Red Worms, Blue Worms

Last week, I was on a business trip to Plovdiv Bulgaria. By the luck of the chance, my hotel was just across the street from recently opened gaming club called Level Up. So I dropped by after work to say hi.

As the evening was early, I suggested a game of Microscope RPG. 4 players participated, including myself. We decided to play a history of life on the planet, from first to last living cell. As important part of the pallet, we decided that there will be no intelligent beings, so no artificially created cataclysms. Life has to die on the planet due to natural causes.

At the beginning of history, cells started multiplying until one cell give birth to two genetically strange offspring - one red and one blue. Children of those cells will later become red and blue worms. Somebody mentioned that Red Worms dominated first period of existence. Someone else decided that Blue Worms live in the water.

There were other creatures, like  Slugs, Jellyfishes and Birds. We had important scene where we asked question how did the Birds become extincted.  During the scene we discovered that Red Worms live in lava, and that same lava is a food source for Birds. As the planet got colder, there was no more lava pools on the surface, and water filled empty spaces. Birds had no food and they died off.
Also, Red Worms had nowhere to live, so Red Worms dominated period ended and Blue Worms dominated period began.

But the similar thing that happen with lava now happened with water. Lack of water on the surface forced Blue Worms to become smaller and smaller, and at the end they were living as parasites inside the Jellyfishes, whose belly was the last remaining wet environment on the planet surface. Unfortunately, the symbioses was not perfect, Blue Worms were eating Jellyfishes from the inside, parasites soon killed their hosts and they killed themselves the same way, ending the life on the planet.

 

Players struggled with rolleplaying in scenes due to the strange nature of possible characters, so most of the the scenes ended up being dictated, but all in all it was a fun game and it went well considering that 3 players were completely new to Microscope.

Later in the evening we also played some Takenoko and a shot of Betrayal at the House on the Hill (great game, one I am going to purchase to run for my home group at Jatacenje convention in January).

Great time all in all. Level Up is a must if you go to Bulgaria.

Traveling set

Due to the popular request, I am presenting here my traveling wargaming set.

If you are like me, and you spend better part of the week in hotels on business trips, out of home, you would like to take your hobby with you. Here is the way I am doing that.

The first thing every wargamer/RPG player needs are dice. So, even when I fly short distances within Europe with just hand luggage, the dice sets goes with me. My do not leave home without set includes all Rory's story cubes, some Fudge dice for FATE, at lest 3 complete sets of polyhedral dice with several additional D20 for D&D or OSR, and lots of additional D6 for everything else.

With most of the books stored as PDFs in my PC, this is enough for a several evenings of solo RPG plays.

But if I travel by car, or if I carry a big suitcase due to the need of packing a suit, I like to brig along also some wargaming stuff. Only, in this case it is important to accept going small and to accept compromises.

First thing needed for a good game is a table. My traveling table is 1"x1". If you use inches into centimeters approach, it can double as 2"x2" table, and that is enough for most skirmishes.

My tables are made from wood veneer or thick cardboard. Upper surface is first covered with magnetic foil (I use the self adhesive one, to glue it easily on complete board)

Over the magnetic foil I glued self adhesive paper with grass pattern printed on it. If you look at the photo you can see lines where A4 sheets meet each other.
Good idea is to glue magnetic foil on both surfaces of the board, and then to cover one with grass pattern as shown above, and second with stars pattern for space ship fights, if you like that kind of things.


For the small board, you will need small figures. I use 10mm figures for fantasy, 6mm for Napoleonic wars or SF. Fantasy is the best solution for traveling, since these games can be played with little or no terrain. For firearms period it is usually good to have crowded table with lots of cover, but when you are on the road you do not want to carry too much terrain with you, no matter how small it is.

So, when I travel I usually carry with me what is shown on the upper photo - big warbands of humans, dwarfs and orcs (Copplestone castings 10mm), giant rats swarm led by two ratmen (all GW, small parts from Skaven sprues), some dungeon monsters from different manufacturers, selected 10mm terrain and some space ships for SF space combat. Important part of the set are counters visible on bottom right.
All models are individually based. As base for small models I use 3mm washers (7mm outer diameter), glued to the bottom of the figure's original base. Washers catch to the magnetic surface of the board, and in this way i know that I will not accidentally ruin my setting.

Bigger models are based on appropriate bigger washers.
Terrain peaces are either commercially available paper models scaled to 6/10mm, or custom made by me. Terrain peaces also need to be able to attach to magnetic foil. Best trick I found for that is to use old (or for this purpose especially purchased) metal measuring tape - it is cheap material, catches to magnet and can be easily cut. Just glue part of it to the bottom of your terrain as shown below, and you are ready to go.

