Pendragon Review

Besides playing 6 games a month, studying, in a relationship one reason ive not been writing much is I have been collecting the current edition of Pendragon RPG and reading it, as well as all my older editions.

Why play Pendragon?

Im not really into the idea that games are art because the art world is full of rarefied bullshit and faux intellectualism and bad philosophy. I'm quite happy not overintellectualising my games or subscribing to shitty forge theory or other pseudo-academic-appearing notions.

But I think Pendragon in my mind, is and was closer to a work of art than other games. Firstly, drawing from the literary sources that I enjoy (without the weird nationalism) it gains a weight of literary references. I have also enjoyed lots of the tone of the art in various versions which is not really like fantasy game art. With the rise of story games, I'm amazed Pendragon was not cited more often because this and the Prince Valiant game were pioneers in this field. I still get people say it is too complex but it's not compared to D&D or RQ/BRP games.

This game has ideas that will benefit any campaign. It pioneered the yearly game turn or winter phase where its too snowy to adventure, and you do stuff like get married, work on your estate, train and more. You also roll to see if your partner or children or horses survive. You do maybe an adventure a year or try to play a year of time per game. 

For most D&D these ideas fit into high-level domain play well. For long-term sandbox games, these domain ideas can ad an extra layer to play. In my RQ games, we used lots of these as you need something to do with your money. Romance and family can make adventure hooks, and long downtime is good for training in a skill-based game.

Having a campaign game last years or decades is a great experience and feels more weighty. Probably since the 80s, Pendragon has influenced all my games. Beyond the campaign, the adventures feature moral and character-trait tests that are wildly different from physical challenges. Even in my Greek-themed games, tests of mercy, charity, and thoughtfulness might appear in your path as tests from the gods. Many challenges in Pendragon are moral threats that can change your knight character. These sorts of encounters can push more roleplaying and make being a murder hobo harder. Making up for your hasty mistakes can also be a challenge.

To play the full 70-year campaign, your knights need heirs to carry on their name, and luck might make this harder. You can just play one-off adventures, solo play or play famous knights, perhaps. I like starting as squires and getting to know the feudal system and estates bit by bit and growing to knighthood with your own estate. Religious test ideas could be used in lots of games too. Not every fight is necessary or wise. Encounters can be more important than they seem, testing your worthiness and not just combat.

Basics
Pendragon is a simplified BRP system with d20 rolls where combat can be quite lethal if fighting an equal. Bandits tend to flee quickly after a few are killed by mounted knights. Knights have various personality traits not just listed but with scores that are rolled during tests in play. Your knight is suspicious often, this trait might increase and they might fail to trust someone at some point. Your knight is seduced by your host's wife? Maybe they give in and it causes lots of trouble. The system tends to create plenty of non-combat drama and problem-solving is quite different when you consider your social standing and honour. Your character doing things you dont want to is kind of refreshing vs games where you never surrender or consider consequences much. Grudges with other knights is a serious problem so your interactions with NPCs are more nuanced. 

Injuries can take months to heal so another reason to adventure yearly.

Current Edition
The current edition is a beautiful product line with nice paper and art. It is a bit more wordy. I feel the 1990 edition and companion do most of what the core books now do with less space.

The box set is lovely with solo play and the start of a campagn to last multiple sessions. It has stunning gatefold character sheets to start and a solo adventure you could run with several players and get to meet Merlin and Arthur. All the basic game systems are detailed enough to get started. There are also cards for mass combat not in the other books, and they feel pretty essential. The campaign cements your relations with many characters and gives you various missions of diplomacy, enchanted woods and important support for the king's battles. It's one of the better box sets ever.

Feast cards are available online. I'm not sure if more battle cards are too - id hope you get other ones for later play. Chaosium is quite good for extra online material.

The Game Masters Screen Pack I feel, is essential to go forward or even start. Besides a nice screen, it has a map and two books. One is a kingdom gazetteer and another is for family backgrounds and marriage, essential for long campaigns. World info here is pretty essential to make your own adventures and incorporate players' families into the setting. In older editions, this stuff was in core character generation. Most of this stuff I keep in the box set.

The Core Rulebook sets up the feel and style of the setting, briefly outlines the chronology, types of knights, more detail on game mechanics and their use, more examples, other maps, travel, more detailed character creation, glory, passions, being melancholy, skills, honour, glory and other game concepts in more detail. With high scores in your personality traits, you can qualify for specific benefits and titles. Mass combat is a bigger feature than most games and I like this system and look forward to trying. Lots of detail on horses, arms and armour. The coat of arms generator is fun. Basically expands the box set rules and for more flexible character creation and advancement.

Gamemasters Handbook talks more about the setting, running campagn time, feasts, hunting, seduction, tournaments, jousts, diplomacy, religious options, holy sites, magic, miracles, faeries, fiends, more battle details, npc stats like famous knights you might meet or play, foes, bestiary and scenarios.  

You could just get the box set and play
You could just get the GM and core book to play
The Screen pack would help with either of the above
Starting with the box then getting other stuff would be best

I have Nobles book on the way
The old Pendragon Campagn book with 70 years of play is being updated with multiple volumes

The Sauvage King is a great adventure where for various reasons, you enter the haunted wood and resolve its curses. It could be revisited and is a great bit of adventure sandbox design. Id prefer to run this when characters start having babies to use the challenging hook. With work, you could use this for other games.

The Grey Knight is much improved over the older versions and is a good campagn of various challenges to help Gawain and save the kings honour vs an evil plot. Its a fetch quest into the cursed wasteland and probably better to run before Sauvage King. Basically a fetchquest but with lots of twists and turns and moral tests. This adventure a bit more linear but has many choices that will test your knights and have consequences. I don't think it would work as well for other games for adaptation. 

