For example: Summon Invisible Servant
What do you think? Would you want to cast it?

That file was produced using code written in LaTeX by a group of awesome people on the TeX Stackexchange. You’ll also need the background image from http://www.alfredom.com/art/free-6.htm

I modified the code they listed to work with the default packages included in TeXLive as follows:

\documentclass[17pt]{extarticle}% This is a document class providing more font size options

%Thanks to doncherry for doing this whole mess! http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/29402/how-do-i-make-my-document-look-like-it-was-written-by-an-cthulhu-worshipping-madm/29458#29458

\usepackage[svgnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
%\usepackage{emerald}% font package %Not in TeXLive
\usepackage{aurical} %The font I decided to use.
\usepackage[doublespacing]{setspace}% line spacing

\usepackage{wallpaper}

% thanks to Bruno Le Floch: http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/9331/4012
\usepackage{rotating}
\usepackage[first=-6,last=6]{lcg} % you can play around with these values
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\globalrand}{\rand\global\cr@nd\cr@nd}
\makeatother
\newcommand{\easteregg}[1]{%
\expandafter\let\csname old\string#1\endcsname#1%
\expandafter\def\expandafter#1\expandafter##\expandafter1\expandafter{%
\csname old\string#1\endcsname{\protect\globalrand\protect\turnbox{\value{rand}}{##1}\protect\phantom{##1}}}%
}
% ———-

\newcommand{\randomrotation}{}
\easteregg\randomrotation

% thanks to Martin Scharrer: http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/11598/4012
\makeatletter
\def\cthulhu#1{%
\@cthulhu#1 \@empty
}
\def\@cthulhu#1 #2{%
\randomrotation{#1}\space
\ifx #2\@empty\else
\expandafter\@cthulhu
\fi
#2%
}
\makeatother
% ———-

%\newcommand{\eldersign}{\raisebox{-.5\height}{\includegraphics[height=3ex]{eldersignimagefile}}}

%\renewcommand*{\rmdefault}{\Fontskrivan}

\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}\CenterWallPaper{}{parchemin_6}

\centering% that madman wouldn’t justify his writings
%\color{MidnightBlue}% my pick for “looks like ink” %I don’t have a colour printer.
\Fontamici %The font out of that package we want to use
%\Fontlukas %Use this if you don’t want the long S shape.

\cthulhu{\textsc{Summon Invisible Servant}}

\cthulhu{Curious rustling sounds are heard once this invisible thing lurks near. The caster needs a book in which are written or inscribed the words of the spell. This spell can be cast only at night under a cloudless sky. The creature is invisible save when its veins fill with blood from some visible creature.}

\end{document}

————–

I’m very open to suggestions on how to improve this, if anyone knows of a better background image for example. I’d love to improve the font, but I’m not framilar with XeTeX or LuaTeX enough to modify this to run on it, so I have to stick with Type 1 fonts.

The settings that SJ connected to have dozens, and in some cases, hundreds of gods. They limited clerics ability to get spells if the sphere they were visiting didn’t contain a following of that god. There are workarounds —You could store spell levels in a portable alter, worship a pantheon or the gods of a plane to increase your chances of finding a god belonging to it in that sphere, or worship Celestian or Ptah, both of which allow clerics to get spells as long as they are not on a planet. Therefore you are going to get lots of clerics of pantheons, planes and Celestian and Ptah, but not much else.

I think this is a great missed opportunity. First off, it makes it much harder to bring groundling clerics into SJ. This makes it harder for players to scoop up groundling NPCs they encounter on the way, or to transition from groundling games to SJ. Secondly it limits the number of religions present in SJ, which I don’t think is a good thing.

You have a culture made from the bits and pieces of a thousand other cultures from a hundred worlds. I think of Lankmar’s Street of Gods, with a selection of constantly changing temples from all over the world, many with only a few followers. Another model would be Lin Carter’s Gondwane Epic with its innumerable religions, cults and heresies from 900 millennia of civilization. Both have the feeling of a mishmash of different things, which I think is what Spelljammer should feel like. Also this would open up religions to more abstract things like the Church of the Silver flame or the Ancestor Worship of the elves in Eberron.

The easiest way to encourage this would be to take a page from Eberron and remove the gods as anthropomorphic entities. None of the faiths can be proven to be correct, so a multitude of conflicting religions exist, coexisting, clashing, getting spells no matter what. This matches the riot of colour I see in my head, which would be more similar to what we see in the first episode of Firefly, the Star Wars cantina scene. Luke, a groundling walks into a wild space bar and is just stunned by the riot of different people and colours. There are many ways to do this, but I think the easiest starting point is religion.

 THIS is the Spelljammer I want to play in.

 Until Next Time: Stay Geeky.

–Canageek.

First come historical changes: Japan invades Russia during WWII, preventing them from using Siberian troops against the Germans; WWII never happens as Hitler died in 1929, The Roman Republic managed civic reforms that prevented it from becoming an Imperial state; China discovered America and gains access to its natural resources during the middle ages; The Egyptian Empire avoids cultural and technological stagnation and still stands in the 22^nd century. In a cable this is the thin strands of copper at the center.

Further out from that in the bundle metaphor lie worlds that diverged far enough back in time so as to have biological changes: Empires of Cat-people, dog-people, Civilizations of dolphins, lands where dinosaurs roam the earth. While there are many more of these dimensions then there are of the Historical dimensions there is much less known about them due to the fact they have been far less heavily explored.  This would be the strands of rubber insulation around the copper.

Then you have the rubber coating of the cable: These are realms where things diverged back when the solar system or universe was forming. Earths locked in ice ages; earths backing in the sun; earths with CO₂ atmospheres and whatnot all exist here. Very little is known about this region as exploring it is very dangerous for obvious reasons.

Beyond that lies Terra Incognita, the land unknown. This is the strange region that no one really understands. Almost no travellers have returned from here, and those that do report wildly varying laws of physics, worlds full of magic, worlds with psionic and stranger things. Most expeditions to this region have not returned, and it is thought this is because they traveled into areas in which dimensional travelling technology does not work, or areas where the laws of physics do not support the existence of human life. This is normally described as the area beyond the cable.

This is the basic outline of the universe my next campaign will take place in. I’ve given some of the ideas I am working off of before, but what with running this campaign very soon I thought it would help with the adventure to set things down on digital paper. I will freely admit that most of this is taken directly from Tangents, which is the backdrop of my campaign, but with my own ideas mixed in. I’ve started out with tangents as the base, which I’ve posted a summary of below, and then will spend latter posts documenting my divergence from this idea, including  the problems with the cable model, the fuzzy nature of individual strands, tears in the universe and how to travel using them and what the Z-coordinate means.

Until Next TIme, Stay Geeky

–Canageek

### Log session started at Fri Jun 17 17:59:28 2011 ###
[17:59:28] Channel topic is: Fight for fame and money in the reality TV show RUNE-X!
[18:12:29] Canageek|2 [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as TheDM
[18:14:27] <@TheDM> So, to recap you had arrived and gone straight to the dungeon complex, a fortress or abode, since abandoned by its rulers, presumably slain when the great war sweat through the pre-industrializatoin valley
[18:15:04] <@TheDM> You proceeded into the first hallway and found a slain group of people outside the inner door
[18:15:43] <@TheDM> Your score for the dungeon will be determined by how much treasure you take with you when you leave, how much of it you explore, and what challanges you overcome while inside
[18:16:11] <@TheDM> The audiance at home is watching by scrying, and you all have recived a small earpeice piping the narrators commentary into your ears
[18:16:14] fudgebob [~fudgebob@27B34E.4FEA8A.0EDFA7.B2D00D] is now known as Eel
[18:16:22] <Eowyn> Not when we leave for the night I hope?
[18:16:26] <@TheDM> So far it has been theme music- there has not been much to say
[18:16:48] <~Canageek-OOC> Hmm? What was that in respons to?
[18:17:04] <Eowyn> The score for the dungeon
[18:17:35] <~Canageek-OOC> No, though total time taken may be a factor
[18:18:06] <~Canageek-OOC> Any questions?
[18:18:15] <Eel> *examines door
[18:18:38] Eowyn [~AndChat@OWIRCN-df1377d8.sub-174-252-115.myvzw.com] is now known as Ada
[18:18:42] <~Canageek-OOC> Ada/Eowyn: do you have the map?
[18:18:57] <Ada> I’m just trying to reconcile that with the plan to leave the dungeon at the end of each play session
[18:19:17] <Ada> I know where it is.
[18:20:02] <~Canageek-OOC> The formula isn’t public, but speculation has been that it takes into account amount of time healing from wounds vs adventuring time, and number of times you had to leave to heal
[18:20:16] <~Canageek-OOC> The end of session is the direction yelling ‘cut’ basically
[18:20:30] Ada [~AndChat@OWIRCN-df1377d8.sub-174-252-115.myvzw.com] is now known as Eowyn
[18:20:52] <~Canageek-OOC> However people had to go suddenly last time, and you’ve not been to town yet- was hoping to get to town before the end of this session
[18:20:53] <Eowyn> Well, I should be able to keep healing time to a

