Never Leaving Cha'alt

 

Take a look at the kind of trash you find in the exhibition hall sewer!  Wow, the things you see when you leave your xxxtra flush porta-potty at home [shaking my tentacle].

Just before leaving Game Hole Con, I chatted a bit with Bad Mike and Jeffery Talanian.  Just catching up after a long weekend of gaming.  Jeffery mentioned a panel with Ed Greenwood and how he's been working on his Forgotten Realms campaign setting since he was 5 or something.

The strong desire, bordering on need, came to me awhile ago, but hearing that only solidified another layer... I'm never leaving Cha'alt.  Cha'alt is my RPG home, and I want to keep creating in that eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse sandbox for the rest of my days.  

If 5 years of running games in the same world gets you this far [pretend I'm showing you a tentacle and measuring about halfway up], just imagine what 20 years would be like?  Now, I'm imagining it [no, I don't actually have a tentacle in front of me... nor do I know what it's like to GM in the same campaign setting for more than 5 years].

My guess is that the answer would be... awesomeness that's commensurate with the wild, untamed joy of PSYCHOCOSM !!!  That's what I intend to do, and if you'll stick with me, you can both share in the strange and wonderful awesomeness that is Cha'a'lt, as well as, discover whatever insights I might glean from that particular struggle.

Because make no mistake, it's not all fun and games.  Well, yeah, it is... but also no.  It is fun, and we are talking about games, but there's work that goes into it, too.  And discipline.  The mind wanders, attention wavers, we get pulled here and there, sidetracked, distracted; always something fresh to pursue.  It takes a certain amount of dedication and focus to stay put and work within the boundaries set out for you, that you set out for yourself years (perhaps decades) ago.

I want to use the phrase "conscious suffering", but again, it's not suffering in the usual sense of the word.  If you add up all the hours of imagining, planning, writing, revising, proofreading, finding artwork, and running games, we're talking about a thousand hours of work.  And it hasn't all been a cakewalk.  Hence the suffering.  But I do it intentionally, consciously.  In fact, I welcome it.

A man has to have a special plan, a calling, something that gives his life meaning (aside from the usual suspects, of course... family, survival, religion, etc.)  If you run from every kind of suffering, you won't be inconvenienced as much, but what will you have to show for yourself when it's all said and done?

Alright, enough philosophizing, how was the Game Hole convention, hoss?

Pretty fucking awesome!  Yeah, no real complaints.  I gave myself an ideal schedule... a 4-hour game Friday at 10 - 2pm, two 3-hour games on Saturday with a couple hours for lunch in-between, and a 4-hour game to close things off on Sunday, same time slot as Friday.

And what were the games like?  Pretty magical... spectacular, you might say!  In fact, I was surprised how "game" everyone was.  I couldn't be sure if it was me or Cha'alt or the players themselves (probably a combination of all three), but there was humor, pop-culture references, sleaze, and the kind of scary, gross-out horror movie exploitation shit that you don't get to see very often.

Some highlights...

• The racial stereotyping of dark-elves having poison on them at all times.  Collaboratively, we decided that one dark-elf PC regularly imbibed poison so that he would be immune, while also having poisonous saliva.  As ingenious as it is fucked up!
• Taking "murder hobo" to the furthest reaches of sorcerous insanity!  The party's wizard: "Is the skinned man eviscerated?"  [me: no]  Him: "Then let's correct that oversight.  I cut him open to see if I can discover signs and portents with his entrails."  Along with a pixie-fairy warrior who could be summoned by saying "Tinker-Stab" three times, and loved to skewer eyeballs and drink their juices.
• Care bear and mogwai doxies seducing NPCs at the Palace gala.
• My friend Jacob who has been a player in a number of my games, played in two of my sessions this con.  But since it was the same basic scenario (with a number of changes), we decided he was having Groundhog's day visions that led him to believe that he was living the same day over and over again. The analogy was even more layered because a central plot-point was this Shadow Void ceremony where the King's sorcerer stood in front of a yawing black void to see if he could see his shadow.  If he did, that meant the next 3 years of Cha'alt would be filled with suffering and doom.
• The demon priestess who single-handedly instigated an insurrection.
• The old fart who used ritual magic to "internal organ implode" the King of A'agrybah (no one respects a weak King).
• Got to try Obsidian Escalation twice.  The first time, it didn't come up because no one rolled a crit.  The second time, it worked almost too well.  Combat was over in 2 rounds, and the results were described in epic gory detail by the player!
• My Friday morning game only had 2 players, so I played an NPC to round out the party.  I played a dark-elf (not the one mentioned above) and got to have sex with a damsel about to be devoured by a slimy tentacled abomination (I waited until after the battle was over, obviously... I'm not a monster).  Inserting myself into the game like that hasn't happened in awhile.  
• BEST WISCONSIN WEATHER EVER!!!!!!!  Seriously, it was sunny and warm the entire weekend.  This almost never happens here.

I'm leaving out a dozen other moments that will hopefully be with me forever.  Just know that it was a blast, and I can't wait to come back and GM the shit out of Game Hole Con next year.  

Of course, VENGER CON II: Electric Boogaloo will come first in July (also in Madison, WI).  Grab your ticket here.

Usually, I run at least one of my megadungeons for the sake of variety and never running out of content... but this time I ran the introductory adventure for Encounter Critical III (also playtested the upcoming EC3 classes and races).  Those sessions included this little gem, which was a big hit... and I got to reconceptualize and tweak the fuchsia and chartreuse tentacled entities organically during play, which is the best way of doing it.

I have a post-con video, as well.  I'll include it here so there's little to no overlap in my con report.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this convention together, and everyone who played in my games!

VS

p.s. Gorgeous hardcover Cha'alt books for sale?  Why, yes... knock yourself out, hoss!

Game Hole Con 2022

 

I'll be running games at Game Hole Con this October!

Their covid policy is more lenient this time around - especially compared to Gary Con [info here].  That reason, the location, and focus on old-school tabletop RPGs are what drew me back.  

Last year was fun, but the masks were not ideal.  My blog posts about last year's GHC can be found here.

The 4 Cha'alt sessions I submitted were just approved.  I decided to do all Cha'alt for a couple different reasons.  First, it's just easier for me to run.  It's what I've been focusing on for the last 4 years, and it's open-ended enough to allow pretty much anything.  I can incorporate everything from snake-men sorcerers to dimension-hopping Rick and Morty to tentacled Kool-Aid man.  

