Gygax Bibliography

So, I have been collecting Gygax's works. I'm at about 25 of them now. Here's my list of in hand:

AD&D
DMG
PHB
MMI
UA
Dungeonland
The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
Hall of the Fire Giant King
Against the Giants (G1-3 compilation)
Tomb of Horrors
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Temple of Elemental Evil
Mordenkainen's Magnificent Journey

OD&D
Boxed Set (all)
Greyhawk
Eldritch Wizardry

Basic D&D
Keep on the Borderlands

Novels
Saga of the Old City
Artifact of Evil
Sea of Death
Night Arrent
City of Hawks
Come Endless Darkness
Dance of Demons

D20
Necropolis


26 down. A lot more to go. Anybody have leads on books I don't have?

My 2015 Convention Schedule

It looks like I will be attending 4 conventions in 2015! Up first is Gary Con VII. That's in Lake Geneva, WI (the birthplace of D&D!) I have a pretty awesome schedule lined up for this one:

Wednesday: later in the evening: there is a party at Frank Mentzer's house. I'm pretty excited to go there and meet and greet.
Thursday 1pm I have a game of Munchkin. It'll be a nice 'warm up' for the con.

Friday at 11am I am playing in Tim Kask's Curse of the Weaver Queen game. I "know" Tim (he's kind of the patron saint of our Gen Con team: Silver Bulettes). I'm excited to play in a game and get TPK'd by him.

Saturday is a busy one:
10am-4pm is Castle Zagyg: the Upper Works in OD&D. David Bedell is the GM. I don't know who he is . . . yet. But Castle Greyhawk is always fun, no matter what the name.
4pm-8pm is DCC XCrawl, with Brendan LaSalle. I'm really looking forward to this game. I've never played DCC, and have been itching to try it since last year's Gen Con when I picked up the main book. Also, the creator of XCrawl is running the game. So, there's that.
Midnight to ??? is Pub Quiz with the guys from Gygax Magazine. This should be fun. I like trivia, and I like D&D. So, I probably will bomb out early and often. You know what? I think I'm going to study for this. Stay tuned on progress.


Next up is Whoseyercon, in Indianapolis, IN.This con is a top notch fun time. It's 'free.' You can make a donation of you want, but there is no entry fee. Their event schedule is not out yet, but I am pretty sure we'll be running a big dungeon delve in Mord Mar. I'll probably get another PFS game under my character's belt. I'll be playing in a couple of True Dungeon runs. Stay tuned on this one.

Further down the calender year, we come to the Granddaddy of all cons, Gen Con! We have the hotel room. We have the VIG companion badges (and the VIGs to go with them!) We won't know schedules until May, but here's what we're sure we are doing:
True Dungeon
NASCRAG - if you don't know this is the best game at Gen Con, like 40 years in a row. They recently switched to Pathfinder, but the rules don't matter. Only the roles do.
Running Mord Mar. Probably 2 different modules.
Lords of Waterdeep World Championship
Maybe another PFS game

To round out my convention year, I will be attending GrandCon. This is where we ran the 3-team competitive delve for Mord Mar last year. We will be trying to talk them into something similar with a private room this year. Probably some Lords of Waterdeep too.

What's new in my game world. February 2015 edition

So, it's been a good week for my game library this month.

I picked up Tome of Horrors Complete and Tome of Horrors 4 from Frog God's sale early in the month. I am totally in love with these books. They would have been worth the money at retail price. Getting ToH4 for free pushed me over the edge to buy them, but I should have picked them up years ago.

They are well made books. In every sense. The artwork is good, the materials of the book are top notch. They are presented well. And all the monsters are available for the OGL. What's not to love about these products?

Then I picked up Rappan Athuk on 15%, also from Frog God Games. This book is insane! The players of my group are already begging to play it, and I've only had it for 26 hours. It is even better put-together than ToH. Faux leather cover, sewn in bookmark. I picked up the Player's Guide, the Monsters Book, and the GM Screen too. You can bet we will be playing this Character Killer soon.

I officially have a COMPLETE map for Mord Mar. It's only taken 2+ years. I have definitely got a lot of work to do. That said, reverting to 1E style map marking/description is something I should have done a long time ago. There's a reason I have all of those monster books. I don't need the stat blocks in the key.

Adventure A Week was doing a firesale on Facebook the other night. For $40, I was able to pick up a set of Rise of the Drow Dice, a RotD t-shirt, and a RotD "sackboy." Aren't they cute? Seriously, AAW does good work. Go check them out.

*Image stolen from Jonathan on FB. I don't know who took it.

PS I'm currently the high bidder on a Sword and Sorcery copy of Gygax's Necropolis.
PSS My Bones Kickstarter should ship today or tomorrow.*EDIT* It shipped today. Waiting for Monday now.

