This is just a quick reference to all of the other postings here.
LAST UPDATE: September 29 , added day 38 and Postmortem
Character Creation and Backstories:
Character Creation Info
Amber's backstory
Rain's backstory
Garlen's backstory
Grokk's backstory
Horkina's backstory
Roland's backstory
Session Logs
Chapter 0: Swearing in Orcish, wherein an ugly elf shows off his ugly vocabulary in an ugly language.
Day 1: Rain gets to feel tall and many goblins and orcs get to feel dead.
Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar, wherein an overzealous merchant from deep below harvests too aggressively from a local orphanage, and overstays his welcome in the foundations below.
Day 2: we track the kidnappers to Jzadirune and nearly get killed by delving too deep.
Day 3: we decide to clear Jzadirune. Rain has his first unfortunate run-in with poison.
Day 4: we recover a pulverizer, and much other treasure.
Day 5: we clear the rest of Jzadirune and find the earth elemental is much easier to deal with.
Day 6: we light a troll on fire, put a bunch of goblins to sleep, and send a child home with a beholder.
Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way, wherein a tribe of goblins attracts too much attention and brings unwelcome guests to its master's den.
Day 7: Garlen kills lots of goblins, and we find Orak has been enchanted.
Day 8: we miss Grokk's contributions as we struggle to fend off a vampire.
Day 9: we miss Rain's contributions as we kill a vampire and several mercenaries.
Chapter 3: Flood Season, wherein a solid plan to ransom captured wands turns sour for three friends and their employees, and a local luminary loses his tongue.
Day 10: our first encounter with the rollerblades. We break the boss fight at the lucky monkey.
Day 11: we follow a redhead underground, and barely kill a dinosaur that should've stayed dead the first time.
Day 12: we kill lots of thugs and capture two evil cultists. Garlen gets his cloak of arachnidia.
Chapter 4: Zenith Trajectory, wherein a tribe of the Sea Mother's children suffer for sparing the life of a mad prisoner they probably should have eaten.
Day 13: Grokk tells the frog story, stealing the funny crown from Crazy Jared, and we kill a dragon.
Day 14: lots of kuo-toans die, and Grokk gets a cool flaming bow from a demon.
Day 15: we kill a dragon before it acts, Horkina eats the purple mushrooms, and we capture a crazy dwarf.
Chapter 5: The Demonskar Legacy, wherein three sisters, an exiled demon, a twelve-foot-tall smith, and a man made of mirrors meet grisly ends
Day 16: we stop a riot cold, and the blue duke stops some fires even colder.
Day 17: Garlen gets swallowed, we get a warning, and some giants get surprised by a very strong half-orc.
Day 18: the twelve-foot-tall smith, three sisters, a man made of mirrors, and an exiled demon meet grisly ends in that order.
Chapter 5.5: Blackrock Mountain, wherein an ancient artifact proves easier to get than anybody expects.
Day 19: Horkina continues her proud tradition of landing critical hits on giants.
Chapter 6: The Test of the Smoking Eye, wherein a sorcerer's attempt to claim a land for his own ends in sudden betrayal at the hands of his allies.
Day 20: we head for a plane full of rubble, to meet our destinies.
Day 21: we pass two tests, and Roland's electric loop finally works, but Tony misses it.
Day 22: Horkina grabs the master key to any lock, and we argue for hours about the fate of a double-crosser.
Chapter 7: Secrets of the Soul Pillars, wherein the local clergy makes the terrible mistake of not hiring enough assassins for the job.
Day 23: we kill a lich and a lot of summons. Amber narrowly survives an attempt on her life.
Day 24: we take revenge on the Veiled Lady, and discover our first clues about the Cagewrights.
Day 25: the denizens of an icy ruin are killed, some for the second time. Rain complains about treasure, and Amber prophesies about a dracolich.
Chapter 8: Lords of Oblivion, wherein a charming local noble woman's party comes to a sudden and gruesome end.
Day 26: we decide walls are no big deal, and leave several holes in a Last Laugh safehouse. Amber knows exactly how to respond to a room full of evil.
Day 27: we start to suspect a beholder is involved, and start stealing his stuff.
Day 28: Amber gets stoned, Vhalantru gets owned, and the mayoral office gets chowned.
Chapter 9: Foundation of Flame, wherein the weather takes a turn for the worse.
Day 29: We evacuate the whole city, Grokk learns to fly, and a dragon regrets not picking on foes his own size.
Chapter 10: Thirteen Cages, wherein a group of diverse and talented allies learns the folly of not working together against a common foe.
