Doomed Reach Session 4

Characters

Amon Amarth, the Dwarf Cleric of Holy Law
Kalos, the recently masterless Magic-User
Maur Stern, Cleric of Holy Law
Cirrel, Elven Herald
Florby, Elven Alchemist
Brother Murray, Cleric of the Light Above
Ki-Mun, the Dwarven dandy
Torin, the sneaky axe-wielder

Downtime

Our characters begin by recounting prior adventurers and shoring up an additional hireling to account for previous losses.

Florby convinces his hireling, who owned a Saint’s head, to put the head in a pot of water for a week. They then paid a street urchin to drink some of the water and found it to have a mild numbing effect.

Brother Murray continued teaching his pigeon and goat more adventuring tricks.

Cirrel was granted an audience with Lady Mecit, a new-to-the-Reach noble looking to reclaim her uncle’s manor after he went mad. He retrieved more information on the manor and promised expedition funding should the party agree to it.

Adventure

Our group returned to the very chaotic caves, witnessing a floating geode on the way that radiated a freezing field, wilting the plants it came across.

As they climbed the peak above the caves, they witnessed that the cultists had rigged up some noise instruments attached to decapitated zombie heads in their wooden watchtower overlooking the gully, seemingly to drone noise when noticing nearby living. Torin snuck up to the tower and quickly dispatched the grotesque sentries.

Succeeded in preventing alarm, they went to the caves and saw a new trap rigged, a mechanism to shut a portcullis behind invaders, and opening one in the hallway to unleash zombies. Having been cautious, the party downed the zombies with ranged implements, but not before the foul undead could cause much noise.

Traversing to the south, they entered the circular chamber that held a vat of writhing, living gore. Florby begged that they determine if this monstrous flesh creature was sentient and evil. Amon Amarth interrogated the mass but determined its gasping and wailing to be that of a chaotic being.

Seeing bloody tracks on the ground leading out of the room and checking its direction revealed two giant spider beings wearing cloaks, medallions, and weapons. The adventurers engaged them in combat, casting light into one’s many eyes, blinding it, and dumping holy water and fire onto the flesh creature, which rose to strike the party.

After a short battle and only a few wounds, they chased the blind spider to a dead end. The cursed being told them it had recently been recruited by the cult with its brother and that only six other cultists remained, hurriedly trying to bolster their numbers. It also revealed to them a secret door to the outside, but this was not enough to save it, as the party imparted fatal justice to the creature.

They wandered the complex some more – finding the ruby skull room from the previous week reset, they also found a room full of bones and shattered skulls, and Cleric Stern was able to locate a small emerald within. They also retrieved some silver and a pendant from the pit of burned gore.

Progressing north, they found an altar room with black marble pillars depicting humans in agony and bronzed ritual implements, as well as a fine tapestry depicting the Sanguine Skull’s dominance. Continuing to delve, they ambushed four cultists in the middle of a ritual to empower a glowing red skull and smote these acolytes and the skull.

They finally stumbled upon a massive ritual room, with the undead head priest and his ghoulish assistants getting ready to call forth something from the dark. Amon Amarth stepped up and repelled the ghouls with his faith just before they could ring some hideous bell, while the rest of the party engaged the high priest and came out victorious, although slightly shaken by a fear spell.

The ghouls ran from the priest into a room full of skeletal statues similar to those in the ruby skull throne room. Deciding not to enter, they doused the room in oil and ignited the ghouls.

The party then went about stripping this floor of the dungeon bare of goods – tearing tapestries from the walls, plunging priests’ quarters for magical items, and returning to town with many artifacts to trade for silver, as well as the reward and praise from the Bishop.

Doomed Reach Session 3

Two-thirds of the party meet a grisly end.

Characters

Florby the Elven Alchemist
Wulfwig the Ponderous, Cleric of Light Above
Yarlexia the Elven Witch

Downtime

Throughout a week and a day, Florby decides to get completely blackout drunk, never having done so. They ask for Wulfwig to chaperone them, but the good cleric refuses. Yarlexia joins, and they meet a treasure seeker who found an ancient megalith about 40-50 miles to the southeast, ruled over by actual Harpies.

