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Arthurian Adventures (in Ireland)

Particle_Man

Explorer
I forgot! Hubert showed up (he had been told in a dream to come to Castle Anguish). He had been trained (and pumped for information) by Baronet Roderick, and was now a tough fighter type! (He had a growth spurt, and the player rolled ridiculously lucky on 4d6). He brought the wagon, which had the staff the party was meant to return to the dryad Allessandra, now sadly deceased.
 

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Námo

First Post
Hi Particle Man!
I love your story. Keep up the good work. Awaiting news from Arthurian Ireland... :)
Any chance to see your heroes' stats?! Or the villains'? Maybe both? Please ;)
 
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Particle_Man

Explorer
I'll ask the heroes if they want/mind having their stats printed up (actually, Sir Anton's player posts on this thread and has his sheet, so he can post Sir Anton's stats if he wants to).

As for villains, well, not to spoil the illusion too much, but I pull them staight out of my a...I mean, out of the relevant books (Monster Manual for some monsters, DMG Generic NPC's, Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures for Monsters and Generic NPCs), using average hp. When I pick extra feats, I use toughness unless I have a reason not to. Easy to remember and adds a little bite to the minor villains, and it also means that the pc's are a little "better" than their npc contemporaries. Also, sometimes, I don't stat out the villains at all, but eyeball it (the younger "nun" had no stats, I just figured what spells she would have, and then given the party's suddenly increased resources (new Minstral with wand of faerie fire (grrr), new Hedge Mage), reasoned that she would have a chance of failing to escape. Then I gave hera level, hp and AC on the spot. And lo, she failed to escape! But she got better... :) ). Roderick is a great villain-to-be, but has no stats whatsoever, yet. I just knew he was tougher than the (damaged) Sir Andrew in the joust, and that his sister Brigit is tougher than he. One of the players has wondered how Brigit could have lost to the Giant Gotch in the meelee part of the joust. And they might find out why later, if they go to Baron Ivo's again.

Sir Lucius is another example. I knew that he was tougher than Sir Caius, but when he had the mind of a wolf man, I just use wolf man stats, with higher BAB and more HP. And because I didn't want to "Mary Sue" a character, but keep the spotlight on the pc's, I made sure the hag targeted the cured Lucius with something that incapacitated him for the battle (costing her an action), and Hobb (at the time) was useless in combat, but only good for healing.

Now Hobb (and Hubert) have stats as cohorts, but I had the players roll them and equip them.

I cannot overemphasize how much of a lazy DM I am. It is my second defining trait (my first being my lousy dice luck). Luckily, I have some small skill in improvising, and I have an idea of some critical events that are happening.

Partly this is because the party is advancing and moving around so much, that I don't want to put stats on a villain that will end up being either not encountered at all, or too weak compared to the party by the time the party encounters it.

Also, I don't bother to stat out noncombatants. Priests they encounter just heal them. Commoners talk to them. Etc.

The elder nun I worked backwards from. I figured what she was doing was something like Dominate. And she could heal, so that puts her at Priest 1/Hedge Mage 9 at least. And that is as far as I got. But since Sir Caius assassinated her while she was sleeping, and she had to make a fort save of 31, and rolled low, I didn't worry about statting her up. Good thing too; I would hate to have wasted that time.

Mind you, King Anguish is going to pay (in reputation, if nothing else) for allowing an honoured guest to be murdered in his own castle, but that is a social problem for the players.

And some of the megavillains already have stats in the text legends of excalibur: arthurian adventures, but currently they are in the "pulling strings and giving off a nice reputation" mode, so the party isn't going to fight them...yet.

I mean, the main NPCs (Arthur, Merlin, Morgan le Fey, etc.) are about 20th-30th level!!!! Good GOD! How could the party even hope to not be outclassed by the heroes, or decimated by the villains! So, I don't use those guys yet. And I do advance the party fairly quickly.