[18:23:22] <@TheDM> Correction, there is no door- just  a set of stairs leading up to a 4 way intersection
[18:23:47] <@TheDM> You’d partailly looted the bodies as I recall, shall I go over that again?
[18:24:04] <Eowyn> (Do the stairs take up one square or what?)
[18:24:17] <Eowyn> We’d want to finish looting them.
[18:24:19] <~Canageek-OOC> Less then 1 square
[18:25:16] <@TheDM> I’ll recap all the treasure to make sure we don’t miss anything
[18:25:18] <@TheDM> Body #1—A human fighter, slumped against a wall. His broken sword, sheared off about eight inches above the pommel, tells the story of his demise. The body has been stripped of any armor, and there are no items of value on the remains, other than a belt pouch containing 5 gold pieces (g.p.).
[18:25:30] Canageek-OOC [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as Narrator
[18:25:42] <~Narrator> A voice murmers in your earpeice
[18:26:13] <Eowyn> (Silver pieces as I recall)
[18:26:15] <~Narrator> “Tragic, you all remeber what happened this this brave band in episode 4, don’t you? That WAS quite a struggle they put up, too bad it all came to naught.”
[18:26:23] <~Narrator> “Lets hope that this group does better!”
[18:26:28] <@TheDM> OOC: Yes
[18:26:38] <@TheDM> (Silver, not gold)
[18:26:44] Eel throws away the useless sword “Pity, I could have used that”
[18:27:20] <@TheDM> Body #2—A human magic-user, impaled against a wall: The killing sword, still thrust through the body, is lodged in the wall, which has a large section of wood at this point. When the sword was removed, the body will crumple to the floor, exposing a blood-stained carving. The carved letters form the word “QUASQUETON” in the “common” language.
[18:27:54] <Eowyn> … which I made a note of
[18:27:57] <~Narrator> “Quite clever of Eel to remove the sword right away, I wonder if they will determin the meaning of that word….IN TIME!”
[18:28:02] <Eel> … peers up the stairs “Eowyn, shall we… go on with the show?” *winking
[18:28:22] <@TheDM> The sword, upon being removed, proved worthless, since its handle is very loose and the overall quality of the weapon is poor.
[18:28:46] <Eowyn> “As soon as we finish looking these remains over.”
[18:28:51] <@TheDM> The body was bereft of any items of great value. The magic-user’s robe, now bloodstained and ruined, has a pocket and within it is a purse containing 2 s.p. and a  pouch full of garlic buds
[18:29:12] <Eowyn> (I had stowed those with my spices)
[18:29:15] <Eel> (( I hates it when TheDM gives oh so vague clues
[18:29:32] <@TheDM> OOC: As I recall that was were we got to last time
[18:30:23] <Eowyn> (( Sounds about right ))
[18:30:55] <@TheDM> The next body you find is a human berserker/fighter by  his dress, obviously a guard who defended to the death. The body is sprawled on the floor, and a broken wooden shield lies nearby. The body has no armor on it. There is no weapon on the body or nearby, nor are there any other items of value on the remains.
[18:31:47] <~Narrator> “Such a pity that so much of the last groups gear was taken by the victors– I wonder if our intrepid adventures will get far enough to see it used against them?”
[18:31:54] Eowyn checks her own armor and gear to s[18:29:32] <@TheDM> OOC: As I recall that was w[18:32:42] <@TheDM> It is, the guards appear to be local hires, using very a mix of cheap locally made junk and castoffs of the armies that marched through here
[18:33:26] <@TheDM> The final body lying at the foot of the steps is another human berserker/fighter guard. This body, with a bashed head from the blow of a war hammer, lies on the floor face down. There is no armor or weapon on the body except for a small sheathed dagger on the belt. The belt is very ornately decorated leather, which would appear to be worth something, except for the bloodstains ruining its appearance.
[18:33:29] <Eel> “Hmmmm. Poor pickings for us”
[18:34:09] <@TheDM> You can see another body lying just east of the intersectoin
[18:34:13] <Eel> “Want that, Eowyn?” *offering the dagger & belt
[18:34:27] <Eowyn> “Sure.”
[18:34:34] <@TheDM> OOC: Ada: Fill in the ‘door’ you drew on the map to make stairs and it should be prefect
[18:34:34] Eowyn examines the dagger.
[18:34:56] <@TheDM> OOC: Do you want to map in past the intersection or head back to town? I know it is late where Ada is
[18:35:15] <Eowyn> OOC And the intersection is immediately after the stairs?
[18:35:31] <@TheDM> Yes, just 4 steps leading up to it
[18:35:38] <Eowyn> (( Only 9:35))
[18:35:49] <@TheDM> *2 steps
[18:37:15] <~Narrator> ((Alright-The passage goes 80 feet forward befor hitting a wall- you can’t see which way it turns at that distance with the poor light
[18:37:24] <@TheDM> Errr
[18:37:30] <@TheDM> The passage goes 80 feet forward befor hitting a wall- you can’t see which way it turns at that distance with the poor light
[18:37:52] <Eowyn> And to the right and left?
[18:37:55] <@TheDM> It goes east & west at least 10 feet in either direction, but you can’t see more without going up the stairs
[18:38:21] <@TheDM> There are 2 doors on either side of the north passage immediatly after the intersection
[18:38:44] Eowyn scribbles.
[18:38:51] <Eowyn> Got it.
[18:38:56] <@TheDM> A passage to the east immediatly north of that, and one to the west right after that
[18:39:10] <@TheDM> SO, with the intersection at 0:
[18:39:22] <Eel> “We go up, you cover our left, I cover our right… so there won’t be any surprises. That ok, Eowyn?”
[18:39:34] <@TheDM> Doors EW +1 square, +2 W passage, +3 E passage
[18:39:35] <Eowyn> “Sure.”
[18:39:47] <@TheDM> You head up the stairs?
[18:39:47] <Eel> *nods
[18:39:56] <Eel> yes, as planned
[18:40:04] <Eel> wait!
[18:40:08] <@TheDM> You carefully step around the bodies, trodding on the dried ….
[18:40:08] <Eowyn> That is reversed to where you said the passages were
[18:40:12] <@TheDM> Oh
[18:40:33] <@TheDM> West is the southmost
[18:40:39] TheDM got E & west confused
[18:41:13] <Eowyn> ((Too bad I don’t have white-out))
[18:41:30] <@TheDM> OOC: Might I recommend pencil? *sheepish look*
[18:41:44] TheDM might not tell you some passages and such until you are closer and such

[18:42:34] <@TheDM> ((Everything you drew last week was described correctly))