Why blog?

I've been watching my page views go up (over 1200!) That got me thinking about why I blog. There are 3 primary reasons:

1. Keep my players informed. My "home group" has had about 30 players since I started Mord Mar, and not every one of them can play in every session. The blog lets them keep up to date on what's going on in my head, and the Mountain. And we have run con games as well. I hope those players enjoyed it enough to come see what's new!

2. To get the word out. Eventually, I plan to publish Mord Mar, in one fashion or another. And blogging is free.

3. I enjoy it. Keeping tabs on what happened in Castle of the Mad Archmage makes jumping back into the game easier. I feel like I am becoming part of the "online gaming community."

What would I like to add to my blog? I'm glad you asked!

I'm thinking of adding the other bi-weekly game to the blog (that's PF Xcrawl for those of you not in the know.)

I'm thinking of doing a compare/contrast of the various megadungeons out there. Especially CotMA versus Rappan Athuk.

I would like to do a what's new in my gaming realm once in a while.

Con write ups. I think my GaryCon experience this year would be worthy of immortalizing in a blog.

Now, if I can only find the time between 2 jobs and 3 kids. . .

Rappan Athuk

So, these came today. No, not the cracked screen Kindle. That we've had for a while. It is a testament to the old saying "this is why we can't have nice things."

But, back to the Dungeon of Graves. I'm surprised at the lethality of it all. I ordered them through Frog God Games sale, which Tenkar's Tavern blogged a coupon for. I had one of my own, but mine was 10% and his was 15%, so I saved the cash by using his.

The more I buy from them, the more I like their work. This year, I bought Tome of Horrors when they had it on sale with ToH4 for free. And now, Rappan Athuk. Both are top notch work. I have never really been a 3pp guy, but Adventure A Week's Rise of the Drow made me open my eyes.

CotMA Session 11 - What a doozy

A correction from session 10. We had actually negotiated passage to level 5, not level 6 like I had mentioned previously.

The group:

Feran: Ranger 6 (me)
Chance: Cleric 5/Rogue 1 (Ian)
Drow Cleric 4/ Fighter 2 (I think) Nathaniel (our resident trainee. This will become apparent)
Inquisitor 6 (Rob)
Mangonel: Human Barbarian 3/Druid 3 (Lion Shaman something or other) (Dustin)
Tiefling Magus 4/Rogue 2 (Dave)
*The cross class levels may not be correct. I didn't double check with the players on their level ups.

Climbing out of the crevasse to level 5, the first thing we see is a sphinx with a moai head, made from a black stone with magical runes all around it. As we approach to investigate, it turns toward the group and asks "Would you like to make a wager?"

Feran, being reckless like he is (and broke) says "I will wager my health" our Drow and Chance (I think) made the wager as well. The sphinx gives us a riddle, which we solve easily, giving us each 1 permanent point of Constitution.

Next we all proffered up some gold, and doubled our money. (Except the Barbarian who bet a hammock and got a masterwork one.)

Then I decided to bet the awesome dagger I found last session. Other members decided to wager different things, and we again won. The dagger became a +2 Flaming Great Axe of Spell Storing. The Drow's Flail became a living steel flail.There were other things in there too, but I don't remember what.

Again, we are asked "Would you like to make a wager?" This time, the Tiefling, Drow, Inquisitor (and Barbarian?) decided to wager their souls against a map of the entirety of the Castle. The riddle was:
(Sphinx made an illusion of a scale set and 8 balls.) "Weighing only twice, which of these 8 balls weighs less than the others?"
The party said weigh 2 groups of 4.Then they weighed 2 groups of 2, and guessed on a 50/50 (which our DM actually allowed) and got it right. We had a "GM moment of weakness" there, I think.

After that close call, we decided we had had enough gambling for a while and headed East, toward a double door. On the way, we encountered 3 owlbears. (Owlbear don't care.) We dispatched them fairly easily, and a gelatinous cube came wandering up while we were searching their alcove. Again, no issue dispatching that, so on toward the double doors.

This is where things get interesting. The doors were locked and barred from this side. Listening, we heard nothing, so we opened the door. There was a huge ochre jelly. We shut the door and made a plan of attack. We reopened the door, and attacked. It did a little damage, split once, then died.

Searching the room, we see 4 doors besides the one we came in. We check one of them to find a proverbial mother lode of books, worth about 30k gp to collectors. We then check another room, to find it full of junk.

A third room is checked, and inside it has 7 earthenware jars and a huge crystal cylinder with a lid tightly on it. The drow and the ranger check it out. The drow goes in, looks around, and comes back out. Then Feran decides to check out a jar. The drow (being our trainee) walks back into the room. Feran taps the jar with a sickle, and a crystal materializes between him and the drow. The drow is hit, grappled and encased in crystal. Feran makes a hasty retreat.

