Launch of Gnarth 2.0 Campaign

skirting the shores of the Great Crater Lake

The Party  (I think they need a Gang Name)
Rose, Human, Knight of the Mystic Order of Gnarth, master of longbow and 2-handed sword,
Tarkus Traptripper, Human, Fighter and door-opener of renown,
Xy, Green Gnartian, Mutant Mastermind and Magic-Sniffer,
Gorn, Reptilian, Fighter, deadly with Gnartian Quill Pistol, known to eat his kill,
and introducing,
Cenaturi, Purple Gnartian, Mutant Mastermind whose cunning will likely prove beneficial for The Party in many ways...

Finally... started playing again, DMing my Gnarth campaign.  Everyone was a bit rusty, some hadn't been to the table in almost a year.  Follies incl. The Party serendipitously 'finding' a map which revealed the one room they hadn't yet discovered in the Serpentman Caves, a hidden temple with an altar and curtained alcove.  Tarkus Traptripper once again performed his perfunctory duty, yanking aside the curtain, which triggered the Trap; a chute in the alcove swung open and dumped a startled and angry Vorpion in his lap.  Although severely mauled by the initial attack, Tarkus gave back just as well, and the creature was sound surrounded and eviscerated from all sides.  Centauri claimed the segemented, insectoid tail claw of the Vorpion... to wear as a hat.  A pretty cool magic item hidden in the altar would likely have been discovered, if The Party hadn't, for some reason, assumed that the initial examination of the altar by a single PC was sufficient...!  The Party is unwittingly still carrying the key to this stash, hidden within a looted bronze cobra statuette.  Will they ever find it, and if they do, go all the way back?

After exiting the caves and crossing out of the Rust Desert, they encountered a band of Blue Gnartian Raiders, approx 200 yards away, as each group crested opposing rocky dunes along the shore of the Great Crater Lake... the Raiders were all armed with longbows, the party was not!  After injuring most in a segment of surprise, Initiative was rolled for the following round, the Party won... and stood there.  Some attempted to decipher what the Blue Leader was shouting to his minions from atop his rusty-armored Monoceratops, it was something along the lines of, "Keep firing, fools!"  After a few rnds of this, the Blues eventually lost a man to the one decent archer among The Party, and Blue Leader lost patience and charged.  Despite the pincushioning of nearly all the PCs, and the subsequent dino-trampling of Tarkus Traptripper, the party rather easily dispatched their mismatched foes in melee.  Even the Monoceratops, draped in his scraps of rusty armor, just rolled terribly.  Blue Leader offered to take them to the 'unguarded' bandit hideout, but Centauri the Mastermind knew from his Mutant ESP that while the treasure was real, there were two Blues on guard, or so the Leader thought; once they approached the hideout, the Surprise tables were turned, and the party was able to approach withing the range of their ranged weapons, and slaughtered the slacking guards without hassle.  A secreted, badly rusted and unlocked chest was found, containing coins and a few minor pieces of jewelry.  Xy, the other Mutant Mastermind, sniffed to Smell Magic, but the enticing scent of cinnamon was not detected, and the Party assumed the Bandit Lair for the night.

10GP Gem: a record-keeping page for Proper Nouns, three columns; People (NPCs, legendary figures, etc), Places (visited, rumored), Things (items, creatures encountered)... anything important enough to be given a proper Name.

Highlight o' the Night:  Centauri using his Alter Mass and Telekinetic Arm Mutations in tandem, to make himself weightless, and then carry himself across a field of battle.  My atrophied DM mind was blown.

Screwing with the Players

Just some misc ideas from the past few sessions...

-a pit with a metal ladder attached to the side.  At the bottom, a Secret Door was detected, but no one could figure out how to open it, even though the entire party eventually descended and examined the circular walls and the entire floor surface.  As every character repeated the same actions as the last, I repeatedly said, "There appears to be nothing in this pit except the faint outline of a Secret Door, and of course the ladder."  ...The mechanism for opening the door was located on the underside of the lowest ladder rung!