[18:44:24] <Eowyn> Uploaded the newer map, with scribbled out corrections
[18:46:35] <Eowyn> I may do a fair copy later, and put a pencil in my gaming binder
[18:46:56] <@TheDM> OOC: I could recomend arrows showing the real passages, sorry about that
[18:47:13] <@TheDM> OOC: Also there is a body just E of the intersection you can see
[18:47:18] <Eowyn> Added
[18:47:40] <@TheDM> Are you proceeding into the intersection?
[18:47:44] <Eowyn> The body is to the direction Eel said he’d cover
[18:47:48] <@TheDM> Ok
[18:48:05] <Eowyn> I believe so
[18:48:21] <Eel> “move!” *whisper
[18:48:32] Eowyn moves
[18:48:48] <@TheDM> You carefully step around the bodies, trodding on the dried blood of those whom have already died for the amusiment of the masses, silently hoping for a better death for yourselfs. Emerging warely into the intersection only the sound of your footseps on the stop floor greet you, echoing hollowly down the hallways.
[18:48:48] <Eel> my area clear, Narrator?
[18:49:34] <Eel> “I wish I bought a flash-bang… it would have been more dramatic” *laughs
[18:49:36] <@TheDM> To the east lies the dead body of a dwarven warrior, a trail of blood leading back to the battle site at the bottom of the stairs
[18:50:23] Eowyn checks to the west
[18:50:48] <@TheDM> Each passage, east & west extends 30′ from the intersection before making a right angled-turn to the south
[18:51:04] Eel kicks the dead dwarf, checking if he is alive or booby-trapped
[18:52:03] <@TheDM> The dead dwaf shifts out of the posture he was in with the sickening sound of dead meat
[18:53:14] <Eel> seeing the east passage is clear, Eel squats down to start the body search
[18:53:16] <@TheDM> No traps go off, and the dead dwarf appears to be well & truely dead
[18:53:31] <Eel> “East wing clear”
[18:53:57] <~Narrator> “Isn’t that horrible folks? You think that these adventures would have more respect when their bodies could soon join the deceased on the cold stone floor!”
[18:54:14] <Eowyn> “Nothing apparent to the west.”
[18:54:31] <@TheDM> In his right hand he still clutches his war hammer, and it appears that he crawled, wounded,to this point, since a trail of dried blood leads back to the battle location. A sack turned inside out lies alongside the body, now empty.
[18:54:48] <@TheDM> Armor has. been stipped from the body, although the fighter’s helm is still on his head. This headgear, however, has a noticeable dent in it which will make it unusable and thus worthless.
[18:55:43] <@TheDM> !roll d100
[18:55:43] <@ChanServ> 47 == 47
[18:55:49] Eel examines hammer
[18:55:58] <Eowyn> ((Is that a one-handed or two-handed hammer?)?
[18:56:28] <@TheDM> Eel: As you kneel to search the body you find a small smear of blood leading to a chink in the wall
[18:56:52] <@TheDM> !roll 1d2
[18:56:52] <@ChanServ> 2 == 2
[18:56:56] <@TheDM> 2 handed
[18:57:36] <Eel> *examines chink
[18:57:44] <Eel> … carefully, eyeballing not touching
[18:58:15] <@TheDM> Inside you see a flash of gold, looks circular
[18:58:15] recursive_faults [~hitokiri@OWIRCN-3e3de74c.res.rr.com] has joined #Rune-X
[19:02:36] <Eel> (( hello, recursive_faults, glad to see you here :)
[19:02:57] <@TheDM> Eel: What are you doing about the gold?
[19:02:59] <Eowyn> “What’s that, Eel?” *whispering*
[19:06:22] <Eel> “I don’t know… but it is… shiny!”
[19:06:31] Narrator pipes music over your earpeices
[19:06:37] <Eel> “Should I? Get it, I mean?”
[19:06:45] <~Narrator> ((http://radio.otherworlders.org/listen.pls  ))
[19:07:03] <Eowyn> Can you fish it out without putting your fingers in?
[19:08:36] Eel takes out his knife and tries to pry-out the shiny thing
[19:09:52] <@TheDM> It takes some work, but you eventually fish out a large golden ring, coated in blood
[19:10:00] <@TheDM> The ring is not thick, but it is solidly made
[19:10:23] <@TheDM> You can make Culture(Dwarven) checks at default
[19:10:45] <@TheDM> Or any skill related to jewlery or similar you can think of
[19:10:51] <Eowyn> !roll d100
[19:10:51] <@ChanServ> 87 == 87
[19:10:56] <Eowyn> Nothing
[19:12:15] <Eel> “Can we detect if it is ‘magical’?” *tries not to guffaw
[19:12:40] <@TheDM> OOC: Magic is very well known in this setting, FYI
[19:14:03] <@TheDM> OOC: But I don’t think either of you have the ‘Detect Magic’ spell
[19:14:34] <Eel> OOC: that’s why he was laughing… no detect magic ;)
[19:14:51] <~Narrator> OOC: Ahhh, I thought you’d gotten the impression it was a low magic setting
[19:15:13] <Eowyn> OOC Yep, but if the ring breaks its leg I can heal it!
[19:16:17] TheDM waits to hear what you do next
[19:16:34] <Eel> “Can you read the inscription, Eowyn?”
[19:16:41] <Eel> *hands it back to Eowyn
[19:17:08] Ina [~G.Vegt@OWIRCN-661d2d7c.solcon.nl] has joined #Rune-X
[19:17:13] <@TheDM> Eel…How did you know it had an inscription?
[19:17:29] <@TheDM> It does, on the inside the band in bold, deeply cut runes
[19:17:35] Eowyn cleans the blood off the ring.
[19:17:55] <Eowyn> “I don’t know Dwarven.”
[19:18:33] <@TheDM> You are not sure it is in Dwarven, though that would be logical. Either way you can’t read it
[19:18:51] <Eel> “Ok. I’ll try it on then… I am a human Detect Magic device” *winks
[19:19:24] <@TheDM> The ring is much too large for your finger, and does not resize. Nothing happens expcpt some of the dried blood rubs off on your finger
[19:19:33] <Eel> “… just watch my back, Eowyn, and heal me if I get cut in half!?!”
[19:19:38] <Eel> “… or worse!”
[19:19:45] <Eowyn> “Will do.”
[19:19:55] <Eel> “Drats!”
[19:20:21] <Eowyn> “Maybe it’s a keepsake, I wonder if he has family that would want the ring.”
[19:21:19] Eel looks at Eowyn’s fingers, shakes head “Nah, too risky. Medics are much too precious”
[19:21:43] <Eel> *shrugs “Where to now, stalwart buddy?”
[19:22:12] <Eowyn> “West?”
[19:23:51] <Eel> “West it is… lead on”
[19:24:04] <Eel> “No, wait… I’ll take point”
[19:24:12] Eowyn proceeds carefully behind Eel.
[19:24:26] <~Narrator> You reach the end of the passage with no incident
[19:24:36] Eel trods forward carefully, shotgun ready
[19:25:21] <~Narrator> It extends 130′ south of your position, with a passage east 70′ south
[19:26:25] <Eowyn> East? That would go back towards the passage with the alcoves.
[19:26:40] <@TheDM> OOC: Yes, East
[19:27:24] Narrator [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as Canageek-DM
[19:27:29] <Eowyn> (( Oh right, we did go up slightly)
[19:27:56] <@TheDM> Slightly- only a foot or so. 2 steps.
[19:28:06] <Eel> “Be carful with the mapping, Eowyn… I get lost easilly”
[19:28:41] <Eowyn> “Will do.”
[19:28:56] <@TheDM> So, are you heading south?
[19:29:18] Eel raises an eyebrow at Eowyn
[19:29:20] <Eowyn> “I’d like to go south, then east.”
[19:29:38] <Eel> “Going”
[19:29:48] <@TheDM> One second
[19:30:01] <Eowyn> Hmm… maybe that passage hooks up with the strange walls in the alcove
[19:30:15] TheDM is cross-refrencing
[19:31:33] <@TheDM> The passage to the east extends 10′ then ends in a stone door
[19:33:04] TheDM waits
[19:33:27] <Eowyn> “If you don’t open it I will.”
[19:35:31] <Eel> *opens with a hard yank!
[19:36:23] <@TheDM> The door grinds open to reveale the alcoves you saw earlier
[19:36:38] <@TheDM> There is no handle from the other side of the door, and indeed no way to tell there is a door there at all
[19:37:01] <Eel> “Was this some sort of murder-hole?”
[19:37:10] <Eowyn> Except that it looked strange to me from the other side.
[19:37:31] <~Canageek-DM> Yes, though you couldn’t put your finger on it
[19:37:38] <~Canageek-DM> (1 point off from what you needed as I recall)
[19:39:39] <Eowyn> ((I should get to sleep soon))
[19:39:54] <@TheDM> OOC: Alright, then lets call cut and let you head back to town
[19:40:01] Canageek-DM [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as TheNarrator
[19:40:33] <Eel> (( ok
[19:40:50] TheNarrator ‘s voice murmers in your ear: Why don’t the two of you head back to town? I’m going to have some more delver’s join you there in a day or so and would make things easier if had an inn room or somthing to meet up in
[19:41:16] <Eel> *comms* “Okey”
[19:42:01] <@TheDM> You make your way back, easy from this spot as you can just go through the secret door. However that will leave it open, as there is no way to close it from the other side. Do you take the shortcut or go the long way?

[19:42:54] <Eowyn> I don’t care
[19:43:03] <@TheDM> Eel: ?
[19:44:59] <Eowyn> OK, we’ll close the door to leave less sign that we’ve been here and exit the long way.
[19:45:30] <@TheDM> Alright, you treck back to town. You find it is a very small town, mostly comprised of old feildstone houses
[19:46:08] Eel follows Eowyn lead
[19:46:52] <@TheDM> For the most part it looks like it was pulled from the last century, but then and again there is an anacronism- a feild laborur wearing an undershirt and combate fatigue pants, a truck tire used as a flower planter
[19:47:06] <Eel> “Should we look for the Shop or the Tavern, Eowyn?” *grins
[19:47:19] <@TheDM> The town seems poor, but stable- you don’t see anyone fat, but no one seems to be starving to death
[19:47:44] <Eowyn> “Tavern first. Want to share a room? Cheaper and we can watch each other’s backs.”
[19:47:57] <@TheDM> You get a number of curious looks as you walk through town, and a group of children shadow you down the street, pointing and whispering
[19:48:02] <Eel> “Agreed”
[19:49:03] <~TheNarrator> You quickly fine a small hostel, more of a bed and breakfast due to the low amount of traffic the town recives. It is howerver just down the street from the bar
[19:49:52] <@TheDM> The women who runs it loosk suprised to see you, but quickly names a price of 1 s.p/week/person
[19:50:25] <Eowyn> Does she seem inclined to haggle?
[19:50:53] <~TheNarrator> You notice the stoicism or perhappes reticism the region is known for when she doesn’t ask any questions about your strange dress or reason for visiting
[19:51:14] <~TheNarrator> Eowyn: Is is hard to say, roll a social skill of some sort
[19:51:25] Eel flashes a smile at the lady
[19:51:36] <Eowyn> !roll d100
[19:51:36] <@ChanServ> 30 == 30
[19:51:59] <Eel> … sometimes impresses, sometimes depresses ;)
[19:52:15] <Eowyn> Perception would make it, trade wouldn’t

[19:53:21] <@TheDM> You think you would have a better chance at haggaling if you were not heavily armed and appeared in town suddenly, loooking like trouble, but don’t think it is impossible

[19:53:56] Eowyn tries to signal to Eel to bargain
[19:54:33] <Eowyn> (If the DM were still here)
[19:54:50] <Eel> ((lol
[19:54:59] TheDM is
[19:55:11] <Eel> !roll d100 convince Madam
[19:55:11] <@ChanServ> 40 == 40
[19:55:27] <@TheDM> Eel: Is that a pass with a -10 penatly on your skill?
[19:55:47] <Eel> (( I don’t know. where is the link again for my charsheet, TheDM?

[19:56:26] <@TheDM> You started with 28, so you fail
[19:56:4[19:56:44] TheInnKeeper [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] has joined #Rune-X
[19:57:02] <~TheInnKeeper> No- you look like trouble enough, I need the money to cover any damage you hooligins cause!
[19:57:36] <~TheInnKeeper> That reminds me, I’ll need a 5 silver damage deposit from the yer husband and yer, split however yer want
[19:57:52] <Eel> “What?!?!”
[19:58:12] <Eowyn> “Here’s a silver. I’m only paying for the nights I sleep here, mind you, but I’ll be in and out often enough to make at least a week.
[19:58:23] <~TheInnKeeper> You’ll get it back when you leave, minus whatever you break
[19:58:25] Eowyn digs out the 5 silver from the treasure.
[19:58:26] <Eel> (( do we have enough money?
[19:58:28] <~TheInnKeeper> No explosives in the house
[19:58:49] <@TheDM> OOC: Should, you found 5 silver in the dungeon
[19:59:04] <@TheDM> OCC: You suspect you could get her down to 3 silver or so bargening
[19:59:19] <@TheDM> But if you fail when she is already suspecious it could have consequences
[19:59:37] <Eowyn> “Here, but I need a receipt.”
[20:00:12] <Eel> “Ack. Lets just pay-up and sleep… This lady is too much hassle”
[20:01:45] <@TheDM> Alright, you pay up and have a room
[20:01:50] <@TheDM> she takes your money and gives you a recite in large, crude writing.
[20:03:07] <Eowyn> In between sessions I’ll see if anyone sells detect magic casting
[20:03:27] <Eowyn> But I won’t be surprised if the town is too small
[20:03:58] <Eel> (( hehe
[20:04:00] <Eowyn> And I’ll sell or trade healing to anyone who needs it, until the other delvers show up
[20:04:17] <@TheDM> There is a general store that sells dry goods, milk and fresh meat from the surrounding farms, and a few cheap firearms, but people are not exactly spilling information at you just yet
[20:04:21] <Eel> (( good game. looking forward to the next episode
[20:04:32] <@TheDM> Alright, that should make you popular, we can discuss it next episode
[20:04:38] <Eowyn> Okay
[20:04:54] <Eel> good idea, Eowyn
[20:05:00] <Eowyn> I’ll set my rates to what they can afford
[20:05:33] <Eowyn> Sort of a healer’s instinct… get to town, patch people up
[20:05:56] <Eel> OOC: I think Eowyn is a Lost, Amazing Race, Survivor expert ;)
[20:05:57] <@TheDM> Alright, sorry if I’m loosing focus here- 8 pm and I’ve not eaten since lunch. I wanted to get this wrapped up before Ada went to bed
[20:06:00] <Eowyn> Thanks for the game, guys
[20:06:11] <Eel> thank you, TheDM and Eowyn :)
[20:06:23] <Eel> no combats yet!
[20:06:37] <Eowyn> Or traps
[20:06:44] <@TheDM> Nope, though I had outlined one in my notes that I forgot about as an opening
[20:06:45] <Eowyn> Go eat!
[20:06:48] <@TheDM> Fixed it
[20:06:52] <Eel> we have beginners luck
[20:06:54] <@TheDM> Alright, get some sleep dear freind
[20:07:05] <Eowyn> Thanks, my friend
[20:07:06] <@TheDM> Yep, however it is an easy enoucnter to move :D
[20:07:08] Sent part request, waiting for reply…
### Log session terminated at Fri Jun 17 20:07:08 2011 ###

Edit: I’ve cleaned up the log a fair bit, remove a lot of join/leave messages, chatter and whatnot as well as some logging bugs from the fact I was connected to the channel multiple times (They why my nick changes so much). Hopefully this will make it a bit easier to read.

