Hard Times in Jarlsburg: High Houses Brought Low!

The Hard Times is Jarlsburg's premier source of news (not necessarily truth) and routinely outsells it's competitor, The Cryer.

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Scandal rocks the Dwyer House yet again--death and doom follow the House's dandy!

Baron Bruth Dwyer's eldest son, Kireon, was picked up by members of the Night Watch late last evening after being missing for nearly three days.  Kieron and the Ambassador from Iron Hall, Tibido Hammerstone were last seen leaving Yuseph's Gala on the Oleander on the evening of their disappearance.  While their absence was a source of concern, the young man and his young dwarf companion are known as voracious "pub crawlers" and layabouts.

However, at some point their "romp" turned tragic as members of the Watch found Kireon unconscious and "drugged" and discovered the mutilated corpse of Tibido mere feet from the "heir apparent" of the House Dwyer.

Kireon is currently in the Watch's custody and the murder scene, the former Patrone Home which has been abandoned for over over a decade, has been thouroughly investigated.

Rumors of cult involvement reached this reporter and I have confirmed that the Prime Minsister's Special Task Force on Cult Activity found the young Dwyer.

More as the story develops.

Hera Kirck, Gibbons Beat Reporter
Early-Day Edition on the 32nd Day of Deck in the Second Hundred and Twenty First Year of Thronehold

What I played in 2014

This year has been dominated by DnD 5th Edition.  Wether it was starting the year playtesting and showing it off to my customers or playing it as part of DnD Encounters it dominated my gaming time.

Currently I'm in a sweet game by Ben B. that saw us complete the Phandelver adventure in the Starter set and sees us about to move farther north along the Sword Caost.

I've also both DM'd and played Hoard of the Dragon Queen and have a cool elf named Quarion.

I've dabbled with a wee bit of Dragon Age, Numenera, and Feng Shui 2, but find myself coming back to fantasy.

I've closed out the year playtesting the wonderfully dark and nasty Shadow of the Demon Lord by Robert J. Schwalb.

In years past, I've written about running 2 or even 3 regular games, but right now, 1 is enough and I'm enjoying playing.

And, yes, I still get butterflies every time I run.

Prime Materials: Dagger of the Red Shadow for D&D 5th Edition

Dagger of the Red Shadow

Weapon (dagger), very rare  

The Red Shadow are legendary assassins whose master, To Tonkin, is said to hail from the Shadowfell.  

To Tonkin began recruiting and training his agents nearly one hundred years ago and has earned equal measures of fear and respect from rulers all over the continent.  To this day, To Tonkin himself is a boogeyman used by High Elf parents to frighten unruly children in the East.

Those who wield these daggers gain +1 to hit and damage.

Shadow Walker (requires attunement) Assassins who are attuned to these daggers, have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide and score a critical hit on a roll of 19-20.

Red glare (requires attunement) Wielders who have the Acolyte background and are attuned to these daggers, have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a joyful and wonderful Holiday Season.

Thank you for reading my blog this year.

Now get back to spending time with loved ones and hopefully good food and napping!

We've Cleared the Lost Mine of Phandelver or One Door Closes and Another Door Opens

Our Thursday group, run by the wonderful Ben B. just wrapped up the Lost Mines of Phandelver and stabilized the village of Phandalin.  We started this game right around the release of the DnD 5th Edition Starter Set.  And we just finished it.

And it was awesome.

Sure we joked about other groups that "cleared" it in a week or two.  But we didn't.  We investigated and bickered and built in-game relationships and we have a pretty clear idea of who are characters are and what motivates them.

As a a matter of fact, when the game picks up in two weeks and we hit level 5, not all of the characters are going on to Neverwinter.  My character, Hollis (Halfling Barbarian), Bruenor (Dwarf Wizard), and Kesh (Dragonborn Fighter) are staying in Phandalin to build a brewery (Bruenor), learn elven (me), goblin (Kesh), become sherif and possibly mayor (me) and establish a trade route to Mithral Hall (Kesh).

It's pretty cool.

The rest of the party is following Singular to Neverwinter.  I'll be making a new character (still not sure what) and we'll be adding a Monk and a Warlock and a Cleric.

Its what a game should be.

I'm proud to be playing in it.

I hope everyone enjoys the the Starter as much as we did.

As an aside, I vastly prefer the sandbox style of the Starter vs the railroad of the Tyranny of Dragons books (and I understand why they had to be different, but I hope Princes of the Apocalypse shares more with the Starter than the first campaign).

Hard Times in Jarlsburg: A Task Worth Undertaking

The Hard Times is Jarlsburg's premier source of news (not necessarily the full truth) and routinely outsells it's competitor, The Kryer.

Extra!

Extra!

The Oleander Council and High Inquisitor Lot have been extra busy.  In the wake of the devastation at the Caliban Club, a Task Force has been created to oversee the slew of cult related activity within the city over the last year.

I guess the citizens should be thankful that the activities have finally affected our richest and most powerful?  Perhaps the Caliban Club should have been amongst the first casualties in these callous and cruel chicaneries!

The Task Force is being overseen by a "Silvercloak" of long standing, Inquisitor Wolverton Kincaid and he has chosen to staff comprise with the first responders from the Caliban Club case, who, if reports are to be believed have already faced off against some "demonic embryo", according to official report from the scene.

Rumors have circulated that the Task Force has already been investigating the Red Travellers of Ruth, who were exiled from Thronehold several years ago, after being accused of grifting several members of the Royal Family.

The Red Travellers are suspected to be lead by Giteon Rojas, the older brother of Gilroy, Lord General of the Adamantine Battle Legion which has recently been hired to defend the Line of Slovachia against the Blizzard King's rebel forces.

Giteon disappeared nearly two decades ago while in the service of Queen Selestia IV of Floria during the Siege of Ram Poon.

There are whispers that Red Travellers revere the ancient Red Death, whose worshipers was banished from the Twin Rivers region over 1000 years ago.

More as this story develops.

Melynda Dae Odell, Yeti Beat Reporter
Evening Edition on the 17th Day of Deck in the Second Hundred and Twenty First Year of Thronehold.

Primeval Thule: Tribal Outcast for D&D 5th Edition

Backgrounds here are bases on the Narratives in Primeval Thule, so they will gain abilities as a character levels.  They are only intended for use in the Primeval Thule setting and are not designed to be mixed with standard Backgrounds.

Also, some of the abilities require the expenditure of a resource, for this reason and for how dangerous the setting is, each character gains the Lucky Feat for free and may take the Lucky Feat one additional time.

Tribal Outcast

Areas of Proficiency (1st level): You are proficient in Nature and Survival.

Langauges (1st level): One of your choice.

Tools (1st level): One of your choice.

Isolated Action (Level 1):  You can spend a Luck point when you make an attack roll against a target, and if no creatures other than you are adjacent to that target, you have advantage on the attack roll.

A New Identity (6th level): You pick up the practices of a new life, and while you’ll always have your heritage, you have new experiences that mold you. You gain the 1st-level Skill Bonuses from a second background from Primeval Thule. You can only apply the bonus from one background at a time.

Optionally this is a feat and can only be taken if you have this background and are at least 4th level, additionally you gain +1 Charisma.

Triumphant Return (10th level): Your former tribe is ready for reconciliation. Whether you accept the offer is up to you, but as a token of sincerity, you have been given a tribal heirloom. Work with your GM to choose an appropriate magic item of (up to 25,000 gp in value), which is yours until you return it to your tribe.

Optionally this is a feat and can only be taken if you have this background and are at least 8th level.