-a series of Continual Light "nodules" spaced every 10'  along the corridor walls soon became commonplace.  One of these was apparently "burned out", and did not glow, and although I mentioned it in passing each time the party trekked up and down this corridor, no one bothered to mess with it and discover that it was the mechanism for opening yet another Secret Door!

-although a character used Psychometry (Object Reading) to reveal that a peculiar metal door could only be opened by the sound of a particular tuning fork, no one realized that the protruding tongue of a serpent idol (a "forked tongue", mind you) was detachable!  (It was also trapped to deliver an electric shock)

-two magical mirrors in a certain chamber were determined to be Teleportational doorways, each connected to an identical counterpart, one in a nondescript cavern, the other in some sort of cellar or basement.  Fearing that a fleeing enemy had used one of these to escape and might return with reinforcements, an ingenious player suggested detaching one from the wall and propping it up facing the other, so that anyone attempting to enter the chamber from either the cave or the cellar area would pass through both mirrors, and find themselves emerging in the wrong area!  This one really screwed with me!

-the floor of a dungeon corridor abruptly dropped down five feet, but then continued onward from there.  After puzzling over this odd design feature, the lead character decided to hop down to the lower part of the corridor,  triggering the concealed pit trap which lay immediately after the drop-off, and his five foot drop abruptly became a 25 foot drop!

-no one could find the key to a certain locked chest, because it wasn't on the person of any of the dungeon inhabitants, nor was it in any of their private quarters.  It was hidden inside the skull of the "prisoner" who had apparently died within the (oddly) unlocked holding cell!

-knowing that an evil Wizard was likely to repeat his use a Wall of Fire spell in order to escape from the party once again, a Resist Fire was cast on the Fighters so that they could possibly pursue him when he was again encountered.  However, the Wizard instead chose to cast the Wall of Fire to split the party, casting it on the entrance to his chamber, and had his minions engage the leading Fighters while the party's Magic User fumed outside in the corridor, unwilling to risk the life of his 15 HP PC by braving the flames!

-the evil Wizard mentioned above, after barely escaping the initial encounter with the party, had become quite aware of a certain PCs "secret weapon", a cloak made from an Owlbear hide (complete with a beaked hood that made him look like Hawkman!) which allowed him to Polymorph into a death-dealing Owlbear (1/day), and so chose Charm Monster in preparation for his second encounter.  The party's table-turning Polymorph maneuver was nearly turned back upon them with what would surely have been disastrous results, but of course the lucky PC/Owlbear managed to make his Save... by one pip of the d20!

My turn to Play, your turn to DM!

Haven't been posting; distracted by the real world, and not DMing lately.  Our group takes turns at the helm, allowing those who want to DM to do so, and ea DM has their own campaign world, so I've been kinda lax with developing Gnarth and have just been enjoying playing my favorite character in my buddy's game.*

Thinking I'm still going to post "This Week's Game" anyhow, and blog about the events from a Player's point of view.  The last session involved climbing the "Endless Stair" from the module of the same name, heavily modified from the original version, no doubt, as our current DM is notorious for altering published adventures to the point that the original is barely recognizable, yet is immediately recognizable as "Brett's Game"!  You have taught me well, my master!

Spent the entire session climbing a spiral staircase into the sky, trying to avoid/overcome traps, posted guardians, and Summoned beasties, in an attempt to reach a "planar nexus" which would allow us access to the Abyss.  I could spend a few pages detailing our efforts... but I think that the best part of This Week's Game was the Staircase itself!  Knowing that we could slip or be tossed off of the stairs to fall hundreds of feet to our deaths at any time was a real Rush!  Made us really Think, and Discuss, and Argue a bit, too!  None of this "Screw it, let's just charge 'em!" mentality.  It was a genuine Thinking Player's session, and a lot of fun, and all because of a simple change of  venue from the norm.

