Pens and Papers

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, our game has people in the Philly area, north Jersey, and Oregon so we’ll be sticking to online only too unless it’s the holidays and we all get together or something. Maybe doing it in person is necessary for people that learned that way, but I’m loving being able to play online. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

We roll real dice and trust each other. We tend to hold em up or show them to camera on a big roll. We are a regular group of friends though.

 

We were rolling crazy big the other night until we couldn't break a window for ages 😂.

But then one of my crewmates rolled 6,6,6,6,5 on d6s (Traveller is d6) and basically vapourised the window and everything in the room behind it. 👌😂

[OctoberRaven]

My favorite epic moment as a player was in a Star Wars game as a mercenary, managing to convince a Hutt I was willing to sell out the party and work with him, then, when he pits the Jedi to fight each other to the death, drew a blaster I managed to conceal when we were captured and shoot him point blank in the head, scoring a critical and instant kill... and escaping Nal Hutta alive afterward.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

In the campaign we are currently playing, our party ended up at a lodge with a group of hunters. Each month, they have a compeition to see who can hunt the best thing. There are all sorts of fun characters in the lodge, but my current favourite is Gog, some sort of goblin, but bigger. He loes hunting other goblins.

One of our group members couldn't make our session this week, so our DM wrote a little side mission. Basically, even though you are supposed to hunt something impressive and you can only submit 1 thing to the hunt, Gog always submits like 15 goblins that he's killed. He has found an area near the Lodge he calls Gogland where there are caves full of goblins. 

Our side mission was that he joined him and played a game of who can kill the most goblins. 

[Meacon Keaton]

Before going down in a dungeon in Sharn, I was attacked while on watch in a forest by some invisible specter that tends to be used as a Hitman. Long story short, after one of our battles, I retrieved a ritual stone that allowed the creature we had just fought to communicate with someone else on the other end. After being attacked by the invisible Hitman, we assumed we were being followed due to the stone. So I took it to a local pawn shop run by an incredible large, but dim witted fellow with a Polish accent named “Bord”. I sold him the stone for 20g and we monitored the store for a day to see if anyone would go in and buy it. No one did, but one person apparently came in and had interest in it, so when I tried to buy it back for the 20g I had sold it for, maybe-not-so-dumb Bord  wanted 100g for it. After failing to negotiate, I slammed 20g on the counter, snatched the stone (I’m a thief after all) and took off out of the store, as Bord in his thick Polish accent yelled “I will remember your face, little man!”

[Ruki]

Just ran my first game on Roll20, and I think it went pretty well! 

[GhostMachine]

The game I mentioned where I was the only one who figured out the Black Pudding trap, I left out something:

The NPC who sent us on the adventure was a brewer, and offered us samples of his latest concoction. I was running a character with Brewing skills, so I figured it would make sense for my character to try it out. BIG MISTAKE! I failed a Con roll, and my character ended up instantly drunk (the DM never explained if the brew was magical or just world class strong). I spent a good chunk of the adventure with the DM telling me at random to make a Con check, and kept succeeding. Unfortunately, I needed to fail. Two or three encounters before the trap, I finally managed to fail a Con roll. My character puked, which restored him to sobriety. My character was a Halfling Rogue. I rarely play Halflings, but we were using characters we made up at the table, and I decided to try something different. Figuring out the trap didn't require any Rogue skill rolls, just decent knowledge of the game. There were 5 other players (so a party of 6), and I am still surprised no one figured out it involved a Black Pudding, because it was practically staring us in the face. Other than that trap and a couple of fights afterward - it was near ther end of the dungeon - I was practically useless just because my character had to try that drink.

i never played a character with Brewing (or Cooking) skill at a convention after that.

The only other major achievement I can think of at a convention offhand is managing to get through a Legend of the Five Rings game (and I mean the original game, not the D&D version) that took place over two days with my character still alive and with all his body parts. (I was playing a Dragon clan character.)  

Sad thing is the game I played most at conventions was Shadowrun (two different characters; which one I used depended on the situation or my mood), and I don't have any major moments of glory or stand out moments. And one of those two characters had (has? He never died in a game) what was the most dangerous sniper rifle in the game at the time. (Kept from being a game breaker by the ammo being both difficult to find AND expensive to obtain. I can't think of a single game I ever used that character in - convention or otherwise - where he ever fired more than two rounds from it, using his other weapons instead because he was/is mostly a support role character.)

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by GhostMachine

[Ruki]

One of my players is gonna run Tomb of Annihilation on Roll 20 and I am excited! I'mma play a dwarven life cleric who has taken up adventuring to bring glory back to his clan name... just so he can get back to cooking and brewing in a tavern. 

