Sunday, October 22, 2006

Dungeon Crawl & Star Wars Deal

The dungeon crawl continued today. Encounters included drow and trolls, including Louis of Trolltown, the only non-evil troll in the group who speaks common (he was last seen by a few of the characters about 5 years ago, in game time). The ruins, once a city of titans destroyed by an earthquake or some cataclysm, spike downward and blend into a lot of natural caverns. Today the party explored the remains of a coloseum/auditorium and a market, featuring coins one foot wide. At the market, some pretty big gargoyles were encountered. 4,000 xp, adventure to be continued.

Star Wars was a short but fairly successful session for the party. An arms deal netted the party some profit and will ultimately help the Rebellion a bit, though the scenery was a bit cold and stinky, with a methane atmosphere. There was a bit of roleplaying and we ran out of time before any battles or encounters took place, but that's fine. I awarded 1,500 xp anyway.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Magic, Star Wars & D&D Sun 10/8/06

Magic
Aaron E. came up a day early for Sunday's game, and he picked up some D&D & Star Wars miniatures and some Magic cards at Old Town Hobby (in Shelton, WA). We played a two-person booster draft using Champions of Kamagawa (they were on sale). He played blue-black-green; I played red-white-blue, and I won mainly just by keeping a bigger creature count on the table. It was a lot of fun. From what I've seen of the new Coldsnap and Time Spiral sets, Magic is due for a BIG comeback soon.
THERE WILL BE A "B.Y.O.B." (BRING YOUR OWN BOOSTERS) M:TG DRAFT GAME AT MY PLACE ON THE SATURDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING (NOVEMBER 25, 2006). BRING ANY 4 UNOPENED 15-CARD BOOSTERS OF YOUR CHOICE (EXCEPT UNGLUED/UNHINGED) 3 ARE FOR THE GAME, 1 FOR PRIZES.

Star Wars
Coreward, on the desert world of Imquew, Yarvil the Hutt joined forces with the Empire to profit from the antigrav systems production there. Imperial Commander Dork Gumball, on Yarvil's payroll (administrated locally by the Twi'lek Lyv) ran a massive grav-parts assembly plant using thousands of local and imported human slaves for cheap, disposable labor due to the radiation and toxins required for the work. Imperial stormtroopers oversaw the operation, aided by private contractors. Dabbo the Hutt hired the party to try to disrupt the operation, which he once controlled in a more hospitable manner. Using Imperial and private contractor forged identities (acquired with some outside help), the party was able to execute a frontal infiltration, falling directly under Gumball's command and/or Lyv's payroll. Among the party members were Jaina Briel, Mandalorian fringer/soldier 3/3 (Rob); cap'n Garik Gracus, human noble 1/scoundrel 5(Carson); Alpha Vega, Khommite soldier(Phil); Archu King, codri-ji Soldier 7(Bella); Drael Gracks, Trandoshan Jedi guardian/Jedi weapon master(Jon); Destro S'Xavio... cold-blooded assassin (Rod); Velkin, human force adept 6/scoundrel 2(Aaron); and Pieda Bowman II, Jedi Counseller 5/Soldier 1/Noble 1 (Dave's main NPC). Other NPC's featured were Jarn Thro (+22 computer use about 3 levels ago...) and Mike Skaruyabutavich (+19 repair a few levels ago...), and Ulrich (Dabbo's agent in the Livisko region of Imquew).
The party were successful, largely through deviousness, the use of poison, sneakiness, demolitions and overall foul play. But the end result was beautiful: Yarvil the Hutt himself was persuaded to travel to Imquew to oversee the operation after Liv died mysteriously from poisoned cake and the civilian workers went on strike in the absence of his over-controlled payroll. Though Yarvil had many of the workers executed for their insolence, he himself was slain (as was the reptilian Captain Jensen, according to Imperial records) in a mysterious explosion (one of many, written off by the Imperial PR office as an industrial mishap). When the party left, the entire operation was beyond the control of anyone and in utter chaos; slaves were able to escape as the civilian contractors, Hutt mercenaries and Imperial stormtroopers blamed and killed each other. Meanwhile, the party escaped with relative ease, finally being chased by TIE intercepters who arrived too late to capture or destroy the rogue Imperial agents aboard the medium freighter Akbar's Trap.
Vastly pleased with the end result, Dabbo invested 2,000,000 credits into the ship fund for the team to arrange construction of a new base and hangar and to establish new identities for themselves and their vessel. Of this, Cap'n Garik allocated 20,000 credits to each member of the team for personal equipment, training and supplies. I awarded 2,500 experience points for the adventure.

D&D
The party, ever in search of better and older magic items, flew over the top of a 1-mile diameter "Stonehenge" site of standing stones on the Isle of Ancients, visible as such only from far above, from the clouds. The best available guess is that this could be the actual long-sought site of the original city of Rotalia, said to have been founded by Titans millenia ago, and to have been a hub of interdimensional commerce. With the help of magic and mostly due to the sheer luck of spotting it from above, a cave entrance was found to enter the buried ruins. Almost immediately after penetrating the darkness of the cave, the party were set upon by a mixed unit of the Violet Vultures; lycanthropic mouse-people transmuted and bred for strength and spell ability long ago by the original moon-elves of the Purple Order. Though the party dispatched the guardians at the cave entrance, much remains to be discovered here and anything is possible; after all, this is a dungeon crawl.
Characters present included: Revan, human Paladin of Khadgar; Gemberlion Miragonian,gnome Dragon Shaman 7/Silver Dragon BL3; Cap'n Fergus Dowrimple, human evoker 10/rogue 5/arcane trickster 1; Geena, dwarf archer; Nightsong Sharpfang, kobold bard 12; Taito, level 15 human monk/drunken master; Black Eyed Bill, human ranger; Lola Kick-Butt Girl, human fighter; High-Inquisitor Joseph Prax Cleric 7/Inquisitor 8; Balthizor, level 7 Bralini fighter; Dante, 8th level githzeria monk; Noctorium, human wizard 13.
No xp or treasure yet awarded; TO BE CONTINUED...