I began playing D&D in 1982 as a player and began "DM-ing" within a year of that. I have enjoyed buying and reading a great number of gaming books, magazine articles, modules, campaign settings and other things. Friends have come and gone, and I have spent huge amounts of time and money on a hobby the average person does not understand, and some people don't even approve. Why do I play D&D? The short answer is "For fun." The longer answer has to do with friendship, creativity and escape. Before I started playing D&D, I suffered from horrible recurring nuclear nightmares (it was the cold war at that time), and I was very withdrawn and shy. Somehow, D&D helped me beat fears and make friends. I learned to cope with my real life by having a satisfying imaginary one. This unique hobby game has books upon books full of rules, but the two most important rules I use are: no evil player characters, and no drugs. Though I have used pre-prepared adventures and even settings on many occasions, it is fair to say that 98% of the games I run use my settings, my characters, my villians and plots. I also make up a lot of my own monsters, spells, magic items and vehicles (among other things).
Each time a set of player characters retires, I begin a new campaign plot and setting or timeline, but I kind of build each world right on top of the previous ones, so there's a kind or chronology and a deeper history. My campaign settings over the years have had the following names:
Kelnorn, Rotalia, Sonaeed, Aarde
Each of these settings has developed more fully than the one before it. I have also had some memorable recurring villians (in chronological order):
Latham (a time traveller who later turned to good, and had to battle himself. Still appears on rare occasions.)
Signatious (who was excluded from the fountain of youth and enslaved and preyed on the elves of Aarde's moon, Sonaeed for their blood, which he used to make elixirs of youth)
Tenneous (who was defeated to a man in war and turned to construct building for a new army; insane, he made himself into a construct to seek immortality and his constructs became sentient--and evil. His Cult of the Immortal Construct lived after him)
Hurkendorn (who tried to rule the world through magical charms and influence over the powerful)
Jaramon (who believed non-elves were inferior, but make good guinea pigs for magical transmutation. His followers built the Temple of Transformation for this purpose).
Lord Leofeldt (a 1,750 year old grey elf Mystic Theurge who claimed the victory over Signatious for himself and founded the Purple Order of Sonaeed. Now believed to have been influenced by Drow and possibly mind flayers).
I would like to thank my original gaming group members for their friendship and a lot of great sessions, back in the 1st Edition days of the early 1980's: Todd Gentry, Rick Rutledge, Art Friese, Dave Hille and Shane Peterson. As the group began joining the military, going to college and geting married, the game was changing too. By 2nd Edition in the mid-80s I was still playing D&D, and though players from the original group still gamed when we could, new players were being added: Spencer Cole, Jason Gaston, Ivan Annis, Tim Ickler and Evan Thomsen. I have really great memories of those days and I want to thank each of you. At Mt. Hood Community College, I organized and ran a small (200 attendance) convention, where I met Paul Karczag, Timmer Dykes and his group, and others. Paul later asked me to help write part of Mayfair Games' "People, Places and Things" for their Role-Aids line, so David Pierik (that's me) is now a bona fide, published game designer (thank you Paul). In college, I played in and ran some great games with Art Hart and some guys from my fraternity, Theta Chi at the University of Idaho, my alma mater, and I thank all of you also. After college, I gamed in the Portland area for a while, then moved to Shelton, WA for my day job (I'm in advertising). For two years and two months, I was part-owner of a game store called Area 51 games, but business was not strong enough to justify keeping it going past the spring of 2001. Closing the store was a difficult, but necessary thing, filled with a lot of "what-ifs." Now, I have fewer regrets about the store because I made a lot of friends (many of whom I still game with now) and learned a lot about the gaming industry and about retail business in general, which is an asset for me in advertising. I think part of why I write this blog now is because I wrote a regular newsletter for the shop and wrote and ran a lot of games during that time.
My favorite game store now is a little shop in Shelton called Old Town Hobby, which I recommend for the basic stuff, especially if you're using miniatures and terrain. Richard Bidwell, the owner, has a great disposition and is very helpful. It's a family business that celebrated their 7th anniversary on 11/2/06. He carries a little bit of everything, and it was at my suggestion that he carry gaming stuff; about a year after Area 51 games closed he finally agreed to do it.
CHECK THIS HEADING ENTRY AGAIN, I'M GOING TO ADD MORE TO IT REGULARLY.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
New Twists in a Continuing Battle
The Battle of Moonmist Continues
As noted in previous entries, the party has taken it upon themselves to invade Moonmist, the Sonaeed-Aarde waystation for the invading moon elves of the Purple Order who are in the process or conquoring Aarde while claiming to save it. Today's adventure picked right up where the last session left off, even all the miniatures and terrain were just where we left them.
