Le Havre is a port city in France. Le Havre is the new game from the designer of Agricola. Guess which one I now own? Yes, alas, I don't own a town. However, in the stakes of really cool games, Le Havre is very close to the top.

The game is about developing the port city: building or buying buildings, harvesting goods and then manufacturing them into more useful commodities and - eventually - shipping them away for VPs. Sounds like Puerto Rico? Well, it's a long way from the game in how it's played. It's closer to Agricola or Caylus.

Unlike those last two worthy games, you only have one "worker". On your turn, you can either harvest goods or move your worker to a new building and obtain its effect (which can be converting goods to commodities, gaining goods, gaining commodities, building a new building, or a host of other effects). There's a couple of tricks here: the first is that you can't move your worker to a building that someone else has a worker in. This can be frustrating when you really want to build a ship but both wharves are currently occupied. The second is that you can use your own buildings for free... but other buildings cost. So, if you want to use your opponent's wharf, you have to pay him - either in money or in fish. Well, food. Most commonly fish.

I got to see part of the "simple" or "shortened" game played today by my students. Talk about frustrating - watching the game that I bought (for aus$96) being played by someone else! However, the game recommends it isn't played by 5 or more players; 3 is the sweet spot. They didn't get all of the way through the game - indeed, for 4 players, the shortened game still lasts about 2 hours! - but they got about 2/3rds of the way through... and now I want to play it more than ever!

The game is much less component-heavy than Agricola: only 110 cards, compared to over 300. However, it still has a lot of variety. The six special buildings are different each game (from 36), and the order the standard buildings come out can be very different.

I'm not sure when my first chance to play Le Havre with my friends will come. Friday night is D&D, Saturday is Worldwide D&D Game Day, and Sunday is more D&D. Hmm...

The poll for "best number of players" for Le Havre on BGG currently stands at:
solo - 3% best; 67% recommend, 30% avoid
2-player - 25% best; 69% recommend; 6% avoid
3-player - 80% best; 19% recommend; 1% avoid
4-player - 28% best; 62% recommend; 10% avoid
5-player - 0% best; 3% recommend; 97% avoid

MerricB

At long last, I managed to play another game of Battletech on the weekend. It was Josh's and Rich's first game, but they learnt the rules pretty quickly and, I think, had a great time blowing up my mechs.

Two of my mechs suffered Ammo explosions, which was bad. Very bad. Goodbye pilots!

Meanwhile, Josh and Rich, playing mechs of Sorenson's Sabres, completed their mission. They only lost one mech during the battle - a Panther that was unfortunate enough to suffer three engine hits! They also had a Trebuchet with one engine hit, which wasn't that fun to pilot, though, in the end, it was very important for them completing the mission successfully.

The game took about 4 hours to go through; not too bad given new players and the opposition they were facing. With any luck, we'll get another game on this coming Saturday.

Our last session of the Friday Greyhawk campaign was not one of my better efforts. It didn't help that I had a couple of players missing (pulling out at the last moment), nor that I was dreadfully tired. It was also a transition session, where we changed between one style of campaign plot to another. Urgh. We had four short (and quite boring) combats, plus a little roleplaying. It did, however, serve its purpose and, with any luck, things will be looking up now.

There were a couple of good things to come out of the sesion, thankfully.

The first was due to Rich. I'd concocted the story of this band of university students finding an ogre's cave, getting beat up, and returning with the news of its location to the university. From then on, it became a popular dare to visit the cave and see the ogre. This group of adventurers (with prodding from a new NPC) decided to go and slay the ogre and take its treasure. Upon arriving, Rich's paladin entered first, with the rogue and ranger sneaking in behind.

Rich saw this menacing ogre growling at him, club upraised, and completely flubbed his Perception check. For the next few minutes, he tried to talk to an unresponsive ogre. Finally, his patience exhausted, he charged it... only to drop into the 20' deep pit before the stuffed ogre skin. Then the bugbears charged the others in the party!

That was a fun moment. Eventually, Rich climbed out and the combat turned in their favour.

The other important thing that occured was the introduction of Teresa Corthan, daughter of my original AD&D magic-user, Meliander. Nathaniel had expressed a wish for more elements of his homeland of Ulek to be used in the campaign. So, enter Teresa as an NPC - a 16 year-old girl, who'd been sent to Greyhawk to attend the same college as Nate's character.

Teresa will be a lot of fun; she's a NPC that I'll enjoy roleplaying, and she also provides a lot of interesting plothooks. She also firmly fixes the campaign in the timeline. If she's 16, then it must be 598 CY. I might add a couple of years to her age (and the timeline) once I've placed everything properly in the timeline... but I know she was born in 582 CY, so that's a firm dating point for everything else.

Now to see if I can design a better adventure for our next session!

MerricB

With us getting back to speed with our roleplaying campaigns, I thought now would be a nice time to discuss the Castle Greyhawk campaign and where it's going. Because - as you might know by now - I don't have a clue!

The original concept for the game was mostly as a dungeon-delve campaign centred about Castle Greyhawk (using the Castle Zagyg material from TLG), with the option of more plot-based material being included as the campaign developed. It's been somewhat derailed of late with the inclusion of the Hall of Many Panes - although fitting the theme, not quite what I originally had in mind. I don't want to use much more of the HOMP at present, because it really wants you to be entering the Paragon tier. Yes, I do want to come back to it, because I think you'll enjoy it, but some of the threats really are too much for you at present.

Anyway, here's a summary of important campaign and personal themes as I see them. For my players, please add your own impressions of the campaign and your PC, and some suggestions as to where you'd like the campaign and your PC to go...

Campaign in General
The group began just as newbie adventurers, exploring Castle Greyhawk because it was nearby and had the reputation of a place you could find treasure(!). Slowly, you started doing small missions for people with an interest in your life - the church that uncursed Peggy; and, more recently, Peggy & Nate's tutor from Grey College, who was very interested in the old Chateau belonging to Zagyg.

PC-specific themes:
Martin - Martin made the mistake of telling me that his dwarf's (Gromley's) motivation was to pay off a debt to the thieves' guild. So, I decided to make the thieves' guild rather important to his character; sending him on quests and the like. I'm not sure if Martin wishes to keep up this relationship or not. (Me? I think it's fun!)

Nathaniel - as far as I can see, Will's main interest is in having fun; I've got minor plot threads involved with his tutor, Doctor Southey, but not much beyond that. Nate, would you like anything more for Will in the campaign?

Peggy - like Nathaniel, most of the plotting around Peggy has been incidental as part of being a student of Doctor Southey. Not really sure of much background, etc.

Adam - I don't know much about Adam's new character. Well, that it's a swordmage, yes, but not much more background after that. Adam's old character, the traitor, is likely to be an ongoing foe throughout the early part of the campaign. Which will be fun!

Rich - Paladin, and not much more known about him yet. (Deity is Heironeous, right, Rich?) I'll probably add a bunch more church-related stuff as the campaign shifts back to Greyhawk.

Foes and Friends
The Orcs of Iuz - these are the ones that Adam's old character joined. Led by a rather nasty priest of Iuz, they've been investigating the Chateau and otherwise proving troublesome.

The Church of Rao - a minor player in the campaign; this is the temple that healed Peggy's wizard from that curse she inflicted on herself, and, as payment, sent you on a quest to find a knight and his son who were captured by the humanoids of the Mouths of Madness (the caves around the base of Castle Greyhawk).