I can literally start the game anywhere in the eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting, roll on a few tables, drop in a weird dungeon, monster, or plot-hook, and keep the game going based on PC action (or inaction).

Cha'alt, in conjunction with any rules-light OSR system, such as Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 (still free, still awesome) is perfect for noobs, conventions, one-shots, and games on the go.

If you want to play in one of my GHC games, I've got one on Friday, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday.  Hope you can make it, hoss!

Yes, I'll have a few books of the Cha'alt trilogy at the convention.  So, if you want to buy one, or just chat, feel free to say, "Hey, Venger!"

VS

p.s. About 5 more weeks before I launch the new Encounter Critical III Kickstarter campaign.  In the meantime, you can support me on SubscribeStar.

GameHole Con 2021 [part 4]

 

Check out the previous blog posts if you want to read what led up to today's.  

The Alpha Blue session was good and fun, but my head's definitely in another place.  That helps, actually, because if I have Alpha Blue on my mind, then it's going to distract me from Cha'alt... which is my primary focus right now.  Especially, as I'm working on book three of the trilogy Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows.

And the Encounter Critical session was really just Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 tooling around Cha'alt.  When telling Gamehole Con what games I wanted to run, I thought I'd be diving into the next edition of Encounter Critical.  Instead, I decided to shelve that until I was finished with Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows.

Since Encounter Critical inspired both Crimson Dragon Slayer and Cha'alt, I didn't feel too bad about it.  I broke out Beneath Kra'adumek because that's a fun little one-shot scenario.  For an extra bit of strangeness and because it was almost Halloween, I offered the players monster races instead of traditional, elves, dwarves, etc.

I'll share what I came up with here, just in case you want to use it in your own Halloween inspired sessions...

• Vampire - Hypnotism (save to resist).
• Wolfman - Transform into wolf and/or wolfman (Advantage from savage attacks).
• Mummy - Resurrection, unless completely incinerated, vaporized, or annihilated.
• Creature From The Black Lagoon - Swim, breathe under water, and fast healing.
• Ghost - Incorporeal at will.
• Demon - Can force humanoids to make a deal; the Devil's bargain.
• Frankenstein - Super strength (extra d6 damage).

It was a fun session, and I finally got to use the d100 weird magic table included in Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise (I've used it before the book was printed during playtest sessions).  Unfortunately for the party, one of the PC sorcerers turned the Ipsissimus of the temple into an invulnerable pillar of green flame.

But one of the highlights of the weekend was my running The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  There's a reason why so many gamers love this one.  You can see the primordial roots of Cha'alt in the purple islands.

This being a one-shot, I almost had too much material to choose from.  For some of the session, I used whatever was written down for the hexes the PCs traveled.  The rest I cherry picked because I was excited to see the players' reactions.  A decent chunk of the session was spent on something I just made up - a sleestak temple containing a pit housing their god - a gigantic purple worm.

After killing the worm, they looted its lair of amethyst crystals that radiated with magical energy.  It was night and the PCs bedded down with their crystals.  One of my favorite things about the purple islands is the "while you were sleeping" random table.

So, I rolled on that and a totem had been driven into the ground, just outside the sleestak temple.  It was a warning or curse from a competing faction, the Sect of the Crimson Tongue.  Someone casted a spell during the night, as well.  So, I rolled on the weird magic table again and, I kid you not, the result specifically says that all crystals within 50' of the sorcerer explode.

All of the PCs took heavy damage.  One guy was left with 1 HP.  

When something accidentally turns out to fit exactly in the random chaos of what's going on, I'm sometimes in the habit of shouting "THE PROPHECY!!!" at the top of my lungs.  These guys got to experience that twice.  ;)

A couple players were returning guests from previous games, which was nice to see.  

The PCs were moving through the violet cloud of radiation and picked up some nice mutations, as well as a magic sword.  Instead of metal, its blade was forged of concentrated willpower.  

I rolled on the d30 table from Cha'alt since that was easily at hand.  One woman rolled 30 and so got two mutations - acidic sweat and her lower half became serpentine.  Seriously, watching her face throughout the session was a trip.  She went from incredulous to pleased to concerned to laughter to defeated to triumphant.  It was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for her.

One-shots don't give you a lot of time to work in PC motivations and overarching stories.  But if everyone has a sense of who their character is and the agency afforded them to explore an eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic island, that's all you can ask for.  

At the session's end, I got a lot of praise for running the game.  I could tell the players really enjoyed it and that made my day.

The purple islands session was the first one on Saturday.  I decided that I'd had enough of trying to run a game muzzled, and so I either ate a banana or drank a sip of bottled water throughout the three-hour session so that I didn't have to wear my mask.  That definitely helped improve my experience, though it was still plenty loud in there.

Tomorrow's blog post should be the last of this series.  Thanks for joining me on this insane journey!

VS

GameHole Con 2021 [part 3]

 

I'm not going to do a blog post for each and every game I ran at GameHole Con this year, but this one was really cool.  If you want to see part 1 or part 2, check 'em out.

On day two (Friday), I got a chance to run players through my latest creation, and one that I'm still working on.  It's the subterranean cave and tunnel megadungeon known as Cremza'amirikza'am.

This session was billed as a little spicy, but still very much a dungeoncrawl... maybe that's why I had seven dudes at the table (the only game where there wasn't at least one woman).

I do have openings written down ahead of time, but am always tempted to create something new in the moment, when inspiration strikes.  For whatever reason, I decided to start this session with the PCs overhearing the discovery of that demon-fabled system of caves in the tavern, just before the lizardman who spilled the beans had his intestines spilled out from a dagger in the gut.

And then a princess-witch was sunbathing on top of the platform in the lost city.  That set the tone.  As usual, a few players didn't know what to make of these odd and mildly sexually charged encounters.  But enough players were ready to roll with the punches, so it's ok if some are hesitant or don't know how to feel about encounters like a redhead with banana-men bodyguards who just inherited a chicken shack and bordello down here in Cremza'amirikza'am.

Soon after, the prospect of combat and treasure seemed to invigorate the players.  Monks, security droids, and a stockpile of loot owned by Pizza the Ha'at (if you've seen Space Balls, then you know who I'm talking about), using Monsieur Froma'aj as an alias on Cha'alt. 

The PCs did well for themselves, taking pretty much all of it - including a circuit board that seemed really valuable for no discernible reason.  Maybe just because Pizza the Ha'at wanted it?

After that, there were crests and troughs of high weirdness and standard sword & sorcery tropes.

