Campaign Report - The Price of Freedom - 06

After rescuing a group of people captured by slavers in the stony barrens east of Tyr, the party returned to the City-State to bring them to safety. The group, then, decided they needed to finish the first job they accepted from House Ghadir of Tyr to deliver a small cargo to their representatives in Urik and went their way to the Caravan Gate. That is when they realized they were being followed by about eight bandits from the Toothcutter's gang.

The group was not worried with this and just kept walking to the gate. That's was their mistake. The gang knew the streets very well and surrounded the party. Their leader, a mul, said the adventurers were putting their noses where they shouldn't and attacked. Since the characters were surrounded the fight was pretty rough, and the bard/shaman was almost killed and left behind. The group managed to kill the gang leader and a good number of thugs, but more were coming and they were already seriously wounded.

Campaign Report - The Price of Freedom - 05

The party had just arrived to the Caravan Gate of Tyr and the ex-templar in the group, Abbadon (Ranger) spotted among the Templars scouring the people entering an old rival, Cubda. She was a merciless templar who, many believe, have murdered, bribed, robbed and done everything she could to climb higher on the hierarchy of Tyrin templars. The ranger, then, decided he was going to hide among the people they were rescuing in a attempt to hide from Cubda.

When their time to be inspected came, Cubda thought they were trying to get in Tyr with slaves, since there were a lot of people cramped inside a small wagon and was about to threaten the group and ask for a bribe when she saw Abbadon inside the wagon and realised that he would be a slave then. She was happy with that and just asked the group to treat him badly. They were all relieved.

Homemade Monsters - Scorpions and Bats

I am currently running a campaign in Athas (Dark Sun world) and I sometimes want the adventurers to face some specific monsters that would fit the situation. And, to my surprise, even with three Monster Manuals, two Monster Vaults, and other books with monsters, I don't find everything that I need.

Usually I just make some minor adjustments and re-skinning of some monster and that fits just well into the game. But other times I have to mix and design new abilities and attacks that I imagine the creature having. And that is the case of the monster and NPCs I will post on these articles I shall name "Homemade Monsters".

The first two creatures I will be presenting are the "Giant Desert Scorpion" and the "Blood Bat Swarm". They were both made for an adventure I ran on my Dark Sun campaign.

Campaign Report - The Price of Freedom - 04

The dark sun of Athas was set, and the chill of the night winds were sharp as blades. The group of adventurers had to chose between trying to cross the stony barrens with twenty or so ex-slaves that were wounded and terrified or to find shelter for the night and help the fragile to recover. They decided it was best to wait the morning to venture out of the ruined temple.

Errich, the halfling monk, made an improvised tomb for his fallen companion, Thalai, the half-giant barbarian. And went inside the temple with the rest of the group. The ritual that Szur performed had damage the structure of the temple and some of its parts were in risk of collapsing, but the ranger, ex-templar, managed to identify a safe passage and room for them to spend the night.

At this point the group decided to split and do different things. Eben, the battlemind, Arbitria, the shaman bard, and Abbadon, the ranger, decided to look further into the temple to make sure nothing would attack them during the night, while Errich, the monk and an ex-slave named Rain, a shifter ranger, stayed back to take care of the ex-slaves, treating their wounds and raising their spirit.

Chatacter Names - Some Thoughts

A few weeks ago a read an article on Big Ball of No Fun about PC naming. It was about why a player get to choose his character name if they, themselves, could not choose their own names. No one gets to choose his own name, why should the player's choose their character names? Although this does make a lot of sense, the characters are their creation, and as creators, they choose the creature's name.

But let's think about it a little more. Actors play characters in ways that they are creators themselves and they do not get to pick their character's names. They create a unique way the character act, talk and express themselves but are still stuck with the name someone else gave them. Does that make their experience less valuable? I do not think so.

Why am I saying this, you ask. Am I against the the player's choosing their character's names? Well, yes and no. Let me explain what I mean with this.