The Thieves' Guild - the thorn in the side of Gromley; they sent him to rescue a merchant from the caves. He rescued the merchant, and then the merchant was killed by a beautiful, female assassin (Jade). Oops. They're not so happy with Gromley as a result.

Jade - She killed a merchant. She's pretty. She's a mystery. I may have misremembered her name; my notes are at home.

Grey College - the academic institution that Peggy and Nate's characters are going to (under the tuition of Doctor Southey). They have an interest in artefacts of Zagyg, and they really can't wait until Adam delivers the toga of Zagyg. (It's a sheet they found in his chateau. Don't ask).

The Greenleaf Tavern - it's run by a couple of ex-adventurers (old PCs of Adam and me), and has been the base of the PCs for some of the campaign. It has good food, great booze, and gives a small discount to adventurers (compared to the rest of the taverns in the city, who mark things up for adventurers!) One of the owners is the high priest of Pelor in the city (Alvares Yulos), and may be a useful contact.

MerricB

I've almost played 100 games of Dominion on BSW. Hooray!

The game is remaining entertaining, although there are times when interaction ceases and super-combo decks become standard. Just like Magic. Yeah, there are things I don't miss about Magic.

The Chapel (trash up to 4 cards in hand) has proven to be incredibly powerful - especially when taken early game. Getting rid of all the low value cards in hand makes your deck so much more efficient.

Talking of weird combos, I now have the new FFG version of Cosmic Encounter. Bitswise, it's great. 50 races, and nice plastic spaceships that are so, so much more usable than the recent Avalon Hill version. (They are little flying saucers that stack). They've also got plans for an expansion. Let's see how that goes.

I also have the upgrade pack for Talisman 4e. Now to get the Reaper expansion...

I also buckled and picked up the Road to Legend expansion for Descent. (Scott - did you ever finish that campaign you were running?) Don't know how often we'll get to play it; the drawback of our group owning somewhere upwards of 150 boardgames. Or 200. We need to find out.

I was happily reading the 4e Draconomicon and Manual of the Planes on the weekend. I've got a sneaking suspicion that they might be the best versions of those books yet. Yeah, I enjoyed them. 4e does some incredible things to the D&D cosmology - it keeps the best of the old, and puts in a lot of things that really resonate with me. Shadowfell and Feywild, I'm looking at you! (Oh, and the Elemental Chaos. Love that concept).

And I've just got to love any book that gives space to the Fomorians.

MerricB

I'm 36 today. The years are speeding by now. I've had a very good year, all things considered, although this isn't my favourite day of it - I'm stuck at work printing report after report. Given that's also what I was doing yesterday and most of last week, I'm a bit sick of it now.

Happily, I've got two new boardgames: Dominion (currently #7 on BGG) and Battlestar Galactica. Unhappily, I'll have to wait a few days until I can play them. No, neither were birthday presents.

Present-wise, I picked up a couple of gift cards, a promise of new shoes, and a Doctor Who talking key-chain, which I really, really like. One of the gift cards has been turned into a Doctor Who DVD (The War Machines), the other will wait for either a trip to Melbourne, or - more likely - someone else's trip to Melbourne to be redeemed.

Oh, and my brother gave me a fabulous Folio Society Edition of I, Claudius by Robert Graves. I read the book many, many times when I was growing up, and I'm delighted to have a very nice edition of it - the old paperback copy has disintegrated, I'm afraid.

My friends and I celebrated my birthday on Sunday, after they endured several setbacks in getting out to my place with regards to transport. When they got here, we had a fun afternoon, playing several boardgames: Last Night on Earth: the Zombie Game, Transeuropa (with the Vexation expansion), Citadels, and Zooloretto. Vexation really changed Transeuropa. Rich was by far superior in that - he won every round. I won the other three - although for LNOE, I was the Zombies and the heroes almost won. But not quite.

MerricB

Yesterday, we had the latest session of our Thunderspire Labyrinth D&D 4e game. I'm very glad to say that it went much better than the last one, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Greg was able to make this session, so we had six players plus one DM (that was me, if somehow you haven't worked out I'm normally the DM for D&D sessions around here).



You can see the gang setting up the session here. From left and then around the table, there's Adam, Nate, Greg, Josh, Ben and Lily. For those who want a better shot of those on the right-hand side of the table, try this photo:



Nate's disappeared out of shot, but you've got a better picture of Josh, Ben and Lily.

We started this session early because Nathaniel had to disappear down to Melbourne to say goodbye to a friend. Which meant we started at the ungodly hour of 10 am. Well, that's when Josh, Adam and I turned up. Others straggled in afterwards. (We held this at Nate's place, so he was there already). So, it was closer to 10.30 when everyone was there, and then there was the usual friendly chatter before the session - we basically only see each other at these sessions, so there's a lot to catch up on - and so about 11 or a little later we actually started playing.

The really great thing about starting early was that my end time wasn't so constricted. Nate had to go at 2.30, but we were able to stay a little later as long as we closed the door behind us (which we think we did...) I didn't have the "must leave at 6 to get home for dinner" problem. That was really, really good. I wouldn't mind starting a few more of these Sunday sessions early - perhaps 11am? I wonder what everyone else thinks of that...

So, anyway, on to the adventure we went. We had one more of the gnoll rooms of the "Well of Demons" to deal with, and then it was onto the quests to find the items needed to enter the inner sanctum.

One of the best things about this section of the adventure was that the four encounters were all, in fact, quite different. This was a big difference to the last session where it was basically three straight combats. The first encounter was the PCs massively overwhelming the lone gnoll and their pet, and getting some unexpected assistance from other NPC adventurers - this was great because I also got to do some roleplaying. The second encounter was a skill challenge/roleplaying opportunity with some ghosts. The third encounter was wacky beyond description - the PCs crossed a hall with their eyes closed, only to find that at the other end were some monsters that got free strikes on them... and the final encounter was a more straight-up combat with some really nasty demons - with a bunch of traps that kept triggering and messing up the plans of the PCs.



One problem with this session was that I brought the wrong set of monster miniatures! So, the "gnolls" fighting the PCs were actually skeletons. Oops. Except for the gnoll fighting Lily's halfling in the back, which was actually a gnoll. I keep two sets of monster miniatures ready, one for each of the campaigns I'm running, and I grabbed the wrong set (after putting the PC miniatures in it...)

Still, we're used to proxying. I really need to remember to bring a better mini for Nate's half-elf warlock - we've been using a cloaked sword-wielder which doesn't quite work.

The skill challenge was interesting, especially as I'm pretty sure it was written pre-errata. I think it could give more aid for roleplaying the NPCs - the notes that are there gave me a pretty good idea of their personalities, but a few examples of what they might say would have been really, really useful. Watching our more talkative players trying to convince the NPCs that they meant well was great fun - especially Greg. Greg's talkative; he's just not very good at it. And he knows he isn't, so his contributions tend to be extremely amusing and not a little unhelpful from time to time.

We used a bit of Aid Another in the diplomacy checks, but I think I should be allowing more of it. Hmm.

Anyway, I ignored part of the skill challenge results just so I could get pertinent information over to the players - that, yes, the slaves were still alive and were being prepared for sacrifice, and that they needed to retrieve a few items before they'd be able to enter the inner sanctum. And the players were amusing me, which is always a bonus and makes me want to tell them more stuff.

