Tag Archives: Session Reports

Reverse Dungeon – Session 2

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Pathfinder Goblin - Front of ModelAfter the character generation and successful defence of our Goblin hovel last session we were on a high….it didn’t last long.

The session started late due to a discussion about The Dark Knight Rises and the fun we’ve been having playing multi-player Mine Craft on the Xbox.  I will post about this later as it will be a subject all on its own.  Anyway back to the session….

The session did not start well.  We are having difficulty coming up with plans to defend the cave against the hero intruders.

  • Digg a pit – It’s a stone mountain
  • Sharpe pointy sticks in the ground to slow them down – It’s a stone mountain  how do you stick them in the ground.
  • Pile rocks above the cave entrance to drop on them when then try to enter – How do you carry them you’re a weak goblin.
  • Get logs to go above the doorway to drop on them – They’re too heavy.
  • Put the captured Bugbear in the cave entrance to act as a warning system – How do you put the stake in the ground, it’s a stone mountain!

In the end the best thing we could come up with was to put some Goblins on watch for the adventures and have extra Goblins to act as runners.  Two drums were made for the Goblin lookouts and we waited for the adventures to return.  It didn’t take long, “Out House” saw movement and started to beat a warning on the drum. He got taken out instantly by an adventures arrow to the forehead, well I say instantly but in reality he was taken down to -6 hit points and bled out three rounds later.

My other Goblin, “Specs”, made a run for it to warn the Goblins in the cave about the approaching doom.  He was hit in the back by a Magic Missile, 1 hit point left, but was able to make it to the entrance to warn the next runner.  He then had a one on one battle with the female adventure and was turned into a Goblin Kebab.

The next runner made it a little further but was taken out by an arrow of seeking fired from outside the cave.  This left the Goblins without any warning that a bunch of adventures we’re on their way.

The adventures headed into the cave and the head of our tribe was killed, we all made a run for it.  ”Butt Hole” fired a stone at movement coming out of the head Goblins Cave, only to nearly take the head off a players Wizard Goblin who was making a quick exit.  The Wizard in turn commanded him to sleep and rolled a 2 on 1D4 so “Butt Hole” was out of the battle for 2 hours.  My other two Goblins we’re left on guard at the main entrance as they didn’t know what had happened inside as all the goblins left via the secret entrance by the waterfall.

The majority of the Goblins stopped in the wood at the bottom of the mountain where we went through the process of selecting a new leader.  This involved binding together the left wrists of the two strongest Goblins and seeing which one made it out alive.  ”Gobs” became the new leader and he sent a bunch of Goblins back to see what had happened in the cave.

“Butt Hole” woke up and found himself alone and abandoned in the main cavern of the cave and could not make the Goblins guarding the main entrance believe him when he told them the cave was empty.  At this point the group sent by the new leader turned up and the session ended.

It was hard going last night it had to be said.  The Goblins are very underpowered and just trying to do simple things become a pain in the arse.  Everything we wanted to do becomes an issue and there’s always something that stops us from doing it.  It’s hard to be green and I feel it’s killing the fun we could be having…

So here’s the memorial to the brave Goblins that fell in our Reverse Dungeon Adventure:

Fallen Goblins

Session One
Shit Eater – Decapitated by a woman

Session Two
Out House – Stopped an arrow with his head
Specs – Tangled with a woman who was too much to handle
Ball – Didn’t know that arrows could go around corners?

 

 

Reverse Dungeon – First Session

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System : AD&D 2nd Edition

Well we are under way with out Reverse Dungeon adventure and its time to get our Goblin thinking caps on…

After the incredibly easy character creation we took our five Goblins out for a spin.  After a quick description of the Tribes home cave we were thrown into the session.

Farting around in the Goblin Cave

The first thing was to get into our new Goblin skins and how better than to just let us get on with it…

Queue up taking the piss out of each other but with stupid high squeaky voices and then winding up the Head Goblins.  In the end it was decided that we are always in the mindset, so the DM proceed to call us into a meeting with the head Goblin.

The search for comrades

Pathfinder Goblin - Side of Model

It turned out the tribes hunting party had not returned.  The Head Goblin was getting concerned as he was hungry and his stomach had started making funny noises.  No-one knew where they’d gone and no-one really cared that they were missing.  Hell they’re only Goblins, he would have eaten his own mother if she wasn’t as rubbery as old leather.

So we were sent out to find food and give the hunting party the hurry up treatment (read “kick up the arse”).  So not having any idea where we’re going, we stepped out into the night and proceeded to wander around aimlessly.  After a few minutes of picking our nose and stabbing bushes we decided to hike it around the hill.

At the base of the hill on the west side we spotted a river that decided to investigate.  River = Fish = Food = Goblins go that way.  One of the Goblin rode his shield down the hill like a sledge (F*cking Legolas you elfy b*stard).  When we arrived at the river we were met with an interesting sight…

Heading to the river only to be beheaded

Next to the river we found five goblin bodies that had all been beheaded.  After we all calmed down, due to panic over the possibility of a disease that makes your head drop off, we each grabbed a leg each and dragged them back to the cave.  I was intent on eating them but apparently Goblins don’t eat their own.