This is also why I give all spellcasters spontaneous access to all spells. It gives ME a break in preparation of villains, as I can just pick them out of the book on the fly (the players can too, so it is fair).

Now I may stat out villains later when/if it becomes likely the party will stick around for a while. But it is largely after the fact, so sorry I couldn't help you there.
 

Námo

First Post
Particle_Man said:
I cannot overemphasize how much of a lazy DM I am. It is my second defining trait (my first being my lousy dice luck). Luckily, I have some small skill in improvising, and I have an idea of some critical events that are happening.
[...]
Now I may stat out villains later when/if it becomes likely the party will stick around for a while. But it is largely after the fact, so sorry I couldn't help you there.

Actually, you did help a lot. The speed of your answer alone (thanks a lot) was amazing, I suspect that you are not that "lazy" but "using your resources wisely" - that is what I tell those players... So now I have another reason not to feel guilty about my lazyness as a DM :p
Although for NPCs with NPC classes I use Skill Focus and Toughness, so more variation there, I guess :lol:

And thanks for trying to get your players to post their PCs!
 
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Particle_Man

Explorer
First, I apologize for forgetting to ask my players if they minded having their characters posted. One of my cats is throwing up, and so my mind is preoccupied with the poor little guy. I will try to remember next time.

Happy times for our troupe! Sir Toby gets Officially knighted, Sir Andrew and Lady Leanne get Ordained (in the Christian and Druidic faiths, respectively -- Leanne is the new "Fox" in the druidic group). Prince Caius gave Sir Toby some nice chain barding and some silver horseshoes.

Prince Caius takes the popular Sir Toby and the others around the villages on a "goodwill tour" to get good PR and show that Sir Andrew is not the bad old "Sir Andrew" that was terrifying them. Then an unknown knight, with blank full plate and shield, throws down the guantlet at Prince Caius...literally! Then the Silent Knight (for he doesn't speak a word, ever) rides off to a nearby field. The peasants get excited (watching knights joust is like television to them). Prince Caius returns the guantlet to the Silent Knight and then gets ready (which means that he cheats and gets Hobb to buff him up, and Lady Leanne buffs him up more), but after three passes with the lance, the Silent Knight still stands. (Lady Leanne also used detect magic to notice that the Silent Knight has a ring with overpowering enchantment magic). Prince Caius retires, and then the Silent Knight repeats the guantlet deal with Sir Toby! This time, when Sir Andrew picks up the guantlet, he notices that there is some paper inside it. He gives the guantlet to Prince Caius, who returns it to the Silent Knight (but keeps the paper). Sir Toby kills the Silent Knight, who is then revealed as...Edmund, son of Sir Linus and squire to Prince Magnus, Prince Caius's missing eldest brother! (As well as Lady Christine's first liege, to keep this soap opera going.)

Well, that cuts short the goodwill mission. The group returns to Castle Anguish, and the body is laid to rest in state. Prince Caius asks Lady Leanne to get the ring from the body, discreetly. But when Lady Leanne removes the ring, the body (armor and all!) turns to dust, and then a wind blows the dust around. Plus, Lady Leanne feels compelled to keep the ring secret (she lies to Caius and says it was also destroyed). So it is thought in the castle that the body was stolen, for reasons unknown.

The paper has a code which the party mostly solves. I will not post it here since I don't want non-player posters solving the puzzle before the players do. If the players fully solves the puzzle I will post it.

Oh, the horse that Edmund was riding on was PERFECT! A noble steed, pure bred and blazing fast, and (as it turns out) noble in character (would not attack someone being attacked by another (no ganging up), protecting ladies, and looking with disapproval when later Lady Christines searches bodies.

A wedding is happening in two months (Sir Lucius and Dame Brigitte) but the group has itchy feat (and want to check out the possible Hag around Sir Anton's castle, if dreams can be believed). So off they go.

