Prepare to move out soldiers! DramaScape maps and minis are 25% off in the War Game Vault's Winter Offensive Sale!
https://www.wargamevault.com/wgv_wintersale.php?manufacturers_id=4491&affiliate_id=12615
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Just Insert Imagination also has a Sci-fi Map Pack for sale at 25% off.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/161426/Scifi-map-pack?affiliate_id=12615
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Mystical Throne Entertainment has released their December Throne Report, 2020 A Year in Review.
http://mysticalthrone-ent.com/throne-report-2020-year-in-review/
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Immersion Studios's Designer Diary. An interesting observatory article about running a game shop. Check the bottom of the article for a coupon for 50% off Immersion Studios's Infected in hardcover deadtree book format and get the PDF for free!
http://immersion-rpg.com/2020/12/19/what-i-learned-from-running-a-game-shop-1/
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Mystical Throne Entertainment has released their November Throne Report.
http://mysticalthrone-ent.com/throne-report-november-19-2020/
November 8, 2020 @ 2:00-8:00 P.M.
<
WARNING SPOILERS FOR 50 FATHOMS AHEAD MATEY! SPOILERS FOR PLOT POINTS IN
HERE!>
Day
256
PLACE: KIERAN SEA
WEATHER: SUNNY
Due to their late night revelry slowing La Arcadia down, the Kierans
soon caught back up to La Arcadia. Kieran galleons chased them
from the east and Kieran cutters approached from the southwest from the Pirate
Sea. La Arcadia was caught in a vice. The only escape routes were
disastrous and fraught with danger: west to the Flotsam Sea, north back to the Kieran Sea, and
southeast towards the northern tip of Torath-Ka.
So concerned with what was following them, the group missed what was ahead of
them.
[Kahoola rolled a critical failure on Notice and Captain Red Pirate Roberts and
Horventerous took turns with her spyglass looking at their pursuers.]
A dinghy made of pure iron sidled up to La Arcadia hidden by the wreckage of the Flotsam Sea and its two fire salamander crew attached chains to the ship. They climbed aboard and stealthily stabbed two sailors. The effect on La Arcadia was like a dropped anchor. The sudden decrease in speed allowed the two chasing Kieran galleons to gain on La Arcadia.
Fortunately, Cyrus was paying attention and cut off one of the chains and threw
the other grappling hook into the Flotsam Sea, setting the fire salamander's
ship adrift. A sudden whirlpool appeared next to one of the Kieran galleons and
the fire salamander's iron dinghy and flotsam smashed into it, sinking the
vessel. The other Kieran galleon narrowly avoided the same fate.
Meanwhile, on the ship, Kahoola engaged one of the
fire salamanders with her pincers, managing to kill one of them. Horventerous
sent a water bolt to the head of the other fire salamander, dousing it
and causing steam to rise from its skull as it dropped dead.
[Andrew played Luddite's Revenge on one ship and Whirlpool (with an extra card
play for bringing refreshments). Ellen played Hidden Cove on La Arcadia.
Kahoola was set on fire, but soaked it with a Bennie.]
Day
257
PLACE: FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: OVERCAST
The crew of La Arcadia rescued a sailor adrift in the Flotsam Sea. The Kieran galleon was soon but a mote in the spyglass as La Arcadia continued to outpace her.
[Ellen played Abandoned Crew to replace the sailor that they had lost.]
Day
258-259
PLACE: FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: RAINY
La Arcadia sailed quickly through the center of the Flotsam Sea with the Kieran
galleon no longer even seen in the spyglass.
Day 260
PLACE: FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: OVERCAST
The group spotted a wrecked hulk in the Flotsam Sea. Kahoola spotted a tentacle
peeking out the wreckage. Horventerous and Kahoola dived in anyway while Cyrus
jumped on top of the vessel. Cyrus found twenty pieces of eight on the deck
above.
|
||
|
|
Kahoola swam ahead and was nearly crushed to death by the four tentacles of a
giant octopus! Fortunately it grabbed her fire salamander cutlass instead which
seemed to become brittle in the water before it snapped by the might of the
octopus. However, another tentacle whipped and broke one of Kahoola's ribs.
