Play by Post underway

The PDF is complete and I have created a play by post game at www.playbyweb.com called Dragonhammer.
So far, I have three players and they have killed five elves, scared the hell out of an innocent halfling and are on their way to the nearest town to save them from the Xeno scum.. weather they want to be saved or not.
The combat system seems to be working fine in the play by post (PbP) format, I have included an area map that reveals as they travel through it, and used a tactical combat map, in five foot squares, for the round by round combat.. when the players wanted to move, they stated they wanted to move up one, right three, for instance, and I altered the map for each new round.

So far so good, no complaints, a few bits of info on using guns and such, but I think the rule book is doing it's job well.
The Dragonhammer PDF may be viewed for free at http://www.youpublish.com/files/19356/Dragonhammer-Second-Edition

Next writing project should already be underway.. but I am currently obsessed with knitting scarves.. I will make a start tomorrow.
The theme is Underground ecology in the Feywild, and is intended to be published by Wizards of the Coast.

Work continues

Well, I have finished the basic character building rules and a selection of equipment for them, and the next part is to give them feats and powers for when they level up. Play testing the Space Marines went very well, and a couple of alterations were made for how we handle firing automatic weapons in the 4th edition D&D rules.
The gaming group has agreed that the last Friday of each month is a good time to play some Warhammer 4th ed D&D (maybe it would be easier to call it 'Dragonhammer'?).. I downloaded the PDF file of the game rules onto the www.youpublish.com web site, the image above is the cover picture I used.
Actual D&D writing is crawling along.. at the moment I am still thinking about fungus ecologies in the Feydark.

For the Emperor!

OK, so I have completed the rough basics of the Warhammer 40K conversion, here is the starting template for the Space Marine characters. We start with the raw Initiate stats, then add a template, such as Commander, Tactical Marine, Assault Marine or Devastator.
Then the player rolls a background for the marine, and it's ready to go.

Space Marine Initiate
(Starting Template)
Level 6 Brute
Medium Natural Humanoid
Initiative +5 Senses : Perception +7; Low Light
Hit Points 88; Bloodied 44 Healing Surge 22 Surges per Mission 11
AC 12 without Armor, 23 with Power Armor Fortitude 20, Reflex 17, Will 16
Immune to Injested Toxins, Resist 5 Poison or Entropic, Resist 2 Cold or Heat.
Speed 6
Action Points: 1
Attacks and Powers.
Assault (Rifle Butt) (standard; at-will)
+9 vs AC; 1d6 + 5 damage
Gain a special +2 Skirmish bonus to melee attack rolls when adjacent to only one enemy.

Bolt Rifle, Single Shot (standard; at-will)
Ranged 20; +5 vs AC; 1d12 (brutal 2) damage
The Bolt Rifle holds 12 rounds in a clip, reloading is a minor action. The rifle may be fired at an adjacent target but is -4 to the attack roll (it does not provoke an attack as a ranged weapon while doing so). Otherwise the range is 20/40.

Bolt Rifle, Burst Fire (standard; at-will)
Ranged 20; +9 vs AC; 2d12 (brutal 2) damage
Firing a burst at a single target requires 5 rounds from the clip and is less accurate, but more deadly.

Bolter Rifle, Auto Fire (standard; at-will)
Area burst 1 within 20; +5 vs Reflex; 1d12 (brutal 2) damage
Autofire targets an area and all creatures in it. It requires 10 rounds from the clip.

Zeal (Only while bloodied)
Gain +1 to all attack rolls.

For the Emperor! (Encounter Power)
End any ongoing damage, make a save vs any ongoing effects, become immune to knockback and fear effects until the end of your next round, and gain 10 temperory Hit Points.

Skills: Athletics 15, Endurance 16, Arcana 8, History 8
Str 20 (+8) Dex 15 (+5) Wis 12 (+4)
Con 18 (+7) Int 10 (+3) Cha 10 (+3)

Equipment: Power Armor, Bolter Rifle.

I'm going to finish typing this all up tomorrow and print it out for the Friday nighters to check out.