I had a few sessions as squires and would like to try a long holiday game some time. I highly recommend it to try and learn from for ideas in other fantasy games. I think it works better with more of the books for a longer campaign but a box set for taste is a good start. If you see the 1990 edition and campagn they do most of what the gm pack, box set and two hardback rules tomes do. I felt more comfortable running it with all the above books and the older edition gear still is useful. Any other Arthurian game seems shallow compared to this.

  

Auldwood or the Wild North? EMO Gamelog

A game of my homebrew today.

Ive got the skeleton of character classes built but now I'm getting equipment lists and a weapon chart done. Modding skills and weapon footnotes mostly. Next will start Skill revision and getting some player input.

Three players tonight.

The mysterious Big Ted, a masked seer who has gone from common pub cook to disciplined mentalist warrior seer. He wears heavier armour and a large kite shield. He uses a mace which his Seer power lets him vibrate for extra damage and he has some cantrips. Has also been working on lay hands and a Healing Lore that lets all his healing spells and powers +1 point. He uses his disciplines to gorge himself on food and booze to heal himself also. Has adopted a dog Salty and bought him armour. Also a teen lizard person. Has oaths to help commoners and is good enough and strong enough now to not let others push him into Murderhoboism. Seers use their abilities to find lost knowledge and are the martial arm of Mystics.

Handfish player was absent but in party caravan with lizard teen follower. 

The Baroness an expert (at Deciet) runs her travelling theatre, adopting ladies, especially ones who were pretending to be boys to get into adventuring. Sonja her first follower is a axe weilding woodswoman. Others include Granny a merchant and a few crowsbow goons, a lizard teen woman and all zero level. Experts have lots of skills but also lots of followers. 

Edward the Wizard gone from being a militiaman to wizard. He has a student with a clean cantrip, a bodyguard and a lizard teen. He has gained some good spells and the skill to cast spella without visable computer game like sparkles.

They bought 4 wagons. A one horse cart with a kitchen for Big Ted, a covered wagon with hammocks for the core party, a covered wagon with a stage and theatre props and costumes, and a covered wagon with a nice paintjob for the Baroness. They hired ex cab drivers and boght cab horses. One was a lady so the Barroness put her in charge of her personal language.

Players spent a hour selling off old goods and dividing treasure and shopping a few bought magic items. Stumpy the party murder hobo hireling sold the smugglers ship and naval partol charts to a rival smuggler faction. Party had fled Saltmarsh because they really wanted the stolen brandy and thought the taxman might rob them for the king. 

The party left Seaton for Ironton and on the way saw bandits. A fancy bandit, Clayton the Vagabond in a fancy hat, sat by road while others were hiding with tiny bow. The party opened fire and got the drivers to charge. Edward charmed Clayton and his seconds tried to restrain the gang boss. But Clayton killed one of his own luitenants and two bandits died from arrow fire from the party. The gang got an ineffective volley off and Edward made them all go to sleep and Clayton killed his other second-best man. 

The bandits were all captured and given jobs by the paty. Edward would daily have two charm spells ready for the 4th level gang boss (the players are 2nd Lv).

The bandits explained Ironton was broke since the war ended and helped the party rest at a crime guild caravan rest. Big ted set up his soup kitchen and the party did a good job of impressing the Guild. They were debating to go to the forbidden north or Auldwood. The Baroness asked about the dwarf Ruin.The bandits explained the lore. Insert Dwarrowdeep Megadungeon minus the campaign map and setting town. They thought they would go past the famous open entrance, and I showed them the art of the gate in between the legs of a 300-foot-tall dwarf statue. 

So with a few flunkies, they went in while the caravan of the party made camp. It was only lunchtime. There were impressive rooms, empy chambers, rubble mounds and wandering undead. They heard goblins a few times but mostly fought undead like zombies and skeletons. There was a baby mimic chest they shot on sight and debated if it was edible or not. Stirges were killed and prepared for an evening meal. Edward was hit with slime but his pals burned it off quickly. Guys with magic lamps sat back uselessly. There was a statue pillar with gem eyes they decided was unlikley to exist if not defended.

The best loot was in rubble mounds and in secret rooms so lots of time searching was burned for old weapons and smallchange and a few magic items and runestones. Edward used his history spell on the inscriptions. One mentioned a famous dwarf artifact possibly in the ruins. They methodically searched a third of the dungeon and when battered the decided to leave and goblins attacked.

They were quite togh and there were a dozen led by a magician on a huge centipede. The party killed him first. They feared him reaching party with his Shocking Grasp spell. He got off a Burning Hands on Ted and his dog. The fight was pretty bad, and half the party was knocked out but the Baroness played up the goblin bosses' deaths in goblin speech and they retreated. Their retreating spear volley took two more party members. Clayton the Vagabond was very helpful with traps and listening and locks and killed a few retreating goblins. Big Ted when not using his singing mace had lots of pistols like a pirate. The Baroness had her daggers and was quite dangerous.

The party got back to camp and identified the magic items, including a staff that heal each subject a d6 a day that Big Ted got and helped the party recover faster. There was a +1 dagger and a sharpening Runestone (i modified to be good for one hit after the duration ended). The party was pretty thrilled and, after a night's rest, went back to Ironton to sell the loot. 

They seem keen to finish the level for the fame (and a promised level-up achievement unlocked).

Quite happy at weird characters and sneaky spell use.

Felt like a proper oldschool dungeon. Lots of empty space and hidden secrets to make time a resource. Plan to return and try detect magic in some of the rubble rooms. An unexpected twist of a sandbox game and possibly after the level is cleansed, they might come back when done with the North. I have the whole region detailed, and I'm happy to drop in more dungeons from published adventures.

Ill post an update of my Theros Games soon, including one in the Caverns of Thracia.

