Interesting article on the importance of minis in earlier editions of D&D. I'd forgotten that inches meant 10 feet inside and 10 yards outside! Looking back on it all, I remember some arguments about who was going to get caught in that fireball the magic-user had just thrown into the room but somehow we managed!

D&D Alumni: Minis in the Game

I want this one too!

How cool does this look?

Not many books in May and June, mostly because Hammer of God by Karen Miller is another very long one:

9. Hammer of God by Karen Miller. The third and final book in the Godspeaker trilogy which comes to a very gripping and quite emotional end in this volume as the terrible, bloodthirsty Empire of Mijak clashes with the island kingdom of Ethrea and her allies from the rather improbably named empire of Tzhung-tzhungchai. A great series that makes me want to check out Innocent Mage and Awakened Mage, her first two books. Highly recommended.

10. Hellblazer Vol.1 by Jamie Delano and John Ridgway - I hadn't read this for many years and was pleased to find it as cool as I remember. Constantine wisecracks his way through three stories involving hunger demons, voodoo, yuppies from hell and fundamentalist Christians - very entertaining and the more so for the gray morality of the central character. I think I'll keep reading.

11. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. This is actually the first part (consisting of several short stories) of a jumbo anthology of Vance's Dying Earth tales, but I'm not sure how much more I'm going to read. I read these stories to help me get in the right frame of mind for ninthcouncil 's Dying Earth campaign and I now understand more about the world in which the game is set, as well as the attitude of the typical "hero". There's something about early (1950s) fantasy that I don't quite get though and Vance's prose is not the easiest to read. However, I enjoyed all but the last one (Guyal of Sfere) and it's fun to see the clear influences on D&D. Liane the Wayfarer (featuring a very different robe of eyes) was probably my favourite.

As seen on Friends of the Green Man

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green
3. The Catcher in the Rye
4. The Call of Cthulhu and other short stories by H P Lovecraft
5. The History of the Runestaff by Michael Moorcock
6. The Belgariad by David Eddings
7. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
8. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis
9. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
10. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
11. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
12. Watchmen by Alan Moore
13. Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks
14. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, especially the ones featuring the City Watch
15. Before She Met Me by Julian Barnes

Have a look at these! I wasn't keen on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but this looks pretty cool...

Update: New Images From Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland! - ComingSoon.net

Hat tip to mouseferatu

Here's what happened in this afternoon's game. Each PC gets 460 xp.


18th Maius

In the early hours of the morning, the PCs get up, ready to return to the Old Fishery. Before they leave, Hrothgar spots a bird (a nail stealer) pull a shiny nail from Mangesh’s houseboat.

Go to the Old Fishery and fail spectacularly to stage a surprise raid. First, Juma joins Hrothgar on the boardwalk around the side of the building, causing it to collapse and tipping them both into the water to be attacked by a jigsaw shark. Then, they head underneath the fishery on the lower boardwalk, through the rotting ship and back round – Juma slips twice, falling in the second time. Finally, it takes three attempts to bash down the front door. Inside, the PCs are attacked from all sides by Mr Wang and the Dockside Crew: Hookshanks the dwarf fires at Juma from the right, Bloo the guard drake bites Hrothgar from straight ahead while Elias Wang launches an Avernian eruption into the PCs from the left. A big (and lengthy) battle follows in which Gilgarran’s flaming sphere and orbmaster’s incendiary detonation spells are used to great effect to deal with the Crew rabble. Mr Wang is backed up by more Crew mooks and Giggles the half-orc, but eventually the PCs manage to finish off their opponents. Wang is killed by opportunity attacks from Sora and Ulthar and Giggles is killed by Hrothgar after being surrounded by the party. Hookshanks surrenders, volunteering to tell the PCs all he knows after Jihad threatens to cut his thumb off (“no branding, but cutting off thumbs is fine”). He tells the PCs that Mr Wang used to meet Zeno at a gambling hall on a boat and confirms that Orloch is a slaver and a gnoll. The PCs let him go. After Sora dissuades the others from carving “Juma Gang” into Mr Wang’s naked body and hanging it up outside, they undertake a full search of the Fishery before torching it and returning home to bed.

When they wake up, Hrothgar climbs the mast of the Fat Grouper and grabs the nail stealer’s nest. He takes it to Mangesh and explains the bird has been stealing the fisherman’s nails. Mangesh is grateful after becoming convinced that the gnoll is telling the truth and promises the PCs curry and beers that evening as a reward.

Head to the slums. Juma sticks his hand in the devil’s mouth lock on the gate to Orloch’s tenement but luckily pulls it out in time as the jaws snap shut. Sora goes next door to St Caspieran’ Salvation and talks to Brother Jerome who confirms that Orloch’s base is adjacent to his mission. Ulthar, suspicious, goes to see the priest as well but doesn’t learn anything new – he makes a donation to the mission but declines the invitation to help serve cabbage soup to the homeless.