### Log session started at Sat Jun 4 09:54:15 2011 ###
[...]
[16:53:26] <Eowyn> What should my 1 handed close combat weapon be? Not sure what a modern soldier would carry, I think we’ve moved beyond bayonets
[16:54:24] <~Canageek-DM> Yes, but at the same time the game has heavy fantasy elements, and WWI bits and peices are still around as the military wouldn’t acknowledge them as anacronisms
[17:03:09] <Eowyn> So I’ll make it a bayonet
[17:04:04] <~Canageek-DM> If you want, sure
[17:04:18] <~Canageek-DM> I imagined you guys using a lot of medevial weapons due to the televised nature
[17:04:38] <~Canageek-DM> That and very few magic guns exist- They are too knew and expensive
[17:12:46] <Eowyn> Okay, a shortsword
[17:12:56] <~Canageek-DM> Your choice
[17:13:22] <Eowyn> I was just figuring I’d use what I’d trained on in the army
[17:13:35] <~Canageek-DM> If you want, sure
[17:13:50] <~Canageek-DM> But if you were an officer at the start of the war you would have been trained in a saber or shortsword
[17:13:57] <Eowyn> You be the producer. Do you try to talk me into using something medieval?
[17:14:35] <~Canageek-DM> Hmmmm, yes, I think I do
[17:14:49] <~Canageek-DM> Do you want me to roleplay it?
[17:15:17] <Eowyn> Whichever you’d rather. I’m just a passenger in the van for the next hour
[17:15:27] <~Canageek-DM> *nodnod*
[17:15:31] <~Canageek-DM> Let me think for a bit
[17:16:52] <~Canageek-DM> Take what you think is best for the character actually, it is the first season so everything is still in flux
[17:19:20] <Eowyn> Well, I basically want to play myself as I’m not a good actor, so I plan on being the combat medic of the team.
[17:19:37] <~Canageek-DM> Right, so when you find magic weapons you’ll have to learn then
[17:20:01] <Eowyn> I’ll use the close combat weapon to defend myself when I’m not patching up my buddies.
[17:20:23] <~Canageek-DM> Yeah, it might not matter- I remeber by 12th level cleric using a non-magic scimitar
[17:20:24] <Eowyn> So to start with I’ll just keep my bayonet on my rifle since I’m familiar with it
[17:20:59] <~Canageek-DM> Works for me
[17:21:06] <Eowyn> And as I get better at battle magic I want to learn how to make healing potions and magic power stores. I just want to optimize my healing powers.
[17:21:16] <~Canageek-DM> Ok, can do
[17:22:18] <Eowyn> Do you have any of those magic power stores I could borrow for the first few episodes? Or potions for the team?
[17:22:45] <~Canageek-DM> No to start with, I want to see how you do with the rules as written
[17:22:56] <Eowyn> Very well.
[17:23:41] <~Canageek-DM> If you have a lot of trouble I’ll add it as treasure or for sale in the nearby town
[17:25:25] <Eowyn> Good. Doing this as a reality show is rather comforting, as I know having our whole team die would end the show.
[17:25:32] <Eowyn> Unless….
[17:25:37] <~Canageek-DM> No, they you play the next team ^^
[17:25:59] <~Canageek-DM> The motto of X-Crawl was “If you die…YOU DIE!”
[17:26:02] <Eowyn> What are your plans if you have to cancel the show?
[17:26:15] <~Canageek-DM> What do you mean? If the team dies?
[17:26:32] <Eowyn> No if the ratings are abysmal
[17:26:45] <~Canageek-DM> :D I am the DM, so I get to pick the ratings
[17:26:58] <Eowyn> I was still roleplaying
[17:27:01] <~Canageek-DM> But if they were I’d set a game in a new genre
[17:27:03] <~Canageek-DM> Ohhhh
[17:27:04] <~Canageek-DM> >.>
[17:27:17] <Eowyn> :D
[17:27:59] <~Canageek-DM> Oh, then I’d probably fire you all and start over
[17:28:03] <~Canageek-DM> Tweak the concept a bit
[17:28:13] <Eowyn> Oh good, no total party kill
[17:28:15] <~Canageek-DM> however based on the early numbers I’d say there is no danger of that
[17:28:33] <Eowyn> Good, I have a hard time in civilian life.
[17:29:06] <~Canageek-DM> Most of our contesents seem to, I’m glad to provide you with profitable outlets
[17:29:12] <Eowyn> I haven’t met the rest of the team, what can you tell me about them?
[17:29:57] <~Canageek-DM> That is still being determined by our human resources department, but ideally we wold like a more aggressive spell caster and one or more frontline ifghters
[17:30:20] <~Canageek-DM> We have one of each so far ,though there is a contract issue with one so she may not be involed for a period of time
[17:31:10] <Eowyn> But then she hopes to join up when that’s resolved?
[17:31:13] fudgebob [~fudgebob@27B34E.4FEA8A.0EDFA7.34CDF3] has joined #Rune-X
[17:31:17] <Eowyn> Hi
[17:31:21] <fudgebob> hi
[17:31:33] <fudgebob> sorry for being late
[17:32:01] <Eowyn> Fine by me, Canageek was just roleplaying the producer with me
[17:32:24] <~Canageek-DM> Eowyn, can you summarize so that I can make sure everything is clear with you?
[17:34:16] <Eowyn> When I’m able to learn more battle magic you’ll help with my training. If we have a lot of trouble you’ll make some healing potions available.
[17:34:54] <Eowyn> But if we die, we die. (However, I believe I’m a very competent medic. Just hope I don’t get taken down.)
[17:35:45] <Eowyn> And the rest was mostly me selecting my close combat weapon, and I decided to keep using the bayonet I had in the army.
[17:35:57] <Eowyn> Did I miss anything important?
[17:36:49] <~Canageek-DM> Not that I can see
[17:37:12] <~Canageek-DM> (Fudgebob, what is your characters name and is it finished? We can drop out of character do to that)
[17:37:48] <fudgebob> ((I send the pdf already
[17:38:36] <~Canageek-DM> (Oh, you did, right)
[17:39:49] <~Canageek-DM> (Corwen?)
[17:41:29] fudgebob is looking for his copy
[17:46:00] <fudgebob> … and still looking.
[17:46:07] <~Canageek-DM> Forwarding it to you
[17:48:32] <~Canageek-DM> Sent
[...]
[17:51:28] <fudgebob> Eowyn: who is your character? :)
[17:52:03] <Eowyn> I’m Eowyn, a skilled combat medic
[17:52:20] <Eowyn> Ada is my RL name
[17:52:34] <fudgebob> ah :D
[17:52:59] <Eowyn> For combat magic I chose heal 6 so I can reattach severed limbs
[17:53:28] <Eowyn> And my character sheet so far is a lot of comments on the latest post on Canageek’s blog.
[17:54:35] <fudgebob> nice!
[17:54:51] <~Canageek-DM> Canageek-DM is Matthew, and also giving up setting up a Shoutcase stream of music for the gaming session as Ada woudln’t be able to listen anyway
[...]
[18:13:46] <~Canageek-DM> So do you have any questions while we wait or shall I just plan out the town by the dungeon?
[18:34:50] <~Canageek-DM> [14:58:41] <fudgebob> no, I sent the link via igor: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/128029/games/fudgebob%27s%20OQ%20charsheet.pdf
[18:36:30] Corwen [~fudgebob@27B34E.4FEA8A.0EDFA7.500996] is now known as Roberto
[18:37:01] Roberto takes the nearest available seat
[18:38:42] Eowyn sits near Roberto but not adjecent, in an aisle seat.
[...]
[18:40:44] <Roberto> “Why did you take this ‘job’, Eowyn? For fame, money, or both?”
[18:40:50] Canageek-DM [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as MC-Lemberg
[18:41:14] <~MC-Lemberg> d20
[18:41:15] Golem rolls the dice for MC-Lemberg (d20) and rolled 13.
[18:41:32] <Eowyn> “Mostly money. As I said, I can’t hold down a civilian job. And I’d rather not be a merc.”
[18:42:12] <Eowyn> “What about you, Roberto? And do you have a nickname, Rob, Bob?”
[18:42:49] <Roberto> “Right. I’m also gunning for that – money does change everything. Call me Eel”
[18:44:19] <Roberto> “If we’re teaming-up, we need more muscle… I can shoot but close-quarters-combat is not my thing”
[18:44:54] <~MC-Lemberg> “Alrighty you two, listen up. Here is how things are going to work: We land at a small airfeild somewhere in the boarderlands in about 4 hours. From there you will be dropped off  by Jeep just outside a small town known as Pechersky”
[18:45:26] <Eowyn> “The producer briefed me, I’ll fill you in when we’ve got time.”
[18:45:46] <Roberto> “Then what, Mr. MC? … Uh ok, Eowyn”
[18:46:26] <~MC-Lemberg> “You’ve been given a map leading from town to the complex you are to raid. The local nation was a backwards Swords & Sorcery level kingdom untli the armies rolled over it, so they’ve seen guns and whatnot, but try not to spook the populace much”
[18:47:16] <~MC-Lemberg> “The owners of the complex oppsed said rolling over of the complex and have not been seen in a number of years, so it is highly likely they have died in battle, leaving it open for our use”
[18:49:10] Roberto readies his equipment
[18:49:28] <MC-Lemberg> “You choose when you are finished exploring on a per-person basis, and you will be credited for how deeply into the complex you explore, monsters killed, style, teamwork and other factors”
[18:51:07] <MC-Lemberg> “I also shouldn’t tell you this, but as you are new: We’ve not told the locals what you are doing, and our scrying spells and automata are subtle- if you get them angry by killing them, offending any religous or political belifes or sleeping with somebodies daughter you are on your own- take care when revealingwhat you are up to”
[18:51:50] <DM-OOC> Advantage of two connections: One dies and I can keep going
[18:52:03] <MC-Lemberg> “Are there any questions?
[18:52:42] <Roberto> “Aside from our stuff, are you giving us extra equipment?”
[18:53:29] <MC-Lemberg> “No, though if you have anything you wish to purchase with your remaning budget please let us know and we can have it waiting with the jeeps when we land”
[18:54:38] <Roberto> “Noted, MC.”
[18:55:30] Eowyn hands Lemberg a list.
[18:55:31] <MC-Lemberg> (let me know when you are ready to land: If you want to make any last minute purchaes, either dungeon gear or modern let me know: Keep in mind you are about to be tracped in a medevial economy so if you want to buy a roll o fduct tape you need to do it now )
[18:55:42] <DM-OOC> What is on the list?
[18:56:26] <Eowyn> (I will be providing the list after my sister is done checking email etc. on my laptop. I can list things like duct tape etc after kids are tucked in)
[18:56:39] <DM-OOC> Works for me
[18:58:38] <DM-OOC> The plane lands at a decrepit war-era airport, bouncing to stop on a runway, just before a nastly looking pothole
[18:58:49] <MC-Lemberg> The plane lands at a decrepit war-era airport, bouncing to stop on a runway, just before a giant pothole
[18:5[19:00:32] <Roberto> ( ok
[19:00:42] <Roberto> ( glock and body armor