Spirit Miracles

These are for my final version of Spirit Miracle powers for my Seer and Mystic classes. The seer has more uses of the power and gains less new powers drawing from these uses. The Mystic is the opposite. It is weaker in melee and a superior spell caster. 

I'll revise my nature and divine miracles, as my divine list includes miracles lifted from an early version of the Mystic I thought I could fold into priests.

I have one Seer player with weapon song doing well and has a nive vibe in play

I considered telekinesis but lots of spells handle that 
I considered a ether vault power to store stuff on another plane
I may tweak some more

d12 Spirit Miracles
1 Empathy
2 Ether Jaunt
3 Force Cloak
4 Force Leap
5 Force Push
6 Force Weapon
7 Life Leech
8 Spirit Guide
9 Spirit Sight
10 Spirit Travel

11 Telepathy
12 Weapon Song

1 Empathy
Use lasts one turn, Range 1 per level, Target can make a Will save to resist
> Enhances nonverbal communications with persons, animals, spirits or planar beings. Free-willed undead and constructs able to feel could be included. 
>At first level, you can read the emotions of a target, granting +1 on any rolls for communication skills, reaction roll, or CHA saves 
>At fifth level, the roll bonus is +2 and If you know the target and have linked to them before, you can start a link within range without needing sight. You can use multiple links at the same time with different persons concurrently, but they are unaware of each other and separate
>At ninth level, the roll bonus is +3 and with an extra use, all persons you are linked to can speak in a group mind link through you as long as you are in range

>At thirteenth level, the roll bonus is +4 you can spend uses for additional effects. For a use, you can make a group link last one hour instead of a Turn. For a use, you can detect any empathy-capable mind in range for a round. You may then spend uses to make a basic empathy link

>At seventeenth level, for two extra uses, you can make a link range extend to anywhere on the same plane, but this link can't include others in a group link extended the duration 

2 Ether Jaunt
One use per jaunt as a magic action; may make multiple jaunts in one round

>1st Lv range teleport within sight per use

>5th Carry an extra medium person you hold close with an extra use
>9th Carry a large passenger (such as a mount) with two extra uses 

>13th Can teleport to locations you know without sight requirement and you can ad 1km per use for each extra use
>17th Jaunt to the ethereal plane and wait or hide then return with a seperate use

3 Force Cloak

Hour per use or until temporary HP depleted and takes no action to start

>Each use gives user temporary HP for one hour equal to Level + Vigour bonus

4 Force Leap
Use adds Lv to jump range up or across or to reduce fall damage as part of a mov action. You can use it to instantly stand from a prone position. You may attack an opponent midair and then land. Acrobatics skill lets you reorient yourself mid-leap and avoid obstacles.

5 Force Push
With a use a medium or less target in LV range is moved up to your level and requires an Agility save to avoid falling prone or taking fall damage if it hits a wall or solid surface. Each size class above medium halves the range they can be moved. You may move the target towards you or up or down. This requires a magic action

6 Force Weapon
One use per round
A use manifests a spectral weapon that causes damage as mental spell vs any target with a mind or is alive if it hits. This can harm magical and non-material beings but not mindless non living objects like a rope. Damage is based on the level + Will bonus and you use your Cha bonus to hit instead of Agility. Each use lasts for a round at will, with no action cost to summon but uses a combat action to attack. The weapon may be thrown at Lv range or be used in melee and manifests as a specific weapon of the creator's desire appropriate to the damage. The weapon can benefit from stackable combat skills and extra attack actions if you have them available in the same round. Targets brought to negative HP dont take bleeding damage
>1st does a d4 + Will bonus with short reach, typically a dart or dagger

>5th does a d6 + Will bonus with medium reach, typically a small sword, javelin, club or arrow
>9th does a d8 + Will bonus with medium reach, typically a sword, axe, gun or arrow
>13th does a d10 + Will bonus with long reach, typically a halberd or pike
>17th does a d12 + Will bonus with long reach, typically a halberd or pike

7 Life Leech
Use affects all in level range on a magic action
Drains 1HP per Lv from beings with minds or that are living beings. You can reduce the damage or range if desired but the field affects friends and foes. Beings of equal or higher level or HD get a Will save to resist; lesser beings get no resistance. Targets brought to negative HP dont take bleeding damage

8 Spirit Guide
>1st you can call an invisible spirit to defend you from hostile spirits. It has half your HP and an AC equal to hour Will bonus. It can cause damage equal to a d3 +Cha bonus vs other spirits. It can guard you while asleep. Unconscious or out of your body for an hour per use. If the spirit is killed you cannot call it for 24 hours
>5th your spirit for a use can move equal to your level to scout and explore your area and may see spirits within its range. It may communicate with them if it makes a reaction roll and the encountered spirit will act as it's type or alignment. Encounters where you know there are spirits are likely otherwise it meets gets a random encounter per ten minutes
>9th your spirit can move for a turn per use and it's damage vs spirits increases to a d6 + Cha bonus and it gets +3 AC.
>13th your spirit for a use per round may appear as a phantom or animal and speak to non spirits. In this form it can use your magic action to cast a spell on your behalf
>17th for a use it may attack a spirit possession of a body or place or object to drive it away or injure it

9 Spirit Sight
Round per use range equals lv
>1st see invisible spirits or areas spirits frequent. With a ritual and sacrifice appropriate to the type you can coax the spirit with a reaction roll to communicate or after aid. You can detect a possessed target, haunted location or trapped or bound entities imprisoned or used in constructs or items
>5th detect magic and invisible beings, writing or spell effects
>9th spend an extra use to expand duration to a turn or double range
>13th can speak with spirits you can sense while in use. Can detect Astral or ethereal beings in range or spirits in range
>17th can speak with any planar being you can perceive in range

