Darken Wood – With the Kids

Back at it with the kids again. I’d hoped to get another session in over the long weekend (since all dance classes were cancelled…) but we just ended up doing other things… In our last session, the group had been ambushed by a group of draconians disguised as monks. The group was victorious, but as they wiped the sweat from their brows and caught their breath they hear the far off sounding of a horn and saw more draconians gliding down from trees to the road ahead of them….

Starting this game they simply assumed they would be fighting them. I pointed out that there were "many, MANY more of them than you". They still didn’t see any other option. I pointed out that they could run and hide… They questioned how they would ever make it to Haven if they ran the other way and I explained that they could hide out and find another way to get their.

They decided that discretion was the better part of valour and scarpered back up the road. Only to discover that there were still more draconians gliding down from trees that way! What to do!? They were quite dismayed! So I gave them the white stag.

Much like in the other Saturday Night game they followed the white stag up prayers eye peak (evading the pursuing draconians) and through the crack in the mountain…

I love playing with these guys… They take everything at face value – not yet jaded by overexposure to formulaic fantasy adventure. When I first described Darken Wood as a “deep dark haunted forest full of malevolent spirits, that no one ever went into and returned alive…” to the Saturday Night Crew their comments were: “Well I guess we’ll be going in there at some point” or “Let me roll on my ‘Knowledge: Role-playing Games skill’ to see if I figure out when we have to go in there…”.

When I had the kids make smarts/common knowledge rolls and (upon their success) told them they realized that following this tunnel they would probably come out in darken wood the girls eyes welled up with tears and the boy had a distinct look of dread… I think the girl was actually certain that I was determined to destroy them all at this point (now, I know there’s GMs out there that view RPGs as a GM vs. Player competitive game… I ain’t one of those…). There was some debate between the two – go back and fight the draconians (I had told them that there were “hundreds” in an attempt to dissuade them from taking such an action) or face “certain doom” in Darken wood. At one point the girl eve suggest that they “just give back the crystal staff to the draconians!?” Cooler heads prevailed as I told them that none of them actually KNEW anyone to have ever ventured into Darken Wood… it was just something everybody “knew” (don’t go into Darken Wood, it’s full of evil…).

So they decided to take their chances with the evil spirits of Darken Wood…


The kids and the groups order of march through the Prayer's Eye Peak tunnel

They did meet some rather menacing Spectral Guardians that demanded who they were and why they were there. At first the boy explained that they had come there not of hteir own choosing but were fleeing evil lizard people – they the guardians seemed unimpressed. It was the girl who fessed up – Goldmoon introduced herself and admitted that she was bearing the Blue Crystal Staff. The minions led them on into the forest to meet the Unicorn/Forest Master that set them on their way to Xak Tsaroth on Pegasi! Yippie!

The session involved no combat just role-playing and the occasional skill or attribute check. The kids were rather shocked by this – thinking that all the games I played involved COMBAT! They seemed to have a great time none-the-less and are as stoked as ever to carry on!

Descent into Darkness

The Fourth Session of the Saturday Night Savages DragonLance Campaign….

Jackson finally made it out to a game and made himself a Human Ranger type (hopefully we’ll have a background for him shortly – AND MAYBE ONES FOR LAURANA AND MAGNUS!?).

Speaking of Laurana, for a (minor) pacifist, she had been doing a whole lot of “shooting first” last session… So I decided to take away her Bolt spell and replaced it with Armour – as it seemed to fit her character better. I did allow her touse her level-up from last session to take Slumber…

In our last session The Heroes had finally made it to the Ruins of Xak Tsaroth. Attacked by a dragon they sought refuge in the only standing building nearby – which turned out to be the temple of Mishakal. And that’s where this evenings adventures began!

Exploring the temple they found a statue of Mishakal that came to life and spoke to them, pretty much telling them what they needed to find (the Discs of MIshakal) and where to find it (in the Dragon Hoard)! While further investigating the temple they discovered some cowardly Gully Dwarves and were discovered by a unit of Draconians…


They were dealt with pretty quickly – due to about half of them falling asleep on the first turn… only waking up just in time to die…

After they were finished snooping around the Temple they descended and spiral stone staircase into the deep dark underworld. They discovered a worn trail leading out of the main hall they had descended into, but decided to check out some side passages. While trying to look down into some big cracks in the floor they head noises in an ajoining hall. They took too long trying to decide what to do – stay and make ready to fight or run and hide – and didn’t think to put their lights out… so they were discovered.