The last thing is to pack the miniatures. I was never the one to worry if they will get damaged or not - small miniatures I use are robust and do not break easily, and if some paint goes of I can easily fix it. Therefore, I just put all the models into plastic box left after some small electric device, and then drop it into the suitcase. If you want to take better care of your miniatures while traveling, you will have to think of something yourself.

You will also need something to measure distances, and that is it.

So, if we ever happen to be in the same hotel somewhere in Europe, you may count on it that I have my gaming set with me.
Meet me in the hotel lobby, I am always happy to throw a game or two.

Advanced SoBH action

One of my favorite skirmish games - Song of Blades and Heroes is now available in two flavors - as normal and advanced game.
Advanced game was funded through kickstarter, and, among other things, it features lots of new traits, magic system developed to higher detail, and a very neat reaction system that allows your models to step in with the quick action during the opponent turn.

As kickstarter backer, I received the playtest version of the game few days ago, so I decided to do a little solo trial.
I played a small game, where two 100 points warbands (troll, orc archer and giant rat against human leader, human archer and a dwarf) were pitched in a limited space of a dungeon room.
As usually, I am on a business trip and I have limited resources, so for this test I used grid instead of sticks, counting one square as short, two as medium and 3 as long distance. Figures are 10mm scale.

The beginning of the game favored dungeon monsters, as orc archer made a gruesome kill on human shooter.

 

But high Quality of attackers showed itself here, they got over the gruesome kill, ganged on troll and sent him out of action.
Then orc archer missed his shot, rat recoiled from a dwarf and looters were able to gang on remaining orc again. Orc went prone, and then rolled turn-over, so heroes used lethal attack to finish the game (animals automatically escape once last non-animal model is killed).

The game was fun, and the new traits really give color to characters.

Of course, when playing, my main concern was how will the new rules influence possibility for solo games.
To my surprise, it seems that advanced version will be easier to transfer into solo game than the original one. The goal for the future is to define the way NPCs will use reaction based on their role  in the warband (shooter will probably move away from the melee, etc) and this will make them more automated, more realistic, and therefore a bigger challenge for the player.
I am looking forward to delving deeper into this rules.

Grom's Spin-Off Show

While Oldbook explores the mountains, his companion from previous adventures, half-orc cleric Grom, has a problem of his own.

After joining Oldbook on (unauthorized) excursion to the dungeons beneath the city, monastery elders ordered Grom to purify himself with ritual passage through the Temple of the Waterfall.

This game was played using the map provided by Christopher Stieha as part of Solo Gaming appreciation month. Game is played as series of challenges hero needs to overcome. Since the goal is to purify the character, challenges are not deadly. Hero can be successful or unsuccessful at them. Successful challenges grant experience to the character, while unsuccessful ones grant no rewards and usually make the next challenge more difficult to overcome.

 

Grom arrived to the Temple of the Waterfall in the morning. He entered the temple, said his prayers, and prepared himself for the challenges ahead. Then, he climb to the second level of the temple.

1.As Grom entered the room he was overpowered by heavy scent. His body started feeling heavy (failed constitution test) and he felt on his knees in front of the sculpture of some deity. Cleric gathered all his strength (successful strength test rolled with disadvantage) and crawled out of the room.

2. Grom passed through several empty levels and reached the building overlooking the waterfall. Suddenly, he was overflowed by unreasonable fear. He tried to convince himself that there is nothing to be afraid of, but failed, and so he bowed his hed and rushed out, bumping at things found on his way (failed wisdom test against fear, 2 HP lost).

3.  Next room seemed to have a statue of the Beholder carved at the wall. Suddenly, beholder came to life, and caste slowing ray that hit our hero. Lucky for Grom, beholder missed all its attacks, so the cleric, although slowed, managed to walk out of the room and out of the monsters reach. 

4. On the bridge across the waterfall Grom encountered a Blink Dog. Cleric (still slowed) tried to reason with the creature, but Dog seemed in the mood for fight and attacked first. The battle was rather short, since dog dissapeared as soon as Grom managed to hit it for the first time.

5. The road into the second part of the temple was closed by a door. Door seemed to be opened by the strange mechanism requiring knowledge in both arcana and nature to operate. But Grom was not smart enough to do that (failed intelligence Arcana and Nature tests). So, he just set by the door and started meditating, until they opened seemingly by themselves.

6. The gate was actually opened by a Flumph, ancient creature who lived in the temple. Flumph asked Grom to read the prayer written on the wall and to sing it. Cleric actually recognized the prayer (successful religion test) but his performance (failed test) was so terrible that Flumph started laughing. "OK, it is enough", said the creature. "Take some rest here. I will take care that nothing happen to you why you sleep. Then move on."