The party slams the door on the crystal, and the Mangonel and Feran run to get the bar that was on the entry door. Before they get back, the crystal shatters the door, and the party flees for the one door we had not opened yet.

We get over to the door, and find it to be barred from the other side. We hall ass back toward the entry door, and Mangonel decides to play hero, holding off the crystal while the rest of us escape. He dies to the 7d8+9 attacks of this thing.

The surviving members of the party head back to the sphinx, and gamble 3 living characters for 2 dead ones to be brought to us, alive. We win that gamble, and gamble a full recharge on all spells and abilities. We also win this one.

Then our drow trainee decides to attempt a riddle by himself. He bets his bones against an item that can shatter the crystal. He loses and dies.

So, back to full health and full strength (minus a drow), we head toward a different exit. This time we come to a room full of summoning circles. We encounter nothing dangerous, and decide to check a room off to the side. Here we find a pleasant djinn who we have tea and read books in his library. He has 37 years left in his bound service to the Mad Archmage.

From here, we head north and turn east. We decide to check one door on our way to the stairs, and hear giant speak from the other side. 4 voices. We bust open the door and attack. 4 trolls! We fight and drop one (yay flaming axe!), but 7 more come from neighboring rooms. We are in for a tough fight.

As the session winds down, we have killed all of the trolls from the room we broke into, Mangonel and the drow are dead (again), and we are in bad position against an onslaught of trolls.

Mangonel is the prone efreet (he drank a potion of enlarge.) All of the other large sized bases are trolls heading in. The wolf to the right is Mangonel's animal companion.

Why?

Why is it when I type into Blogger, the colors come out right, but when I import from Word, the font color stays black when I 'publish'?

Sin Stalker Pt II

Here's a redo of the Sin Stalker. Getting closer to having it right. Slowly but surely.
This time I changed Sinsent to Sinsense, drop the Energy Drain from 2 to 1 and the DC to 14. Sinful Stare now affects all creatures within 30'.

Sin Stalker CR8 

CE Medium outsider (Chaotic, Demon, Evil, Extraplanar) 

Init  +4; Senses darkvision 60', Sinsense*, Perception +18 

DEFENSE 

AC  23, Touch  14, Flat Footed 18 (+4 Dex, +1 Dodge, +8 Natural) 

HP  96 (9d10+45) 

Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +10 

DR 10/Cold Iron or Good; Immune  death effects, precision damage, electricity, paralysis, poison 

OFFENSE 

Speed 30' 

Melee  2 claws +15 (1d6+6), bite +15 (1d8+6) or By Weapon 

Special Attacks Energy Drain (1 level, DC 14), Sinful Stare, Sinstrike 

STR 22, DEX 18, CON 21, INT 15, WIS 16, CHA 19 

Base Attack +9; CMB 15; CMD 29 

Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Furious Focus, Power Attack, Vital Strike 

SINSENSE  Any creature within 60' that has a sin upon their soul cannot hide from a Sin Stalker. They can sense the target through invisibility, blur, concealment, cover, illusion or any other trick. 

SINSTRIKE When a Sin Stalker hits an opponent with an unobsolved sin, it does an additional d6 damage. 

SINFUL STARE 1/rd a Sin Stalker can take a free action to stare into the soul of a sinner. All creatures within 30' must make a Will save (DC 18) or become Nauseated for d4 rounds. After being Nauseated, the characters who failed their Save are sickened while within 30'. A successful save means that that character cannot be affected by this ability for 24 hours (from this creature only). The attribute to the save varies upon the sin (use the most pronounced sin if more than one apply): 

Lust = CHA 

Gluttony = CON 

Greed = WIS 

Sloth = DEX 

Wrath = STR 

Envy = INT 

Pride = NONE

Coins of Mord Mar

So I've been reading Castle Triskelion the last couple of days. This has gotten me thinking about the coins of Mord Mar.

There are many, many mintings of Mord Mar coins. I don't think it is necessary for game play to name them all. Instead, I think, that I will use 2 main time frames.

The more common coins are pre-invasion of the city of Mord Mar.
Platinum from this era are called "scarabs." The 'heads' side of the coin is a scarab, and the 'tails' side is the traditional queen's crown of Mord Mar. Scarabs are octagonal in shape, and measure about 3 cm.
Gold coins from pre-invasion are called "mountains." The 'heads' side of this coin is an image of the mountain, and the 'tails' side is an anvil. These coins are rounded, and measure about 5 cm.
Silver coins from the early era are called "king's pennies." They have an image of the king's crown on the 'heads' side and an image of the Citadel on the reverse. These coins are just under 3 cm, and are equilateral triangles, with rounded corners.
Copper coins from the early days are called "mushrooms." They have a 'mushroom' on the heads side, and an image of the Great Gate on the back. These coins are round, and measure about 2 cm.

