Charles Plemons’ Blog

April 26, 2007

Age of Worms Adventure Path - Game Session 34

Filed under: Age of Worms — charles.plemons @ 10:17 pm

Game summary for April 26, 2007; present characters included Aker Cruven (litorian exotic weapon master/ritual warrior), Eol Seregon (half-elf hexblade), Grot Bloodtunneler (shield dwarf barbarian/warmain), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), and Valgen (afflicted wererat human fighter/rogue).

The party mixed and mingled with the gladiators in the Coenoby for a while, learning what they could about the opposition. They found that the team Pitch Blade had won the first match and that Auric’s Warband was favored to win the next. Their manager, Lord Urtos Phylund II, came to deliver their winnings and also revealed his true reasons for bringing them into the games. His father’s corpse has gone missing, and because his father died in an “accident” beneath the arena two years ago, Urtos believes foul play is afoot. He suspects Aridarye is involved but said his father and Prendergast go way back and were good friends. Urtos revealed he was a werewolf and thus Aridarye’s son is the heir to the Phylund family riches. Offering to pay them all of the winnings from the games, Urtos asked the party to explore the understructure of the arena and look for any clues that may reveal what really happened to his father.

The party crept off down a side tunnel and found the old Titan’s House. They went into a pool of water and smashed a stone seal, which forced the water to gush down the exposed cave, carrying Grot with it. He was dumped on his head at the feet of nine slavering ghasts who attempted to eat him. Fortunately, Lyrin destroyed most of them with a fireball.

A side passage was explored and found to look out over an underground gorge teeming with ghasts. The party decided to slip back down the corridor and leave them for the moment. They re-blocked the entrance to the area and found a submerged tunnel leading into a room filled with ochre jelly. The jellies tried to consume the group, but another fireball and several bashing attacks later, all the oozes were dead.

They found the room fed with sewage from above, and the dwarves guessed they were roughly beneath the arena at the moment. The party scaled the sewer chute and Valgen peeked his head out of the hole into a small round room. Ahead lay another room, with a wooden coffin propped against one wall in view.

Would You Like to Try…?

Filed under: Rants — charles.plemons @ 4:47 pm

Many times when I head out of town, I stop by Hardee’s for breakfast; it is on the way to the interstate for me. So is McDonald’s. However, I usually choose Hardee’s because it is less crowded and is a right hand turn from where I’m coming from. For years, however, something about Hardee’s has annoyed me to no end.

Every single time I pull up to the drive up order box at a Hardee’s, the employee asks me, “would you like to try a (insert Hardee’s latest item here)?” I have an idea, why don’t you let me tell you what I want to order? It irks me every time and has gotten to the point I may just start going to McDonald’s for no other reason than this.

It’s a silly thing to be annoyed by and rant about, but really, just let me place my order. I can read the signs and see the pictures of all the new stuff. You don’t need to try and force it on me.

April 24, 2007

Artists Show Their Colors

Filed under: Artwork, Supporting Our Troops — charles.plemons @ 11:02 am

I posted yesterday about the upcoming Ziggurat Con in Iraq. This was announced on the E.N. World news site, and I hope that gamer response is fairly high. I encourage everyone to show their appreciation for the troops who are putting their lives on the line every day. This is not about whether you are for or against our situation in Iraq, it is about the men and women living over there in harm’s way.

Knowing that a number of people are likely to send books and dice, I wanted to explore the door prize option. I am collecting funds from friends and family to purchase t-shirts to send over. I have asked for assistance from the artists in the role-playing game industry in the form of artwork we can print on the t-shirts. Response has been very good! Thank you so much to these great people willing to help with this cause. I’m gathering the art, but now I’ve got to have the funds to get more of these shirts to our soldiers. A mere $10.00 will pay for the shirt, taxes and help cover the cost of shipping it. If you are interested in donating to fund these shirts, please contact me. I do accept PayPal. I am all ready sending shirts, but every donation means one more can be added.

You can also send things to our soldiers yourself. Please read up on the Military Mailing Restrictions and on the Customs Forms required. It does involve some hoop-jumping, but when you consider that you are shipping a box into an occupied terriorty, it makes sense. There are some greatly helpful instructions here.