The enemy units were familiar. While each member of the party has gotten much more powerful and battle-hardened, the moon elves have mainly responded with greater numbers and a few new tactics. As always, the Eldrich Moon Knights have proven versatile, though they could benefit from a more rounded approach with the kind of teamwork the party uses. These fighter-mages usually fight on horseback using magic and non-metal armor and weapons supplemented by magic, and use the specially-bred rust spitters to soften up enemy armor and weapons, and protection from arrows to defend against enemy archers. True Strike, combined with a lance charge makes groups of Eldrich Moon Knights a deadly adversary, but the party has adopted to their tactics by softening their close formations up with fireball and lightning bolt, by using magical bows, attacking them with monks, and most of all, eliminating any and all rust spitters immediately. Today a new harrier unit of elven horse archers made an appearance, shot their volleys of arrows, and quickly retreated unscathed... until Fergus, flying overhead, spotted them and dropped a couple of fireballs into their ranks. Having long since expended his full evoker's complement of offensive spells, he was drawing on the reserve of charges in the wands he had made, knowing it would take days or even weeks to recharge them later. He also greatly reduced the number of elves just arriving by spelljammer from Sonaeed, fireballing the great ship repeatedly before the elves could properly disembark and prepare for battle. A new type of Eldrich Moon Knight unit, flying pikemen, arrived invisibly by teleportation circle over the head of LeRoy Jenkins, and all 10 attacked him at once, nearly slaying him, but becoming visible in the process. It was Mick the Gangly who corrected this situation, striding in on his stilts and using his hard-earned whirlwind attack feat to drop the entire unit in a single melee round with a power attack using his magical ranseur. The party got to see a few more city blocks of Moonmist, which is loaded with as many trees as buildings and seems endless. Though I didn't spend game time on description, buildings that have been controlled by the party have included a water tower, a Purple Order temple, a music cathedral and an art museum. Most of the buildings have been tower homestead/workshops. As each is liberated, the number of freed nonelven "indentured servants" (charmed slaves) increases. The party is succeeding where entire armies have failed, because mere numbers are inadaquate for victory, and quality does beat quantity as battle after battle has proven.
The Characters
Revan called his special mount, a pegasus--and suddenly became even more deadly an evasive since the new mount has flyby attack, allowing a diving charge strike and retreat by air. He decimated an evil giant spider, enemy mounted units and spellcasters. Though his previous steed was a great and noble land-based mount, he sometimes had a hard time getting to a worthy opponent each round. Not anymore. LeRoy Jenkins had the misfortune of being attacked by the flying pikemen, as noted above. That he survived the whole session in positive hit points says a lot about how tough he really is. Joseph Prax was once again a bit of an unsung hero as he quietly buffed up the whole party with bless and prayer; he kept everyone healed up and fighting, and also softened up the enemy with the occasional flame strike. Rivet, the kobold rogue/expert played by Robby dropped loads of alchemical glue by crossbow bolt into unsuspecting groups of elven archers. He also has been instrumental as a "rear guard," checking each building for traps and treasure once it is secured. Though not technically part of the battle, these things are still very important and keeps him very busy. He also used his crossbow to deliver a potion of healing at one point. Taito kept right on fighting, even though at one point he was affected by a hold person. He is a drunken master who fights with a ladder, much like Jackie Chan in the movie of the same name. It seems nothing can withstand his relentlessness--at one point, he swept half a dozen elven archers off of a tower. Aar, it be that Black Eyed Bill is as much the swashbucker as 'e ever was, har. That feller 'll use a rope or climb a wall every time, even if there be a ladder there, to take a crazy elven cleric from 'is off-side, the scurvy dog. Flegol spent a few seconds baleful polymorphed into a black widow spider, but didn't stay that way for long. His mighty arrows flew strong and true, dealing loads of precise damage to anything or anyone who could threaten the party from a distance, mainly spellcasters and occasionally archers. Enemies have taken notice of him, but they never seem to live long enough or get close enough to really hurt him, and Buddy Nagel is always right there to patch him up whenever they even start to. Lola "Kick-Butt Girl" seems to appear out of nowhere on rare occasions, remove some great threat, and disappear just as suddenly. She's excellent at getting around, with great skills in climbing, swimming and jumping. It has been revealed that she recently stumbled by chance upon a pair of Boots of Teleportation, and that explains a lot of the mystery. The fashionable footwear were previously owned by an elven sorceress who was part of the invasion and found herself on the wrong end of Lola's longswords. By the way, did you know that Lola's left eye is yellow and her right eye is red? Geena continues to fill in the gaps whenever needed, mostly with her amazing focus on archery. Her power at a distance seems to keep the enemy at bay and it is