The post-invasion coins are minted in Var Nae. Most are slightly smaller than the pre-invasion coins.
Modern platinum coins are called "gavels." They have a gavel on the heads side, and a fisted gauntlet on the inverse. Gavels are the only coin larger than their earlier counterparts, measuring in at 3.5 cm. They are rounded, unlike the earlier scarabs.
Gold coins minted in Var Nae are called "standards." They have an image of a limp flag hanging on a pole on the heads side, and an embossed "VN" on the inverse.
Silver coins from Var Nae are called "holies." They are rounded coins with a circular hole punched through the center. They measure 2.5 cm.
Coppers are called "mugs" when minted in Mord Mar. They measure 1.75 cm and have only a mug with froth on one side of the coin.

Sin Stalker

Sin Stalker CR8 

CE Medium outsider (Chaotic, Demon, Evil, Extraplanar) 

Init  +4; Senses darkvision 60', Sinscent*, Perception +18 

DEFENSE 

AC  23, Touch  14, Flat Footed 18 (+4 Dex, +1 Dodge, +8 Natural) 

HP  96 (9d10+45) 

Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +10 

DR 10/Cold Iron or Good; Immune  death effects, precision damage, electricity, paralysis, poison 

OFFENSE 

Speed 30' 

Melee  2 claws +15 (1d6+6), bite +15 (1d8+6) or By Weapon 

Special Attacks Energy Drain (2 levels, DC 18), Sinful Stare, Sinstrike 

STR 22, DEX 18, CON 21, INT 15, WIS 16, CHA 19 

Base Attack +9; CMB 15; CMD 29 

Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Furious Focus, Power Attack, Vital Strike 

SINSCENT  Any creature within 60' that has a sin upon their soul cannot hide from a Sin Stalker. They can sense the target through invisibility, blur, concealment, cover, illusion or any other trick. 

SINSTRIKE When a Sin Stalker hits an opponent with an unobsolved sin, it does an additional d6 damage. 

SINFUL STARE 1/rd a Sin Stalker can take a free action to stare into the soul of a sinner. The sinner must make a Will save (DC 18) or become Nauseated for d4 rounds. A successful save means that that character cannot be affected by this ability for 24 hours (from this creature only). The attribute to the save varies upon the sin (use the most pronounced sin if more than one apply): 

Lust = CHA 

Gluttony = CON 

Greed = WIS 

Sloth = DEX 

Wrath = STR 

Envy = INT 

Pride = NONE 

How many unique monsters?

When buying a product like Mord Mar (a mega-dungeon in the 50-100$ range) how many new, unique monsters do you expect to get?

CotMA Session 10

The party this week:
Feran, Human Ranger 5: Me 
Chance, Cleric 4/Rogue 1
Clip-Clop, Centaur Fighter 4 (ECL penalty)
Inquisitor 5
Barbarian 2/Druid 3 (I think)
Magus 3/Rogue 2 (I think)

End of last session, we killed Brekk, who blew up. This session picked up immediately after.

We looted his area, and found a bunch of coin, a Rod of Wonder, a Ring of Retribution (the thing that blew Brekk up), Ring of Maniacal Devices, and a couple of potions. After tallying up our haul, we decided we need to rest. We were quite deep in the Castle, and just had a dude EXPLODE! on us.

After nothing happening during our rest period, we entered back into Brekk's workshop. Looking over the machine that disoriented us, was the Mad Archmage himself. After a bit of a talk, he asked us if we 'wanted to see his Crypts.' I said yes. And away we went.

Well, the rest of the party was a bit upset as we were teleported. We appeared in a crossroads.The Mad Archmage then told us we were to meet a 'caretaker.' A rumbling started. We began to run in a random direction.

Eventually, with the rumbling following us, we found a 'jawbreaker machine.' Three of us bought jawbreakers. As we did, a variant bulette attacked us. The centaur, ranger, barbarian, and ranger's animal companion failed saves vs disease. (tbd).

From there we stumbled onward. We passed through bronze doors, and didn't disturb any tombs. Eventually, we decided 'up' wouldn't be inside the area inside the bronze doors. We found our way through another bronze door, and eventually to an area with more tombs.One marked "Guy Fawkes." My ranger broke it down, and found a +1 dagger of distance and returning.

From here, we turned a corner into a death cult, who assumed we were powerful enough to be here, and negotiated a way back to level 6 for the Ring of Retribution. That's where the session ended.