10 Spirit Travel
Round per use
>1st Your spirit can leave your helpless and immobile body to scout the area as an invisible, intangible spirit. Your mov equals your level and you can perceive other immaterial spirit beings. Other spirits might try to hijack your body while you are absent but you can save to resist as usual and your spirit is aware of this threat. Your spirit has half your h and if it becomes zero it snaps back to your body at full speed. It's AC equal to your Will bonus and may cause a d3 +Cha bonus damage to spirits. A creature that perceives you if not a spirit it may attack with at least a +1 weapon or spell. Every ten minutes you risk a random spirit encounter. If your body dies while your spirit is not inside your spirit become a non corporeal undead. You can pass walls but if you pass 1 range in solid rock or earth can get you lost, requiring a Talent save to navigate or spend a d4 rounds and then another save to escape
>5th your spirit body may appear as a phantom and seal with a use
>9th each use now lasts a ten minute turn and may cast spells in phantom form. Material components used are from supplies from your body
>13th for a use your spirit may return to your body instantly
>17th you may remain in spirit form an hour per use and may plane shift to the ethereal or Astral plane then to other planes via portals you might find. With experience you may find reliable routes

11 Telepathy
Use lasts one turn, Range 1 per level, Target can make a Will save to resist
>At first level, you can send and receive thoughts to one target you see in range for a mind link. You can communicate using a common language but only one target per use
>At fifth level, If you know the target and have linked to them before, you can start a link within range without needing sight. You can use multiple links at the same time with different persons concurrently, but they are unaware of each other and separate
>At ninth level, with an extra use, all persons you are linked to can speak in a group mind link through you as long as you are in range. 
>At thirteenth level, you can spend uses for additional effects. For a use, you can make a group link last one hour instead of a Turn. For a use, you can detect any mind in range for a round. You may then spend uses to make a basic mind link
>At seventeenth level, for two extra uses, you can make a link range extend to anywhere on the same plane, but this link can't include others in a group link extended the duration 

12 Weapon Song
Use lasts until the weapon hits something and takes no action to start
>Make a melee weapon vibrate and hum until its next hit, when the basic damage dice the weapon inflicts the maximum result (d8=8 damage).
>You declare this on the weapon in the round when you first intend to attack, and when you strike and damage it counts as a use.
>The noise makes stealth or subtlety awkward and is uncannily strange. Any silencing spell ends the vibration effect.
>If placed on a missile weapon or ammunition, the use is expended when the missile hits the target or anything, including terrain or the ground or any surface, making it more of a gamble but possible.
>If the damage effect is never set off once vibrating the user can halt it in a round of concentration action without expending the slot. You might start vibrating to intimidate others, then use this to end it without wasting a use

Return to Saltmash game log

Game log - nice long game, but it ended as my voice ran out from cold

Had game start then a drop in and a tw drop out so started cancelling but keen to go ahead and when we started a drop out called to say he had free time. Lost my game notes for half an hour as I reboxed it but I found them.

So Handfish the a human fish looking for his past and destiny. His youth he suffered poverty but a year living in a merchant house with fake deeds. He had ambition now and the party with a wizard and a theatrical "baroness" on way to frontier and popped in salt marsh. They got to know town and started exploring a haunted house.

They got back to town and split up. Handfish was in the shittiest pub on stilts full of scum in a rainstorm. He met a cook who longed for adventure. So Handfish led Ted the chef to beat up bullies when they left. He gave them drinks till the boss passed out. Three left carrying the boss. They tricked a guy back in to get his money. Two were left dragging their boss when the Fishman attacked with his fishy fists of fury and Ted hit one with a pan. The guy who went in the pub came out angry. Handfish killed him. Ted was surprised Handfish killed the unconscious men they took their money and went back in the pub, leaving bodies in an alley.

They drank and ate lots and were up late. Early in the morning, they went beachcombing and found a float and net, a whale bone, a stray dog they named Salty and a giant hermit crab they battled.

Stumpy, the incorrigible, disabled old murder hobo who follows the party, came with news. He knows there were forbidden reef islands that look like they needed checking and rented a rowboat.

They saw an island with some kind of criminal gathering with boats and a ruined manor and passed it.

They saw a dirty grey iceberg and passed it.

Saw a ruin entry on an exposed reef and landed.

Inside, they smelled cooking and the greediest fish boy and cook went first, with Stumpy and his crossbow from behind.

There was a muscular woman chopping meat and cooking. There were fish folk bodies under a tarp. She offered food and all the men sex for "saving" her. Salty the dog barked at her. She transformed into a were hammerhead shark and the boys fled.

Back to the glacier, they found fish folk trying to dig a chest from the ice. They killed them and took the chest with a weird gold mask.

At the wizard tower to identify the mask found it gave you power to cast water breathing but the third time ity bonded to your face for life. A visiting war seer offered to train the cook to meet his potential. Ted became a 1st level seer with a mace which he could vibrate to kill foes more easily and his first spell. He also learned to wear armour and wield weapons.

They met the baroness and her team and returned to finish the haunted house and battled the smugglers. There were some pesky stirges but they wound up spit-roasted and eaten. They buried their loot and prepared to attack the smugglers next.

They waited till the ship launched two jolly boats. Then got on board and started killing. The Baroness sniped a wizard and they killed most of the officers. Hurt a lizard man coming from below decks so comrades dragged it overboard.

Handfish and the Baroness were knocked out but Stumpy shot the last leader and the smugglers jumped overboard. Ted with his seer spells and laying hands got Handfish walking and he went after the smugglers in the water. He got half and, on the way back met lizard men and one understood water elemental speech too. They explained they would help party if the got weapon shipment.