*Aesson the Thief is now 14th (holy crap!) level... I like to incl a "starting date" for my PCs on the Char Sheet.  At the top of Aesson's sheet it says "Summer '86."  That's Nineteen Eighty Six, kids.  ...Wow.  Happy 25th anniversary Aesson!  'Bout time you settled down with a Guild of your very own, old friend!

This Week's Game - The Long Road to Ognar

Just a lot of bumpy roads and Random Encounters as the Party crosses the grasslands on their way to the Eternal City. They chose to ride with a caravan rather than purchase (admittedly expensive) mounts, which surprised me, but I think the "new" planet is freaking them out ("Excellent..."). A Wyvern did make off with a merchant from the next wagon, and since there was no way to bring down the beast before it got away, Sot Palad chose to target the unfortunate pottery vendor with a volley of Magic Missiles, killing him instantly rather than allowing him to be eaten alive by the flying horror. While opinions differed on the morality &/or advisability of this action, all agreed with a wry grin that it was the nicest thing the Wizard had ever done for a stranger!
Next session will involve the weeping widow in the next wagon... will the Party choose to lend a hand, possibly even part with some of the meager, hard-won GP they've decided to save until reaching Ognar?

Temple o' the Toad pt 4

The Party had some odd events befall...

A pit in a natural cavern appeared to be a well of some sort. Four equidistant metal rings were secured to the floor along the rim of the 10' diam shaft. From these, a set of four slimy metal chains dangled into dark water 50' below, and a quick Levitating Recon by Borune revealed nothing else. The party debated hauling up one or all of these, separately or simultaneously, and decided to drag on one of the chains, bringing up a metal bucket of blackish water. I was surprised when they left it at that, and went to explore the stairs to lvl III! They didn't even examine or dump out the bucket! It was unremarkable, but that only meant that one of the remaining three buckets was the one which held "a (very) Minor Random Magic, Tech, or useful Mundane Item", which I decided I'd determine on the fly, sunken to the bottom of the bucket... and so they passed on the only piece of unguarded treasure in the place!

A stone table in the center of a large, seemingly empty domed chamber was lit by a feeble "spotlight" from above. This pedestal was inscribed with a Glyph of the Unseen Object, which caused all to Save upon viewing, so that only Borune was able to perceive that their were items of possible interest arranged upon it. As I like surprises, these were also determined when they entered; a Crystal Flask w/stopper (Endless Water), a "faceted metallic egg" (Tech Grenade, "irritant" - like mace), and a shiny aluminum canister (of Scoobies). This proved enough to entice the party to send the unwounded fighters in to examine the table, while the others remained tightly packed in the hallway outside. A few Chupacabra scuttled forth from narrow side tunnels, and were soon dispatched, and then the Duodon* extended its snaky necks through two of the rat-holes, and attacked with two of its most powerful Spells, a Fireball for the majority of the party huddled "safely" in the hall outside, and a Lightning Bolt for Tarkas, who had shown himself to be a powerhouse against the Chupes. Total confusion ensued... were more giant snakes coming out of all the side tunnels, where were spells coming from, should we retreat down the hall and up the ladder, what about the loot on the table (maybe its not even real!), ...and on the following rnd... the Duodon heads, now exposed, revealed that they were the source of the spells by casting Web to block off all retreat, then Magic Missiles to disrupt spell casting. As the fighters took cover behind the table and fired ranged weapons, Rose managed a Silence Spell, which effectively robbed the Duodon of its spells, and so it withdrew its heads into the secret vault which was its lair, but the secret entrance was discovered, and the party either wisely pressed what little advantage they had, or foolishly charged onward despite injuries... anyway, they pursued and slaughtered the beast, which couldn't seem to score any decent damage or catch a break with any of its remaining spells. Such are the dice. The Party discovered a pile of bones and debris which also held assorted coins and jewelry, and also a personal Energy Field Generator harness, the power pack readout revealing 14 charges remaining (determined to be a Displacer emitter, acting as the Cloak)