One of the funniest parts, for me and I think a few of the players, was the replicant film crew who decided to film the PCs' exploits as a documentary with their camcorder.  So, the second half of the session was expertly documented for posterity.  I wish we, the gamers, could actually see the footage they captured.

The PCs cleared the entire first floor and then a cave or two on level 2.  I had maps of Cremza'amirikza'am (the first three levels) printed and laminated for the event.  Those looked good, and the players appreciated the visual aid.  All combat was theater of the mind, though.

Also, I should mention, for every game, except for Alpha Blue, I used my laminated Crimson Escalation visual-aid tracker for extra crits.  As usual, Crimson Escalation favored the players, which they greatly enjoyed.

I've been running playtests of Cremza'amirikza'am on Roll20 for the last couple months prior to my Kickstarting Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows right now - please back it!  But what I came up with only a week ago in terms of puzzles had never been playtested.  

Turns out, what I wrote worked like a charm.  And led the player who successfully pulled a sword out of an effulgent indigo crack in reality to say that in all his life, he's never had a character wield a blade that powerful and awesome.

I won't go into any more detail other than to mention the nudist colony, empress trapped in ice, and Ta'arna on a mission of revenge.  All in all, Cremza'amirikza'am is coming along nicely.  I feel it's a solid mix of eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, and post-apocalypse... along with my trademark humor, sleaze, and pop-cultural references. 

Everyone said they had a good time, and I even got an email after the convention thanking me again for running that session.  I'll copy/paste it below...

Dear Vengar,

Thank you for running Cha’alt for us at GameHole Con, it was a great introduction to you as a person and what you value as a designer.

You’re absolutely right about the masks, issues of speaking volume, and noise. The noise got so bad by the end of the convention I was asking people to pull down their masks to speak (shockingly, nobody had a problem with this).

Things I loved

• Crimson Escalation was a great idea! Some kind of large red d20 that changes between rounds with the number you crit on would have been a good addition.
• I like how you brought up erotic things, but did it as a matter of genre, and kept the narrative moving along.
• You kept the story moving. I think we got more done in your game than any other con game I’ve ever been at.
• Giant Maps! Who doesn't love a giant map?

I don’t have a google account, so I couldn’t post this on your blog, but I thought it would be worth sending you anyway.

Sincerely,

—Colin

That getting more done is a testament to my laser-focus on one-shots over the last 5 years.  When these blog posts are done, I'll be turning my attention to One-Shots Like A Fucking Boss, as well as finishing up the megadungeon for Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows.

Thanks to Colin, the Cremza'amirikza'am players, and GameHole Con.  I'll try to get the next blog post out tomorrow.

VS

GameHole Con 2021 [part 2]

 

My first game was around noon on Thursday.  First blog post of this series was yesterday.

Six players including an acquaintance from Milwaukee, Glenn, who I've run games for multiple times previously, either at conventions or when I was running Cha'alt at my FLGS in Madison, WI.

It was an exploration through The Black Pyramid of Cha'alt. Not sure if I did it intentionally, but the very last game of the convention was pretty much the exact same scenario - except it had a totally different vibe (will get to that in a couple days).

There are a few ways I like to start out a Black Pyramid adventure.  I never begin such scenarios inside.  The PCs are always trekking through the desert trying to arrive there for one reason or another.  Why?  A little something I learned in college called processional access.  Partly, the journey is an important part of the destination.  But it's also about the build up of emotion, anticipation, expectation, and gravitas that comes with getting to the good stuff.  

Like in a porno, it's more enjoyable to watch the process leading to sex than to just immediately watch people fucking for no discernable reason.

Anyway, the PCs saw a sandworm near the pyramid and decided to run when it came towards them.  This part of the scenario is important for setting the right tone, as well.  If the PCs, at first level, were Hell bent on slaying the sandworm, this would have been their wakeup call.  PCs would have died, telling players A) don't get cocky and B) I'm not fucking around.

Scattering was the right move, so they all survived.

It had been a long time since I've run The Black Pyramid and I was a little rusty.  I almost forgot about the message in that glass case.  Just like I almost forgot to have them roll for rumors about this nigrescent wonder of the world.

The first few rooms gave them a taste of gonzo.  It's the "we're not in Kansas anymore" effect.  There always seems to be a couple players who engage with the weirdness in order to move forward, while the rest of the party are either still acclimating, not yet able to interact because they're on edge or taken aback by how strange everything is.

And some people enjoy the silly and bizarre aspects of the megadungeon while others aren't quite sure how to take it.

That's all part of its charm.  If you're going to run The Black Pyramid yourself, that unevenness and uncertainty is a feature, not a bug.  At least, I hope you come to see it that way.  It's a form of initiation, separating the wheat from the chaff.

Was it also weird running a session face-to-face after nearly two years of virtual?  Yes, it was.  There are cues I wasn't used to receiving because all my Roll20 games are text only.  So, I don't know how someone feels about the game we're playing unless they physically type it out, which usually comes at the end when they say they had fun or "awesome game" or "thanks for running", etc.

Anyway, there were a lot of cool and interesting rooms they encountered... the floating colorful shapes entity, under a microscope, the frozen giant peach, the barrels of monkeys, the museum (where a PC stole a disintegrator rifle that didn't have an energy cell, but then returned it for the reward), the kabuki theater, the gonzo statue, democratic republic of Y'gk, etc.  

A lot of stuff they interacted with minimally.  The driving force for some PCs was to acquire treasure, and if there were odd people walking around without any noticeable loot, they were quickly bypassed.  

There's no right or wrong way to explore this megadungeon.  Some groups or individuals will want to really get in there and experience it all.  Others will breeze through the more esoteric rooms in order to accomplish their personal goals.  And the interplay between PCs is interesting, to me at least.  

Combat happened sporadically.  I don't remember them taking significant losses.

There wasn't a big finish or climatic resolution.  If memory serves, the PCs came to a good stopping point just before our game was set to terminate and we ended things there.

All in all, it was a solid group and good game.  The players were enthusiastic about what I had to offer, even if they didn't always make the most of their opportunities.  I thanked them for playing and they thanked me for creating this unusual experience for them.

If I could go back and do one thing differently (I try to come up with some area for improvement each session), it would be giving the PCs a stronger motivation to explore the pyramid's interior than what I provided.  I honestly don't even remember what I told them, something about inconceivable opportunities awaiting them inside or some vague bullshit like that.  Strong motivations help players direct their characters.  I didn't make that mistake the 2nd time running The Black Pyramid, though.  