Day 30: we sneak into the Cagewrights' inner sanctum and gain a wish.
Day 31: we wish the dragon wasn't so nasty. Horkina flies, evil dies.
Chapter 10.5: Two Wrongs, wherein two dreams are fulfilled, and an elite criminal is outclassed.
Day 32: Rain is reduced to tears. Several walls are reduced to dust. Some thieves of reduced stature get torn up.
Day 33: Garlen gets mauled for looking like a spellcaster, the party gets split up twice, and Rain satisfied himself and a ghost all in one swing.
Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn, wherein the last fragments of a once-powerful organization are finally reduced to ruin.
Day 34: The party solves two sliding block puzzles in very different ways, Percy proves that being alive isn't always ideal, and a Cagewright sees Grokk from a new direction.
Day 35: Amber takes an unexpected shower, Garlen's voice changes, an old acquaintance looks us up, and we discover we don't need no stinking badgers.
Chapter 11.5: Test Results, Wherein a simple security breach leads to competing claims of Lordship, and old grudges are given new life
Day 36: A dancing dragon, some smelly six-legged beasts, a bloated beholder, and three gaunt giants fall before the Rubble Rousers.
Chapter 12: Asylum, wherein a trip to the other side results in an unforseen adjustment to a prisoner's cage.
Day 37: wherein information is gained through magic, bribery, and friendship, and having six of the same kind of limb shows surprising correlation to bad consequences.
Day 38: wherein a very dangerous enemy falls to good planning and superior firepower, and all of Cauldron celebrates
Postmortem, wherein we discuss the previous 38 sessions and prepare for the Black Sands campaign
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Shackled City Postmortem
Comments on the book:
- The campaign remained fun for most players all the way through, but could have gotten old. It was fun to play all the way from level 1 to 20, but Catherine got bored mid-game due to the poor narrative flow and the abrupt transitions. It would help to have a random bard give prophecies to tie the adventures together into a coherent whole.
- The best parts were: deciding on what to do about the smoking eye at the end of chapter 6, the vorpal sword quest as a whole, some of the puzzles (the fire room in the vorpal sword quest; the mirror in chapter 5), the great dungeon crawl that was Jzadirune, the chapter 1 boss fight where the mooks just kept coming, the assassination of the rakshasa near the end of chapter 6, and allowing Kate to play the session she attended.
- The worst parts were: some of the boss fights were lame, especially the Adimarchus fight. Bosses needed more assistants, like in the Kaurophon fight at the end of chapter 11. There wasn't enough tailoring to individual characters' backgrounds or enough individualized sidequests. Not enough cool and special items (like the Maul of the Titans). Enemies didn't always use intelligent enough tactics, so certain characters were rarely threatened as the game went on.
- Book NPC's: There weren't enough friendly wizards. There weren't enough recurring villains -- some were resurrected, and some appeared a couple times, but by the time we found out the Cagewrights were a problem, we were already busy killing them off. Would have been better to have the Stormblades play a more recurring role, and also to have the Blue Duke, the Cagewrights, and the Last Laugh meddling in our affairs for a while before we wiped them all out in chapter 8. There were too many NPC's to keep straight, and only a few of them really stood out (but Crazy Jared was cool.)
Comments on Tom as DM:
- The game was too easy. The DM could have made harder encounters and made enemies fight harder/smarter/more clever. For the most part, the enemies just let us come to them and attack on our terms. Garlen made the party even more powerful.
- Some players followed the storyline OK while others were totally lost. It was a challenge, but could have been done better.
- The DM gave new players a big leg up in terms of making good character choices. Tony was also a big help.
- Garlen was cool to have along. Provided a fun level of interaction with the DM.
- Use more immersion -- speak in voices, hand out props, dim the lights, play background music, etc.
- Let Scott roll more. It doesn't matter if it's a DC 20 check and he has a +35, just say "roll a die" and then say "you found..."
Comments on Catherine as DM:
- Her sections were better laid out. The dungeons were more sensible/logical and the bad guys followed better algorithms.
- Tom was better at keeping Scott involved and building up the party, while Catherine was better at building encounters and pacing them well.
Comments on the players:
- Tony was very helpful in terms of party strategy and character development.
- The party worked together very well as a whole. There wasn't any lame/pointless rivalry. Everyone was willing to share. The party made good choices overall.
- Tony was good at breaking fights.
- Scott and Jeremy were very good at the "role-playing" parts of the game. Their characters had great personality.