Also in the Duodon's secret vault was a statue of Hastur, squatting and contemplating his palms. After a few rnds, a sphere of faint grayish radiance appeared in its lap, the party became inexplicably FREAKED OUT by this, snatched up everything, and made their way back upstairs. OK, I'll admit there was a nasty Glyph on the statue which would have affected any approaching it, and the party was depleted, but the radiance was obscuring a Gnartian Artifact, a very powerful legacy of the Elder Races. Once again, I hadn't determined exactly what is was, but it was an Artifact! All they had to do was grab it and pull it out of the radiance! (If they had, I had a scary earth-tremor planned, which would crack the ceiling and dislodge some debris, but not collapse the place) There were NO MORE Wandering Monsters left in the place! This was THE PRIZE from the entire dungeon! I dunno. The "radiance" may appear again, if they go back, or maybe not! Oh, and just so ya know, although powerful, a Gnartian Artifact is not of the caliber of an AD&D Artifact, and often has a limited # of uses, and this particular one was Cursed to summon an angry Byakhee to carry the bearer off when used. I'm not running a "give away"!

Temple o' the Toad pt 3

While investigating a Toad statue, the party is surprised by a relatively small yellow & green toad that had been lurking beneath the thing. I had said nothing more, but two of my Players, knowing my love of Futurama, said, "Do its eyes light up?/Does it start buzzing?", referring to the Hypnotoad from the cartoon. Thing was, it was a Hypnotoad, and so I said, "Yeah, everyone in the room make a Save!" I think they thought I was just going along with their inadvertent suggestion, but I swear, I had "Hypnotoad" written in the room description. Only one PC succumbed to Hypnosis, Xy the Mutant Mastermind. At this cue, the three Froglodyte Mummies hidden in plastered-up niches burst forth, also gaining surprise. These were top-of-the-line Spellcasting Froglodyte Mummies, former Wizards in life, and so in the first two rnd of action, one PC had been Hypnotized, Tarkas was Charmed and made to attack the party, one Mummy managed to cast Mirror Images (2), and the third Mummy cast Darkness, which enclosed both the hypnotized Xy and Quinn (thief) in inky black. Quinn took a cue from his opponents, and downed his Potion of Mirror Images in the dark, stumbling out afterward as three Quinns, two of which promptly disappeared in puffs of smoke as the Mummy in Darkness cast a spread of Magic Missiles at all three of them.* The unfortunate Rose (cleric) took the brunt of fellow PC Tarkas' Charm-fueled attack, and was soon mowed down by the death-dealing Fighter, but not before using a precious charge from her Horn of Valkyrie Summoning. Tarkas then went after the Wizard, Sot Palad, who had used his Potion of Human Control to attempt to take over control of the Charmed fighter, to no effect ("Sure, now I make my Save!"). Borune (cleric) took a Missile from another Mummy, ruining his Spell, as did Sot, but his Shield Spell negated it, allowing his desperation-driven Web to affect... two of the Mummies, as well as Quinn, but not the Charmed Tarkas, Dark Mummy or Xy (also took out the hypnotoad). It was then pointed out that the Hypnotoad could not function w/in the Darkness, so (with some cajoling) it was ruled out, and Xy, still w/in Darkness, engaged his Sonar Mutation, and attacked the Darkened Mummy. (oddly, this one had managed to cast Invisibility on itself, intending to exit the Dark at an advantageous point and attack, but since Xy's Sonar detects only a rough outline, the Mastermind, still in Darkness, didn't even realize his opponent was Invisible!) At this point, a shimmering Amazonian /Nordic Valkyrie appeared, attempting to take out the Mummy who held Tarkas in Charm and somehow managed to fail Save (and Magic resistance!), and was caught in the Web! While various pointless acts of desperation were performed, Quinn used a special property of his magic sword to cut himself free of Webs**, and those others who were Webbed eventually broke loose, the Mirror Image Mummy withered a few limbs with his Undead touch, Sot was reduced to near death by Tarkas in the hallway, and Borune attempted valiantly but unsuccessfully to overbear Tarkas. Quinn, low on HP, but plucky, joined the Valkyrie in beating on the Charm Mummy, as did Xy, who turned his back on his opponent to fire his Gnartian quill pistol at the Charm Mummy as well! (Tarkas on your side is great... but when he switches sides, all that damage the Party so loves becomes a serious threat!) Sot had fled, as did Borune, immediately after reviving the fallen Rose, who took advantage of her foe's Darkness, and hid in it from the other Mummies! Then, the tide turned; Charm Mummy fell, freeing Tarkas, who, along with the now unengaged Valkyrie, and doughty Quinn, finally eliminated the Mirror Images, and soon dispatched the second Mummy. Darkness Mummy, just about to attack the nearby, unsuspecting Rose, also soon fell - Borune had returned and cast Light, and the exposed final Mummy was borne down by everyone with any HP, plus the Valkyrie! Everyone took a deep breath, applied First Aid, and looked around at the carnage... everyone reduced to single-digit HP (Except Tarkas!) and totally depleted of Spells. It was near-perfect. It was at this point I realized I had forgotten the Mummies' Fear aura, and had not made the Party Save vs Fear at the outset!