Party helped lizards and Stumpy git the party to act as third-rate crew and saul to the lizard folk hideout. They also freed a sea elf emissary and met the lizard queen. The Baroness flirted a bit. Ended up selling goods and ship to crime lords and headed northwest inland

All now 2nd level

The seer is a new class to be to the mystic what ranger is to a druid or a paladin to a cleric and using my mentalist spell list. His vibrating weapon power gave him a number of strikes a day for max damage. He chose a blunt weapon and had skills in feasting and drinking to recover wounds and scoff potions and snacks in battle with free actions. He was quite earthy for what I envisaged as orders who seek knowledge and to battle spirits and planar beings.

He wore a veil instead of the usual mask of the seer orders. He chose skills to add damage in heavy armour and shield attacks. He learned to use a captured Pirate flintlock and bought a second one. He has devoted self to good.

Several of the party recruited zero LV lizard folk followers. Nobody got seafaring skills and Stumpy recommended they give up the marine lifestyle as they were shit sailors. Thanks Stumpy.

Some players are considering my new assassin's class options have players curious. Discussed being wandering entertainers who kill corrupt officials and rich. Nice to have recent work in use. 

Someone asked about all the threads  they abandoned in Saltmarsh and if i was inviting them to stay but nope the world is deep with quests everywhere.

Oz Orc Con Games 12/9/26 part 3 Long Stairs

 

Long stairs is based on a gaming thread i came across bed ridden in abour 2012 where creators did some world-building to create a setting of modern special forces exploring a dungeon dimension through portals controlled in secret by governments in secret.

A reader of my blog was there and gotr to chat about what they liked and how his 5 year game had used lots of my content which was nice. I mostly get offers to join the Illuminati in my comments here now. Odly enough im wary of a person who in real world, believes im a spy which is silly as my cost of living is exceeding my income.

This and F*cking Fantasy Vietnam got me writing this blog.

It goes back to early d&d resource horror.

Players as Australian soldiers and recruited specialists who get a briefing of their secret tour through the Emu Flats nuclear test site in South Australia.  

When Ive run this in the past I gave players four characters but my box of 1/72 soldiers on hand was ww1 light horsemen and only had 8 non horse riding minis. So I had 5 characters on the table at a time.

Players got a handout with their equipment (from Army Recruiting resource) and a briefing not to eat or have sex with anything in the dungeon. They were warned of monsters, intelligent xeno species, the self aware dungeon zone  and the dangers of xeno methodology (magic). They spent a week training in the base camp doing petty camp labour before being selected for their first mission.

They were to hold a barricade in a long corridor and told to hold the line but retreat if anyone seriously injured. They were told orcs were swarming the area and the main forward base needed certain chokepoints guarded.

Everyone is zero level and has 6hp. A grenade is pretty dangerous and they have options to fire a ten shot burst with their Aug Styer rifles. 

With restricted electronic access, they were bored guarding for a day. They barricaded their rear entry that should have been safe but that was fine.The second day they found a large mushroom and it smelled funny so they bagged and tagged it.

Later that day two men on guard watching the passage, one with night vision goggles, saw dozens of dog size spiders silently creep towards them.

This is where players discovered the drama of ammo, burst fire and taking a round to reload. As spiders swarmed, some fired single shot and others fired burses/ Some were lucky and wiped out spiders but they were spread out enough to waste bullets. Then they saw the cow size spiders. Someone threw a grenaide and discovered this is not the A-team and they all took cover as lots of spiders were blasted to bits. A few small spiders climbed over the barricade, and some men went hand-to-hand, and others shot at incoming spiders. A few emptied their clips so went for hand-to-hand.

After piles of blood and spiders were filling the tunnel and two men were bitten, they called by landline for orders and told to pull back and wait as their was an orc attack. While chatting, someone saw disturbances in spider blood like someone was walking so they threw a grenade.

Turned out they killed an invisible dark elf so they bagged him with spiders and and pulled back. Every grenade throw was a peril and players learned about the risk of grenades that miss might bounce.

They meyt a veteran squad who now bothered to talk to them and shot up wounded with anti venom. Back at HQ they were commended and the wounded hospitalised. Inteligence claimed the invisile dark elf planted the mushroom to draw in the trained spiders.

Next they were sent to map a newly claimed area under orc control and needed some new territory explored. They were given a passage and told take any turns and try to head back to the local base and retrace their steps if anything too risky.

They explored some passages and dealt with some traps. A room had a statue and a pie on a crate. A soldier shot a pie and it was just messy. It was warm and smelled really good and everyone saved their urge to eat some (if you eat it ou turn into a pie - see my d100 magic pies). The crate had hardtack biscuits, iron spikes and rope inside. The living statue attacked. Turns out burst fire on a single target is more effective and they had a close call but destroyed the construct. Some soldiers who pulled back restrained themselves with single shots so as not to kill their peers. They searched and found a secret door with a open treasure chest and a chair. A suspicious soldier shot the chest and it charged. They shot at it and pulled back, shutting the secret door. As it pounded, they pulled back again and left a grenaide. The mimic was blasted but still charged and they hosed it with bullets.

The chest looked partly like a real chest with meat and teeth splattered on the floor. They took samples and moved on.

Finally, they found stairs but worried the elevation took them higher than the route they planned. Found a chest with wierd elf gold coins and considered the cash value and if they were going to keep an unauthorised cache the were ordered not to. There was also filthy bedrolls and a simple map indicating they could get back to a huge chamber where allies controlled. They were wary of the map but willing to go on. They found heatless magic torches and took them and soldier tied one to his rifle.

Therer was a big double heavy door they opened and a passage with a drop in the floor with a rapid river flowing through ten feet across, with another double door. So they pulled down some other doors and made a bridge and as they were deploying it a 4m tall giant humanoid with a mallet charged in. It tried to jump, sensing the bridge would not hold but failed and caught the ledge. Before it could climb up the tea,m hosed it in the head with bullets and it fell into the water and was washed away.

