Jade Regent – Forest of Spirits, Session 1

Posted on September 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

We’re over the hump and into the fourth chapter of the Jade Regent Adventure Path, Forest of Spirits.

First Session (18 page pdf) – We go shopping and get ninja’ed, in a bad way.   Then we meet Princess Mononoke and head out into the Forest of Spirits, where the cutest little bonsai kami ever wants us to go into the House of Withered Blossoms. We go in but it’s Mirkwood on crack as the spiders just keep coming!

The Fantasy Korean emperor is helpful but scary.  We used the opportunity of him executing all his guardsmen for letting us be attacked by ninja to sneak out of the city and get on our way.  Man, these ninja, they are always getting billions of sneak attacks on us no matter what we do.

And then it’s off to the House of the Withered Blossoms because the spirits need our help, says some chick with not much personality. We fight a bunch of spiders until we realize they just want to get stoned and be left alone (no, really).  So we generate a truce with the remaining third of them and learn the pagoda’s a megadungeon full of hobgoblins.  Hobgoblin murder next time!

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Jade Regent – The Hungry Storm, Session 6

Posted on September 16, 2012 | 2 comments

Sixth Session (9 page pdf) – Yeti murder is followed up by Korean relaxation.  I know, I know, that’s two pairs of words you don’t see combined all that much.  But we finish out the AP in style!

Sadly I missed this session; it was time to take my daughter to Universal Studios for summer vacation.  But it went well; they bearded the yeti and Bjorn used his anti-ghost gear to kill Katiyana’s spirit.

And then we get to Fantasy Korea!  The king is a good mix of Kim Jong-Il and Genghis Khan.  There are contests, and I win several despite not being there (keeping my character sheet in our Dropbox is magically helpful).

In the end we get to perform The Cuckolded Cuckoo again, the play the crazy tengu in Brinewall was working on that Yoshihiro has been completing.  My favorite part of it is that Gobo the gnome plays “a giant standing in the distance.”

And we get to 9th level!  Several of our new character sheets are on the campaign page for your edification. With that we move into chapter four, Forest of Spirits.

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Jade Regent – The Hungry Storm, Session 5

Posted on September 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Fifth Session (13 page pdf) – The Caves of Desna (aka Mines of Moria) are rough on a caravan.  We lose some levels and stuff to undead and then come into contact with infinite yetis!  We kill infinity minus one of them.

We travel through the caves with our whole caravan to bypass the storms. It’s totally full of undead.  We have Invisibility to Undead but we also have spastic party members that can’t resist attacking them and dispelling it for all of us.  So there’s that. Bjorn did get some 3l33t ghost killing gear out of it though.

When we encountered the yeti, we figured there was something wrong (they’re normally not organized and warlike) and I knew they’d come after us.  So we carefully set an ambush with Harwynian’s new spell Firefall.  We carefully set out a 60′ perimeter from the stairs and waited.  Sadly, Harwynian – out of forgetfulness or from deliberately being a douche, we’re still not sure – neglected to tell us there’s a 120′ blindness effect. I tried to use my samurai strategy ability to let everyone get a free move back into an enclosed space, but of course the usual suspects decided they were way too buff to retreat 30′ even when blinded and outnumbered! Of course this forces us to not abandon them to their folly, but to pour healing and help into them despite it. So what should have been a turkey shoot nearly killed us.  But I’m not bitter.

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Ten Year Old Girls Review Rise of the Runelords Miniatures

Posted on August 25, 2012 | 4 comments

I had my new minis out from yesterday’s post-purchase initial review of the new Wizkids Pathfinder Battles Rise of the Runelords minis. (My that’s a long name.)  Go there to see the pictures for context. My daughter and one of her little friends saw them and decided to give me their opinions on them.  It was hilarious. Here’s as much as I could capture from stream of consciousness 10 year old girlspeak…

Storm Giantess: “She looks like she’s about to do something to me.”
“Cut you into pieces?”
“Yeah.”

Ogre Brute: “Looks like trollface meme guy.” <brief interruption where they tell me I’m so uncool and not up with the hip new things and we have to Google trollface. He does.>

Mash-fell-knocker (their pronunciation of Malfeshnekor):  <in a high voice> “Who’s a good doggie, who’s a good doggie, who’s a good doggie?” <in a harsh voice> “I kill you!”
“He looks like a monkey with elf ears.”
“He looks like a mix between a bat, a dog, and the ‘My precious’ guy from Lord of the Rings.”