Wulfwig felt that the fortress did not have an adequate place for the followers of Light Above to worship, so he rented out a small plot of land near the market, and begin making plans to install a shrine.

Yarlexia continued to tell fortunes, and was graciously rewarded with a minor crystal ball by Lady Lecit, a residing noblewoman down on her luck.

Hirelings

Our group decided to interview quite a large number of hirelings, taking into service Hildo (lol name generators) the Aescetic, Carmox the cat-toting peasant, Fulco the Hobbit who worships a divine badger and seeks were-badger-dom, and Stalforth the archer who had been a slave to some inhuman monsters in the reach.

Yarlexia decided to sacrifice Hildo, who was noted as “having nothing” to summon yet another demon. She called out to a Prince of the Abyss, who was so offended by this offering he cursed her with a blunted intellect.

She resigned to resummoning Betsy, who gladly consumed the hireling.

Adventure

The adventurers made their way back to the caves, on the way encountered a small community of hobbits immigrating to the reach. Yarlexia paid them a sizeable portion of silver and pointed them towards the villages surrounding Fortress Solace, so they “blessed” the party by playing them a moving tune, and allowed each member to take a bite of their heirloom scone, baked ages ago and passed down through the generations.

They made their way back to the caves, where the fallen corpses had been stripped of flesh, but their bones remained. They made their way into the cult’s cave but found it strangely unguarded. To the south, where once lay a pit of zombies instead had a bubbling pit of gore, seemingly the flesh from the deceased turned into some unholy, roiling slurry. The group decided to not prod this, and made their way south to a large, vaulted room carved of dark stone. At the far end of the room sat a black throne whose seat held a large ruby, carved in the shape of a grinning skull – the symbol of the Sanguine Skull. All along the west and east walls stood twelve skeleton statues, painted red.

The party decided this was a trap, and thought to solve it after investigating the rest of the complex. Yarlexia instead convinced the demon Betsy to sprint in with her, grab the ruby and dash. As they made their way across the floor, a pit trap opened – Betsy falling to her apparent demise, while Yarlexia held onto the edge. The party intended to throw a rope to their Elven witch, but were shocked and surprised when the skeleton statues animated – they made their way over to Yarlexia and slew her, dumping her corpse in the pit. They also used their stone swords to knock Wulfwig to the floor, and then decapitated him. They also stabbed Solforth, who winced in pain and remained shocked as the party made a hasty retread back to the fortress.

Florby had grabbed Wulfwig’s head on the way out, and intended to place it in the cleric’s shrine. When the Elf confronted the Bishop Cadriel who had sent them on this mission, he was not pleased with the Bishop’s remote and uncaring response, cursing the priest and storming from the church.

Doomed Reach Session 2

Our party eliminates half of the Cult of the Sanguine Skull.

Characters

Florby, the Elven Alchemist
Apicius, the Farming Gorumond Fighter
Brother Murray, the Cleric of Light Above
Yarlexia, the escaped slave-turned-Witch Elf
Wulfwig the Ponderous, Cleric of Light Above
Steven the non-descript, an average mentalist mage

Downtime

Florby spent the week of downtime adventuring. They were abducted by a mad noble and their entourage looking for a tournament. Arriving at an abandoned monastery that had been turned into a statuary, the noble challenged a statue, which rose to meet them and struck down the crazed gentry. In the chaos Florby escaped, but had no chance to steal any goods.

Apicius proposed that Labrix the hireling wed his cousin, and tend to his farm, and in exchange, Apicius would eventually give Labrix his own sheep flock. The hireling agreed, and in the revelry of the wedding, Apicius became drunk and got into the losing side of a knife fight.

Brother Murray spent the week training his animals to obey simple commands, as well as investigating the locked box the party had acquired last session, finding it magical.

Yarlexia told fortunes and read tarot, receiving a working wage of silver.

Wulfwig decided to drink the week away, falling in with some bandits known as Hegrit’s Harpies, and suffered a massive hangover.

