40 years ago today, Apollo 11 was on the way to the moon.

I've been tardy with continuing to document the ongoing D&D campaign, in part because delays tend to snowball into something unmanageable and also because the next few encounters may not be all that interesting to relate in a blog post. As such, I'll try to speed through the next little bit to catch up.

The previous update was here: http://quill18.livejournal.com/346865.html

When we left off, the party had split up to continue their investigation as to the whereabouts of the gnome artificer, Thraxis. Actually, two of the PCs simply went to the docks to watch some boat races: Only Ophelia (Tiefling Artificer) and Khaled (Undead Rogue) actually went to the Bilge and Bulwark to gather information. Furthermore, they actually split up inside the bar so it was more like two independent investigations.

Ophelia approached some service-oriented ad-hoc employement women (i.e. hookers). Slipping one a few gold, she was able to get information that Thraxis had actually visited just a couple days prior. The hooker was able to supply Ophelia with an address. All of it was complete B.S. In her defense, the prostitute figured that people pay her to fake love, so being paid to fake information was fine too.

Meanwhile, Khaled was tossed some gold at the halfling bartender and asked about Thraxis. The bartender happily pocketed the money and then told Khaled that he hadn't seen Thraxis in about six months.

At this point, I feel that I really need to point out that I don't tend to toss jerk NPCs at my party (unlike other DMs). Generally speaking, they are trustworthy -- or at least more straightforward about their desire to screw with the players. But bad rolls, low Sense Motive skills, and a disreputable bar bred an atmosphere that lead to things being difficult. I really felt that the actions of the NPCs made sense within the context of the quick personalities I assigned to them. I didn't help that Ophelia is demon-blooded and that Khaled (since he is undead) must constantly hide behind a mask. There's a limit to how personable they can be.

Khaled, unsatistfied with the information the bartender supplied, continued to press for more using more gold and words to sway the halfling (who continued to take the money and continued to be technically honest, but unhelpful). Unbeknown to the players, the Bilge and Bulwark has a bouncer -- an Ogre mage who likes to polymorph into the form of generic human and blend in with the crowd. When Khaled started to "harass" the bartender, I decided that the bouncer would get close in case a problem occurred. I described to Khaled how people were trying to get close to the crowded bar and were squeezing in right next to him.

Frustrated with having spent money for no gain, Khaled decided to indulge in his vice and pickpocket the closest person and try to recoup some of his money. Due to my decision to move in the bouncer, the closest person to Khaled was the Ogre Mage. Not only did Khaled's pickpocket attempt fail, it failed so much that the bouncer was able to make his spot check and notice the attempted robbery.

And so, Khaled came to fight a pissed off Ogre Mage in the middle of a crowded bar. The only other party member around was Ophelia, and she was trying to lay low because everyone was certain Khaled was screwed and she figured that this was the best way to ensure that she would survive to recover his body.

Astoundingly, this was not necessary. Leaping atop the bar and activating his Rogue Blade's blinking power, Khaled was able to "tank" the beast and dodge most blows (blinking gives you a 50% chance of avoiding any attack, on top of your regular dodge/armor stuff). Even when a blow did land, the ogre mage's sword only did half damage to Khaled due to the fact that he is literally just a skeleton -- he has no blood or internal organs to damage. Furthermore, you aren't able to apply your Dexterity bonus to AC while fighting a blinking opponent, which meant that Khaled was able to do Sneak Attack damage on every attack. Eventually it was the ogre mage who fell, not Khaled. The last blow was subdual damage - Khaled didn't want to kill him (this was unnecessary, if you know about ogre mages, but he doesn't).

At that point, the bartender asked Khaled to get the hell out...and he did.

Once the party was reunited (and discovered that Ophelia's information was no good), they were in a pretty bad spot. Nonetheless, it would turn out that some of their "bad" decisions had actually worked out well for them. First of all, it meant that Astreia and Ember could enter the bar untainted by the previous encounter's outcome (Ophelia was fine too). Secondly, it meant that the bartender was starting to get sick of people bugging him about Thraxis (the Emerald Claw had interrogated him too) and so a successful Diplomacy check by Astreia meant that he was all too happy to send her to the Sea Wyverns' headquarters to bother them instead. Thirdly, all of the ruckus that Khaled caused by looking for Thraxis meant that certain people within the Sea Wyverns were actually looking to contact him, and in a good way!