Lucretia: “Her hair and eyes look evil.  She’s kinda bald but pretty. She must be the queen of something.”
<imitating Lucretia>  “You must obey me or be cut into pieces!”

Lyrie Akenja: “For Pete’s sake woman, put on a shirt!”
“Put on a shirt!  Put on a shirt!  Put on a shirt!” <chanting together>
“She has a wand, what is this, Harry Potter?”
“Oh look she has a kitty!”
<a long discussion on the pros and cons of kitties ensues>

Ogrekin: “Looks like Invader Zim with a muscly body and something on his head.”
“Looks like a bodybuilder with a messed up face.”
“Yeah, his face is jacked up.”
“Is that a baby rattle he has?”
<i do have to admit the ogrekin’s weapon is underwhelming, needs more meat on it>

Faceless Stalker:  “It looks like a beast that paints itself.”
“Put on some clothes!”
“His weapon looks like a spoon.”
<reading the base> “6 of 65!  Wow!  Good job for nothin’, guy!”
<this is a pretty weak mini, I agree with the girls>

Wraith: “Tornado man!”
“He kinda reminds me of the Statue of Liberty!”
“I know!”
“He’s not the Statue of Liberty, he’s the Statue of Liberty’s torch.”
“Yeah.”

Goblin Commando on Goblin Dog: “Oh look it’s a gremlin!  It’s a gremlin riding a puppy.”
“He looks like the guy from that book… Origami Yoda!” <I feel pain and regret that apparently kids nowadays don’t know Yoda except via derivative media.>
“He looks like the gremlins from that movie where the girl’s little brother gets taken and she has to marry someone and they attack her face!”
<a long Q&A ensues where I try to figure out what movie she’s talking about>
“Yeah, Labyrinth!”
“I’m bored, can we go play Littlest Pet Shops now?”

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Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords Minis, I Haz Them

Posted on August 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

I was in a local game store and discovered they had the new Wizkids Pathfinder Battles Rise of the Runelords minis!  I grabbed some boxes and thought I’d share.

I got one Huge box that came with a Storm Giantess,

then each of the normal boosters had a Large; I got an Ogre Brute and Malfeshnekor himself;

and then each normal booster had three medium/smalls in it – from left to right, Lucrecia, a wraith, a faceless stalker, Lyrie Akenja, a goblin commando on a goblin dog, and an ogrekin.

And here they are in ensemble to show relative sizes.

The sculpts are very nice and the painting is very nice, I like all these figures, they’re very distinctive.

I am disappointed a little in the Huge, however.  For $25 there’s no real fine painting work – her cloak, for example, is one big ol’ swath of the same purple and her trident is a homogeneous green (and made of a much more flexible plastic than the rest of the mini, it’s quite warped and not able to be made convincingly straight.  On a Huge I expect more detail than that.  The Large ogre brute is really nice and has more detail and nice washes – he looks better than the Huge; heck that whore with the cat (Lyrie) has more detail than the storm giantess.  Lucretia’s high cheekbones and piercing eyes are really, really good

But there’s a lot of improvement from the already good Heroes and Monsters minis – go see my old review of those and compare the ogre and goblins to this ogre and goblin – the ogre in particular is like 1000% better sculpt and paint.  And the small boosters having 4 rather than 1 mini is much better.

What they did right, they kept up – the bases are nice and flat, none of that D&D Minis falling over/warped base crap. Easy to unbox, all were in fine shape.

They’re high quality and nice.  I am not sure I plan to buy a lot though – they are expensive as crap! I just dropped $60 on these 9 minis.  Sure, you can get discount cases blah blah – I might do it if I were about to run Runelords, but other than that I’ll get a couple and use my rich legacy base of minis, Reaper kickstarter unpainteds, and pawns to fill in the gaps.

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Reaper Kickstarter Or OSR Manifesto?

Posted on August 24, 2012 | 8 comments

In an interesting move that’s almost a political statement, the Reaper minis kickstarter that’s going crazy ($2.5M, 13,590 backers) is giving away a Swords & Wizardry PDF with the big set of rewards now.