Session Report

Florby tried to pick the lockbox but got sprayed with acid, receiving notable scars to their torso, inhibiting breathing for a while. Inside lay an iron statue of a dwarf, carved into it a curse one could levy at an adversary to “ruin their fingers.”

Yarlexia attempted to summon a demon, slaying a scoundrel from the Copper Cockatrice to do so and called into her protection a humanoid pig/owl demon named Bechisi, who Yarlexia renamed Betty.

The group returned to the cult’s hideout, finding a massive wasp nest on the ascend, and ambushing the two huntsmen who served as guards, learning a bit more of the cult’s intentions, which mostly dealt with traversing through cycles of undead and rebirth.

Yarlexia took the form of one of the hunters and investigated the cave, while the others prepared to tumble rocks and even the tower if need be when enemies were drawn out.

Yarlexia spoke the cult’s secret phrase given to her by the hunter, which turned out to be a signal – the cultist she was conversing with sounded an alarm, ran behind a portcullis, and unleashed a horde of zombies. She began her escape back to the entrance, but as she made her way down the hallway – guards from the other direction were marching at her with bows, she decided to unleash Betsy upon them and make her way out of the cave.

The party waited as zombies followed out, saving the avalanche for the many cultists who came later to see if their pets had dispatched the invaders. The flesh of these dead cultists drew the zombies, and the party made quick work of them as well.

They also witnessed unusual, chaotic operations in the gully before the cult’s cave – dogmen crawling out of a bubbling pit of earth, and a massive bull-headed man disgusted by the carnage before the cult cave.

Entering into the cult complex, they found Betsy had fallen into a pit trap, and freed it – but were immediately attacked as the demon was no longer bound to Yarlexia. In the combat, Yarlexia continued to intone pacts and words of command and was eventually able to wrest Betsy back to her side.

The group proceeds north, finding four acolytes in a store room. They enter into combat and their hireling Hingle is decapitated by an acolyte. Eliminating two in combat, they get the other half to surrender, and piece out a few more details of the cult before delivering justice to these foul necromancers.

Having eliminated half of the cult’s numbers, losing a hireling, and taking some damage from the combats, they decide to make it back to Fortress Solae and recuperate before a final? assault on the cult.

Doomed Reach Session 1

Yesterday I kicked off an in-person open-table game here in L.A. using a hack of OD&D plus a lot of various hex-crawl tools mashed together.

The intent behind this campaign is to get as close to a West Marches as is feasible – I’ve run one successful West Marches late in college, and while I have tried a few times after that I’ve never breached the point of referee scheduling games to players scheduling games. I have a hope we can in this game, but I am not making it an outright goal, instead, I’m letting players loosely provide availability over the week, and if they schedule a game in my availability that’s great – otherwise I’m happy to book the sessions.

I had six players initially, for the first session I almost thought to have eight, but that would have been too difficult, as I was having trouble hearing even the middle of the table at points in the game store. So six players is a great amount, as long as I work to clarify what players say.

Characters

Our six characters were (and apologies to players if I’ve spelled the names wrong, feel free to correct me):

Florby, the Elven Alchemist
Apicius, the Farming Gorumond Fighter
Leandril, the tough-love Elven Fighter
Brother Murray, the Cleric of Light Above
Yarlexia, the escaped slave-turned-Witch Elf.
Wulfwig the Ponderous, Cleric of Light Above

Session Report

Our party met in the Copper Cockatrice, the local mercenary haunt and drinking hole in Fortress Solace. Amidst wine and banter, the party sought out a small collection of adventure hooks, including:

A map purchased from a mourning Hobbit, having lost his companions to a crow demon at the end-point of their quest for treasure.
Investigation of, and eventual elimination of a Chaos cult rumored to be abducting children, northwest of the fortress, paid for by a Bishop of the Church of Holy Law.
A mining collapse in a small village of Bryny to the West uncovered an ancient Lightbringer temple, with the Church wanting such a site cleared out and sealed off immediately.

Having questioned the drunk Hobbit, our party heard horrific tales of a crow demon that slew his companions. Citing the fact that mundane weapons could not hurt the beast, the party instead decided to pursue the more local option of investigating the cult.