Oh yeah, I used the dice that remind me the most of Cha'alt, a gorgeous mix of chartreuse and fuchsia.  See this old blog post for a visual.

That's it for now.  Tune in for another blog post tomorrow!

VS

p.s. My Kickstarter campaign for Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows continues.  Please, check it out and back that sucker if you're into eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic gaming awesomeness!

GameHole Con 2021 [part 1]

 

This is going to be a series because there's just too much material for one blog post.  Today's post will focus on my first impressions.

I ran SIX (6) freakin' games over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Today is Sunday and I'm at home with the wife and kids.  I've also broken my experiences into part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.

Before I get to anything else, let's talk about the mask issue.  Dane county is progressive as fuck (unfortunately), so I knew they were going to keep extending the mask mandate.  The mandate lasts for a few weeks and then right before it expires, they renew it.  15 days to slow the spread!

Personally, I strongly believe masks should be optional - especially when you're attending a convention where vaccines are mandatory.  I know that getting a covid-19 vaccine means you can still spread it and transmit the virus, but that's just life now.  We're never getting to zero covid.  Take whatever precautions you want based on individual risk assessment and let other people live their own lives.

Didn't know how religious people would be about masks when I got there, some places in the country, even mandates seem optional.  Well, everyone was wearing them pretty much all the time, except for eating and drinking.  Not wanting to cause a scene or get kicked out, I wore mine, as well.  Even during the majority of Game Mastering for the first two days (more on that tomorrow or the next day).

Putting it succinctly, it sucked.  I had a feeling it would, and I was right.  Not only is it slightly uncomfortable and annoying, it's difficult to communicate when everyone is masked.  I had to ask people to repeat themselves probably 15-20 times per three-hour session.  And I wasn't the only one.

You'd think all the masks would have kept the noise down.  Nope.  Everyone had to speak louder to be heard while wearing their nose/mouth hijab, so there was just as much noise (if not more) than an ordinary convention game room.

Regarding the Dealer's Room, I didn't see anything I had to have... except for dice, but I'll save that for later.  I saw some neat Call of Cthulhu books, rules and adventures, but thumbing through multi-volume sets and 300+ page books just reminded me of the precious time and energy I have leftover for gaming.  Seeing all those words, all those pages that I now consciously know I have no intention of ever reading made my wallet sigh with relief.

A couple decades ago?  Yeah, I probably would have gotten some CoC books, spent the time to read and absorb the content and try to run some sessions or even a campaign.  But that's so far from where I am currently, another lifetime.  At the moment, only the lightest of rules-light and most awesome of ideas packed into a tight place (like the back of a volkswagon) will do.

I remember seeing a poster for Skullcano Island.  That's something I would pick up and run.  Short, sweet, to the point, high intensity, great concept, I already know the mechanics (it's OSR, right?), and go.  But I didn't actually see the adventure being sold anywhere, just noticed the poster with that artwork a couple times.

What else was in the Dealer's Room?  Miniatures, legos (not sure what that was about), computer / virtual / app / tech stuff, and a whole bunch of fancy lifestyle extras that I have no interest in - like custom tables, dice made out of precious stones, leatherwork stuff, foam weapons, LARP costumes, etc.

GameHole Con isn't the place to debut your new RPG, which is understandable.  Both major and indie RPG companies probably wait for GenCon or Origins.

I did take a look at a couple smaller bite-sized gaming books.  One was Mothership because half of everyone into RPGs talks about that online.  The second was a Mork Borg supplement because the other half of everyone into RPGs talks about that online.  

Mothership didn't look too impressive as I flipped through it, but the panic mechanic is probably worth borrowing and tweaking for the right adventure.  The Mork Borg supplement came with some neat looking artwork and cards that could be combined to create an assortment of creatures.  While that really appealed to me (I still fondly remember the 1979 Monster Maker toy), Mork Borg itself turns me off because it's the new hotness and I get the impression the makers are woke SJWs (though I could be wrong about that).

The games I ran over those three days were just as weird and wild as you'd expect.  Maybe not the best sessions I've ever run, but definitely solid and emblematic of my particular eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic style with humor, sleaze, and pop-culture references galore!

That particular vibe isn't to everyone's liking, of course, but that's why there are game descriptions and sign-up sheets.  ;)

Ok, part 2 should be up by tomorrow afternoon.  Thanks for reading!

VS

p.s. I've got another Kickstarter, hoss.  I'm trying to fund book three of the Cha'alt trilogy.  So, check out Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows!

Cha'alt at Game Hole Con

Looks like I'll be going to Game Hole Con, after all.  ;)

As it happens, something opened up at work and I have free time Friday, November 1st.  So, I'll be running Cha'alt from 10am - 2pm.

That four-hour window is all the time I'll have at the convention, so if you want to shake my slimy tentacle, sign something, ask me questions, or just check out a hardcover copy of Cha'alt, you know where to find me.

The event link is here.  It's called "The Black Pyramid of Cha'alt".  Hope to see you there!

VS

p.s. The Cha'alt book release party will be held at Misty Mountain Games on Saturday, November 9th.  Details right here.

Game Hole Con, part II of II

I sought out the Frog God Games booth in the dealer's room so I could catch up with the legendary dwarven barkeep and blogger +Erik Tenkar.  He generously gave me the new Swords & Wizardry Light folder containing lots of goodies.  We caught up on some of the latest OSR gossip and drama, his lovely wife snapped a photo, and then I was off to explore the rest of that cavernous chamber...

While purchasing the 2nd edition of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, I chatted with +Jeff Talanian, as I often do at Gary Con.  Browsing the new rulebook literally took me 10 minutes of turning pages, several pages at a time.  It's that fucking big!  $60 seemed a fair price.

Got some new dice (not that I needed any) because I'm a helpless dice addict just like many gamers.  Hey, it's an affliction with benefits - I get to roll the plastic bones while pretending I'm a fairy princess sorceress (violet-pink kind of a mist within clear dice), a loathsome Cthulhu cultist biding my time until the Great Old Ones return (who's pretending?) on account of them being several awesome shades of green, and a member of Team America:  America... Fuck yeah!  Three sets for $25.

Probably the best deal was the $20 Broodmother Skyfortress which I've been meaning to get for ages.  Will let you know what I think after I dive in, +Jeff Rients.  If you're coming to Gary Con in March, maybe you could sign it for me?