The next encounter, the hall of mirrors (which the PCs advanced through with their eyes shut) was the most fun encounter of the session. You see, Lily advanced first into the room (she was consistently getting around 30 for her initiative, while everyone else was in the 10-15 range normally). So, she was the first to encounter a mirror, which trapped her in a little demiplane with a crazed gnoll. Uh oh!

From there, you had the rest of the group creeping along the walls with their eyes shut, hoping to reach something to bring her back, and Greg's Dragonborn Paladin attacking a mirror and getting trapped along with Lily.

Then came the bit where they rescued Lily, Greg & the Gnoll (whilst still dealing with other monsters), only to have Greg pop back into the mirror... Lily going unconscious... Greg, the Gnoll and Josh's dwarf playing "mirror tag" as they popped in and out of the mirror-prison...

It was all really confusing and hugely fun. Lily's rogue was dying at one point, but, thankfully, the gang managed to get to her and heal her.

After that, the final encounter was somewhat an anticlimax, despite being pretty fun. It actually was a fairly standard combat, all things considered, except for all the demon-pillar-traps, which were really problematic for the players. Adam's wizard darted into the room, around the corner, and grabbed the artefact they were wanting, but in doing so released the rest of the trapped demons. Oops. Nate and Adam combined with their zone powers to do nasty things to the demons, but the combat saw a few PCs really badly hurt and sometimes even unconscious.

I think I've identified one of the issuesI can sometimes have with 4e combat: when a PC goes down, even though healing him normally lifts him up to about 1/4 of his HP or more, he's still very much on the edge of death. Greg was up and down and up and down this combat, and it causes a few problems in tempo. At least Ben was here this session - his Warlord really helped keep the party alive. However, losing one of the front-line fighters (as seems fairly common in 4e) definitely hurts the party, and can extend a combat markedly.

Not sure if it's really a problem, but it's something that does occur.

I am not finding that a combat's result is determined a long time before its end - the result of that last combat was definitely up in the air for all but the last round or two - but it does seem the tempo and excitement of the combat faded in the last few rounds. Don't know if my players have the same feeling - what do you think, guys?

But yes, a much better session than last fortnight, and enough to make me really happy about where 4e is at present.

MerricB

A lot of games have suddenly come into stock, so I've been getting regular parcels from MilSims of late. The highlights:

Rails of Europe - the expansion to Railroad Tycoon, which is now out of print, and the license to the RRT name has gone. So, Glenn Drover is using the same system to produce a Rails of the World game, but before that comes out, Rails of Europe allows you to use your RRT pieces in a new setting. Confused? Cool! However, this is a really great game. I played a 3-player game with Randy and Rich on the weekend which Randy won, although I showed you could make a fairly high score without upgrading your engines.

Yesterday I had a 4-player game with my students. I won it by a solitary point - Sam would have won if he'd had completed his Baron card. Incredibly close, and very fun. I had the Venice-St Petersburg Baron card, but due to Steve's links, I couldn't go direct. It was more like Venice - Paris - Berlin - Moscow - St Peterburg! I owned the centre of the game, but Sam did really well down south.

Brass - I've played this once with Mark Brown and Randy, and absolutely loved it. My own copy came in yesterday. Lots of components, and a great Industrial Revolution game. Martin Wallace strikes again! 3-4 players, 2-3 hours. I'm looking forward to playing it again, especially as we'll get all the rules right this time. Not sure when we'll get a game, but we'll see.

Through the Ages - from the designer of Galaxy Trucker, comes this little game that brings the Civilization computer game experience to a card/board game. Well, sort of. This is another incredibly fun game, which I'm really happy to have. 2-4 players, plays best with 3, and takes about an hour per player for the full game. Our game on the weekend (Randy, Rich, me) saw me crush the other two by being (a) the technocrat with a lot of technologies and culture, and (b) be very lucky by drawing military defense cards to hold off Randy's barbarians as they attempted to crush my buildings. Highly recommended.

On the D&D side of things, both Martial Power and Dracomonicon: Chromatic Dragons arrived yesterday. I'm conflicted about D&D at present - it really doesn't help that lots of sessions have been cancelled or have been interrupted in one form or another recently. I hope Sunday's session goes well, because I need a good D&D experience before the year ends.

I've also been playing a lot of Stone Age online recently. I've begun to win games, although I've also lost a couple of games by 2-3 points (which is frustrating, especially in 3-4 player games). Stone Age is just lots and lots of fun.

MerricB

It's been a strange old week; I've been feeling mightily out of sorts during it. I'm not ill - at least, I don't think I am, but there have been a couple of things happening to unsettle me.

The major one was the car trouble I experienced on the weekend. My alternator died, so my battery was no longer recharging. This is really, really bad when your car is in Waubra, 30 km away from the garage in Ballarat you need to get it to. It's even worse when you realise that it's a Sunday and I'm meant to be in Ballarat playing D&D... Urgh.

Most of the players actually came out to my place instead, and so the next session of Thunderspire Labyrinth could go ahead. It was really nice to have Ben and his fiance Lily at the session... but I wish it had gone better. It was ok, I guess, but I was getting more and more distracted with worry about my car as the game went on which meant that I wasn't enjoying it (or making it as enjoyable) for the others as it could be.

Lily also was stuck, as a new player, with playing a halfling rogue. That was fine. What wasn't fine was the amount of tactical knowledge you really need to play a rogue effectively in combat... and there was too much combat and not enough exploration IMO. It's one of the weakest points of the H modules so far: there isn't enough to explore, it's just big challenge after big challenge.

In old-style D&D (especially AD&D), there's a much lesser hurdle for a new player to assimilate before they can play the game. With combat being basically "I hit them", and out of combat being "can I do this?" it's only the DM who really needs to know everything. The moving of responsibility from DM to player is a huge burden on teaching the game. I'd like to say that it makes the game better, but I'm not so sure that it does.

I want to be running some character-heavy games at present, but all the players who really focus on roleplaying seem to be arranging their lives so they can't attend at present. We did manage some good roleplaying in the Friday sessions (don't you love it when the group negotiates its way past a group of goblins rather than fights them?), but Sunday's session wasn't like that. I need to start looking past the written word in H2, I think. Splug was amusing, though, as he begged to be not left behind (as Lily's halfling made him redundant), and Adam and Nate convinced him that he needed to Guard The Inn, which he eventually took up with all the passion that only Splug can display.

Fortnightly play may well be interfering as well. Hmm. Does a weekly campaign help continuity and immersion?

The car is repaired, but I'm still not 100% sure of the future of my roleplaying at present. Boardgames are going very well - Through the Ages arrived, Rails of Europe is on its way, and Dominion can't be far behind. However, roleplaying has been such a part of my life, that having a rocky patch unsettles me significantly.

MerricB

I ran two campaigns in the County of Ulek between 2001 and 2007, using similar themes: the invasion of the county by the "Fhoi Myore", deformed giants (read Fomorians) with mystical powers, drawing heavily on Celtic mythology and the works of Michael Moorcock.

The County of Ulek was the homeland of my original AD&D character, Meliander Corthan, and material I developed for his background made its way into the games I ran.

I'm happy to say that the Fhoi Myore were eventually defeated in our final 3.5e session.

Court Wizards (2002)
Although it is the long-standing tradition in the County of Ulek to have a druidic ruler, various Counts have found it advantageous to have an advisor who knew more than a little about the arcane side of magic - a Court Wizard.