[Chessie played the Relics card, which works like Lucky Break but has an additional ship saving clause.]
Horventerous unleashed a mighty bolt of water that crushed the giant
octopus. Horventerous healed Kahoola of her wounds using healing and greater
healing for her older wound suffered in the battle against Torquemada.
Horventerous found a tempus stone that enhanced his power. Kahoola found 700
pieces of eight to put in the general ship fund. The sailors collected edible pieces
of the octopus and they ate calamari that night.
Day 261
PLACE: PIRATE SEA, WHIP ISLANDS
WEATHER: SUNNY
La Arcadia navigated around the
Whip Islands on the way towards Tuck.
Day
262
PLACE: PIRATE SEA
WEATHER: RAINY
La Arcadia continued west towards Tuck.
Day
263-264
PLACE: TUCK, TARATOS
WEATHER: SUNNY
The group disembarked at Tuck and headed for The Clockwork House. Kahoola gave Joshua Goldstein the calculations for Brigandy Bay, Torath-Ka, and Kiera. In return, Joshua gave Captain Red Pirate Roberts the prototype chronometer. Joshua asked Kahoola if she would return to her job guarding the shop, but she decided to leave with La Arcadia to look after the prototype.
The group bought and sold items at the local market. Horventerous sold a jade Masaquani statue and kitchenware for 463 pieces of eight. Kahoola bought a scimitar and traded a suit of plate corselet for a second one. The merchant tried to sell Kahoola a strange suit of tailored leather armor for Scurillians to replace it but she wasn't interested. The Captain bought provisions and hired four sailors. Cyrus used his abilities as a merchant to facilitate these deals but was unable to find any additional sailors to recruit.
Captain Red Pirate Roberts paid the crew and they went carousing. While carousing she overheard a conversation about the prince, learning that he was last spotted in Tulago. The pair talked about a ransom but could not figure out who would pay it since the father, King Amemnus, was dead.
The next day, Cyrus pleaded with Captain Red Pirate Roberts to turn north to New Madrid to sell cargo and resupply, especially gunpowder and cannonballs that they couldn't get in Tuck. She refused and La Arcadia headed off south towards Tulago.
When the group left port, they noticed that Felicity was nowhere to be found...
Day
265
PLACE: PIRATE SEA
WEATHER: SUNNY
The group found some game and filled a ship's hold worth of food.
Day
266-268
PLACE: PIRATE SEA
WEATHER: SUNNY
La Arcadia headed south towards Tulago.
Day
269
PLACE: TULAGO, CUWAYO
WEATHER: OVERCAST
La Arcadia headed towards the bay of Tulago. They saw seven ships
anchored in the bay but continued towards the village. The lookouts on the
ships spotted them approaching and raised seven pirate flags. La Arcadia
responded by raising their pirate and Spanish flags. In response, seven
brigantines weighed anchor and moved to engage them.
Suddenly, the center
boat seemed to hit a low part of the bay and veered left, colliding with
another ship. That ship collided with a third ship, and then the third ship
collided with a fourth ship. The fourth ship started to carom towards the
eastern shoreline. The third and fourth ships struck each other a second time
and tumbled into the eastern shoreline of the bay.
[Andrew played Bad Maps with a Bennie. Club complications further exacerbated
the situation for the pirates.]
La Arcadia surged forward and rammed a brigantine, pushing it backward. This cleared the path for a broadside that took out two brigantines.
A brigantine attempted to cross the T but failed. La Arcadia rammed the brigantine on the starboard side, causing heavy damage to the ship. Horventerous cast blast on the stuck brigantine, which then spun out of control southward towards the western shoreline of the bay. La Arcadia fired at the northern ship and caused damage to the port side.
La Arcadia rammed the center ship and it rolled end over end into the center of the bay shoreline with the captain falling onto the beach and being crushed to death under the capsized ship.