Distractions

I know I should be doing other things, but I can't get this idea out of my head.
I am making a 4th edition D&D version of Warhammer 40,000.
After looking over the Dungeon Master's Guide last night, I hit on the idea of using a basic racial template for Space Marines, much like you start with a monster's stat block, then add a specialist class to that, as you would when creating a customized monster role, and from there, you just add lots of special equipment, feats and skill selections.
Very simple really.
Since the characters will be quite basic, with only a few special abilities, they will be less exciting to play all the time, so I am going to have a platoon list available, of many characters, and the players get to build a squad at the mission briefing stage, where they pick a character from the platoon list that they are going to play, also, if the character gets incapacitated, they can call in fresh troops to replace those that are lost.
The basic Space Marine is modified slightly by his Background, which is his planet of origin, and this may influence his skills, base stats, feats and possibly his potential for psionic talent (Psiker abilities)... I am toying with the idea of Psiker ability being a risky thing, with potential for mutation and corruption.
Generally, the missions will reward troops with experience, chapter honors and relics.. the relic items are more powerful equipment for the troops.
The main equipment focus will be the Power Armor all marines except the Scouts wear, followed by the main weapon (typically a Bolt Rifle, or Bolt Pistol and Chain-sword) and then specialist equipment, such as Heavy Weapons, Sniper Rifles, Explosives, Targeters, Remote Weapons, and the all important Stim Packs.
Stim Packs will take the place of Healing Surges, and due to the more lethal nature of this game, the players will be able to pop Stim Packs as a Minor Action, whenever required (however, they don't get the total defence bonus of a Second Wind).
Each character will start off with a set number of Stim Packs on each mission, and there will be special items and chapter honors which award higher numbers of base hit points, later in the game.
Levels are important, because they allow access to high level equipment and make new class options available, such as the all important Apothecary, Force Commander, Librarian, Inquisator, Techpriest, etc.
Of course, there is a huge amount of information to draw on as I go, thanks to the very creative fans who have compiled a thorough wiki on the 40K game setting.

Anti Monsters?

So after more thought and research, reading the Players Handbook II and Manual of the Planes, I have a far more solid idea of who the Spriggans are, and I must say, they make for some sorry villains.
The story goes, the Fomorians are an evil and magically powerful race of giants from the Feydark (the Underdark of the Feywild), and have always been the race that Gnomes fear the most, due to Fomorians enslaving and often eating Gnomes. Most Gnomes are now free from Fomorian enslavement, but some are not... you guessed it, the Spriggans are those poor Gnomes who are still enslaved, abused and often eaten by the Fomorians, and what is worse, they can never escape.
It is the horrid nature of the Fomorians to crave and acquire power, and of all the Gnomes, the Spriggans have the greatest connection to elemental powers, so naturally, they were the target of the Fomorians. Spriggans have the ability to manipulate stone, to alter their size and summon storms, they can tend to plants, create stone portals to other places in the Feywild and even portals to the material world or Shadowfell. Since they can slip away so easily, the Fomorians had to find a better way to enslave them, and it was this that lead to a horrible curse.
Spriggans are bound to Fomorians through powerful and evil magic, by way of a ritual that they are forced to endure when they reach an age old enough to survive the ordeal.
It is this one chance, to escape when young enough, that drives the Spriggans to sometimes swap their own infants for those of mortals in the material world, and many tales feature these changelings. When the ritual is complete, the Spriggan is bound to the Fomorians, and so are their elemental powers. The Spriggans may roam as far as they like, they can never escape, and the Fomorian can command them, summon them, or kill them, at any time.
It is no wonder then, that Spriggans are irritable, paranoid, avericious and angry. They know that their life is doomed to misery and torment, and they resent any who are free.
The life of a Spriggan consists mainly of mining in the Feydark, or tending the fungus farms, all within the rough iron walls of the Fomorian fortresses. The Spriggans are pained by the mere touch of rough iron, so the walls are always there to remind them of their master's cruelty.
Some Spriggans, kept free by being raised among mortals, have taught their Gnome cousins some of the secrets of portal crafting, in the hope that one day, the Gnomes will find a way to free the Spriggans; but, the hope is a faint one.
Spriggans, when not commanded to attack by their masters, are reluctant foes. They attack out of despair and frustration, their anger is fueled by a lifetime of torment and all they wish is for their opponent to feel some of that pain. When bloodied in combat, the rage is such that they summon some inner reserve of their elemental power, and can briefly grow to giant size, manipulate the earth or the power of the air, cause plants to snare their foe and the ground to throw them from their feet.
But if it were up to them, Spriggans would rather not fight, they find the only peace they know in the work deep in the mines, or tending the fungus farms, avoiding the touch of the task master's lash.

