I Loved the Chaos Monkeys

The chaos monkeys in practice fulfilled all my design goals.   They proved a useful monster for a wizard to summon up as guards for a place they needed guardians.  They were easy to kill, but their back-jumping strangle power made them just dangerous enough to make for a good battle.

Campaign Goals

I'm looking at some long term campaign goals.

The campaign will reach its completion when one of the following happens:

1) Somebody gets control of the Badlands.   Whether it's Portchester, or the Church, or Dengwurians Resurgent, or the Old Ones or Bastardo, or some PC warlords.  If the region is put under a single authority and kept secure, then the campaign would be complete.

2) The Players max out.  If the players all reach maximum level and establish themselves securely, then the campaign should be complete.

3)  A major power is displaced:  if Portchester, Orchester, the Caturiges, the Dengwurites, or the Old Ones are securely replaced with a new order of some kind, the campaign would be complete.  (Bastardo, the Elf or Dwarf lords, the Savages or the Therks aren't so important, so they wouldn't mark the end of campaign).


Note on "Leaving the Map":  while having a short adventure or two in the wider world is unobjectionable,  I'm thinking that if a PC or PC's leave the entire province of Gatavia on a permanent basis, that's sort of just retiring the character.  The campaign is in Gatavia, and if you leave Gatavia, you're leaving the campaign.

The Tavern

I've put together a first-floor tile for a tavern.
One thing that's troubling me, however, should I draw in the tables, or just use some of our wooden blocks or spools when we need them?

Urban Tiles

The 25 or so  tiles I'm using for dungeons seem adequate for a large variety of dungeon levels.  I could probably use a few more "cave" tiles, beyond the dozen I have.  

I do need some urban tiles, however.   Since a townhouse in ACKS is said to be 30 foot square, I could actually fit four such houses on a single 12"x12" tile.   I imagine I'd need 6 such tiles at the very least to model a street scene.    I'm afraid that I might need a metric crapload of them to really do a city right.   I'll have to start poking around a bit.

I also need to do a standard ACKS keep, which is 60x60 feet--or exactly 1 tile.  I need to see how many floors I'd need. 

Current Putterings

If the "Skull Collectors" do indeed follow the Brother Punchy Plan, that gives me some clear direction in my preparations.  I actually need to re-stock level 1 of Skull Mountain.  I don't know when the last time it was I actually had to (or got to) restock a level.   I just need to figure how Presfen will react to the loss of his brigand allies, and what he might do (and what he is able to do) to make his base secure, with them being gone. 

Also, I do have the area around Skull Mountain sketched out, but I need some more details for various locations.  There are some places of moderate safety and possible interest that would be worth scouting out.  I just need to make some up-close ground tiles and the like.

Good stuff all around.

Stuffed with Treasure, Crammed with Death

Skull Mountain is all ready for your first visit

(guest-artist rendering)

Skull Mountain

I drew up the cross-section for this "Skull Mountain" dungeon and got to fiddling with it.  I got the first level done, but realized that you could very easily find yourself in level 1a, pretty quickly, so I plunged on and got that done.

Then, the more and more I thought about it, the more and more I realized that with a few overly aggressive moves and a little bad luck, you guys could end up in level 2, 3a, 3b, 4 or even 5b very, very quickly.  Yikes.

Right now, I've just finished up to level 4.  So, I might even finish the whole thing by Sunday (that's level 5a and 5b, and level 6 to go, and I probably should finish the nearby tower too, in case you decide for some reason that the inhabitants must die).

One thing I'm kind of feeling stupid about, I've been writing "Shoot" when I meant "Chute" all over the place.

Recharging Wands

The ACKS book doesn't really say much about recharging wands, but I've always thought that recharging wands should be something you can do.

I thought that perhaps we could say that anyone who can make a scroll, can recharge a wand, and that a charge in a wand would cost the same amount of time and money that making an equivalent level scroll would cost.

I also think that a Magical Research roll would be necessary to determine how many charges the wand could handle and how many it currently has.

Identifying Magic Items

Potions:  Alchemy proficiency identifies one on 11+;  Gnomish "nose for potions" also identifies one on an 11+.

