First time in, like, ages I ran anything, and I'm just so damned excited about it I had to post.

So... it starts with my ex getting back from Japan and being all "run a game or I cut joo!" and I'm all "TEH PH34R!" and she's all "have you met Katie? She play too." and I'm like "sweet."

So... instead of endless phonetag, I use facebook, start a group, schedule an event, etc. All in all, it starts out with four people, it's decided later that another (ex's brother) will play too, 'cause... y'know... he'll be there and have nothing better to do.

Day of I have some trouble getting a ride and have to get there like fifteen minutes late, and get this awesome surprise when I go to the game meet and in addition to the five people who had been scheduled to come, I find some friends of mine who had been going to college out of state.

Ultimately, this is the coolest way a first game has ever started for me. Everybody's there already and more people show up than expected.

Aaaanyway, character creation was much the same as ever. More people than usual had played before, so I didn't have to walk folks through it as much, but there were limited books and all. In the end, the dudes who were just in town for a while had to leave before we could get started. Still left us with five, and it was cool to have gotten to hang out though. The party had a dread necromancer character (she wanted to be "violent" at first and then decided she wanted to be "creepy" and then looked at Heroes of Horror and was all "OMG dead ppl parts hangin' from teh TREES), a rogue (he wanted to be a "lying bastard" in his own words), a human cleric of Corellian Larethian (we made fun of the dirty hippie elf-lover), an evil gnome bard (her evil hasn't really come to the fore as of yet, but I have my hopes), and a damage-spam shifter monk (ex's brother at first kind of was going to sit it out, then borrowed one of the characters from one of the dudes that left early).

I kind of fiated/en media resed folks into the dungeon crawl. The necromancer was hunting a rival, the thief was hired by the thieves guild to get some guy that stole something without their permission, the cleric and the monk were on assignment from their church to get back something that was stolen, and the bard... just was where the crazy shit was happening. Seriously, a ghost outside a well, ghouls terrorizing the countryside, etc. is all good.

The dungeon itself was cool enough. You'd be surprised how far an interesting hidden entrance (a well with a spiral stair inside), one trap (carrion crawler brain juice on the doorknob... so simple and awesome and paralysis is fun), and a couple of quick skirmishes will go. Anyway, what was going on was that someone had stolen some kind of urn that was important to the local royalty for communicating with their dead ancestors, determining the rightful heir, and keeping a lid on a kind of sucky past. He/she/it (gotta love changelings) went to sell it to a necromancer. Hence the dungeon, confrontation, etc. Technically the ghouls aren't something a level one dread necro could make for himself, but I ruled that they were remnants of the old kingdom, which was kind of like the stereotypical decadent rome.

So... yeah. At the end, the fought some undead, fought with the necromancer and the changeling's warforged bodyguard, and are so far half-fooled by the changeling, who escaped into a back room and transformed into a half-elf chick. So they're kind of suspicious, but they're taking the half-elf girl back to the authorities and such.

Am I incoherent? Probably. It's 3am here, so... yeah..

The cleaned up version...

Players/Characters:
Linnea: Played once or twice before, was a big help in getting the game going (convincing me to GM despite my reservations, getting a bunch of folks interested in a game, hosting the session at her place, etc.) Decided to go with an evil gnome bard.
Josh: Introduced through Linnea. Probably has played before (put together his own character on a character sheet he brought to the game). Wasn't that talkative when things were just getting started and we were all wasting time, but seemed to be having fun once the game got going. Played a rogue, stated intention to be "lying bastard."
Katie: Also introduced through Linnea. Apparently big into RPGs in general, both Dungeons and Dragons and White Wolf stuff going several editions back. Also knows about some more obscure stuff. Short attention span, so I ended up having to walk her through character creation even so. She went dread necro 'cause she liked the dead people parts hanging from trees on the cover of Heroes of Horror.
Andrew: Regular gamer. Older friend. Bought in to the whole 3.5 with all the supplements thing. Typically plays the warlock, but was the last to touch his nose this time and is thusly cleric. Decided to play as a human cleric of Corellian Larethian (the elf god). Kind of wtf, but I allowed it.
Corwin: Linnea's bro. Decided he'd play beforehand, got distracted because Andrew brought the xbox (to keep his sister and party from trashing it). Later borrowed Patrick's unused damagespam shifter monk.
Patrick: Regular gamer. Older friend. Generally out of town at college, but he stopped by. Character creation took too long so his shifter monk was left with Corwin.