Long story short: The Sea Wyverns know that where Thraxis is. He's been taken captive by some slavers. In the same mine where Thraxis is, there is a noble's son being held prisoner. The Sea Wyverns have been hired to rescue the noble's son but they need good strong fighters to help get the job done. In a mutually beneficial agreement, the party and the Sea Wyverns band together to infiltrate the slavers' mine. In an adventure that involved stealing a ship, sneaking in to a heavily defended sea fort, orchestrating a prison break, and killing some abominations from Khyber, the party successfully recovered Thraxis. Or, well, his body anyway. Luckily, the body was covered in tattoos which held the information that they would need.

At this point, the party had two of the three keys: Thraxis' body would allow them access to the tomb. The journal provided them with directions to reach the tomb. However, the journal references numerous landmarks on a largely unexplored island. Without a map of the island, the party would have no idea where to even start looking to follow the journal's directions. After conferring with the captain of the Sea Wyverns, they discovered that only one person in the Lhazaar Principalities would have maps of the haunted island: The Pirate Prince Ryger. A literal prince. Ryger is the legitimate ruler of the Lhazaar Principalities and is by all accounts a good ruler. He just happened to be a pirate (though since coming to power he doesn't have much time to do piracy).

With that information, the party sailed to Regalport (the region's capital). Once they arrived they were faced with an important initial decision: Would they take some downtime. They'd leveled up since their last break and had accumulated many riches. Each player had an extensive shopping list of goods that they wanted Ophelia to craft for them (I have a houserule that anyone can supply the XP for item creation, so Ophelia can equip the party without level-draining herself). Having the artificer make the items would allow them to effectively more than double their gold supply (she has the XP and gold cost reduction feats). A big part of the party's ability to overpower many encounters has been because of their better than average equipment for their level. Even if Ophelia did nothing directly in combat, her party contribution is tremendous.

However, crafting magic items is a slow process -- to take care of everything on the party's shopping list would require over three months of crafting time. The players were quite concerned about the fact that the last people to receive aberrant dragonmarks like they did...were dead within a few months. Furthermore, they knew that the Emerald Claw (and their masters in the Blood of Vol) were also in pursuit of the Dragon's Eye -- something that was still just a MacGuffin at this point but might ultimately be connected to their fate. They didn't want the Emerald Claw to get ahead of them. Plus, the cultists were fond of ambushing the players and they figured that it would be a hard 3 months.

And so, the players decided to shelve their magic item creation projects and rush forward with the adventure. This decision would have great consequences.

Finding Prince Ryger was not difficult, since while in port he spent most evenings at a higher class (though still piraty) tavern on the docks. Over the course of an evening that involved feats of strength and dexterity and much diplomacy, the players were actually able to impress themselves on the prince and he gave them permission to board his docked vessel and make a copy of the map. (The adventure module also had full support for attempts to sneak in or storm the boat...oh well, maybe next time!)

Finally armed with all three pieces of the puzzle, the players finally set out for the haunted island of Trebaz Sinara to find a tomb that might hold the key for surviving their aberrant dragonmarks and also discovering what and where the Dragon's Eye is.

The 9 Stupidest Products Of All Time (VIDEO)

Sudbury Pride Week Activities:

Monday, July 13

10 a. m. -- Opening Ceremonies, Tom Davies Square;

7 p. m. -- Erogenous Zone Out (art show), Studio 276 Cedar St. (Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a. m.- 4 p. m.);

Tuesday, July 14

7 p. m. -- Queering the Family Tree: Reflections on new developments in Canadian LGBT parenting, Fromagerie Elgin;

Wednesday, July 15

7 p. m.-- Film Screening of MILK, Rainbow Cinema. A discussion panel to follow;

11 p. m. -- Zigs'Annual "Pride Idol" and Karaoke;

Thursday July 16

8 p. m. -- 2nd annual Poetry Out Loud, Parker House;

10 p. m. -- Leather Night -- Zigs Bar

Friday, July 17 1 p. m. -- Youth Pride Games, Memorial Park;

8 p. m. -- A Techno Night of Dance, Tom Davies Square. For ages 12 -- 19;

11 p. m.-- Drag Show, Zigs Bar;

Saturday, July 18

12 p. m.-- SNO Bears BBQ Picnic in the Park, Delki Dozzi Park (Pork Roast, Baseball Tournament and games);

8 p. m. -- Laff City Presents Elvira Kurt, Grace Hartman Amphitheater, Bell Park;

11 p. m. -- Everything Under the Rainbow 12th Annual Pride Dance, Zigs;

Sunday, July 19

12:30 p. m. -- 12th Annual Pride March, Meet at Memorial Park;

1:30 to 3:45 p. m. -- Post March barbecue and family picnic at Tom Davies Square;

More info: sudburypride.com or call Tom Reid at 690-7884 or Heather Topp at 674-5166 to submit art work or poetry.