[19:01:15] <Roberto> ( turns out to be “double-leather armor” ;)
[19:02:22] <DM-OOC> Works for me
[19:02:51] DM-OOC sketches the town you are going to in his mind
[19:04:33] <DM-OOC> Did you see the bit bout landing?
[19:04:53] <Eowyn> With a pothole? Yes
[19:04:57] <MC-Lemberg> “Oh, and before we land I’ll also need you to fill out these life-insurance and surviors benifits forms”
[19:05:10] Eowyn scribbles.
[19:05:33] Roberto looks up “I knew it.” *sighs and signs
[19:05:35] Eowyn lists Doctors without Borders as beneficiary.
[19:05:42] <DM-OOC> It turns out that for an evil corperations paying you to die for the publics enterainment they have really good benifits, though you do note they keep about half the the life insurance policy, though it is still far better then you could afford on your own
[19:06:33] <Roberto> “Mine is Socialists Anonymous”
[19:06:52] Eowyn says to Eel, “HR is looking for more members for our
[19:07:08] <MC-Lemberg> “Well, I guess neither of you will be using the descentents education fund…”
[19:07:22] <Eowyn>  “Team, but one of them has some problems with her contract so hopefully she’ll join us later.”
[19:07:29] <DM-OOC> You then board the jeeps, and bounce over broken roads and around obvious battlefeilds and trenches
[19:07:53] <Roberto> *nods
[19:08:07] <MC-Lemberg> “The trip would be a lot faster, but most of the passes are so heavily mind that no one is going through them for the next hundred years. Helps keep the shooting location isolated and backwards though”
[19:08:22] <Eowyn> “Indeed.”
[19:09:03] <TheDM> You then turn around a mountain overlooking a great and fertile looking vally
[19:10:07] <TheDM> At the far end lies a small village, and through a pair of provided binoculars you see a small village of perhappes 300-500 people spread over the vally, with a small cluster of buildings forming the town proper being your destination
[19:10:34] Roberto [~fudgebob@27B34E.4FEA8A.0EDFA7.500996] is now known as Eel
[19:10:41] <MC-Lemberg> “The complex you want is at this end of the vally, about 4 hours hike from the town into the mountains”
[19:11:08] <MC-Lemberg> “The path is pretty hard to follow without a map, which we’ve obtained for you”
[19:11:23] <Eowyn> “That was my next question.”
[19:11:29] MC-Lemberg hands you each a detailed arial reconnosince map
[19:11:51] <Eel> *grunts
[19:12:16] Eowyn scans the map, then stows it in a thigh pocket.
[19:12:24] <MC-Lemberg> Any other questions before the jeep heads off?
[19:13:10] <Eowyn> Oh! How to contact you when we’re ready to leave.
[19:13:11] <Eel> “None for now… lets go, Eowyn”
[19:13:24] <MC-Lemberg> “Ah, right”
[19:13:44] MC-Lemberg hands you each a small sattelite phone the size of a housing brick
[19:14:47] <Eel> “Thanks. What’s it for?”
[19:14:51] Eowyn familiarizes herself with the controls and asks any questions about how to operate it before stowing it.”
[19:16:32] <TheDM> So are you headed to the town, or the dungeon or other?
[19:17:43] Eowyn looks at Eel.
[19:17:54] <Eel> “I say we bypass the town (can’t stand crowds, esp. strange, new ones). Dungeon, Eowyn?”
[19:19:03] <Eowyn> “Sure.”
[19:20:03] TheDM was not expecting that, grabs the next section of his notes
[19:20:22] <Eel> (( ack. np if we go to town, TheDM
[19:20:39] <TheDM> OOC: not a problem at all, just wasn’t expecting it
[19:20:49] <TheDM> OOC: Just means I skip ahead a bit
[19:21:00] <Eel> (( ok. gulps
[19:23:44] Eel takes point and Eowyn covers the rear… the only possible combination for a two-man team *shakes head
[19:24:22] <TheDM> The complex you arrive at is hewn from a great rock outcropping at the crest of a large wooded hill. Winds buffet the hill continuously, blowing and whistling through the trees, vines and other vegetation which blanket the prominence on all sides. The rock itself is a heavy blackish slate.
[19:25:30] <Eel> “Do you see anything, Eowyn? An entrance or guards?”
[19:25:36] <Eel> *whispering
[19:26:03] <Eowyn> (Dice rolling syntax?)
[19:26:25] <TheDM> d20
[19:26:26] Golem rolls the dice for TheDM (d20) and rolled 5.
[19:26:37] <TheDM> OOC: Actually you don’t need to roll
[19:26:44] <TheDM> A cave-like opening, somewhat obscured by vegetation, is noticeable at the end of a treacherous pathway which leads up to the craggy outcropping of black rock.
[19:26:52] <Eowyn> “There!”
[19:26:56] Eowyn points.
[19:27:24] <Eel> *nods “Let’s move… carefully”
[19:27:49] TheDM waits for what you do
[19:28:59] <Eel> (( I approach the cave mouth, crouched and ready for bear
[19:29:48] <TheDM> The opening is covered in vines and branches
[19:31:01] <Eel> (( how dense?
[19:31:27] <TheDM> Lightly covered, roll K:nature
[19:32:03] <Eowyn> I have my rifle out, scanning between the cave and my rear.
[19:32:18] <Eel> d100
[19:32:19] Golem rolls the dice for Eel (d100) and rolled 83.
[19:34:28] <TheDM> Eel: Is that under your skill? I’m guessing no
[19:34:55] <TheDM> You know nothing about the plants in the opening
[19:34:56] <Eowyn> If you ask me I can roll. Eowyn didn’t think to wonder.
[19:35:53] <Eel> “Ack, I can’t identify the foliage. How about you, Eowyn?”
[19:36:13] <Eowyn> D100
[19:36:14] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 79.
[19:36:18] <Eowyn> Dunno
[19:37:38] <TheDM> Well, you can easily brush aside the foiliage if you wish to doso
[19:38:01] <Eel> *shrugs, goes in, brushing aside the vines with his rifle
[19:38:41] Eowyn follows.
[19:39:08] <TheDM> By sweeping aside some of the vines and branches, the opening becomes easily accessible to human-size explorers.
[19:39:27] <TheDM> The opening leads straight into the rock formation, with a 10′ wide corridor leading the way to a large wooden door.
[19:39:45] <Eel> *still crouched, Eel exchanges his rifle with his handgun
[19:40:23] <Eel> *Looks for a door knob or something
[19:40:41] <TheDM> There is a large metal handle
[19:41:03] <Eel> d100 checking for traps
[19:41:13] <TheDM> Eel: You are examaning the door?
[19:41:15] <TheDM> d100
[19:41:15] Golem rolls the dice for TheDM (d100) and rolled 10.
[19:41:20] <TheDM> Nice,
[19:41:52] <Eel> “I see something”
[19:42:05] Eowyn slings her rifle over her back.
[19:42:30] <Eowyn> And I have my dagger handy on my belt, but not out.
[19:42:52] <TheDM> Bits of wood have been chipped away from the edge, indicating that it has previously been forced
[19:42:59] <TheDM> OOC: Sorry, thought I’d sent that already
[19:44:13] Eowyn reaches into her left thigh pocket and removes a brown rat, which she places on her shoulder.
[19:44:35] MC-Lemberg [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as Rat
[19:44:38] Rat chitters
[19:44:41] Eel , seeing no dead bodies, opens the door with his shotgun’s tip
[19:44:52] <Eel> “Whoa! What’s that thing?!”
[19:45:01] <TheDM> The
[19:45:02] <TheDM> door opens freely
[19:45:12] Rat [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as TheDM-OOC
[19:45:13] <Eel> *still whispering
[19:45:32] <TheDM-OOC> I forgot, how are we going to handle mapping? This is an old school adventure, the first one TSR put out
[19:45:40] <Eowyn> “My pet rat.”
[19:45:44] <TheDM-OOC> So they spend a lto of time talking about mapping
[19:45:53] <Eowyn> Old school means we should map it.
[19:46:00] Eel turns on his flashlight, in his offhand
[19:46:14] <Eowyn> I have graph paper so I could do so tonight, although no pencil.
[19:46:34] <Eowyn> But then to share it my best technology is to take a photo with my phone.
[19:47:32] <Eowyn> Fudgebob, shall I map then?
[19:48:10] <Eel> “Yes, Eowyn, please map our route… I don’t want to get lost in here”
[19:48:40] TheDM signs, glad I don’t have to mess around with maptools
[19:49:36] Canageek will give the measurements in feet so as not to be a dick
[19:50:07] <Eowyn> “My rat’s name is Patsyuk.”
[19:50:18] <Eowyn> As Wil Wheaton says.
[19:50:32] <Eel> “Past Yuck-y?”
[19:50:59] <TheDM> From the opening to the door it is 60 feet straight north
[19:51:03] Eowyn unslings her pack and retrieves notepad and pencil. Also a rat treat, which she feeds to Patsyuk.
[19:51:14] <Eowyn> “Ratty, basically.”
[19:52:20] Eel shines the flashlight down the hall
[19:52:52] Eowyn scribbles.
[19:53:10] <Eowyn> How wide is the hall, 10′?
[19:53:20] <TheDM> Wait, 10′ in width is how wide?
[19:53:24] <TheDM> 10 feet or yards?
[19:53:38] <Eowyn> Ten feet
[19:53:40] <Eel> (( feet for dungeons methinks
[19:53:49] <Eowyn> (3 meters, plus a bit)
[19:55:03] bynw [~fenix@OWIRCN-cd9b0e44.client.mchsi.com] has joined #Rune-X
[19:55:17] <Eowyn> 10″ is inches and I don’t think there’s a corresponding symbol for yards. Hi bynw
[19:55:38] <TheDM> The passage continues 120′ before reaching another door, with 3 sets of alcoves 20′, 70′, 110′ down the corridor from the door
[19:55:50] <TheDM> that is [19:45:32] <TheDM-OOC> I forgot, how are we going to handle mapping? This is an old school adventure, the first one TSR put out
[19:45:40] <Eowyn> “My pet rat.”
[19:45:44] <TheDM-OOC> So they spend a lto of time talking about mapping
[19:45:53] <Eowyn> Old school means we should map it.
[19:46:00] Eel turns on his flashlight, in his offhand
[19:46:14] <Eowyn> I have graph paper so I could do so tonight, although no pencil.
[19:46:34] <Eowyn> But then to share it my best technology is to take a photo with my phone.
[19:46:51] TheDM-OOC [~Canageek@OWIRCN-ebfed2a1.vc.shawcable.net] is now known as Canageek
[19:46:59] ChanServ [ChanServ@chanserv.otherworlders.org] has set mode +qo Canageek Canageek
[1[19:59:55] <Eowyn> So when you say twenty feet down, is there 20′ of wall till the *start* of the alcove?
[20:00:24] <TheDM> http://www.flickr.com/photos/ada_kerman/
[20:00:30] Eowyn glances at the first pair of alcoves
[20:00:47] <TheDM> The alcove starts 10′ from the door and ends 20′ from it
[20:01:06] <Eel> (( how dark is the dungeon? what are the walls made of?
[20:01:31] <TheDM> Pitch black, you will need lights
[20:01:41] <TheDM> The hallway is carved from the same black shale
[20:01:57] <Eel> (( damp or dry?
[20:02:05] <~Canageek> Dry
[20:02:27] TheDM isn’t going into why there would not be shale in this type of vally and will just use the adventure as written
[20:03:16] Eel continously pans the flashlight while guarding over Eowyn, who is mapping the area