Another squad of draconians dealt with easily thanks partly, again, to the slumber spell, and partly to the unstable crumbling floor which sent a few tumbling into the vast blackness below….

Returning to the well worn path through the crypts they ran into another batch of Guly Dwarves all queued up in a hall. Unable to communicate in any sensible way with them they tried to sneak up to the room ahead to see what was going on. The ALL decided to “sneak up” and someone made a noise and they were spotted.


The two overseers were again knocked out by the slumber spell and they “dealt with” by other party members…

They discovered a secret passageway and the sewer tunnel the gulley dwarves had been using. In the first section they descended the Kender lost his grip and went sliding down – bowling down a group of Guly Dwarves who were coming up the tunnel. Regrouping at a junction, they decided to take the steeper tunnel down (as they Gully Dwarves seemed to indicate that that is where they had come from.

On this one too there was sliding. Goldmoon slipped and took out nearly the whole group. Rolling for some damage on this one most escaped with minor bumps and bruises (a couple were “shaken”). But Goldmoon must have hit her head in the initial fall and knocked herself out. Then, being unconscious bettered her head on the sides of the stone tunnel all the way down and fell hard at the bottom – she took SIX WOUNDS!! Luckily she soaked one… Then Norfindel worked his (nearly magical) healing on her (the fantasy version of First Aid and CPR), taking off another wound. The Blue Crystal Staff healed a further two bringing her back to her senses but leaving her battered with two wounds.

AT that point I suggested we could stop – most seemed ready to bash on until I pointed out it was midnight…. Amanda called the game as she has to teach yoga in the morning and kicked everyone out…

Tune in next week! Find out if they survive the dragon and find the mysterious Discs of Mishakal!!

Dragonlance With The Kids Again

It’s been too long since our first session (been having some scheduling issues – too many activities, unrealistic education program, etc… that’s all sorted out now, so hopefully we’ll be getting more regular gamin’ in!).

AS before the kids were pretty fired up. This session sort of introduced them to some gen-u-ine “role-playing”. Previously our games have been mostly skirmish scenarios – the first session they were simply ambushed on the road.


It is completely different playing with entirely inexperienced children compared to the Saturday Night Savages (who often joke about making a “Knowledge: Role-playing Games skill check” to “decide” if they should take an obvious - to them - hint or clue from the GM…). A lot of stuff one would assume players would clue into right away they just don’t get at all…A couple times I had to describe Goldmoon and Riverwind sitting by the roadside singing their song and asked if they wanted to stop and listen or carry on the road to Solace (they wanted to carry on!?) and ask “are you SURE!?”

Of course I’ve had adult players that walked right by the obvious clue – sometimes assuming that because it was SOOooooOOOooo obvious it MUST be a TRAP!

The adventure has played out quite different from the Saturday Night group. Here Tanis, Tasslehoff, and Flint met Goldmoon and Riverwind on the road and traveled with them into Solace. Meeting up with the others at the Inn and hearing the many runours floating about they decided to escort Goldmoon and Riverwind to Haven as the staff seemed rather important.

Leaving solace the next morning they ran into some dressed in funny bulky clothes....



These turned out to be draconians in disguise who ambushed them. The group took care of them fairly quickly – but just as the skirmish ended they heard horns being sounded up and down the road and further up the road they saw more draconians gliding down from thetrees and racing towards them!

….and that’s where we had to leave it off!!

Hopefully we’ll get another chance to play this weekend!

Xak Tsaroth

Raging ahead with my Savage Worlds Dragon Lance campaign this week, I was a little nervous about how far a head to be really prepared for - after last week when the players sidestepped and skipped by a dozen or so encounters I had lined up and found themselves nearly at the Gates of Xak Tsaroth!? Would they flounder in the swamp or bash their way to the very bottom of the dungeon and find all that there is to discover there!?

Christian didn’t make it out tonight, but I let the others play Henry FitzArnulf. They refrained from using him as a meatshield/trap detector. He even made it through the adventure free of injury, though his armour is looking a little worse-for-wear… Dragons with acid breath do that… but I’m getting ahead of myself..

I FINALLY got around to filling them in on the details of Goldmoon and Riverwinds past – having sprinted through the first batch of encounters they never really had a chance to catch their breath and formally introduce themselves to each other!?

And so, in the the swamp they went.


First they were ambushed by a group of Draconians as they tried to cross the murky waters of the swamp on a a fallen tree. This was actually their first encounter with the Draconians (having sidestepped said potential encounters last session).