- Having been through the game once, everyone feels inspired to develop neat characters for Black Sands. Now that we know how to be mechanically effective and play the game from start to finish, it'll be easier to work toward good character concepts.
- The campaign remained fun for most players all the way through, but could have gotten old. It was fun to play all the way from level 1 to 20, but Catherine got bored mid-game due to the poor narrative flow and the abrupt transitions. It would help to have a random bard give prophecies to tie the adventures together into a coherent whole.
- The best parts were: deciding on what to do about the smoking eye at the end of chapter 6, the vorpal sword quest as a whole, some of the puzzles (the fire room in the vorpal sword quest; the mirror in chapter 5), the great dungeon crawl that was Jzadirune, the chapter 1 boss fight where the mooks just kept coming, the assassination of the rakshasa near the end of chapter 6, and allowing Kate to play the session she attended.
- The worst parts were: some of the boss fights were lame, especially the Adimarchus fight. Bosses needed more assistants, like in the Kaurophon fight at the end of chapter 11. There wasn't enough tailoring to individual characters' backgrounds or enough individualized sidequests. Not enough cool and special items (like the Maul of the Titans). Enemies didn't always use intelligent enough tactics, so certain characters were rarely threatened as the game went on.
- Book NPC's: There weren't enough friendly wizards. There weren't enough recurring villains -- some were resurrected, and some appeared a couple times, but by the time we found out the Cagewrights were a problem, we were already busy killing them off. Would have been better to have the Stormblades play a more recurring role, and also to have the Blue Duke, the Cagewrights, and the Last Laugh meddling in our affairs for a while before we wiped them all out in chapter 8. There were too many NPC's to keep straight, and only a few of them really stood out (but Crazy Jared was cool.)
Comments on Tom as DM:
- The game was too easy. The DM could have made harder encounters and made enemies fight harder/smarter/more clever. For the most part, the enemies just let us come to them and attack on our terms. Garlen made the party even more powerful.
- Some players followed the storyline OK while others were totally lost. It was a challenge, but could have been done better.
- The DM gave new players a big leg up in terms of making good character choices. Tony was also a big help.
- Garlen was cool to have along. Provided a fun level of interaction with the DM.
- Use more immersion -- speak in voices, hand out props, dim the lights, play background music, etc.
- Let Scott roll more. It doesn't matter if it's a DC 20 check and he has a +35, just say "roll a die" and then say "you found..."
Comments on Catherine as DM:
- Her sections were better laid out. The dungeons were more sensible/logical and the bad guys followed better algorithms.
- Tom was better at keeping Scott involved and building up the party, while Catherine was better at building encounters and pacing them well.
Comments on the players:
- Tony was very helpful in terms of party strategy and character development.
- The party worked together very well as a whole. There wasn't any lame/pointless rivalry. Everyone was willing to share. The party made good choices overall.
- Tony was good at breaking fights.
- Scott and Jeremy were very good at the "role-playing" parts of the game. Their characters had great personality.
- Having been through the game once, everyone feels inspired to develop neat characters for Black Sands. Now that we know how to be mechanically effective and play the game from start to finish, it'll be easier to work toward good character concepts.
The Shackled City, Day 38 (2007-06-30, 6:30 PM), Chapter 12: Asylum
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber; Nidrama)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Standing in the central room at the base of Skullrot, Amber cast light on an arrow which Rain shot straight up into the darkness, revealing the general structure of the tower. Rain, Roland, Nidrama and Amber flew upward and discovered a strange hag-like creature flanked by a pair of huge flesh golems. Rain moved into position and Amber set off the fire seeds he was holding, severely damaging one of the golems in the blast. Dragon Breath from Sam and some powerful sounds from Roland destroyed the Annis. Nidrama slashed into a golem, and Horkina came up the stairs and chopped the golem in half. Amber missed the remaining golem with her sling, but Sam and Nidrama finished it off. Rain's constant blabbering about his sword got so annoying that Roland cast fly on Percy to allow him to escape.
The party gathered together and moved to the top of the tower. At the center of the tower was a huge cage with a pitiful-looking Adimarchus inside. Guarding the cage was a massive skeleton with bony wings, a red robe, and a massive black scythe. This lichfiend, along with a demonflesh golem, prepared to attack. Rain poked and prodded the lichfiend while Grokk tore pieces out of the golem. Horkina resisted a Destruction spell (fort save 51) while Roland and Sam scorched the enemies with dragon's breath. Amber countered the lichfiend's Wail of the Banshee. Horkina finished off the golem, and Grokk and Garlen dealt several blows to the lichfiend. Roland used Bigby's Crushing Hand to hold it in place, but it still managed to Blaspheme and paralyze Redtail. Horkina crushed its bones with the Maul of the Titans, and Amber cast a Miracle to keep its life essence from escaping back to Grazz't, its patron.
