Meetup

Looks like this Saturday, around 1 pm, in the Wausau Mall.
I'll update people if that changes.
I'm going to meeting others sometime Saturday for Heroclix, so this meetup will probably be short (like a half-hour or so.)

Merin's Wausau D&D + RPG Gaming Group February Meetup

I bit the bullet and paid for a new meet-up group.
I'd like to see several games going on a month, enough to build a nice little community of role-players in the area.
Website is at http://www.meetup.com/The-Wausau-Dungeons-Dragons-Meetup-Group/
Joining is free (it only cost me to start it - grr.)

New Campaign

We will be starting Keep on the Shadowfell over with a clean, new party.

I will be making extra efforts to assure that there is no TPK ever again (unless you are all REALLY asking for it, which you weren't) and even more effort to draw in PC personalities and get the RP part of the RPG going.

Don't worry, it will feel different than the previous run-through.

I'd still like to emphasize sticking with the core races from the PHB, please, and as much as possible sticking with the core classes. I will listen to pleas, but don't get your hopes up. The new playtest classes are possibilities (artificer, barbarian, bard, druid) but I'd like to keep them to a minimum.

I want us to get more game-time in for a session - this might not be possible. A session should be at least every other week and last (game-time) 5 hours, in which time there should be 3-4 encounters (not all of them being, or needing to be, combat.) This is what I'll be working towards.

Lastly, I am toying with the idea of making certain Jobs static instead of dynamic. Like Jake being Party Leader and Mike handling Initiative and the like.

Skirmish Game Be Gone!

From WotC - No More Skirmish Game Support!

Really, they are changing how they sell miniatures.

My thoughts? I don't play the Skirmish Game, so that loss is not affecting me. BUT this will make buying the miniatures you want (as a player for your PC) and the ones you need (as a DM for encounters) much cheaper and easier than having to dig through ebay and stores like Johnny Cee's.

The focus on the RPG game for the minis now makes me very happy.

What are your thoughts?

New Fill-In Game Offer

A filler for while Star Wars is on hiatus for a couple months -

I'm offering to run a short run, fun, RP heavy campaign of either Buffy or Army of Darkness RPG. If anyone is interested let me know. It'd be on Sundays, when most of us were meeting for Star Wars anyway. I know Benton won't be able to make it, but if I get at least 3 people interested I'll throw something together.

Benton's Scales of War

Scales of War continues on with much fun being had by all, or so it seems!

The party failed its first skill challenge BEAUTIFULLY, costing us a higher reward and the trust of the town we are protecting. YAY!

Most players seemed to be getting into their characters, and so far we are dominating the equal level combats.

Of course, my campaign's players did so as well until they hit an encounter that was well above their level.

And in a shocking turn of events . . .

Benton will be running a D&D adventure tonight.

We had initially spoke of co-DMing. Well, for a brief hiatus for me, Benton is going to fill in this session.

As a group tonight we will discuss how this is going to work.

Wednesday Night

We'll game at Jake & Angie's at least one more time - since we are gaming EARLIER in the night, I'm even considering offering up my basement again (until the Game Room at Wausau Comics is ready), but for now their excellent set up will do nicely.

I want us making characters TOGETHER Wednesday night, one at a time, so even if you pre-make your character you will be filling out a character sheet for the DM (for me) with everyone else contributing. Even if this takes most of the night.

What I want is for each and everyone one of the players to understand not only their character and their role in the party, but also to understand the characters and roles of the other players. I want some "built-in" associations between the PCs prior to the game restarting, like we tried before. But, again, I want to make sure we all understand the roles and abilities of the PCs.

A Defender stands in front of the other party members and absorbs damage, preventing to the best of his or her ability his comrades from being attacked.
A Striker targets individual opponents to eliminate, playing hit and run tactics mostly.
A Controller tries to manipulate the battlefield as a whole, tying down or eliminating numerous opponents (mainly minions) at a shot.
A Leader assists the rest of the party with heals and buffs.

Combat Encounters utilize maps and terrain features and miniatures for a specific reason - 4th Edition is very much a tactics game. And one of the most important, and I feel possibly overlooked so far in our gaming sessions to date, tactics is positioning. Making sure Defenders are BETWEEN the enemies and the squishier allies. Making sure cover and concealment is utilized to the party's advantage and the opposing group's disadvantage. Keeping softer targets on the move, like Strikers.