If the idea of dealing with shipping and customs is too much for you, you can also go to an organization that sends pre-built packages for you. One such web site is Treat Any Soldier, and they have numerous options to choose from.

Go to TreatAnySoldier.com

April 23, 2007

Support Our Gaming Troops

Filed under: Gaming, Supporting Our Troops — charles.plemons @ 10:15 am

It may be a surprise to some, but many of our men and women in the Armed Forces are role-playing gamers. The first known game convention in an “occupied zone” takes place on June 9th, 2007. It will be known as Ziggurat Con and is open to all allied military personnel and civilian contractors in Iraq.

Please do your part and support the troops in a bit of morale building. It sounds as if they can use books, dice and gaming items to use in the games and as door prizes.

UFC 70 Results

Filed under: Mixed Martial Arts — charles.plemons @ 8:27 am

Nations did indeed collide at UFC 70 in Manchester, England this weekend. There were some truly exciting fights as well as some all-around duds. I now have a list fighters (in order) that I would just assume never have to suffer through watching fight again.

  1. Andrei Arlovski
  2. Tim Sylvia
  3. Josh Koscheck
  4. Diego Sanchez

I don’t care who you are, when you put in a 15- to 25-minute fight where you do next to nothing, I do not want to ever waste more of my time on you.

I was greatly amused by Welterweight Champ, Matt Serra. It was announced he and Matt Hughes would be the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 6, and Serra pretty much called Matt Hughes out. Last month, I would have laughed. Now, I’m not counting fighters out any longer. Should be an interesting match!

Gabriel Gonzaga delivered the most devastating knockout kick I’ve ever seen, and he did it to the man known for his knockout kicks! Mirko Cro Cop went down like a ton of bricks when the kick landed and stayed on the ground for quite some time. I can’t wait to see Gonzaga challenge Couture for the title. These athletes are becoming so well-rounded, you just never know who is going to pull a rabbit and win in spectacular fashion.

Let’s hear it for Michael Bisping. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. He had a dominating victory over Elvis Sinosic; however, Sinosic almost sneaked a submission in. I really hope the UFC brings Sinosic back. He’s had some bad losses of late, but look at the caliber of fighter he takes on. Keep him coming. As for Bisping, where is he in the division now? Is he on a collision course with Rampage or Liddell?

Overall, an entertaining night. The other fights were okay. As expected, the commercials were plentiful; by 8:50 p.m., we had seen one fight. I understand they had to make their money, but come on.

April 22, 2007

Blood Cell Chronicle - Operation: Plague Walker

Filed under: World of Darkness — charles.plemons @ 8:56 pm

On Saturday, April 21st, we embarked on our second game of the Blood Cell Chronicles, playing the Operation: Plague Walker adventure. The game used the Storyteller System from the Vampire: The Masquerade 3rd Edition rulebook. The starting cast included “Boomstick” Anders, “Boon” Wilkins, “Jarhead” Smith and “Rocket Man” Winchester. Later appearances were made by “Dom” Santori, “Ghost” Lee and “Whisper” Vasquez.

The team hit the beach and engaged a trio of soldiers immediately. “Jarhead” used the SAW to spray the two in the treeline, and “Boomstick”, “Boon” and “Rocket Man” made sure they were out of commission. “Boon” took a round to the thigh, but his ghoul blood quickly healed the injury. The landing was almost without incident except for “Boomstick’s” embarassing moment where he ejected a full magazine from his pistol instead of pulling the trigger.

The group moved to one of the helicopter crash sites and found the chopper had not exploded but fuel was leaking all around. Somehow, the pilot’s intestines had animated with WD-41 and attacked the group. The thing was thrown toward the chopper, and “Boon” shot the fuel tanks causing a horrendous explosion. Unfortunately, the team was caught in the blast and badly injured. Nursing their wounds, they investigated the other crash site and found it already burned out.

