Monday, August 15, 2016

Gen Con 2016 Post Show Part 4 - The End

There and Back Again

In which we take one last look at the Exhibit Hall and then make the journey home.


Sunday saw us packed and ready to check out early.  We had packed our things the previous night with the intent of checking out, storing our stuff and taking one last look at the Exhibit Hall.  All of that went according to plan until we saw that they had screwed up the bill.  When we attempted to fix that, they informed us that their computers were from the 1800's and would require a little extra time to correct.  In compensation for our time, we were given cards to Starbucks and told to check with them in a little while.  We stored our stuff and headed to the convention floor.  We immediately lost Jason.  Alex and I got in a quick round of Oversized Flick 'Em Up which we both enjoyed and one game of Epic Card Game, which is Magic Lite and not nearly as much fun.  So 50/50 split to end the Con.  Jason caught up with us with some new purchases and we all agreed, as it was quickly approaching noon, that it was time to mount up and hit the dusty trail.  But first...free Starbucks.

Jason and Alex were both recipients of ONE FREE BEVERAGE.  I, on the other hand, received $10. So I bought a drink and two Apple Fritters and was done.  I shared the Apple Fritters and we made our way to the car.

Back on the road home, we reminisced about the adventures we had had and decided that the faster we got home, probably the better.  This meant the tollway.  I had forgotten how expensive the tollway was.  $10 and some change lighter, we said goodbye to Illinois and proceeded to collect cows the rest of the way home.

In Closing


Essentially if you want the cliff notes TL:DR version of my Gen Con 2016 experience, here it is:

  • I had fun, I purchased a few things and am very happy with said purchases.
  • I do not particularly like Plaid Hat Games.  Maybe not on a whole, but definitely as it relates to their release policies.
  • Two bad gaming experiences are just that, so long as the third one knocks it right out of the ballpark.
  • 1 AM is when the lights go out inside of Marty.
And lastly,
  • Games come and go.  (Next) Gen Con is forever (from now).

Gen Con 2016 Post Show Part 3

Bring on Saturday!

In which purchases are made and roleplaying redemption is found...


Saturday, the penultimate day of the convention, was upon us.  Like the previous day,  I was up and moving by 6:30 AM.  Alex was passed out, having made it back to the room around 3 AM, after having had a successful night of gaming with strangers.  I had fallen asleep mid-sentence, in conversation with Jason, around 1 AM or so.

Morning Three found me on Georgia St. with a fresh cup of black coffee from...well, by now they should be paying me for the endorsement...I took up a seat at the outdoor Cafe area that would soon hold host to dozens of food trucks.  With cool morning air and a slight, refreshing breeze, I broke out my sketch book and doodled for a while whilst enjoying my morning brew.


But my thoughts were heavy.  


The last day's adventures had proven less than satisfying. What could I hope to find today, that would alleviate the mental stain that was forming on this Gen Con?

Well, first, I would buy some stuff.  I grabbed up a copy of Isle of Skye, the Kennerspiel de Jahres award winner for 2016.  I got a promo piece with the purchase and a free bag.  Then I headed over to the Haba booth and found a couple of games, Evening in the Stable and Here, Fishy, Fishy for my son. Also, bigger free bag with purchase.  I contemplated the dexterity game Ice Cool, but the price was too high.   Somewhere along the way, the hardcover rulebook for Mutant: Year Zero also found it's way into my possession.  Alex and I had been trying to demo games with little luck, but Saturday brought us Blood Rage and J'Accuse.  Blood Rage was clearly the better of those two.  Alex was tempted to try Upper Deck's series of Legendary games, again, his first experience with them being very poor.  But, again, unless you had signed up in advance, you were not given the option to play. Even with generic tickets.  We quickly vacated they're oversized, worthless booth (and yes, I am editorializing.  It was an enormous booth, probably very costly.)

I bow down to our Wooly Overlords
As the afternoon approached, Alex went off to compete in some King of Tokyo and One Night Ultimate tournaments and Jason and I made our way to Goodman Games gaming area in the Hyatt to get in on a Round Robin tournament of our own. Dungeon Crawl Classics single elimination...only, this turned out to be a beta for a skirmish style game they are developing and Oh Hey, can we move you around in line for apparently no reason other than we have friends who would like to play before you...my one chance to use a generic ticket and I grabbed it back from the guy and went to look for something else to do.  Luckily, said guy had just the thing.  So now I forgive him.

Raptors in planes, you say?  Count me in!


"We have another game, if you wanna join that one, instead.  The GM is losing his voice, so he's playing at a bar in the lobby.  But it's really cool!"

Yeah, great.  Well, I only have an hour to kill before my real game for the day, so...what the hell.  Jason and I are led over to a bar at which three gentlemen are already seated and a very hoarse GM is extolling the virtues of a future dystopia that sounds an awful lot like the Running Man.

