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Scott Ruggels

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  1. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to pawsplay in Is Armor Properly Designed in Fantasy Games?   
    I've won real-ish armor, and I think the greatest danger you would face in medieval combat was cooking alive like a Hot Pocket from your own body heat after 10-15 minutes of heavy combat.
  2. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to theinfn8 in Is Armor Properly Designed in Fantasy Games?   
    You just described a longsword...
     
    You can both block with it and attack with it. Used properly it is a mobile section of armour the opponent has to attack through or bypass by targeting other locations. You can also slam someone with the crossguard or pommel and some longswords were even equipped with spiked crossguards to help with that.
     
    My argument still stands. Shields are weapons
     
    My snarky comment aside, while I respect the shield and what it does for foot soldiers, it needs to be actively employed to gain most of the benefit in the skirmish style fighting we find ourselves in with fantasy RPGs. Since we are discussing armour emulation, you could, perhaps, say that a shield adjusts your DCV more than it reduces damage (adds to PD) like other "armour". But its ultimate benefit, even in Hero, comes from it being actively used in combat (Block), which is an attack.
  3. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Drhoz in Quote of the Week from my gaming group...   
    HORROR ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS - Venice - Love (and Death) in a Gondola Pt.3
     
    Feb 1923
     
    In Which The Investigators Dig Themselves Deeper Into A Hole
     
       The Investigators are certainly seeing a lot of Venice while they’re in town, if by ‘a lot’ you mean the inside of the city’s libraries and archives, and the inside of the San Marco Basilica during a heist that nearly gets them arrested as Communist Arms Smugglers. Smugglers that they, in fact, invented. 
     
      This probably requires some explanation.  
     
      Having already assisted local communist Georgio Gasparetti’s attempts to get into the pants of Maria Stagliani (hopefully he’ll wait till they’re actually married), Huxley and company have finally returned their attention to the search for the pieces of the Sedefkar Simulacrum. Delving deeply into the archives turns up the official reports and diaries of the French officers during Napoleon’s occupation of the city, and The Devil’s Simulare, an illuminated manuscript about certain events in Constantinople during its looting by the Fourth Crusade. Hopefully it’s not entirely historical, because among other things it includes knights fighting a dragon. But they can read it all properly later, because the reports and diary reveal the hiding place of the Simulacrum’s Leg!
     
    Inside one of the richest and well-guarded churches in Christendom.
     
    This presents a few problems, and that’s not even counting the giant fish with human arms that have been seen in the canals. 
     
    Huxley: Could be a surviving amphibian from the Devonian.
    GM: Given the increasingly noxious state of the canals, they probably won’t be surviving for long.
     
    The water is certainly getting pretty bad - black as the breast of a raven - and increasingly excited rumors claim that it’s certain death to touch it. 
     
    The Left Leg was apparently buried under the floor of the Chapel of St Isidore - not the St Isidore of Seville who invented the comma, but the Isidore of Chios who got torn apart by horses. It's the latter who got interred at St Mark's, presumably not in one piece. And the investigators will be lucky if they remain in one piece if they get caught vandalizing the church. Maybe they should just tell the church authorities they had an evil artifact under the pavers and they should just be glad it’s being taken off their hands?
     
    GM: It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.
     
    Antonio Masiero, the Italian airman who did most of the legwork for them in Venice, has a suggestion - i.e. get the fascists to do it, by telling them that communist arms smugglers were using the chapel as a letter drop, then intercept them and get the leg off them afterwards with the help of the local communists.

    It’s certainly a … bold… plan.
     
    Antonio: A shipment of arms
    Florence: Heheh
    Antonio: OK, or a shipment of legs
     
    So all they have to do is convince Gasparetti to use his contacts among the local unionists and left-leaning students to pass on information to the blackshirts. He’s a bit reluctant, at first. Among other other things the fascists will crack down even harder on the local communists if they dig up the chapel to find the letter drop or not, but he does get more enthusiastic about it when it’s framed as an excuse to string up the blackshirts for vandalizing the Basilica. 
     
    Gasparetti: This could be the start of the OVERTHROW OF MUSSOLINI! *slaps his hand over his mouth when he realises he just said that aloud in a cafe*
    Florence: Geniuses, lower your voices -You keep out of trouble, and you double your choices. I'm with you, but the situation is fraught. You've got to be carefully taught: If you talk, you're gonna get shot!
     