The weird thing about that is that the Swords & Wizardry PDF is already available for free.  So this is less a giveaway and more a promotion.  And it’s likely to be a successful promotion; I don’t know how many people have downloaded Swords & Wizardry ever but I think another 13,500 is a very significant percentage of that number.

I think it’s interesting that a minis company would push something like that basically for no real business benefit (they are selling Pathfinder branded minis, so some giveaway there wouldn’t have been as much of a surprise – or heck, it’s 3e/4e that have pushed miniature use in general a lot more than earlier D&D did, but the financial give-back from any OSR promotion is likely to be in the “maybe it’ll buy a latte” range).  I know some of it’s just personal interest, here in central/north Texas there’s a lot of OSR going on, but one can’t help but reflect during the D&D Next playtest what the implications of a lot of new blood getting their hands on the old rules might mean.  Positive things I hope; Next is starting to bloat during playtest from Basic to 4e very quickly, perhaps people will get a taste of a more stripped down ruleset and realize they don’t need all those layers of rules for fun.

My verdict – ballsy, interesting, good on you guys!

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One Day Left For The Most Insane Minis Deal Ever

Posted on August 24, 2012 | 2 comments

Man, I already have more minis than I know what to do with.  But this Reaper Minis “Bones” (unpainted resin) Kickstarter has gone nuclear, having hit $2.2M already and with a day to go, my $100 pledge is now getting me… Something like 217 minis, but it’s hard to count them all up!

If you pledge at the Vampire level ($100), you get bonus rewards at every additional increment of funding they raise – some Larges, Pathfinder iconics and goblins, lots of general stuff, all sharp looking Reaper sculpts. If you pledge more there’s all kinds of extras and whatnot (they’ll send you a form after it closes to specifically pick add-ons).  I put in an extra $50 to get a case and some dragons or something, haven’t decided yet.

This is probably the best deal one will ever find for minis, so sign up!  And then come over to my place and paint my minis for me.

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Why I’m Worried About The D&D Next Playtest

Posted on August 21, 2012 | 17 comments

I’ve been participating in the D&D Next playtest. So far, I think what I’ve seen is OK.  But I’m not sure it’s totally valid.  Here’s why.

Playtesting a subset of a rule system is deceptive.  I thought the core mechanic in 4e was just fine, it was more all the junk they ladled on top of it that was a dealkiller.

One of the main things I want out of D&D Next is to make the core rules slimmer and simpler – more like Basic/Red Box or 2e than these 300, 400, 500+ page legal tomes we’re saddled with as Player’s Handbooks nowadays. Simplifying D&D is how you’ll get the next generation on board. The initial playtest packet *seems* nicely streamlined – but is that just because they’re only giving us a small subset?

I’m getting concerned about whether they’ll be showing enough restraint that Next won’t turn into the same bloated mess.  Already they are adding on more and more stuff to the core rules because ‘someone wanted it.’ I don’t believe we need a wizard and a sorcerer and a warlock in the core rules.  I believe we need a wizard, and the others can be added on in optional supplements later. Sure, someone wants them – someone wants everything.  That’s why design by committee is a Godawful way of doing things. “Next will be maximally inclusive” looks like it may be code for that. We have opportunity attacks back too, and fighter powers.  Nice frosting but not must haves.

I don’t mind adding things on – but not in the core rules.  Everyone feels entitled to have access to everything in the core rules. Everyone pretty much has to read and understand everything in the core rules. The core rules need to be the true core of the game – fighter, wizard, cleric, thief; dwarf, elf, halfling, human; exploration rules and some weapons and some spells, go. We had plenty of fun with just that from the Red Box. That’s Dungeons & Dragons.

Mike Mearls, pay attention – if you cannot make the Player’s Handbook no more than 128 pages long, you will have failed. Take all those two years with of “but we want this other thing too” comments and pack them the hell away for future product releases. (Naturally if you are putting DM info, magic items, monsters etc. into the book so it’s a core rulebook not just a player’s handbook you get a little slack here, but you probably shouldn’t do that.)

I already have a 500 page D&D game that works fine.  I’m not interested in another.  The only way you lure me away is with a leaner, finer machine. Do it.  Stop now and ship 5e if you can’t resist adding more junk back in.