(best Yakov Smirnov voice) "What a combat!"

Also, Sot Palad became aware of a rattling in his backpack; the Living Dagger of Venom was hungry. In one of those moves that make me love my Group, he took it upon himself to roll a d20 "vs Stupidity" (INT check), and said, "Yeah, I'm stupid enough... I open the box and take out the (unidentified, though certainly poisonous) dagger!" Using it to dispatch an unfortunate Sleeping Froglodyte, he realized that it was a potent weapon indeed, and wisely stowed it again for further examination later. Sometimes... he not so stupid!

MVP candidate: Xy, for exposing himself to near-certain limb Withering in order to do the most profitable action for the Party.

*if ya didn't know, MM is the ideal response to Mirror Images
** the Sword of Free Passage is a short sword +2, allows bearer to cut through Webs in 1rnd, Knock 1/day, and renders him immune to Hold/Paralysis when held

Temple o' the Toad pt 2

FEB 10, 2011

Both Gorn and Thorax remain in "room 11", lamenting their numerous Withered limbs, the result of a previous encounter with Froglodyte Mummies, sharing Quinn's "Ring of Regenerating (1HP/hr) While you Sleep", which apparently also restores atrophied limbs in lieu of its usual effect.(1limb/day). Thorax's idea!

A new Gnarticle was added to the lexicon when the tarry, coin-encrusted Froglodyte Mummy burst forth from what Tarkus Traptripper termed a "Gnarcophagus"! Rose employed her Silence Spell to great effect, rendering the Spellcasting abilities of the ancient amphibian Mummies useless.

After returning to the "locked, seemingly secure" room 11 for like the fourth time, the party finally decides to investigate the mysterious stone block with undecipherable runes! Xy the Mutant Mastermind used Psychometry to reveal a vision of the block being pivoted aside to reveal a cavity... from which Sot Palad drew forth a Dagger of Venom from a suspiciously-unlocked box, and Failed save vs Spells to avoid plunging it into his chest! Reduced to 2HP, the Wizard chose to immediately place the weapon "back in the box"... not realizing that the Save vs Suicide Stab was written as a one-time occurrence, which only happens the FIRST time a character handles the object! Otherwise, it is a semi-living um... thing, which produces up to 3 doses of Venom/day, doing 3d6 dam, save for 1/2. I had concerns that introducing this weapon would spur the combat-foolhardy mage into ill-advised melee even more often, or that the unscrupulous PCs would pull something like, "Would you trade that Potion for a Magic Dagger? Here, check it out..." However, in typically unpredictable fashion, nothing I anticipated occurred, and this potent, deadly weapon now lies "safe" in a box somewhere in Sot's backpack! Still, its gonna be fun when it gets hungry, and starts rattling around in there!