rare for her to get seriously hurt in battle, though this is also the result of dwarven common sense, a bit of luck and a really good set of armor. Aiko does not often get noticed in battle, but having a second monk is helpful, especially when dealing with an enemy that breeds and makes regular use of chainmail and longsword-destroying rust monsters and rust spitters. Today she found herself fighting alongside Black Eyed Bill, dealing with the usual big numbers of skilled, though unfortunately evil elven archers. Captain Fergus Dowrimple was mentioned above. Since Gendar the Mighty didn't make an appearance today, Fergus was extra busy providing offensive spell support. Though he has been an NPC, I am working up a higher level version of him for Roddy to use, because I think he's skillful, well-rounded and interesting. A likeable rogue if you will, with a bit of a "renaisance man" thrown in. He has an amazing Appraise skill. Mick the Gangly, also mentioned earlier, has increased in power greatly since gaining magically-enhanced strength. Even though it's obvious, class stats help characters a great deal in 3.5 D&D. Whirlwind Attack is a feat that can take a character years to develop, but it's an incredible thing to see in action. Telpin used his wand of lightning bolt while singing his gnomish heart out to enhance the party's morale. The bard is much more versitile, but this battle has mostly forced him to zoom in on just two skills: Perform-Sing, and Use Magic Item. The other bard, Nightsong Sharpfang, has had a bit of difficulty keeping up with the party since she is lower level (an npc kobold who arrived with Fergus from Hydra Island). She was nearly slain by a group of charging Eldrich Moon Knights today. Unless she can find an important niche in the group, I have doubts about whether she would be missed should she fall; she has recently been basically an echo of Telpin. Henderson, the npc lizardman fighter is also struggling a little bit, having been eclipsed by Mick the Gangly in the hand to hand fighting department. Today, he failed to really shine. But he has great language skills and the capability of convincing entire tribes of hundreds of lizardmen to join the party's cause, so he is tolerated. He is also amazing at getting around physically, climbing, swimming and often ready with an unselfishly offered rope at a friend's time of need. Of course, he did devour a prisoner once...
The Skinny
Experience: 3,000 xp. Treasure: Boots of Teleport (women's); Staff of the Woodlands; and monetary treasure appraised at about 10,000 gp per player character (npcs get half-shares). Next sessions: two weeks, and see previous entry.
As noted in previous entries, the party has taken it upon themselves to invade Moonmist, the Sonaeed-Aarde waystation for the invading moon elves of the Purple Order who are in the process or conquoring Aarde while claiming to save it. Today's adventure picked right up where the last session left off, even all the miniatures and terrain were just where we left them.
The enemy units were familiar. While each member of the party has gotten much more powerful and battle-hardened, the moon elves have mainly responded with greater numbers and a few new tactics. As always, the Eldrich Moon Knights have proven versatile, though they could benefit from a more rounded approach with the kind of teamwork the party uses. These fighter-mages usually fight on horseback using magic and non-metal armor and weapons supplemented by magic, and use the specially-bred rust spitters to soften up enemy armor and weapons, and protection from arrows to defend against enemy archers. True Strike, combined with a lance charge makes groups of Eldrich Moon Knights a deadly adversary, but the party has adopted to their tactics by softening their close formations up with fireball and lightning bolt, by using magical bows, attacking them with monks, and most of all, eliminating any and all rust spitters immediately. Today a new harrier unit of elven horse archers made an appearance, shot their volleys of arrows, and quickly retreated unscathed... until Fergus, flying overhead, spotted them and dropped a couple of fireballs into their ranks. Having long since expended his full evoker's complement of offensive spells, he was drawing on the reserve of charges in the wands he had made, knowing it would take days or even weeks to recharge them later. He also greatly reduced the number of elves just arriving by spelljammer from Sonaeed, fireballing the great ship repeatedly before the elves could properly disembark and prepare for battle. A new type of Eldrich Moon Knight unit, flying pikemen, arrived invisibly by teleportation circle over the head of LeRoy Jenkins, and all 10 attacked him at once, nearly slaying him, but becoming visible in the process. It was Mick the Gangly who corrected this situation, striding in on his stilts and using his hard-earned whirlwind attack feat to drop the entire unit in a single melee round with a power attack using his magical ranseur. The party got to see a few more city blocks of Moonmist, which is loaded with as many trees as buildings and seems endless. Though I didn't spend game time on description, buildings that have been controlled by the party have included a water tower, a Purple Order temple, a music cathedral and an art museum. Most of the buildings have been tower homestead/workshops. As each is liberated, the number of freed nonelven "indentured servants" (charmed slaves) increases. The party is succeeding where entire armies have failed, because mere numbers are inadaquate for victory, and quality does beat quantity as battle after battle has proven.