Prepare to enter the X-Crawl.

I hop up on a barstool, introduce myself and tell the GM that I only have an hour or so to play before I have to head over to my next event.  He's totally cool with it, promises to kill me off within the hour.

The premise is a simple one, as old as time.  Corporations have taken over, humanity has fallen back into a blood thirsty ravening mass of consumerism and voyeurism.  So, basically a modern setting. Great, big, televised arenas have been erected for the blood sport of X-Crawl, a neo-classical dungeon crawl setting with some modern advances.  Our heroes, a team originating from some town (that totally eludes me at the moment) in New Hampshire (a decision based solely on it being one of the other player's hometown) we are a set of celebrity gladiators looking to cash in on a big corporate contract by making it through this particular urban dungeon.  We were all asked to come up with wrestling names and actors who would portray our character in the big budget X-Crawl movie.  Accompanied by X-Crawlers named things like "The Bruise", "The Tin Man", Johnny Kutz and "The Wacky Weasel", my character, described by his race as a Dwarf (which doubled as his class), would earn from me the moniker of "Sweetfists" Jackson as played by this man, Tom Lister Jr. aka Zeus.  But smaller, stockier.  Like a musclebound boulder of pure rage. And hand axes.


Take that in for a moment.  Just savor it.

We exit the stadium where introductions are held and make our way to the designated arena.  The parking lot we have to cross contains a handful of new, shiny vehicles of various description, all wrapped in big red bows. Before we make it ten feet out of the stadium, a force wall shuts us all in and the announcer bellows that she is already bored and that the death should start happening immediately.  From across the parking lot, a rampaging mammoth enters the improvised arena and proceeds to trample the first vehicle it comes across. Mounted on it's back is some kind of cannon and two neanderthals, one wielding a bow, the other casting spells.  We immediately scatter, looking for cover and access to the vehicles.  Well, most of us scatter.  "Sweetfists" has a bit of a deathwish and while everyone is cowering behind cover, he charges, albeit slowly because of his stunted dwarven legs, towards the mammoth.  That's when the raptors in the balsa wood prop planes descended on the arena, and all hell broke loose.  It was at this point, and with some trepidation, that I had to go.  As luck would have it, Alex showed up and took my place (and from what I hear, "Sweetfists" to victory over the mammoth...).  Bowing out, I headed over to the game I was really there to play...Shadow of the Demon Lord.

Quick note, I would find out later that the GM for X-Crawl was indeed Brendan Lasalle himself, creator of said game and long time contributor to Goodman Games.  Just a fun little fact.


A Game too dark, even for me....

This was it.  My big game for the rest of the con.  It could redeem my experience or damn it further.  I sat down at the table, the first of my group to arrive.  The GM explained to me that the producer of the game dislikes Gen Con for some unknown reason and so had no representation at the Con, this being the sole game being played.  I found this baffling and it worried me, as this was someone's homebrew adventure and depending on the GM, could or could not be worthwhile and sufficient for the four hours.  By this point all of the others had arrived and we had ourselves a full table of five players.

And it was worth every second.

Though way too dark in parts even for my tastes.

The world is on the brink.  Demonic forces threaten to spill over and corrupt and destroy humanity (and it's fellow insert fantasy racial trope here).  The world is a dark, dark place and finding the light is the main focus for players.  Enter our group of pregenerated heroes, The Inquisition.  If there's heresy to be found, we'll root it out and smite it.  And if there isn't...well, that's not actually possible, you're all sinners and must be dealt with as such.  The system is reminiscent of Warhammer Fantasy and is quick and brutal.  The initiative system does away with dice rolling and stat based modifiers. You either go Fast or Slow.  If you go fast, you go first and if you go slow you go before bad guys that might go slow.  The bonus is that you can do more if you go slow.  I thought this concept was brilliant and it distilled the idea of initiative into one decision that everyone makes all at once and handles it intuitively and beautifully.

The game was immensely fun, with us hunting down witches and demon spawn and fighting a gladitorial battle against beast men in some darkened ruins in the middle of a forest at midnight while trying to save a little girl and her mother and I had a rifle and absolutely murdered the hell out of 20 some beastmen when I caused a wall to collapse and oh, there was an elf who wielded bone weaponry with the side effect of that if it killed you, your soul went straight to the Demon Lord awaiting you in Hell and...and...and...it was so much fun.  All of the players were into the game, all played their parts, from the pious and self righteous High Inquisitor to the overeager Brother who liked to extract information from his victims..er...prisoners, to the thief paying off his last two weeks of his penance (of a six year sentence) by serving the Inquisition, to the reveal of the possessed fire spewing baby, to the peg legged and portly lady mayor.  It was loads of fun and a very welcome sigh of relief for my RPG experience at the Con.  At the end, we all said thank you and went our separate ways, having purged the world of sin.

