May Ramblings

Just an update on what’s been happening lately

Gaming

So I’m back to being a player now.

My Monday online group has been playing 5e - I’m a Firbolg Nature Paladin. We’ve been fighting demon cultist nobles. We’ve sorted them out so we’ll be back to Doctor Who and Hero System Space 1888 for a bit. Then maybe Starfinder.

On Fridays I’m playing pathfinder 1e - specifically a half-orc fire oracle called Keef. After some encounters with some elves and kobolds he’s decided he really hates elves.

Current plans - try to persuade one of my groups to play Brindlewood Bay. Possibly try to run some Pathfinder 2e. 

Good News

I was lucky enough to win a box of technical paints from Moonhopper games!

As a thank you here’s a plug for them… they do a wide range of basing materials, paints, minis… loads of useful stuff if miniature games are your thing.

Willow inspecting the paints

https://moonhopper-games.com/products/big-box-of-technical-paints

Bad news: now I’ll have to paint something.

Kickstarters

So a few kickstarter things have arrived in the past month or so (drivethru links are affiliate ones, sorry)

Darkened Hill and Dale. A great collection of system-neutral English folk horror scenarios.

Outgunned Adventures, the Yahtzee pulp game from Two Little Mice (and Free League).

Bit odd init - a one-dice game from Cakebread and Walton. A game about teens living in a weird English village.

Chill air by Blue Fox Comics, I heard about this via Julian Simpson’s Cartoon Gravity/Pleasant Green community. This one surprised me with how rapidly it delivered. I ordered a load of other stuff as part of this and have read Clodagh (a dark fantasy series) and the mountains of madness so far - good stuff.

I’ve also have a huge pile of preview pdfs from other things: Shadowlands games CoC scenarios, Handiworks game 5evil, Lemurian Chronicles, sanction…

Reading

After deciding earlier this year that I would not buy any books until I finished off my too read pile… I decided to sign up to a subscription to the British Library’s Tales of the Weird. So far I’ve read Medusa, which is 18th century sea-faring tentacle-y horror adventure that was originally published in the same year as Call of Cthulhu, and also ploughed my way through Return of the Ancients, which is a collection of stories about ancient gods and myths breaking their way into the 19th-20th century. 

Conventions

I managed to spend a couple of hours at Portsmouth Comic-Con at the start of May. Lots of people seemed to be having a good time and I picked up a few interesting bits and pieces.

I would like to get to a RPG convention later in the year but it looks like I won’t be free when any are on so maybe next year…

NDT session 8: Bat Country

 Dymrak forest

The party had a tough fight against the vampire bats whose ability to paralyse wrecked havoc on the party’s frontline fighters.

The party finally prevailed but had no time for a breather as the bat’s owner, Vlack the hobgoblin, appeared riding a white wolf along with a few hobgoblin guards.

Aimiir remained paralysed but a moonbeam spell from Rurik and archery from Aengus and Glimmer badly wounded Vlack who attempted to flee leaving the other hobgoblins to cover his exit.

Glimmer ignored them, chased after Vlack and killed him with a single shot. Unfortunately this enraged his mount (a winter wolf) who return to avenge Vlack by using its icy breath to bring down Glimmer. The other hobgoblins fled so Aimiir, who had finally shaken off the paralysis, was able to revive Glimmer, and the party weee able to kill the wolf before it could cause more damage.

A search of Vlack turned up his nice looking Greatsword with a fine gem in the handle, some other gems in a pouch but no other useful information.

The party then decided to resume following the goblin tracks southwards through the forest.

In the second night, when Aengus was on watch he spotted a black shadowy form approaching. He was able to raise the alarm and wound the spirit but was damaged by its weakening touch. The party were hampered by its abilities to hide in the shadows but a moonbeam spell from Rurik finished it off.

DM notes: The battle against Vlack and his bats was very closely fought. Aimiir’s player kept failing his paralysis saves and Vlack would probably have brought him down if he hadn’t decided to flee instead. 

Amusingly, my most novice player, who didn’t know what the Winter Wolf was, said that it could probably bring down the badly wounded Glimmer by breathing on her, just before it did that.

On the other side of things, I rolled terribly for the Shadow’s stealth when it approach the camp, which probably saved Aengus from additional strength drain.

Sad news

Sadly, my cat died the other day from cancer.

Here is an excellent picture of him being absolutely livid because someone picked him up.