Loremaster - Blogs - Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/blog.php?4-Amazing-Triangle en Mon, 20 May 2013 05:21:10 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.loremaster.org/images/misc/rss.jpg Loremaster - Blogs - Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/blog.php?4-Amazing-Triangle My time at GenCon http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?24-My-time-at-GenCon Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:12:05 GMT Now that I have had time to unwind and reflect on my time there, I have some thoughts on my time there. Part One: RPGA games: While I enjoyed a... Now that I have had time to unwind and reflect on my time there, I have some thoughts on my time there.
Part One:
RPGA games: While I enjoyed a nice set of seasoned players at my tables it was the DMs that surprised me. Don't get me wrong the last one I had made glad I played Dungeons and Dragons. My first DM while seasoned in the rules, had a real hard time handling a table. The table had a tough time following what was happening in the story. My middle DM was to be my focus of this part. She rolled behind the screen, while normally this is not a problem but when the DM rolls 16 crits in just 2 combats it becomes one. When we inquired about this she said she had been holding back crits and calling them as hits. This combined with her upping DCs because she thought they were too easy. They went from 18 to 26 from 8th level to 21st level. This caused all of our combats to be long drawn out slugfests. I guess this was the way for our DM to "challenge" us. Wow. That was crazy. Overall rating: B
Part Two:
Walking about the exhibit hall was quite the event and I found quite a few things that I really wished I had room to bring with me. Only downside of flying was limited space to pack things on the way home. Favorite tagline "The one at the end with the most teeth wins." It was a Redneck Game if you can't tell from tagline. The game that was the surprise was Flapjacks and Sasquatches this was a game Patrick and I played and was talked up by Moquin.
I also played Word on the Street which is a great quick thinking game. I also bought 2 decks of 7 ate 9. This was a great find. A quick thinking math addition/subtraction game.
I spent a good deal of my time looking at dice and figures. Yeah dragonborn figures are expensive. I also bought my own set of Gamescience dice and got to ink my dice for the first time. It was a lot of fun and they turned out really well. We will see how they roll.
Part Three:
I really wish I had known that GenCon does a Trade Show day on Wednesday. If you are a teacher and want to buy games they let you in the exhibit hall early to talk to vendors who are looking to target schools. I would have really liked to have attended this event but found out about it on Saturday at a teaching seminar. That and if you were a teacher Out of the Box games offered you half price on all their games on the floor.
Part Four:
Free stuff. I spent a small amount of my time trying to get True Dungeon tiles. Don't think it was because I wanted to play it. They are about the size of a half dollar and are decently hefty. That and if you got all the free ones you could you could get 12. That sounded like Action Point Tokens to me. Those combined with the Obsidian Portal tokens gave me a whole bunch of DMing items.

This being my first GenCon it was an experience in its self but all in all it was a great time I was sad to leave. ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?24-My-time-at-GenCon Monster Enhancers http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?21-Monster-Enhancers Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:25:17 GMT Players get bored when they have to see the same monster over and over again. So as a DM I keep trying to find little quirks that can throw my... Players get bored when they have to see the same monster over and over again. So as a DM I keep trying to find little quirks that can throw my players off. It started in DMG2 themes, now Dark Sun.
So I have farmed some sources for you of some of my favorites:
Growth - When the creature gets bloodied it gets +1 size, +1 reach, and I actually think a damage boost works better than temp HP which is what is recommended.
Action Point - There is nothing like an Action Point to shake up an encounter, the fear that comes out when a creature has 2 is so much fun.
Dual Brain - While this from the book it is to get rid of daze the idea could be used to get rid of any single effect.
Mad Alchemist - While the majority of this one is tough to use all the time the ranged power of 1d6 random effects can be fun to give a group of monsters and then have the PCs roll the d6 to see what they do.

The power I pilfer most often is from the Shadar-Kai Chainfighter, and can be found on many monsters in slightly different forms. It allows a monster to shift and make extra attacks. I steal this one anytime I need a super mobile attacker.

