher levels, though, a PC's weapon begins to gain the ability to override several different kinds of damage reduction.

When the weapon becomes the equivalent of +3 it overrides cold iron and silver DR; at +4 equivalent it overrides adamantine DR; at +5 equivalent it overrides alignment-based DR. That's a pretty cool change and allows a PC to keep using his favoured weapon (the one he wrested from the orc chieftain and spent the last ten levels slowly upgrading) in pretty much all combats.

You can check out the Pathfinder Resource Document to read the Pathfinder's DR rules in full.

With both Pathfinder and 4e D&D coming out in the recent past I thought it might be fun to take a look at elements of both systems that I think are particularly well done. (I don't believe in being negative so I'm not going to look at bits that I feel are badly conceived.) First up (for no particularly reason other than I'm designing templates) is the 4e approach to template design. While I've been working on a couple of templates it became very apparent that templates in 4e are very different beasts to those in 3.5 in terms of how they mechanically change the base creature (and how easy they are to apply).

In 3.5 many of the templates are an utter pain in the arse to apply (that said, I do love templating as my players will attest!) For example, take a look at the lich or vampire templates. While the end result is pretty darn cool (if you are the DM) and lots of fun to play actually working out the creature's final stats can take literally hours. Not so in 4e where applying a template is a breeze. Making a lich or a vampire is much simpler. This is because the changes that the templates require are much easier to calculate. Templates in 4e (at least to date) don't modify a creature's size or ability scores - changes which often necessitate many changes throughout the creature's stat block. Instead, they bestow more hit points, better defences and a couple of new abilities which require minimal mechanical changes.

I really hope that when the Pathfinder Bestiary turns up we see some similarly simple-to-apply templates. I'm not suggesting that all templates should be simple; some, like the lich, need to be complicated but others that augment minor monsters and such like should be easy and quick to apply.

As no doubt many other DMs and freelance game designers out there I always keep my eye open for gaming inspiration. While whatever I find might not always be immediately useful, I file it away in my Big Book of Ideas for future use. That's why when I came across a copy of this magazine today while out shopping today I knew it must be mine! 

I mean, any magazine with the words "Scary Sagas of the Viking Undead" on the cover has got to be worth a read!

I don't really know why this is but since we started playing Pathfinder two weeks ago we all seem to be eating fewer snacks at the gaming table. Normally after a game, our bin is overflowing with cans, sweet wrappers, empty crisp packets and so on. For the last two sessions, it has barely been half full. I think I know why. With seven copies of the Pathfinder book on the game table there simply isn't enough room for any nibbles!

So, the inescapable conclusion is that if you want to lose weight - play Pathfinder! Or to put it another way if you want to play Pathfinder but don't want to lose weight, buy a bigger table!

In this the second instalment of the Crypt of the Everflame, the PCs continue their search for a fragment of the eternal flame burning in Kassen's tomb. In last week's exciting episode, our heroes reached the tomb and cleared the first chamber of skeletons that had slaughtered several villagers who had travelled to the tomb to create a relatively harmless series of traps and tricks for the PCs to overcome. After the battle, they heard a strange wailing sound coming from one of the two doors leading away from the chamber and decided to investigate.

Opening the door, they discovered a large pillar-filled chamber. Exploring cautiously, Crumm discovered many pit traps (some he detected, some he accidentally triggered) but thanks to his lightning reflexes none of cushion-filled pits trapped him. He also discovered three levers and another locked door which resisted his attempts to pick. Eventually, after much experimentation, the PCs pulled all three levers at the same time which opened the locked door. Of course, the door slammed shut seconds later and so the PCs wedged the levers in the "up" position using several brooms they had also found. This kept the door opened and allowed them to continue they explorations. Moving forward, they crept closer to the moaning which seemed to be coming from behind a door at the end of the corridor. Before investigating further, they decided to check behind a closer door so they could not be surprised by whatever lay beyond. The chamber beyond held a vicious acid-spewing beetle that almost slew the doughty Fritz before it was slain - it's thick shell warding off the party's increasingly desperate attacks for some time. After this fight, the PCs decided to retreat to the entrance chamber and rest as much of their healing and other magic was now expended without checking the other door discovered in this chamber.