Art, math, and technology collide in the world of origami:

http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html

Excellent talk, discussing how we have brought about a renaissance of origami art in the 20th century, and how tricks learned in origami are being used to deploy giant space telescopes and save lives on Earth.

I really want to keep documenting this campaign because I'm sure that I'll want to re-read all this stuff down the road, so here's a third posting about the ongoing campaign.

Recap

Getting the Journal

Finding Thraxis

This is for Meg:

And this one's just for me:

Oklahoma's News 9 has done a segment on Rep. Sally Kern's Proclamation for Morality in which she blames the nation's current economic and other problems on gays, abortion, divorce, and all around lack of Christian faith

"Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the "Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests."

David McKenzie
Federal Way, WA

I had one whole request for a follow-up on this, and who am I to resist such an outpouring of fan support?

Reminder: The Sims 3 Legacy Challenge is a completely optional set of self-imposed rules for gameplay. The goal is to start with a single simple who is almost completely broke and create a dynasty lasting for 10 generations.

I apologize for the completely text-based nature of these posts. They would be much better served by pictures, but while I have plenty of screenshots I am far too lazy to edit them and insert them into a post.

When we last left David Dufresne, he was frantically trying to work his way up the ranks in his medical career so that he could afford luxury items...like walls and a roof. He was also trying to find an eligible lady to eventually marry.

( Please to be clicking )

• 16:59 On my own tonight. Guess I'll have some bad food. #

This journal introduced me to the idea of sims legacy gameplay. It's a set of self-imposed rules to play a multi-generational family. Since I'm a goal-oriented gamer, I thought this might be a good way to maintain interest in The Sims 3, which I have not played very much despite like the game, due to a combination of a busy schedule and a lack of direction.

I still have a full schedule, but at least now I have a fun goal in mind.

Basically, the idea is to start with a single Sim and place him on the biggest, most expensive empty plot in the game. You start with $16,000 but the plot costs $14,700. The money you have leftover is enough for a bed and a toilet and...that's pretty much it. You can't even put up any walls (hope you aren't shy...) Luckily, save for sleeping, you can fulfill all your needs in town. The local diner has cheap meals, the library is free entertainment, and you can shower at the gym.

The goal is to start from these humble beginnings and have your family span ten generations. Your founder will definitely have the most difficult life, as he or she must quickly start to make a lot of money to literally build a home from the ground up while at the same time wooing a mate and spawning some heirs. Life for future generations should be easier, though you are not allowed to pick their traits (they must be randomized), which I expect will lead to some interesting challenges.

The rules I linked above have a scoring system so that you can grade your success beyond the idea of just surviving ten generations. There's not much to it, though I'm not 100% sure if I care enough to keep track. I do like that you are encouraged to have a portrait made of family members and keep them on display. Clearly, I'll have to make sure to encourage artistic expression in at least a few of my heirs.

My founder for this experiment is David Dufresne. He is meant to be the heir of the closest thing I ever had to a "legacy" family in Sims 2 (though I think I misspelled the last name...). I made sure that his traits would be reflective of someone destined to be the patriarch of a great family. They would also help make the various difficult early phase of the game a little easier:

Ambitious - I knew that he would have to bust his ass to earn promotions as quickly as possible so that I could earn bigger paychecks so I could furnish a house from scratch. This trait makes it easier for him to earn a promotion and grants him extra happiness for doing so.

Workaholic - Sims with this trait gain bonus happiness while at work, which will prove critical in helping to counteract some of the unhappiness David will inevitably have due to his initial poverty.

Bookworm - Unlike his progeny, David will not be able to enter adulthood with any skills. He'll need to cram hard at the library to learn everything he'll need to get through life. This also enables him to get more entertainment from reading books, which is a nice source of free fun.

Friendly - Again, he won't be able to start out his adult life with any friends, so this will help him make them faster. It should also help him to build a relationship with his boss (we need promotions ASAP) and eventually befriend a potential wife.

Family-Oriented - I'm going to want at least an heir and a spare for him, and raising kids while also trying to furnish a home will be very stressful. Hopefully this will make it easier on him! (It should also give him wishes that are inline with plans I already have for him, which is always nice.)

For a lifetime wish, I gave him the goal of becoming a world-class surgeon (rank 10 in the medical field). I knew that, if possible, I wanted a very lofty job for the patriarch of the family, and the traits I gave him just seemed to fit the medical field very well. I also feel that it sets a nice benevolent tone for the family (more than CEO or politician would).

Although I just now realized that I missed the perfect, absolute best idea for a legacy family: The Mafia. A godfather-esque setup would be so utterly perfect for this.