Scrolls:  all you have to do is read the language they were written in

Common Items:  ordinary features of a magic item (it's a ring of protection +1, or a shield +2) can be identified using Magical Engineering Proficiency.

Unique or Historical Items:  the Lore Mastery Proficiency or the Bard's equivalent power will identify unique powers of an item of historical note on an 18+, with a +1 bonus per level.

All Items, All Powers:  can be identified by magical research.  This takes 2 weeks and 1000gp.  The researcher must also make a magical research roll, based on level (see p117 core book).

Example:  The Golden Shield of Mad Gerald is a +2 shield that also has the power to reflect spell attacks from demons.   A Magical Research roll would reveal all those facts.   A magical engineering roll would only reveal that it acts as a +2 shield.   A Lore Mastery roll would reveal the name of the object and the demon-reflection power, but not the +2 effect.

Playing at the World

I've just started reading Playing at the World by Jon Peterson.  It's really a history of the invention of Dungeons and Dragons, and an investigation of the sources of various elements of the original version of the game.  So far, I've been reading about the creation of the wargaming hobby and its fandom in the 1960's.   It's really quite fascinating.   I'm surprised at how important Gary Gygax was before the creation of D&D.  He was a war-gaming machine and was a social-network machine.   He did so much to link people together and get a real connection to come together from disparate people,

It is also fascinating how important the "Opponents Wanted" column in Avalon Hill's "General" magazine was in accidentally bring clubs into existence, and how jerks advertising fake organizations led to the creation of a real organization that led eventually to Gary running the first GenCon.  

It's a very interesting book so far (although a little pricey for a paper-bound book, big though it is.)   I'd be willing to loan it out to anyone who wants to read it whenever I'm finished with it, although that might be a little while, since I kind of want to read it at a slow pace and enjoy it a while.

Soapworks Dungeon

Soon I'll introduce you properly to SKULL MOUNTAIN, which is a pre-planned multi-level dungeon, designed for multiple visits for multiple reasons.  However, we started this week looking into the dungeon under the abandoned Ardean soap works, just outside of the city of Portchester.

I noted down the map tiles you guys saw last time and have decided to make the Soap Works into a semi-official Smirkenburg dungeon.   At any time, you can return to the Soap Works, and poke around to your heart's content.  It won't provide any campaign changing magic treasures or clues to mysteries, or complicated plots or even make much sense.  Instead as you progress tile to tile, I'll just randomly add tiles and use some random charts to determine when there's a trap or treasure.  The monsters and treasures will come from the old 'Monster and Treasure Assortment'. 

So, if any session you just want to do a quick dungeon dive to get some quick cash, and don't have any particular other agenda, you can always just jump into the Soap Works.   If your PC's are busy with magic research or healing themselves, you could even send henchmen on a hench-mission into the Soap Works.   If you don't like the main adventure, you can quit and go to the Soap Works.

Advice for Wizards

The wizards last game were doing a lot of nothing, and that's tempting for a low level wizard to do.   My suggestion is that Robert and Marlon have a good long look at the Gear Book.  There are a lot of interesting tools, alchemical substances and so forth that might give the mages some more options.  Oil of course, can be used for fiery death and to make things slippery, there are all kinds of noise-makers that might have their uses.  Look around and come up with schemes and plans.  Wizards are the smart ones, act like it.

The Main Guy

Guy #2:  I was looking to try a thief, and he had the makings of an excellent one.

I dropped his wisdom from 16 to 10 and increased his Dexterity from 15 to 18.  He has a good CON and a good Charisma, both excellent features.

Proficiencies are pretty important.  Because he has a low INT (8) he can't read, so I spend his general proficiency on Language so he can read and write.   More importantly, since thieves have sucky hit points, I want him to be useful with missiles, so I choose Precise Shooting, letting him shoot into melee.