They interviewed and hired a slew of hirelings, including:

Drogos the Mercenary, is a stout fellow who has experience with soldiering.
Labrix the Link-Boy. A young herder who lost his flock, and wishes to scrounge up enough silver for an impressive herd.
Hingle the Thug. A tall fellow with many notable facial scars and missing teeth, they wield a nasty hunting knife and has a conflicting relationship between his religion and his zeal for violence.

They also interviewed another henchman with wild eyes and a big beard who began shaking excitedly and licking his lips when the topic of combat was broached, but the party decided his eagerness was a step too far for their liking (as of now 😉)

While the party conducted these interviews, Yarlexia pandered traveling merchants with tarot and fortunes, playing to their egos, and earning enough payment for two silver pieces.

To The Caves

Our party marched off into the wilderness, seeking a strangely fresh forest to the northwest of the fortress. Easy going along the plains brought them to the border of these woods, whereupon they spied a Gnome burrow, a strange fellow named Fluppix had been drawn to recent migration in the area and he decided to start up a bakery and “art experience” to take advantage of the hinterland populace.

The party decided to partake in his venture, although Brother Murray thought better of the situation and kept watch. They ate the Gnome’s tasty bread and were subject to a rather rough massage (Fuppix’s chosen “art” for the day). Utilizing the time to question the Gnome, they did discover that a few dozen folks were camped somewhere nearby and that they did have Gnome-sized beings with them. Apicius provided the Gnome with an onion to feed his “children”, which turned out to include a rather portly badger.

The Gnome pointed out where they headed off to, noting that a troll cave lay between them, best to be avoided. Avoided this ominous cave they did, and found an oval-shaped valley beyond, beset by cliffs to the west, north, and south. Instead of pressing head-on, our group thought it better to circle around to the rear of these cliffs, gaining a vantage point over the many caves below.

Atop this crest, they discovered a camouflaged, but unoccupied watchtower or hunter’s lodge. Rooting around they found a spear and some items, as well as a buried lockbox in the earthen floor below. Brother Murray and Leandril kept watch and saw a hunter stalking a deer in the woods below. After felling the deer, the hunter sounded a horn, which drew members out of one cave to retrieve this deer, while the hunter made their way back to the watchtower.

Our party debated capturing or dispatching this hunter but decided discretion was better, leaving everything but the lockbox and making their way into a dense thicket for cover.

Yarlexia used her witchcraft to assume the guise of the Hunter and entered the caves below. She was met with a robed acolyte, wielding a metal staff whose end terminated in two collared zombies. Yarlexia played it off as if she had brought more food (in the form of her own sheep and goat), and the acolyte told her that the deer was more than enough to get them through the summer. He insisted instead that the goat, Luna, should have its name transcribed in the Book of Blood and enter into unlife as a new guardian for the community.

Yarlexia hesitantly agreed, but mentioned that she felt that she was ready to conduct the ritual herself, and would make her way into the ritual chamber. Passing by the guard she realized the cult’s complex was very deep, and she feared her illusion wearing off, so she turned and stabbed the cultist, calling out to any spirits or demons for protection. She was answered by a fell spirit demanding more supplication and ritual before providing aid.

Deciding against partaking in a full-blown ritual at the cave entrance, she grabbed the acolyte’s religious symbol, a blood-red skull, as well as the dual man-catcher zombie apparatus and returned to the group.

The party decided to make haste and double back to the fortress to provide proof to the bishop of the cult. They were promptly rewarded, and our session closed.

Referee Notes

Hopefully, I did the session justice, and apologies to any players whose antics or quips I may have missed. Running a pretty generative-oriented hex crawl involves juggling quite a lot of details at once, so I unfortunately sometimes misremember a few details.

Overall this was a fun session. Time was a little packed as half the session included character creation and setting summary, so I couldn’t quite get the spotlight on everyone as I would have wished, but I think there’s a decent way forward for everyone to grow and drive goals and ambitions.

I am running this game in real-time, so the party may have a week or more to carouse, do downtime, research, etc. before deciding if they want to fight this cult or go about another hook.