That last night saw Jon, Alex, Jason and I break out my recently purchased Isle of Skye, which three of us enjoyed and one of us did not.  We also blended some with Kittens in a Blender and decided whether or not the cat in the Box was alive or not or if there even was a cat in the box in the first place and just how many of any of those there were with Schrodinger's Cats.

Then we all called it a night.  I went to sleep with a smile on my face.  I went to sleep dreaming of the Inquisition.  



Gen Con 2016 Post Show Part 2

SEAFALL or BUST!

In which we suffer setbacks, buy too much and get turned into a zombie...




I awoke at 6:30 AM and proceeded to get myself ready for the day ahead. By 9 AM I had coffee from Bee Coffee in hand, my camera around my neck and my messenger bag on my hip.   Unnecessary weight.  Jason had gotten up shortly after I had and struck out on his own in search of a lab coat so that he could lay down bad science or something to that effect on fellow con-goers. 



I checked in with both him and Alex as I settled into position on the second level of the ICC overlooking the main doors to the Exhibitor's Hall.  I watched as the crowds grew and grew and grew.  Eventually both of my travel mates appeared and we made our way down into the crowd.  Jason and Alex tensed in preparation, planning to make haste to the Plaid Hat booth and SeaFall.  I fingered my camera and snapped a couple of shots of the crowd, waiting patiently.

After much (necessary) nonsense about safety and "No Running", the doors opened and the masses stormed through the gates. I immediately lost both Alex and Jason and proceeded to very casually make my way in.  I knew where they'd be, I had time.

As with previous Gen Con's, the Exhibitor Hall is overwhelming.  That it had grown in size since the last time I had visited, meant that an extra few seconds were required to take in the scale and scope of the floor.  I eventually spotted the banner for Plaid Hat and made my way there, arriving in time to hear the announcement that SeaFall had sold out.  It had taken me less than five minutes to make my way to the booth.  Sold out.  Wow.  For the day?  NO...for the con.  I searched the line for Alex and/or Jason.  Neither of them were present.  

Uh oh.

After walking the floor for a little bit, I managed to find Alex in line at White Wizard's booth, waiting to turn in one of the coupons from the books that have replaced swag bags at Gen Con.  He and I both enjoy the game Star Realms and this coupon offered us promo cards to add to our sets.  Alex proceeded to buy some expansions for the base game as well as collect his promo cards.  I would gather the promo cards on a later occasion.  He told me of his ill-fated SeaFall run and how the game was already gone by the time he had gotten to the booth, some 30 seconds after entering the Hall.  Ridiculous.  I won't get on any more of a soapbox here than I need to or may have alluded to earlier, but let me restate...building hype or generating bad will...ridiculous.

The rest of Thursday saw me picking up a mini Five Tribes expansion, The Thieves of Naquala for our friend and fellow gamer Molly, the expansion for Shakespeare, simply called Shakespeare: Backstage and the hand/eye taxing drawing game Loony Quest, a game that I hope to play with my son in the next few years.  Alex and I proceeded to try to find games to demo.  We walked the various Halls looking for games that had room for people with Generic Tickets...alas, it seems that with games demos now being events outside the hall, Generic Tickets have fallen out of favor.  Every time I tried to use one, I was told that I couldn't.  I ended up refunding the entire bunch.  Well, refunding isn't quite the term.  I gained system credit for next year minus 5%... ...



Coming to the convention, I had prepared to spend some money at the Modiphius booth. My regular group is currently running through a campaign of Mutant: Year Zero.  I had learned earlier in the week that Modiphius was planning to give 20% discount on purchases of a $100 or more.  That was a little steeper than I would have liked, but the aforementioned coupon/swag bag offered a 20% for $50 at their booth alternative.  That I could do.  I scoped out the products at their booth, realized that I wanted one of everything and then set about making the hard decisions.  The extra nice thing about their booth was that they had con pricing, meaning that all of their products were already discounted. Adding the coupon to that brought me closer to purchasing one of everything, but no, not really.  I ended up grabbing the heavy duty GM Screen for Mutant: Year Zero as well as the Artifact, Mutation and Events cards pack.  I pondered the actual Hardcover Edition of Mutant: Year Zero, but figured that the PDF would continue to suffice.  I grabbed a copy of Symbaroum instead.  Making that purchase, I was done buying things for the day.  I played with the thought of being done purchasing stuff for the rest of the con, but put that thought aside as silly and defeatist.  

Before leaving the convention floor, Alex and I did stumble upon the Z-Man Games booth and managed to get in a demo of Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.  Yeah, I know, mashing up some of your stygian chocolate with some of my squamous peanut butter ... and a tentacle or two for good measure.  Fortunately my prejudice could not have been more unfounded.  This version of Pandemic felt more refined and was a refreshing new coat of paint on an aging game.  The madness mechanic was nothing to write home about, but worked to enhance the theme beautifully. 


We still had a chance at this point.