Jihad leaps over the gate followed by Hrothgar and Ulthar but Sora and Gil have problems and both take a tumble. In the alley, they fight five sentries armed with a net and longspears up on a ledge, reinforced by two archers and two toughs. Sora and Ulthar dodge back round the corner to avoid being shot at and finish off the sentries while Juma-Jihad heads inside to fight the toughs and ends up getting knocked unconscious by aging fence Arturo. Gil casts flaming sphere into the room which burns Hrothgar when he’s pulled through it by the otyugh on the other side of the curtain in one corner. Fortunately the gnoll manages to escape and is able to charge Arturo, bloodying him. The otyugh retreats back under the garbage in its pit to stay out of the way of the flaming sphere. Jihad is healed by Ulthar and uses dimensional warp to swap places with Sora. Ulthar kills the last sentry and Sora finishes off Arturo. All the PCs move inside, taking care to keep well away from the otyugh’s reach.

Quote of the session: "I do not care you have rolled 26, I am still talking" Hrothgar to Ulthar

This is the first part of what looks like being an epic tale from g0gmag0g concerning the origins of his gnoll barbarian Hrothgar:

For generations, the Ghen’khaz tribe had stalked the Great Grass Sea, carving a blood-stained orbit that it followed year after year. They moved between the settlements of other humanoid races, burning, killing and eating on each visitation then taking valuables and slaves before moving out onto the steppe once more, allowing each township to recover enough wealth before their peregrination brought them back and they fed from it once more.

Complex networks of interbreeding, alliances, truces of convenience and demonstrations of strength with other gnoll tribes prevented a state of permanent internecine war, but alliances were betrayed and truces broken on a regular basis and vicious conflicts would erupt between the Ghen’khaz and their brethren.

The only things that united the tribes of the Butcher’s Brood were their worship of Yeenoghu and the presence of the striped centaurs with whom they shared the Great Grass Sea. Away from the eyes of the civilised world terrible battles were fought between these ancient enemies. Fortunes would ebb and flow from one side to the other over the ages but neither ever gained a final victory.

Then, 70 years ago, something happened that would seal the fate of the Ghen’khaz forever. K’hidyr, the son of the tribal chieftain, was leading a raiding party against what he thought was a small band of foraging centaurs. Seeing the centaurs in a shallow valley he led the pack down for what should have been a swift and easy victory. But as they made their descent a line of centaurs appeared at the far end of the valley and the innocent-looking foraging party picked up weapons that had been concealed at their hooves. Realising he had been led into a trap the chieftain’s son barked the retreat to his pack, but more centaurs rose up from the long grass on the hillside, blocking their retreat.

That day the Ghen’khaz suffered the worst defeat in tribal memory. Only a handful of survivors managed to escape the battle and it was their task to tell the chieftain that his son had not died a warrior’s death and gone to join Yeenoghu’s fiendish pack in the Abyss, but had been caught in a centaur’s net and had been carried off as a captive.

Shamed by this, Dho’ghu, the chieftain, announced that he had no son and that K’hidyr’s name was never to be spoken again. On his death, he said, the succession of tribal chief would be decided by combat between the fiercest warriors. Then he ordered the tribe to strike camp and they moved off across the Great Grass Sea without looking back.

K’hidyr himself was taken to the centaur camp. The centaurs used slaves as well, and made good money from selling captives to traders from the cities of Tiangao in the East and Parsantium in the West. But gnolls did not make good slaves – even armies wouldn’t always take them as soldiers because other units refused to fight with them because of their tendency to feast on the flesh of the defeated enemy. So K’hidyr’s fate was not in the bazaars of the towns he had preyed on with his tribe; he was to be a sacrificial offering to Metîn – an aspect of Mormekar, the god of death and rebirth.

The khan of the centaur clan presented K’hidyr to the high priestess of the Metîn cult, for him to be prepared for sacrifice on the following day. Because the victim would be going to meet Metîn in the underworld, the centaur rites required that he underwent a ritual cleansing the night before the ceremony, culminating in the offering’s eyes being plucked out at midnight – done because no unbeliever could be permitted to look on Metîn’s glory. The victim was then left to spend the rest of the night alone, contemplating his fate.

But as K’hidyr sat there in the dark, weeping blood into his matted fur, he heard the voice of the centaur god speak to him. Metîn told him that he was going to use K’hidyr as his instrument and that he would be blessed with four deaths.