The game
I kind of just plot deviced folks into the dungeon, because we were short on time and such. The rogue was hired by a thieves' guild to hunt down some character that had stolen something they shouldn't have. The cleric and the monk were sent by the church for similar reasons (the thing that was stolen belonged to their church). The dread necromancer was seeking out another dread necromancer in the area. And the bard... was probably there out of curiosity over the phantom that appeared over the well at sundown. The whole thing was a bit of a stretch, but folks seemed cool with it. They wanted to skip to the dungeon as much as I did, and each individually had some reason to be there even if there isn't a reason yet why they'd be working as a group.

For the dungeon itself, there was a spiral staircase leading down into the well, and a room full of waist-deep water. Getting into the dungeon proper required swimming/crawling through a short submerged passage. After that was another room with a locked door and a doorknob smeared with poison (paralysis) and a corridor with ghouls at one end and the "big bads" of the short scenario at the other. The ghouls were a quick way to teach the cleric and the dread necromancer (and myself X_X) about how to turn and rebuke undead. Also, when to avoid confrontations. Ghouls are pretty badass foes at first level, and things can go south pretty easily. After that, the party took the other route and encountered the changeling rogue, human dread necromancer, and warforged samurai. The party slaughtered that dread necromancer pretty quickly, had a rough time with the warforged at first, and missed the changeling altogether (the changeling pulled an escape that wasn't, disguising himself as a half-elf captive to be lead away by the party and maybe try and get the item they were after back later). After that, there was the kind of general dicking around, searching rooms, and wondering if the half-elf was really the goblin they just encountered (they were pretty sharp on that point, and decided that they'd take her to "the authorities" in the next adventure.)

Final thoughts
Good times. I really hope I can get this thing going again. I noticed some very different things from the games I'm used to. For example, for whatever combat we did, I never pulled out maps and minis. Normally, I put a sheet of graph paper at the center of the table and track folks movement, but somehow it didn't come up and I didn't miss it. There were still one or two instances where I used AoO rules, but mostly based on common sense.

I guess I've left myself with one or two options for the next session. I mentioned (in passing) that the dungeons and such are at least in part the old capital city, and that there are going to be some undead moving about down there for a while from the old kingdom (the urn the players got back was supposed to ward them off). Those who took this whole thing on as a job get to interact (briefly) with their respective organizations. I need to figure out what to do with the changeling posing as a half-elf... both how to roleplay it and when to try and get the urn back (there's no particular need for him/her to succeed, but I'd be lame if I didn't try it). I don't know... something will come to me, or I'll improvise. I really want to get folks introduced to the above-ground stuff... but I'm not sure what the city's going to be like yet.

There are a lot of things I want to try out tomorrow. I really want to get the PCs introduced to / interacting with some friendly NPCs. I need to arrange a sort of opportunity for the changeling rogue posing as a half-elf to re-steal the urn. I'd like for there to be a decent excuse to do some fighting... or some excuse to fall back on combat if the RP feels dry (what can I say... combat's my thing).

My idea is this: The dungeon the players visited is kind of a ways outside the city proper, and the players need to find shelter now that night is falling. There'll be kind of an isolated farm around the halfway point, and some nice old folks willing to take them in. The rogue still wants to steal the urn and the zombies probably realize by now that if the urn is returned they'll return to a state of true death. So... ghouls and ghasts and maybe a few other nasties attack the farm, while the rogue tries to find a way to escape with the urn. The players have shown suspicion of the "half-elf" thus far, so they'll probably thwart him, but we'll see. Also they've demonstrated a certain degree of... moral ambiguity? They may not be too keen on protecting the commoners if worst comes to worst.

In any case... what do you think? I could use some ideas for the farmer family, if it's not too much trouble... something interesting but unrelated to the ghouls.

Also I may need to prep material to stretch it out if need be, but I'm not sure how things will go in the morning.

Lastly... the PCs seemed interested in the silent ghost that waits outside the well. I'd like to find a way to incorporate it later. No biggie though.