The meeting of the heads

Oh goody, another meeting of the Goblins was called and we all stood around listening to the old git drivel on about more stuff…

Blah! Blah!… Heroes… Blah! Blah!… Clearing out Goblin caves (poor bastards)… Blah! Blah!… Silver piece per ear…Blah! Blah!… and you lot are on guard duty… Blah! Blah!… NO YOU CAN’T EAT YOUR FALLEN FRIENDS

Hang on what was that about guard duty?… BALLS!

Guard this shit pit with your lives

Yep, we were put on guard duty at the main entrance of our cave.  Queue up more alone time where we were allowed to prep for the heroes that were bound to come looking for our ears.  So what did we do?  Anyone like to take a guess?

(you made traps and things to protect your cave?) 

Oh, close but no Goblin giblets.  We DID honestly think about it…. but decided it was more fun to play about in our Goblin persona.  We had the idea of sticking up the bodies of our fallen comrades on spikes to confuse the heroes…  then realised they didn’t have heads.  In the end we decided to use their intestines as trip wires or to string them across the entrance so that anyone entering would get a nasty wet surprise.

So we were in the going through the actions of getting this ready, but I think the DM was losing his temper when we started to blow up the stomach lining to see when it would pop.  This scene is easy to imagine, just think two goblins, one stomach. (Eeeeeeew!)

Anyway as I said I think the DM was at the end of his tether at this point and the adventures attacked the cave….

Enter the Heroes… Exit the Goblins.

Through the entrance of the cave came a Human female fighter, a Human male fighter, a Dwarf and an Elven Wizard…

As soon as the heroes entered the cave Shit Eater made a run for it.  He was off like a professional sprinter after getting tipped off about a drugs test…

All hell broke loose, except for Shit Eater who was still accelerating at the time.  The woman got past us and took after the fleeing Goblin.  The Human Male got hit in the head by Out House and was then set upon by two Goblins trying to choke him with intestines they had at hand.  The Elven Wizard sent two Goblins to sleep and there was an exchange of blows.

At this point Shit Eater decided he wasn’t going to be able to make a clean getaway with the Human Female chasing him. He decided to turn around and tried to flee past her.  Bad decision… decapitated in an instant.

The Human Male started to die at this point and the adventures realised that one silver piece an ear was not as much as it sounded in the Pub (Or the DM thought you were all going to end up dead).  They made a run for it.  Out House got to ride the Dwarf like a rodeo around the entrance before being flung off and the heroes made a quick exit to lick their wounds.

I have a feeling they may be back

Tabletop – Geek & Sundry

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If your into boardgames then you probably already know about the excellent YouTube series called Tabletop under the Geek & Sundry label. With live game sessions including Small World, Settlers of Catan and the brilliant Ticket to Ride already published this is THE place to get your gaming fix.

Excellent production values and Wil Wheaton doing an excellent job of presenting the games, you’ll feel well look after.

Get your gaming fix…

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4F80C7D2DC8D9B6C

DG

Deathwatch: Extraction Part 1

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So we have now started our Deathwatch game proper. After character creation we have ended up with:

Ultramarine Assault Marine

Blood Angels Assault Marine (Who wasn’t actually here for this session, but nevermind)

Dark Angels Devastator Marine

Storm Warden Librarian

Black Templers Tech Marine

  For the first full mission, we are playing through Extraction, which is detailed in the back of the core rulebook. I started with the mission briefing, stating that the moon of Tantalus, an Imperium ‘forge world’ has been subjected to a tyranid swarm, and is about to be completely overrun. However, stationed on Tantalus at the time of the attack, was Magos Vyakai who has a data core with vital information about the Tyranid threat contained within. Unfortunately, the shuttle carrying the Magos crashed and now he needs rescuing from the jaws of the Tyranid hordes. Therefore, the kill-team’s primary objective is to retrieve that data core, and if possible, rescue the Magos himself.

  The players then tooled up for the mission. I gave them 30 requisition points that they could use to get ammunition, weapons and equipment above their standard gear. Since this is the first time we had used the requisition rules, there was a bit of confusion about what items they were allowed to take. It was obvious they could not take anything that cost more than 30 req, but I had never previously explained the concept of Renown. None of the players are considered to have any renown within the Deathwatch (this being the first time they have served) and were trying to requisition things they could not. Once this was sorted and the players were satisfied with what they had chosen, the task of selecting the team leader could begin. After some discussion (along the lines of ‘I’m not doing it, you do it’), it was decided that the Ultramarine would be leader. He selected his oath (effectively choosing what squad modes they could use) and we worked out the team cohesion (wrongly as it turned out, since I forgot he is an Ultramarine and so gets an extra point), then the mission began in earnest.