Had dinner with some friends at one of the outdoor food trucks.  It was some BBQ pork Asian dish, pretty good but the pork was so fatty that I could only enjoy half of it.

So, the Alpha Blue game!

Instead of scrambling for players like my 1st session (read about that near-epic fail here), I had a full table of 6 players.  A few knew of me and my RPG stuff, a few did not.

It was a satisfying adventure; although, 6 players is a lot when it comes to the non-combat pillar of roleplaying, namely interaction and exploration.  Everyone started out at a familiar club on the Alpha Blue space station brothel, being regaled by their mentor Spock-bacca.  Each PC got a little bit of "screen time" until the hook and then everyone journeyed to the desert planet of P'oon in order to meet their contact, Obi Wan'k, who told them about a shipment of blue crystal located at the local starport.

I got to break out +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal)'s latest map - the Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport.  It looked great!  I planned on using his Sidewinder desert transport map, as well, but the PCs went in a different direction.

There are so many details and highlights that I don't know where to begin - my favorite might be the player who was laughing so hard while describing his pimp negotiating a drug deal just before blowing them up with a thermal detonator that he felt the need to apologize to everyone.

The session ended a little early because the main boss at the end was struck with 3d6 and the dice came up all sixes.  And then he turned in a little blue token in order to double his dice pool.  So, 5d6 damage turned into 10d6 damage and he rolled a few sixes for damage (which explodes).  So, on the first round, the zith lord died.  What happened to his apprentices?  I was sort of in shock, but thought it made sense for them to basically surrender. This is a random table I came up with for just that situation (which also came up earlier in the Crimson Dragon Slayer scenario earlier in the day).

I find that con games include at least one GM.  I'm talking about gamers who GM most of the time in their home games.  This Alpha Blue session was no exception.  He was outspoken, proactive, playful, and respectful of the other players' "screen time," character motivations, agency, etc.  Since he GMs his own games, he knows what I know.  For those who don't regularly GM, I recommend Play Your Character Like A Fucking Boss.

I'm looking forward to next year.  Those I didn't get a chance to chat with, I'll be at Gary Con X this March!

VS

p.s.  Looking for part I?  Here it is.

Game Hole Con, part I of II

I had one day for this year's Game Hole Con because my wife's parents only had so much time to donate for childcare, and I have a thousand kids.

Signed up to run two games.  The first was Crimson Dragon Slayer exploring The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  The second was Alpha Blue.

Due to lack of players - a Game Hole Con email earlier in the week assured GMs that even if their games weren't full, convention goers will fill in the gaps with same-day registration and such.  Unfortunately, that was not the case for me...

Despite the great location I was given and full tables for my games at all but the very 1st year of Game Hole, I had only one player.  Before I forget, nice job on the curtained sections in Hall A, they did a lot regarding noise reduction!

So, +Tim Virnig and I hustled for a solid 20 minutes.  We separately went out and looked for gamers without anything to do.  I must have approached 30 or so people asking, "Hey, looking for a game?"  I got a half-dozen positive responses ranging from "Maybe" to "Yeah, I'll swing by after I'm done with ______."

I never saw any of those people again.  However, on my way to the bathroom, I ran into one of my fans who I chatted with earlier in the day and earlier in the year at Gary Con.  Running into him again, he was waiting in line for some 5e thing and told me he'd be over when he was done.

10 minutes later, it was the three of us.  5 minutes after that, a friend of Tim's sat down to play, as well.  And then 10 minute from that point, another guy I regularly game with dropped by the table to see how we were doing.  Since he and his friend were between games, they stayed to play until their next event.

So, narrowly avoiding that epic fail, we had a good time with the purple islands.  I asked each player if they wanted to create a character that was more fantasy or scifi since this was equal parts of both. I believe there was a single fantasy option.  The Alpha Blue characters (such as the aliens) were a lot more colorful than the reptilian warrior.

A few catchphrases were in the early development stage by the time we got to the end - which was the surviving natives of the islands (who had been blue crystal miners for the Mi-Go) escaping into a starship and taking off to the nearest planet.  No big boss battle.  Should have had the Purple Putrescence attack their ship at the end - that's my only regret of the day.  Well, that and ordering the BBQ pork asian meal from the food cart just outside the convention center.  The pork was decent, but extremely fatty.

Thus concludes part I.  Here is part II with more pictures!

VS

p.s.  Before the con started, I was inspired to create this little beauty!

Convention season is upon us!

Yes, RPG conventions abound and I can't go to most of them.  5 young kids, a job, and sleep deprived wife will do that to you.

So, that means I'm looking for someone (possibly 2 or 3 someones) to represent Kort'thalis Publishing at several upcoming conventions.

What does this entail?  Mostly running Kort'thalis Publishing games, both systems and adventures, though not necessarily at the same time.  How many games should you run?  I'd say at least 8 scheduled hours, that's two 4-hour games, four 2-hour games, one 6-hour game and one 2-hour game, or some combination meeting the required minimum.

If you'd like to talk Kort'thalis Publishing up while you're hanging out with the gaming community, that would be great, too, but I'm not going to send in someone wearing a wire to prove it.  Although, if you have or contribute to an RPG blog (or enjoy posting on RPG forums), please spill some ink on all the spilt blood that took place.

Not sure what all I've come out with in the last four years?  check out the sidebar on the right or view my DriveThruRPG products here.

The reason I've waited this long is because I got burned my first time around.  Badly burned.  This guy lived not too far away from me in Wisconsin.  He asked me if he could run some of my games.  I enthusiastically replied yes, sent him PDFs, even invited him over to my house for a pizza & movie night with the guys and gave him a couple softcover books to use at the convention.

In the end, he flaked out on the entire convention.  He never showed, never ran any games, didn't really have much of an excuse, and never contacted me afterwards (though, I emailed him).  I had to find this out through the convention organizers at Game Hole Con.

Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes.  Nevertheless, I'm determined not to let that singular shitty experience stop me from finding one or more Kort'thalis Publishing convention representatives.

Here's what I'm offering in 2017 and 2018... your choice of either four Kort'thalis Publishing PDFs or $25 (this assumes you already own a few of my RPG products).  It's not much, but should help pay for convention attendance.  Note that this compensation is per convention.  That means if you represent Kort'thalis Publishing at three conventions, you could make $75.  Paypal automatically changes payment into whatever currency the receiver uses, so this offer is open to international gamers and RPG conventions, as well.

It should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway - any kind of support in the form of GMing advice is just an email away.  If you're reading something and want my opinion on different ways you could run it, I'm always here.