Curly spent a turn or two frightened out of his wits until he could convince himself they weren’t GIANT bats… Roscoe Thorngage, the brick-like Kender berserker, went berserk and got his arm stuck in the sorcerer draconian as he stabbed his sword and arm right through – turning it instantly to stone.

Goldmoon and Magnus got into a bit of a theological tiff – trying to prove who’s gods were the bad-ass-iest. Goldmoon whacked one with the blue crystal staff (for something like five or six wounds) blasting it into a fine dust in a brilliant flash of blue-ish-white lgith. Magnus, not to be outdone, bashed one over the head with his holy book (improvised weapon, -1 to hit, Str+d6 damage – it IS 10 pounds and bound in steel!).

After finishing them off they came across another bridge guarded by draconians one tried to flee and was blasted by Laurenas magic missiles, The second sounded a warning horn, but was quickly silenced by Norfindel.

They happened upon a giant spider… who just happened to jump Curly (with “The Drop”), who was stung and poisoned and paralysed for a good few minutes. Laurena quickly blasted that with her magic missiles and splattering everyone with spider goo.

They scooted past the dragon breeding pool deciding it was far too ominous looking to be further investigated!

Henry FitzArnulf fell off a vine bridge and very nearly drown. He emerged from the water covered in a fetid smelling black slime.

Then they stumbled across the “Plaza of Death”!


Roscoe and Magnus went to check out the well while the others headed towards the intact building (the Temple). The dragon popped out of the well and made two straffing passes at the crew before they all made it into the (relative) safety of the temple. Magnus was pretty badly burned by the acid (like incapacitated “badly”). Henry escaped looking a little melted as well…

That’s pretty much where we left off. Hopefully they players will take advantage of that OLD RULE (concerning posting on this blog… hint... hint…) as they seem to be burning through bennies rather quickly!! (especially Laurena and Magnus… who haven’t supplied character backgrounds – they each only had one. Laurena because she was “lucky” and Magnus because Curtis brought Root Beer….)

Hopefully I’ll get a game (or TWO!?) with the Kids this week and get them caught up….

Norfindel

Norfindel – Wildcard Elf Ranger? - Dave
Ag d12, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d10,
Pace 6, Parry 8, Toughness 7 (9)
Skills: Fighting d12, Shooting d12, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Survival d8, Throwing d4, Tracking d8, Climbing d6, Healing d8
Edges: Low-light Vision, Woodsman, Dodge, Marksman
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Loyal, Heroic
Gear: Bow(Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6), Long Sword (Str+d8), Sundry other items…..

Norfindel, a young Qualinesti elf of some one hundred and twenty years, had never felt quite at home among his own kind. Since early childhood, he had been drawn with fascination to the human and dwarven traders that frequented the borders of his woodland home. His mind would wander with these travelers, imagining adventures in far distant lands. Though skilled with sword and bow, and at one in the wild places as only an elf can be, Norfindel did not get satisfaction from the forest; he was not at peace, and dreamed of life amongst the other races, in the villages and towns beyond the woodlands.

His parents, both skilled healers, taught him their craft and loved him dearly, but struggled to understand his restlessness. They were not surprised when he announced his decision to leave the forest at two and twenty, but were sad to see him go. He travelled extensively, returning for three years here, five years there, always restless to set off again. Though always welcome at home, he was considered odd, and felt stronger kinship and loyalty to fellow travelers than to his own people.

Some thirty years ago, Norfindel had settled in Solace, living quietly as a healer on the edge of the treed village. He thrived among the quick burning spirits of the humans, and the years passed like days. Chance encounters led to a deeply satisfying quest five years earlier, with men, a dwarf and a kender, and the companions from that adventure had become his true kin.

Returning from a brief five year visit home to see his parents and further his knowledge of herb lore, he met up with these same companions. During his few years apart, thoughts of quest and companionship were never far from his thoughts, and his heart stirred with the desire for heroic adventure.

Roscoe Thorngage

Roscoe Thorngage – Wildcard Kender Berserker - Patrick
Ag d8, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d10, Vg d10,
Pace 6, Parry 7 (-2 when berserk), Toughness 7 (9 when berserk)
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d8, Stealth d8, Taunt d6, Lockpicking d8, Climbing d6, Swimming d6
Edges: Lucky, Berserk, Brawny, Combat Reflexes
Hindrances: Small, Curious, Vengeful (minor), Quirk (sensitive about height)
Gear: Short Sword (Str+d6), Backpack, trail rations, rope, lockpick, etc, etc…

Roscoe Thorngage was born to a recently married Kender couple who lived in Solace. His father was a baker but had not yet gotten a solid business going. The couple had barely enough money to support themselves and knew they were not yet ready to care for a child. So, they met with a friendly Dwarven woman and her stout husband who, pitying the young couple, agreed to take care of Roscoe until they could support him.