[Paton]

5 hours ago, Rukaru Shida said:

One of my players is gonna run Tomb of Annihilation on Roll 20 and I am excited! I'mma play a dwarven life cleric who has taken up adventuring to bring glory back to his clan name... just so he can get back to cooking and brewing in a tavern. 

Which tavern does he cook in? My Dwarf Druid would love a visit!

[DoubleX]

On 08/07/2020 at 14:38, Rukaru Shida said:

One of my players is gonna run Tomb of Annihilation on Roll 20 and I am excited! I'mma play a dwarven life cleric who has taken up adventuring to bring glory back to his clan name... just so he can get back to cooking and brewing in a tavern. 

Please tell me you're going to flavour Cure Wounds as him feeding people his special ale he's brewed.

[Ruki]

3 hours ago, DoubleX said:

Please tell me you're going to flavour Cure Wounds as him feeding people his special ale he's brewed.

Well I am now!

[GhostMachine]

That's actually a great idea!

[DoubleX]

19 hours ago, Rukaru Shida said:

Well I am now!

You could do the same with things like Bless, and make it different brews.

Ooh, you could make his Spiritual Weapon, like, a big barrel or something!

[GhostMachine]

A big barrel would probably have one hell of a To Hit penalty......

Hand Keg, maybe?

[OctoberRaven]

Maybe a stein?

Bonus points if it was carved out of holy rock, then it can be a Stein of Stein.

[Ruki]

Well...I just came up with a complex trap/encounter for my PCs. I like it and wanted to share it!

 

Initiative 20: A black and green crystal ball glows and summons two lemures, about 80 feet from the entrance. 

Initiative 10: The middle pillars shoot fire out in front and behind, 2d4 unholy fire damage, DC12 Dex for half. . 

Initiative 0: Large stone doors close, deadly neurotoxic starts to fill the room. First turn nothing, 1d4 poison every turn after, DC12 CON to save.

 

Room to the south: A stone-y, rubble-y altar to Dispater with his holy symbol on display. Trying to grab the symbol will shock the player for no damage, but stop them from grabbing it. DC10 religion check to know that the cult of Dispater trades in secrets, blackmail and control. (Answer: Tell your deepest, darkest secret that can be used against you OR swear loyalty to him… can lie with a DC14 deception)

 

Room to the west: A mass grave with 4 spots to dig up. Each can be successfully dug with a DC13 STR check (or two checks over 8). Items: Unholy symbol, a potion of Bottled Breath (holding it allows you to not breath for 1hr, cannot speak),potion of fire resistance, and 1 copper.  

 

Room to the north: There is a pool of blood on the floor. It looks shallow, but is actually quite deep. Sticking their arm in starts to drain and corrupt the PC. DC 14 Dex to find the symbol in the pool. Every turn they will take 1d4 wisdom damage as they are beginning to lose their sense of self (make it known it is warping their mind/body). At 0 they will be transformed into a lemure. Any damage is recovered after a long rest. 

 

Wearing the unholy symbols causes the traps to stop hurting/targeting. 

 

Trap stops after everyone is dead or wearing unholy symbols OR the black and green crystal ball is destroyed (AC 15, 45HP). Attacking the crystal ball, it will cast Devilish Rebuke (2d10 fire, DC12 DEX for half)

[Hajjhowe]

What level are these guys? That blood door seems brutal but I toss a lot of softballs as a DM. I do like the idea of digging up the graves for rewards though and I'll always have a soft spot for cult shenanigans.

In other news I am planning to finally meet my regular group outside somewhere this week and I'm going to be running an Alien themed one shot for them which I hope will be fun. I've never really strayed too far from the sword & sorcery stuff except when I did another one shot around Halloween with a WW2 meets Call of Cthulhu type scenario. I've sort of made a hybrid D&D system for the games that I am trying to work out that makes it a little more interesting. Mainly they keep a lot of high(ish) skills like a higher level PC but I keep their health low because I find the sense of danger makes it a lot more exciting for them and is probably a bit more "realistic" for a world with guns. If anyone wants to take a look at my stuff I'm sure some of the vets in here can let me know if they think I'll have crazy unbalanced issues

[Ruki]

They are level 3, hence the low damage dice. The blood room might be difficult, but even rolling max damage, they have 3 shots at it which I think is doable.

[OctoberRaven]

2d10 every time something gets attacked seems a bit excessive. RIP the wizard on third level.

[Ruki]

I mostly expect it to be the barbarian and monk. And worst case scenario, I drop damage on the fly depending on how much they've taken prior to reaching it.