Before dawn the centaur high priestess, Ariya, came to K’hidyr, anointed him and led him to the place of sacrifice. The centaurs dismembered their offerings before cremating the remains, and K’hidyr had his arms and legs tied to four centaur priests who each faced one of the cardinal compass points. The high priestess cried out in prayer to Metîn, raised her arms to the heavens and called to the priests who lunged forward. As his limbs dislocated, his tendons ripped and his skin tore open K’hidyr howled out to Yeenoghu to help him. But his body burst asunder and great cry of joy went up from the assembled centaur clan.

With care the centaur priests gathered up the various pieces of K’hidyr’s body and brought them to the waiting pyre. Ariya, the high priestess, lit the bonfire and K’hidyr’s broken form was finally obscured by smoke and flame. The clan knelt around the pyre to complete the ritual, the scattering of the ashes to the winds of the steppes.

But as the fire died down the clan were struck by disbelief, shock and, finally, horror. Lying amongst the embers was K’hidyr, whole once again, and apparently peacefully sleeping. The high priestess approached the bier with trepidation, and as she did so the gnoll’s eyelids flickered, opened and he looked directly at her. Remembering how he had called out to Yeenoghu in his final moments Ariya feared it was a demonic trick to desecrate the ritual. Calling for the priests, she had K’hidyr seized and she swore that the ritual would be completed, even though it meant starting the entire process of purification again. K’hidyr was forced down before her where he was once more blinded and taken away to be prepared.

Here's the story of Ulthar Forkbeard, human warlord, played by ulthar01 :

Ulthar Forkbeard

Ulthar is an impoverished Urskovian noble forced to earn a living, firstly as a mercenary in the Parsantine Varangian guard, and more recently as a pest control operative.

Like many Urskovian noble families, Ulthar’s has fallen on hard times following the collapse of trade with the former Batiaran Empire and the subsequent occupation of Parsantium. Nonetheless, appearances were kept up during Ulthar’s childhood. He received training in the art of war, and showed early promise in leading his peers on hunting expeditions deep in the Urskovian forests. When only 14 he persuaded the local prince to allow the youngsters to accompany his druzhina on an ambush of raiding goblinoids. The barrage of javelins, axes and rocks from the youths harrying the raiders’ flanks would surely have blunted their enthusiasm for further tourism, had any of them survived.

In keeping with his family’s desire to maintain their social standing, Ulthar was enrolled with a local skald for instruction in his people’s history, culture and music traditions. He still finds that song greatly enhances the pleasures of axeplay. Like many Urskovians, Ulthar acknowledges Terak, the God of War, as his principal deity. Terak has not seen fit to grant Ulthar as much battle experience as he would like however, and Ulthar wonders if the god has held him back for some unfathomable destiny.

Ulthar’s service in the Varangian guard was not an entirely happy one, with much of the time spent on palace guard duty and ceremony. On the one occasion Ulthar saw field service, the Varangians were held back in reserve to guard the Basileus. He did however see Parsantine’s gnoll mercenaries seize a vital piece of high ground dominating the battlefield, followed by a charge of the Platinum Knights of Bahamut which finished the enemy off. His opinion of gnolls and dragonborn was greatly improved by this experience.

Unknown to his companions, Ulthar is being harassed by a shadowy figure looking for secrets about the palace and its residents. A Varangian’s oath of loyalty is for life and Ulthar has refused to co-operate, but he wonders what this latest Parsantine intrigue could be about.

Here's the backstory for Sora the dragonborn paladin, kb98 's character in the Dulwich Parsantium campaign:

Sora Zaveri: the background

Sora was hatched in the Moonscale clan house, in the Emerald Ward of Parsantium, sixteen years ago. Two eggs had been laid by her mother: an unusual situation but not unheard of. The eggs were both identical in size but one had a muddy silver glaze to it; the other was covered in tiny multicoloured specks. Both hatched into female dragonborn: the silver shell baby was named Sora and the baby from the multicoloured shell was called Jenma.

As is the custom in the Moonscale clan, the girls were raised along with the other young of the clan in a communal environment where they could form attachments with other young. But the two remained close, sharing play, lessons and dreams throughout the years of childhood and adolescence. Easy to tell apart – Sora had bronze-coloured scales, Jenma’s were redder – they were nonetheless identifiable as twins by the fact they were always together. Their abilities were different, too, with Sora nicknamed “Sparky” for her lightning breath, Jenma breathing the more usual fire.

At the age of fourteen they were chosen to be sent to the Chapel of Bahamut, through contacts with the clan, where they would serve as squires to a pair of knights. There they were taught the way of the paladin: the rules, the religion, the fighting skills. Sora’s knight was well regarded in the chapel and she too became known for her loyalty, passion, bravery and kindness. Jenma’s knight was less prominent but the two new dragonborn squires were both considered to be doing well in the job. And while they were content to play these roles, there was recognition on the rare occasions that the sisters were alone that the lifestyle was more regimented and restrictive than they had expected. One day, when Sora moaned to Jenma about not getting to meet anyone outside of the Chapel, Jenma confessed she was thinking about running away. Sora was horrified, but relieved when Jenma seemed to have changed her mind.