So, meet The Masked Archer of the Apocalypse
human, thief, neutral, level 3 (thieves go up fast, 3000xp)
St 9 (+0), Int 8 (-1), Wis 10 (0), Dex 18 (+3), Con 15 (+1), Cha 13 (+1)

Proficiencies: Language (literacy), Precise Shooting
Thief Skills: Open Locks 16, Traps 16, Pick Pocket 15, Move Silently 15, Climb Walls 5, Hide in Shadows 17, Hear Noise 12.  Backstab x2

Saves: paralysis 12, Poison 12, Blast 15, Wand 13, Spell 14

Missile Attack:  6+,  Melee Attack  9+

AC:  5  (leather 2, +3 dex)
Hit points: 13

Gear: leather armor, long bow, large quiver with 40 arrows, sword, dagger
baldric, sword scabbard, dagger scabbard, belt pouch
Back pack, thieves' tools, 6 torches, tinderbox
tunic and pants (good), mask, hooded cloak, high leather boots
1 dose of white lotus

Encumbrance:   4 stone 2 items:  not encumbered:  move 120'/40'

3 gold and 5sp remaining

My Turn for a character

I realized that I should roll characters too, since there are some potential Judges on deck.   So, here it goes:

The Rolls:

Guy 1:  St 15, In 7, Wi 10, De 12, Co 5, Cha 14

Guy 2: St 9, In 8, Wi 16, Dex 15, Co 15, Cha 13

Guy 3: St 12,  In 12, Wi 12, De 9, Con 14, Cha 7

Guy 4:  St 8, In 12, Wi 5, De 13, Co 13, Ch 6

Guy 5:  St 10, In 4, Wi 8,  De 10, Con 10, Cha 12

The Dumped:

Guy 1:  since he has a Con of 5 (-2 hit points per level) he's toast, meet Brutus the Lackey for the henchman deck

Guy 5:  since he has no score at all above 12, and no way to increase any of them, he's toast too.  Meet Bluto the Lackey for the henchman deck.

The Back-ups

Guy 3: looks like an adequate fighter, mage or cleric.  Especially with the CON of 14, definitely a keeper.   I drop his Wisdom down to 10 and raise his Strength to 13 and make him a Gnome Titan.  He gets +1 to hit/damage, +1 hit point per level and 5% exp bonus, and only -1 to reactions and henchman total.  Definitely playable.   Meet Beornwin the Stomper.

Beornwin the Stomper, Gnome Titan,  neutral
St 13 (+1),  Int 12 (0), Wis 10 (0), Dex 9 (0), Con 14 (+1), Cha 6 (-1)
Class Powers: nose for potions, infravision, groin stomp, fight as team
Proficiencies:  Combat Trickery (knockdown), Endurance

Guy 4:  Drop his Con from 15 to 13 (no change in bonus), raise his Int from 12 to 13 and make him a Mage.  Charisma and Wisdom are both weak, and Intelligence is only just passable for a mage, but having Dex and Con at 13 should help him survive combat a bit better.  Meet Gaius the Unexpected.

Gaius the Unexpected, human, mage, neutral
St 8 (-1), Int 13 (+1), Wis 5 (-2), Dex 13 (+1), Con 13 (+1), Cha 6 (-1)
Spell Repertoire (level 1): Magic Missile, Silent Step
Proficiencies:  Collegiate Wizardry (Mulfando), Alchemy, Magical Engineering

The main guy: see next post.

First Session of ACKS, thoughts

     Despite the fact that you have to roll 3d6 in order, the character generation gives some entirely acceptable results.  Roll 5 guys, chuck 2, and keep 2 as backups gets rid of the total losers.
      The "reduce on score by 2, and raise a Prime by 1" system makes it really easy to get a fighter with an 18 strength or a thief with an 18 Dex.   I don't know about the thieves, but fighters with 18 strength really kick ass.   Sigbrand and Murderface really tore through the goblins and kobolds like tissue paper.
      The large number of class choices, and the Proficiencies slow down character generation.   I imagine later in the process when we're all more familiar with everything, it will get faster, but 5 people making 5 characters at once made for slow moving.
     Because we spent less time on play testing than I'd planned, it was nice we got a whole short adventure in.   The old Basic D&D Monster/Treasure assortments worked just fine for ACKS with little modification.
     I wish I had dumped the Lizardmen, I just don't see how they're going to be any good in actual play.  Everyone in town is just going to scream "Ahh, Lizardmen!"