I like games, not all of the time mind you but every once in a while, that just start mid sentence-as it were. One of the best games I ever ran started out with the PC's already knee deep in shit, and wounded.

As for the Farming Family, I have no idea what setting your using but farms in ye olden days were labor intensive, and an all day affair. Hence the large families (Both physical stature, and size of the peoples biceps) that worked them. Maybe a mid sized farm with A family Patriarch, and gruff old time farmer, and his sons, who plow the fields and act as his "foremen", his daughters who also work, but cook, a wife, and some hired hands or servants?

A fun thing to do would be corn or wheat farm, where the stalks get high, and there by providing concealment. Or an Orchard-apples, cherries, and such are labor intensive, and then add in some animals-cows, goats, sheep, etc...maybe a dog or two.

Maybe add in a family plot where the last few generations lay in (relative) peace. Might creep some folks out to see Jimmy Jr. who died from the whooping cough claw his way out of the ground. But I digress...

As for hooks for the family, maybe they've secretly turned to worshiping some minor demigod or deity, who demands blood. Maybe even human blood. Or maybe they've found a slight taste for the occasional stranger after a particularly hard winter, and now they can't break the habit? Or perhaps one of the more adventurous but stupid sons stole something, from someone who wants it back, and is now hiding out on the farm? Or hiding it? Maybe someone else is hiding something there, and they don't even know it. Maybe it has a magical effect, maybe it doesn't. (Last winter all of the sudden the sheep started shitting diamonds!)

Perhaps one of the farm hands is a bandit, hiding out, or scouting for a raiding party. Or maybe a noble from a foreign land avoiding assassins.


Hope any of that helps.

Quote from: Serious PaulI like games, not all of the time mind you but every once in a while, that just start mid sentence-as it were. One of the best games I ever ran started out with the PC's already knee deep in shit, and wounded.

Yeah... first game I ever ran started that way. Fun times all around.

QuoteAs for the Farming Family, I have no idea what setting your using but farms in ye olden days were labor intensive, and an all day affair. Hence the large families (Both physical stature, and size of the peoples biceps) that worked them. Maybe a mid sized farm with A family Patriarch, and gruff old time farmer, and his sons, who plow the fields and act as his "foremen", his daughters who also work, but cook, a wife, and some hired hands or servants?

Hmm... sounds reasonable. Ha... I should totally name them "the Farmer Family." I don't know why I saw it as a smaller affair at first, but you're probably right. A farm would be a larger estate with more people. Oh, and a couple of separate buildings. Nothing brings the scary quite like separating the party from their new compatriots.

QuoteA fun thing to do would be corn or wheat farm, where the stalks get high, and there by providing concealment. Or an Orchard-apples, cherries, and such are labor intensive, and then add in some animals-cows, goats, sheep, etc...maybe a dog or two.

A corn field. Cliche in horror movies, but somehow I've never seen it done in a DnD game. I like the way you think.

QuoteAs for hooks for the family, maybe they've secretly turned to worshiping some minor demigod or deity, who demands blood. Maybe even human blood. Or maybe they've found a slight taste for the occasional stranger after a particularly hard winter, and now they can't break the habit? Or perhaps one of the more adventurous but stupid sons stole something, from someone who wants it back, and is now hiding out on the farm? Or hiding it? Maybe someone else is hiding something there, and they don't even know it. Maybe it has a magical effect, maybe it doesn't. (Last winter all of the sudden the sheep started shitting diamonds!)

Perhaps one of the farm hands is a bandit, hiding out, or scouting for a raiding party. Or maybe a noble from a foreign land avoiding assassins.

Hmm... I think having the family already sheltering another traveller actually. I think the players have enough to worry about with the ghoul onslaught and the captive that malevolent hosts might be a bit much, but one backstabber might work. Now... why he'd be there and malevolent I'll have to think about.

QuoteHope any of that helps.

It does very much. Thank you.

Oie.. I should probably update this before I forget things totally.

The Players
The same group as last week with a few additions and alterations.

Patrick, the same guy that had to leave early last week, actually hosted the game at his house. I told him we needed a tank, so he played as a human fighter. He won't be in town again for a while, so it's pretty much just for this one game.