  The kill-team was drop-podded to the location of the crash site to begin the search for the Magos. When they got to the shuttle, it was beyond repair and the emergency bolts of the entry hatch had been activated. The team managed to track the party away from the shuttle, but came across the area where they had been ambushed by some ‘nids. There was no sign of the Magos among the corpses, and further attempts to track his movement were unsuccessful. The Techmarine tried to plug-in to a servitor that had been destroyed in the ambush, but was unable to determine anything of use. However, he was getting a signal over his vox unit, which he managed to boost and determine that there was a manufactorum nearby and that would be the most logical place for the Magos to head for. As they started moving out, they heard a screech from above, and two Tyranid Shrikes dived out of the sky to attack them. One went for the Librarian, who had managed to get a shot off, and the other was attacking the Devestator, preventing him from bringing his Heavy Bolter to bear. The Devestator was joined by the Assault Marine, who charged the tyranid and drew it’s attention away from the Dev. The Techmarine had switched to his Hellfire rounds (which ignored natural armour) and began peppering the other ‘nid with his bolter shells. After a couple of combat rounds, the ‘nid attacking the Librarian gave another screech and flew into the sky in an attempt to escape, but the Techmarine had been taking careful aim at him and fired a full-auto burst into the beast’s foul hide. The Tyranid Warrior had flown straight up, and what comes up must come down. The Librarian, seeing the problem, attempted to dodge, but stumbled. The Techmarine, seeing the problem, lined up his servo-arm and batted the creature in an impromptu game of rounders. Not only did he successfully smack the creature outside its head, he managed to direct it into the path of the other Tyranid, still currently engaged with the Assault and Dev marines. It is now stunned, and can’t move since its mate is a literal dead weight on its back. The Dev tries to kill it with his combat knife, but doesn’t quite have the strength, thereby giving the Assault marine the killing blow (he wasn’t best pleased by this, but that’s the way the dice had fallen).

  Continuing on to the facility, they soon came to the top of a cliff. Seeing a communications tower to the left of them, they concluded they would have to go there at missions end to set off the signal beacon and call a Thunderhawk for extraction. They also saw a horde of tyranid attacking a small group of buildings, and reasoned that was where the Magos would be hiding out (spoiler alert: He isn’t).

The plan they came up with was the Assault marine would run around the outside whilst the others distracted the tyranid horde. So he set off with his jump pack, whilst the Devestator unleashed his heavy bolter on the horde. The other two decided they need to get down to the bottom of the cliff, and do so fairly quickly. Since there was a steep, but not shear cliff face, they decided to try sliding down the cliff face whilst firing their bolters. It was a nice idea, but the Librarian couldn’t keep his balance, and rolled down the hill, the Techmarine also lost balance, but used his servo arm to right himself and ski down the hill. Suffice to say, the Devestators heavy bolter made mince meat of the horde, and had obliterated it before it could reach the two at the bottom of the hill.

  Whilst that was going on, the Assault marine reached a small ravine containing an overturned land hauler that contained a number of Imperial Guardsman about to be swamped by another bunch of ‘nids. Heroically, he jumped into action and pretty much single headedly, with chainsword and combat knife, saved the majority of the guards within the land hauler. The grateful Commissar then offered any help he or his men could, but didn’t have any information on the whereabouts of the Magos.  

  Ordering the guards to form a perimeter around the small complex, the Space Marines entered and did a thourgh search of the buildings. Whilst searching, they were attacked by a small number of Hormaguants (which didn’t even scratch their power armour), but didn’t find the Magos. Fortunately, there were a number of storage containers within the facility that contained an Auspex, which they think they can use to pinpoint the Magos location.

  This is where the session ended. Will the Space Marines complete their mission? Will the Magos and the datacore be saved, or will they all be turned into Tyranid Scooby snacks? The next session is not for a month, but be sure to come back and discover how the Deathwatch will try to kick more xenos backside.

Deathwatch DM Report – Unto the Breach

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I have played with the group now for nigh on two years. In that time we have managed some D&D, Warhammer FRP v3, Vampire: The Masquerade and some one shots thrown in for good measure. However, I have always been a player and never a DM. When Mike came up with the idea for One-Shot March, where we try a different system each week and each has a chance to DM, I was very excited.

I don’t think anyone can deny that Space Marines are awesome. And so, with the release of Deathwatch where you get to play as the Emperor’s finest, I thought that would be an ideal game to run (it helped that the group has also played Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader before, so the rules wouldn’t come as a complete shock). So how did it go?

Since it was a one shot, I had to come up with a mission that could be completed within three hours. My idea then was to conjure a up a space station that would be destroyed by Imperial Navy forces, but contained a valuable artefact that needed securing. This allowed me to have a small contained space that could easily be explored, and gave me an excuse to add a three hour time limit (the Navy destroying the base in three hours, unless the kill-team could secure it first). I also pre-generated the characters and I decided to make sure I had one of each type of Marine to try out (except Librarian since there were only 5 players) rather than specifically tailoring the characters for this mission.

For challenges, I had an idea whereby the Tactical Marine would have to decide where to breach the hull. One point was very easy, the hull could be breached with a Krak grenade and no enemies would notice. The other side of the scale would be breaching the hull of the shuttle bay,  that would require the use of a Melta Bomb and would also have a horde of tau warriors running around it. I also had a challenge where the team had to open the vault containing the artefact. This was alarmed and (should have been) difficult to open (unless the team still had the melta bomb, which would have obliterated the door).