On the road they run into a couple of peasants fighting over a pig, and Sir Andrew dispenses justice (something Nobles and high level Knights can do -- Ironically, Prince Caius does not have this ability yet, since he is multi-classed). He judges in favour of one peasant, who boasts that he has the favour of the law, and if the other peasant doesn't like it, he can go off to that land where there are no laws or princes. Well, that let the cat out of the bag, and the lesser nobles are intrigued. They make the peasants tell them more, and hear of an old minstrel who sings of such a place. They decide to check this out, going to the last village that mistrel was seen in. This takes them off-road a bit.

Well, they go to that village, and then try to get back to the road via a shortcut. On the way, they come to a clearing in the woods which reveals a small castle! And I mean really small -- 10 feet in diameter, with tiny minarets, etc. "A castle for dwarves!" exclaims Sir Andrew, which pisses off Prince Hammoton and forces an apology from Sir Andrew. While they get closer to investigate, Lady Leanne notes that the castle is an illusion! But then the juvenille green dragon breathes an acid cone on half of the party. Kills a horse, too! OK, combat ensues and the party finds it very difficult to hit the dragon until Lady Christine dispells magic on it (removing the mage armor and shield spells, which synergized REALLY well with the dragon's natural armor). Then the party fights, and eventually defeats it. Under the dragon are three bodies -- two peasants and a nun. One of the peasants has a crude map.

The party decides to rest and heal up. Lady Leanne during her watch notices that two peasants are trying to sneak past. She warns them that they should go home (they were obviously trying to get to the free land, but lie about it, saying they are visiting a sick mother). Leanne tails them for a while and finds out where they camp.

Oh, and Sir Andrew managed to make a comment on the Lady of the Lake that Sir Anton follows being effectively "Fallen from grace" (a nicer way of saying she is a demon) and that makes Sir Anton challenge Sir Andrew (and their destinies have their non-lethal combat do lethal damage). But the fight is inconclusive (Lady Christine casts Hold Person on Sir Andrew!). The fight will be continued later, they say, when they are out of the woods and can joust properly. Ohhhhh boy.

The party decides to track the peasants to this so-called "Free Land" (no anarcho-syndicist communes will be tolerated, I guess). They eventually get to a village, and Prince Hammoton, as spokesman, gets the villagers out and Prince Caius announces that Sir Toby is their new lord. Then the party notices that these villagers are all male and all wearing gloves. And the two peasants they were following are not to be found. They offer food to the party.

Lady Leanne asks to see the larders, and takes Hubert with her, quietly warning him that the villagers are probably more of those "savage cannibals" that they have been fighting. But this sets Sir Hubert off to fight them, and combat is joined!

An old man comes out (and says, "Get them!" and the gloves come off and the claws come out!). 36 ghouls and 1 wight later (and that took *much* longer to play than to say), the party rescues the two peasants (tied up but not yet eaten). Lady Leanne searches the hut the old man came out of, and finds a chest with gold, a few scrolls and a few familiar golden statuettes (what happens to dwarves when they die is that their bodies disappear and these statuettes appear in their place). This angers the elven Lady Leanne, who then sets huts in the village on fire using a flaming sphere. Which the other knights see. Including the anti-hellfire, pro-Christian Sir Andrew. Oy. Looks like there will be intra-party violence next game!

I guess things were bound to come to a head between the Old Faith guys and Sir Andrew eventually. It will be interesting to see where this one leads.
 

Particle_Man

Explorer
That dragon was "inside" the minurature castle illusion, in case that wasn't clear (silent image spell creating a "shell" within which a juvenille green dragon could hide). I came up with that idea after seeing that the dragon was a 1st level spell-caster.