The power of the position has varied according to the holder and the Count; in most cases it has simply been as a minor advisory role, with little weight given to the advice, generally because the druidic training of the Count was in opposition to the arcane training of the Court Wizard.

The last three Court Wizards have been exceptional people, however. Count Lewenn has been more tolerant of their advice as well - which may be one reason that others in the druidic hierarchy are not entirely pleased with him at the current time.

Garion, the first of the three, took up the role as an elderly man, but held the position for fifteen years (566-580 CY). For the most part, he was retiring and deferential. The most important part of his service to the County was the introduction of more structured use of arcane magic into the celebrations of the four Festivals: Midwinter, Midsummer, and the Solstices. Illusions in the main, but fireworks and other amusements as well. The gnomes of Ulek now aid in the production of these illusions and fireworks, and the halflings are the most devoted spectators.

His student, Meliander Corthan (male human Wiz13, LG) returned to Jurnre after Garion's death to take up the position of Court Wizard. Meliander had been an active adventurer, and honoured by King Belvor of Furyondy for his work in hunting down remaining elements of the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Meliander was a more active political figure than Garion, although none could doubt his love for his homeland. Under his advice, and with the support of the Count and the Knight-Marshal, the County of Ulek began to build up its army against reports of growing evil in the Pomarj and the Wild Coast. This effort had barely begun, however, when the Greyhawk Wars erupted over the continent. With the forces of Iuz invading Furyondy and the Shield Lands, Meliander counselled the Count to send troops to aid the beleagered realms. The Count, with the agreement of his other advisors, concurred, and most of the County's army was sent north.

Meliander himself, receiving word of agents of both Iuz and Vecna looking for an artifact of some power - the Codex of the Infinite Planes - gathered together an adventuring company and left the County in order to stop them. It appears that he was successful, but none of the company returned.

His wife, an enchantress of noble birth from the City of Greyhawk, assumed his position as Court Wizard. The Lady Caitlin of Greyhawk (female human, NG, Wiz8), as she has become known, does not have the martial prowess of her husband, but is his superior in dealing with people and inspiring them. She soon had to deal with the invasion from the Pomarj of "General" Turmosh Mak and his horde of humanoids - with most of Ulek's forces away to the north, the County and Principality found themselves in an unenviable position. Together with Knight Marshal Lachlan, she managed to inspire the folk of Ulek to resist the invaders.

Today, Lady Caitlin still holds her husband's position as Court Wizard, and there is little doubt in anyone's mind that she would retain it if he were ever to return. Although most in the court believe Meliander to be dead, Lady Caitlin believes that he is still alive, and rebukes severely any who suggest otherwise.

Lady Caitlin seldom makes overt use of her magical skills, instead preferring to rely on her insight and charm. Her enemies in the court are primarily those she has blocked in advancing beyond their abilities - a number that is steadily increasing. Caitlin splits her time between the Royal Court and a tower constructed by her husband in the Silver Wood. She is raising her young daughter, Teresa, aided by her familiar - a pseudodragon named Teri - and Gillian the White (LG female human Pal9), sister of Meliander. Teresa was born in 581 C.Y, and has no conscious memory of her father, which greatly grieves her mother. Adventurers in the County are likely to find Caitlin sympathetic and an occasional source of commissions, as she has a wide ranging network of informants keeping her up to date on events throughout the western portion of the Flanaess.

Knight Marshal Lachlan (2002)
Within the County of Ulek, Knight-Marshal Lachlan (LN human Ftr 7) is the overall commander of all troops of the County. Knight-Marshall Lachlan rose to prominence during the Greyhawk Wars, when the previous commander of the combined forces of the County was slain in combat with the forces of Vecna, far to the north. The Knight-Marshal is a practical man, a widower with one child, and extremely unidealistic. He sees the commitment of forces to the Furyondian war against Iuz as having been the greatest folly, and he lives by the following motto: "See that Ulek is safe, first and last!" The Knight-Marshal is a permanent member of the Count's council, and one the Count gives much weight to, as the Count is very mindful of the heroic deeds that his commander did during the invasion from the Pomarj. Often, the Knight-Marshall finds himself in disagreement with the representatives from the clergy on the council board, especially with Huldil, a druid of Berei, or with the nobles who wish Ulek to be more open to trade, and thus, less secure. Strangely enough, the Knight-Marshal gets along quite well with Lady Caitlin of Greyhawk (NG human Wiz8), even though her views are often opposed to his own: this is because Lady Caitlin proved herself to the Knight Marshall during the War, as she rallied the Ulekian people. The Knight-Marshal's relationship with his son, Elmo, is a complicated one. Elmo's mother, whom the Knight Marshal loved dearly, died in childbirth, and Elmo has been raised by his stern father. Lachlan cannot look at his son without being reminded of his loss. In raising his son, Lachlan has rarely had a good word for him, seeking an unattainable perfection from his son. In addition to his duties as the commander of Ulek's forces, the Knight-Marshal Lachlan is also the chief representative of the Count's Justice. Twice a year, he makes a tour around the County to assure himself that no aspect of the Count's Law is being misused, and to collect petitions for redress.

The Troops of Ulek It should be emphasised that, in the main, the commanders of the various Ulekian troops rarely work together in a wholly unified fashion, as they are of varied sorts. Making up Ulek's armies are the following forces:

The Rangers of the East are led by Captain Lloyd (N human Ranger 6). Lloyd is independent as his troops are, though he does reluctantly submit to the Knight-Marshall's orders when he thinks they make sense (as they often do). The Rangers, primarily of human stock, though a few elves and half-elves may also be found amongst their number, are trained woodsmen and hunters. Their writ is to protect the east of Ulek from incursions from the Wild Coast and from the Pomarj.

They do this by using ambushes, traps and snares where possible. Each of the rangers is typically attired in leather or studded leather armour, armed with short or long bows, and a sword and dagger. Their number is primarily made up of actual Rangers and also a number of Rogues and Fighter/Rogues specialising in woodland skills. Knight-Marshal Lachlan is the commander of the County Cavalry, a small group of light and medium cavalry which patrols the western borders and heartland of the County. The medium cavalry is primarily made up of those humans of noble birth in the County; the light cavalry is commanded by nobles but its numbers are made up much more of those of the middle classes. Although the County Cavalry is relatively small in numbers (perhaps no more than 300 riders), they have a disproportionate effect on the morale and reputation of the County's defenders, due to their high level of training, their speed, and their dedication in battle.

Apart from these two bodies, the County of Ulek has no standing armies. However, during a time of war, the following bodies are formed:

* Light and Medium Human Infantry. The commanders of these forces come from various population centres around the county, or are assigned by Knight-Marshal Lachlan.

* Halfling Slingers and Shortbowmen. One company of such comes from Jurnre itself, others are formed as required from the halfling villages. The commander of the Jurnre Slingers, Master Proodfae, (LN halfling Ftr6/Rog1) is a permanent member of the Count's Council, and also represents many of the halflings in Jurnre.

* Gnome Crossbowmen and Light Infantry. The gnomes are much more concentrated towards the east of the County; their commander Hylae Corrinan, (CG gnome Ftr2/Rog4) only rarely attends Council meetings, as she prefers to see to the security of her small settlements in the foothills.