I know most of my players are more used to (if any gaming) the more RP oriented combat, often without any visual aides or maps. I, even though I've RP'd a lot for over twenty years, come more recently from miniature strategy games (Warhammer, Heroclix) and maybe have a better understanding of miniature combat tactics than some of group. The game SHOULD be far to the party's advantage - even with "tougher" opponents, I will not be going for the throat - my motivation as a DM is to provide fun for all. But we had two bad nights of party losses, and I've decided to take a huge step back and run most of the rest of this module as almost a 4th ED boot camp. There are still rules and such I don't have memorized for this game, some of which players like Jake and Benton know very well, but I do understand strategy gaming and will be stepping more out of the "running the opposition" role in combat and more into the "party leader" role I was hoping a party leader would take on its own, at least until I feel everyone has a better handle of this. I will be making suggestions and issuing warnings during combat for the time being during combat, letting options be known and when mistakes might be in the making.

Warhammer Online

I'm not a big MMO fan. The concept doesn't turn me off, but the execution often does. Also it has been my experience that a large enough number of very vocal players easily ruin the whole experience.
Dark Age of Camelot had me for a little while. I still love City of Heroes / Villains, though I didn't play it that much and haven't touched it in years. No other MMO (and I tried most of the ones up to maybe a few years ago) kept me interested for more than a couple weeks. I've never even seriously considered WoW.

Now, however, Warhammer emerges. The miniatures game system that Blizzard "copied" with Warcraft. And from what I've read and seen so far, Warhammer Online might be something I want to try. I loved the Realm Vs. Realm concept from Dark Age, and Mythic is behind that game as well as Warhammer.

Mainly, though, there is one feature that grabs my attention. City of Heroes, for example, gave us the spawning mission zone - when you entered a door to go into your mission (whether you, singular, or you, your party) no one else could follow. No other players could mess with your mission! This was great, and many games have copied this since - but it does pull away from being part of something larger. Enter PUBLIC QUESTS. These are mutli-stage Player Vs Environment events that spawn often and allows all players, even solo players, to engage in part of something larger with their "realm mates" without needing to find a group of players specifically to hang out with!

Combine PQ's with the whole expanded and refined Realm vs. Realm concepts of Warhammer Online, and I'm actually mildly excited for the first time in years over an MMO.

Anyone else interested?

Fourth Session Ends In Tragedy

I blame WotC for their Level 6 encounter designed to face off against a Level 1 party. Seriously.
I blame myself for, after seeing the party beaten once, not being far more careful the second time.
I wish I could blame text messaging and cell phone distractions, but they probably played little role in this event. Still . . .

Telafinil and Dram recouped outside the cave, and were joined by a Warlock tracking down the death cult in the area.
They tried to sneak back into the cave to rescue their fallen comrades but Irontooth and the kobolds were ready for them. The three fought bravely, long enough for Ghesh and Anastar to awaken - but apparently a level 3 Elite Brute is more than a party of 5 1st level characters can reasonably handle, especially if the Brute has allies and/or the party is half-dead.

General consensus was that the players would create new characters, the DM would more carefully screen the upcoming encounters for difficulty, and gaming would resume (same storyline, new party) October 8th.

More Dragon Age Origins Video!

Go to the Dragon Age website at Bioware, here, to learn more!

To Look Forward To -

1 - Max will most likely be playing a Half-Elf Warlock. This will likely mean that Miklotov didn't survive the assault on Irontooth hideout.
2 - The game will most likely pick up moments after last session ended, with Telafinil and Dram outside the cave entrance. My strong suggestion - the two escapees camp near the entrance, rest (with shifts of watches) and then attempt a rescue. Just my suggestion, but you guys can try whatever.
3 - The D&D campaign is going to be encouner / combat heavy. There will be skill challenges too, and many instances of "acting in character" for information gathering and non-combat encounters, but for the most part this will be less "acting" role-playing than "character adventuring" role-playing. Just because of the nature of how 4th Ed is set up and, for this campaign, DM's personal preference.
4 - We are almost done with kobolds. Honest!

New Venue?

Wausau Comics has moved upstairs at the Treasure Mill. Now I have the whole top floor for my use, including a room for gaming.