Obviously, know what you're getting into, if there's a chance you'll flake out, don't bother responding to this ad (emergency situations are understandable, just let me know ASAP).  If you're not willing to touch even PG-13 material (let alone "R"), then probably best if you pass this opportunity on by, as well.  Do you enjoy rule-heavy games with lots of crunch, tedious tactical simulations, and long boring parts devoid of sex, violence, and tentacles?  Move along, hoss.  This ain't for you!

Also, be familiar with who you're working with (I'd prefer to think of you as a co-fan, rather than employee).  Just as an example, 9 times out of 10, I'm a peach to be around, as many will attest... but that 1 time I'm like a caged tiger pimp with a bitch-slapping hand.  In other words, it takes a whole lot to make me angry (like the aforementioned douche bag who I'm not going to name).  When I get to that point, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

That's it!  If you know someone who might be interested, please share this blog post with them.

Thanks,

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

p.s.  Like dungeons?  The S'rulyan Vault II kickstarter is happening right now!

Game Hole Con III (part 2 of 2)

Ok, we're back!  This is part one.

Liberation of the Demon Slayer, I've found, makes for a good convention game.  There's an abrupt beginning that gets PCs where they need to go with a definite objective - retrieve the legendary demon-slaying sword Kalthalax or see your beloved homeland ripped apart by demons.

Because it's fairly deadly, the adventure is perfect for a funnel / meat-grinder type situation.  Pre-generated characters was the obvious way to go, but there were two things working against that idea.  One, my wife and children.  Two, players will form more of an attachment to their characters if created there at the table, by their own hands.

Since the adventure has several tables at the beginning for fleshing out backgrounds, we dived right in.  That morning I quickly scribbled out a quadrant character sheet so all four zero-level characters could be seen at a glance.  But, since this was a convention game, I wanted every character to be able to do some cool stuff.  So, 1st level for all!

Next, I told all the players not to worry about any limitations of rule-book or system.  Rather than playing DCC with the serial numbers filed off, we were playing a fantasy RPG that never had serial numbers, one that only lived in our imaginations, unfettered by arbitrary restrictions.
Forget all the fiddly bits about your characters, I told them.  If they wanted to play a half-orc, lizardman, demonic humanoid, dark elf, or whatever, that was just fine.  If they wanted to play some weird class like bard, monk, or anything else, that was cool.  I didn't care if they wanted to pick an old school alignment like Chaos or chaotic neutral.  All that was fuel for their imaginations and wouldn't be a focus for today's session.

Before I forget, one player had played in my The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence game at the last Game Hole Con.  So, it was nice to see a satisfied customer.  Although, I had my doubts about that particular session.

Highlights

There was some quick thinking as PCs got tossed out of bed and marched to the caverns below Clear Meadows without dilly-dallying for supplies.  One character snapped the leg off a wooden table on his way out.  After hearing that, a few players attempted to do something similar.  I let player descriptions and luck rolls determine their success or failure.

The first death came quickly.  A skeletal wizard at the bottom of a pit trap.

A magic ring allowed one of West's characters to summon a demon.  The demon was summoned and the PC asked the demon to transport him to someplace in the dungeon that contained a really powerful weapon.  The demon did as he was told.

West's character suddenly appeared in a white room containing a pedestal, upon which rested an innocent looking orange.  A few seconds later, the orange killed him.  Such is the life of an adventurer - especially since it was a convention game, he had three other characters, every player except West laughed, and West actually wasn't even scheduled to play, but we're friends and I let him in the game as a favor.

Instead of revealing Kalthalax at the very end, after a big boss fight, I decided to offer it up early so someone had the chance to actually use it!  The demon slayer laid upon a black altar, guarded by a gelatinous green slime.  I was expecting a harrowing fight, but the party's thief (one of them) made his roll to tumble past the creature (both times!).

The party wizard (one of them) discovered and pocketed a yellowish green vial of liquid that would become useful later.

Basically, the adventurers fought the Devil.  It was a 30' demon lord just coming out of some gigantic gateway to Hell.  Kalthalax did a lot of damage, but so did a character with a shovel!

A portal opened after defeating the demon lord.  Out stumbled an American family - the Sterlings - from some "other world".

There was also some necrophilia going on.  A couple PCs rolled that for their dark secret.  One woman in particular named Angela Nekro (played by +Julian Bernick) kept staying behind to play with the corpses.  Awesomely gross!  If this had been more than a con game or one-shot, her creepiness could have been explored in depth.

I was using the DCC mercurial magic table for spells cast.  If the percentile dice fell into the middle range (yielding no strange effect), I rolled on the weird magic side-effect table in Purple.  Just as the adventurers were leaving the caverns, a wizard cast a spell and rolled something close to a 50.  So, I rolled on the other table only to discover that his spell had inadvertently brought the Purple Putrescence itself to Clear Meadows.

It loomed in the sky like a slimy purple Rhode Island of mouths, tentacles, and foulness.   The wizard who had the yellowish-green vial of liquid drank it, started to glow and grew more and more unstable until he ran into the thing's tentacle.  The Thing That Rots From The Sky scooped him up and popped him in its mouth - just as he went nuclear - blowing the purple godlike thing back to its home dimension.

Clear Meadows was saved!


The Outer Presence

Unfortunately, I don't have time to go into detail about this game.  Character creation was fun.  I just used the random tables and players made their own connections based on available data and intuition.

Everyone had a good time.  The world was narrowly saved, yet it cost all the characters their lives - with the possible exception of those who rolled the "hard to kill" distinction.  If there's a sequel, I'll allow those PCs to survive the fistful of dynamite shot point-blank in Nafu Aata's inner sanctum.

Thanks again to everyone who played in my games at Game Hole Con III.  I'm looking forward to next year's games!

VS

Game Hole Con III (part 1 of 2)

This blog post is going to be my experience at Game Hole Con III.

I felt the post-convention blues yesterday - everything just seemed kind of lame and I didn't care about the ordinary world much.  Basically, business as usual, except intensified a bit.  However, I'm my usual self today.

Running games at a convention is the equivalent of playing music live.  Everything is faster; smaller details fall by the wayside, and you're probably less inclined to go off-script and improvise because you're not GMing (performing) in front of your usual gaming group in your home, friend's basement, local library or game store.  No, you're doing it live in front of a bunch of people you don't know.  It's a bit nerve wracking and the pressure's on.