It should probably be emphasised that by no means are the combined forces of the County a formidible force. They are trained primarily in repelling minor humanoid incursions from the Pomarj and Wild Coast.

During the early stages of the Greyhawk Wars, much of the army was sent north to aid in the defense of Furyondy, Veluna and the Shield Lands from the invading Vecna. When Turmosh Mak led his army from the Pomarj, the County was ill-prepared to defend itself: in addition to the army being out of position, its commander had been slain, and the Court Wizard of Ulek, Meliander the Mage, had disappeared. It was only by the dint of much diplomacy and rallying by Knight-Marshal Lachlan with help from Lady Caitlin of Greyhawk that the County was prepared in time.

The characters, several years later... (2006)
Lady Caitlin, Court Wizard is the wife of Meliander Corthan, who held the position of Court Wizard before he disappeared in 582 CY. Upon her accession to the post shortly thereafter, she had to deal with the invasion from the Pomarj of "General" Turmosh Mak and his horde of humanoids - with most of Ulek's forces away to the north, the County and Principality found themselves in an unenviable position. Together with Knight Marshal Lachlan, she managed to inspire the folk of Ulek to resist the invaders.
Today, nine years later and in her mid 30s, Lady Caitlin is well regarded as the Court Wizard. Lady Caitlin still holds out hope for her husband's return, and has not remarried.

Lady Caitlin seldom makes overt use of her magical skills, instead preferring to rely on her insight and charm. She has made several enemies amongst the more fanatical in the military and church, although Count Lewenn and his heir Lady Paeneitha are strong supporters of their wizard. Caitlin splits her time between the Royal Court and a tower constructed by her husband in the Silver Wood.

Adventurers in the County are likely to find Caitlin sympathetic and an occasional source of commissions, as she has a wide ranging network of informants keeping her up to date on events throughout the western portion of the Flanaess.

Teresa Corthan was born in 581 C.Y, and has no conscious memory of her father, which greatly grieves her mother. She is training in the Bardic College of Ulek, although Teresa has not yet settled on her discipline, absorbing skills in learning, music and magic extremely well.

Branagh is one of the younger masters of the Bardic College of Ulek. He is highly intelligent and charming, but has a selfish streak that may undermine what he achieves for the county. He is a master of song, oratory and history, especially the history of magic. On occasion, he travels on expeditions to research some piece of lore or another, mostly with a few mercenaries he has hired for the purpose.

It is rumoured that Branagh is in contact with the rogue wizard Lochiel, once a pupil of Lady Caitlin's, but banished from the County Ulek for unknown reasons.

Raina is a senior librarian of the Bardic College and rather wedded to her job. She has a love of new knowledge that is only paralleled by her fear of venturing outside Jurnre - or her library! She is often the first person visitors to the library will meet, and will happily engage them in conversation for hours as she tries to learn everything they know. If the visitor can get a word in sideways, they find that she has an enormous store of knowledge - in addition to remembering everything she hears, she knows where most of the books are kept.

Huntmaster Haldir is the leader of the elven rangers of the Silverwood. He was captured by the Priests of Chaos when they first became active, and after being rescued became a strong voice in demanding action be taken against them. However, as they went quiet after their initial activity, he found himself the lone voice suggesting such action. With their recent resurgence, he is likely to find more support.

Lady Paenaitha is the orphaned niece of Count Lewenn - in fact, the count has never married - and in recent years has become his adopted daughter and heir. Well, as much of an heir as is possible in the County, where the druidical circles have final say in who becomes Count.

Her initial tomboyish ways have somewhat ameliorated, and she has been studying with the druids. That she displays some talent for the druidical arts is not in doubt, nor that she is drawn towards the faith of Ehlonna. This may prove troublesome down the path. Count Lewenn honours Berei above other deities, and the druids of Beory and Obad-hai are jealous of their diminished stature.

The halfling knight Savy is her protector and champion. A veteran of many adventures, Savy is occasionally sent on missions that Paenaitha considers important. (A recent example of this was during the recent incursion into the Bright Desert by forces loyal to Rahotep, a evil being from another plane).

Paenaitha is a NG Human Druid 3 or thereabouts - she certainly can scribe her own druidical scrolls, and sent some as a present to Sionaid of Copperleaf, with whom she is friendly.

She is most friendly with the Leafsisters of Ehlonna that live in the Oakhurst barony, along with members of the Baron's court there. She wants to discover what happened to Willem of Copperleaf, who disappeared during the last incursion of the Fhoi Myore, but her studies and position preclude her from doing more at this time.

Sionaid of Copperleaf is the younger daughter of the cantankerous Baron Copperleaf. With her recent kidnapping by the Priests of Chaos, Baron Copperleaf has become even more disaffected with the Count and the druidic hierarchy, and has threatened to secede from the County!

Derwa Leafsister (2006)
Derwa Leafsister, NG Human Cleric 9

Derwa is a priestess of Ehlonna, and the commander of the rangers that are based in the Borderland Keep. She was posted there by members of the Old Faith to keep her out of the way, but her stout resistance of the various humanoid bands that have attempted to enter the County of Ulek has raised her stature significantly in the County.

Derwa has fiery red hair and a pale complexion, and dresses in functional garb of green and brown; her only concession to fashion is a necklace of emeralds. She is famed for her ability with the bow, and she instructs many young rangers in its use. She is worried about the orc's destruction of natural habitats, and is somewhat suspicious of half-orcs.

Derwa tends to have an acerbic tongue and rarely suffers fools gladly, although she means well. She knows the terrain and humanoid tribes of the Wild Coast and Pomarj area very well, as in addition to collecting reports from the rangers who travel there, much of her early work as a priestess was spent travelling there.

Derwa is in her early forties (circa 591 CY) and is responsible for a group of a dozen rangers that are based in the Keep and Courwood. Although she spends most of her time in the Keep, she has family in Courwood and visits there for at least two months of each year.

Derwa often sends her rangers or allied groups into the Suss Forest, Wild Coast or Pomarj to keep track of what the various humanoid factions are doing, and thus may make a good patron for adventurers. As she is capable of casting raise dead, she can be a very useful person to know; Derwa will reduce the fee for doing so for characters of good alignment if they swear to serve her (and the County of Ulek) for a period of time - normally three to six months.

She is closer to the Keep's Castellan, Withell, than any other authority figure, even those in her own faith, and the pair share most of their decision-making chores.

MerricB

More old articles that I wrote in 2001. Boy, that's a long time ago now. I wasn't 30 yet!

In terms of dating, these are just before the Greyhawk Wars, circa 581 C.Y. My current campaigns are set in 596 C.Y. or thereabouts.

TRITHEREON

The Temple of Trithereon lies in the River Quarter of the City of Greyhawk, attended by only a very small clergy. As the deity of Individuality and Retribution, Trithereon's followers only visit the shrine on holy days unless they have retired from the active pursuit of the god's goals, which is to say, adventuring.

The primary active member of Trithereon's clergy in Greyhawk is the war-priestGerald (Ftr3/Clr9), who has recently led several expeditions against gnolls and humans serving the god Hextor in the Cairn Hills.

Gerald has been helped in this enterprise by followers of Heironeous, in what has been an unusual collaboration, as followers of the two religions are generally not on the best of terms due to Chaos vs. Law problems. Primarily amongst those helping Gerald of Trithereon has been Gillian the White (Pal7), a consecrated warrior from the County of Ulek.