We closed down the Hall and as Thursday finished up we made a run to the food trucks for dinner and then some more gaming.  I joined in a game of Entropy and then finished up the evening with I Hate Zombies, a glorified (and glorious) game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Zombies turning human players into Zombies.  It was goofy fun that left my face hurting from smiling.


Let's Role...

In which we sail the 7th Seas, Unite the Clans of the Riddermark and wonder why we did either...

Friday was my day to game.  I had signed up for two RPGs, both of which were four hours long.  The first, 7th Sea 2nd Ed., started at 10am.  I headed down to Bee Coffee again, got in the quick, I only want black coffee coffee line and was out the door in minutes, leaving all those frappe guzzlers in my dust!  I arrived a little early and got my pick of characters.  I ended up grabbing the Bosun, a Vesten (read Nordic) sailor who was big on rage and equally as consumed with regret.  Reserved was one of her traits.  The GM was experienced and knew her Theah.  We played a crew of sailors in service to the ATB, 7th Seas version of the West India Trading Company.  Not surprisingly we discovered they were up to nefarious doings and part of an incredibly illegal slave trade.  We set about storming an island fortress/mine and freeing slaves, bringing some of the slavers to justice, striking our colors and becoming privateers.  The game was full of pirates, sea monsters and daring do.  And it totally fell apart for me in the final hour.  The system, based on rolling sets of 10 (roll 5d10, add the results so that you end up with sets of 10, get multiple to earn raises and thereby achieving greater success), became too abstract when it broke down to combat.  Sure, shipboard we cannonballed the hell out of a cannon emplacement, rained hell down on the deck of an opposing ship and beheaded two sea serpents, but nothing of the dice rolling or the set building translated to anything more than an abstract concept of accomplishing anything.  On top of that my play was rusty and between my Bosun and the other player's First Mate and Captain tripping over who ordered who, my reserved character play seemed more removed than I would have liked.  I had been excited to play this Second Edition, but coupling my less than enthusiastic view of the system with the books price point, I took a pass on pursuing the game any further.  I'll take a look at it again in the future, but for now, I'm more than content with what I currently have on the table.

My second game of the day came later in the evening and went until midnight.  It was The One Ring, an RPG set in Tolkien's Middle Earth some five years after the Battle of the Five Armies.  I've played it once before and had fun with it, so I was definitely looking forward to getting to inhabit that world again.  The GM for this game was much lower key.  When asked if his table was one of the tables set aside for The One Ring, he would state that it was one of two or three and, in a shoulder shrugging way that encouraged no faith in me, players could choose to sit at his table to play if they so wanted to, but didn't have to... I stayed, mostly out of laziness, but also out of hope that his presentation would improve once game got going.  It didn't.  It wasn't bad.  It was perfectly serviceable, but imagine John C. Reilly at his most hang-doggedly and you get an idea of the confidence and verve that was brought to this game.  We did have a full table, ultimately, but of the five of us, three faded into the background, and only the player taking the Defacto Leader character and myself actually raised our voices above a careful whisper or showed any initiative in helping to move the story forward or interact with the NPCs in the game.  For my part, I was simply trying to make up for my lack of roleplaying earlier in the day, during the second half of the 7th Seas game.   The story was simple enough, revolving around the need to unite the fracturing Rohirrim Clans and hoping to do so by marrying off a pair of star struck Romeo and Juliet style lovers.  It was handled with all the aplomb of someone who cares very little for the source material and is merely counting down the minutes until midnight...it was an on-the-rails type of adventure that left me still enjoying the system but desperately hoping to redeem the Con on Saturday, when I only had one game left...the one that I was looking forward to the most.  That's a lot of faith and pressure to put on strangers.

There were going to have to be sacrifices made.

Gen Con 2016 Post Show Part 1 - The Beginning

"One does not simply walk into Indianapolis..."

In which we leave Rochester, pick up some cows and finally get our Game On!


"I'm gettin' too old for this $#!%!" is not something you'll hear me say in regards to Gen Con any time soon.   Hopefully ever.

2016 marked my return to the Convention scene after a three year hiatus during which I've been raising my son, wiling away my time and generally living life in a small town far removed from the hustle and bustle of big city living and gaming conventions.  Oh sure, there are a few in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis - St. Paul, which is a mere hour and a half drive North of me, but those don't really count (no offense) as Gen Con is the one and only show that I can and have made the time for.

I digress.

I met with my traveling companions, Jason and Alex, at a little before 7 in the AM on Wednesday, loaded the car and began the nine hour trek to Indianapolis.  We decided early on to avoid the tollway in Illinois (a decision we would reverse on the return trip) and traveled through Iowa and Illinois on our journey.  As we started out, Alex suggested we play a car game.  With absolutely no desire to do so, I said "Sure".  We proceeded to collect cows.  Any cow on your side of the car is yours to keep. You hold them until you pass a graveyard on, again, your side of the car, at which point all your cows are lost. The player with the most cows, once you get to your location, wins!  For nine hours of farm country, we played this game.  A mostly unremarkable and uneventful car ride ensued, filled with convention conjecture, podcasts, construction traffic and cows.