La Arcadia
then spun about and rammed the southern ship into the western shoreline of the bay. The last northern brigantine sailed away realizing the bay was a death trap with a maniacal captain hell-bent on using her galleon's greater size to crush the smaller brigantines into the shoreline.
Captain Red Pirate Roberts dropped anchor and did not pursue. Horventerous took a nap for thirty minutes. Cyrus promoted a crewman to be his henchman. The crew prepared the longboats to go to shore. Captain Red Pirate Roberts perused the town of Tulago at her leisure and saw pirates mulling about...
[Andrew played Catnap with a Bennie and David played New Henchman.]
[End of session.]
XP: 3 Heroic, 4 Veteran, Missed XP 2
MINIMUM XP: 57
LOOT:
2
fire salamander cutlasses, Tempus Stone, 720 pieces of eight
MAPS
I used the
center of DramaScape's Sunken Ship map for the somewhat intact
hull in the Flotsam Sea. The outer ring of the map has modern mines, but
removing those sections and you can use it in fantasy games easily.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/135049/Sunken-Ship?affiliate_id=12615
MINIATURES
Ships used include ships from Letters of Marque by Fantasy Flight Games and a porcelain ship from Red Rose Tea.
Trifolds used are from 50 Fathoms Figure Flats and the metal
Kraken miniature made by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Octopus top down
is from Deadly Missions First Edition by Grey Matter Games.
Select DramaScape products are 25% off in the Halloween Sale at DriveThruRPG!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/halloween.php?manufacturers_id=4491&affiliate_id=12615
Our fellow Game Publishers' Guild members, Arcanum Syndicate, Broken Ruler Games, Imaginary Empire, Immersion Studios, Just Insert Imagination, and Mystical Throne Entertainment are also in the sale. Check their pages using the Publisher drop down menu.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/halloween.php?affiliate_id=12615
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Imaginary Empire has released Soaring Lions. Play as a wrestler in a single session or campaign leading up to the Battle-Royale.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/331464/Soaring-Lions?affiliate_id=12615
Ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of this product are
being donated to financially assist those in the wrestling industry that
have fallen on hard times via the Cauliflower Alley Club.
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member, Mystical Throne Entertainment, has released their October Throne Report newsletter. Details updates to their Multiple System supplements lines, Shadowed Earth, and more!
http://mysticalthrone-ent.com/throne-report-october-17-2020/
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Broken Ruler Games has released The World's Greatest Roleplaying Game: The Zine; Detentions & Dragons. Inside are four different backgrounds to focus a Dungeons and Dragons 5e game into a high school melodrama.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/330378/Detentions--Dragons?affiliate_id=12615
For some additional inspiration for this kind of campaign, I suggest the Dice Funk Shardpoint Academy podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7S5nJVWerc&list=PLD0PbmgI3mjllNoeFtTQH8XjNZX9yyXr6
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Arcanum Syndicate's products are 25% off in the Rogue-tober Sale on DriveThruRPG! Check out games like Demon Gate and Chaos 6010 A.D.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/sale.php?manufacturers_id=3578&affiliate_id=12615
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Mystical Throne Entertainment has released their September Throne Report.
http://mysticalthrone-ent.com/throne-report-september-20-2020/
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Mystical Throne Entertainment has released Tabletop Gaming Guide to Psionics. This guide includes system agnostic information as well as How to Use guides to utilize the information in Savage Worlds (SWADE-compatible), Entropic Gaming System (EGS 2.0),and Legend.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/326851/Tabletop-Gaming-Guide-to-Psionics?affiliate_id=12615
Fellow Game Publishers' Guild member Just Insert Imagination has marked down Wiseguys: The Savage Guide to Organized Crime SWADE by 33% to $9.99 for the month to mark the one year anniversary of the release of Wiseguys!
I've been playing roleplaying games since 1993 and running them since 1997. So 28 years of playing experience and 24 years of game mastering experience. Most of them were spent running Earthdawn from 1997 to 2013 for about 17 years with some Dungeons and Dragons, Shatterzone, Shadowrun, etc. mixed in. I've been running Savage Worlds for about 6 years now with completed Shaintar and Necessary Evil campaigns and current 50 Fathoms and Saga of the Goblin Horde campaigns on hiatus.
