RPGaDay Day #31, 2022: When did you first participate in RPGaDay?

     According to ye old facebook feed, 2016, so 6 years ago. I checked the older than that RPGaDay question gifs, and don't remember the questions on them, so this seems accurate.

RPGaDay Day #25, 2022: Where has your character been?

    The world of Krynn from Dragonlance. Born near Thorbardin in the surrounding hills, he was called to the seas and oceans of Krynn where he became a pirate after answering the call of Zeboim. This bizarre love of the sea and the craftsmanship of wooden ships makes him an outcast among the Neidar (hill dwarves). 
     In the current world, he has been in Timberridge and another town which he cannot recall the name of due to the fact that everyone in the party has been afflicted by a magical amnesia. He has been to the swamps south of Timberridge, a lake to the west of Timberridge, and a forest to the east of Timberridge.

RPGaDay Day #24, 2022: When did your start playing this character?

     About a couple months ago. Just before that I was playing a Dungeons and Dragons 5e Sixth Level Battleborn Scout Ranger called Graal in Crystalpunk. 

RPGaDay Day #23, 2022: What situation is your character currently in?

     When we awoke in the swamp, we had a vague memory of being hired for a caravan protection job to move a book from one town to another. The job had gone sideways. Four of us woke up in the swamp and everyone else was dead with signs of claw marks and bone arrows in bodies. We fought our way through a group of trolls to reach the road. On the road, a caravaneer named Billy picked us up. A demon and his hellhounds attacked us and we barely got away with our lives, saving Billy and his horses but not his wagon. When we reached the town of Timberridge, we found out the black grimoire was being protected in the local cathedral. We were given a couple of leads to where the demon might be or at least information about it. A lake to the west covered in a thick fog, and a lumberjack cabin to the east. We went to the lake to the west was controlled by a hag called Old Greg whom we eventually defeated and dispelled the fog. When we returned the town was attacked by demons at the east gate and we joined the city guard in repelling them. The church was also attacked, but the priests had been assisted by a halfling artificer to stop the demons from reclaiming the book. When we went east to the lumberjack's cabin, he attempted to drug us with sleepytime coffee and eat us, as he was a cannibalistic hag. When we returned to Timberridge, the Mayor summoned us to meet with him. Our current predicament remains an inability to remember the circumstances that led us here as well as a demon that is hunting us with a hellhound and paralytic poisonous arrows trying to obtain the black grimoire. 

RPGaDay Day #22, 2022: Who is your current character?

       So surprised that I can actually answer this question this year. I think the last campaign I played in was Deadlands Last Sons for a bit in 2016, which was years ago. Since then I've GMed Necessary Evil to completion, Return to 50 Fathoms nearly to completion, and some Saga of the Goblin Horde.
        My current character is Zoardin Sratholm or Zoar. He is a cleric of Zeboim (a goddess of the seas, storms, and strife. Her moods change with the storm, being calm one minute and in a violent rage the next) originally from Kyrnn. This makes him a Tempest Domain cleric in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. He has a helmet with two lightning bolts that look like Zs near the ears and platemail that has lightning bolt Zs all over the torso mainly. The Zs are actually for Zeboim but most mistake it as for Zoardin. His eyes are a piercing blue. With his helmet off, you can see his disheveled brown hair usually sticky from sweat under the helm and a facial skin tone of an olive and tan mixed complexion. He is Chaotic Neutral in alignment with the twist of being Chaotic Good towards people he considers his crew on land or sea and Chaotic Evil towards people he considers his enemies which includes those that harm him or his crew or restrict his freedom in any way.  This does makes him a bit less random than some of the CN characters I have played in the past.
        The last thing he clearly remembers is being shoved off his pirate ship, The Kestrall, by a minotaur shortly after seeing his Captain Navaros cleaved by a minotaur pirate's battle-axe. He was plummeting into the depths of the Turbidus Ocean weighed down by his platemail before passing out and then suddenly he was in a swamp with no real memory on how he got there. He started out at 6th level but has since risen to 7th level. As for that tale, that is for tomorrow.

RPGaDay Day #20, 2022: How long do your games last?

      Session length has been anywhere between 2 hours and a marathon 12 hour session. Average length these days is around 4-5 hours. During the Earthdawn 10 year campaign, average session length was around 8 hours. I've never had a campaign last more than 10 years, but due to its sporadic nature, Return to 50 Fathoms is probably the second longest campaign at 7 years (We started in 2016?!).

Return to 50 Fathoms Recap #34: Saving Bluth's Crown

Sunday August 14, 2022@ 3:30-8:00 P.M.

 < WARNING SPOILERS FOR 50 FATHOMS AHEAD MATEY!!> 

DAY 288
PLACE: BLUTH'S CROWN, PERCK
WEATHER: RAINY
TIME OF DAY: DAWN

[Andrew played Enemy to start the session.]