HEXTOR

The Church of Hextor, in addition to trying to establish a presence in the Cairn Hills, also has major links to the slave trade. Because two of the primary tenets of the Hextorian religion are Might Makes Right and The Loser Is Weak, survivors of any battle are collected by followers of Hextor and shipped to lands that permit slavery. As the Flanaess has been wracked by minor or major wars for the past few centuries, the availablity of slaves has never been an issue.

The route from the Nyr Dyv to the southern seas is thus quite important, and only the Selintan River gives that sort of access. As a result, the City of Greyhawk as the major port on the Selintan River has an agent of the Slavers of Hextor working in it. Master Raeldis (Ftr5/Clr5) seems to make his living as a minor weaponsmith in the Artisan's Quarter, but in reality is the main agent for the priesthood of Hextor. As yet, none of the churches of Good have discovered his secret.

A major construction in the Cairn Hills is currently underway - a Temple of Hextor being built beneath one of the ancient tombs that give the Hills their name. Supervising this work is H'drek (gnoll Ftr2/Clr5). The temple is out of the way of the normal trade routes, but a few lone travellers have disappeared recently in the area.

ZILCHUS

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the God of Wealth is extremely popular in the merchant-city of Greyhawk, and possesses not only a main temple in the Garden Quarter, but also several smaller shrines attended by lesser priests (Clr2-4) around the city.

Services on Godsday are well attended, though it is unsure of how devout most merchants are. The need to get any advantage they can over their competitors keeps them coming to the temple - and making donations.

As a result, the Church of Zilchus is the wealthiest and most influential in the city. The great masses held on each of the four festivals (Richfest, Brewfest, etc.) are extremely popular, and are invitation only - the invitations coming by the donation of a sizable amount of money to the coffers of the Church. These four services are the one time you can see all of the Oligarchs of the city together, as they all make it a point to attend. (It it possible, nay, even likely, that some send look-alikes rather than attending themselves, but all give the appearance of attending.) The Patriarch of Zilchus has often been a member of the Oligarchs himself; this is certainly the case at the moment with Stakaster Villaine (Clr10) (Note: In a 3E campaign, giving Stakaster a level of 14+ may be appropriate.)

The church provides a constant source of employment for men-at-arms and lower-level adventurers, as merchants often need a military escort through some of the more lawless areas surrounding the Free City. Adventurers most often deal with Father Eras (Clr6), who provides details of current commissions.

It might seem that the church would keep a permanent force of men-at-arms available and patrolling the immediate area to keep down bandits. However the Captain of the Guard (a follower of Heironeous) has kept such reponsibility firmly in the hands of the City. Whilst two or three of the merchant-princes on the Oligarchy might grumble, they do at least see the sense of such a move - keeping the powers of Church and State separated.

On occasion, the church sponsors an expedition into the ruins of Castle Greyhawk or one of the tombs in the Cairn Hills in search of treasure. The temple takes 50% of any treasure found, but provides healing and resurrection (if needed) to the adventurers free of charge.

Zilchus' congregation is made up primarily of those in positions of power and the merchants of the city; the common folk tend to worship Norebo, Pelor and St Cuthbert.

HEIRONEOUS

Heironeous has an even lesser shrine in the City than Trithereon, normally tended only by a pair of acolytes. This is mainly due to the disapproval of the Council of Oligarchs - those worthies feeling very uneasy about the followers of any god of war being permitted in the City. They have only been prevented from banning such shrines altogether by the support of their Captain of the Guard (a follower of Heironeous).

THE KNIGHTS ERRANT OF HEIRONEOUS

During the height of the Great Kingdom's power, the churches of the brother-gods Heironeous and Hextor continually strived for ascendancy. One must not assume that because a god is aligned with evil that normal people will automatically condemn them and their followers - War was considered a nasty business, and if the followers of Heironeous were more high-minded about the entire business, well, the followers of Hextor were more effective in battle against the Great Kingdom's enemies.

In any case, once the House of Naelix rose to power (about 437 CY), the favour of the Emperors of the Malachite Throne turned decidedly towards the Church of Hextor and the darker Oeridian deities. The Church of Heironeous found itself losing significant support from the populace, and finally was forced from Rauxes altogether, the Church of Hextor taking over the Cathedral of Heironeous.

The survivors of the purge - for such it was - scattered to lands still uninfected by the taint that had overcome the House of Naelix. A certain group of them chose to remain wanderers, and fight evil as they could and as their abilities allowed. So began the order of the Knights Errant of Heironeous.

The Knights Errant are not an organisation as such, but more of a loosely bound group of like-minded paladins that wander the Flanaess. Their only allegiance is to Heironeous, though some still retain feelings for their homelands and prefer to protect those areas than wander more widely.

The Order is quite refreshing in one aspect: they tend to be more intelligent than most servants of Heironeous. This means that they will avoid a battle they don't think they can win. Though by no means cowards, they do prefer to act with common sense foremost in their minds. This is not to say that a Knight would not sacrifice himself for the cause of good, just that they don't do it with the monotonous regularity that the other Orders tend to display.

There is no leader of the Knights Errant. Individual masters travel alone, or equally commonly, with a young squire they are training in the Knight's Code. The Order has grown away from its origins, and no retaking of the Great Kingdom en masse is foreseeable in the near future, though individual knights occasionally wander into that area on missions of Weal.

The Knights Errant rarely take any permanent home until they feel they have grown too old for the fight. At that point, they renounce all trappings of their old status, and live simply - though most still give aid to those they consider worthy of it.

The Knights Errant are most common in the western half of the Flanaess, but can be found elsewhere. Of their number, Gillian the White (LG human female Pal7) has recently gained fame for several expeditions against slavers and followers of Hextor on the Wild Coast.

MerricB

I posted a number of articles on Canonfire in the past. I'd like to put another copy up in my blog just in case CF disappears. So, here is a pair of linked Greyhawk articles which may have relevance to current campaigns...

The Church of Xan-Yae (September 2001)
The Church of Xan-Yae never had a strong following in the City of Greyhawk. A few years ago, this changed when a particularly dynamic High Priestess of the faith was chosen, Xanetia.

Xanetia saw an opportunity to spread the word of the faith further, so with funds acquired from an early life spent adventuring, she set up a chapter of the faith in the City of Greyhawk. With uncharacteristic openness for a priestess of Xan-Yae, she built a small temple in the heart of the Foreign Quarter. In co-operation with the priesthood of Ehlonna, Xanetia announced that the church of Xan-Yae would fund an archery contest during Richfest that year.

The archery contest was a great success, and further contests were planned for future festivals. Meanwhile, the church began to attract more members as the tenets of physical perfection and mind over matter proved attractive to some of the more adventurous (or larcenous) of the citizenry.

Although happy with the spreading of the faith, the church in the west was rather less happy with the reinterpretation of certain aspects of the doctrine. With conservative elements gaining the upper hand in the western power struggles, a deputy was assigned to Xanetia, Yeven, a master of doctrinal theology.

Unsurprisingly, Xanetia and Yeven did not get along very well. However, further undermining of Xanetia's position was prevented by her popularity, and the discovery in the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk of The Medallion of Zuokan, reputed to be the holy symbol of Xan-Yae carried by her most puissant servant. (Zuokan is the demi-god servant of Xan-Yae, and is thought to be imprisoned somewhere).