The next room was a giant straw mat and turds, a huge locked iron maiden and another door. Their was a sword on a crate too. When a soldier picked it up it glowed blue and they guessed it was a good sword. The team engineer picked the lock and out came an undead horror. Guns did nothing. It cast spells at them, incurring a few. A silver bayonet wielded by the hand-to-hand specialist managed to hurt it so the creature drained him to unconsciousness. A soldier tried to grapple it, intending to stop it from casting but froze and fell.  One soldier dragged the dying man away. Another soldier went down. The trooper with a sword had a swing and hurnt it and it cast light into his eyes blinding him. He dropped it and another trooper caught it and chased the fleeing undead horror but quit before losing sight of others.. Two men were unconscious, and one recovered enough to walk. Another was blind. They followed the tunnel warily behind the undead with the map and saw it open a door into the area held by allies. They heard burst fire and explosions and the undead was killed. The veterans finally spoke to the survivors and got them to HQ for treatment. Mysteriously over the next few days they became 1st level and became privy to better barracks and intel and equipment.

Went well exept the soldier mini situation and I had to be more careful and not kill as many as I would if the had four characters each. One player was an anthropologist and found setting very fascinating. The horror survival aspect shined.

I might try my Octopus princess adventure next con. I had lots of minis so they let me keep the same table so they were very flexible. I had another player down with fatigue but got a few walk ins so worked ok. I did run a short campaign of this in the past and the revelation of D&D monster ecology was a big element. A bit like Delicious in the Dungeon comic in some ways as monsters are not quite your classic Monster Manual. I will run one day again, but definitely need some more modern Australian infantry minis. Im also getting some dungeon doors made for me.

I look forward to the next con. I am a bit trashed and sore throated and had another home game today but I survived thanks to a nice meal made by a friend and good rest.

Im planning on a quiet week.

Oz Orc Con Games 12/9/26 part 2 GOAT QUEST

 

 
Goat Quest: The Next generation was set years after the last con game and the goat farmer had a new barn and house and milking shed from all the treasure goats brought him decades ago.

In Goat Quest, you play goats made intelligent, usually by Nanny Binx (see the Petty Gods Book) . They fight chaos and evil in secret not letting humans know their powers.

A new gang of goats was generated:
Packy a sneaky B&W piebald goat with a pack (she was the pack goat last time)
-had been tainted by the fairy but got away and back home now was the best mom
Hexen a magic goat with blotchy tan fur and a taste for magic
-claimed to have once been a human wizard cursed by a witch
Buttermilk with lustrous golden fur, was a cunning goat immune to non-magic attacks
-with terrible HP but could detect evil and chaos
Sir Big G a huge white battlegoat 
-was imune to non magic weapons and was sure he was a reincarnated paladin
Griselda was a grey Holy goat with extra HP and healing spells
Gravy was a brown piebald holy goat who had extra magic damage horns

The gang aware of evil in Scumwad village walked to the re populated cult farm to see a new clan of degenerate cultists had settled on the burned down farm their relatives burned in the past.

The clan had three houses, a stinking pond with some sort of structures close by which they thre huge pink rats into and a grisly abattoir where cultists were busy skinning something. An old man was whittling leech demon idols. Highly suspicious.

So Buttermilk and Packy crept up close to see what was in the pond side structure full of baby giant leeches but some cultists saw them and grabbed weapons. The battle was on.

Several goats drove a cultist into a shrine to some leech demon and Hexen set fire to it with burning hands. The cultist came out and was crushed by a Sir Big G. Hexen used. Packy tackled an archer and other goats killed some cultists with staffs who cast cantrips.

Buttermilk ran into house window and was zapped by a witch and was bleeding and bleated for help. The cultists opened the blood-covered shed door with a huge bar holding closed from outside, releasing giant rats. A magic hand tipped over the leech farm and a giant rat got leeched.and Sir Big G killed.it.  Packy managed to shut the door bolt, keeping all but two rats inside. Hexen started a fire and burned the rats alive. After the cult was killed the goats dragged sacks of tanners salt into the pond and killed all the giant leeches.

Back home the goats levelled up and planned next treck with divinations. They went and killed a witch and her imp and got some magic herbs. They decided the next target was the beast of the noors that had snatched a child and a few animals on the farm.

They tracked the beast to its home and Packy climbed a tree to look out while others looked a a hole in the creekbed they mysterious flat trail led to. She saw a giant snake so the gang retreated and used various hit-and-run attacks. Some of the goats were safe from non-magic, but the fear of being swallowed alive could be a problem. After they victory over the snake they went in its hole and found eggs and a strange woman who spoke to the goats and warned her "son" would be home any moment (meaning the giant snake). SO they went to kill her and she was snake from the waste down but no match for magic goats.

Finally they used more divination to find the prophesised return of the Anti goat and went to a sinister cave. They saw a shift cultist and a black evil goat who morphed into a fleshy chaos horror. The sneakier goats ran aroun the cave to attack from behind and killed a "giant furry 8 legged bug" (my blind player disliked spider so we were happy to rename it). They killed it and helped their friends fight the mutant goat monstrosity with rear attacks via their long route through the dungeon. They burned the cult books and went home, having purged the village of evil for another generation.

4 Players returned for this game so possibly im running this forever now.
Possibly I should release and sell a revised version of this game.

Oz Orc Con Games 12/9/26 part 1 SECRET WARS II

Bloggger has changed how to add images, making it slower and tredious.

This is a local oldschool game con which is pretty awesome here. 60-80 guys and I think I saw 4 women - one admin and two in my games.

I got to DM 3 games as I realise i can dm for days but i cant play that long.
I done this for 2-3 days at other bigger long weekend cons and at uni i was in a gamer house where it went on all day for weeks playing Marvel or Cthulhu.

TSR Marvel is a fave and I ran secret wars 2 opening scenario which was the first marvel universe comic i got into that got me into xmen and new mutants (i was already getting moonknight, ROM and the complter handbook of marvel before this as a game resource.