    Fortunately, it was already a fairly left-wing cafe, although people are now paying a LOT of attention to the investigators.
     
    They decide to pass on the false information that the communist arms smugglers will be leaving instructions under the flagstone in the chapel after the last mass of the day, and Gasparetti and his friends will be waiting out in the plaza to raise hell the moment the Fascists start tearing up the flagstones. Huxley, Florence and Antonio will be lurking among the congregation to see how it plays out. 
     
    Of course, it doesn’t go according to plan, because in hindsight it was never going to. The blackshirts naturally planted a few plainsclothed officers among the congregation, all watching closely for these imaginary arms smugglers. Which left Huxley and Antonio to try and hide in the Basilica as the crowd streamed out, and the officers explain to the priests why they’re there.
     
    Priest: Communists?! In MY Church!
    GM: It’s more likely than you think. 
     
    And of course the blackshirts spot Huxley hiding - they were expecting somebody to linger in the church after mass, after all. He legs it, closely pursued by the fascists, to the consternation of Florence, Gasparetti and his friends. At least that gives Antonio a chance to pry up the flagstone with a votive candlestick, while everybody is busy.
     
    There’s no Leg. 
     
    There is, instead, a letter in a sealed envelope. Antonio grabs it and talks his way out past the priests - after giving the address to his hotel, his actual name, a promise of numerous Hail Marys and a large donation. Huxley manages to lose himself in the crowd of churchgoers - he certainly seems to be becoming quite an accomplished sprinter, at least in the vicinity of Italian landmarks. The investigators meet up at the flat, where Gasparetti tries to wrap his head around the fact that there actually WAS a letter under the flagstone. At least he can identify the seal of the letter - the Gremancis, once Princes of Venice, now famous dollmakers and providers of prosthetic limbs to the veterans of the Great War. 
     
    The name is not entirely a surprise - the investigators had been told by Professor Smith that reputed sorcerer Alvise de Gremanci was somehow involved with the Simulacrum, and one Alvise de Gremanci was recorded as one of the ringleaders of the riots that took place when the Leg was first brought to the city, and all quietly released after the French officer discovered they were absolutely right to be protesting. Antonio had been asking every branch of the family if they knew anything about an evil leg. Apparently none did - perhaps the letter will reveal the truth?
     
  4. Like
    Scott Ruggels got a reaction from DentArthurDent in [JAW] Bead And Dart Guns   
    Not familiar with 6th Edition rules, as I am a 4th Edition guy, but these seem quite reasonable.
     
     A couple of gun nut concerns.  Powder activated weapons carry their own oxidizer inside the cartridge, and work in a vacuum decently enough.  The problem would be in environments with flammable atmospheres.  Cartridges are usually air and water tight, and last about a century give or take depending on the quality of the packaging and the cartridge itself. I cannot think of a planetary atmosphere that would neutralize the self contained chemical reaction. Powder cartridges are initiated by stored mechanical energy (springs), causing the primer to detonate. Elementary, I know, but It comes out to Energy requirements. There are limited electrical detonated military ordinance but that is for specialized applications, usually Naval. There was a commercial hunting rifle offered by Remington that used electrically detonated ammunition. It was a commercial failure. Batteries and firearms are a poor match due to a lot of variables regarding declining charges, outside temperatures, corrosive chemicals inside them and fragility. This is why “smart guns” are a non-starter. Yes, sighting systems often require batteries, especially those using exotic spectra, but those are mostly for  specific mission requirements, and even then, pleas from soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq to their families to send them batteries, was noted. 