There are a few things I realise I should have done more of in preparation, now that the session itself is out of the way. My dice are left at my friend’s house, so I was not able to practice the combat beforehand. This lead to a few issues, namely:

a) I had no practice playing a horde (a new mechanic for Deathwatch) so found it harder than it should have been to apply damage and use the traits of a horde.

b) I was unsure how powerful the enemy characters were, so wasn’t sure if the players were heading into a hell or kindergarten

c) Not knowing the enemy characters strengths and weaknesses meant I used them in situations where I probably shouldn’t have done. An example, the station commander was taken from the Tau Commander listed in the rulebook. I had him in a relatively small command centre, where he would be mostly in melee combat, and didn’t realise he had practically no melee skill.

d) Having not been able to practice the way damage is dealt, meant each turn took slightly longer than it needed to, which slowed down play.

I did read the rules beforehand. Just a few weeks beforehand. This means that by the time I got round to the session itself, the rules were a hazy memory. I did mark all the places in the book I thought I would need, but again it takes time to look these things up, which slowed things down further. I was planning to re-read them, but without knowing which would be most used, I probably would not have re-read the ones I needed anyway.

If I was running a full campaign and could take more time over the story, I noticed there were a few things the players asked to do that sparked some intriguing thoughts that I could take advantage of. I’d also like to point out that they are very paranoid and were seeing traps where there were none. But I suppose that comes from a lifetime of adventuring.

I would certainly be willing to take the DM position on for a full campaign. The Deathwatch rules have some intriguing mechanics that we didn’t get round to using, so I’d like to see how they work in action.

The next one-shot I’ll be participating in will be Serenity, where I get to play the insane, but powerful (insanely powerful?) River Tam. Shiny.

Starship Troopers – Not Again O-God Why Us?

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This was the continued story from the last gaming session here goes……MU HA HA

Steve has just spotted two bugs coming in about 200 metres out from the town so on to the new initiative phase and this time my bugs go last (damn it ) Steve fires and wounds one… a good start. Pigeon and Newton stand ready between the bugs and the civilians with rifles aimed , Rocket stumbles over after getting out the house and joins the guys in a line ready for the onslaught ( all three guys decide to postpone there turn so they will have a go at the bugs ).  The bugs move into the edge of the town and see three tasty meals at the end of the road.  Then suddenly bullets come flying towards them from the three figures doing a few wounds.

So Steve fires on full auto and does a wound, better than nothing.  Pigeon, Newton, Rocket fire full auto laying down a massive amount of fire-power hitting the bugs. The bugs stumble a little from the onslaught and are bleeding from a couple of wounds.  Then with a almighty roar they charge and hit the guys with a massive amount of force dealing a few wounds to the guys.

Steve can see from his vantage point that the melee is going on with full force and decides the guys need a hand now.  So he crouches down, slows his breathing, locks his corsairs on a bug and fires.  The bullet fly straight for it’s target when suddenly a gust of wind throws the trajectory off a little and it passes millimetres from the bug.  Steve can see that the bullet is dipping to much and will just hit the ground.  Steve eyes grow fearful, he has just seen Newton move his leg into the path of the bullet.  It hits the shin just where at crack early today and bursts open the armour and shin in a fountain of blood.  Newtons eyes roll back into his head and he collapses . Looking down at a pool of blood spreading out of Newton Rocket doesn’t see the bug slice into his armour until the last minute and screams, Pigeon seeing Newton go down decides to fight with a renewed fury and does considerable damage to one of the bugs. Rocket fires point blank range at the bug while clutching at his new wound.

Steve decides after his failed attempt he needs get down into the combat and help the guys, he soars into the air on his jet pack and shoots a bug at point blank range after he landed.  Rocket lands a few savage blows and does a couple of wounds . Pigeon deciding he needs to get Newton out of there does a roll whilst firing.  Then grabbing Newton puts him onto his shoulder and says ” Don’t worry man,  I’ll get you out of here just hang in there.”  As pigeon starts to move off the bug leaps at Pigeon and rips off part of his armour on his back and takes a chunk of flesh with it.  Pigeon falls to the ground unconscious due to the blow and Newton falls on top of him .

Steve seeing that this isn’t going very well feels determined to bring this to a heroic end.  He fires his pistol causing a big hole in the side of the bug  and slices him with his combat knife as well.  Rocket then goes in for a savage blow and puts a big gash on the bug . The bug bleeding from quite a few wounds lunges at Rocket and knocks him to the floor, he looks unconscious . Steve then seeing his friends falling around him puts even more effort into his blows but just doesn’t feel he is getting anywhere,  It looks like the bug knows the end is at hand and lunges at Steve to finish the job.  Then there’s an almighty crack from a gun and a bullet passes by Steve’s head and enters the big hole he made earlier.  The bullet enters the bugs skull and bounces round.  The bug has a look in it’s eyes like it cant quite believe its dead and falls over never to get back up again.  Steve looks round, sees Rocket propped up on one elbow with blood dripping out the bottom of his helmet and a smoking gun in the other hand.  He smiles then drops the gun, puts his middle finger up to the bug  and collapses.

After the viking crew help Steve get the wounded back to the Viking and head up to the ship.  He sees that there’s no villagers left down in the villiage and they got the evac they wanted from the beginning.

That was the end of Operation Farm but what has SICON got  planned for them next? Maybe their job isnt finished with the village yet. MU HA HA

Starship Troopers – Do I Have To Fight It?

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Well from my last session of starship troopers rpg the guys seemed to have picked up the basics quite easily. Then this session we had another player turn up who missed the first session, so I thought to myself there’s four of them, that should make it a bit easier so lets give them a real mission they can work towards or not as they decided.