If you happen to be in the L.A. area and are interested in playing, definitely drop me a message and I’ll shoot you a player survey!

Barrowmaze Open Table Sessions 27-29

Session 27

Players

Barmox the Magic-User, played by Stripe
Glarg the Fighter, played by Trusty McGurk
Rocco the Fighter, played by Daryl
Robber Key the Thief, played by Robert
Sena the Ranger, played by Malley
Sky the Druid, played by Captain Caveman

Summary

Krothos sends goons to search after Sena, apprehending magic items to provide to Mazzahs the town mage for divination purposes. The party decides to relocate to bogtown. One the way they are approached by a witch-hunter from the church named Magnus Raich, and his quarry, a supposed binder of demons named Lennard.

Suspecting foul play, the group attacks this hunter in the night, slaying him and releasing his captive, who is a deacon from Bogtown, and an enemy of the Bishop of Aerik. The group sets him off towards Helix, telling him to find the Chapel of St. Ygg there.

Off of the corpse of the witch hunter the party retrieves a wand of paralysis, cloak of elven kind, and a supplied. They proceed to Bogtown and meet many of the locals. They meet with the Mother of Toads, the local wizard. They stop into the Toasty Troll Inn and Glarg and Key make quick friends with some scoundrels, hinting that they are looking for work, they are sent to a chapel to St. Ygg, obviously a front for criminal activity.

In attempted subtle fashion, the “priest” says that the current “pope” is unfit for duty, given over to extravagances and a up-and-coming “cardinal” would very much like the head of their “church” disposed of by outsiders, with a wink and a nudge.

They are then pointed to a shrine to Janus out in the Bog, and instructed of a ritual that may transport worshippers to a sister-shrine in the barrowmarsh or back, for a sacrifice of wealth or goods.

Session 28

Players

Barmox the Magic-User, played Stripe
Boris the Barbarian, played by Modest Mace
Glarg the Fighter, played by Trusty McGurk
Lathan the Half-Elf, played by Ragnar
Robber Key the Thief, played Robert
Sena the Ranger, played by Malley
Sky the Druid, played by Captain Caveman

Summary

The party investigates Mecit Manor, traversing through the haunted estate, stumbling upon a corpse in a yellow-mold filled bed, encountering violent fungi, ghouls, and an easily-scared ghost butler, who startles Sena forcing her to run. In her sprinting she steps through some water-damaged floorboards and falls through to a torture chamber below. She spends rounds cowering in the dark before getting her wits about her and using her magic rope to climb back up.

Bertelan the Butler tells the party that the manor of the house, Lamric Mecit is upstairs. They find small demonic creatures trashing the furniture in the estate, and poor Boris the Barbarian is defaced by one of the chaotic creatures.

Twisting a series of crow sculptures on a display in the room a secret passage is opened to the master bedroom, mired in filth with the windows boarded up. The sheets are thrown off the bed by the being resting upon it, Lord Lamric in full regalia, even wearing boots to bed.

He accused the party of awaking him, but Ragnar says that they have traveled long from Barrowmaze, bringing the Mecit family blade home.

Overjoy the young lord asks them to hand it over and breaks out some brandy to celebrate, mentioning of further quests he has for the party to fulfill. The entire party is very apprehensive, and after some investigating, sneaking, and mind reading they realize the lord is not as he appears, so Ragnar leaps into battle, striking the creature.

The young lord is transformed before the group’s eyes into an eight-foot tall woman in decrepit clothing, with ruinous claws and hatefull eyes. All the adventurers leap in to slay her, but she is able to shift in and out of the material realm, avoiding their blows. Barmox steps up and uses his wand of paralysis, disabling the creature just enough for the party to decapitate the crone.

For their reward the party finds a massive horde of jewels and a silvered dining set, and they retrieve a massive oil painting of the manor, selling it to the “head grocer” in Bogtown.

