End-of-Summer Caen Update! (Pro-Tips brought to you by Weapons of War- "Pricey? But at least the item's REAL.")

Hey all,

Tighten your shoestrings, grab a bottle of Coke, buy the popcorn, slaughter a cow or two. The Heroes of Maya are coming back to a theater near you!

Yesterday, in the first of several update articles before our first official Chapter 2: The Blight of the Chained Demon (tBotCD) session, I presented my players- Shell, Shane, Kat and Vek with unique powers/feats, which reflected the impact of their actions on Maya's surroundings, society and livestock in general.

Next up (in a week's time, maybe earlier) will be an important background article which fleshes out the huge region northwest of Maya. It's the Greater Desert of Harsh's- Home of Countless Sandstorms and Nothing much except Yellow Sand and Men. Yerp, Castle Greyskill is located somewhere in that mess. Ignore the desert guide at your own peril. (Your passive Insight check says so. Take a 10 on that.)

Pro-Tips for the Return to Caen (Sponsored by WoW: You Can't Put a Price on Real.)

• Chapter 2: tBotCD rewards those who are involved in the action. Seemingly mundane details and items found in my adventures can sometimes be used to unlock bonus quests, powers or items.
• Combining items, trying it out with different NPCs or testing them at particular locations might be useful, just as long as it doesn't singe Aplocal's hair or scroll-freeze the entire port front of Maya.
• Keeeep your eyes peeled, your ears sharp and the party's notes near. You might want to assign someone, or take turns to keep notes, names or maps current and handy. Especially for the larger dungeons.
• The Card Reward Assistance System/s (CRASs) will be implemented by then (read left sidebar for more info), adding on to the common theme of rewarding immersiveness, roleplay, imagination and sometimes sheer luck.

Disclaimer:

Over the past year, our players has matured quickly and can be considered rather seasoned exponents of 4th Ed.

1. As of Chapter 2, I am stating clearly that I will refrain from roleplaying a Carebear giving too many DM prods, e.g. in Chapter 1, regarding the location of a certain Thieves' Guild information that I have distinctly stressed during our sessions.
2. Actions taken in battle will be final and conclusive.
3. Rules 1 and 2 will encourage the party to absorb themselves in the ongoing action and participate more actively, knowing that frequent lapses in concentration will result in them not being to unlock particular quests, not getting the full completion XP bonus, or cause indirect harm to the party.

• I will also appreciate it if the players feel a need to voice out something regarding their character, be it their short-term goals, long term concepts, or particular items and feats that they might desire, do let it out. With the additional knowledge, I can be better positioned to pass out relevant items (maybe not the exact specified one), but at least relevant to you, and for the campaign.
• Even better, try hinting at your goals and concepts during roleplaying in the session, which will help flesh out your character and your relationship with your teammates, resulting in greater satisfaction and motivation while questing in the lands.

As we countdown to Chapter 2: tBotCD, our current forays in the other campaigns (Shell's, Shane's) will definitely help improve our quality of gameplay. And did I mention the evolution of our playing aids? We have definitely come a long way since the flat hand-drawn cardboard figures that I used for the first few sessions of Chapter 1, and doodling the many status effects on paper, and what-not.

-Little Known Fact of the Day: The mobs used by me in the now infamous Swamp Boss battle, which killed both Weilian and Emo, were flat and cardboard.--

Rrrrrgh!

A couple of weeks back, Shane and I went down to Popular and chanced upon multi colored metallic book-rings which makes great temporary status markers. Hook them onto a spear-wielding Yuan-Ti, sling them onto the snout of an ugly Orc or even balance it on top of an angry Beholder. Explore the countless possibilities.

His square colored foam status markers are a hit with the players, especially my personal favourites - the RED 4x4 ONES !!! (We use these markers for more "permanent" status effects e.g. BLOODIED, marked until end of encounter, cleaved into a million bits etc.)

I will end this here for now, as Weapons of War does not pay me enough to stay awake beyond the midnight. Tomorrow, I will consult Aplocal at his quarters and hopefully find a new sponsor in the shape of our semi-retired Arlon Ablehands. I heard that he likes to sponsor up-and-coming heroes and writers alike. The pungent smell of lizard shaman at his shop does not thrill me one bit though.

"Why must Arlon put that grotesque mannequin in there again? And in the pose of a gay gymnast stuck in mid-air doing a jumping-jack?", I must remember to ask him the next time I see him.

See you in the next instalment of the Caen Update.

p/s: Added a Reference Section on left sidebar for easy access to campaign-related posts. Please feedback if links are broken etc.