Damn. Damn damn damn. Hm. I haven't actually invested that much time on David...it wouldn't be too late to change. I could even give myself the optional challenge of requiring that my chosen heir would have to continue the family business (rise to the top of the Criminal career). It might be a bit dull to play the same career over and over, but as long as I have a big enough family I could have the non-chosen heirs explore different career tracks.

Okay, I really want to do this. However, I just checked and the Criminal track is not really "godfather" material. The promotions go like this:

Decoy, Cutpurse, Thug, Getaway Driver, Bagman/woman, Con Artist

Okay, so far so good. But then the career branches and you take one of these two paths:

Evil: Henchman, Evil sidekick, Super villain, Emperor of Evil

Thief: Safecracker, Bank Robber, Cat Burglar, Master Thief

Arg. What's a guy gotta do to be able to extort protection money from people? The Thief branch might be acceptable. Must think on this further.

(Ideal traits for this setup would probably be Klepto, Friendly, Ambitious (or Athletic?), Charismatic, Mooch. I do kinda like the idea of giving my founder the "kleptomaniac" trait so that he can start to decorate his empty lot with items that he steals from other households. Perhaps these traits aren't so dignified, but they would help in the early poverty stages.)

---

Meanwhile, I did start my game last night and I've already managed to get David up to the level of Intern in the medical field. He has one best friend - a Miss Lin, who is a resident at the hospital. In a lot of ways, she'd make an ideal spouse. Unfortunately, she already has a child, and the legacy guidelines require that heirs be related by blood. It's going to be difficult enough raising babies without also dealing with a step-daughter.

I dunno. We'll see how it goes.

Marty discusses the use of different terms to label different groups of people, and how we have started to use words completely out of context.

Bonus footage from father's day, an awesome desert, and some home repair efforts.

The green and the blue are actually the same color.



http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/24/the-blue-and-the-green/

• 07:39 Another scorcher today, but luckily I managed to repair the AC. I'm so manly. #

Who comes up with these names?

Very Large Telescope
Extremely Large Telescope
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope
Very Large Array
Very Small Array
Very Long Baseline Array
Thirty Meter Telescope

Played another short D&D session last night -- it was truncated due to me having to fix the air conditioning and the party having to finish leveling up and crafting magic items. Save for the briefest scuffle with a 2HD mook there was no combat at all, which was a pretty significant deviation from how the first part of this adventure went.


The main concern on the minds of the players were finding a way to not die ("be consumed from within") by their new aberrant dragonmarks. The spontaneous, group generation of dragonmarks has only been recorded once -- in another group of adventurers in Q'barra some 1,500 years ago. While not explicitly described, it is reasonable to assume that these adventurers may have been inflicted with the marks after a visit to the same temple that the players just finished exploring. All of them were dead within a year, save their leader Jheamast who apparently lived a relatively full life before finally being interred somewhere in the Lhazaar Principalities.

The party's patron, Sur'kil, has kept them on his payroll while they search for a cure because they will also be following the trail of the so called "Dragon's Eye", an ancient relic that the Emerald Claw are also competing to find. Sur'kil thinks it likely that Jheamast's group may have taken the relic when they visited the temple centuries ago.

And so, will all that in their quest log, the players climbed aboard an elemental galleon and sailed east to the Lhazaar principalities. After a few stops (and some failed Gather Information checks), they were finally able to make a useful, but potentially dangerous, contact in Port Verge. A gnome scion of a dragonmarked house, Volus d'Sivis, met with the party (or, as he put it, "Astreia d'Deneith and her entourage"). The powerful information broker dropped a few hints to make it explicitly clear that he was quite aware of who the party was and where they'd been, and tried to extract as much information from the players as possible about their mission and their employer. Due to some indelicate phrasing (and a blown follow-up Bluff check), it's possible that Volus has guessed that the part has developed aberrant dragonmarks.

Nonetheless, the gnome offers to aid the Astreia "so as to help build a relationship between our two noble houses". Later, while speaking to some house Deneith swordblades, they express concern about exactly when and how Volus will expect this favor to be repaid.

Two days later, the party receives word that Volus has found some information regarding Jheamast, and he invites Astreia to join him for dinner at a posh restaurant to discuss it. Volus eventually divulges the information that the party needs (around the dessert course). As he does so, Khaled, who was hiding outside, notices a figure by the restaurant's window who was eavesdropping. The rogue gives chase to the agent of the Emerald Claw but by the time he has caught up, the fanatic had already relayed the information to someone else with a sending stone. The cultist proves too devoted to succumb to intimidation, but it is clear that the Emerald Claw have not relented on their quest and now may have a head start on finding the Dragon's Eye.