[20:04:18] <Eowyn> First map is emailed to Flickr.
[20:04:39] Eowyn nods at Eel in thanks and tucks her pencil behind her ear.
[20:05:16] <~Canageek> http://www.flickr.com/photos/ada_kerman/5798778740/in/photostream
[20:06:12] <Eowyn> (I’m your maptools ;))
[20:06:16] <~The_DM> Looks good to me
[20:06:31] <~The_DM> Give me a tactics roll
[20:06:45] <Eel> (( nice!
[20:07:33] <Eel> d100
[20:07:33] Golem rolls the dice for Eel (d100) and rolled 73.
[20:08:05] <Eel> (( meh
[20:08:17] <Eowyn> D100
[20:08:17] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 39.
[20:08:56] <Eel> (( tactics would be perception? or what?
[20:09:08] <~The_DM> Knowledge?
[20:09:22] <Eowyn> What sort?
[20:09:28] <~The_DM> Preception -10 (I’m not using the only 25/50/75 guidelines as I disagree with the advice)
[20:09:48] <~The_DM> Military, tactics….this is a game of ‘I have a skill that is close, I’ll ask the DM’
[20:09:53] <Eowyn> I fail then, with a percep of 33
[20:10:10] <Eel> (( failed too
[20:10:14] <~The_DM> Don’t you have some military skill?
[20:10:23] <Eowyn> Combat?
[20:10:52] <~The_DM> I’ll give you it- the alchoves are probably gardposts
[20:10:55] <~The_DM> the nearest set are empty
[20:11:13] <~The_DM> empty and barren of any markings.
[20:11:53] Eowyn pulls out her flashlight and tucks the notepad in a pocket.
[20:12:30] <Eowyn> Eel, go ahead and stow your light so you can do more with your gun.
[20:12:45] Eel complies
[20:13:10] <Eel> “Where to, stalwart mapper?” *smiling
[20:13:30] <Eowyn> So… do we want to have a commanding officer? Seems a bit unnecessary with such a small team
[20:14:01] <Eowyn> “Only one way to go, forward to the next door. Being wary of the other niches.”
[20:14:18] <Eel> “Too much I think… let just do the Buddy System, ok?”
[20:14:20] <~The_DM> Preception rolls
[20:14:56] <~The_DM> Please and thank you
[20:15:20] <Eel> d100
[20:15:20] Golem rolls the dice for Eel (d100) and rolled 57.
[20:16:31] <Eowyn> D100
[20:16:31] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 4.
[20:16:37] <Eowyn> Ding ding ding
[20:16:38] <Eel> (( yay! I made it
[20:16:59] <Eel> (( wow!
[20:17:02] <Eowyn> Nice. I guess a sniper needs high perception
[20:17:19] Eowyn thanks the golem
[20:18:08] <Eel> (( hmmm. I forgot about getting grenades :(
[20:18:21] <Eel> (( what do we see, The_DM
[20:18:31] <~The_DM> OCC: Explosives + Treasure = happy DM
[20:19:26] <~The_DM> You notice that there is a pair of steps at the end of the hallway, with several slumped over forms on them
[20:19:47] <~The_DM> Eowyn can also tell that there is something stange about the walls in the middle alcoves as you approach them
[20:20:32] <Eowyn> “See that, Eel?”
[20:20:45] <Eel> “What? A trap?!?”
[20:20:50] <Eowyn> Do the steps go anywhere or is it just a raised area?
[20:21:00] Eowyn shrugs.
[20:21:00] <~Canageek> To a doorway at the end of the hallway
[20:21:03] <Eowyn> Could be.
[20:21:36] Eel looks around for a ‘pole’
[20:22:02] <~Canageek> There are a bunch of sticks back at the entrance
[20:22:22] <Eowyn> Rolling mechanisms.
[20:22:25] <Eowyn> D100
[20:22:26] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 60.
[20:22:30] <Eowyn> Nada
[20:23:13] <~The_DM> You have no idea, and can’t place the feeling
[20:23:17] <~The_DM> it just looks odd
[20:23:53] Eel gets a stick, uses it as a probe at the walls and steps and bodies “Yell if you hear ‘clicks’, Eowyn”
[20:24:01] Eowyn [~AndChat@OWIRCN-6e121c80.sub-174-252-103.myvzw.com] is now known as Ada
[20:24:05] Ada yawns
[20:24:22] <Ada> I should go soon, but would like to get to the next door first.
[20:24:26] Ada [~AndChat@OWIRCN-6e121c80.sub-174-252-103.myvzw.com] is now known as Eowyn
[20:24:27] <Eel> d100
[20:24:27] Golem rolls the dice for Eel (d100) and rolled 44.
[20:24:31] <Eowyn> Perception
[20:24:37] <Eowyn> D100
[20:24:38] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 43.
[20:24:46] <Eowyn> Nothing
[20:24:47] <Eel> (( nice rolls
[20:25:07] <~Canageek> Alrighty, what are you doing? Going on to the 3rd alcove? You really can’t tel lmuch more about this one
[20:25:31] <Eowyn> He said he was poking the bodies, which are all the way to the door
[20:26:06] <~Canageek> Oh, ok, you stop when you hit the 3rd alco[20:16:31] <Eowyn> D100
[20:16:31] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 4.
[20:16:37] <Eowyn> Ding ding ding
[20:16:38] <Eel> (( yay! I made it
[20:16:59] <Eel> (( wow!
[20:17:02] <Eowyn> Nice. I guess a sniper needs high perception
[20:17:19] Eowyn thanks the golem
[20:18:08] <Eel> (( hmmm. I forgot about getting grenades :(
[20:18:21] <Eel> (( what do we see, The_DM
[20:18:31] <~The_DM> OCC: Explosives + Treasure = happy DM
[20:19:26] <~The_DM> You notice that there is a pair of steps at the end of the hallway, with several slumped over forms on them
[20:19:47] <~The_DM> Eowyn can also tell that there is something stange about the walls in the middle alcoves as you approach them
[20:20:32] <Eowyn> “See that, Eel?”
[20:20:45] <Eel> “What? A trap?!?”
[20:20:50] <Eowyn> Do the steps go anywhere or is it just a raised area?
[20:21:00] Eowyn shrug[20:30:42] Eel signals Eowyn to jump back if things go south
[20:32:00] <Eowyn> A knowledge roll… (Culture, other?) On Zelligar and Rogahn
[20:32:04] <Eowyn> D100
[20:32:04] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 83.
[20:32:10] <Eel> d100
[20:32:10] Golem rolls the dice for Eel (d100) and rolled 18.
[20:32:26] <~Canageek> Not a chance, Eel: They are not major international figures, though they could be local
[20:32:27] <Eel> 18 out of 48
[20:32:28] <Eowyn> A cartoony ? appears over Eowyn’s head
[20:32:35] <~Canageek> You’d need to have rolled a 01 to get that
[20:32:55] <Eel> :)
[20:34:06] <~The_DM> So, what are you doing?
[20:34:53] <~The_DM> OOC: Turns out you don’t need a bot to roll dice
[20:34:56] <~The_DM> !1d100
[20:35:03] <Eowyn> Stopping for the night, possibly after we open the next door. I’m not going to map more today though
[20:35:08] <~The_DM> !roll 1d100
[20:35:09] <@ChanServ> 34 == 34
[...much dice rolling here removed]
[20:35:43] Eowyn grins.
[20:35:44] Eel searches the bodies
[...]
[20:35:55] Eowyn does too.
[20:36:04] <Eowyn> D100
[20:36:04] Golem rolls the dice for Eowyn (D100) and rolled 78.
[20:36:14] <Eowyn> Nothing on perception
[20:37:14] <~The_DM> Past the third pair of alcoves and at the end of the corridor from the entrance are two steps up. At this intersection is a grisly sight—the remains of a hand-to-hand battle where no less than five combatants died.
[20:38:37] Argosy [~Argosy@OWIRCN-4c552661.az.npgco.com] has joined #Rune-X
[20:38:48] <Eel> hi Argosy
[20:38:57] <Eel> sadly, we just ended the game :(
[20:39:06] <Argosy> Aw.
[20:39:09] Eel [~fudgebob@27B34E.4FEA8A.0EDFA7.500996] is now known as fudgebob
[20:39:36] <~The_DM> Three of them were adventurers themselves, explorers from the outer world. This ill-fated trio obviously had their first and last battle at this spot. Their opponents,also slain here, are two guards. The bodies arrayedhere, each in various states of decomposition, are as follows(the stench of decaying bodies is strong and repulsive, andthe sight doubly so):
[20:40:13] <~The_DM> You are searching them, correct?
[20:40:22] <~The_DM> Eowyn: Want to do this next session?
[20:40:23] <fudgebob> yes
[20:40:25] <Eowyn> We both said so
[20:40:37] <~The_DM> Body #1—A human fighter, slumped against a wall. His broken sword, sheared off about eight inches above the pommel, tells the story of his demise. The body has beenstripped of any armor, and there are no items of value onthe remains, other than a belt pouch containing 5 gold
[20:40:37] <~The_DM> pieces (g.p.).
[20:40:37] <Eowyn> Depends how much is on them
[20:41:01] <fudgebob> *grabs the gold
[20:41:11] <~The_DM> Oh crap, not gold
[20:41:12] <Eowyn> Eel, shall we keep party treasure and divide it when we come out?
[20:41:13] <~The_DM> One second
[20:41:14] <~The_DM> >.>
[20:41:46] <Eowyn> Pause now as the DM converts the currency to the new rules
[20:42:17] <~The_DM> Local silver peices, each about half the size of a dime
[20:42:33] <Eowyn> How big are our regular silvers?
[20:42:51] <fudgebob> *Eel “I’ll hold it for us, divvy it up later, ok?”
[20:42:57] <~The_DM> (The same as sp from your inventory: I got a replica silver coin from a shipwrek from my parents, was amazed how tiny they are)
[20:43:11] <Eowyn> Cool
[20:43:40] Eowyn nods at Eel.
[20:43:55] <~The_DM> Body #2—A human magic-user, impaled against a wall. The killing sword, still thrust through the body, is lodged in the wall, which has a large section of wood at this point.
[20:45:02] <Eowyn> (( detect magic on the sword. Oops, I can’t! *grin*
[20:45:10] <~The_DM> The body is bereft of any items of great value. The magic-user’s robe, now bloodstained and ruined, has a pocket and within it is a purse containing 2 s.p. and apouch full of garlic buds.
[20:45:34] <Eowyn> “I’ll take the garlic. Unless you want half?”
[20:45:52] <fudgebob> *Eel “I could use that sword. Or do you want it, Eowyn?” *pulling the weapon out
[20:45:58] <fudgebob> … cleaning the blood with the magic-user’s robes
[20:46:08] <Eowyn> “I’m good with my bayonet for now.”
[20:46:39] <~The_DM> When the sword is removed, the body crumples to the floor, exposing a blood-stained carving. The carved letters form the word “QUASQUETON” in the “common” language.
[20:46:53] Eowyn removes a pouch containing assorted spices from her pack and stows the garlic.”
[20:47:02] <fudgebob> “Thanks. You keep the garlic, I’ll keep the silver… less complicated inventory-wise”
[20:47:18] <~The_DM> The sword, upon being removed, proves practically worthless, since its handle is very loose and the overall quality of the weapon is very poor.
[20:47:20] Eowyn notes the word on her pad.
[20:47:50] <~The_DM> If someone’s cient keeps good logs can you emai them to me? KVIRC does, but they are ugy
[20:48:29] <Eowyn> I don’t know of logs with this app
[20:48:55] <fudgebob> (( oops. I gotta go now… got surpirse visitors
[20:49:05] <~The_DM> Alrighty, we can pick up here next time
[20:49:09] <~The_DM> I’ll email you all
[20:49:33] <Eowyn> Good game guys
[20:49:43] The_DM agress
[20:49:48] <~The_DM> Looking forward to trying combat