7. Well rested, Grom prepared for next challenge - passing triathlon (free climb - strength, fast run - dexterity and long run - constitution) by achieving requested results. But while he was preparing, strange flower in his changing room started emitting some poisons. Grom stopped the breathing and left the room, avoiding getting poisoned. He reported this event to the judge priest but he just smiled and told him to start with the test  (I am using again Archery contest rules  requiring from my hero  to achieve 3 points in each discipline. He made it in STR, but failed in both CON and DEX). Cleric was strong enough to climb up the ledge, but grew tired and could not run as fast or as long as required. "You tried, so you are getting purified", the priest said. "It is not possible to succeed every time."

8. Grom hoped for some rest, but the next chamber contained a trap - ball and a chain swinged from one of the walls. Cleric noticed trap on time, but was to slow to avoid it (lost 2HP).

9. Descending one more level, our hero started feeling sleepy. He knew he needed the rest, but not that much, so he recognized his condition (successful wisdom test) for what it really is - another trap. So he gathered his wits and moved on.

10.  As he descended to the final level of the Temple, Grom noticed a priest from above throwing him a bottle of healing potion. He managed to catch it, and it revived our hero to full strength. Just in time, since Giant Badger was running his way ready to attack. Battling this creature was not an easy task for the first level Cleric, but somehow he made it and finally animal was dead. Grom was exhausted, but he knew that the trails are at the end. 

He entered the next room, where the head priest proclaimed him officially purified, and presented him a purification seal (trinket) as a proof.

Grom was also awarded with the Cure wounds spell scroll, that he will keep for the next adventure.

He also accumulated enough experience to reach level 2.

And so, we part ways with Grom the cleric for now. We will probably see him again once Oldbook the Bard starts needing his help, or when the new occasion for spin-off adventure arises.

Trouble in the inn (5th edition adventure part 6)

Continued from here.

After the inn went silent, Oldbook returned to the common room. He took care to do everything quietly, knowing that innkeeper has a light sleep.
Sneak test. If the result of the test is under 10, innkeeper will wake up. Between 10 and 15 Oldbook will have disadvantage on all actions since he can do so mush without making noise. On more than 15 innkeeper will not wake up no matter what our hero does. I rolled 14, so disadvantage it is.

Search behind bar found no clues (failed investigation test), so Oldbook decided to search basement. Basement was locked (failed Sleigh off hand test) but our hero remembered seeing the key behind bar (successful perception test).
Bard unlocked the basement and started looking through it, but all he found was a guard dog!

Dog jumped at our hero, and knocked him prone, biting his left hand. Our hero found himself in disadvantage again. Further more, Innkeeper woke up by the noise of the struggle, and will come to basement in (2d6=) 5 turns.
It took 3 turns for our hero to hit a dog with the rapier and kill  him. Heavy bleeding himself, he tried to hide in the far corner of the basement.

But innkeeper came with the lamp and noticed Oldbook (failed stealth check VS. innkeepers passive perception of 10).
- What are you doing here? - innkeeper asked.
- I just wanted to have a midnight drink of wine when your dog attacked me - bard replayed.
Will the innkeeper buy this? (persuasion test, difficulty 10 with +5 modifier. Rolled 5 so right on target). It seems yes but....
- I will not have your kind making troubles in my inn. - said the innkeeper. - Pack your things and get out. But not before you pay me for the dog. This kind of trained guardian cost me 25gp.
Oldbook had no choice but to pay for the dog and to leave the in. 25gp were almost all the money our hero had with him. In his pocket there were only 11sp left. Furthermore, he was wounded, and he really needed some rest.
Since he was not welcome in the inn any more, bard used his song to seduce a local widow who allowed him to spend the next night in her home (successful performance test).

As our hero found no clues about innkeepers treason, he decided to do as advised earlier and to follow his initial plan. So, he took into wilderness, looking for kobolds.

To be continued....

Towards the mountains (5th edition adventure part 5)

Continued form here.

Following the fiasco at the bard contest, Oldbook turned towards the mountains.
He tried to remember if there is a settlement in their surroundings (medium history test, difficulty 15 with +3 modifier, roll 19). He remembered reading somewhere about a barbarian village of Goodwater, ruled by iron willed but respected chief. The village got it's  name from the fountain standing on the main square. Legend says that that the fountain springs the best cooking water in the world, and that every dish prepared with it tastes several times better then when prepared with water from any other source. (Info collected from random tables in Dungeon Master Guide book, pages 108-116).
Oldbook tried to follow the road from Deepcold to Goodwater avoiding any unpleasant encounters on the way - it is about a day travel on a safe and often used road (Nature test followed by stealth test, both successful so he makes it).

It was late evening when he entered an inn in the middle of the village, conveniently named "Fountain". He rented a room, and ordered a rabbit stew. It all costed 4gp but it was well worth it. Legends were telling the truth - it was the best meal our hero ever tasted.
The next morning, bard decided to stand at the square and listen to the people, hoping that he will be able to collect some information about the monsters from the mountains (medium perception test, successful). What did he learned?
Rory story cubes - dig a hole  + Monster shadow.