The Characters
Revan called his special mount, a pegasus--and suddenly became even more deadly an evasive since the new mount has flyby attack, allowing a diving charge strike and retreat by air. He decimated an evil giant spider, enemy mounted units and spellcasters. Though his previous steed was a great and noble land-based mount, he sometimes had a hard time getting to a worthy opponent each round. Not anymore. LeRoy Jenkins had the misfortune of being attacked by the flying pikemen, as noted above. That he survived the whole session in positive hit points says a lot about how tough he really is. Joseph Prax was once again a bit of an unsung hero as he quietly buffed up the whole party with bless and prayer; he kept everyone healed up and fighting, and also softened up the enemy with the occasional flame strike. Rivet, the kobold rogue/expert played by Robby dropped loads of alchemical glue by crossbow bolt into unsuspecting groups of elven archers. He also has been instrumental as a "rear guard," checking each building for traps and treasure once it is secured. Though not technically part of the battle, these things are still very important and keeps him very busy. He also used his crossbow to deliver a potion of healing at one point. Taito kept right on fighting, even though at one point he was affected by a hold person. He is a drunken master who fights with a ladder, much like Jackie Chan in the movie of the same name. It seems nothing can withstand his relentlessness--at one point, he swept half a dozen elven archers off of a tower. Aar, it be that Black Eyed Bill is as much the swashbucker as 'e ever was, har. That feller 'll use a rope or climb a wall every time, even if there be a ladder there, to take a crazy elven cleric from 'is off-side, the scurvy dog. Flegol spent a few seconds baleful polymorphed into a black widow spider, but didn't stay that way for long. His mighty arrows flew strong and true, dealing loads of precise damage to anything or anyone who could threaten the party from a distance, mainly spellcasters and occasionally archers. Enemies have taken notice of him, but they never seem to live long enough or get close enough to really hurt him, and Buddy Nagel is always right there to patch him up whenever they even start to. Lola "Kick-Butt Girl" seems to appear out of nowhere on rare occasions, remove some great threat, and disappear just as suddenly. She's excellent at getting around, with great skills in climbing, swimming and jumping. It has been revealed that she recently stumbled by chance upon a pair of Boots of Teleportation, and that explains a lot of the mystery. The fashionable footwear were previously owned by an elven sorceress who was part of the invasion and found herself on the wrong end of Lola's longswords. By the way, did you know that Lola's left eye is yellow and her right eye is red? Geena continues to fill in the gaps whenever needed, mostly with her amazing focus on archery. Her power at a distance seems to keep the enemy at bay and it is rare for her to get seriously hurt in battle, though this is also the result of dwarven common sense, a bit of luck and a really good set of armor. Aiko does not often get noticed in battle, but having a second monk is helpful, especially when dealing with an enemy that breeds and makes regular use of chainmail and longsword-destroying rust monsters and rust spitters. Today she found herself fighting alongside Black Eyed Bill, dealing with the usual big numbers of skilled, though unfortunately evil elven archers. Captain Fergus Dowrimple was mentioned above. Since Gendar the Mighty didn't make an appearance today, Fergus was extra busy providing offensive spell support. Though he has been an NPC, I am working up a higher level version of him for Roddy to use, because I think he's skillful, well-rounded and interesting. A likeable rogue if you will, with a bit of a "renaisance man" thrown in. He has an amazing Appraise skill. Mick the Gangly, also mentioned earlier, has increased in power greatly since gaining magically-enhanced strength. Even though it's obvious, class stats help characters a great deal in 3.5 D&D. Whirlwind Attack is a feat that can take a character years to develop, but it's an incredible thing to see in action. Telpin used his wand of lightning bolt while singing his gnomish heart out to enhance the party's morale. The bard is much more versitile, but this battle has mostly forced him to zoom in on just two skills: Perform-Sing, and Use Magic Item. The other bard, Nightsong Sharpfang, has had a bit of difficulty keeping up with the party since she is lower level (an npc kobold who arrived with Fergus from Hydra Island). She was nearly slain by a group of charging Eldrich Moon Knights today. Unless she can find an important niche in the group, I have doubts about whether she would be missed should she fall; she has recently been basically an echo of Telpin. Henderson, the npc lizardman fighter is also struggling a little bit, having been eclipsed by Mick the Gangly in the hand to hand fighting department. Today, he failed to really shine. But he has great language skills and the capability of convincing entire tribes of hundreds of lizardmen to join the party's cause, so he is tolerated. He is also amazing at getting around physically, climbing, swimming and often ready with an unselfishly offered rope at a friend's time of need. Of course, he did devour a prisoner once...