Now don't go thinking I haven't made any of my own.
I personally have a soft spot for brutes, I love big damage numbers, so I devised a power that would help them
Blood Focus - Minor Action - The creature takes 5/10/15 damage and gains a bonus to hit and damage +2/+4/+6 ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?21-Monster-Enhancers Planning Stages http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?19-Planning-Stages Tue, 10 May 2011 01:47:45 GMT So I have been planning my next session for my home campaign and I thought I would let some of my planning ideas come out here on Loremaster for... So I have been planning my next session for my home campaign and I thought I would let some of my planning ideas come out here on Loremaster for others to use.
I have been reading a few blogs, mostly Angry DM and Slyflourish , for inspiration for my next game. I have had a lack of a big dungeon in my game so far. On the Angry DM blog he has written the "Slaughterhouse Project." Not only is it a great name for a Dungeons and Dragons thing it is a great planning idea. In a nut shell for those that haven't read it, you create zones where a brand of monster are and set an XP budget when the monsters reach a certain level the zone changes. If they zone never takes enough of a hit then it regenerates. This is an oversimplification of his process mind you but it was how I could easily use it. Now lets take a look at my zones, just in case my players check this I will leave out one zone. It will be enough to keep them on their toes.
So as background I looked up real holes in the ground and their sizes.
This was the inspiration for the Dungeon's location and
Now my Zones:
Since all of the pictures I found were of mines I thought it would be cool to have the hole be some kind of mining operation. So I named this the Slave mining operations. I figured that the slaves have been this way so long that they don't have any hope left so they might just fight the PCs if the try to free them.
The next two zones were inspired by environmental ideas. One was a Magma chamber, full of fire elemental types. I had planned to mix in earth and air elementals changed to have the fire elemental characteristics. This was until I saw just how many fire elemental monsters there were. The second environmental zone was the darkness zone. A place that the shadowfell touches in many places. Where all light sources are cut to a fraction of their normal strength.
The next zone was this idea that a set of monsters would keep worshiping something powerful that came to the area and would keep changing what they worshiped if someone came and tested their resolve (killed their master). This was a funny zone as it has a ton of altars that keep getting changed who they worship. Each time the Altars change hands they have a different aura depending on what is being worshiped.
The final zone is the Cathedral that the players have been searching for in the last two sessions. This I went to Eberron for inspiration and went with the Hag Sisters, if you don't know them they own a whole kingdom and have gnolls as their main citizen. So to pay homage to this I am using yuan-ti with the gnoll pack trait. Then I needed my bad guys, I know the other guys as the good guys is hard to take. My party has had some trouble with the far realms so I decided to make them all aberrant creatures that have some kind of exaggerated feature. Tentacle arms, quills, and Eye. My favorite was the half orc rage beast, I had this idea of a creature that had been beaten and tested by wizards for so long that they have made him a tough target for wizards to kill.
So if you want to know more I can give out more details as we go through it or I can send you a PDF of my whole set up. ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?19-Planning-Stages So it has been awhile so something fun to start back in http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?18-So-it-has-been-awhile-so-something-fun-to-start-back-in Wed, 04 May 2011 01:20:13 GMT Image: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/123/8/3/tentatiger_toy_custom_by_missmonster-d3fi4ov.jpg I saw this today and needed to make it a...
I saw this today and needed to make it a monster. I thought what does it need? Well it needs to have a bite attack and a snake attack. Now I know it is odd but I needed a signature move. This is when I saw that great tentacle mane. I thought some kind of grab attack was needed as its signature move. Now I like to give monsters things that make sense for their role and what they look like. In this case you shouldn't be able to flank him because well it has two heads. I added the whole damage to self to for bonus damage and because I did that I upped the monsters HP. This gives me a way to add damage on the fly to scare a player who thinks they have the monster in the bag.
Mind you this was just a quick mock up of this monster if you see it and think "This dummy did it wrong," Then lets see how you interpret this monster. (ps the level is because then I can use it you can make it any level you want)
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]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?18-So-it-has-been-awhile-so-something-fun-to-start-back-in Session 9: Belius, The Hand, and Korax http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?15-Session-9-Belius-The-Hand-and-Korax Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:53:15 GMT The party started its day by moving towards the next Artifact. Across a desert that, to all those there, was caused by ancient magic. After a bit... The party started its day by moving towards the next Artifact. Across a desert that, to all those there, was caused by ancient magic. After a bit of a walk they found themselves at a cathedral which had a moat of Lava flowing around it. When they couldn't understand the Fire Elemental they asked for something that spoke common. A Dragonborn envoy was sent out and the party was taken in to meet Korax, the volcanic dragon. The dragon had had a recent robbery and wished to have the party retrieve the the one book that was missing. The party asked for the artifact that Korax had in his possession. Korax also told them he is looking for the other 2 libraries, and the master library, all of which he was looking for at this moment.

The group then used phantom steeds to first go to Jenson and hand of the hands they had taken from The Hand. Quincy told them they had no idea what they were up against. They left Quincy one crate of goods lighter.

The party then made their way to Oboro and looked into the Auction. They found that a Sorcerer was selling a book, that no one was sure what was in it. After getting into the auction they outbid and then captured the Flame Sorcerer and killed his guards. The party took the book back to Korax along with the Flame Sorcerer. Korax gave them the greaves and told them to forget they were ever there.