Admiarchus looked to be secure in his cage, so the party headed for the basement and slaughtered a pair of flesh golems, with Horkina landing an impressive blow that cut through one and into the other. They smashed up some golem-building equipment and then stepped into the next room. There, a fly-like Chasme Demon awaited. Roland tried to destroy it with a finger of death, but it shrugged off the attack. It was not so lucky against Rain's swords or Grokk's axe, and soon lay dead on the floor. Sitting in the center of the next room was an iron flask which Roland surmised held some sort of nasty enemy. Rain tumbled into the room and the flask released a massive Devourer. Garlen poked it several times while Amber cast Mass Heal. Sam, in Marut form, blinded the beast, but Roland's disintegrate spell was ineffective. Grokk stepped forward to land the killing blow, and the party headed back to the top of the tower to face Adimarchus.
Amber reshaped the stone around the demon prince's cage in order to create a stable platform for the party to fight on. Roland, as ruler of Occipitus, could see that his power could shatter the cage easily, so he stood ready to break it open as the rest of the party positioned themselves to attack. Horkina reacted to the broken cage first, cutting deep into Adimarchus (184 damage). Garlen, in his Centaur form, stood opposite from Rain as the two timed their attacks for maximum effectiveness (326 damage; 111 damage and -6 strength). Adimarchus' demon form was slain, and Grokk began to smash into his angel form (105 damage). Adimarchus tried to implode Garlen with his claw, but the demon-hating ranger resisted. Amber's pair of moon bolts weakened Adimarchus (-20 strength). A ray of fire from Roland and a strike from Percy (135 damage) left the demon prince reeling, but he managed to avoid being crushed by another Bigby spell. Horkina and Garlen landed the last few blows (153 and 136 damage), slaying Adimarchus.
His body disappeared a few minutes later, and Roland realized he'd likely appear on Occipitus in the center of the skull. The party headed there and found Adimarchus' body was just beginning to reform. The unconscious demon was unable to defend against the flurry of strikes that finally destroyed him. As Adimarchus died, a massive earthquake shook Occipitus and broke the skull mountain in two. Deep within the mountain was a vault filled with Adimarchus' most prized treasures.
Over the next few months, the city of Cauldron continued to rebuild under the leadership of Lord Vanderboren, with help from the temples of St. Cuthbert and Ehlonna. The Drunken Morkoth Inn added a new decoration -- a painting of the famed Morkoth fighting with the Rubble Rousers. In the painting, Rain and Garlen were firing arrows at its loins, Amber and Roland were blasting it with magical rays, Grokk was mid-leap swinging his Holy Cow Axe, and Horkina was wrestling a massive beer mug away from the lake monster. Many other businesses in Cauldron gave their own small tributes to the Rubble Rousers, and even the Stormblades sent them congratulations. The Stormblades went on to map and clear out most of the tunnels beneath the city. The Rubble Rousers donated their guild hall to Meerthan as they each headed their own way.
Rain took control of the remaining half of House Rhivaldi, turning it into "Rain's Whore Arena". Horkina built "Horkina's Rain", a brewery and bar across the street. Roland finished his paired towers on Occipitus and in southeast Cauldron, and went on many demon-slaying quests across his plane. Grokk went back to the steppe and founded his own tribe, wandering around with a large herd and telling stories about the many things he'd slain. Amber left her temple to James and went to the north, founding a new temple and smiting various evil things. Garlen followed Roland and Amber around whenever they had demons or undead to fight, and would occasionally walk through the woods with Amber wearing fancy clothes and baiting foolish bandits into attacking. And this is how they remained, until a great evil descended onto the land... (To be continued!)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber; Nidrama)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Standing in the central room at the base of Skullrot, Amber cast light on an arrow which Rain shot straight up into the darkness, revealing the general structure of the tower. Rain, Roland, Nidrama and Amber flew upward and discovered a strange hag-like creature flanked by a pair of huge flesh golems. Rain moved into position and Amber set off the fire seeds he was holding, severely damaging one of the golems in the blast. Dragon Breath from Sam and some powerful sounds from Roland destroyed the Annis. Nidrama slashed into a golem, and Horkina came up the stairs and chopped the golem in half. Amber missed the remaining golem with her sling, but Sam and Nidrama finished it off. Rain's constant blabbering about his sword got so annoying that Roland cast fly on Percy to allow him to escape.