A second visit to the "Hatchery" room revealed that the strange reptilian egg remains incubating in its nest, and Tarkus once again expressed desire to take it, noting that "and least I could throw it at something", but is once again dissuaded, "at least till we leave the dungeon"

We leave off with the party entering the natural caverns where the natural pool is located, and being confronted by five table-sized Massive Toads...

("Temple of the Toad" is my version of The Fane of St Toad ... but there are so many Frog Gods and God Frogs and such... isn't it also the name of another adventure, or something?)

'WELCOME TO THE WORRRLD OF TOMORRROW!"

Rather than start a brand-new, 1st lvl campaign in my newly designed World of Gnarth, the existing party has been transported from (tradit. mythological/fantasy) Calantos to (futuristic, weird science) Gnarth via a Gate of the Serpent People. Arrive clueless to find a battle raging between a One-Eyed Psionic Giant and a party of (mostly!) Humanoids, are immediately attacked themselves by the Giant, which is dispatched with the aid of the native strangers. The abused survivors take refuge in a Barrow Tomb (?) entrance, but their leader, Gamma Ray Gary, expires from a fatal combination of old age and radiation poisoning. Before departing, the bespectacled, bearded Gary informs the party that they're not in Oz anymore, divides his loot among his alien companions, and gives his Earth Man revolver to the party (along w/20 silver bullets!), and asks that "his boys" be taken on by the Party - both sides heartily agree - and finally requests that the party at some point journey to Og to deliver a deed for some property in the Eternal City to his brother... Irradium-Ray Ernie.
And so, standing atop a set of damp, dank stairs descending to darkness, silhouetted by the light of two moons, we find our intrepid adventures poised on the brink of yet another subterranean (subgnartian?) excursion:

THE CALANTOSI
Sot Palad -wiry and ruthless Wizard, lvl 4, he may only have 1st and 2nd lvl Spells, but his Ring duplicates whichever formulae he memorizes!
Tarkus Traptripper - F5 he's the big guy who opens the doors, covers the retreats, and generally kicks ass in between. Also "checks for traps" by aggressively walking into/over/near, touching/pressing/pulling whatever is likely to do him damage
Borune of Und - confused Cleric of a Fire God, not dealing well with being cut-off from his deity but determined to survive
Rose of Uller - cautiously resigned Cleric, kept generally cheery by her Rose Colored Spectacles. The lone voice of reason
Quinn "The Medicineman/woman" - Wary thief whose skills, and ability to transform into an Owlbear courtesy of the mangy pelt he always wears, have turned the tides on many occasions

THE NEW GUYS
Gorn - a Reptillian fighter with a big axe and an appetite for flesh
Xy - a Green Gnartian whose strange abilities as a Mutant Mastermind are proving most appreciated, particularly his Regeneration, Object Reading, and "Lucky" (auto make any one Save/day)
Thorax - iridescent Insectaur fighter, leaping into melee with a flurry of short swords and shields

also featuring Skully, the Talking Skull, whose Legend Lore and Practical Knowledge had been rendered mostly useless on this unfamiliar planet, but who (which?) has found new purpose in relating the extensive stored knowledge of the recently-departed Gamma Ray Gary, which, to everyone's surprise - even mine - he was able to "download a copy of" when the well-traveled Earthman made his final (?) voyage. (seems this is how Skully arrived at his store of knowledge; he has gained a lifetime of experience from each of his former owners! I dread the day Xy decides to use Object Reading on Skully, and I have to invent a list of departed owners on another planet)

What mind-bending weirdness awaits in the Temple of the Toad?

http://planetalgol.blogspot.com/2010/03/planet-algol-artwork-preview-and-robust.

http://shirosrpg.blogspot.com/2009/04/fane-of-st-toad.html