Next, they moved on the military base and found it littered with corpses. A number of WD-41 zombies charged and attacked but were soon cut down in overlapping fields of fire. The team fired up a generator they discovered and moved into the underground lab. They quickly came upon the mess hall and four WD-41 zombies. The team was swarmed, leaving “Jarhead” and “Boon” cut off and mobbed. “Jarhead” cleared the way for the rest of the team at the cost of his and “Boon’s” lives; he pulled the pins on his two frag grenades and blew up everything in the room.

The remaining team called in reinforcements, “Ghost” Lee and “Whisper” Vasquez. Together, they found Heinreich’s lab. Unfortunately, it was protected by a WD-41 Die-Borg and two WD-41 zombies. “Whisper” was caught in the lab with two of the creatures, and “Ghost” had one clamped onto her back. “Rocket Man” fired his rocket launcher into the room, destroying the Die-Borg. Sadly, the backblast also injured his allies, including causing the death of “Boomstick”. The group dug in and waiting for “Dom” to arrive before proceeding past the lab.

Down another hallway, they found the suite of Dr. Heinreich. Unfortunately, Heinreich had become a monstrous creature with huge rending claws, a WD-43 Ripper! A single swipe of his claws decapitated “Whisper”, but it was quickly put down with a 3-round burst from “Rocket Man”.

After clearing the complex, the team gathered the datafiles and evacuated the island. Four of the Blood Cell team were killed in the operation, but all objectives were met. Central Command was quite displeased with the casualties, but the spread of WD-41 and its variants was stopped.

April 21, 2007

Pop Tarts - Kick Sack - Day 29

Filed under: Miscellaneous — charles.plemons @ 10:22 am

Today, my Pop Tarts kick sack arrived in the mail. According to the Special Offers Status Inquiry page, it shipped on April 6th. It arrived via USPS, so I would be curious what “shipped” really means that it took this long. Regardless, it has arrived!

April 20, 2007

That’s Retarded

Filed under: Rants — charles.plemons @ 2:35 pm

“That’s retarded.” A phrase I’ve been using all my life. Anything that I disagreed with, didn’t like, thought was a poor idea all fell into the “retarded” label. It was never intended as an insult to anyone, it was just a phrase used like “that’s dumb” or “that’s a bad idea”.

Last year, my first son was born. A few weeks later, he was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. I was greatly uneducated in Down Syndrome at the time, but I discovered it is generally associated with physical differences in appearance, heart problems and some degree of mental retardation.

It wasn’t long after the birth of my son that I unthinkingly uttered “that’s retarded” about some situation or another. I froze. For the first time in my life, I fully realized how insulting using that word to describe things as stupid is to people (and families of people) with mental handicaps. I don’t use that phrase any longer.

Society in general behaves the same way I did a year ago. Most of the people I know sling the phrase about constantly. They don’t mean anything by it, I know. However, it makes me inwardly wince every time I hear it. Don’t get me wrong, this is not about feeling sorry for myself or my son. He is a wonderful little boy whom I love deeply and am proud to call son. I wince because people ignorantly use a phrase that is an unintentional slap in the face to the people around them.

This point was driven home this week at church. One of the men of the congregation was speaking and laughingly described some of our retired members as having become “retarded” (another popular use of the phrase). This man meant no insult and would be devastated if he thought he had upset anyone, but still, I winced.

I encourage anyone to refrain from using this phrase. I am not on a soapbox saying how offended I am by its use. I’m not; I know that people use it without deep thought. However, you never know who around you is wincing inwardly each and every time you say it.

Age of Worms Adventure Path - Game Session 33

Filed under: Age of Worms — charles.plemons @ 8:17 am

Game summary for April 19, 2007; present characters included Aker Cruven (litorian exotic weapon master/ritual warrior), Eol Seregon (half-elf hexblade), Evo Shandor (human fighter/rogue), Grot Bloodtunneler (shield dwarf barbarian/warmain), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Thoril Songsteel (human thug), and Valgen (afflicted wererat human fighter/rogue).

The party visited Dagsumn and learned more regarding the coming Age of Worms. When he mentioned the Apostolic Scrolls, they revealed they found a bill of sale for those to Prendergast Brokengulf. Dagsumn seemed most troubled by this news and indicated Prendergast is a very wealthy and popular man in Waterdeep. He is a retired gladiator champion and owner of the Champion’s Games and the Field of Triumph arena. So, they decided to seek a way to join the Champion’s Games and explore the arena between matches.