Volus' information was that Jheamast is indeed interred within the Lhazaar Principalities, on a certain haunted island. Unfortunately, his information doesn't indicate exactly where on the large island the tomb is. However, he has discovered that two years ago an explorer discovered the tomb. While the whereabouts of the explorer are currently unknown, his journal was recently purchased by a Karnnathi expatriate named Vorgaard, who lives in the Principalities.

So now, the players are racing with the Emerald Claw to reach Vorgaard's mansion to secure the journal.

(Some hints get dropped by Volus that show that he was not only aware of the eavesdropper, but that he may have in fact arranged for him to be there are the right time. He sees the upcoming race as an entertaining competition to follow and so made sure that everyone started on even footing.)

• 16:51 Corona tastes like bottled urine. Dunno why Joe likes it. #
• 17:34 Hopefully condensate pump and sump pump replacement will let me turn AC back on. It will be 30+ all week. #

It has been supremely cool to play a D&D campaign composed entirely of players who live at your house. We play more frequent, but shorter sessions. We don't need to plan anything -- if we are bored, we play.

For a variety of reasons (which I outlined in an earlier post), we have returned to 3rd Edition and to Eberron. Once again, I am running a pre-made adventure. I just find it quite difficult, with a day job, to find the time to put together decent-quality adventures at a decent pace.

The Characters

We started the game at level 5, but after completing the first part (roughly 25%) of the adventure, we are now level 7.

Astreia d'Deneith: Astreia is a high-profile member of House Deneith and bears the Mark of Warding dragonmark. She is one of the preeminent swordswoman in Khorvaire and is an elite member of the Blademark Guild. To the world, she is the obvious leader and face of the party, though in practice all members contribute equally. [Technical details: Human Warblade with Dragonmark and Favored in House feats. At the start of the campaign (level 5), her 50 hitpoints were about equal to the sum total of the rest of the party's hitpoints, making her a juggernaut. The fact that she can do 1d10+4d6+6 damage with a single swing also helps.]

Ophelia Lilis: Ophelia is a tiefling artificer who is a deadly markswoman with her crossbow. She is brash, chaotic, and unpredictable. Due to her demonic ancestry, she is mistrusted by most of the mortal races -- but her efforts to fight her evil instincts have also isolated her from her own people. [Technical details: A good Dex, a large budget for magical weaponry, and the Bane weapon augmentation infusion make Ophelia a consistent source of solo DPS, but when she starts to infuse her allies' weaponry (and craft new items for them), she empowers the entire team to tear through any encounter. Because the campaign has started at a higher level, I waved the +1 ECL for being a tiefling.]

Khaled: Khaled strives to be an enigma, for if his true nature is discovered by the public he would almost certainly be hunted down by an angry mob. For this reason, Khaled always wears a hood and a mask. It is conspicuous, but no more so than his true face. His tendency to try to stay hidden has turned him into a skill rogue. [Technical details: Khaled is an Eleti Rogue. The Eleti are a race from a 3rd-party sourcebook I have. They are basically intelligent, independent skeletons. The race doesn't have any obvious extraordinary powers, but their nature make them immune to a host of effects and also make them take only half damage from piercing or slashing attacks. To balance this, they have a +3 ECL, though I have reduced this to +2 for our campaign because we are starting at a higher level. Nonetheless, I know this player definitely felt like the weakest party member in our first adventure. However, this has almost completely been inverted now that we have a few more levels (and hitpoints) under our belt and that he has acquired a pair of Rogue Blades (thanks to Ophelia), which will more-or-less give him Blinking in every fight for now on. Blinking on a rogue is a death-sentence to just about anything we will face.]

Ember Burningblade, the Dragonslayer of Q'barra: Ember, while relatively bright and knowledgeable, is completely unintuitive and lacks any kind of creativity. Hell, he can't even come up with a good alias! He has basically just latched on to one idea and has focused all of his energy to making it work, no matter what the situation: hit it with fire until it dies. [Technical Details: This is my character. His only real purpose is to increase the overall party damage potential. He is not the sort of person to ever solve a puzzle for the party. Ember is a wizard -- specifically a Focused Specialist Conjuror who dedicated 90% of his casting slots to (Lesser) Orb of Fire. By (ab)using a variety of feats, he basically auto-hits for 41+5d8/2 damage per shot. And no, I didn't really set out to clone Nuclear Dan. (Besides, I have no innate resistance to fire and evocation is a barred school.)]

( The first chapter of our campaign. Some spoilers of the pre-gen adventure. )