Things were brought to a head a couple of years later just before the Richfest festival began, when the Medallion of Zuokan was stolen by a thief. Divinations revealed that the thief had fled into the dungeons beneath Castle Greyhawk, but had there perished to one of the many traps. An expedition recovered the medallion, but in doing so found that the thief had uncovered a statue of Xan-Yae!

Further investigations revealed further evidence of an abandoned Temple of Xan-Yae, reached through a teleporter in Castle Greyhawk. Within its confines the priests discovered several ancient scrolls of prophecy, foretelling a time when the church would be split and the Balance imperilled, and a method for combatting this time.

At this point, Xanetia took ill, and died shortly thereafter. Although nothing was proved, her supporters believed it was the result of poison. Yeven became leader of the church in Greyhawk, and began discontinuing several non-orthodox practices.

Then came the Night of Assassins. It was during the Brewfest festival. Yeven was planning to discontinue the archery contest, but he had not yet stopped it, and he was compelled to attend. During the final round, the leading archer suddenly changed his aim and killed Yeven with a Black Arrow of Iuz. Confusion ensued, of course. That night, whilst the temple was still trying to deal with the assassination, black-clad figures poured into the temple and killed everyone there; only a couple of priests escaped with their lives, and the Church of Xan-Yae's presence in Greyhawk was at an end.

Currently, there are two survivors of the purge. Yahlos, a war-priest of the faith, and Xelia, a mystic with certain gifts of prophecy. (They were investigating the hidden temple at the time.) Together they are seeking the truth behind the purge and Zuokan's disappearance, for they may be connected. Rumour states that Starlin Farr, the assassin of Yeven has repented of his deeds and has joined them in their quest.

The Secret Orders of Xan-Yae (September, 2001)

The Church of Xan-Yae, despite its recent activities in the City of Greyhawk, is a mystery to most of the dwellers of the Flanaess. Its initiates often appear to follow a completely different way of life than normal people, eating differently, moving differently, and most important of all, looking at the world in a different way than you or I.

This is because the initiates of Xan-Yae believe in perfecting themselves in all ways - mind, body and soul - and creating a perfect balance between these aspects of themselves. This is quite different to a devotee of Kord, who seeks only to perfect the body. The true initiate of Xan-Yae wants it all, and will go to what appears unreasonable lengths to attain it.

There are schisms within the faith on this subject, of course. Most believe that all aspects of perfection must be attained together, in balance with one another. A minority believe that perfecting one aspect first will aid in bringing the rest into harmony. It seems likely that Xanetia, the High Priestess in Greyhawk who was assassinated, followed this latter belief.

Apart from seeking a balance within themselves, certain dedicated adepts become members of the Order of Shadow Dancers. This order draws much strength from the demi-plane of Shadow, which of course is a balance between the light and dark. The members of this order seem strange even to lesser initiates of Xan-Yae, but none can doubt their loyalty to the goddess. It was whispered to me that the High Adepts of the Shadow Dancer order trade their material bodies for shadowstuff, and become that being we know as the shade, but I have not been able to confirm this beyond doubt.

(3E Rules note: Xan-Yae monks may freely multi-class with the Shadow Dancer prestige class, and its BAB should be considered to add to the monks unarmed attack BAB for purposes of determining additional attacks).

The schismatic Greyhawk faith, in addition to attracting a number of rogues who found the faith of Xan-Yae suited their needs, also began sponsoring an archery competion in league with the Church of Ehlonna. My sources within the temple tell me this is at least partly due to an old adventuring friendship between High Priestess Xanetia and a high-ranking devotee of Ehlonna. In any case, certain members of the Greyhawk faith incorporated archery into their methods of attaining perfection, believing that it provided a new method of bringing their mind and body into harmony.

This belief has seen a resurgence with the ascension of Yahlos to the High Priesthood in the City of Greyhawk, and the recruitment of Starlin Farr (a master archer, known by Yahlos to be the assassin of Xanetia, but unwittingly, for he was tricked by agents of Iuz).

One effect of this has been the formation of the Order of the Bow. Starlin Farr is its head, though often absent as he pursues dangerous quests to prove his atonement and to further the goals of the faith. From my observations of Master Starlin, I would say he has the blessing of the Lady upon him, but it is always possible that another power is watching over him.

(3E rules note: the Order of the Bow Initiate is a prestige class from Sword & Fist; it is only available to members of the faiths of Xan-Yae, Hextor or Ehlonna, though there may be odd exceptions).

I have learnt through my contacts in the church that the seeress Xelia has received a vision of Zuoken, the missing servant of the Lady, chained and blinded in some deep dungeon. As a result, Starlin Farr has been charged with the responsibility of finding the lost demi-god, although I am unsure of how many leads he has to go on.

It seems unlikely that Master Starlin will attempt this quest alone, and may seek aid from within the City of Greyhawk - whether his old adventuring party or a new one has not yet reached my ears.

MerricB

Well, another weekend - and my parents are back from Europe. More on that later. I also had my regular D&D 4E sessions, and both were excellent in very different ways.

The Castle Zagyg campaign was wacky and really enjoyable. Martin and Peggy were fairly tired, so it was left up to Adam and Nate to do the running... oh, dear. They reached the attic, and had a great time exploring through all the assorted junk and weird items Zagyg had left behind. Then they found a crate with a "bump" inside it. It was secured by three boxes filled with lead on top of it.

Adam and Nate immediately wanted to open it. Martin & Peggy immediately wanted to leave it alone. They argued for a while, then they bored a hole in the side of the box. A bloodshot human eye peered out from the other side. Hmm. Martin, Peggy & Rich, even more convinved of the error of opening the box (the other two were currently singing "What's in the box, in the box?") left the attic, leaving the two boys to do as they wish. One floating head attacking them later, they fled the attic as well, with Nate having teethmarks in his arm now. They locked the attic behind them, with the head now having sole dominion.

Down to the cellar, where they had the fun of being attacked by rats. Twice. Many bite marks later, they'd gotten rid of the rats, and they'd found the mirror. Seeing a trapped goblin inside made them a bit cautious, and they refused to release him, and carefully stepped away...

More in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, I had five players for the first time in a long while in the Thunderspire Labyrinth campaign. Ben was back from Melbourne, for his first session in a year. This was his first 4e game, but he showed no problems in adapting to the new rules and playing an extremely effective warlord. The session went for about five hours, and we got through five combat encounters as the group went through the duergar fortress looking for slaves.

This was something of a grind for the group, because they had a few attacks that did fire or poison damage. Guess what the Duergar were resistant to? That's right. As a result, Adam's wizard, in particular, was down to a lot of individual attacks rather than the group attacks that would have really sped things up.

One of the highlights of the session was when the group faced a bunch of orcs and an Ogre. The first orc was bloodied, and then Greg decided to intimidate him into surrendering... and did so. I described how the Ogre immediately killed him. A round later, and the Ogre was bloodied. Ben intimidated him, he surrendered, and the entire group went with him. That was glorious. (Apparently, you can actually make an intimidate check against an entire group of monsters - you roll against each one, although only the bloodied ones will surrender).

The group rescued a couple of slaves, though not the ones they were looking for. Ben safely guided them onto the path which wasn't guarded by duergar, and so they were able to attack sort of with surprise. When the group opens a door, I make them all make Stealth checks; if they beat the passive Perception checks of the opponents (with a +5 bonus to their checks due to the door), they surprise the group. It'll happen one of these days.