It seems that there is a "mole" in the village, someone is cooperating with the monsters. Chief is looking for someone to find the traitor (to dig him up).
Oldbook petitioned to meet the chief (easy persuasion test, successful) and was admitted.
What can he learn from the chief?
Rory story cubes - Pill + Target.  

Someone from the village tried to sell water from the fountain to the monsters from the mountain as a cure for some illness. Once the monsters realized that water have no healing properties, they blamed the whole village . Local population lives in fear from the attack. Chief wants someone to investigate, find who really is to be blamed for all this, and present the guilty party to the monsters, hoping that in this way village can be saved.
Form the way chief described monsters, Oldbook recognized kobolds (successful easy nature test).
Bard decided to set a trap for monster menacing the village. He guessed that kobolds will attack fountain so he hid himself near and waited.
Soon (successful medium insight test), a winged kobold flew over the fountain carrying a rock. He was looking for a position to bombard the structure, and he didn't bard's hiding place. Another kobold was there, this one without wings. He was staying aside, directing his flying cousin. Oldbook jumped out of his hiding pace and attacked (Bard's hiding test beats passive perception values of both kobolts).

Normally, this would be a very deadly encounter for my hero, the one I would think twice before engaging. This time I hoped that element of surprise - as both kobolts were unable to act in the first turn, and bard had advantage due to unseen attack - would tip the scale in my favor. I was right. It was difficult fight, Oldbook had to spend two out of his 3 spell slots on healing magic, and still ended the encounter wounded. But at the end both kobolts were dead, and or hero is 75xp closer to level 3.
Oldbook checked dead monsters for some traces of sickness, but both of them looked healthy (failed medium medicine test). There was also no clues pointing towards the traitor (failed medium investigation test).
Bard lined kobold bodies by the tavern wall. He hoped that his brave act will secure him at least a stew and a free in for a night. But (failed easy persuasion test) the innkeeper was not impressed. If Oldbook wants to eat and sleep he has to pay. And so, bard's pocket was another 4gp lighter.
But Oldbook found this innkeeper's behavior suspicious. What kind of man will not reward a hero who just saved a fountain?
So, instead of going to sleep, bard played with his instrument for a while (he needs long rest, but takes only short one, returning to the maximum hit points).
Once he felt that the tawern is closed for the night, Oldbook sneaked out of his room to investigate....

To be continued

Geting over with level 1 (5th edition dungeon crawl part 4)

Continued from here.

It is finally time to continue the story of the bard Oldbook.

After escorting his priest companion back to his monastery, bard returned underground. he wanted to explore what lies west of the Flumph settlement (11 on the first map).

Oldbook started from the northern door.

1. Empty circular room. There is a portcullis to the west, but it can not be opened due to the cave in. Oldbook could still see through rocks and bars, and he noticed some kind of hospital on the other side, but there was no way to reach it.
2. Another empty room. This one was partially flooded, and the door to the south was used as the dam to let limited amounts of water into next room. It seems that it was work of Flumph. Water was coming from the west. Oldbook though that if he could only breathe under water he could reach other parts of the dungeon through there, but at this moment it was out of his league.
3. One more Schreaker farm. Water was slowly coming from the north to feed the fungi. No additional exits.
4. Huge room, but with no other exits than the one Oldbook entered through. Two devils (Lemures) summoned by who knows what foul magic were calling this room their home. Lemures are not a hard hitters, and their defense is week, but their high hit points  presented a bit of a problem. Fight was longer than expected, and Oldbook used almost all his resources to win. But once the fight was over, he felt stronger then earlier, for he was finally a level two bard.

With his resources depleted, our hero returned to the surface. But as son as he stepped out of the dungeon, he was surrounded by the Deepcold city guards.

While he was escorted out of the city (and it was not gentle and pleasant experience), he was thinking if this was coincidence, or if some priests from the monastery talked... But he will have to investigate it once he will be able to return to Deepcold, and this will not be any time soon.

Oldbook was thrown out of the city with the boot in the back. When he was finally able to stand up, he noticed that a festivity is being held just outside the city walls. And where is the festivity, there is certainly a bards contest (for the contest I am using Archery contests - excellent - and free - add on by EN World)

So Oldbook entered a contest, throwing in 1gp deposit. Unfortunately, the memories of the guards throwing him out of the city must have been overwhelming, and against all odds he failed to pass qualification rounds, scoring two out of 3 required points with judges). Well, another gold peace easily lost.

With no better idea what to do, Oldbook decided to follow advice received from the Flumph, and he headed for the mountains.

To be continued.