On fighting 36 ghouls. Get a sheet of paper and number off 1-36. Keep a wounds tally on ghouls that are not felled in a single blow, but make the player remember the number of his ghoul (You hit #27. Remember that). Not quite as fast as a Savage Worlds big combat, but it helps. Necessity was the mother of invention on this one! It helped that I decided that the ghouls are not yet bright enough to be that tactical (just move and attack, nothing fancy), and wasted an action taking off their gloves. But every group of undead they meet is just a little bit smarter (their brains are "Warming up", after having been "in hibernation" for so long). Mind you, I am likely upgrading to Wights soon. :)
 



Roman

First Post
Here are the basic Sir Anton's stats:


Basics
Player: Roman
Name: Sir Anton von Mu(e)nchen
Titles: Servant of the Lady (of the Lake), Perserver of Nature, Order of the Dove, Protector of (the Old) Faith
Gender: Male
Nationality: Holy Roman Empire (Germany), Bayern (Bavaria)
Bloodline: Lesser Noble
Race: Human
Class: Knight
Fate Points: 5
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 146 lb (very skinny for his height it seems, but dice don't lie ;) )
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Skin: Slightly Tanned
Allegiances: Code of Chivalry, Oath of Fealty (Lady of the Lake - "The Lady")
Motto: "Freedom through Service" - I wanted to have it in German, but not being German and having a limited German vocabulary I cannot find a German word that means service or duty and rhymes with Freiheit... I intendet something like "Freiheit du(e)rch ...heit" where ...heit is a german word for service or duty

Ability Scores
Strength: 14/+2
Dexterity: 8/-1
Constitution: 18/+4
Intelligence: 12/+1
Wisdom: 11/+0
Charisma: 16/+3

The lesser noble bloodline gives +2 constitution bonus as a replacement for the normal extra feat that humans get and for the extra skill points that humans get. This brought up Sir Anton's constitution from 16 to 18. At 4th level I raised his wisdom from 10 to 11.

Movement Related Statistics
Speed: 30 ft or 60 ft on his heavy warhorse
Encumberance: Light Load (58 lb), Medium Load (116 lb), Heavy Load (175 lb), Lift over Head (175 lb), Lift off the Ground (350 lb), Push or Drag (875 lb)

Saving Throws
Fortitude: 9
Reflex: 1
Will: 2


Combat Statistics
BAB: +7/+2
Attack: Masterwork Longsword +10 (d8 + 2), or +12 (d8 + 2) when Mounted, or Masterwork Heavy Lance +12 (d10 + 2)
Full Attack: Masterwork Longsword +10/+5 (d8 + 2), or +12/+7 (d8 + 2) when Mounted, or Masterwork Heavy Lance +12 (d10 + 2)
AC: 17
Hit Points: 96

Weapons
Masterwork Longsword
Masterwork Heavy Lance
Masterwork Dagger x 2

Protective Items
Heavy Steel Shield (AC bonus +2)
Fish Mail* Armour (AC bonus +6)

*Fish Mail: Sir Anton has magical armour that seems as if it were made of scales and Sir Anton has had some mystical contacts with fish, so I christened it 'Fish Mail'. It granted Sir Anton a DR of 1/-. Now, however, while Sir Anton was in fairyland (I was absent for two prior sessions), Queen Titania polished and shined his armour to the extreme and thus upgraded it to reflect 10% of the damage he suffers per physical attack (but a minimum of 1 point per physical attack) back to the attacker.

Steed
Heavy warhorse called "Schnell" with speed of 70 ft

Other Gear
Backpack with waterskin
Week's worth of trail rations
Bedroll
Sack
Flint & steel
Hooded lantern
Three pints of oil in flasks
Large golden cross on a golden chain - no longer worn around the neck, but still kept as a reminder of his former faith
Bible - no longer read, but still kept as a reminder of his former faith
Tent
Torch x 6
Parchment x 20
Ink vial x 2
Pen
Copper Feather - Order of the Dove symbol

I might add skills and feats/special abilities later. :)
 
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Vigilance

Explorer
My compliments Roman... that looks like a great character! You seem to have pulled together a lot of different elements of the game nicely.

Chuck
 

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