Indianapolis welcomed us with open roads and hot, humid midwestern air.


The Indianapolis Convention Center as seen through the blue filter of the JW Marriott

We stopped at our hotel, that towering blue monolith, the JW Marriott, it's curved glass structure rising above the Indianapolis skyline, a dystopian near future eyesore, portending a shiny and dark future for humble working class Indy.  

It was good to be back.  

Jason and I checked into our room as Alex familiarized himself with the downtown traffic. After tipping our bellhop we proceeded to the parking lot where I had a pre-purchased parking space awaiting us.  That the lot was essentially an open field, with spare lighting and questionable security and not the well lit, professionally guarded parking lot I was expecting, gave me and the cars owner, Alex, only momentary pause because, well, GENCON!  With that as our rallying cry, we took care of procuring our badges and event tickets. Jason chased Pokemon as we stood in line, and I video chatted with my wife and son.   It was a long line that moved surprisingly swiftly, given the amount of people filling the Indianapolis Convention Center.

Alright, already!  I am!
After a quick trip to secure our official parking space within the same lot later, we made our way to Georgia St. to track down some grub amongst the food trucks.  Here we ran into Jon and Brad, part of the Illinois contingent of my gamer friends.  Under the fading light of the setting sun, we grabbed some noodles, pondered some beer and made our way inside, away from the heat.  Jon and I caught up for a bit and I more formally introduced everyone.  



Then it was time to game.


It's more like a food SWAT van, amirite?!
Having a ballroom all to yourself to game in is both ridiculous and humbling.  You know you are part of something huge from the sheer size of the room.  But with that came the realization that, even though you are there as part of one of the biggest conventions, if not THE largest to hit Indianapolis on a yearly basis, when you see tables and chairs still stacked with no apparent effort being made to set up rooms for the throngs massing on Indianapolis, something in the atmosphere has changed.  A definite sense of complacency.  Note that this is not a complaint, but merely an observation.  This year seemed more hands off and less welcoming than years prior.  I felt this acutely in our hotel.  Less so elsewhere, but still noticeable.  The first few years of Gen Con in Indy had a feeling of revitalized energy and new experiences.  Now it's starting to feel more like old hat; a been there, done that sorta feeling.

Not one I am entirely happy with.  I like being liked.  Or at least believably lied to.

Anyway, it was time to get our Game On!

Wednesday night is generally fairly low key, especially with our group.  We game, but not too much. We sack out early, preparing for the opening events and exhibition hall.  Alex turned in especially early, after only a handful of games of Scrimish.  Jon ran a game of Fiasco, using the playset he and I had created a few years back called The Depot.  It sounded like it was doing what it needed to do, which was not fail to be entertaining. Built on the backbone of the already excellent Fiasco, failure is rarely an option and I'm glad we maintained that trend.  A game of Scythe was going on amongst the rest of our group. That game is beautiful...and huge.  I ended up playing some less than quiet, less than relaxed games with Jason and Brad.  Games requiring dexterity and aggressiveness and chopsticks. With colored wooden shrimp pieces flying all over the place, we cajoled and flat out body checked our way through the game.  I never won.  Ever.  But by the time I had thrown my chopsticks to the ground in exhausted defeat, pointed accusatory fingers at both of my competitors and cursed my last curse, I was ready for bed.  When Brad broke out a game that involved some type of plastic mouth dam, I made my exit.


The Coming Darkness...


I'd need all my energy for the Exhibitor's Hall the next morning, especially if I was going to endeavor to help Alex capture a copy of SeaFall, the highly sought after, ridiculously overhyped new legacy game designed by Pandemic: Legacy and Risk: Legacy designer Rob Daviau and produced by Plaid Hat Games, masters of overproduced and under-allocated board games.  SeaFall has been hyped for the last two years, in development for three and coming off of the success of Pandemic: Legacy, easily the most eagerly anticipated game of the year, certainly of the Con.  Plaid Hat should have had copies in spades.  No need to build more hype or possible ill will by under producing for the biggest con in the country.  It would be difficult to get a copy the first day, but surely they would, like most companies, set a daily limit, allowing anxious convention goers the chance to get their hands on a copy by the end of the con.  As good a ploy as any to keep people coming back to your booth.   Alex was pumped.  I was cautiously optimistic.

I shoulda known better.


Monday, March 28, 2016

The Lull

Different groups need different ideas and motivations.  Simply presenting something to one group does not mean that they will react the same way another group may have, in the past, reacted.  This is good and bad and also a form of common sense.  Experience, exposure and personal aptitude and interest all play factors in the decision making process.