We can start having D&D there soon. I'll let you guys know when it gets set up. As great as Jake & Angie's place is, it will be nice to not have to worry about the dog or them having to worry about us leaving a mess, etc.

I'll keep you guys updated. Wausau Comics will also be hosting Evan (the WASFEn Con guy) and his Robotech RPG game I'll be part of, as well as official tournaments for Heroclix and such.

Third Session

Short and not-so sweet.

After surviving the ambush of the previous night the party decided to not rest and just press forward.

They arrived at the location that both of their maps indicated the kobold (or death cult) hideout should be. Seeing a small army of kobolds guarding a waterfall, they attacked and cleared out all but one lone slinger. The slinger ran behind the waterfall into a cave.

The party took a short rest to gain their bearings and then dove into the cave. A two-wave attack hit them, and for most of the fight the party looked to be cleaning house. Near the end of the fight, however, the kobold priest and the gobling warlord ( Irontooth! ) managed to turn the tide and three of the party were felled. Deciding discretion is the better party of valor ( the DM assumes it was actually blatant racisim on the part of the fae ) Telafinil and Dram fled the cave.

What is the fate of the fallen? Will the eladrin and elf rescue their companions, or will they form a travelling vaudeville act instead?

Delays - and apologies

Jake called me with an offer for playing this Wednesday (the 20th) and I had to decline.

It turns out Benton is out of town anyway, but we could still have possibly played. And I could well have just run it, but things for me have been a bit chaotic recently.

We are set to go on the 27th, and hopefully we'll get back to an every-other week schedule from there!

Go watch THE GUILD!

Seriously. It is so very frakkin funny!

I'm just sad I found them so late - I would have absolutely donated to keep it going! At least it looks like there will be another season!

I've got the DVD ordered, so if some of us want to get together and watch the whole thing together in one sitting I'm game. We could make a regular thing of it - catch Gamers and The Gamers and similar shows as well.

The website is here or just google Watch The Guild, or check them out on Facebook or MySpace.

Seriously, I'm very much a fan of Felicia Day lately!

Second Night

Arriving at the small sleepy village of Winterhaven, the party settles in at Wrafton's Inn and goes about the business of investigating.
After meeting some of the colorful folks and taking a small tour of some of the locales, the group relaxes for the evening with drink and conversation.
Anastar gains the adventuring company a commission from the local Lord, Ernest Padraig, to remove a kobold encampment.
Telafinil gains some information about his missing mentor, Douvan, and knows he is on the right track.
An elven hunter named Ninaran, while initially cool to the party, lets Ghesh know that the death cult seems to be hiding out in the same area as the kobold encampment - even though no one else in the town seems to know ANYTHING about said cult.

The next morning the party decides to go ahead and complete the Lord's commission first and heads back down King's Road towards where two separate maps (one from Eilian a local gossip, the other from Ninaran the elven hunter) point at the same location of the kobold hideout. On the way, however, they are ambushed by some very angry kobolds seeking revenge for their comrades that the party had killed previously.

About Frakken Time!

Dragon Age news! Actual substantial news about Bioware's next TRUE computer RPG!

I have been waiting for this for SO GORRAM LONG!

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

Podcast about the game.

Screenshots!

I am very excited and wanted to share.

Encounters - Think Strategy

A big part of the fun of D&D is combat. Not just killing things or having the toughest character - those can be fun, true, but there is far more to the game.

Especially 4th Edition. The tactical aspects of the game are amazing. Combat should be far less about "how can I kill the most" or "how can I look the coolest" and much more about "how do we work together as a team to come out of this encounter the easiest?"

It will take some getting used to, for new players, players not used to using miniatures, and even for 3rd edition players who suddenly find the concepts of shifting, moving your opponents, and "effects last until the end of your next turn" type mechanics turning the combat system on its head.

Take some time to read over the combat section of the PHB if you haven't yet. If you have, skim over it again before the next session. There is so much fun to be had with the Encounter system of 4th Edition!

First Adventure

The party formed in Fallcrest and following a couple leads that pointed in the same direction they started their trek to Winterhaven.
A missing mentor for the Artificer, and the Paladin has been asked to check into signs of a death cult.
Kobolds tried to rob the party, and before that a pesky gnome with some trained rodents ambushed the party as well. The adventurers, however, made short work of both groups. Sadly for the PCs, the gnome got away!