Minutes

• We are going to start with the modern dungeoncrawling idea, Rune-X, and after the first adventure possibly move on to the dimension hopping game
• Mullem is in favour of adapting a classic adventure.
• Guns will be allowed in the crawl, but be reduced in power to avoid risk to the audiance. Therefore they will ‘count as’ bows

The character concepts:

[13:25:09] <Mark> I’d like to keep it simple. A fighter-type. Maybe with a little bit of military experience. A smattering of skills and maybe a bit of battle-magic. Someone fairly resourceful, with a focus on fighting.
Going to it for the fame and glory

[13:25:59] <Ada> So maybe I should be a combat medic.
Is having trouble adapting to civilian life, and the money makes it more lucrative then mercenary work

Quirkygirl will be making a sorcery users. She likes danger, exitement and killing things.

Some imporant exerpts:
[13:22:14] <~Canageek> As I don’t have much of a defined world, I’m going to set the game in something vaugly related to our world, but with magic and whatnot
[13:23:31] <~Canageek> It just came out of a large war, and the Emporor wants something to keep the people happy in the post-war depression as the industries retool
[13:24:05] <~Canageek> So he brought in a new form of gladiator games, which have been hugely popular
[13:24:43] <~Canageek> I’m thinking a late-60s level of technology, with some specific advances in the areas of television as the Emporor views that as an easy tool to control the masses
[13:25:27] <~Canageek> Wait, make that modern, but computers are heavily maingframe based and state owned

So, latest update: I’m pretty much decided on Open Quest, a free version of RuneQuest as the rule system for my game. It is fantasy based, so it has a magic system that looks pretty interesting, it is based on BRP, which I’ve been using with Call of Cthulhu for several years now, so I already know most of the rules, and importantly for an online game were I can’t lend rulebooks, it is free.

This means I’m ready to start planning an adventure and making characters.

So, to everyone interested in playing my game: Would Saturdays or Sundays be better? Also, what time? Make sure you specify timezone, I’m free pretty much all weekend. Once I have filtered things down to time-compatible people we can pick which of the setting ideas to run. Note: The settings that I specified last time That doesn’t have to be for the entire summer- I’m having more energy on weekends and after work as of late, so I think I might be up for my Dimension Travelling game after the dungeon crawl, and the two systems are almost identical except for the magic.

I don’t expect people to be at every session, though I would like you to try for half, and I am very open to players joining in part way. So if you can’t make it this weekend don’t sweat it, just let me know when you are interested. If I have several players who can only make it some of the time I might even set up a ‘and you return to the town at the end of every session’ type deal, so players can drop in and out at will.

I guess that about wraps it up, so until next time, Stay Geeky.

–Canageek

Update: I’ve decided that 1 pm pacific time would be a good time to start making characters at irc.otherworlders.net #RuneQuest. Let me know if you need help getting on IRC or figuring out what time that is in your area.

In the words of TheWyrm from IRC:

1. “You get to role play your character.  You are still responsible, as a player, for the behavior of your character if it disrupts the game, because you chose that character personality and can freely modify it.  As such, claims that being ‘in character’ is an excuse to behave in a way that lowers enjoyment of the game for others is unacceptable.”
2. “The game does not occur in a vacuum.  Your behaviour outside the game, in the D&D community and towards the other players, will impact your ability to play the game.  If you pick fights with or troll other players outside the game, just like with a real life game, don’t expect a place for you at the table at the next game.”
3. “You have two main responsibilities in the game: Have fun, and help others have fun.  If you’re not having fun, talk to (not gripe at) the DM or find a different game.  If your enjoyment of the game comes at the expense of others enjoyment, D&D is not for you.”

I think these points are very eloquent and relevant and would like to see what other people think of them. I’m not running D&D- I’m currently looking at GORE and OpenQuest for my summer game, but I think they still apply.

I’d also add

4. “It is the players responsibility to contribute to the party. If you make yourself more effort then you are worth by stealing from the party, getting them into repeated trouble or other such antics asking your character to leave the party is a valid option”

Sorry for the short post, I’m not feeling that inspired this week. So, what do you think of those guidelines?

In other news, no one I emailed about my change of system has emailed me back, so if you are intrested in a weekend OpenQuest or GORE game (Both d% roll under systems) please let me know!

Thanks for reading! Until next time, Stay Geeky!

–Canageek

1) I have been looking at what system to use. So far I’ve looked at FUDGE, ‘Warrior, Rogue & Mage’ and both Red Box Hack and Old School Hack. None of them have seemed to be quite what I am looking for, though I would like to place some FATE & FUDGE. The current front runner for my summer game is GORE. GORE was designed to be an eldrich horror game, in the sprite of another game I play a lot. However, it uses a more D&D like magic system and is freely available, so I think with some house rules it could make a good, if high danger, dungeon crawling game. Additionally, it is simple enough that I think I could convert old D&D monsters to it- Since it is % based I could just make a D&D character of the appropriate level and see what that monsters chance to hit would be, then use that.