Living among the Dwarves was hard for Roscoe, but he tried his best to fit in. He played with the Dwarven boys, and could match them in most any game. But, he was very self-conscious about his height and would often end up in fights when provoked. He visited his birth parents quite often, and grew to love them and Solace as much as his other home amongst the Dwarves.

As a child Roscoe’s only goal was to become a town guard. He was an energetic student but he could not always focus his energy, becoming distracted by many minor things. Still, he performed well enough in the classroom and at tournaments. His dream of becoming the first ever Kender on the town guard was coming within reach.

Yet reach was just the thing that Roscoe did not have enough of. On his eighteenth birthday he went to the barracks to apply for a position. At only 2’ 11” Roscoe did not meet the height requirements, sparking more teasing from those who did pass the physical. Angered and ashamed Roscoe left for Solace, with his few belongings and only a short (no pun intended) goodbye to his Dwarven parents.

He hung around Solace doing the odd job as a labourer, when he heard that a group, those he is with now, were getting together to go adventuring. Seeing it as an opportunity to redeem himself he signed up the first chance he got. The group split up and Roscoe, with some honour restored, decided to return to the Dwarven lands and live there for a while. After five years, he returned to Solace, ready for another adventure.

As he has experienced the world Roscoe has learned that his small stature can be a blessing as well as a curse. He has mellowed some but still dislikes the mention of his height. He often finds a way to put the one who insulted him in their place either by a returned comment or, less commonly, a good, solid punch.

Crullen Blackstone

Crullen Blackstone – Wildcard Dwarf Warrior - Rick
Ag d6, Sm d10, Sp d6, St d10, Vg d8,
Pace 5, Parry 7, Toughness 6 (7)
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d10, Stealth d6, Intimidate d6, Throwing d6, Streetwise d10, Tracking d4, Knowledge: Ansalon d10, Survival d4
Edges: Brawny, Trademark Weapon (Great Axe)
Hindrances: Phobia (Minor – unnaturally sized things…), Curious, Delusional (must smoke pipe or lapse into coma)
Gear: Great Axe (Str+d10, AP1, Parry -2, 2 hands, Pipe, Tobacco, Kilt, Backpack, etc…

Crullen Blackstone is a proud member of the Blackstone line of dwarves from the hill country of Neidar. Dwarves from this line are particularly long-lived, and this certainly applies to Crullen, who, though still not elderly, has long forgotten his younger years.

For the last several decades, most of those who know Crullen call him Curly. Some assume he got this nickname from his baldpate or because of the origin of his first name (which means “to curl”). But the real origin comes from his habit of always having his pipe with him, which he puffs on throughout the day, with curls of smoke regularly seen drifting above him. In fact, his fondness for his pipe leans toward the addictive. He usually spikes his tobacco with snuff known for its stimulant properties - and he firmly adheres to his delusion that, if deprived from his pipe for a lengthy time, he’ll fall into a deep sleep and stay that way until his pipe’s distinctive aroma returns to his nostrils.

Curly is a wanderer, and his insatiable curiosity about the hidden corners of Abanisinia will doubtless keep him wandering for as long as his stumpy legs will carry him. His endless travels have kept him from starting his own family, and he remembers little about the family from which he came. He vaguely remembers having numerous brothers and sisters, but it has been over 100 years since he’s had any contact with them or his parents. He’s an agreeable fellow (though not fond of goblins) and has made many friendships over the years - including his present band of traveling companions, who have just gotten back together again in Solace. Previous to this reunion, the companions had gone their own way for a few years, during which Curly supported his traveling by acting as a guide/guard for various trade caravans, using Solace as his base of operations.

Curly has seen both wondrous and terrifying sights in his travels, and has a fairly strong constitution. He does, however, have one minor phobia. Although his dwarven heritage makes him a bit shorter than most of his companions, he is very proud of his stature – knowing that he is of proper height for a dwarf, and all is well on that account. Unfortunately, his fixation with proper sizes goes a little too far – in that he has a great fear of beings or things that are clearly not of the right size. Thus, his wanderings have taken many a detour around such things as unnaturally giant spiders/goblins/etc or unusually tiny vermin/livestock/etc. In such situations, he takes comfort from the great axe always by his side (a trademark weapon acquired long ago during his travels in Ergoth) - but in the end, there is no reasoning with phobias.