The most experienced character I ever had in Dungeons and Dragons was that Level 30 epic level Halfling Rogue that became a God. In Earthdawn, it was Garthan Zufere at like Tenth Circle as a Nethermancer. In Savage Worlds, it was Admiral Kirel in 50 Fathoms with 120 XP (Yeah we didn't go into the Flotsam Sea until we were good and ready). In D20 Modern I got my Strength Hero, Gen Bu, to 4th Level.I haven't played too many other games where it lasted more than 1-3 sessions.
Portal brings me back to Shainar. One of the possible new campaign ideas was a mixture of creatures of the Flame and Builders from Shaintar combined with elements of Codex Infernus: The Savage Guide to Hell to create Norcan Darr. The goal would be for Dru-Karra, Camille, Phelos, and others to try and escape the hellscape of Norcan Darr and return to Shaintar via a Portal of some kind. An interesting idea for sure, but I don't know how viable it would be this far down the road.
Ride brings me back to Deadlands: The Flood. Zachariah's horse was a black mare with demonic red eyes named Luciphia. Luciphia slowly became more and more important to Zachariah as the quest continued. When Los Diablos took him to Hell, Luciphia went into the portal after him (after a Out of the Fire Into the Frying Pan play to escape death). He fought off Los Diablos with Luciphia's help and rode out of Hell through a portal back to California. When he became afraid of fire due to his near death and trip to Hell, (and Fuego had a Flamethrower!) he blindfolded himself and trusted Luciphia to be his eyes (To make matters even worse he had the Bad Eyes hindrance so it was a bandana over his glasses). The end result was Mr. Magoo, huckster (You ever make a reference so old that it makes you feel old?). But somehow, Zachariah did it, he survived the entire The Flood campaign.
Close is both a verb and an adjective. The verb generally means a denouement or blocking whereas the adjective means objects in close proximity to one another in space, time, score, etc. In any case, it is an odd choice for this year for RPGaDay 2020 of all years where we are affected by Covid 19 with closures of work, school, and r&r and being close to one another is now a bad thing because it could spread the disease.
One thing in RPGs that has always haunted me is the action of opening and closing a door. Is it an action? A move action? A bonus action? A free action? I have generally ruled it as an action in Dungeons and Dragons, Earthdawn, and Savage Worlds. In Savage Worlds, this tends to not be too hindering as you can have an extra open a door or use a multi-action penalty to do more on your turn. Losing your one and only action in DnD or Earthdawn hurts because you have so many attacks you can do with one action that you lose if you do anything else. But the same always goes for the NPC bad guys and there are more of them than PCs usually, so it is one way to make extras and other characters use their turns without getting an attack on the PCs (and losing a gang up bonus, flanking, harried on those attacks depending on system).
Favour brings me back to Earthdawn. One of my favorite NPCs was a merchant in Bartertown who sold only minor magical items. Or at least that is what he said. You needed to buy a minor magical item before he'd sell anything like a pattern item, even a minor one. So you'd have to buy something you might not even want like a Firestarter to get the good stuff. In a way, now that I think about it, he was like the BJs or Sam's Club of magic item merchants. You have to pay the entry fee to get to the good stuff.
Then there were the dark favors granted by Warren a.k.a. Nemesis who would make deals with the NPCs and PCs for power with a price. My favorite deal involved Rigate, Dwarf Warrior, who wanted a crystal tail. So he got it for the price of a Horror Mark and blood magic. Unfortunately, he was addicted to crystalline body enhancements. So by the time he got this, most of his body was crystalline replacing arms and legs with crystal and growing living crystal on flesh. The crystal tail pushed him beyond what his body could take in a battle and he exploded in a crystalline storm from too much blood magic usage. The lesson here is don't make deals with Horrors. Or some favors aren't worth the price.