When the party returned they helped Durn open his new bar "The Deck of Many Things." They spoke to Mountain who told them of a missing dig team. The party being true heroes they went to help. They found when they got there a large section of The Hand was working to keep one man contained. They spoke to William and found that he had no idea why they were keeping him. The players then went around the corner and found a large world painting, they figured was 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

Within minutes the party was watching as Grimdark, a paladin they had saved in the woods, started attacking William. The party decided that William was possessed and performed an exorcism and saw a four-armed large creature morph out of William. They worked really hard to do the exorcism and when the beast turned back to William they believe that they have solved the problem. ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?15-Session-9-Belius-The-Hand-and-Korax Session 8: What level would that dragon have to be? http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?7-Session-8-What-level-would-that-dragon-have-to-be Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:07:00 GMT In this session our heroes found out the fate of Arkum-Sul and the fact that the city is under control by the Far Realms weighs on all there minds. ... In this session our heroes found out the fate of Arkum-Sul and the fact that the city is under control by the Far Realms weighs on all there minds. After some discussion they decided that finding out what happened to Arkum-Sul. This is when I got to introduce poor Barrakas, Patrick, to the fact that The Hand were out in force in Oboro. It was great all the hemming and hawing from that part of the table.
So the party went south and found a paladin who was in trouble. After helping him, they found that all the creatures had dragon blood in their veins. It had mutated these creatures to have dragon characteristics. After finding it in the water they decided to follow it up stream, while Belladonna soaked Arch Bishop Charlie in the blood, yeah that is her swords name.
After a short trek they find themselves fighting elven scouts. They dispatched them all before they could get away. They searched for a few more hours and found more workers clearing camp. The party ambushed the camp and after killing all The Hand members, the party found a huge red dragon on the verge of death. That had been bleed for its blood which was in bottles ready for transport.

My favorite DM question: Can we get the experience for killing the huge red dragon?
Long Answer: Do you realize what level it has to be to be that size? Solo Level 22 Elder Red Dragon. You didn't do any real fighting, we hand waved its death. If you got that experience you would each get 4150xp, more experience you got for the whole day of adventuring.
Short Answer: Sure have 167xp for killing the dragon. ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?7-Session-8-What-level-would-that-dragon-have-to-be What 4th edition has done for my thinking http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?4-What-4th-edition-has-done-for-my-thinking Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:28:09 GMT I realized this while talking to an old friend. We were discussing a BBEG he had for his campaign that I was thinking of using in my game. Problem... I realized this while talking to an old friend. We were discussing a BBEG he had for his campaign that I was thinking of using in my game. Problem was his villain was 3.5 and well only in my friend's head. So while talking about his BBEG I said what would he be known for? He answered with, "The old Warlock class." Now this struck me as weird. Why didn't he say it was a power that was his signature go to move. So I pressed him for more. What I got then was that it was some kind of Warlock|Psionic Creature. This creature who I remember being this total bad mother, had no real memorable qualities other than he had a strange weakness. He was super powerful but there was nothing that gave him that power. This discussion highlighted for me the quintecential difference between these editions. It seems to me that 4 edition monster design is more about "what is this monster all about?" where in 3.5 it was "What classes have abilities that will help him be powerful?" This kept my friend from being able to truly help me with his old BBEG. It was because he himself had never thought about what singularly made this BBEG what he was. He painted his villain with such a broad brush, that there was no reason to be afraid of him. His villain had no signature move that you could see and go "oh no that is BBEG." This to me is what makes that iconic villain, you recognize him from what he is doing. ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?4-What-4th-edition-has-done-for-my-thinking Session 7: Alternate Heroes http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?2-Session-7-Alternate-Heroes Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:49:55 GMT This was an alternate game all the way around. Alternate Victory Conditions and alternate characters. Due to the players killing the boss the... This was an alternate game all the way around. Alternate Victory Conditions and alternate characters. Due to the players killing the boss the underling went on with his plan. Malachi decided to open up a hole to the Far Realms. This is why we needed alternate characters as I wanted the freedom to try and kill them.
In encounter one, players got play-doh and were told to place it anywhere on the field. These I made into Far Realms breaches that attacked Will if you started your turn in one. Granted this was alternate victory condition to close the portal. The party could have closed the portal to end the fight early but they decided to kill all the monsters and then close the portal.
The other was to save a mess of children (like 6) while avoiding detection. This was funny to watch the players scramble to use skills on characters they has mostly set up as attack machines. They spent their actions scaring children to get them to run.
The final encounter set was a set of 5, shortened to 3, encounters to hold the line to allow people to escape. The first they had to live with the way things were cause they didn't get to prepare. The second they got to set up barricades, downed carts and the like, again using the play-doh. This really helped them control the battlefield and control the pacing.
All in all the Alternate Victory conditions were quite good. Of the 4 players, two choose to stay behind and sacrifice themselves for the greater good. This set of events leaves the new city we introduced in session 3 now under enemy control. Now the PC's are back in Oboro.


http://makeshiftadventures.blogspot....te-heroes.html ]]> Amazing Triangle http://www.loremaster.org/entry.php?2-Session-7-Alternate-Heroes