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D&D Gen Con 2012 Keynote

Posted on August 20, 2012 | 3 comments

Here’s the full video of the D&D keynote from Gen Con.  Sounds largely positive. They are taking the Domino’s route of owning up to screwing up.  Mike Mearls says that D&D R&D went astray and started to prescribe certain playstyles and they want to move back to empowering all styles and making it “your” game.  And that it’s not the rules that are important, made to be broken, a minor part of the shared gaming experience, there’s freedom to do whatever you imagine, etc.  They’ve put the rules and designers first lately and that makes in “their” game not our game. It’s nice to hear it said out loud, but they have to put their money where their mouth is.

The one thing they did do to back it up was to announce all the D&D backlist will be made available electronically!  They didn’t say “PDF,” it may end up being some crappy device-tied DRM in an unusable format, but it’s a start.

On the bad side, they’re doing yet another major Forgotten Realms shakeup, “The Sundering.” This is why I hate the Realms, its continuity is almost as bad as the comic Earth’s (DC or Marvel,  your choice). When challenged on this Mearls says “Oh sure but AFTER the sundering it’ll all become normal and the stories are yours.”  Of course this new era only lasts until they decide to do a shakeup or have a D&D After Next, says the cynic in me. They’re also going to have people send in results from published adventures with majority results to decide “what happens to the game world,” which has always been gimmicky when done before. This is less “you shape the Realms” and more “dance for me my little monkeys” IMO.

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Jade Regent – The Hungry Storm, Session 4

Posted on August 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Fourth Session (11 page pdf) – We brave the Dead Man’s Dome, Ameiko gets roofied by a lonely ogre, and we decide to head through the Mines of Moria with our whole caravan.

I’ve been slacking on the blogging over the summer, but not on the gaming!  I’m playing in Jade Regent every other week and running Reavers on the Seas of Fate every other week.

The session takes care of the big fight at Dead Man’s Dome in less than a page, but it was a big ol’ caravan battle and took a while. The caravan got banged up but we came through it fine. And with that we finished crossing the Crown of the World!

We’re not really sure how we’re not the only caravan to cross the Crown, since you need high level adventurers to do it. But, it’s always harder for PCs, so that’s fair enough.

Then an ogre mage charms Ameiko and runs off with her.  We track him down and kill him but it’s not really clear whether he was like an agent of the Five Winds out to get us or if he was just a lonely rapist. Enquiring minds may never know.

Then we have storm  trouble (HUNGRY storms, natch) and decide to pass some mountains by taking the whole darn caravan into the Caves of Desna (aka Mines of  Moria) and go all the way through.  This seems unlikely to us but it’s where the plot wants us to go, so we go…

 

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More Gushing About Pathfinder and Paizo

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 3 comments

OK, let me just combine all this up into one post so all my posts aren’t just pro-Paizo puff pieces.

First of all, Paizo just swept the ENnie awards yet again.  Gold medals for product of the year, favorite publisher, best production values, best cartography, best minis, best cover art, etc.  It’s just embarrassing.

Next, they have some whole new product lines they’re offering via subscription.  Comics, which doesn’t excite me, but the pawns are cool.  Basically cardboard standups to replace minis (even though they have a minis line too).  You get them at about 15 cents per pawn, and they are honestly arguably better than minis – less storage, full color, you don’t have to paint them… And themed to what you need.  Very nice.

And they have reissued perhaps the best adventure ever, Rise of the Runelords, updated for Pathfinder, and with a tie-in to this year’s Shattered Star Adventure Path.

Paizo is putting out more, better product than anyone ever – even TSR at its height.  It’s a true Renaissance of tabletop gaming and they are leading it.

OK, now back to your regularly scheduled cynicism.

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Want A Mess Of Cheap Miniatures?

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 7 comments

Well, Reaper Minis is having a Kickstarter for their “Bones” (unpainted resin minis) line, and it has raised – get this – $750,000!!!  Their gain is your… gain, because now for a $100 pledge you’ll get 145 minis (and maybe more, as more pledge money pours in!).  The latest nine are officially licensed Pathfinder goblin minis.  You have a week left to sign up!

Now, I don’t know if I want 145 unpainted minis, because I have no patience for painting.  On the other hand… 145 minis for $100?  Sheeeeeeit. How can I turn it down?  A dilemma.  All of you should sign up so they’ll give us more stuff and it’ll help me make my mind up!  🙂

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