Plus the noise and distractions!  Subtlety is usually lost.  Forget about speaking quietly, hushed tones, whispering, or even delicate gestures.  You either speak loud and clear so the whole table can hear or you've lost a couple people along the way.  This goes for movements, too.  Either grand and sweeping or not at all!

Basically, it's like GMing with one hand tied behind your back.  Of course, it's also very exciting and gratifying to deliver a great gaming experience to people you've just met, who trust (or at least hope) that you're going to give them something enjoyable.

If you're +Frank Mentzer or James Ward you get to have a slightly more private room.  Even though this is my third time attending and running games at +Gamehole Con (and I've self-published about 10 well-received RPG books), I'm still fighting at the front lines.  It'll probably be awhile before I can watch the battle (with lake view) from a cushy office back at HQ.

So, all my games ended earlier than planned - because I couldn't help but speed things along.  Except for the impromptu "off the books" session on Friday night, they all ended on a high note, mysterious cliff-hanger, or with the utter destruction of that corner of the world.  Friday night's game came up against the lateness of the hour (about 10:30pm - I'm old and lame) so I cut their dungeon exploration a bit short... plus I had a big day of gaming ahead of me.

I got extremely lucky with a few things.  First, the weekend before the con, I had completely lost my voice.  I can't remember the last time that has happened, but it did.  While I was voiceless, I kept thinking, "Thank Cthulhu this didn't happen a week later."  But then on Monday I still couldn't talk, Tuesday I was extremely horse, Wednesday wasn't much better... I was starting to panic.  My voice was noticeably better on Thursday, and by Friday I was pretty much out of the woods (though still coughing).

Second, each and every session saw at least one friend at the table.  Even though I consider myself a non-paid professional Game Master who doesn't need such comforts, it's still really nice to have a familiar face amongst all the strange ones.  So, that was really cool and I appreciate having +Tim Virnig, +Brandon Watkins, +Jacob Nelson, +Forrest Aguirre, and West there.  Little did I know that a few others knew of me, but I'm terrible with names and so few people have their actual selves as avatars.

Highlights

I'm not going to do a detailed session report for each and every game.  Just certain details that stood out or illustrate a particular point.

I ran my one-page zine, "The Sanctuary of the Scarlet Sorcerer", on Friday night; Liberation of the Demon Slayer and The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence on Saturday (back to back); along with The Outer Presence on Sunday.  By the end, I was ready to be done.  Although, by Monday night I was wishing I had another at GMing sometime mid-week.

I set up Liberation and Purple to be run with Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Now, I do love that system and the whole DCC vibe.  But when I've run it in the past, I hack it or dumb it down or Basic-D&D-it into oblivion... only keeping the mercurial magic and a few other bells and whistles, while drastically altering the rest.

Recently, all the games I've been running this summer and early fall have been based on a d6 dicepool system.  I suddenly found myself looking awkwardly at the d20 and thinking... I'm not ready to go back.  Luckily, I had been turning over my d6 dicepool ideas over and over in my mind.  Trying to come up with something that's even lighter, easier, and noob/one-shot/convention friendly than Crimson Dragon Slayer.

Just before Friday night's game, I came up with something workable and tried it out then and there.  It worked really well and use that for every session, except for Outer Presence.  I can attest that no player complained, balked, or criticized the core game mechanic I used throughout the convention.  That right there was a great opportunity to playtest the system.

Just as Purple was getting underway, +Doug Kovacs sat down and watched for a few minutes.  He even jokingly said that he was there to make sure I was "running the game right".  Some nervous laughter followed along with my admission that the game was going to be unorthodox, but still adhering to the Heavy Metal aesthetic from which practically all over-the-top, science-fantasy exploitation flows.

I dressed up!  Weeks before the convention, I bought a renaissance / LARP / pirate / Cosplay shirt (black) from ebay.  I wore that, the black velvet cloak I've had since college, a gothic halloween medallion, the fanciest black jeans I own (and was married in), and my black dress shoes.  It's exactly the type of thing I would wear to a Satanic ritual.  So, that felt appropriately inappropriate (which is right where I like to be).

Also, a couple months ago I decided to grow out my "wizard beard".  So, I probably looked like an extra from some Game of Thrones knockoff.  The facial hair still in phase 1, but just wait until Game Hole Con IV.  By then, my beard shall have taken over half the known realm!

I also brought in a lot of props.  Some fantasy calendars that had big, colorful pictures that I could show the entire table.  And a realistic foam sword (my wife: you paid how much for a fake sword?!?), plus a bunch of other illustrations, Terminator mask, glow stick, etc.

Taking the temperature of the room is important for a GM.  More so in a convention setting.  One table contained a jokester - one of those guys who has everyone laughing, like, every 10 or 15 minutes for the entire session.  He was seriously hilarious.  Now, it would have been a mistake for me to set myself up as his opposition, trying to "play it straight" and keep things serious.  So, I took his lead and upped the gonzo, humor, running jokes.

For instance, a couple people (including the jokester) recognized the pre-generated character name Xeljanz from the rheumatoid arthritis commercials.  That ad came on TV not too long ago when I was scribbling notes down for the convention PCs and seemed the perfect name for a dark elf or half-demon character.  Well, Xeljanz became a lighting rod for comedy.  So, too, the jeweled, egotistical sword named Zirkik.  Throughout the session, we kept calling him Zurich, Xerox, Zeke, Zircon, etc.

Also, plenty of premium Nyborg (space cocaine) was lying around the violet-black sand surrounding the islands.  I gave everyone a bonus to attack if their characters were coked out of their minds.  GMing at a convention is all about adapting to expectations, desires, and game table "texture" - those unexpected events that create myriad ripples and wrinkles in the pattern.

Rule #37:  It should be easier to die in a convention game, but also easier to be resurrected.

Purple had the weirdest ending.  I kind of painted myself into a corner, but it was super-cool.  Like my choices were silently being stolen away by Salvatore Dali.  So, I didn't mind and just went with it.  The party hid from the Purple Putrescence overhead.  Normally, a black pylon is the safest place to hide when The Thing That Rots From The Sky comes around.  But one of the players asked an innocent question to no one in particular: "Do you think we're safe in here?"  I took it upon myself to roll my 33% rule.  If the percentile dice came 01 to 33, they would not be safe at all.  The dice came up 27 or something.  So, one of those gargantuan, veined, purple tentacles wrapped itself around the pylon and uprooted the thing.