Recently I finished up a "quick" campaign of 13th Age, the Pelgrane Press version of Dungeons and Dragons.  Wildly fun and frenetic, my group experienced 1st through 10th level in that same number of weeks (plus/minus 2 or 3 and various breaks in between), progressing from mere "better than average warriors/wizards/whatevers" to almost Godlike beings.  Fatally flawed and inexperienced Godlike beings.  They went out on top.

Now they face the prospect of a new game and/or new system and it is daunting.  I've offered to run a handful of new systems and different genres.  It may be too much, too soon, as the resounding thud that my options received left me somewhat at a loss.  These were "new" and "different".  Be excited!

Different experience, different exposure, different tastes and interest.

I'll continue to nurture the Role playing side of gaming.  We'll take a couple of (necessary) weeks and board game for a bit.

We sit in between.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Wednesday Night Game Night - 5E D&D: Greenest in Flames

The Ranger, Seylor, having arrived in town earlier in the day, is awakened from a pleasant afternoon's rest by the screams of the dying.  Casually peering out his window, he sees hooded figures driving people from their homes, murdering them in the streets and causing general chaos.  Hearing the bell tolling, he grabs his gear and gives his nice comfortable bed one last look.  Out the door and straight to the Keep, his twin swords at the ready.

With the last kobold disappearing from sight, Grim quickly clears the temples rear door of smoldering debris.  Finding it barred from the inside, he begins banging on it, calling to those on the other side.  He can hear panicked shouts and cries from inside and the terrifying pounding of the battering ram.  Knowing that time is of the essence, he signals for Garox.  Alvyn notices a dark shape alight to the top of the temple, hiding in the smoke.  Frantically waving his arms, Alvyn captures Grims attention.  Grim, unable to locate the shape in the darkness returns his attention to the people inside, warning them that if they don't unbar the door willingly, they will need to step back or risk being injured.  Grim receives little response other than whimpers and weak cries of defiance.  Garox steps forward and at Grim's command, he hacks his way through, his great axe making short work of the door.

Arriving at the keep, Saylor is quickly put to work guarding the doors.  Once the doors are finally closed and the last of the stragglers has made it through, Saylor is commended for his efforts and then summarily tasked with rescuing other villagers who may not have made it to safety in time.   He is informed that there is a tunnel system beneath the keep that leads to the river.  Given a key for the gate at the tunnels entrance, he gathers a small group of men and prepares to head out, noting that this is why he sticks to the forest and stays the hell away from town.

Surrounded by choking black smoke and the cries of kobolds, the terrified congregation, at first hesitant, is ushered out of the temple by Thia, Grim and Garox.  In the midst of the chaos, a half elf calmly introduces himself, a disciple of Chanteau.  He asks what the plan for his flock is.  Grim and Thia look at each other.  It is agreed to make for the tree line and the river beyond.  The half elf suggests making for the keep.  Grim suggests otherwise, stating that the keep is lost and that the circling dragon will very shortly be using it for a nest.  It is pointed out that the host sieging the keep looks like they are keeping people in and away from their homes, the looting suggesting that this is more likely a very organized form of banditry.  The half elf again suggests that the keep will be the safest place to reorganize and tend to wounded.  When pressed on how he expects to get into the keep, currently surrounded by marauders as it is, he reveals that there is a gate located at the base of the hill the keep rests on, hidden in the shallows of the river.  It connects to a tunnel system that will safely lead them into the keep.  The group makes it's way there, doing their best to avoid attention.

They almost succeed.

Having made it to the Gate, they are descended upon by a small group of kobolds, which they quickly dispatch.

Saylor leads his men to the gate and discovers a not small group of villagers huddled near the entrance.  A quick conversation with Grim and Thia reveals the groups intentions and Saylor opens the gate and lets them through into the relative safety of the keep.  Upon his return, Saylor is heartily commended for his valiant efforts.  He responds with a "It was nothing." before accepting the praise.

The group is given a brief moment of rest before an alarm is raised.  Escobar, the dwarven warden of the keep, announces that invaders have broken through and that his men are in the midst of hunting them down and dealing with the problem, but he needs men to protect the ruined entryway until his own men can return to their posts.  Alvyn, Thia, Grim and Garox are approached by Saylor, who has once again been looked to as the hero.  With little else to do, they agree to help in the defense of the keep and make for the ruined gateway.

As a small group of invaders approach the keep Saylor and company take positions, hiding behind arrow slits.  Garox stands out in the open, ready to meet the attack, his muscles tensed, his jaw clenched, his rage...kinda getting there.

A drake rushes forward intent on killing the Half Orc.  Arrows fly and balls of flame reign down on the drake and it's kobold companions.  Sling bullets shoot through the air, pelting Garox.  Grim appears out of nowhere and runs the approaching drake through, not once, but twice, killing it an instant before it gets to Garox.