After a restful night sleep, they returned to the wailing door and tried to get into the area beyond. Although Crumm easily picked the lock, the door still resisted their attempts to break through. Reynevar began to force it open using his mighty strength, but discovered a barricade of barrels, boxes and suchlike behind it. As he forced the door further open, a deranged human in the chamber beyond started shooting a light crossbow at him, grievously injuring him. While this struggle was continuing, Claude led an outflanking manoeuvre into the room with the slain acid beetle and through the other door they had recently discovered in the hope that it led to the chamber into which Reynevar was trying to break. Unfortunately, it did not and as Polly's magic subdued the crossbow-wielding maniac, Claude discovered another chamber full of smoke. A smoldering fire filled much of the chamber and as Crumm arrived (and much of the rest of the party backed off) a creature of shadow and fire - a shadow appeared and attacked. Crumm was immediately injured and cut-off from his companions who rushed to his aid. Heroically fighting on, despite having much of his strength drained, he eventually fell seconds before the party's waning supply of magic destroyed the undead monstrosity. Worse was to come, for the PCs had only just begun to relax when a shadowy remnant of Crumm rose from his shrivelled body and attacked his former companions! A desperate and bitter fight broke out in the chamber and although Reynevar and Polly were both weakened by the creature eventually it was destroyed. With heavy hearts the PCs searched through the smoldering fire, finding a key and a magical dagger. While this death struggle continued, however, Elwen Nightstar returned to the chamber in which the deranged human had fought and slew him when he attempted to struggle free of the bonds Fritz had set upon him. Whether she slew him accidentally or on purpose is unclear at this time and as the session drew to a close, Elwen faced the hard questioning of her companions...

Here is a map of their explorations to date:

We are taking a break from Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale to take a run through the first Pathfinder module, Crypt of the Everflame. Our first session was spent generating characters The early parts of this evening were spent buying equipment, running through a couple of rules changes and introducing characters. The brave band of heroes formed to retrieve a portion of the everflame comprises:

Polly a swordslinging female elven wizard, Crumm a burly half-orc rogue. Dolgrim a dextrous male dwarven monk, Fritz a male human paladin of Heironeous, Elwen Nightstar a female half-elf ranger, Claude a male dwarf cleric of Heironeous and Reynevar a male human fighter.

The adventure began on the 4th day of Sunsebb as the winter winds howled around the town of Kassan located somewhere in the Great Kingdom. Our heroes gathered in the town square to receive the blessings of the townsfolk prior to be sent into the frigid wilderness to find and bring a portion of the everflame back to the town so that it may prosper during the long, cold winter months. (The night before Claude and Crumm had spent some time in the local inn trying to find out more about the quest but to no avail - it seemed that the townsfolk were unwilling to provide any insights into the perils of the quest).

After receiving essential supplies from the mayor, the PCs cobbled together the pieces of a ripped map they found in their packs and set out on their quest.  Danger beset them just hours outside Kassan when a band of ferocious orcs attacked the party. Fritz was almost immediately cut down by the fury of their assault, but moments later Elwen Nightstar realized that the orcs were illusions and what could have been a hard-fought battle swiftly petered out as her companions realised the same thing. Investigating the immediate area, Polly discovered several lingering magical auras and determined that the orcs were created by a major image spell. Of the instigator no trace remained beyond a slight smell of pipe smoke hanging in the air.

Deciding that the illusionary orcs were part of the challenge, the party continued onwards eventually setting up camp for the night in a defensive clearing. Polly foraged for provisions, finding some mugwort which she seasoned the brace of hares Elwen brought down with her bow. A delicious aroma filled the campsite and all ate surprisingly well that night. As the party were finishing their meal. the heard the howls of wolves in the distance. The howls came slowly closer until they suddenly stopped. About half an hour later, the party noticed a single, lean wolf creeping towards the camp. A light illuminated the creature and thereafter it was swiftly slain by Dolgrim and Elwen accurate archery. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

The next day dawned cold and gloomy. Dark, angry clouds hung low in the sky as the PCs continued south. Coming to Gray Lake, they discovered the bloated, rotting corpse of a human on the foreshore. Dead for some time (likely months) the corpse exhibited several huge bite marks; investigating the body Polly discovered discolouration around the wound that implied whatever killed him possessed a poisonous bite.  Quickly searching the area (finding a bag of gold and a well made short sword) the PCs - at Claude's insistence - rapidly buried the body before moving on.

As they moved closer to their goal, a hard cold rain began to fall. The portion of the woods they moved through because denser and older and travel slowed to a crawl as the PCs struggled through the muddy maze of trees. Eventually, they reached Snake Gorge and after a perilous descent of its steep slopes reached the Crypt of the Everflame. All was not as it seemed, however. Two horses and three ponies lay slaughtered outside the crypt. Investigating the crypt entrance cautiously, the party discovered a massacre. Two humans lay in pools of their own congealing blood surrounded by almost a dozen skeletons. As the party entered six of the skeletons animated and attacked. Moving with surprising swiftness, they struck down Claude and severely injured several other members of the party before they were destroyed. After the battle. Crumm used the party's only healing potion to revive Claude who then healed his comrades. After a brief discussion, the PCs elected to investigate the strange wailing coming from behind one of the doors...