Finally, they fought the duergar leader, and that was a really tough battle. Ben's healing abilities were really useful. Splug also did a fair amount of damage, taking out the theurge almost by himself (the theurges were hideously strong against the group, as they rarely had enough room to spread out). Josh and Greg got into the front lines and as fighter and paladin, they laid down the attack on the duergar. Eventually the group were able to succeed - but it was a very close thing.

The prisoners remained unrescued as the group was bloodied and bleeding. They headed to a safe place to rest, and will return the next day (session). Don't know if we'll have Ben next session, but it was fantastic having him here for this one.

MerricB

Star Wars this week saw us almost complete Echoes of the Jedi. It also saw us missing our techie (Nathaniel) and our medical robot (Greg), which was incredibly not good.

However, some of the opponents we were facing made me wonder what the heck is going on in development for the DoD campaign. One opponent we faced had us start down the condition track and it had Damage Reduction of 25!

25.

Huh? On a creature with over 100 hp? Who's meant to hurt it? The jedi? When actually using a Jedi in this era is somewhat against the spirit of the movies? The mechanics of the encounter meant it started pretty much adjacent to us, with Reach 3. Escape? Not an option, I'm afraid, and we were already banged up. I so wish Saga used healing surges - it really, really needs them. Dungeon crawls (which this adventure is) work in D&D because you can recover between encounters. You can't in Star Wars. We were in full 5-minute day mode for this session.

Just found suggested errata from the authors to make it DR 10.

We levelled up to level 8 just before the session... just as well! That allowed me to take Officer (and now I can give +1d6 damage to all my friends against a single opponent each round), and Adam is now a Bounty Hunter, with the ability, when aiming, to send a target 1 down the condition track each time he damages it. He started using this in combination with Stun to send them 3 down the track...

MerricB

Once upon a time, I thought the 1st edition DMG was a great book. It's something that is still espoused by its fans on the 'net. However, I've got to say that my appreciation of it is dimming, partly from the fact that I actually have read the book many, many times in the past few years. It's not something that I just remember from my early days in AD&D.

There's still plenty about it that is useful and brilliant - it's just that there's a lot of real crap in the book as well... including some key sections.

Let's face it, Gary's explanation of how combat works, probably the most key section of the entire book, is riddled with inconsistencies, clunky sub-systems, and stuff that just doesn't make sense. The less said about unarmed combat the better, but the initiative system is a complete mess. "Compare the speed factor of the weapon with the number of segments the spell will require to cast to determine if the spell or the weapon will cast/strike first, subtracting the losing die roll on the initiative die roll from the weapon factor and treating negative results as positive." Huh? What?

The awarding of XP mostly makes sense, except that you're also meant to compare the power of the monsters to the power of the characters and adjust XP downwards if the PCs overpower them. This leads to some interesting scenarios - especially against tough solo monsters - where experienced characters pretty much can't gain full XP. If you face a lone beholder, a party of 6 PCs need to be about 2-3rd level to get full XP. More than that and the reward is signficantly reduced. The less said about training the better.

For some reasons, most DMs I've known gleefully ignore large sections of the initiative rules and use the simpler Basic D&D rules. With good reason. Heck, even Gary didn't use the DMG's initiative or training rules!

Gary also spent a lot of time fulminating against bad games - Monty Haul games, Killer games, games that allowed Monsters as PCs, and so forth. "AD&D means to set right both extremes," he wrote. Unfortunately, when it came time to actually giving actual examples or showing what a reasonable amount of treasure was, he failed to do so. After criticising his own magic items tables in D&D for allowing low-level PCs to gain any item... there is no change at all in the AD&D magic item tables!

Where the DMG actually shines isn't in its descriptions of the core rules, but instead in giving tools to the DM to populate their adventures with interesting encounters. The appendices are pure gold, and it's a shame that the section on tricks hasn't made its way into more recent versions of the DMG.

The rules on henchmen and hireling acquisition I'll probably be using in my current 4e campaign; certainly, they posit a more mercenary world than is common in the D&D core, but that's fine for a campaign based on Gary's Castle Greyhawk/Zagyg.

And the background descriptions for the artifacts still give me much pleasure in the reading.

Mostly, the AD&D DMG is a book for experienced DMs looking for inspiration in the dungeon-crawling and territory-acquisition world of Gygax's D&D. These days, with the emphasis shifted away to more plot/heroic-based campaigns, I'd say the 4th edition DMG is now the best version of the DMG to exist.

Ranking the DMGs? 4E > 3E > 3.5E > 1E >> 2E.

The 2E DMG? A travesty.

MerricB

The latest session of the Castle Greyhawk campaign saw Bradford's dwarven cleric Floyyd suffer death at the hands of a few orcs serving Iuz (minions now of Adam's traitorous warlock, Archibald). The group had been hired by Grey College to investigate the one-time mansion of Zagyg, which he lived in while his castle was built. Rich's paladin was absent for this session.

They avoided a group of ten soldiers patrolling the old castle track, and then took the overgrown path to the manse. Just as they arrived, a group of goblins and orcs ambushed them, slaying Floyyd, and knocking out Nathaniel's ranger. With all his fellows slain, the orc leader parleyed for his life with the group, "don't kill me and I don't kill your friends!" The group agreed, and the orc fled. Unfortunately, they weren't able to save Floyyd, but the ranger's life was saved.

Returning to Greyhawk, the group found a new companion at the Green Leaf Tavern: a holy warrior of Kord. (Exactly what she'll make of Rich's paladin of Heironeous is anyone's guess). Following Bradford's... unusual... naming methods, she's called Ginger Muffins. Oh, boy.

I didn't have to do much for the next hour as the group introduced themselves, but eventually the group returned to the adventure at hand. Reaching the manse proved easy enough - the orcs and goblins were gone. They peered through the shuttered windows before breaking in through the verandah.

Rats and giant centipedes were the main threats they had to face on the ground hall as they investigated the unusual place, taking a few items of interest from the archmage's study. They quickly worked out the "four candles" sketch, and made their way to the upper level where they found many a deserted guestroom.

In the mage's bedroom, they triggered a magical trap that had them fighting an owlbear. I'm amazed to relate that no-one actually died, despite it being a most dangerous combatant. (I'd made it up as a level 6 elite). With it dead, they were all very hurt indeed, so they decided to take a nap in the mage's bedroom, and there we left the session.

On Sunday, only Nathaniel and Josh could make the latest Thunderspire Labyrinth session (along with their pet goblin, Splug) and so I had another session of scaling all the encounters to three PCs. The group did horrible things to the bloodreaver slavers and then made their way to annoy some duergar. The last encounter almost saw a TPK, but Nathaniel demonstrated the power of the warlock and saved everyone's bacon. Splug made about 8 Death Saves in a row, displaying his awesome luck.

I wasn't adjusting the treasure much, so Nate (who has come to every session) is beginning to resemble a Christmas tree. Josh now has a set of +2 chainmail, which he wants to be platemail. I guess he'll need to find someone with the Transfer Enchantment ritual from Adventurer's Vault. That probably means Adam once Adam returns.

In a one-on-one combat, Nathaniel using eyebite is very scary...

The group completed five encounters (actually 6, but one was an extra one added when they fled and then returned). Not really much roleplaying, but we had a lot of fun.

MerricB