James, a friend of Patrick's and an acquaintance of mine (or so I assume because his face is vaguely familiar and I wasn't introduced). He was there when I got there, so I invited him to play with us. He statted up a duskblade for himself from a PDF on his computer. It looks like he'll be sticking around but has to go to a wedding this next Friday. In any case, I've got another veteran it looks like.

Casey, I knew as an acquaintance, but I didn't know he played. He seems kind of on that borderline between having played before and character creation still being a pain. He put together a barbarian. Mind you, this is our third tank in what is now an eight player party. Not sure if he'll show next week, as he's the only member of our party who doesn't use facebook (which I've been using to organize these things).

Josh I need to mention in passing because he changed his character. I showed him the beguiler ('cause he all wanted to be a "lying bastard") and he was all "ooooo... shiny." So... yeah. He's got more or less the same armor, weapon, skills, abilities, and trapsense, but now he's got a crazy spell list.

the setup
I'd like to just say, and have it on the record, that carrying a huge stack of books and dice on public transit is a real pain and will get you funny looks. I broke one of the straps on one of the backpacks too.

the game
Well... the horror idea kind of went out the window the minute our suddenly eight-player three-fighter party showed up.

The party from the last session took shelter with an old farmer family for the night. The new players were already there, having gotten a similar idea after raiding another dungeon (got some laughs). I had the farmers turn out the lights and act all paranoid when the party first showed up... seemed appropriate given the recent undead activity in the area.

In any case, the party gave the old "we're adventurers looking for shelter" speech and the farmers were fool enough to let these folks into their home. They all sat around eating dinner for a while, and I used it to kind of recap some important details.

Then there's knocking on the door. The family is as paranoid as before (which kind of set the tone for the way the players acted... I guess there was a bit of spooky left to be had before the mass melee). And the players didn't know what to do for a while. They kind of figured out what was going on when the ghouls quoted their "we are adventurers looking for shelter" speech verbatim, but in ghoul voice and mangled common.

The players were pretty sharp. They scouted out the situation before they got to fighting. The warlock/cleric went upstairs and looked out the window and I described the army on their doorstep leading into the fields. He also cast hide from undead on our little gnome bard, so she could get some weapons for the farmers from the tool shed.

Early combat was exciting for a couple rounds until people started realizing the ghouls were just going to keep coming. Around the time that sunk in, I also had the captive attempt to escape (he/she hobgoblin/changeling/half-elf) without first going for the urn, at that... the cleric/warlock had it and was a little too close to combat for her comfort. The necromancer and the bard (both girl players, both half-noobs) kind of hung back mostly. The bard hung back from combat entirely, which confused me. I mentioned in passing that the old woman (one of the family) seemed kind of upset and was hiding under the table and the bard kind of went to go comfort her, so I guess I didn't leave her out entirely. Still... weird.

There was one point at which I realized the necromancer was high enough level to control (rather than just rebuke) the ghouls. So... she actually got herself some minions. The cleric was cross-classed though, and only high enough level to turn them. What ended up happening was that the necromancer got three ghoul minions next to the tool shed, and the cleric turned a number of ghouls that were wearing down our tanks. The ghouls that were wearing down our tanks ran away, provoking attacks of opportunity, *and* provoked attacks of opportunity from the ghoul minions. They got totally butchered. It was fun stuff for all involved.

As a few of the non-tanks (Corwin's shifter and josh's beguiler, if I remember correctly) dealt with and restrained the captive, and Linnea tried calming down the old woman under the table, the fighters thought of a plan to end the endless horde of ghouls. There is an unwritten rule in all RPGs. I don't care if it's Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, Vampire, or freaking DitV; Fire. Fixes. Everything. And there was a cornfield full of ghouls. You can imagine the solution. The duskblade ended up throwing the barbarian (or was it the other way around?) at the ghast, where the barbarian attacked the ghast and attempted to set the fields on fire. Let me add for the hell of it that they also made use of true strike. I know. Crazy.

After that, things kind of wound down. I made one last-ditch effort to have one of the ghouls break the urn, but it was no use. The party succeeded.