     Carifax pleaded with the group to stop the Inquisition from killing all the mages of Bluth's Crown. When Captain Red Pirate Roberts decided to go to sea anyway, he went up to the Crow's Nest to sulk. Captain Red Pirate Roberts saw an Inquisition barge in the distance that had been moored near the eastern edge of the island. They weighed anchor and charged La Arcadia. 

      Meanwhile, on the ship, Draco noticed that the Inquisitor's dagger he had in its sheath was missing. 

     Horventerous cast blast as the Inquisition barge entered medium range. The captain of the Inquisition barge managed to steady the ship after the spell struck the hull. Natsu Nara cast a heavy bolt and struck the barge as well, but the Inquisition barge captain again managed to keep the ship on course. Nimue glided down and fired a cannon. She struck the enemy barge, but the ship kept coming. Cyrus Black had sailors load cannons but not fire yet at this range. 

 

     La Arcadia spun hard to starboard as the captain let the wheel slip. The Inquisition barge fired four cannons and one nearly struck the ship. Captain Red Pirate Roberts spun the ship hard to port at the last possible second to avoid it. 

[Ellen critically failed her Boating roll to start the round, so no cards. She used Ace to soak a wound from the barge.]

       

     Meanwhile on La Arcadia's deck, a sailor stabbed Horventerous in the back, wounding Horventerous. 

      "I am Ortega; I joined the Inquisition to gain the power to kill Zeke who was in my way to my true love, my angel, Nimue! I will kill any mage who dares get in my way to her. First I will kill the Kraken, and then I will kill that annoying Natsu Nara! With them out of the way, you can have Carifax as your pet!"  

[This little plot twist courtesy of Chessie's Love Interest card from last time and the Enemy card played by Andrew earlier. That was convenient as it determined which mage I would backstab first. This also gives the true motive behind Zeke's murder, jealousy. ]

[Ellen took the 3 of Spades over the King of Clubs, and it was still faster than the 3 of Hearts.]

      Nimue ignored Ortega and the fight behind her. She took aim with a cannon and fired. She hit the Inquisition barge and then the gunpowder stores in the hull exploded.

[Chessie rolled a 12 for wrecked off a single wound.] 

      Horventerous tried to dash away. Ortega's attack was going to hit him but Cyrus jumped in the way and took the blow instead.

[David played Noble Sacrifice to prevent a Shaken on Horventerous that would have stopped his movement away.]

      Horventerous jumped off the ship and dived. 

[Andrew played Sunken Treasure. He found 50 cannonballs and 600 pieces of eight as he salvaged treasure after escaping.]     

       Chug jumped down to the deck from the crow's nest using Rope Monkey and then smashed his Grael battleball through Ortega's body and pushed Ortega's heart out of his chest. They found 90 pieces of eight on Ortega. Draco grabbed the Inquisitor dagger again. Chug gave the cutlass of the Inquisitor to Prince Alain Amemnus.

[Randall rolled like 40 damage with the battleball. I soaked 3 of 8 wounds, so the wild card Inquisitor died.]

   The group returned to Bluth's Crown to tell Pars Portri that the threat was over with the Inquisitors dead and their barge destroyed. They could leave the Mage's Tower when they were ready. Pars Portri gave Horventerous a tome of water walk and identified a few magic items for him. 

     With the Inquisition defeated, Carifax stopped sulking and left the Crow's Nest.

DAY 289
PLACE: PIRATE SEA
WEATHER: OVERCAST

       La Arcadia set sail for Brigandy Bay. The sailors found a large amount of game to restock the depleted food supplies.

DAY 291
PLACE: PIRATE SEA
WEATHER: THUNDERSTORMS

       Horventerous took shelter below decks due to his Astraphobia hindrance.

DAY 293
PLACE: BLUTH'S CROWN, PERCK
WEATHER: OVERCAST

       The sailors again found a large amount of game to restock the depleted food supplies.

DAY 295
PLACE: PIRATE SEA NEAR BRIGANDY BAY
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY
TIME OF DAY: AFTERNOON

        Captain Red Pirate Roberts saw a pirate junk and a privateer galleon flying the Spanish flag engaged south of Brigandy Bay. They avoided the fight and left the pirates to their probable fate.

[I drew a Joker and got pirate/privateer as the double encounter result. Randall played the New Henchman card and gained a Grael henchman named Blub.]

DAY 295
PLACE: BRIGANDY BAY
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY
TIME OF DAY: DUSK

      Captain Red Pirate Roberts paid the crew for carousing. Chug was arguing for more pay as he needed to pay his henchman using Blub to act as a translator (as a smart Grael with the Linguist edge but weaker than normal physically). Eventually, the captain capitulated and gave Chug another 50 pieces of eight.

DAY 296
PLACE: BRIGANDY BAY
WEATHER: SUNNY
TIME OF DAY: NOON

[Randall played Dressed to Kill via a Benny to assist with Streetwise rolls and counter his Ugly hindrance.]     