Bolstered by his companions, Garox finally gets his rage on and rushes through the remaining kobolds and raiders.  Grim follows in his wake, Thia backing them up.  Saylor and Alvyn stay safely hidden away behind the arrow slits.

Shrugging off blades and bullets, Garox hacks his way to the entrance only to discover a second group of raiders mounting an offense.  A spear whistles past his ear seconds before he is overcome by a group of kobolds.  He falls as Thia and Grim retreat back into the relative safety of the keep, Grim calling for the guards within to back them up.

The raiders push further through the gates, taking Thia down as they go.  Saylor joins the fray, backing up Grim.  Alvyn continues to harass with his cantrips, having blown through his more powerful spells earlier.

Beaten and bloodied, the group successfully holds the gate until the guards arrive to relieve them.  They are able to pull Thia to safety and revive her.  Garox eventually regains consciousness and amazed to still be alive, stumbles in after them.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Wednesday Night Game Night - 5E D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Part 1

Using the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure, I set up that the characters were either arriving or had already been in Greenest, a woefully described town with which I had the run of things.   There is a keep, a mill and a temple to the god Chanteau...who, since I don't have a current understanding of the Forgotten Realms mythology is just some god...God of Socks, I believe.

The group started off as two separate groups; the Druid, Thia and the Rogue, Grim arriving in town at sunset after having traveled from the trade town of Scornubel, their concern for a mutual acquaintance making them unlikely traveling companions.  Alvyn, the sorcerer and Garox, the Barbarian are at this point drinking in the local tavern, Garox having just saved the overly talkative and mildly annoying Alvyn from a rather rough looking mercenary, who now sits at the end of the bar nursing a bruised face and ego.

On their approach to the town, Thia and Grim notice dark figures making their way towards the town, coming from all directions.

In the tavern, Garox and Alvyn hear a bell tolling as the bar tender pulls a mace from behind the bar and begins ushering people out, telling them to get to the Keep as quickly as they can.  The town must be under attack.

Thia and Grim slow their approach and watch as the chaos begins to unfold, people being rousted from their homes by torch wielding figures.  Thia catches a scent on the wind, leathery and reptilian, moments before a dark form sweeps overhead.  A bolt of lightning crashes down on the townsfolk, a rumble of thunder rolling out towards the Druid and Rogue as the large blue dragon begins to spread his terror.  They watch him circle in the air, lining himself up for another run and both note that they might well be caught in the next assault if they don't put some distance between themselves and the town.  Instead of doing that, they head straight into town, moving south and away from direct line of fire.

As the tavern empties, the mercenary with the bruised ego hefts his axe and bursts out through the front door, looking up to the sky right before he is blasted out of his shoes by a bolt of lightning.  Seeing this, Alvyn and Garox elect to exit through a window on the side of the building, dropping into an alleyway that allows them to stealthily sneak away from the chaos.

Attempting to sneak into town, Thia is caught out in the open by a small of group of raiders.  She recognizes them as kobolds.  There are only three, but Thia suddenly finds herself alone, as her travel companion, Grim, has melted away into the darkness.  Unsure what she should do, she raises her shield, presenting a defensive front.  The kobolds regard her with disgust and turn back towards town.  Grim reappears at her side and the two quickly make for a small cluster of houses.

Hidden in the shadows, Alvyn and Garox spy kobolds ransacking houses.  Valuables are being stuffed into sacks and dragged out of town.  Sensing that Garox is itching to speak violently with the kobolds, Alvyn comes up with a plan to get them to the safety of the keep.  Casting a disguise self spell, the gnome transforms into a kobold and calmly leads the Half Orc out into the streets, casually strolling and occasionally barking a command on their way through town.

Thia and Grim break into an already ransacked home and hunker down.  Grim is intent on getting more information and wants to sneak around the town more, Thia wants to live to see the sun come up and insists that they lay low.  Grim disagrees and slips out into the night through an open window.  What he discovers is that a ring is beginning to form around the keep, the bandits building makeshift barricades and lean to's as protection from the arrows being fired down upon them by archers on the walls.  High up in the sky, the dragon continues to circle.

Almost to the keep and past the last row of buildings, the Half Orc and his "Kobold" companion have successfully fooled the bandits.  The guards at the keep, seeing them approach, bolster the guard, letting stragglers through.  Recognizing that their brilliant disguise has worked too brilliantly, Alvyn prepares to drop the spell.  Before he can do so, a last group of townsfolk, a family, attempt to break away from where they were hiding and make for the keep.   The family, made up of three children, a spear wielding mother and a badly wounded father are quickly surrounded by a patrol of kobolds.  The mother attempts to keep the kobolds at bay, but with her children caught up in hysterics, she trips and falls to a knee, the spear no longer providing it's much needed protection.  Seeing the kobolds about to attack, Alvyn rushes forward, ordering the group to return to the looting they were there to do.  As added incentive, he points back to the Half Orc, who stands a few steps back, great axe in hand.  The kobolds sneer, spit and leave.  The family sits in fear, the mother regaining her footing and rebrandishing her spear.  The Half Orc looks at her incredulously and then steps aside.  Confused but not stupid, the mother rushes her family through the quickly closing gates of the keep.  They are the last let inside.  Alvyn and Garox look around and begin to form a new plan. 