The group went and bought items to help them in the arena. In the meantime, Dagsumn located someone to sponsor them as team manager. In two days, the group signed on as a gladiator team called The Mercenaries, under the banner of Lord Urtos Phylund II. Now legally in the games, the group went to Prendergast’s Free Dinner for the contestants and nobles of the city. Within, they rubbed elbows with many of the city’s elite and made a wager or two, or three. They also encountered Tirra, a known ally of the current champion, Auric. She indicated she represented Thoril’s former guild and was willing to work an under-the-table bet on the party. She promised a 7,500 gp payout for winning the games if they would agree to pay 2,500 gp up front. After much deliberation (and much concern on the part of Thoril), they agreed and paid her. Also during the dinner, The Mercenaries got their first looks at Prendergast, his lovely wife Lady Aridarye, and Prendergast’s right-hand man, Captain Okoral. The games’ judge, Talabir Welik, went over the rules of the arena. Afterward, the group descended the elevator system in the middle of the arena and entered the Coenoby.

The following day, The Mercenaries got their first opportunity to display their skills in the arena. They were involved in the second battle against three other teams. The Mercenaries got hit hard by a charging horseman and a group of elven archers, but the moment The Mercenaries got rolling, enemy gladiators died. It was a short, brutal, and rather spectacular battle wherein The Mercenaries outmatched every opponent and slaughtered or intimidated into submission every team. The crowd was impressed with their prowess, and the ratings board listed The Mercenaries at rank 6 by the end of the battle. Valgen offered a wink to a scowling Prendergast as The Mercenaries were lowered back into the Coenoby.

With their first match behind them, and gold won from gambling lining their pockets, The Mercenaries now face the daunting task of figuring out what to do to try and catch Prendergast in his foul deeds. They will not fight again until sometime on Day 3 of the Champion’s Games, so they have some time snoop about, assuming they can avoid Okoral’s elite guards…

April 19, 2007

The Dragon Dies

Filed under: Dungeons & Dragons — charles.plemons @ 2:24 pm

Here’s the announcement.

I have been a subscriber to both Dungeon and Dragon magazines for 16 years, going all the way back to issue #165 of Dragon and #28 of Dungeon. I go to the mailbox during the second week of every month in hopes that one or the other has arrived. I’ve done so for over half my life.

Both magazines have now been canceled. Neither were in financial trouble, nor were they losing subscriptions. However, someone at Wizards of the Coast believes magazines are not the future. I agree that many of us want digital content. I would love to get the material from Dragon and Dungeon in an easy-to-use format. That being said, you cannot replace the elation of opening the mailbox to find that next issue sitting there. And I’ve had that feeling nearly 400 times! Can anyone honestly believe a download will ever replace that?

My current gaming group is playing the Age of Worms Adventure Path published in Dungeon. We’ve been playing it for a year, and at current speed, will continue to do so for another two before completing it. If I’m willing devote a night a week of my life to something for three years, it must have made some impact.

I hope the decision-makers at Wizards of the Coast came to this after some well-thought discussion. There is nothing that can replace these two montly installments of gaming goodness. Even during times I wasn’t actively playing, those links back to the gaming world came in every month. They are tangible, physical links to the games we so enjoy. Destroying that with no warning and no input from subscribers is really beyond comprehension.

It appears that Paizo will continue releasing material through Pathfinder, which is a series of Adventure Paths that would have made it into Dungeon magazine. As I said above, I’ve already devoted a year of my life to playing one Adventure Path; I’m likely to buy more. I encourage all fans of the magazines to continue to support Paizo in their future endeavors.

For Wizards of the Coast, I don’t know what to say. I greatly encourage making all material available as easily cut-n-paste PDFs or online documents. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I don’t buy RPG books that are not in PDF format anymore. I don’t disagree with the idea they are looking at. What I don’t agree with is that they didn’t give me a choice. Read the messsage boards and blogs; they’ve alienated a large portion of their customers. This online content had best be spectacular enough to win them back. And if they think the current content quality of their web pages can carry this… go fish.

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