2) I’m still interested in the following ideas from my planning post- I’m having less energy after work then I thought, so some of them are not as feasible. Basically I don’t know if I have the energy to run the Dimensional Hopper game and Tangents is definitely out- I don’t have the energy for the planning either of these would take. I’m also less sure of the Megandungeon based ones until I get my feet under me- I’m thinking I could start a standard game with smaller dungeons, and if it goes well move it into a megadungeon. On the plus side, if we use GORE then we could include guns in the X-Crawl based settings if we wanted.

I know what times I can do this at now: Friday night post 7pm, any time Saturday, or Sunday night, ending no later then 9pm, all Pacific Time. I don’t get hope from work until 6 most days, later on many, and that leaves me just enough time to shop, eat and relax a bit before I have to go to bed.  This allows me to move things along a bit, as I have narrowed down the times to the point I feel fine taking applications to join in and suggestions on what to run.

3) I think Google Wave, Maptools, IRC or similar is more my speed right now. I don’t have a webcam or a decent mic, so yeah, voice seems like a bad choice.

So yeah, there are my current plans for an online game. I’m willing to look at other free gaming systems, and if I do use GORE it will be with some houserules (Probably more skills, might use pointbuy. It has rules for gaining HP already, but I will have to look at the system more. I also might tack on a simple XP system, as ‘when you finish the adventure’ doesn’t work in megadungeons.

So, is anyone interested in playing? Leave a comment! Ask questions! Please!

–Canageek

All of the games I ran started with the sample adventure included with the core Dungeonslayers rules, the third went on to a second adventure. Minor spoilers of these adventures will be included in the review, as I feel I need to describe the situations the players were in to accurately describe the problems encountered.

The first game was run via IRC, with 2 players: A fighter and a black mage. The players quickly understood the rules and went through the first two encounters without issue, and had some trouble with the fight with the spider. After this session I was highly enthusiastic about DS and spent a great deal of time trying to find others to play with. I ran this one as a X-Crawl like game I’ve dubbed X-Slayers, adding in commentary and whatnot on the fly. This worked quite well.

I then ran a second, in person, session of DS. The party consisted of two black mages and a fighter. The party handled the first two encounters without issue, and again liked the quickness of combat. I ran this game straight out of the rulebooks. The only problems came from the poor ordering & layout of the DS rulebook, which made things hard to find on the fly. On the otherhand, I was pretty new to the system & this will hopefully be fixed in 4e.

My third game ran over the course of an afternoon and we got my further. One player arrived significantly before the others, and after rolling up a fighter we started the dungeon at my request, as I knew the first fight was very easy and I thought teaching the players the system one at a time would be simpler. He easily handled the rats in the beer cellar and levelled to level 2. Then the second player arrived. We quickly made up a gnome race for him (Dwarven racial
traits + elven stat choices) and he made a black mage. The players then entered the wine cellar and easily took out the rats, though the black mage took some damage. The players took easily to the system, and things seemed to be going well. Both players increased in level at around this point. The third player arrived and rolled up a white mage, healed the black mage and joined the adventure. The party explored the dungeon in a roughly clockwise direction, clearing out the weak rats before attacking the final battle, which I think is a good choice and probably a result of a good map. However during this time they levelled up to 3rd and 4th levels. The fighter put the vast majority of his stat points into defence, quickly getting into the 15-16 range. Given the rats low attack I could basically do no damage to him, so most fights involved him standing in the door of the rooms and the rats attacking him en mass 2 or 3 at a time, which the black and white mages casting spells past/at him. Even the final fight, were the small rats bypassed him and attacked the spellcasters did not offer much of a challenge, though this was in part due to poor dice luck on my part. There was a final fight with the spider, which I did a tiny bit of damage to the black mage, but at this point they were 4th & 5th level, the white mage having caught up to the black mage, and it offered little challenge. There was also a fair bit of confusion with the web attack of the spider: Does it stop the player from moving from location to location? Or does it paralyses them? Can spellcasters use magic while paralyzed? The game does not say they can or can’t. I would lean towards can’t, but a web makes me think of
trapped in place at the feet, not unable to move at all.
We then started a second adventure, Dungeon2Go #2: Tomb of the Witchking. The combats in this adventure have seemed much more challenging, so I think the ease at which the part went through the first adventure had to do with how quickly they levelled up on the rats. The players got through most of the adventure, which was primarily trap and puzzle based.

Based on this I’ve found a few points about the system I would like to mention:

-I very much like the combat mechanics: They are fast and simple, though critical hits took my players a bit to understand.

-Attack magic works just like an attack, so this also works pretty well.

-Most rounds the white mage had very little to do, having only 1 spell (Healing Hands) and the fighter not taking much damage. This is partly the players fault in my opinion for not taking a ranged weapon, even when offered one. This would hopefully improve with time as the characters get more spells.

-However the unlimited amount of healing makes damaging traps outside of combat pointless. This was very clear in the 2nd adventure as there were many of these present. These are a genre convention of the dungeon crawling genre and Gygaxian dungeons, so I would like to include them. I could go to deathtraps, but those have always felt unfair and cheap to me.
To put this another way, combat in Dungeonslayers is entirely tactical: Almost all consequence of the combat are negated at the end of it, therefore each and every combat is either a challenge in and of itself, or simply a source of experience for the characters. I prefer there to be at least some strategic elements: In D&D that is how much damage you take and how many spells you burn. Dungeonslayers does have some spells with long refresh times, however it remained a very tatical game, which appears to be a trend in RPGs.

-The identify spell, which gives all of the information about magic was used heavily by my players to bypass traps, as they would use it on statues and whatnot to find triggers, command words and whatnot. I’ve started compartmentalizing magic, like computer code, but I’m thinking of making it only work on magic items. When I write my own adventures I’ll also make more touch triggered traps to discourage this tactic, or magic traps that are protected by physical traps designed to hit those that try and read the instructions.

At this point I will include some comments from the player of the black mage,as he is quite well spoken and has phrased certain things better then I am able to:

“Well, ultimately any game comes down to two things. What you INTEND for the game to be like… And what the rules make the game like. The ethos of the game seems pretty straightforward. Going for a relatively high-fantasy setting, something akin to a rules-lite D&D but with their own added twist. Rules lite OLD D&D, make that.”

I agree with this: The game feels like fantasy, and it presents what it wants you to do with it very well.

“Solid ethos established. Definitely a strong high-fantasy setting, as established by the kind of spellcasters that they’ve made a pinnacle part of the game. For a system that goes for non-Vancian magic, this is actually one of the ones I’ve liked the best. Instead of relying on things like magical energy or whatnot, the spellcasters just have a limited capacity to hold the shape of a spell within them. They can then use it as often as they like. It’s novel, it’s refreshing, and it feels fairly good. There are problems with it in the system and with the magic system in general, but those can wait for a moment.”

I agree with this as well, and originally the magic system was one of the things that drew me to the game. I liked that spell casters would have something to do every round, and the spell delay times and system of switching from spell to spell seemed like a great idea. I found it a touch boring in my first couple of playthroughs, but figured this would improve as the players levelled up and got more spells.

“It’s nice to be able to roll a 1 and be happy about it.”

I can take this or leave it, I find the critical system a touch annoying, but that is a minor gripe. I do find the fact that since a 20 is always a failure, and you only add a second die when you need to roll 21 or higher makes there no practical difference between defence 19 and defence 20. Again a minor gripe.

“While classes specialize in particular leading roles, you can kind of think your way through most problems that you don’t have the skills for. It definitely encourages planning over rushing in.”

I did notice this a bit, though I think any well-run game can do this, regardless of system.

“Combat is relatively fast-paced and a comfortable fit.”
I have said this several times, though it is nice that the players agree with me.

However:

The Bad:
“The magic system, for all that it felt novel and fresh, needs some work. If you only get to learn so many spells, early decisions will be painful later in. This can be countered by spending ‘feats’ (edit to be whatever they’re actually called), but this punishes the wizard in a way that the fighter doesn’t get.”

I agree with this. I also noticed that it would be virtually impossible to have a decently versatile spellcaster who also knows a high level spell: A 20th level wizard who knows a 15 level spell can only know one or two other spells, and you have to delay taking big spells for levels and levels after you get then if you want to avoid ‘unlearning’ other spells. One of my favourite parts about classic D&D is the wizards constantly looking for more spells, and one of the
things I was looking forward two was a system that doesn’t punish you for memorizing ‘mount’ instead of ‘fireball’ or ‘haste’.

“Although this is more a complaint with the mods we played than the game itself, it does seem as if the game favours people who are familiar with fantasy RPG tropes. While this isn’t inherently a bad thing, As it rewards genre familiarity, It does tend to punish newcomers, which is not inherently a good thing in such a game.”

I think this is the sort of thing that the sample adventure should be for, and to some extent it does. It has a really hard to find bit of treasure, some easier to find treasure and similar things. Smart adventures should then notice that treasure can be hidden and look for more. I don’t really see a way around this, other then having players well, play more.

-Players level *very* quickly. In one day of play we were at 5th level or so. While I don’t think this is a bad thing, it meant that my players burned through the first adventure at way higher level then it expected. I think that rat XP needs to be reduced to 5-10 XP and Giant Rat XP needs to drop to 10-20. I think that 5XP for the rat and 10 for a giant rat would be much better. I think I might also add a house rule that each successive fight with a monster grant 1 less XP as you learn less from it. However that would require players to track how many of each monster they have killed, or at least how many battles, so it is not an ideal solution. Due to the XP system I found that fights with a lot of weak monsters were far less challenging then one large monster that could hurt the fighter, while at the same time granted far more experience. Reducing the XP for each additional creature in a group after the one that gives the most experience might be a good idea.

There we go, my first review. Sorry this post is so late, I got caught up in work and the associated 3000 km move.
Until next time, stay geeky!

–Cangeek