Campaign Chronicles

18th day of the Month of Conflict, 126th Year of Factol Haskar’s Administration The door closed behind Jamaros and he hears the lock click shut, “Knock out er tap out, the only way this door opens again.” The filthy gnome looks up at Jamaros and a broad smile spreads across his face, “O’ course, you already know th’ third way out, don’ cha, little man?” The cruel little gnome pocketed the key and stepped away. Above the cries of the crowd, Jamaros could hear Felgar chuckle, “I wonder how much the Mortuary would pay fer prime cuts of yer carcass. Ain’t no comin’ back from a second death, after all.” “Whatever, gnome. I want to place on a bet on myself. All of the gold I have in this pouch to win.” The barbarian turned away from Felgar and hefts his massive axe, Heaven Scraper. Jamaros and Baatar stared at each other from across the ring. Jamaros growled deep in his throat. All he wanted to do was to leap upon his enemy and tear out his throat with his teeth and claws. The ratio

12 Feb 1371 (1828 Grimmlands calendar)   Knives turned in surprise as the first two hounds leapt across the river.   He spun, took a deep breath and blew flames at the yellow dog.   The animal rolled to one side, avoiding the brunt of the attack as Chronosaj flicked his wrists, releasing his two dueling pistols and took aim at the beast.   He raised the guns and pulled their triggers.   Twin plumes of smoke erupted from the weapons.   A pair of lead bullets shot from the end of the barrel and slammed into the yellow hound, flattening on impact and falling to the ground without penetrating the beast’s tough hide.   The yellow hound rushed forward, its body changing as it closed in on its quarry.   From the four-legged form of a dog, the animal took on the appearance of a muscular humanoid clad in plate armor.   A supernatural terror rolled across the two thieves as the yellow hound reached over its shoulder to pull a huge two-handed sword from the sheath on his back.   The hou

18 th day of the Month of Conflict, 126 th Year of Factol Haskar’s Administration Jamaros had been back in Sigil for a handful of days following his narrow escape from the fortress on the Plane of ElementalFire .   He was restless, hungry.   Every day he paced the floor of his rented rooms.   He needed to get out, to do something, anything to take his mind off of his insatiable hunger.   His mood was dark.   Orphant and Mordy had both taken to avoiding him.   The undead barbarian almost wished one of them would make an appearance so he could yell at them, argue, and fight.   Fighting and endless hunger were all he knew anymore.   He could do nothing about the latter but the former was something he could deal with easily.   He hefted Heaven’s Scraper and slung it over his shoulder and stalked out the door.   He trod the curving streets of Sigil with a grim determination.   His course carried him through the Hive, the poorest, most desperate, and rundown portion of the

12 Feb 1371 (1828 Grimmlands calendar)   Knives shouted for Chronosaj to hurry across the bridge as he reached for a flask hanging at his hip.   He pulled the cork out with his teeth and spit it into the river and downed the contents.   A smell reminiscent of cinnamon and lamp oil filled the air.   Warmth surged through his throat and filled his chest as the liquid raced through his system.   He planted his feet and as Chronosaj leapt past him to safety on the far side, Knives took a deep breath and blew.   Fire raged from his mouth and spattered all over the rickety and sagging bridge, instantly setting the span alight.   The dogs paused, surprised by the unexpected move.   The black dog ground his hind feet into the soft earth, bracing himself like a sprinter in the starting blocks of a race as he prepared to rush forward.   In a moment, he was off and running straight toward the river like an arrow loosed from a bow.   The dog leapt into the air when he reached the edge

Day Five of the Odinsleep (Approaching 1 am)   Arthur straightens with pride as he gratefully accepts the wooden and jeweled rod, “I thank you for this magnificent gift.   I will use it wisely and I will watch for you on the field of battle as well.”   He reaches out to clasp the god’s wrist in the manner of warriors and wills what little healing magic he has left into the deity, “Tell you wife that I wish her well, please”.   Bragi raises one eyebrow, perhaps in surprise, perhaps in amusement but smiles and claps the knight on the shoulder.   Shadow looks over at the scrolls, “Those contain some fairly powerful spells.   I hate to see them used as a one-shot resource when we could copy them into our spellbooks for later use.”   Kysek tosses Niklas a pair of the Svartaflar’s boots.   The woodsman removes his old pair and slips his feet into the new.   The soft leather conforms perfectly to every bend, his arch and instep, even his toes.   And they feel so light and so