Operation : FARM LIFE

“Right apes this should be simple enough . We got a small group of colonists planetside that are right in the path of a bug swarm . We need you to go in there and pull them out (as I explained to the guys not literally cus that would be, silly didn’t stop them coming up with ideas tho, moving on ) Get them all grouped together for the viking to come and take them away.  But I forget ,this planet ain’t part of the UCF , and those ingrates got no love for troopers . keep an eye out.”

Much moaning from group about babysitting and why the hell are we helping people that don’t like us etc., but then onto the mission and once I start I cant stop….

So the guys travel down in a Viking and as they approach the landing site they see the small village through their viewing holes.  The building are like concrete prefab houses in the middle of a dessert,  the viking touches down and the guys exit out, the ship takes off and says to give them a call when their ready to evac.  So Newton (the newbie) decides the scout around the village.  The other  guys decide to start knocking on doors  and asking people to leave, well this is how it went .

Steve knocks on door :

“Who is it?”

“Troopers to help you leave.”

old man opens the door : “Oh, your the nice fellows they sent down to keep us safe.”

Steve : “Yes sir, will you come with me” (Steve rolls and gets a really good score on his DC)

Old man : “How about this I’ll come out and give a hand to round up the rest of the villagers.”

Steve : “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you”

Well this was a very good attempt from Steve, so how did the others get on……well here goes

Pigeon knocks on door

Villager : “Go away!“

Pidgeon : “OK !” just walks off

Next

Chris knocks on door

“Go away! We don’t want your help.”

Chris : “I’m here to help and I need you out the building so we can get you somewhere safe.” (throws his DC and fails)

Citizen : “Don’t care!”

Chris : “Well if ya don’t open up, ill have to break down the door.”

citizen : “Go on, try hard boy.”

Chris:  “Fine, bring up the grenades and I’ll blow the door in.” (this was a good solution for my group cus they don’t have grenades, but as the guys pointed out the citizens don’t know that)

Citizen : “OK! OK!, We are going out just don’t kill any of us.”

Well they got the job done but not quite the diplomatic route.  Newton, after scouting for a bit, decides to try a door

Newton knocks on door

Citizen : “Go away!”

Newton screams at the top of his voice : “Oh my god, the bugs are everywhere, they have just taking your next door neighbours and you got ten seconds or I’m leaving”

Citizens couldn’t run any faster out there door

Job done but now the citizens need a new home and change of underwear .

As this is going on pigeon decides to try his jet pack to get up on one of the neighbouring houses at the end of the street.  He takes a perception test and passes.  In the distance he spots three BUGS heading their way from the east.  He radios all the guys and informs them that bugs are on the way, but finds out not all the citizens have left their homes and 20 are missing. So are we ready for a dramatic fight to the death to save the citizens and not let the bugs thru?

Well, in my groups case the first thing they do is call for evac.  I said “What about the citizens still trying to get on the shuttle?”  they all just looked at me. OK! OK!  I got my answer but as fate happens their evac couldn’t land due to the amount of air traffic picking up the citizens. WHAT A SHAME, WA HA HA HA!

This is where it got interesting because they couldn’t run they had to fight.  So Pigeon, Newton and Steve take positions on the nearest building where the bugs are going to come in. Chris stood between the bugs and the citizens if it came to that.  So that’s the plan, all good, but I know my group.  Here goes nothing!  So everyone rolls initiative, the guys get really good rolls except one, my bugs go second to last.  The bugs are currently 400 meters away. Pigeon holds his turn until they are within 300m Steve does the same but at a distance of 200m. Chris is down with the citizens so cant see that far, then its the bugs go.  They run full pelt and when they close to within 300m Pigeon lines up and fires but the bullet bounces off the bugs armour.  So then the bugs reach the 200m mark and Steve shoots and gets a hit straight thru the armour.  So now the bugs are within 200m its Newtons turn. With another hit things are going well so far .

New round, Pigeon lines up…fires putting a bullet thru the bug ouch!  Steve and Newton both fire and miss oops!  Again Chris cant see anything but now the bugs can run which puts them right on the outskirts of the city. In the next round they they would be inside the town . The guys decide to go full auto on the bugs to see if they can really do some damage.  A nice couple of hits but nothing that’s really going to kill the bugs.  Now the bugs run in to town.  One runs to the rooftop Steve is on while the other two run towards the feast down the other end of the street, the only person in their way is CHRIS .

This round is where things got interesting.  Chris decides he doesn’t like bugs and jet packs up vertical and hovers there and unloads into the bugs running towards him.  This causes a couple of wounds HU RA.  Now there is no one in the way to stop the bugs getting the civilians but have no fear pigeon is here and jet packs in front of them shooting all the way causing another wound and then swings his rifle round to his back and pulls out his combat knife and pistol ready for the onslaught.  Newton comes screaming in on a trail of  fire and lands next to pigeon and fires but misses . They both look at each other and a understanding crosses between them THIS IS THE DUMBEST THING WE HAVE EVER DONE, KISS YA ASS GOODBYE. As this is happening Steve shoots at the bug looking lost on the other side of the building.  It was wondering where his meal went and Steve shoots him and wounds. The bug on the roof turns round and chases Steve to the other building, maybe this time he will get him the other two charge in and attack Pigeon and Newton but do no damage.

