Snow(y) Day for a Monster of a Game.

The kids had a snow day today and so did I--although not because of the ice and snow, but because I spent all weekend running Magic prerelease events.

We wanted to play something and even though I've been working on 1st Age and enjoying Adventurer, Conqueror, King, I was in the mood to run some Dragon Age.

My son made a Mage with the Arcane Warrior specialty and my next to youngest daughter made a Rogue with the Bard specialty.

Character creation took about 45 minutes.

As we talked about what kind of game they wanted to play things kept coming back to cryptids.

I won't lie, I enjoy paranormal shows and watch them with the kids.  I'm not saying I'm a believer, but I find the programs and entertaining and intriguing.  The kids wanted to use some of this as a basis for the game.

They decide they were twins from the village of Hommelet and their parents, Penny and Midas Macabre, ran the Cryer, the village newspaper.

I gave them three possibilities for how the game started:

1) Investigating sasquatch sightings in Decatur Forest.
2) Checking out rumors of a magic portal near Grimhenge (reminiscent of Stonehenge).
3) Trying to spot Raleigh's Comet on Point Pleasant.

One liked option 1 and one liked option 2, so they decided that Grimhenge was on the edge of Decatur Forest and close to Lake Lafayette, and they were looking into rumors of strange happenings.

Things went well, my daughter's character Katie got some footage of a pair of squatchs.  A mothman exited the magic portal and a strange robot investigated my son's character, Lance, when he used this Twin Sense to telepathically speak to Katie.  The robot ended up injuring a sqatch, before it's mate subdued the robot.  Katie and Lance then took the robot back their workshop to consult with their mentor, the cryptozoologist, Bromley Bookend.  But before they left the area, Katie got a picture of some ghost light coming through a portal.  She decided to sit on her footage and not upload it their blog.

Both kids asked if the game could be set in the modern day, instead of some ancient world and decided that cryptids couldn't be hurt buy guns, which was why they used bows and swords.  However, they didn't actually fight anything, even when the robot was actively hunting the sasquatch, they tried to communicate with it.  It was very refreshing.

The Adventure Game Engine performed admirably and the more I use it the more I appreciate it.  We toned down consulting the Stunt Chart and just used the number on the Dragon Die as a guide for the kid's imagination.

Hopefully the adventures of the Macabre Twins will continue.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 5

First character to go from 1st level to highest level possible in a given edition or what's the highest level character you've ever ran?  Quincy Vanderbeak III, a rogue in Tony W.'s DnD Next Kit Bash game.  He's 7th level now and we've been playing close to a year.  He's the face of the group and keep's the severed heads of his victims in his Bag of Holding (they've come in handy while fighting zombies).  Our group are grade A assholes, we like to overthrow towns for fun and profit.

Skill Throws for the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System

I've recently become a huge fan of Autarch's Adventurer, Conqueror, King System that takes inspiration from DnD B/X and the Rules Cycolpedia and came up with an idea for handling "skill throws".  This system can ignore ACKS proficiencies or work side by side with it.

Skill Throw Progression

Level          Throw
1 - 2             15+
3 - 4             14+
5 - 6             13+
7 - 8             12+
9 - 10           11+
11 - 12         10+
13 - 14           9+

Then add Backgrounds as they appear in 13th Age.  A background is a bundle of skills and the player may ask if it could apply to the situation involving a Skill Throw.  A character has 8 + Intelligence modifier in points to distribute amongst their backgrounds and may not allocate more than 5 points into any one background.  If the GM is concerned that a player takes a background like Cat Burglar that would grant thief abilities, then allow 5 background points to grant access to one thief ability.  A background is then added to the d20 roll for the Skill Throw.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 4

First dragon your character slew (or some other powerful monster)?  A wyvern was our victim.  It was a lucky critical and prior to that had cut our dwarf in half.  I was a Paladin named Kincaid and we were playing a mash up of DnD Rules Cyclopedia and ADnD 2E, it was weird game run by one of my oldest friends, Barry.  While hiding from a troll, it urinated on our Mystic.  Like all of Barry's game, we ended up dealing with traps from Grimtooth's dungeon and had characters so maimed we abandoned the game.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 3

First dungeon you explored as a player character or ran as a DM?  I ran the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, a 1st level module for ADnD 2E.  I made the mistake of having a PC discover a sentient blade that wanted him to kill the party.  I didn't realize he'd agree.  As the party left the Halls, they set fire to some grasslands that were ancient elven holy lands and for years I had the elves declare war on the Forgotten Realms over many campaigns (I hated elves).  This particular campaign ended when the same player who was tempted by the sword, a druid now, miscast Web centered on his character and caught all of his allies and none of the enemies.  Again, my inexperience resulted in a TPK.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 2

First person you introduced to DnD?  My wife, Priscilla.  Since she already worked at her family's game and comics store she was familiar with it, but had never played.  We were dating and had played quite a bit of Legend of the Five Rings and a friend, Rob Hall, ran a game of Birthright that we joined.

Which edition?  Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition?

Their first character?  A wizard named Pandora.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 1

The first person to introduce me to DnD?  Richard Eldridge.  While it was my friendship with Barry Black that introduced me to my first game group, and Todd Wallace ran us through character creation, it was Richard who invited everyone over to his apartment and he ended up being my first DM.

Which edition?  Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition.

My first character?  A fighter (I didn't qualify for any other class with my ability scores) named Garamond.  I wanted to be a Swashbuckler, but again, didn't qualify for the kit.  I have a degree in graphic design, and was a sophomore in college at the time and took his name from a font.