The party gathered together and moved to the top of the tower. At the center of the tower was a huge cage with a pitiful-looking Adimarchus inside. Guarding the cage was a massive skeleton with bony wings, a red robe, and a massive black scythe. This lichfiend, along with a demonflesh golem, prepared to attack. Rain poked and prodded the lichfiend while Grokk tore pieces out of the golem. Horkina resisted a Destruction spell (fort save 51) while Roland and Sam scorched the enemies with dragon's breath. Amber countered the lichfiend's Wail of the Banshee. Horkina finished off the golem, and Grokk and Garlen dealt several blows to the lichfiend. Roland used Bigby's Crushing Hand to hold it in place, but it still managed to Blaspheme and paralyze Redtail. Horkina crushed its bones with the Maul of the Titans, and Amber cast a Miracle to keep its life essence from escaping back to Grazz't, its patron.
Admiarchus looked to be secure in his cage, so the party headed for the basement and slaughtered a pair of flesh golems, with Horkina landing an impressive blow that cut through one and into the other. They smashed up some golem-building equipment and then stepped into the next room. There, a fly-like Chasme Demon awaited. Roland tried to destroy it with a finger of death, but it shrugged off the attack. It was not so lucky against Rain's swords or Grokk's axe, and soon lay dead on the floor. Sitting in the center of the next room was an iron flask which Roland surmised held some sort of nasty enemy. Rain tumbled into the room and the flask released a massive Devourer. Garlen poked it several times while Amber cast Mass Heal. Sam, in Marut form, blinded the beast, but Roland's disintegrate spell was ineffective. Grokk stepped forward to land the killing blow, and the party headed back to the top of the tower to face Adimarchus.
Amber reshaped the stone around the demon prince's cage in order to create a stable platform for the party to fight on. Roland, as ruler of Occipitus, could see that his power could shatter the cage easily, so he stood ready to break it open as the rest of the party positioned themselves to attack. Horkina reacted to the broken cage first, cutting deep into Adimarchus (184 damage). Garlen, in his Centaur form, stood opposite from Rain as the two timed their attacks for maximum effectiveness (326 damage; 111 damage and -6 strength). Adimarchus' demon form was slain, and Grokk began to smash into his angel form (105 damage). Adimarchus tried to implode Garlen with his claw, but the demon-hating ranger resisted. Amber's pair of moon bolts weakened Adimarchus (-20 strength). A ray of fire from Roland and a strike from Percy (135 damage) left the demon prince reeling, but he managed to avoid being crushed by another Bigby spell. Horkina and Garlen landed the last few blows (153 and 136 damage), slaying Adimarchus.
His body disappeared a few minutes later, and Roland realized he'd likely appear on Occipitus in the center of the skull. The party headed there and found Adimarchus' body was just beginning to reform. The unconscious demon was unable to defend against the flurry of strikes that finally destroyed him. As Adimarchus died, a massive earthquake shook Occipitus and broke the skull mountain in two. Deep within the mountain was a vault filled with Adimarchus' most prized treasures.
Over the next few months, the city of Cauldron continued to rebuild under the leadership of Lord Vanderboren, with help from the temples of St. Cuthbert and Ehlonna. The Drunken Morkoth Inn added a new decoration -- a painting of the famed Morkoth fighting with the Rubble Rousers. In the painting, Rain and Garlen were firing arrows at its loins, Amber and Roland were blasting it with magical rays, Grokk was mid-leap swinging his Holy Cow Axe, and Horkina was wrestling a massive beer mug away from the lake monster. Many other businesses in Cauldron gave their own small tributes to the Rubble Rousers, and even the Stormblades sent them congratulations. The Stormblades went on to map and clear out most of the tunnels beneath the city. The Rubble Rousers donated their guild hall to Meerthan as they each headed their own way.
Rain took control of the remaining half of House Rhivaldi, turning it into "Rain's Whore Arena". Horkina built "Horkina's Rain", a brewery and bar across the street. Roland finished his paired towers on Occipitus and in southeast Cauldron, and went on many demon-slaying quests across his plane. Grokk went back to the steppe and founded his own tribe, wandering around with a large herd and telling stories about the many things he'd slain. Amber left her temple to James and went to the north, founding a new temple and smiting various evil things. Garlen followed Roland and Amber around whenever they had demons or undead to fight, and would occasionally walk through the woods with Amber wearing fancy clothes and baiting foolish bandits into attacking. And this is how they remained, until a great evil descended onto the land... (To be continued!)
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