    Back to your weapons.  Good designs. But these are Rail rather than coil guns? Rail Guns “push” the projectile along rails ( which apparently wear with use) , and Coil guns “pull” the projectile through the gun like a maglev. I would think the coil principle would serve better as the size and quality of the projectile would be less critical than using the Rail principle.  There is some discussion between the accuracy of each method, with Navy experiments favoring the accuracy of the Rail principle. I would suggest that magazines contain the fuel for the piece, as well as ammunition, as they can be balanced to the ammo requirements and simplify maintenance of the weapon itself, and allow for long term storage of the weapons. Having its own internal power generation obviates the battery problem, and as long as the weapon can maintain a capacitor to initiate the reaction It can be stored but ready as soon a the user slaps a magazine in.  So, how much do the various weapons cost ( for heroic games)
  5. Thanks
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Chris Goodwin in FH 1e Package Deals for 6th edition   
    I've converted the profession package deals (warrior, rogue, priest, wizard) from Fantasy Hero 1e to 6th edition, in Hero Designer.  The templates themselves can be found here.  Any non Hero Designer related discussion of them can happen here; if there are issues with them, you can probably bring them up here as well, though it might be better to post on the Hero Designer board and "at" me in the thread.  
     
    The package deals include prefabs for the "choose one from group A" types of abilities.  The ability groups were pretty easygoing; most of them included examples that modified the ability groups for characters outside of the basic package's purview.  
     
    I intend to do at least a few more; the race packages maybe.  I'd had the thought to convert the spells and magic items included in the corebook, but that will take a while.  The monsters maybe, eventually, but we've got tons of those that would work already in the 6th edition bestiary.  
  6. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Duke Bushido in Sacred Places (help)   
    Nice list!
     
    For what it is worth, I would think that the god of just endings and the god of feuds would be one and the same, what with each side praying and fighting for their "just ending."
     
    In fact, you can consider that idea stolen,,,,   
     
     
  7. Thanks
    Scott Ruggels reacted to steriaca in Calling all lawyers--Supers and unique legal issues   
    Reminds me of the CBG articals titled "The Law Is An Ass", the title based on a Shakespeare quote, and has a real life lawyer looking at various law cases in comic books. 
  8. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Chris Goodwin in What hidden RPG gems have you come across?   
    I never played Bushido proper, but I did play a Hero-ization of it Back In The Day.  One of the longer running campaigns during my time at the Game Alliance of Salem.  I played a "budoka" (wink, wink), a ronin, and a shugenja at different times.  The GM was pretty well versed in feudal Japan, and tried to discourage me from playing a ninja.  (It was the 80's, what can I say?)  So my cover story was that I was a budoka assigned as bodyguard to a shugenja (one of the other PCs).  
     
    The GM ported over a number of rules (including rolling starting social class on a d100 table), and a number of skills and spells were remarkably easy to port over to Fantasy Hero just from description.  
     
    I did later buy a copy, though I can't remember if it was while I was still with that group or after I'd joined the military.  Still haven't ever played a proper game of it.  
  9. Like
    Scott Ruggels got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in What hidden RPG gems have you come across?   
    Eastman came back recently and wrote “Ronin”, a dark revenge story about the last surviving turtle, Mikey, going up against The Foot Clan and a Cyborged Shredder in  Cyberpunk future, and it’s Eastman’s best writing. Worth looking up, or getting it online if you have a good sized iPad. 
     
     
    Bushido is what we played, and played concurrently with “In The Labyrinth”, before Champions came out. Bushido needs an interest in feudal Japan to work, and some knowledge.
     
    In the San Francisco Bay Area, in the 70s and 80s we had a few repertory movie theaters, and our local one was The New Varsity, and it showed a lot of Art films, Animation Festivals, and Samurai films from various famous directors (as well as Rocky Horror Picture Show, and The Song Remains The Same, at midnight every weekend). The Samurai films, and TV26, which would flip over to Japanese programming, and show Samurai dramas (Edo period cops), and Anime (Ikyu-Chan), had the area steeped in Japanese culture if you knew where to look. The Samurai films were probably where the “popcorn nooks” came from that we all used in our campaigns. 
     
    We played a lot of Bushido, with each person taking a turn as GM every few months, just so we all could get a chance to play. Each GM would set up an arc, and would hand the reins over to the next guy. Made for wildly different styles. Was fun though. I would still recommend it. 
     
    Haven’t run across it yet in the wild. Maybe next February at our first totally post COVID con. I’ve heard of it though, and know a couple of the artists that worked on it. 

    Sounds like a good intro to the hobby for kids. 
     