On the night before their fifteenth birthday, the day they would officially become adults, Jenma and her knight, Sir Torbrin, disappeared. It is now six months later and they have not been seen. Rumour has it (at the chapel) that they died in some brave sacrificial act, but no one knows. Initially devastated, Sora is not one to feel sorry for herself and has decided to move on with her life. She too has now left the chapel (at least temporarily) to join an adventuring party, get out into the world, meet new people, see new sights – and find her sister, who she believes is still alive.

Very interesting article on 4e from the owner of Goodman Games, publisher of Dungeon Crawl Classics:

Goodman Games • View topic - My opinion on D&D 4E

The art gallery for Kingdom of the Ghouls is up here and I thought I'd post a few pictures. The first two are particularly charming.



After open_design 's original Dungeon adventure, and then Empire of the Ghouls, we now have Bruce Cordell's epic take on the theme. No idea if Mignola, the Mordcaster and co. will survive long enough to get to the E series modules but E2 looks cool.

kb98  and I have been discussing what RPG we're going to play together now that our Lands of Intrigue D&D v3.5 campaign has finished. We considered Adventure! and other pulp games like Spirit of the Century, Savage Worlds and many more before ordering a copy of Monte Cook's World of Darkness which we very nearly bought at Hastur Games in Salt Lake City nearly a year ago. Looking forward to reading it and putting a new (non-D&D) campaign together.

I've also been reading Pagan Publishing's Mysteries of Mesoamerica. The first two scenarios are very good indeed although the first one seems pretty deadly. It's a bit odd that it's set in 1914 and the rest are set in the 20s too, but hey ho. I'm looking forward to running these as a kind of linked mini-campaign at some point. I'll need to brush up on the CoC rules though!

Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh was a really good read. Taldor: Echoes of Glory was just OK. I was expecting much more in the way of Byzantine influences and stuff to yoink for Parsantium but the fallen empire and its capital city Oppara were pretty vanilla medieval fantasy. Some good stuff but not as useful as I'd hoped. The Pathfinder Companion series goes into less detail than Pathfinder Chronicles and that's part of the problem -- there's just not that many pages in each supplement and the last few are given over to 3.5/OGL feats, spells etc. I've only read a few pages of the Osirion companion so far but it looks more interesting -- I love Egyptian stuff and it's a cool concept to base Osirion on Egypt in the nineteenth century when its tombs and pyramids were being plundered by explorers rather than the age of the pharoahs.

There's been a fair bit of hoo-hah on the Wizards site about the new race exclusive to D&D Insiders - the revenant. I finally got round to reading the article this morning - revenants are the dead brought back to life by the Raven Queen "to do the work of fate". They are pale and brooding, look mysterious and make good assassins and warlocks. My only complaint is they have rubbish names like Dredge, Sever and Fuck (sorry, Tuck). They are the goths and emos of D&D and are pretty cool as you can see from this picture. Someone suggested on ENWorld they'd suit the avenger class from Player's Handbook 2 which is an interesting concept.


open_design  has been posting a lot of great stuff for patrons of Halls of the Mountain King recently - the 4e conversion which I've been contributing to is coming along really well and I can't wait to see (and run) the finished adventure.

I'm enjoying reading Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh so much I've decided to order two other Pathfinder setting sourcebooks: Osirion (Egyptian-type country) and Taldor (Byzantine influences). I've stopped buying the Adventure Paths since switching completely over to 4e but the Pathfinder Chronicles setting books are light on stats and full of inspirational ideas.This one looks good too!

The other thing I like about Paizo's stuff is that the art is great. Check out these genies (from Pathfinder #23)

15:42 Just sent @monkeyking some more traps and hazards for the Iron Gazetteer. #

19:15 printing out quick start rules for Dying Earth RPG we're playing tomorrow night. #

19:15 Will be weird to play a fantasy RPG that's not D&D - I think the last one I played was maybe MERP or 1st edition Warhammer FRP #

19:21 Listening to the Stereophonics' Decade in the Sun on Spotify - more good songs than I remembered. #

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This is a great post from Donny the DM:

The Fine Art of the TPK: Sandboxes are for kids and cat-turds. Railroads are for hobos and railcars.

Lots of blanks on this map showing countries I've visited. We really need to go somewhere in Africa. Or Asia. Or the Pacific!


visited 27 states (12%)
Create your own visited map of The World or jurisdische veraling duits?


visited 12 states (24%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Mapped Web

17:19 Hard at work writing stuff about deep caverns. @kb98 is asleep in the back room. #

19:21 Sitting in the garden, drinking beer and reading Dragon. #

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