Ive run this several times based on crossover events of the 80s.

We had seven players split into heroes (wolverine, Cloak&Dagger, Iceman, Hercules) vs villains (Ultron, Dr Octopus, Sandman & DrDoom who declared he was the leader). 

Everyone herad a great cosmic power the Beyonder was in the area and a unknown gold armoured character with a lightning sword was trashing the streets. 

Iceman rapidly ended up trying to stop a gas tanker from exploding but Sandman and dr octopus broke the tanker released fuel and I allowed Doc Oc to use his cigar to ignite the mess. Iceman went down but he saved the cabin from being vaporised in a frozen lake. 

Doom stunned Thundersword so Heraclese went for Ultron to find he was pretty hard to hurt. Ultron hijacked a bus full of people and moved to Thundersword and the front of the bus was vaporised by the lightning sword, leaving Ultron unharmed. Wolverine hijacked a truck and drove towards Ultron and Thundersword. Doom was damaged by Herculese so backed off to construct a Beyonder detector with his damaged suit and then shot at the invisible force. Herculese and Ultron tussled and Hercucles tried to use his mace to crack Ultron's shell so other heroes could finish him and he and wolverine tried a team up.vs Ultron. Herculese damaged Doom who went to a tactical withdrawal a bit and none of his team were really working together.

Cloak and Dagger  had a hard time helping car crash victims and Sandman and Doc Oc targeted Dagger. Spiderman arived and saved Iceman and managed to web up Doc Oc. Thundersword was knocked out and CLoak & Dagger tried to save him with a teleport. They then worked on saving civilians.

Doom confronted the Beyonder who became human as he was detected and various heroes like Wolverine and Spiderman detected him. Doom had his suit vapourised trying to boss the Beyonder around and Herculese threw a semitrailer at them and missed. Ultron attacked the Beyonder and was turned to stone and dead. Cloak got sick of Dagger being targeted and swallowed Sandman into the dark dimension.. 

The Lizard and a Sentinel arrived and then the Juggernaut. A player new the game well enough to grab the most invulnerable characters Ulton and Juggernaut. Herculese th rew Wolverine, and he was unconscious in a pile of wreckage briefly until he healed and then went for the Sentinel. Spiderman slowed the Lizard with some webbing but he broke free before the web hardened. 

Hercules and Juggernaut battered away at each other.

Finally CLoak swallowed the Beyonder which was a timley ending to the fight. Doom tried to persuade Cloak & Dagger to come to his lab but the kids hated labs and teleported away to deal with the beyonder in some other comic as was the fashion of mega crossovers of the day.

Worked well I will try and do again.

A blind player pulled oud out early on when she realised was a tabletop miniture battle with roleplay but she and her helper and dog were back sor Goat Quest later on. I will remember to mention this in the blurb next time. Con team swapped them to something else fine but still had 7 players. 

Was enjoyable and a few were interested in digging up the games which has everything for it online. Its still the best superhero game ever. Maybe I will try Fall of the Mutants next con. Mostly I run as a non MCU game so this was fun.

Languages & Cultures of Ethyria

My Bronze Age D&D setting needs a language list, especially as language features in game lots. Players are paid for books and inscriptions collected by the academy and i have a chart for players to mark fragments of the language. 10 inscrption (tick) = one book  = one box 

(big cross). When all finished the players and the academy will have the Archaic script complete. But not the spoken.

My new Theros Party has Dave playing a human Fighter Seer who as usual is a sensible chap cursed by dangerous companions this incarnation. We have a human Warlock dedicated to the god Kruphix and draw on a strange cloak of darkness. Then two young women playing one a fancy noble blood lion folk fighter and the other a farmer wizard whos family descended from farmers and a famous philosopher. She also uses comprehend languages the most

Sets gets to hear the abuse of lizardfolk and hyena folk in the Caverns of Thracia first level. They are finding plent of inscriptions and may finish the translation project faster. The DCs required to roll against this are higher than most official campaigns at low level. So finding secret doors is quite a bit harder, and I can see lots of chambers being missed.

I feel at this point I need to list the languages of this campaign.

Theran (Common) Written & Spoken
Brought by the colonists 200 years ago, used by the city-state of Kastros and many local islands. The Local Amazons have adopted its ways by trade and utility. Its the best language for poetry and literature. If anyone reaches the old lands of the East the language has moved on and thinks Theran sounds old-fashioned.

Archaic (Very Rare) Lost Written & Spoken
The language of the heroic age of bronze heroes of the island the gods killed off 800 years ago. Found mostly in inscriptions, broken pots, corroded weapons and clay tablets. Its simple, direct and fine for record-keeping of tithes and goods. The Academy of Kastros seeks to fine enough and use magic to recreate the language.

Archeron (Uncommon) Written & Spoken
The language of the citadel barbarian clans of the north who claim to be descended from the Achaic age and has different vowel and consonant sounds today. The spoken has some things in common but the script is more like Theran. These people still live in ruined citadels or the rubble and northern hills. They wage war with each others and humanoids.  

Druidic (Uncommon) Written & Spoken
The language of the tribal wild folk of the east who worship stones and trees and beasts. This is used by Satyrs, Centaurs and Dryads, and some call the common speech of the woodland realms. The script includes glyphs and symbols and lines with notches for numbers. It is mostly used for art and record-keeping. A few of the civilised villages around Kastros people speak this language for trade and mostly druids and bards use the script.

Oceanic (Uncommon) Written & Spoken
The language of tribal sea folk and spoken by many undersea folk and the aquatic reptilians

Arcadian (Rare) Written & Spoken
The language of the supernatural forest folk and the heavenly meadows of paradise. Dryads and other planar nature spirits use this. Very musical and trilling.