The Skinny
Experience: 3,000 xp. Treasure: Boots of Teleport (women's); Staff of the Woodlands; and monetary treasure appraised at about 10,000 gp per player character (npcs get half-shares). Next sessions: two weeks, and see previous entry.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
NEW Summer Game Schedule
Saturday games 12-6 will be held on the following days:
8/6/05
8/20
9/3
NO GAME 9/17
9/24
EXTRA GAME 10/1
NO GAME 10/8
10/15
NO GAME 10/29
11/5
Further games after 11/5 to be announced, should still be every other Saturday (mostly), subject to occasional rescheduling. I'll call everybody if I have to move a game. If I get Saturday cello gigs, I will generally move that session to the next day (Sunday). --D
8/6/05
8/20
9/3
NO GAME 9/17
9/24
EXTRA GAME 10/1
NO GAME 10/8
10/15
NO GAME 10/29
11/5
Further games after 11/5 to be announced, should still be every other Saturday (mostly), subject to occasional rescheduling. I'll call everybody if I have to move a game. If I get Saturday cello gigs, I will generally move that session to the next day (Sunday). --D
Moonmist battle continues
Everybody showed up yesterday, a week off from my schedule but welcome anyway. I re-arranged my terrain, set up more minis and we resumed the battle. Revan charged the Eldritch Moon Knights; Dante threw his clubs; Joseph Prax gave the party a prayer and a blessing and banished an earth elemental, healing wherever needed; Rivet searched buildings and foiled traps; Gendar the Magic dropped fireballs into clusters of enemy archers on the tops of towers; Taito punched out rust monsters, climbed walls and defeated archers; Black Eyed Bill swashbuckled his way through the enemy on a balcony, climbed on a building to slay an archer, and fired a rope by crossbow to cross to a tower top and defeat an archer there as well. Timmy Darkwind snuck across the battlefield, attacking powerful enemies who were unaware of him. Thumbs used a little stealth and a lot of sheer thuggery to work his way through Eldritch Moon Knights. Flegol shot his rain of deadly arrows with ruthless power, accuracy and speed to bring down even the mighty among the enemy. Buddy Nagel filled in the gaps of the healing duties, as so many arrows and fireballs kept hitting the party that his services were needed every round. Lola fought along, kicking butt and enjoying it. Geena and Aiko, the mighty dwarven women, partnered up to blaze a trail through the enemy on the right flank, working well as a fighter and monk can together. Mick the Gangly, now something of a one-man army, worked his way up the left flank, his trademark ranseur laying the enemy low like a farmer reaping wheat. Telpin and Nightsong Sharpfang joined together in the same battle song but divided like stereo speakers so that all of their allies could hear and benefit from its encouragement; they also helped with minor fighting, healing and spellcasting duties. Henderson charged across the river like it wasn't there and engaged an evil elven spellcastress in melee; once she was no longer a threat, he went on to other, lesser enemies. Captain Fergus Dowrimple evaded enemy fireballs and fired off his own powerful ones, assisting Gendar in covering the party's safety across a large battlefield and flying up in order to be above melee threats and to lengthen his field of vision and pick targets.
And in this way, another couple of blocks worth of Moonmist has fallen to the party's relentless attack. I awarded a flat 3,000 experience points. Roddy, who has never missed a session, told me that Revan just leveled to 11th (or was it 10th?) and pretty much everybody else is just a level or two behind that. Treasure will be determined next session, in two weeks.
And in this way, another couple of blocks worth of Moonmist has fallen to the party's relentless attack. I awarded a flat 3,000 experience points. Roddy, who has never missed a session, told me that Revan just leveled to 11th (or was it 10th?) and pretty much everybody else is just a level or two behind that. Treasure will be determined next session, in two weeks.
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