    My gem would be Mongoose 2nd Edition Traveller. It uses the same stats and the mechanics are similar enough that you can use most, if not all the Classic supplements, and adventures. The main GM sprung it on us when he ran out of steam running his home brew 5e campaign. For me, it was like putting on a comfortable pair of boots. Mechanically it is similar, but the character generation owes a bit to R. Talsorian’s life path, as characters do not die in character generation, but the twist from both is that characters are assumed to know each other, and players negotiate on how each other met, and work out the details. This made for a very tight knit starship crew, with kind of a family feel. It prevents “A$$hole Loaner”, and secret villain characters, or makes them super hard to create. This was for an Online game on Roll20, organized on Discord where no one had webcams, and it helped greatly. With all of the Traveller information online, such as Travellermap.com, it made for a very rich game. 
     
    As for Bureau 13, having it run by the creator, Richard Tucholka, at Gencon (in the Milwaukee days), was a treat, so I went to work for him.  
     
    Anything modern probably won’t work for me, as I have a distaste for narrative focused, minimalism, which seems to be the modern trend, and find that 5e is about as rules lite as I can enjoy. 
  10. Thanks
    Scott Ruggels got a reaction from Duke Bushido in What hidden RPG gems have you come across?   
    Eastman came back recently and wrote “Ronin”, a dark revenge story about the last surviving turtle, Mikey, going up against The Foot Clan and a Cyborged Shredder in  Cyberpunk future, and it’s Eastman’s best writing. Worth looking up, or getting it online if you have a good sized iPad. 
     
     
    Bushido is what we played, and played concurrently with “In The Labyrinth”, before Champions came out. Bushido needs an interest in feudal Japan to work, and some knowledge.
     
    In the San Francisco Bay Area, in the 70s and 80s we had a few repertory movie theaters, and our local one was The New Varsity, and it showed a lot of Art films, Animation Festivals, and Samurai films from various famous directors (as well as Rocky Horror Picture Show, and The Song Remains The Same, at midnight every weekend). The Samurai films, and TV26, which would flip over to Japanese programming, and show Samurai dramas (Edo period cops), and Anime (Ikyu-Chan), had the area steeped in Japanese culture if you knew where to look. The Samurai films were probably where the “popcorn nooks” came from that we all used in our campaigns. 
     
    We played a lot of Bushido, with each person taking a turn as GM every few months, just so we all could get a chance to play. Each GM would set up an arc, and would hand the reins over to the next guy. Made for wildly different styles. Was fun though. I would still recommend it. 
     
    Haven’t run across it yet in the wild. Maybe next February at our first totally post COVID con. I’ve heard of it though, and know a couple of the artists that worked on it. 

    Sounds like a good intro to the hobby for kids. 
     
    My gem would be Mongoose 2nd Edition Traveller. It uses the same stats and the mechanics are similar enough that you can use most, if not all the Classic supplements, and adventures. The main GM sprung it on us when he ran out of steam running his home brew 5e campaign. For me, it was like putting on a comfortable pair of boots. Mechanically it is similar, but the character generation owes a bit to R. Talsorian’s life path, as characters do not die in character generation, but the twist from both is that characters are assumed to know each other, and players negotiate on how each other met, and work out the details. This made for a very tight knit starship crew, with kind of a family feel. It prevents “A$$hole Loaner”, and secret villain characters, or makes them super hard to create. This was for an Online game on Roll20, organized on Discord where no one had webcams, and it helped greatly. With all of the Traveller information online, such as Travellermap.com, it made for a very rich game. 
     
    As for Bureau 13, having it run by the creator, Richard Tucholka, at Gencon (in the Milwaukee days), was a treat, so I went to work for him.  
     
    Anything modern probably won’t work for me, as I have a distaste for narrative focused, minimalism, which seems to be the modern trend, and find that 5e is about as rules lite as I can enjoy. 
  11. Like
    Scott Ruggels got a reaction from Steve in What hidden RPG gems have you come across?   
    Eastman came back recently and wrote “Ronin”, a dark revenge story about the last surviving turtle, Mikey, going up against The Foot Clan and a Cyborged Shredder in  Cyberpunk future, and it’s Eastman’s best writing. Worth looking up, or getting it online if you have a good sized iPad. 
     
     
    Bushido is what we played, and played concurrently with “In The Labyrinth”, before Champions came out. Bushido needs an interest in feudal Japan to work, and some knowledge.
     