The adventurers did the only logical thing - experiment with the colored crystals until a portal opened.  They did, it did, and they escaped... to another universe that was far more Lovecraftian than even the one tenanted by the purple islands.  They had heard about a dream vision or prophecy of a man in black who would destroy the world.  The PCs thought they had met him earlier but were unsure, now there was this other dude cloaked in black and surrounded by glistening flesh full of eyes, tentacles, mouths, and leering mutant faces.

I knew I couldn't top that, so ended it right there.  Fade to black...

Liberation and Outer Presence went more as expected... but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow or the next day.

If you have a question, comment, or anything else.  Please leave a comment below!

VS

p.s.  Special thanks to +Meredith Spearman for taking notes and then a picture of those notes.  Zirkik loved the attention but couldn't understand how his name got so mangled.  I'm pretty sure he blames Glarg or whatever that half-orcs name was...

p.p.s.  Thanks to +Tim Virnig and +Glenn Holmer for taking pictures.

Old School Artwork - Renaissance Man

Up until the cover for Descent into the Candy Crypts (see sidebar and scroll down a bit), I hadn't painted anything in a year.  The combination of time, energy, and frustration at not being as good as I wanted to be... that's what kept me from my acrylic paints, brushes, and canvas.

I went to Art Fair on the Square on Sunday.  For those not familiar with south-central Wisconsin, it's a hundred or so booths of artists and their art on display all around the capitol.  One thing led to another and that night, continuing on through Monday morning, afternoon, and evening, I finished a work I'm proud to say I painted.  It felt good (my sense of artistic expression - not my back and knees!)

It's a tribute to the AD&D Player's Handbook by David A. Trampier, of course, (with tentacles) on a healthy 36" x 24" wrapped canvas.  Maybe I'll drag it out to Game Hole Con in November if anyone wants to see it in person.  I call it "Demon with Gemstone Eyes".

Thanks for looking,

VS

My Gamehole Con II Experience (part 1)

I was going to blog about my entire GameHole Con experience in one post but that would get too lengthy.  So, here's my Friday night write-up.

For me, gaming conventions are not a vacation, nor are they just another weekend full of roleplaying in my responsibility-free life.  No, I have a growing family.  Therefore, a certain amount of convincing, pleading, horse-trading, and general spousal complaining surrounds any two consecutive days I'm not around the house for extended periods of time.  So, cons are something of a luxury item to me - not in terms of money but time.

Anyways, Friday night I played in a Dungeon Crawl Classics that +Michael Curtis was running.  It was a playtest session for The Third Phantasmagoria (no idea if that's what it'll eventually be called). He did a great job, standing there, towering over his GM screen as he described a plethora of weird dreamlands type stuff.

He had a good selection of pre-gens.  I've run DCC many times but have never played.  As such, my version of it has always been a hybrid between DCC rules-as-written and a stripped down, house-ruled version of basic and advanced D&D.  But that mercurial magic system is one of my favorite things.  So, when the PCs were presented, I jumped at the chance to play a wizard.  Unfortunately, Michael doesn't use the mercurial table for one-shot con games.  Oops.

I played a purple-robed wizard from a noble house named Pompei (yeah, just one "i") whose patron was Sezrekan.  Finally having a chance to play, I remembered the little descriptor selections from Dungeon World a player could choose upon character creation.  Stuff like "wild hair", "haunted eyes", "thin body", etc.  DW only gives a paltry handful of options per class and race, which is a shame because I think every RPG could do with those.  Sure, players can come up with their own but in the heat of the moment, many don't take the time to do it or feel self-conscious (especially in front of strangers) about taking their character's appearance and mannerisms seriously. After all, this is a wargame with bits of roleplaying (So you can actually feel the war cutting into your hands and singing your eyebrows!), not some kind of sword & sorcery drama club.  Personally, I prefer the latter.

Fortunately I got to see how the spell-burn and mighty deed concepts worked.  Very enlightening.  Next time I run DCC, I'll try my best to incorporate them into the game.  The deed die still seems a bit clunky to me.  Why can't every character do out-of-the-ordinary maneuvers and stunts that are still within their class purview?  You know, kind of like VSd6 (also included in The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence) or this.

Michael took the time to describe this slumber world with the possibility for lucid dreaming.  Though I watched a few attempts (which usually went very poorly), I'm sorry I didn't try it.  After all, lucid dreaming - like manipulating shadow in The Chronicles of Amber - is something I'd really, really love to do in real life.  For me, that's kind of what roleplaying is for.

Apparently, Pompei is a bit of an arrogant, anti-authoritarian asshole.  The party encountered this really interesting and strange "creature" consisting of three mirrors (two small, one big) on the wall.  It communicated with me when I investigated it (the rest of the party, aside from the thief) were cowering in a hallway just outside the chamber.  After a few pleasantries, my wizard asked for a boon - some kind of aid, artifact, knowledge, or power.  Pompei was asked what he was willing to give (I think) or else shot down by a condescending statement.  Pompei tried yet again to make some kind of deal.  "Perhaps I might serve you.  Ask me to perform a service."  Now, Pompei wasn't necessarily going to perform anything for this mirror entity, he was more interested in finding out what it wanted.

Well, the creature asked me to cut out one of my eyes.  Fuck that, Pompei thought to himself!  "I attempt to shatter the large mirror with my sword."  I told the GM.  I don't think Michael expected that.  Long story short, I taught that entity a lesson and for my trouble caught a fair amount of broken glass shrapnel.  The GM said there'd be a small chance that one of the shards got me in the eye.  I smiled in agreement that such a delicious irony was worth rolling.  Luckily, it missed and the rest was healed easily.

Cutting to the end, Pompei was sucked down into the floor by some kind of dungeon Sarlacc.  He almost died except for luck and the quick actions of his comrades.  I've never felt more like Boba Fett than that moment.  So, I was actually ok with dying.  I really didn't expect to survive that... but I did.

Finally, we entered a flaming dog skull chamber and there were wraiths and masked humanoids and I didn't think there was a chance in Hell our 1st level party would survive.  Especially since we already lost our thief (expertly played by +Brendan LaSalle).  Somehow, with elven sorcery, flashing blades, and my own spell-burn fueled magic missiles, we survived!

Michael signed a couple books for me and so did +Doug Kovacs who was lurking around our table.  I got to talk to them both (albeit very little) outside the game and it was a real pleasure.

So, that was my Friday night.  Tomorrow, I'll post about Saturday afternoon where I ran an uneven session of the Purple Islands (with map).  Should be interesting if for no other reason than I wasn't thrilled with my performance.


VS