Grim returns to the house Thia is hiding in and reports what he has found out.  Unconvinced that heading out anywhere at this point is a good idea, Thia continues to preach patience.  Grim reminds her that they both came to Greenest for a reason, their mutual friend, a traveling monk named Leosin.  There is a distant ringing, a bell signaling another part of town has come under attack.  Grim and Thia eventually agree that finding out what is happening in town is preferred to waiting in a pillaged home, hiding in the dark.  Outside, hiding in the dark, the two, guided by the sound of the bell make their way to the southeasternmost part of Greenest and discover a temple, surrounded by bandits.  The front doors have been closed, but a makeshift ram batters at them and they show signs that the bandits will soon be well on their way through.

Alvyn, still in disguise, suggests to Garox that they continue to make their way around the keep, hoping for another way in and to get an idea of the size of the army attacking Greenest.  They make their way south, passing through the camps of kobolds and raiders.  Once on the far side of the keep, they can hear the bell tolling in the distance and begin to make their way towards it.  On their way they come across what appears to be the commanders camp.  A woman dressed in purple wielding a halberd is issuing commands.  A blue Half Dragon watches the keep, resting his hands on a great sword that has been driven into the ground in front of him.  Garox feels an intense need to call out the Half Dragon, but Alvyn very wisely dissuades him of this notion.  The two continue on, following the tolling bell.

Slinking through the darkness, Thia spies two figures approaching the temple.  They are strolling almost casually down the road.  One a Half Orc, the other a kobold.  She relays this information to Grim and the two slip out of view, moving around to the back half of the temple, where they find a small group of bandits attempting to light clumps of dried leaves and grass that have been piled up against the back door of the temple on fire.  A patrol of kobolds lead by blue drakes on chains, pass by, the kobolds throwing stones and flaming torches through the temples ruined windows.  There is much screaming.

Alvyn and Garox continue down the path leading to the temple.  They see the group battering at the front door and the patrol making it's rounds and decide to avoid any direct interaction with them.  Garox suggests sneaking to the back of the temple to see if there is a way to get the people out.  Alvyn notices two figures watching the temple from the rear.  Much to his astonishment, he recognizes one of them!

Unable to stand the screams coming from inside the temple, Thia convinces Grim that they need to take action.  With the odds at two on one, Grim doesn't seem entirely convinced, but agrees anyway.  He silently approaches, Thia casting a spell behind him.  Suddenly the ground beneath the kobolds feet springs to life.  Grasping vines snarling around their legs, two of the kobolds find themselves trapped.  Grim, quiet as a ghost, appears and runs one through with a rapier.  A second kobold, not caught up in the vines, finds himself on the receiving end of Grim's other rapier.  Both die silently.

A third kobold screams in agony as a javelin pins him to the ground.

Not hesitating for a moment, Grim springs on the last kobold and stabs him through the eye.  He whips around to find Garox retrieving his javelin from the kobolds corpse.  They recognize each other from times past.  Both nod curtly.

Alvyn, dropping his disguise, comes racing out of the shadows, attaching himself to Thia, adoration plastered on his face.  Thia is less than pleased.  

Before any discussion can occur, the patrolling kobolds clear the corner of the temple.  The two guard drakes immediately rush the Barbarian and the kobolds begin to pelt the group with bullets from their slings.  Grim disappears in the ensuing chaos.  Thia and Alvyn back away, Thia casting fire at her attackers as Alvyn seeks shelter.

Bursting forth from his hiding place in the surrounding shrubbery, Grim dispatches a couple of Kobolds and then engages the main group as a badly wounded Garox continues to tangle with the Drakes.  Thia continues to hurl fire at the drakes and one of them finally succumbs.   Alvyn, hidden in shrubs, cast his magic missiles at the kobolds engaged with Grim.  His bolts find their mark, raining down in the form of golden cones that drop two of the kobolds and badly wound the third.

Amazed by the magical onslaught, Grim is caught briefly off guard.  In that moment, as a desperate dying action, the last kobold slips past his defenses and critically wounds him.  Grim falls with a gurgle, blood spraying from a slashed throat.

Thia, unafraid of the kobold, is immediately at Grim's side.  Her healing magic brings him back to his feet.  He quickly murders the shocked kobold as Garox finishes off the last drake.

The two remaining kobolds flee for their lives.  Garox manages to bring one down with a well placed javelin, but the other escapes from sight as Alvyn's Chill Touch spell misses it's mark.