Article R&D

So I am writing an article for submission to the D&D Insider team, for possible inclusion in Dragon magazine one day (I hope), I have had an article of mine published by Palladium Books, years ago, and that was the first thing I had ever sent in, so it would be great to have a 2 out of 2 track record.
Anyways, the article features The Fey Wild, and specifically, the race of small humanoids called Spriggans.
Spriggans are mentioned as cousins to Gnomes, and there are hints that many Gnomes are slaves of the Fomorians.. I find this interesting, because according to folklore, Spriggans were said to be sort of incarnations of the spirit of giants, and were said to be able to enlarge themselves to enormous size.
They were also said to be ugly, nasty little buggers, who guard treasures and steal from others, and also steal the babies of mortal folk, exchanging them for Changeling children.
They seem, according to folk tales, to be rather elemental creatures, with an affinity to earth and storm.. they were said to be able to blight crops by summoning lighting storms, and they guarded special stones, monuments, cairns, crypts and ruins.
So.. that gives me excellent source material to draw from.
My first draught at a Spriggan is the Spriggan Grump.

(Using D&D Insider's very handy Monster Builder)

Spriggan Grump

Spriggans are ugly cousins to Gnomes, with dark hair and eyes, thick black hair and twisted, muscular bodies. They are irritable, prone to reckless rages and don't get along well with anyone.

Spriggan Grump	Level 5 Brute
Small Fey Humanoid	XP 200

Initiative +2 Senses Perception +6; Tremorsense 10 HP 75; Bloodied 37 AC 17; Fortitude 19, Reflex 15, Will 17 Resist Melee wood or stone 5, Vulnerable Iron 5 Speed 5 (7 while enraged)

Rock Hammer (standard; at-will)

+8 vs AC; 2d6 + 4 damage

Swell with Rage ( (When first bloodied, transformation lasts for the rest of the encounter.) * Polymorph

When bloodied the Spriggan immediately swells to enormous size, taking up the space of a large creature. It adds 10 points of damage to all mellee attacks, gains +1 to Fortitude, -1 to AC and 10 temporary Hit Points. Also add +10 to all strength based checks.

Two Fisted Earth Slam (standard; encounter) * when bloodied

Close blast 2; +4 vs Reflex; 3d8 + 4 damage The enraged Spriggan slams the ground with it's fists, producing a shockwave which throws opponents to the ground, knocking them prone and stunning them until the start of the Spriggan's next turn.

Alignment: Evil Languages: Fey, Goblin Str 19 (+6) Dex 11 (+2) Wis 15 (+4) Con 15 (+4) Int 11 (+2) Cha 6 (0) Equipment: Rock Hammer

Spriggan Grump Tactics

Spriggan Grumps will charge into melee range as soon as they can, attacking the person who, for whatever reason, angers them the most. They will fly into a terrible rage when bloodied, and uncontrollably swell to giant proportions, becoming even more fearsome to their enemies.

Spriggan Grump Lore

Knowledge Arcana.
DC 15: Spriggans are Fey creatures with powers associated with the earth and rock, they often guard treasures and tombs and have a foul temper.
Like many Fey, Spriggans hate the touch of Iron.
DC 20: They are said to have links to the giant Fomorians, whom they are bound to serve, and given that they have the power to grow to giant proportions, there may be some truth to this rumour.
DC 25: The elemental power of Spriggans lends them resistance to harm from weapons of wood and stone. They can also call forth rocks from the ground and lightning down from the sky.

Thats the basic Brute category, I will need to come up with a few more types to add, as well as some exotic locations, some Spriggan Stone Magic, a bit of legend/lore, and a nice set of encounter groups.
I will include a good deal of material, so that the editors have options to pick and choose what they want or don't want.
Plus, you get paid per word!