Pidgeon  stabs the bug , problem is his knife went in to far and he cant pull it out, its stuck.  DAMN but have no fear pigeon is here whilst  holding onto his knife he leaps over the bug and lands onto its back riding it like a cowboy, YEE HA .  He then fires his pistol point blank range into the bugs head and finally the bug slumps to the floor dead.  Chris decides if Pigeon can do it, so can I, so drops down and attempts to ride the bug while shooting all at the same time but well……he’s just not that good and misses, fires his weapon and shoots poor Newton in the shin and cracks his armours.  He then  falls flat on his face at the feet of Newton  OOPS! Well newton is thinking ow what the hell was that and then looks down at Chris at his feet with a smoking pistol in his hand.  With a sly smile and a wink in his eye he fires at the bug to distract it but bends down and as he was a car thief in his younger age he knows how to hot wire things, just cross these two wires, simple.  So he crosses two wires on the back of Chris’s jet pack and fires him off bumping along the ground heading for a house. Steve jet packs in the air and shoots the bug below him on the roof top and the bullet passes straight thru him , the bug doesn’t quite know what happened but his legs don’t work, then everything goes black and it dies. Well the last bug has just seen this tasty meal fly off without even getting a nibble so chases Chris.

So after dismounting his ride pigeon decides to shoot the bug chasing Chris and wounds, Newton does the same and wounds (bugs nearly dead) so Chris decides flying at a rate of knots across the ground with your face eating dirt ain’t nice so tries to get his legs under himself to push off the ground . But fails so he pushes and starts to roll, then takes off and flys straight thru a window and hits a wall and slumps to the ground moaning .

Steve lines up aims and fires at the last bug and hits clean thru the nerve point and the bugs falls over and skids until it hits the wall of the building that Chris is in, it then dies, what a way to go. Chris at this moment isn’t feeling to well then he hears a voice its saying ” Rocket come in can you hear me Rocket ” Chris releases that’s Newtons voice and responds with ” What what did you just call me ?” Newton says ” Well Rocket you flew just like one so you deserve it, HA HA HA ”

AS the guys are HU RAin and generally laughing at Chrisy’s new nickname Rocket I make Steve take a perception test and as he turns his head round he sees another two bugs heading in OH-CRAP.

Games Day – Fun For One And All

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Castle Ravenloft Box ArtThis Sunday was a chance to get some gaming done, so after a bit of wrangling we got most the group together for some board game fun and frolics.

But first a little bit about my game shop visits over the last fortnight.  Last weekend I decided to visit my Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS) in Bristol called Area 51. I had not visited in a while, due to saving for a house, and I felt it was time to see what new games were out.

There on the shelf in gleaming, shiny, pristine shrink wrap were two games I really wanted – Battles of Westros and Castle Ravenloft.  They called to me “Mike…Mike…you really want us…please take us home”.  But I resisted and walked out the shop empty handed.  Mind you, I had a strop that would make Christian Bales Terminator Salvation rant look like a small grumble between pals.

After what can only be described as a “week of complete and total grumpiness” I decided we should go back and pick up the games.  looking at, adjusting, squeezing and a bit of money transferring in my accounts I could get away with two games without breaking the bank.  Oh yes! Some gaming goodness would be mine and I knew what they would be……until I got to the shop.

I always enjoy visiting Area 51 and it has come a bit of a ritual.

Step One : Stop at the front of the shop.  Prepare yourself mentally for the joy your about to receive.

Step Two : Admire the store front, Aaahhhh!

Step Three : Shuffle a bit closer, peer in through the window at the jumble of miniatures and gaming paraphernalia.

Step Four : Move to the other window and repeat Step Three.

Step Five : Open the door.  Avoid the dust cloud of swirling, card holding, potential death by paper-cut dealing mass of kids talking about / haggling over Magic the Gathering cards which always congregated at the till.  Usually this can be accomplished by a quick tuck and roll or by throwing a empty booster pack wrapper in the opposite direction of where you want to go.

Step Six : You’ve done it – Gaming Heaven!

Well not this time.  I only got to Step Three.  There in the pile of games stacked behind the till was Betrayal at House on the Hill.  I had heard a lot about this game and there it was, the brand new second edition. Before I knew what happened I was standing back outside the store with Castle Ravenloft and Betrayal at House on the Hill.

The bits in between are still a bit of a blur.  Slamming front door, children falling like bowling pins, fluttering MtG cards,  GAMES, beeps of credit card pin being rammed home, slamming of the front door again.  ”Hang on! I’m outside?……OOooooh Games!”

So two new games for gaming Sunday then!

Castle Ravenloft was most definitely the game of the day.  In total we played three times and had a blast.  We have all played 4th Edition D&D so the rules were easy to understand as it uses the same RPG system. The hero’s lost the first quest, we decided that working as a team sucks and went in different directions. Queue mass death and destruction, a lesson learned I think.  We replayed the same quest and using team work we were able to find the icon of Ravenloft.  Queue the victory dancing.   We moved on to the next quest, beat a huge dragon, another dance and then on to Betrayal at House on the Hill.