Now, in winding down, there was some RP stuff, and some of it freaked me out a little. There was the old woman whose livelihood had been more or less burned to the ground and a captive out back. First thing Patrick does is beat up the captive while the old woman watches. Then he shouts at her (the old woman) when she gets all freaked out. Then the old woman goes to the tool shed for some rope. The two girls in the party talk her down and take the rope (these are supposed to be our evil characters, mind you)... stuff kind of falls into place or peters out from there really.

next week
The party gets back to town. I have no idea how I'm going to do this. No idea whatsoever. Pat won't be here next week. Nor will James. Maybe not Casey. So the group will be manageable sized and tankless or almost tankless, for which I'm thankful. I may bring in Melissa, this girl I kind of hang out with in the lobby of the student center before my classes. She already plays World of Warcraft and some kind of freeform forum-based furry RP called "furtopia" so I figure this is the next logical step. She plays as a vulture person on the freeform RP, so I figure she may go for kenku or some variation on the anthropomorphic template from savage species. I guess whether she comes next session or not is the least of my worries though.

So... town... what to do guys?

Wow. Hmm, sounds like a few of the players aren't as heroic as they could be. This can be fun, if you handle it right. Perhaps the story of what they've done, admittedly slightly slanted as rumors can be, reaches town as they do. People are reluctant to sell to them, or deal with them. Maybe local law enforcement watches them, or even approaches them if they think they can do it with out ending up in the graveyard.

From there they should be nice and paranoid, and ready to get out of town. I'd have a local merchant or someone approach them with work.

• Locals have noticed that bodies have been disappearing from the local graveyards, and they suspect grave robbers, or perhaps an unholy ritual taking place. (Use a member of the clergy to approach them.) Now they need someone to check out the [Insert Creepy Place here]
• A stranger has taken a few rooms at the local tavern and is researching local ruins, and is willing to hire adventurous folks to help him.
• The town is on a trading route, people come and go all the time. Some good and some bad. So when the PC's show up they're nothing new. Guilds have local rep's to hire folks like you.
• Natural disaster strikes. A bar fight, or something mundane, made hellish by  the weather!
• Monster hunt. Straight up random encounter. A few trolls holding down the bridge on the way to town, an ambush by Gnolls looking for loot. You name it.

I'd add in weather, and local events to flesh it out. A festival, rain, storms, heat wave, harvest-you name it.

Hope that helps.

I feel so dirty. I ran a game without combat. More details later.

The Players
This week we had Linnea, Andrew, and Casey. Josh and Katie couldn't show, kind of last minute, and James couldn't make it because of the wedding. Not sure about Corwin. In any case, hardly a full house.

Prep
I rather botched prep from a mechanical perspective this week. I didn't get to it earlier in the week and a blackout rather foiled any attempts at last minute work.

Shed
This week we played at Andrew's house, and let me tell you it is a cool place for gaming. We've been rotating so far, but I think this place is perfect. He's got kind of a shed out back with a stereo and an itrip so you can hook up some decent music. I don't know... it just strikes me as a cool place to game.

The Game
So we got to playing, and I knew I wanted to kind of introduce the players to the plot and figure out who they would side with. I hadn't had a lot of time to prep, so I borrowed the weather idea for some hail (perfect because it was already raining where we were, and people felt less bad all-around about the crop burning), and I threw a "your princess is in another castle sorry it isn't over" adventure their way. Anyway, on to specifics.

Players got up at the farm and headed out in the rain. When they got to the church, they found out that one of the clergy had been kidnapped. There was a withered corpse left behind with a note, offering an exchange: the urn for the hostage. It promised they would send a messenger to lead the party to the exchange point that night.

Players spent the day in town and did the whole gathering information thing and, as it turns out, there's a bit of a conflict of interest between the king and some wealthy merchant families. Andrew's one of our sharper players. He was one of the people that initially caught on to the changeling rogue's false escape. But it's scary how quick he caught on to the connection between this stuff and the urn. See, the urn is supposed to discern the rightful heir to the throne, act as a means to communicate with the dead royalty, and keep the vengeful undead of the old empire at bay.

In any case, night came and the body that had been left in the church got up, stretched a little, and offered to guide them to the exchange point. Apparently there's a reason ghouls are only active at night in my setting. I still don't know what that reason is yet. In any case, the ghoul guided the party to an old derelict building where the three players talked it out with a human and some of his ghouls.