     Chug got Blub equipped with leather armor and a Grael battleball. 

     Cyrus found someone trying to sell L'Ollonaise's fake treasure map for 1,000 pieces of eight. He went back to the ship and got the real map from Horventerous (which they had already found). Cyrus sold it for 600 pieces of eight and gave the Kraken his cut. Cyrus and Captain Red Pirate Roberts sold iron from the ship's hold to trade for food, gunpowder, cannonballs, and timber (while pocketing his discount pieces of eight from Merchant/Master Merchant). They also recruited six sailors.  

DAY 297
PLACE: PIRATE SEA NEAR BRIGANDY BAY
WEATHER: OVERCAST
TIME OF DAY: NOON

     Captain Red Pirate Roberts started the long turnabout to clear Brigandy Bay and head north into the Flotsam Sea towards the treasure island of Redbeard Rufus. Captain Red Pirate Roberts spotted the only Man O' War left in Caribdus to the southwest and tried to run away only for The Destroyer to get close to La Arcadia.       

[The group ran for three turns of a chase, then drew a Joker and decided to change their plans.]

      Horventerous cast blast at The Destroyer but did not damage it.

      Chug used Rope Monkey to swing over and attack Blackbeard. Chug hit him not once, but twice with his Grael battleball and Blackbeard barely looked affected even though Chug knew he had hit him as hard as Ortega.

 [Randall played Adrenaline Surge with a Benny.]
       
       Natsu Nara swung over to The Destroyer and attacked Blackbeard with L'Espada de Vampiro. He gained strength as if Blackbeard should have been wounded, but nothing else happened.

      Nimue glided over to The Destroyer and snuck towards Blackbeard. 

[Chessie got an 11 on Stealth.]

      The overcast sky turned dark and rain started pouring down on the ships. The peal of thunder heralded a lightning bolt strike to come...

[David played Volcano with a Bennie, so the battle will be in a legendary Caribdus storm and players start with one extra card/play next time. At this point it was 8 pm on a Sunday night when people need to work the next day and they had started a battle with Blackbeard, so I was forced to do a cliffhanger.]

[End of session.] 

The sailors gained an advance and increased their Survival after two critical successes at it in the session. 

XP: 3 Legendary, 4 Heroic

MINIMUM XP: 68/Heroic

LOOT: 690 pieces of eight, 50 cannonballs, cutlass, pistol

MAPS

    DramaScape's Above Decks Volume Two: Smuggler's Sloop and The Wave Cutter Smuggler's Sloop side print on demand used for La Arcadia. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/114448/Above-Decks-Volume-Two-Smugglers-Sloop-and-The-Wave-Cutter?affiliate_id=12615

 

 

 MINIATURES 

     Tri-folds used are from 50 Fathoms Figure Flats and the metal Kraken miniature made by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.  Top Down minis are armies from Precis Intermedia's Disposable Heroes Pirate Statix 1.  I actually really recommend this product if you like topdowns. I printed out one page and made 70 of those blue figure minis on card stock/foam. The set also has tri-folds and A-frame stand ups/figure flats. They also work well with the PEG tri-folds because you can use both and see the opposing forces easier between the tri-folds for one side and the top downs on the other. It has black and white options too for saving ink.

     Ships used include a ship from Letters of Marque by Fantasy Flight Games and a porcelain ship from Red Rose Tea. 

 

[RPGaDay] Day #9, 2022: What is the second RPG you bought?

    After I bought the D&D First Edition Red Box from KayBee Toys at 12 years of age in middle school 8th grade, the second game I bought was Earthdawn First Edition. This is a great game with excellent writing especially Creatures of Barsaive and Horrors. The third game I bought was Shatterzone. I didn't like the game mechanics but the writing was very good especially Contacts. 

[RPGaDay] Day #7, 2022: System Sunday

 System Sunday: Describe a cool part of a system you love.

      Two of my favorite games are Earthdawn and Savage Worlds. One of my favorite parts of both games is a mechanic that is called Bonus Dice in Earthdawn and Acing in Savage Worlds. When you roll the highest number possible on a die, you get to roll it again, and add it to the total. This can result in some huge damage numbers in both games. 

[RPGaDay] Day #3, 2022: When were you first introduced to RPGs?

     My first introduction to RPGs was on the Nintendo Entertainment System with Dragon Warrior I aka Dragon Quest I. From there we went on to play D&D Board Games like DragonStrike as well as the legendary HeroQuest before I started running the Red Box Dungeons and Dragons 1e set I bought from a closing KayBee Toys. This is the one that had Zanzer Tem as the main antagonist. My first time playing was in AD&D 2e with a Paladin called Cyan Pureblade who was duped into waking up an entity called the Slumber Dragon (perhaps the name of the Tarrasque on that world?) that lived in the core of the world. It woke up and destroyed the planet.