It's hard to believe that over seven years have passed since I officially launched my play-by-post campaign .  What started out as a rough idea born in my garage one evening after work has become the basis for this blog and an ongoing source of entertainment for me and my players. When I first started, I had no idea how I was going to manage to pull off this task.  I had heard of other groups that had tried playing using this format that simply collapsed in on themselves due to lack of participation.  I still believe that including "filler" material - blog articles by other writers, D&D-based memes, game and movies reviews are what got our group through the first year of this "chapter" of our gaming career. In the beginning, I responded to every bit of dialogue in the comment section as they were posted and this made for some incredibly long comment threads (at least two broke 100 before I had the next post ready).  This is a transcript of the first p

12 Feb 1371 (1828 Grimmlands calendar) The two adventurers decide that Knives will cross the bridge first – checking the path to make sure that it will support the weight of his companion.   Chronosaj turns to watch their back trail to make sure that no one is following them and hears the barking of the dogs growing ever louder.   Knives closes his eyes, focusing his senses on his feet are able to tell him.   He begins his crossing, feeling every sway of the bridge against the river current.   Each sag of the boards, the creaking of the wood as it takes and holds his weight.   He moves carefully but with practiced grace and reaches the far bank in a matter of moments.   As the ex-mayor of Hamelin steps off the bridge on the far bank, Chronosaj sees three shaggy retrievers emerge from the woods and reach the crest of the hill.   One of the dogs is white, the second is black, and the third is yellow.   The hounds make their way down the slope of the hill and come to a s

Day Five of the Odinsleep (Midnight) After Ra’ziir finishes identifying the magical properties of the enchanted items and explains what they can do, Cedron announces that he requests no spoils from the day’s battles. Instead, he makes the rounds, thanking each of his comrades individually, “Well fought, my brothers. You shine a light upon the Path of Progress that honors milord.” Raven mentions that the armor would most like best suit Niklas or Korbin. Nik passes on the armor, claiming the crow is more hand-to-hand and announces that he will wait for the next go-round. He does mention that he would be interested in taking a pair of the boots. Raven reaches over and tosses a pair to the woodsman who nods in gratitude before turning his attention to salvaging and rebuilding as many arrows as possible. Ra’ziir takes the thanks in stride and replies, “Well, I wouldn’t the mind the ring.” Kysek continues his studies, engrossed in the tome. It is only when his owl, Bubo, poke

The following are two versions of everyone's favorite red-nosed reindeer.  The first is more of a D&D "encounter-style" version while the second is much closer to the Bass and Rankin stop animation version portrayed in the holiday specials.  I hope you enjoy them and Happy Holidays! Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer male Awakened Reindeer Psion (Nomad) 8 CR: 9   NG Magical Beast (Augmented Animal, Psionic) Init +2, Senses: Listen +5, Spot +5, Low-Light Vision, Scent Languages: Read/Write and Speak Common, Dwarven, Giant, and Sylvan AC: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 Natural); t: 12, ff: 13 Hp: 53 (12HD) Immune: - - Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +8 Spd: 40’ (8 squares) Melee +9/+4 Gore: 1d6+1 (20/x2, plus up to 4d6 with Psionic Weapon) Combat Gear: - -  Str: 13, Dex: 14, Con: 12, Int: 17, Wis: 11, Cha: 6 SA: Psionics (Manifester Level 8, DC13 + power level, 70 PSP) SQ: Cold Adaptation (Severe), Low-Light Vision, Scent Feats: Combat Manifestation (b); Deep Impa

My wife was looking at rings on etsy's website last night and this ring caught my eye. It just looked like it should be a magic item. I fiddled around with a couple different ideas but this is what I came up with.  I hope you all like it and maybe it can find its way into some of your own campaigns. This silver ring looks like a cat climbing from one tree branch to another. When worn, it grants the bearer Low-Light Vision and a +2 circumstance bonus to Climb and Balance checks. Additionally, all falls are treated as if they were 60' shorter and the wearer always lands on his feet. Market Value: 3400gp Cost to Create: 4 days/136 Xp/1700 gp Prerequisites: Caster Level 12, Forge Ring, Low-Light Vision, Cat's Grace, Feather Fall

This is a summary of the last "live" game I ran for my current campaign before switching over to the play-by-post format I am using now.  Some of the characters involved have since died in other adventures or their players have dropped out of the story. This group would soon rendezvous with the rest of their party and kick off the next chapter of their adventuring careers. The House of Hidden Darkness (Prologue) Upon their arrival in Tsuragol, Raven and Alisandra had been accosted by a group of thieves. The adventurers defended themselves but an unseen spellcaster attempted to shroud the fight with a globe of darkness the thieves could use to cover their escape. The pearl on Nightwatcher’s pommel began to glow and wispy streams of black peeled off of the orb and were drawn into the glowing stone. Within seconds, the darkness was gone and the thieves were defeated. The spellcaster escaped into the night. The escapee reported to her superiors in the thieves’ guild and ev