Session 29

Players

Barkface the Druid, played by EvilTables
Barmox the Magic-User, played by Stripe
Lathan the Half-Elf, played by Ragnar
Robber Key the Thief, played by Robert
Sky the Druid, played by Captain Caveman

Summary

The party continues their search of Mecit Manor. Deciding to investigate the attached Wizard’s tower. They encounter haunted rooms along the way, acquiring a log of the manor and spell scrolls. Entering into the trapped tower, a wizard’s assistant named Humfra shouts down from the second floor that if there are any spiders with them, he will release the dogs, referring to a chained collection of ghasts and ghouls.

Ragnar casts Charm Person on this being, and learns that the wizard Orias sleeps deep in the earth, having been blessed by the Dark Lord with vampirism. They ask to be led to his study, a library and alchemical lab on the third floor, noting all the windows having been blacked out. They spy a multitude of potions, a spellbook on a plinth, and a chest full of wealth. They also are seen by a crow, and Humfra confirms this to be his master’s familiar.

Barmox asks for Humfra to bring the creature closer to him, and while the one-eyed assistant is warning the crow to not try pecking out his good eye, Barmox sleeps the both of them. They slay the familiar, bound and gag the assistant, and kill off the undead guards of the tower.

Barkface detects danger in the room from the book, the chest and some potions, and worries that the master would know of the familiar’s death, so the group decides to aim for slaying the vampire sooner rather than alter.

Entering into the basement they see a variety of barrels stored under the tower. They enter through two double doors and into a barracks filled with rat men. A deadly melee is engaged, multiple party members are struck by the ferocious creatures, but the Druids cast heat metal on their chain, burning many of them and forcing the creatures to run. Barmox’s wand comes in handy yet ago, disabling many of the combatants.

Deciding they are too injured to proceed, they return to the tower, collecting the potions that did not detect as dangerous, carefully grabbing the tome without touching it, and plundering the vampire’s chest for a ransom of gems, platinum, and electrum.

They decide to camp out in the woods overnight, fearing that the vampire will travel to Bogtown seeking revenge.

Nausicaä FKR Catch-Up (Session 4)

Playing catch-up on the session reports for my Valley of the Wind game over on the FKR Collective Discord. We took a bit of hiatus off for the holidays as well as some work scheduling difficulties, so we played one session months ago, and one session just last week which I will make a post for soon. So this is a report for a session we played back in November.

This will be the short format I’ve been trying out on my Barrowmaze reports. Feel free to leave feedback, especially if you are a player in this game and I’ve forgotten details.

Cast

Player Characters

Ezel the wanderer, played by Truzzy_02
Gaspar “Sarge” Brunel, pilot and sharpshooter played by ceacelessCarbine
Nessa, a spy-on-the-run, played by Ven (gendernihilist).

NPCs

Olmay, young child found aboard a downed ship
Belsinde, Olmay’s mother and military scientist for Torumekia
Imnion, Torumekian mechanic

Summary

Returning to the group in a circular viewing chamber, looking down into a three-story room filled with the grey substance, the horrific man-shaped creature with the shiny dome helmet, and multiple prisoners latticed up in the goo.
The group coordinates a dual plan, many utilizing an ancient elevator shaft to get down into the first floor, while Gaspar shoots the creature with his seed cloud gun, freezing it temporarily.
Nessa and Ezel make their way to free two captured prisoners, but the helmet on the monstrous figures falls into the pool, animating into a worm-like shape, that slams and strikes both of them, injuring them both.
Nessa’s captures “helmet” falls into the goo, producing yet another threat. (I think I forgot to mention in the last report that they fought a dog-like creature with one of these, Nessa found her nullification effects temporarily held it off and was able to retrieve the helmet after Gaspar shot the creature).
Ezel utilizes a pressurized container taken from the circular, slamming into the creature but knocking him back.
The party continues to scramble, multiple gambits are run as the group frees Olmay’s mother and another prisoner.
Ezel is knocked unconscious and dragged by one of the creatures, heading towards a northern section of the complex as the party is separated.
Circling through the halls, the group reconvenes on the other side of Ezel as he is coming to, slowing and distracting his captor.
Ezel utilized a quick flint and spark wheel to immolate the arm of his capture. The flames turning the twisting gelatinous structure into cracked and brittle char.
Regrouping, the party plans their escape.