    In the San Francisco Bay Area, in the 70s and 80s we had a few repertory movie theaters, and our local one was The New Varsity, and it showed a lot of Art films, Animation Festivals, and Samurai films from various famous directors (as well as Rocky Horror Picture Show, and The Song Remains The Same, at midnight every weekend). The Samurai films, and TV26, which would flip over to Japanese programming, and show Samurai dramas (Edo period cops), and Anime (Ikyu-Chan), had the area steeped in Japanese culture if you knew where to look. The Samurai films were probably where the “popcorn nooks” came from that we all used in our campaigns. 
     
    We played a lot of Bushido, with each person taking a turn as GM every few months, just so we all could get a chance to play. Each GM would set up an arc, and would hand the reins over to the next guy. Made for wildly different styles. Was fun though. I would still recommend it. 
     
    Haven’t run across it yet in the wild. Maybe next February at our first totally post COVID con. I’ve heard of it though, and know a couple of the artists that worked on it. 

    Sounds like a good intro to the hobby for kids. 
     
    My gem would be Mongoose 2nd Edition Traveller. It uses the same stats and the mechanics are similar enough that you can use most, if not all the Classic supplements, and adventures. The main GM sprung it on us when he ran out of steam running his home brew 5e campaign. For me, it was like putting on a comfortable pair of boots. Mechanically it is similar, but the character generation owes a bit to R. Talsorian’s life path, as characters do not die in character generation, but the twist from both is that characters are assumed to know each other, and players negotiate on how each other met, and work out the details. This made for a very tight knit starship crew, with kind of a family feel. It prevents “A$$hole Loaner”, and secret villain characters, or makes them super hard to create. This was for an Online game on Roll20, organized on Discord where no one had webcams, and it helped greatly. With all of the Traveller information online, such as Travellermap.com, it made for a very rich game. 
     
    As for Bureau 13, having it run by the creator, Richard Tucholka, at Gencon (in the Milwaukee days), was a treat, so I went to work for him.  
     
    Anything modern probably won’t work for me, as I have a distaste for narrative focused, minimalism, which seems to be the modern trend, and find that 5e is about as rules lite as I can enjoy. 
  12. Thanks
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Duke Bushido in What hidden RPG gems have you come across?   
    I cant believe I forgot this one!
     
    Bureau 13.
     
    Just delightful!
  13. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Spark in Pittsburgh: City of Champions   
    Not a bad idea. However, in a game we have THREE types of heroes:
    Player characters Support heros (that give color to the town, that can fill in gaps in skills/powersets, etc) Template characters that the players can each run (if they don't want to write their own characters). Each of these has a different purpose. That being said, having an already existing hero group would be a great place to start. If we carefully explain that you can use them or play them or replace them...well, this should all work. And THAT being said, my suggestions for purely and unashameadly Pittsburgh characters is...
     
    A power suiter, something unlinke the newer Ironman in that he/she would be much less configurable (no power pools). This character is often complicated to use so needs to be made simple. It should have big rivets, maybe even the US Steel logo (if we can use it...it is also the same logo the Steelers use so...) and should be more brick like with 6 or so charges of a variety of different missle/cannon like weapons (a mulitpower?) A martial artist/fighter that is more along the lines of Captain America. She could have a shield (that would look like the Pittsburgh city logo so wouldn't be throwable), and a hammer...get this....THE HEAD IS MADE OUT OF A PIECE OF STEEL I-BEAM! That should be able to be thrown...but then would have to be retreived. Not sure how to do that in Champions terms....maybe stretching as a linked power but using lockout to ensure they have to pick it up first. She would also have a utility belt that would have throwable attacks and flash bangs and other things (a big multipower with lots of limitations) A water elemental. Understand that the river is only really seen as an impediment to travel, an annoyance when the parking garages flood, and...well, mostly ignored by most residents. HOWEVER, they are there and in everyone's mind. So, we need a hero that can manipulate that water. The Cougar (or Panther or Mountain Lion or Catamount or whatever name you like for that 40 lb wild cat). They are indiginous to the area. This would be a cat-like super with fast reflexes and amazing fighting/acrobatics skills A few mutant siblings/twins/orphans...or... Pittsburgh, in recent years, has become a Mecca of sorts for tech (computers and robotics...kids taking parent's life work?) and medical research (genetics, surgery...experimentation?). These can be almost anything Should they have a theme to their powers (light, temperature, etc)? Maybe you have Thunder and Lightning or Fire and Ice or Dusk and Twilight. This is where you would get your hero that can move the entire group long distances for a battle. They could pilot the plane (in case no player has the skills) or just teleport the entier room somewhere or...whell, you get the idea.
  14. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to tkdguy in A Thread For Random RPG Musings   
    I hate to tell you this, but those are just the minor complaints for GMs.
  15. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to megaplayboy in Cool Guns for your Games   
    Now we just need an octuple mount turret for this:

  16. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Ninja-Bear in Cool Guns for your Games   
    Maybe it was built for Cobra? 😂
  17. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Duke Bushido in Real People Who Would have Been Supers In A Supers Universe   
    I have no one to add.
     
    I just want to thank everyone who contributed to this for starting me down a wikipedia rabbit hole that took _days_ to get out of.
     
    Thanks.
     
    Heaps.
     
     

     
  18. Thanks
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Drhoz in Quote of the Week from my gaming group...   
    Gonno OoC: It’s at this point that most villagers would put up an ad on Craigslist looking for murder-hoboes. 
     
    Despite the increasingly difficult weather and terrain, we eventually find scattered yellow wax of the kind that poisoned the rats. There don’t appear to be any giant poisoned bee hives hanging from the trees overhead, but that doesn't preclude giant poisoned burrowing bees.
     
    Arram: And that would just be about our luck, wouldn’t it.
     
    And if there was a trail, it’s too old to follow, even for a rat as antisocial as Shev. Fortunately the plants have been there longer, and Miya can talk to plants. The shrubbery tells us that the were fuzzy things, less hairy than the ratfolk, smaller than any of the villagers, that came through about 10 brightnesses ago. Also, their noisy bits were bigger than ours. Honestly, as far as descriptive qualia go, that’s pretty good work for a vegetable. 
     
    We press on looking for more clues - looking so intently that we don’t notice that the rushing torrent coming down from the hills has undercut the bank, and Arram ends up hanging from a tree branch. Fortunately the rest of us haul him back to safety without going over ourselves. And a bit further on from there, we hear words in an unpleasant barking language just over the next ridge. Unfortunately, none of us speak goblin. Fortunately Shev and his giant riding rat are both pretty stealthy, and easily identifies them as goblins, a goblin dog, and a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin is currently beating one of the mouthier gobbos about the head with a stick. Then hands out chunks of that yellow wax to each.
     
    Shev and his rat might well be stealthy, and it’s true that the goblinoids don’t notice them at once or as he and his mount are sneaking away again. On the other hand the rest of the party are not so lightfooted as we sneak into position to ambush the enemy. Shev is inclined to blame Gonno, who is certainly the physically densest of the party, but Gonno is too generous to point out that it was actually the riding rat sneezing. The goblinoids, however, are generous enough to share most of their arrows with Gonno. Arram is comprehensively ventilated as well. In fact, it’s a small miracle we survive at all - it would seem murder-hoboes exist for a reason. 
     
    The conscious members of the party decide to lug the unconscious Gonno back to the hut, for safety and healing. The current clearing might be suitable for a campsite, but for two factors - the enemy know about it.
     
    Shev: And it’s a bit corpse-y.
     
    The goblinoids are not equipped well, which isn’t unusual, but the hobgoblins are unusually clean and are all branded with a V, which is. And none of them are carrying rations, which implies they have a camp somewhere nearby. In hindsight, we should have let Shev’s rat chew on all the goblinoids, so their compatriots will blame wild animals when they come looking.  
    The next day, with considerable more caution, we locate the goblin camp, at a long-ruined tower deep in the forest. One unusual feature is a set of large wooden cages, one containing a large and very unhappy boar. There’s no sign of any goblins, but there is a large hole leading into the earth. No spoil heap, which implies a collapse rather than an excavation. Or maybe there really are giant poisoned burrowing bees. Unusually, the hobgoblin has a statue of Shelyn set up in his tent - with a note underneath it that none of us can read. Written in a very neat neat hand. That might be related to the cloven-hooved prints leading in and out of the hole. 
     