It was a fair fight

Friday night game review.
It was only four players tonight, so they were down one Wizard and one Ranger (slash rogue), I couldn't change the fight they had just walked into at the end of the previous friday game, so I just went with the encounter as it is written in the module I am using,
The general situation was that they had walked into a reasonably open yet oddly configured room, with areas of deep, otherworldly darkness roiling in set areas, and stocked with two Hook Horrors, an Umber Hulk and a Beholder... well, the Hulk and the Horrors were Shadow versions and the Beholder was a Frost version of the Eye of Flame variety.. but yeah, it was four medium sized humanoids vs four Large Monsters.
Although the start of the combat did not go too well for the player characters, with the Warforged Barbarian (Cog), getting grabbed and partially masticated by the shadow Hulk, they quickly rallied and charged in, setting up strategic Marks to hamper the selective fire of the Beholder, hacking the Horrors to bits slowly but surely and pouring a ton of heals into the Toe to Toe fighter types.
The players at one point, towards the end, were quite shocked when the Tiefling cleric (Mallet) announced he was all out of anything but basic healing.. of course, they were slightly more shocked when the cleric healed himself by drinking the blood of one of the Hook Horrors.
Turns out he is a descendant of an ancient line of psuedo vampires.
Anyway, the players managed to Triumph.
They were tickled by the treasure they found, another odd creation of mine.
It is an animated Fullblade (great big sword), that projects an image of a warrior named Tensendor, who animates the sword by appearing to carry it around and use it. The illusion is real to the sword, but insubstantial to everything else.. it can also use a special ability to transfer a condition or some ongoing damage effect to anyone the sword has wounded during the current combat.
Fun and kooky items are a favorite thing in my games.
The players also found a strange box, which is made from Adamatium, can only be opened if you know exactly what is inside, and is really heavy.
I have no idea what they are going to do with it, but I have warned them that the original owner, according to Tensendor the Sword, only had it so he could protect it, and he never actually opened it.

I like Kobolds, they are small, craven, puny and devious creatures, but, they are also the absolute masters of the art of traps, and while I could throw a small army of these creatures, in basically any configuration, at my current party of six level 13 adventurers.. the outcome would always be a large pile of very dead Kobolds.
But of course, that is without the traps being in the scenario.

Now here comes the cunning plan.

The Dwarven Paladin character, Cobalt (corrected spelling of the name this time), has been given a divine mission by his God Erathis, one of the bits of the mission is to find the individual called Fistenfoe... The player doesn't know it yet, but Fistenfoe is actually the most ingenious Kobold Artificer that has ever lived (hell, he has eight levels in the artificer class!).
Unfortunately, getting involved with Fistenfoe means getting caught in the middle of a war between two rival Kobold tribes, one of which is in service to a powerful dragon.
While Fistenfoe is an unbelievably skilled maker of traps and devices, his opponents are tactically brilliant, and highly skilled at the capturing, breeding and training of pests, oozes, horrors and assorted gibbering nasties, which they use to great effect.
The details I have yet to work out, but there is plenty of material on Kobolds that has been released for 4th edition already.
I just have to come up with some truly diabolical traps and some rather interesting variations on vermin, oozes and constructs for later deployment.

Should be fun!

Game Prep.

It's Friday afternoon, the game starts in around two hours or so, and I have to prepare.
I have the location all mapped out, I have an idea of who the bad guys are.. but I have reached a point which I know, historically, has been a weak spot of mine.
I have tended, in the past, to create lairs, dungeons or complexes in a way that seems logical and built by someone who has some idea of what they are doing.. and I have discovered that this is NOT a good method for RPG games.
Here are some of my new guidelines.