Thoughts

Lots of fun, lots of planning, and a lot of hectic rolls as many of the characters came very close to the risk of death – something I always leave on the table when anyone is wounded but making risky actions.

Lots of fun, inventive play. Lots of awesome in-character planning, coordinated attacks, fun use of powers and equipment, and overall a great environment.

Some of the details may be a bit sparse because this is off of notes I made months ago, so anything I forgot or got wrong I apologize for.

Barrowmaze Open Table Session 26

Summary

Quite a few new adventurers enter into the fray as the party returns to their initial entrance to the Barrowmaze. Therein they battle with stirges supping on a recently deceased adventurer. They discover a secret shrine to a demonic patron, and a magic-user pledges service to an unnamed entity asking to be led to the thief that took his scroll. In pursuit of this scoundrel, the group witnesses a massive Beastfolk, several times larger than they usually encounter as it immediately rushes them, trying to tear the adventurers limb from limb. After a bit of trying to sprint around it they group enters into combat, pinning the beast in a doorway and eventually dispatching it. Late into the night Sena uses her Ring of Invisibility to break into Krotho’s manor, leaving the head of the beastfolk in his chambers, torching his undergarments in the hall before sneaking out.

Cast

Player Characters

Barmox the Magic-User, played by Stripe
Glarg Grumblebeard, played by Trusty
Jollen the Druid, played by Xenken
Key the Thief, played by Robert
Rocco the Fighter, played by Daryl
Sena the Ranger, played by Malley
Slaine the Hermit, played by Dio

Hirelings

Manks the Cleric of Hathor

Rewards

3 sapphires worth 600gp
A coin-purse of 50gp
A bag full of chipped jewels worth 200gp
A silver dagger designed for ritualistic sacrifice
187.5 total party combat xp

Thoughts

It was a good game, a little hectic given that we had 5 new players. I need to remember to both instigate a Caller when we have lots of players, and to actively utilize them. Even when I have a caller I often forget and respond to absolutely everyone.

I also know due to the size of the game a few players had technical difficulties and unfortunately missed some of the material, which I feel bad about. I think this is unfortunately just chalked up to Discord, each person’s individual setup, and Roll20, but if anyone has recommendation I’d love to hear them.

There were a few questions of utilizing Floating Disc, a notoriously specific spell, in a very general fashion. While I love creativity, I do think the specifics of a spell is kind of a social contract. Some requested exampled were to use it as a wedge for a door, or as a bludgeoning device. Both are clever interpretations of the spell, but why I ruled against those is that it somewhat mitigates the usability things like Hold Portal or Magic Missile. That said, I’m always game for suggestions.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I do feel like I should move back to my policy of trying to keep at most 6 players. When playing online really my sweet spot is 3-5 players. I love being able to share this game with lots of people, but I also think that my strengths as a ref lay in kind of my free formy conversational manner, which can cause a lot of downtime when the table is packed.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and hopefully this shorter format will help me stay on pace with play reports.

Barrowmaze Open Table Catch-Up 15-25

The amount of session reports that I am “behind” on is almost a large than ones I have written – the last one was for October 11th. Since then there has been 16 Sundays (not including the most recent which I’ll write its own report for). Out of those 5 were missed sessions, most for holidays, my birthday, and just general end of the year stuff.

So that means I am missing reports for sessions 15-25. Of course there’s no way I’ll be able to summarize those, track down exactly everyone who played, etc. but I’ll try to very, very briefly outline what happened so I can pick up regular reporting again. I won’t be able to highlight everything but here’s some details:

The party stole a fantastic painting out of the noble’s tomb, and Sky the Druid used some mind-reading to deftly negotiate with H.H.R. Huffnpuff for a massive sum of wealth.
Removing the painting released a vault extending into some caves, releasing a hulking biped insectoid monster that they manage to dash away from.
Ambushed by a rival adventuring party, the group aggressively charges and slays two of their adversaries, scaring off the remaining three and claiming the fallen’s magic items for themselves.
While investigating a sole tomb, Ragnar the Half-Elf touched an ominous tome and was transported away to an alien realm to do battle with a small grey sorcerer atop a floating throne. Striking the magic-user twice, Ragnar was returned to the tomb with access to the tome.
The group discovered a demonic brazier that seems to extinguish flame.
Returning to the site of a previous massacre – the water logged tomb filled with a diorama of an elven warrior battling lizardmen, Sena the Ranger used her rope of climbing to remove the sword while the party ducked out of the tomb before the statue guardians attacked.
Sena continued her construction of a canal to the mounds, and as it neared completion some of her laborers came to her panicked that many decided to plunder a nearby religious site for a frog cult, after hearing the monks left for a pilgrimage, but were lost within.
The party traversed the magical threats in the tomb, with Martin the Cleric using wards to protect them from rampaging Frogoyles, finding the lost laborer who was infected with some sort of frog curse, the holy man exorcised it from the poor man’s body.
One of their hirelings was eaten whole by a mummified frogman, and the party fled sealing the dead within, burning religious iconography as they beat their retreat.
Barmox the Magic-User found some very enlightening weed and pipe in the shrine, and returned to share it with Huffnpuff, gaining magical insights as he took a deep hit.
Sky befriended a diseased alpha rat, and led it on many adventures before it was consumed by green slime.
They party found an ever-flowing cup, producing holy water, ale, or mead, or even sometimes potions. Two party members were slain by stone guardians in its retrieval.
The group stumbled upon corpses ambulated by a swarming mass of rotgrubs. After deadly combat Sky’s faithful mutt Foamy was found panting with the foul swarm digging into her skin. Sky immediately enacted dagger-surgery to get them out, narrowly saving his dog.
The group plundered an ancient library of an old pestilence cult, but not before battling with the entombed high priest who drained some of Lathan’s lifeforce. Their rewards were hundreds of pounds of books they were able to make a good exchange for, and a multitude of magical incenses, powders, and salves.
Sena’s canal ended, and Krothos the local lord immediately set to taxing it, giving the party 1 free pass on the canal as a reward. Sena punched his advisor, and Krothos let them off with a warning, heading off to drink and gamble.

Tons more occurred in addition to the above. As I go through my notes I’ll return here to add, but for now I think this is a decent summary. I apologize that I haven’t catalogued everyone who played in these games, and my apologies if I haven’t highlighted one of your favorite moments, but I definitely encourage you to comment if you played or remember any details and I’ll update this post.

Later this week I’ll write up the most recent session, and hopefully get caught up on my Open Table Valley of the Wind Game.

Thank you!

Session Reports

A big kick in the pants for updating this blog more frequently was the roll-over from a home campaign to my current Barrowmaze game. Initially I had a lot of fun writing the session reports, but as time went on I found that the way I was writing with how I remembered the sessions did not necessarily line up. I also kind of felt bad about the games that I did not do session reports for, primarily only writing for my two open table games.

That said, I look back over the gap of Barrowmaze and feel bad that I didn’t at least minimally note every session. Sure I have scribbles in my GM notebook, but I often forget to annotate the date, and honestly if I don’t consciously have to comb over these notes immediately after session they become near unusable down the line.

I think I want to start writing session reports, but with the idea that they may not be read at all, not even by me. But mostly as a means to mark a date and time, say who it was with, what we played, and maybe a few sentences about what I thought about that. This way I can be look back and be reminded of all the cool people I had the opportunity to game with, or make note of all the various games I am fortunate to play.

What I will change is not trying to write for other people. I also won’t feel bad if I don’t remember every awesome quip or jokes the players have. I love the creativity, but its too hard to catalogue in the moment. That said if you read this blog and are a player in my game and want to highlight moments, definitely comment and I will add them.

Barrowmaze Open Table Session 14

Summary

Finding their way into an old noble’s tomb, a wizard is possessed by the spirit of an ancient squire and joins forces with their liege wraith. The party’s courageous self-proclaimed knight is cursed with ghostly undeath by the lord’s blade, and the oddly-friendly skeleton swears fealty to him as he fades from the mortal realm. A thief is found wandering the tomb, having fallen into a portal trap elsewhere, and the party enters into combat with the approaching death cultists and their zombie horde.

details follow