    Distracted into a conversation about the ‘Where’s Wally’ mythos.
     
    Shev’s player: In the United States and Canada he’s known as “Waldo”, in Denmark he’s “Holger”, in France he’s “Charlie” and in German he’s “Walter”.
    Gonno’s player: And Interpol has taken a keen interest. 
     
    There’s a deeper chasm at the bottom of the hole, with a swinging bridge, a sleeping goblin in a running cage, and a raging cascade. Unfortunately, bridge and goblin are both on the far side of the chasm, and our attempts to snipe them from our side are a spectacular failure. We end up relying on Shev and his giant riding rat again.
     
    Shev: They might not as fast as a horse but f*** they’re versatile. No! No! Get that of your mouth!
    Arram: You don’t know where it’s been.
     
    As suspected, the ruins had a dungeon underneath, and there’s a hooded figure doing something alchemical on a table near two caged hobgoblin females. Could be dangerous, especially if they're anything like our ratfolk alchemist.
     
    Shev: Because in our experience, alchemists are very good at hitting us. 
     
    Happily, not everybody thinks to put tripwires on the walls. Even in the Underdark, where practically everybody can Spiderclimb or the equivalent. We even manage to get into position to ambush the alchemist - almost. She seems quite pleased to see us, which is not good. She’s a Forlarren - corrupted fey. 
     
    Forlarren: Well gentlemen, ladies? What can I do for you?
    Miya: Ah… we wanted to know why goblins are poisoning the animals of the forest and causing sundry problems?
    Forlarren: Oh that’s easy - I told them to. 
    Miya: … OK… any particular reason?
    Forlarren: I wanted to drive the rats towards Selversgard and make you all insane and dead.
    Miya: …. Why?
    Forlarren: Because I hate you. Obviously I won’t need these anymore *reaches for a lever next to the hobgoblin cage, and casts Heat Metal on us*
     
    Fortunately not all of us are wearing armour, and she doesn’t cast it very well, so her attempted Cook and Book doesn’t go as well as she’d like and we have her surrounded before she can escape. And then she’s on fire, and very soon after that, dead. It’s quite fortunate that we stopped her pulling the lever, since it wasn’t a cage release but a mechanism to kill her extraneous test subjects. We free them, and give them food and water. 
     
    Shev: I can’t just abandon them because they’re not my species.
    Miya: And they’re female - you can’t just do that.
    Shev: I’m usually more egalitarian than that, but still. 
     
    The hobgoblins seem very grateful, despite the language barrier. Extremely grateful, at least insofar as Miya is concerned. 
     
    Arram: I would help, but I’m paralysed with laughter.
    Miya: Ah. No? Busy. Do you understand? Busy.
    Shev: Arram, can you please do something about this? We have things to do today. 
     
    It’s not ideal, but we can’t really let the two hobgoblins fend for themselves, naked and alone. We might have to take them back to Selversgard, despite the fact that goblinoids are universally despised (and for good reason). The Forlarren also had a human skull with a few citrines shoved into the nasal cavity. 
     
    Gorro: *thinking* Well I don’t think it would match the decor at my place, but perhaps one of the others would like it.
    Arram OoC: I hope not, because then I’ll have to write ‘nose gems’ on the treasure sheet. 
    Skave: Hey, skull for the alchemy shop!
     
    There’s also a preserved nymph’s head, a skinned hobgoblin and the remains of a halfling bard with a masterworked lute in the other room - nobody we recognise as a visitor to Selversgard, but it’s possible someone will come looking for him. The Maker’s Mark from Magnimar will help narrow down his identity at least. Gonno prepares the bodies for rough burial - none of us are clerics. 
     
    Arram: I’m pretty sure by the time the rest of us finish arguing about it Gonno’s already dug the graves. 
    Gonno: I dig.
     
    The hobgoblins head off by themselves, to Shev’s relief.
     
    Miya: A quick smack on the bum and off they go.
    Shev: NO.
     
    We also get XP for releasing the boar.
     
    Miya OoC: Now we just have to rescue 10 ½ more boars and we’ll go up a level.
    Shev OoC: How do we rescue half a boar?
    Miya OoC: Piglet.
    Arram OoC: Yeah, Young template would do it.
    Piglet: Oh, bother.
    Shev OoC: Did that pig just talk?
     