If you have never played Betrayal at House on the Hill you HAVE to give it a go.  It might not be to every one’s taste but as a game I will say that it is fun, unusual and had some brilliant twists.  Lets just say our characters escaped the Tabby Cat of DEATH in our last game by flying a toy plane off the balcony.  Yes its THAT random. I will write a full review in the future as I won’t do it justice in the few lines that I have time for right now.

Then it was on to Rune Wars.  You can see my thoughts on Rune Wars here.

Anyway, after the grump I was in last week this was just the thing to get me excited about my hobby again.

I would like to say a BIG thank you to the Guys for a wicked day!  GAME ON!

Starship Troopers – Do You Want To Live Forever?

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Well in the first session of Starship Troopers RPG they nearly didn’t. I have loved Starship Troopers since I saw the first film I was hooked. As people have told me if you love it there’s probably a roleplay system for it.

So off I went to find one, trying to find a copy of the rule book was not easy but thanks to my mate Mike I was able to download the rulebook from RPGNow.com straight to my computer. I thought I would print the rule book out, well 288 pages and five ink cartridges later I had my rule book and also ordered three of the expansions BOOT CAMP , AMBUSH AT ALTAIR and THE ARACHNID INVASION which added to my reading .

So I read the rules and found that the combat is the same as Dungeons and Dragons second edition which me and the guys had played before so this was going be pretty simple. I decided to make up a little mission so that I could explain how all the characters know each other. One way I thought of this was by way of a flashback which we have used in our Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay sessions and worked really well. I thought it would be brilliant, we could try out the combat system and see how it went and on the plus side the characters cant die but as I was to find out they can come really close .

So the story starts out with the characters aboard the space ship THE WILLIAM TELL going through transit to the planet Zera 5 to deal with a bug infestation. The journey would take two weeks to get to so they decide to go to the mess hall to grab some lunch. The characters were eating lunch and I ask all them to make a perception check. A couple of them pass and they notice at the corner of there eye some new recruits pointing at them and pushing one of there members forward.

So the unlucky chap comes up to them and says

“Hi me and the guys were wondering if your Lucky’s boys.”

Now I know my group so i know what there answer is going to be NO! so as you can imagined I had planned for this. At this point the group of recruits has come forward and the lad says

“I think you are and so does the guys we were just wondering if you could tell us the story of how you got that name ?”

Can you guess what there answer will be yep you got it NO! but i planned for this so all of a sudden a tall muscular man with a beard approaches and says “Don’t worry about them lads there just grouchy they keep surviving but i don’t mind telling you THE Names Commander LUCKY”

Queue flashback

Right guys there are alarm klaxons sounding and red lights going off and you are all being huddled into your squads ready to be put into your drop capsules you never knew you first combat drop would be like this you just remember the briefing:

“Right gentlemen sicon has found us some bugs to hunt dont worry they are in for a bigger surprise then us . We are sending a whole platoon down to clear out the remaining force. If there is any after fleet bombards them to bits all you will have to do is kick a few carcusess so do you want to live forever? If yes then go suit up.”

So guys you are in your small tight very confining capsule can I have a willpower save from ya all. so one fails and starts to scream and shout “I ain’t getting on no plane” but before he can do anything about it he’s capsule was shot out into space. Imagine a revolver stuck to the side of the ship and each capsule gets loaded then shot out. So as the guys are hurtling towards the surface at speed I get them to make a fortitude save and two fail so they throw up in there helmets but don’t worry the suits built for this type of thing and sucks the sick away. As they head towards the landing area they hear explosions and screaming over the com. What the hell is going on out there?

As their capsules hit the ground and pops open the door one of the guys (Tristan) jumps out scans the surrounding area sees nothing, so decides to end it now and shoots himself in the head. So he makes his roll and misses so what happens? The bullet rebounds off his helmet and hits a pigeon that was flying in the air and kills it. So now he decides he wants a trophy so gos and collects the pigeon, while he is attaching it to his belt both of the other guys turns up after hearing the shot and looks at this guy attaching a pigeon to his and belt and says “PIGEON?” and the character reply’s yep that’s me.

(In character creation the guys had to come up with a call signs, so I had added how he got the name )

So now the guys are ready to go get some bugs but before they do they hear on the com a distress signal so change channel and listen :

“Hello hello is anyone out there or am i the only f*+k that landed.”

“Hello this is Chris who is this?”

“Well thank the bugs can’t shoot straight. I’m lieutenant Lucky and my capsules upside down and I can’t get my door open. I got bugs knocking on my door so if it isn’t to much trouble GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND GET ME OUT THIS F*CKING TIN CAN BEFORE THE BUGS DO I’m activating my beacon now.

So off goes the guys to help lieutenant Lucky but as they head out I let them know that where the fleet bombarded the place the dust still hasn’t settled so vision is restricted to 150ft. So they get within 150ft and see shadows, random scrapping noises, random com chatter “f-ck off bugs” and something about there mum. So the guys open fire, well what happened was the guys forgot they could open up on full automatic (or they said they didn’t want to hit lieutenant Lucky). So they shot a bullet each two misses and one bounces off the bugs Armour but at least they now know the guys are here. So with a screech and the bugs headed towards the group.