See, the merchant families want to oust the current king and put his half-brother on the throne. The ghouls just like being undead rather than full dead. So the man asks the party if they want to exchange the urn for the hostage, and also asks if the party wants to join forces with them for the coup and all that.

The party asks for some time to think it over, so I give them some time. Honestly, my party has given me some clues they wanted to play the bad guys, so I wasn't surprised when they took the man up on his offer. They exchange the urn for the hostage. The man gets the urn, and he smashes it on the banister. The players seemed kind of surprised for a second. It was kind of a "did I do that?" moment.

And now they're on their way back to the church to figure out how the hell they're going to explain this, either to their higher ups or to the rest of the party.

Thoughts on what to run next session later I guess. I'm probably going somewhere with all this.

This next adventure, I hope to get some things done in the city. I mentioned the whole merchant families vs. king's administration thing earlier, and I want to introduce the players that weren't there at the last game to this stuff. I think, though, that we're sick of the ghouls and have seen enough of the church. One of the players has expressed interest in a kind of sneaky surveillance type adventure.

So the players are in the town, which sits on top of the old capitol (dungeons!) and in the middle of some sort of trade routes (crazy stuff from far away and conflict over money). I'm thinking that maybe the players get hired to do some work spying on or stealing from a specific merchant family or something. This way I'll kind of be able to get everybody on the same page. Also, it's still hailing, and I figure that has some effect on the area (crops and stuff), and the undead from the old empire are here to stay more or less, until we find some permanent solution.

In the long term, people are trying to stage a coup and place the king's half-brother on the throne. There may be some ideological factions tacked on to the whole conflict over money thing. It'd be hilarious to have the upper-middle class that developed in times of prosperity overthrow the central government only to be overthrown in turn by a communist revolution. Actually, a communist revolution in dungeons and dragons is hilarious regardless of the circumstances... especially if there are dwarves involved.

EDIT: Monster loose in a city with perpetual hail might be fun too, for this next session.

Quote from: beejazzActually, a communist revolution in dungeons and dragons is hilarious regardless of the circumstances... especially if there are dwarves involved.

whereas the gnomes are anarchists, inspired by Gnome Chomsky and Gnome E. Klein...

"come dungeons dark or gallows grim
this song shall be our parting hymn."

is from 'The Red Flag' - easy to imagine it as a dwarf marching song.

Of course. Gnome Chomsky.

Can't throw a communist party without inviting that guy.

Okay... so this next session I know more or less what I want to do.

1. There's a monster loose in town.
2. Someone wants the players to spy on / steal from someone else.
3. The two are somehow related.

I really don't know what else besides that. This next week it looks like Katie and Josh might show up (necro and beguiler, respectively). We're meeting at Andrew's house (he's the warlock/cleric) and probably inviting a new member (damagespam warlock/fighter).

So... any ideas? Any that don't involve the church and the ghouls? I was thinking somebody put together a flesh golem at first, but... way too tough for my second level dudes. Especially since they're low on healing.

Perhaps the Flesh Golem isn't at full strength? Perhaps it is wounded already, or some of it's abilities do not function? Perhaps the Golem is going to attack the person they, the PC's, are being paid to watch. Or maybe the person they're watching creates it.

I had an idea for the monster, or rather a new way to implement a flesh-golem. Reverse advancement using Savage Species. Oh, I am a gear-head supplement-whore.

On an unrelated note, Stephen is making his character ahead of time, and asking for my input. He's playing straight warlock with unarmed strike, power attack, and hideous blow. Apparently superior unarmed strike requires a +3 BAB. From the sounds of things, though, he'll suddenly be very efficient in combat around fourth level.

EDIT: For the adventure itself, I'm thinking of going with having the monster attack the people they're being payed to watch, and leaving it at CR 3 or 4. Also, I'm probably going to throw our new player into the party by way of poorly-justified tavern brawl, at his suggestion. Actually, I'm surprised we've played this long without a tavern brawl.

Specifically, I'm going to treat the game as a murder investigation. Dead bodies show up ('cause of the monster, but they don't know that yet). Players are hired to follow those suspected. Monster eventually found to be the cause of the murders, but only after it's attacked the suspects. Nice three-way chaos. Now... why would the PCs or their employer single out so-and-so for the murder of so-and-so? And who are these people? Ack. Last minute stuff.