Cyclopsian (Reskinned orcs) have own Written & Spoken and are related to Archaic

Cthonic is the language of the land of the dead and very old, only the underworld still uses it 

Giant speech of Giantland in the north (Used by Goliaths) and related to Cthonic

Reptilian used by snake and reptile folk and related to Draconic, Cthonic and Arcadian

Draconic as used by dragons and their various kindred, humans struggle to speak it

Current Work

Someone made me tokens and a box for games. Very flattering thankyou Dave who also has been documenting my Theros/Ethyria games at Duellers Den. Game has just got to lv 2-3. My other game is 13th lv. My new EMO homebrew game is Lv1 and we are doing rule mods before play now as i rewrite my rules. 

Oz Orc con:

Im running TSR marvel SECRET WARS 2 battle in los angeles opening scene (issue 1). Must get my buildings, models and bags packed to set up the battlefield. Must find old doc with my briefing cards. Players can swap between heroes and villains and if get a KO draw a new character. Previously a player as Captainm America talked down a bunch of bad guys with a rousing speech so not justa wargame. One time Mr Sinister was wiping the floor until cyclops appeared and creamed him. Big fun.

Also Running Goat Quest again and found same maps and painted some goats for the table and have goat sheets ready.

Long stairs i need to find my Australian infantry minis, select dungeon tiles and the most generic dungeon monsters i can find. Plus find my character cards I did in the past.

Now I'm rearranging my house for future life event im re considering the space needed for games. I use mostly use 1/72 and have ancients, dark ages and some modern civilians and post apoch figs. Lots of monsters and animals. I might purge some armies and reduce some of the numbers and think about how i can better store them or maybe set up space in shed and get my terrain building set up again. Oddly making terrain made me get into aquariums and now i have 50 frogs and cant use chems in the house now. 

Other Games:

Im recycling campaigns I've done so a second Theros group has worked well and will help me finish lv2 of mygreek megadungeon. Ive also slipped in Caverns of Thracia even though the maps do my head in rather than inspire me. More sideways views showing how rooms line up would help and some secret doors poorly marked and one is very tiny.

My older campagn of 13th Lv have a very scary Medusa demigoddess with high DC to save attacks which should be fun then. One character wants to rescue his GF in the Underworld held by a Archon Lord the party hoping to score artefacts to fight. Ive also informed them all the 12 cursed monsters they needed to kill in the Labyrinth have had a few resurrected and the curse clock reset. They also discovered an underground (?) giant refuge with dinosaurs which some want to explore.

A great feature of Theros games is that I allow better divination results, and gods may intervene. If a player misses a session, a god swept them away and can return them later with some new info. In Ravenloft, the mists might sweep them away too. It's very convenient and works in these settings.  

I was starting my Auldwood EMO game in a city, and while on the coast road to Auldwood, they found Saltmarsh so that will be a few sessions and might derail all my plans. I can see them getting a ship and going to sea. Im using the original module for dungeons and the 5th ed book for the town, which is great. I really like Saltmarsh 5th ed and am disappointed so many youngins dislike it because it doesn't have ship combat or enough pirates. Personally, I'm not a pirate fan and im happy to have ship combat mostly narrative-based and maybe let characters command sailors to get some benefits to the ship performance. 

Players in that group include a Wizard, a Fishman (prehistoric armoured fish) and my version of an expert. One of the class properties is lots of extra followers and the Baroness is a performer expert with a gang of zero-level carnies.  

Ive ended up with 8 species classes and 14 basic classes. Species classes can change class to any of the basic classes. My players have 5+ years of experience in my homebrew ive been using since 2012 when i started this blog. This blog was a place i worked on my design and prep. Im not sure if humans read it much now but I am recycling old content from here i made but may not have used, and I have years of material here. Life is busy currently and getting time to write is harder, and I dont really need many new ideas. Also Im gaming lots so I don't fantasise about playing more games.

EMO Homebrew Project

LINK HERE

Im rewriting my Elfmaids & Octopi homebrew rules currently, this is a first draft.

I will be revising stuff with early players and skills next so I can then revise my character classes and then spells and my new miracle powers. Priests and Templars will be the main religious classes with priests being less into combat and have more magic powers. Templars will have more combat skills and hp and better arms and armour. They will both draw from holy power list, including turning anf buffing melee attacks and others. 

Druids/Rovers will be the same but with nature spells. Mystic/Seer will be the mentalist versions using that spell list with mental powers like spirit sight, spirit projection and others. 

Folklings are my halfling replacement and reskin subclasses will include goblins, kobolds, barn trolls and small beast folk. This has taken me years to find a satisfactory name and will make them as flexible as my abhuman class (orcs, barbarians, amazons, beast folk, elemental folk, anyone beefy and 7 foot tall). Mutants will be a core class as they are less niche and more reskinable than my Tako species.

I have two spell progression tables: one for the weaker magic classes and another for the beefier classes. Only wizards go up to 8th and 9th lv spells. 

My weapons need little work. An extra page for other equipment is coming. 

Your comments and critiques are welcome and very helpful.
All the comments recently have been for Porn games or Illuminati membership spambots.

Im buying pendragon stuff currently and some Call of Cthulhu books. Ill get some of the new D&D books when on sale. Running two campaigns of my Theros setting currently and my EMO Auldwood setting. Sadly the Auldwood book needs all the art replaced as i was playing with AI briefly and now I hate AI on sight and dont think it has progressed much. The Ethyria/Theros book needs a sublevel for the Megadungeon part and Im reading Caverns of Thracia to use. I prefer it to Dark tower quite a bit. I miss Janell as we disliked many of the same people and commented on each others stuff weekly. 

Im studying to reclaim my qualifications to work again and likely involved in some legal dramas so I'm probably going to be quiet here and on social media. Bless you all for reading this far.