• Traps are placed in obviously places that one would suspect, and they are never of the type that only a trained rogue has any chance of disarming or disabling, also, they can always be avoided entirely with a little bit of effort.
• The lair, dungeon or what-have-you never has only one entrance/exit.
• No sliding walls, pit traps or any other kind of structure is capable of splitting the group up, unless it is for a very short period of time (and never involving combat situations).
• Much like short and memorable NPC descriptions (the guy selling the hotdogs with the huge, warty nose and pet parrot, for instance), the rooms, corridors and other features must have a short description, and the important bits are always mentioned last.. For Example, "The spacious room with the heavy oak crossbeams a foot or two above your heads, draped with thick, dusty spider webs, small, oily sconces shed flickering yellow light on a green/grey raised pool of water, so large it almost takes up all of the 20 foot square floor.. moss covers every flagstone and creeps half way up the masonry walls, it looks icky and diseased.. the murky pool smells foul and ripples on the surface indicate that there is something moving beneath the slick surface. The is a half open oak door directly across the room from you, beyond the pool."
• Boss fights happen in bad ass locations, they don't spring out at the group in the middle of a corridor or in a simple 10x10ft room.. exciting locations make for exciting fights.
• If all you players know that walking five feet above flowing magma is most certainly lethal to anyone wearing full plate, chainmail or whatever... then don't ask them to suspend their certain knowledge of real world physics and thermodynamics... magma is really, really hot, and lots of it produces some really nasty physical conditions.
• Simple things are fun.. Oozes, rust monsters, kobolds, magical swords, dragons and hoards... everyone wants to kick the door in and lay blades to the bad guys, then steal their stuff.. it is a large part of why we all play this game, after all.

There are other rules.. but for the start of tonights game, I am looking at the entrance to the dungeon and thinking "How can I make this just one entrance out of a possible group of entry/exit points?"
The answer is that I am going to have at least a couple of portals in the dungeon, the main entrance is a tricky one.. it looks like a stairwell that leads to an elevator, the elevator box has three wheels for operating a mechanism.. one makes it go up and down, the next makes a trap prime and spring on them, the third cranks down a panel and reveals a door handle, which opens the rear of the elevator to the actual corridor behind it, on the main level of the dungeon.
If the players just go down the lift, they are still in the dungeon, but have entered from a lower level.
I have decided that this is going to be a repeating design theme of the dungeon, and that the whole place is really ancient.. thousands of years.. but built big and solid, from quality materials and enchanted to withstand the weight of years.. so, lots of odd statues, strange treasures and weird room features (I mean, the Romans built rooms for vomiting after/during banquets.. what would you think that room was for if you had no idea before you walked in there?).

Anyway.. better get started.

The Friday Game

Here are the basics.
I run a Dungeons and Dragons fourth edition game, set in the Forgotten Realms, on Friday nights, from 7-11 pm, there are six players.
The game has been going for a while now, currently the player characters are half way through level 13.

There is a lot of back story, but I shall attempt a summary.
(Obviously a montage would be vastly better, but, this is a blog and animating that sort of thing is beyond me at the moment)

Back Story.
There was a group of adventurers who attempted to rediscover the ancient kingdom of Thar in the Moonsea region of Faerun (in the forgotten realms setting), most of them lived, some did not, almost all of them went off to live less exciting lives.. only the Dwarven Paladin is still actively adventuring.. he has acquired new companions along the way.
During the adventures, the world changed abruptly and dramatically, twice.. out of the story, the Dungeons and Dragons game morphed from 3.5 to 4th edition, and then the Forgotten Realms setting was released for 4th edition, so the game itself adapted to this and continued throughout.
The situation at the moment is that the world of Faerun is undergoing the Spell-Plague, it is set just after the death of Mystra, goddess of magic, and the world is in chaos.. the adventurers have uncovered a plot by some villains located in the Shadowfell to disrupt the lands of Luruar (the cities of Silverymoon, Everlund, Sundabar and the Dwarven citadels), they are now travelling through the Shadowfell, hot on the trail.

The Player Characters are..

• Kobolt, Dwarven Paladin of Erathus (and now his prophet in the land of Faerun), Lord of Vaprak's Fort.
• Lan, Eladrin Blood Mage (and avid blood collector), High Magus of Silverymoon.
• Arno, Elven Ranger (and aspiring rogue).
• Gyrax, Genasi Shock Trooper (a heroic fighter, currently very popular with the Genasi community within Luruar).
• Mallet, Tiefling Warlock (lost scion of an ancient Tiefling bloodline with a dark history).
• Cog, Warforged Barbarian (former guard protector of Lord Methrammar of Silverymoon, now sworn to service of High Magus Lan).