    At least we've dealt with the crazed rat problem, and can return to Selversgard as Perfectly Adequate Substitute Adventurers. We’ll send a few letters to Magnimar with the next load of timber, and see if we can find an ID for the dead bard. And then Gonno can start carving a set of alphabet blocks for the ratfolk’s offspring - they’re not a species that put off parenting until middle age. 
     
    Next Adventure : a year and a month from now!
  19. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Tech in Quote of the Week from my gaming group...   
    From this past weekend:
     
    Hero previously flashed can see again: "Hey, I can see again?"
    Villain that did it in the first place, "You can see again?"
    Hero replies, "Yeah, I can see again... oh..."
    Villain hits hero with flash attack again.  😛
  20. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Christopher R Taylor in Is Armor Properly Designed in Fantasy Games?   
    Well they are kinda both, you can both block with them and attack with them.  A shield is like a mobile section of armor which the opponent either attacks through or tries to bypass by targeting other locations.  But you can also slam someone with it or hit them with the edge.  Some shields were even equipped with blades and spikes to help with that.
  21. Like
    Scott Ruggels got a reaction from Old Man in Is Armor Properly Designed in Fantasy Games?   
  22. Haha
    Scott Ruggels reacted to Mr. R in Other lands, a very simple Gazetteer   
    Before I post my next area, I want to comment on how a supplement certainly needs an overview editor to make sure that certain ideas that SOUND good, really DON'T work.
     
    Case in point the west coast of the continent.  As I have mentioned, it is south of the equator, so south is colder, north is jungle.  Also unlike NA which has a lush west coast, it is more like SA with a dry coastal plains.  Please remember this.
     
    No 1
    We'll create an island off the west coast.  It will be the home of merchants/privateers, who sail up and down the coast maybe into the Three Bays area.  OK.  Are there any cities along the way?  Nope!  So they are merchants, right!  Who do they trade with?  Well the cities of the Gefting Sea, you know that Basin area with all the cities.  Which also happens to be 1500 km inland from where they are!  Oh, add the fact that there is no major city on the west coast to load and unload goods.  Oh and even if they bought good to the west coast, where would they sell them?
     
    No 2
    There is a city state on the west coast, BUT it is not a port.  You people are going to love this.  It was founded by a mercenary commander to be his base far away from the Basin Area.  The focus exclusively on selling their services as Mercenaries.  They do have a side gig as glass makers, but otherwise everyone dedicates themselves to training and practice.  Sounds cool, sort of like the Swiss Mercenaries that dominated warfare in Europe.  Hold on, what's this?  There are NO non soldier professions at all!  No farmers.  No Herders.  No fishermen.  Only professions that help equip a soldier.  They get all their food imported, from that Basin area, over 1500 km away.  As one poster stated above even 300 km was a serious overland journey.  You're telling me they are going to ship perishable food items overland, across those plains controlled by the nomads, across one of the few passes of THE tallest mountains (think Andes here) then down the other side.  And this will serve to feed a city state of close to 50000 people?  I know this is fantasy, but really!
     
    So basically my next two areas are going to be almost total reworks.
     
    For this area I am taking some inspiration from Al-Qadim with the Cities of the North and the Corsair Isles.  
  23. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to DoctorImpossible in Die Hard - a Dark Champions Christmas movie   
    I could see running this without people noticing that it is just Die Hard, since you'd be having a whole team of PCs. You'd just need to avoid being *too* obvious... OR Lean into the obvious "this is you guys playing Die Hard", and let them have at it.
  24. Like
    Scott Ruggels reacted to DoctorImpossible in How Tony Stark spends his Experience Points..,   
    That's one of the things that makes MCU Iron Man one of the best superheroes on screen. So many films seem to have their hero not actually change or grow from one film to another, reverting back to their old habits of bad behaviour and such, just so that the sequels can repeat a similar moral again. The Iron Man suits, and Tony's initial relative personality flaws/mental health issues, allow for a constant self-improvement and power-up in every film. Shows his extreme self-awareness and self-reflection, mirrored by his increasingly advanced technology and refined skills as a superhero.
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