Now I got their movement wrong. What should of been a mad charge was a walk because the bugs would of been on them in one turn. I thought after the bombardment the bugs would still be a little shaken and injured so this worked well. Now initiative, well there’s something that never happens, the badies go first. They moved closer, now the guys didnt hold anything back and went for it full auto…and did sod all. Next the bugs move closer and the guys feel more pressured and real give it there all and cause afew wounds. As the bugs move forward the guys hear a almighty bang from behind the bugs and sees lieutenant Lucky stand up and open up reducing a bug to shreds. The guys give it one last go and open up taking a few wounds off one.

Now this is where it got tough the bugs moved in close range and the guys have never seen a bug this close before. A 550kg killing machine with no remorse and a big appetite. They tested for fear, two of them panic and drop their gun and try to fend the bugs off with there hands. So one’s left to take a shot, pulls out his pistol and fires, so does lieu Lucky both of them wound.

So new round one bug lashes at Steve and gives him a claw to the chest and draws blood (at this point like to remind people that this is a flashback and not meant to kill the players cus they survived. I just took half Steve’s hit points with one attack. Nuts!). Between the guys they finish off one bug, so with only one left next round, Pigeon blows a knee cap off the last bug leaving only three good legs.

The Bug can’t hit this round, Pigeon lines up takes a shot and blows its other knee cap off ha! Only two legs left and that’s it for that round. So the Bug with two legs left looks at Pigeon and doesn’t like him much, so with all its strength it leaps at Pigeon and impales him with both claws straight tru the shoulders (Doh! Done it again, got a crit on the dice and double damage, oops). Then lieu Lucky shoots the bug dead, Pigeon slumps to the floor (zero hit points, sigh of relief from me he still alive) after lieu Lucky bandages up Pigeon they call in evac but are told plasma in the area so have to take them out.

The group head off to get rid of the plasma and find them being herded into tunnels out the way. Lieu Lucky hands Chris a Spyder, which is a laser targeter for or orbital bombardment. Then him and Steve help Pigeon to the evac while Chris sets the targeter and runs like hell. They only got five minutes till it goes off, so best move .

The group get to the shuttle OK but the pilot is crazy and goes full throttle just as the guys get on. He starts to climb rapidly and all the guys pass a reflex save and sit down, except Chris who then passes a strength test to hold onto something. While he’s doing this he decides to shoot out the side of the shuttle at the bugs below, passes, and hits a plasma in the head and throws off its aim. What an end.

Now I have learned some lessons from this session and know what to do next time. I can’t wait!

So do you want to live forever?

WFRP 3rd Edition – Session 8

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Whoop Whoop! Better session today.  Finally finished the battle of the Mother Tree and completed the first leg of this campaign.

blurry picture of the gaming table.

Last session we left the Elf hanging to the edge of a pit trap but an unsuccessful strength check left him sliding to the edge and finally the sodden ground gave way dropping him into the hole.  As he fell his quick reflexes allow him to grab a hole in the wall of the pit  and was able to stop his descent.  Pulling himself up he looked into the small hole and could just make out the top of a skeleton’s head and realizes in disgust that he was looking into a coffin .  A set of red glowing eyes watches him from the darkness and a rat jumped a him from the darkness.  One unsuccessful discipline check later and he completed the journey to the bottom of the hole.  One observation check later and he finds he is standing in a great cavern under the tree, in the darkness there’s movement all around and he realizes the place is full of the undead.

Up near the tree the Elf, Human and Priestess are all making range attacks on the tree while the Dwarf gets up close and personal with the tree putting the hammer to good use.  The tree opens its great mouth to call for reinforcements when suddenly the Dwarf has the idea that maybe he can cause more damage to this foe from the inside and makes a dash for the opening.

Below ground the Elf is fighting for his life in the darkness with two skeletons and things are not going well.

The Dwarf crawls into the gaping hole leaving the Mother tree feeling quite violated.  Emerging into the hollow interior of the tree he makes a quick descent of slime and snot, think Goonies water slide, to find himself knocking over the Elf, springing to his feet and helping the elf, who had been knocked unconscious by the undead.

Above ground the winged Demon started strafing runs on the characters.  Slicing the Priestess shoulder open on a successful attack the Demon felt on top of the world until the blood on its claws started to burn him.

This whole part of the campaign has been based on a piece of powerful comet that has been taken over by Neergal the god of disease and rot.  The Priestess being a tool of Shayeela goddess of healing who fights Neergal with all her might could of been more of a force against the tree.  This did not happen the way I thought it would.  She stayed back and helped the other characters with blessings.  Even after a Intuition check which pretty much told her she had more to do she did not step up to the plate. Well thats the way it goes sometime and you can’t control the players characters for them.

When the Dwarf entered the melee with the undead they moved back and did not want to engage.  Using a Observation check the Dwarf realized that the cavern was of Dwarf construction and the Undead were Dwarves themselves.  Using his Dwarf knowledge he was able to detect the small signs left by his people that pointed to the exit and emerged into the sunshine dragging the Elf.

After the Elf was back on his feet it was all out group attack on the Tree and Demon until finally victory was theirs.

I will write up a end of campaign summary with my thoughts about the system and my writing campaigns experience in a future post, but for now I am signing off,  I’m in Scotland and I don’t want to waste the day!