9 on a d20 - Cool, No Cigar, Glitchy.

-Shadowrun Campaign December Update-

2010-12-09T19:51:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

My Shadowrun Campaign was originally slated to start this weekend— but I have my hands full with my Sports Science Exams next week, watching Fighting Spiders 2 © episodes, and creating/tuning up my random Magic: The Gathering decks (Not in any particular Order of Importance.)

So I have have discussed the alternatives with the guys; with Alvin having discovered a new girlfriend, Shell having driving lessons, and with me and Shane not finding a one-on-one brotherly Shadowrun solo session too hot; 26th December seems to be the earliest, and best date for the four of us to start the ~~heads~~ ball rolling.

It will be on a Sunday night 1115pm - 230am, and I look forward to seeing you guys then.

We will be totally refreshed, after a holiday season, and ready to rumble into the New Year!

Cya on the flip side, chummers.

Over and out.

Singapore City-State: The Early Papper Years ("View from Above", Penxil Publishing, 2057)

2010-11-11T14:31:00.035+08:00

(Disclaimer: This is purely a fictional storyline generated for my own Shadowrun Campaign and has no bearing on my real-life personal/political views whatsoever.)

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Chapter 19: The Early Papper Years (Pre-2020)

Year 2035 was supposed to herald a new beginning for the country's perennial ruling party– the PAP.

Singapore turned independent in 1965, and Mr Lee Kwun Yew (the main catalyst for the independent movement and co-leader of the PAP) became the first Prime Minister of the fledgling country. He was visionary, and pragmatic at the same time; ushering Singapore into an era of wealth and unhindered progress.

In the 1980s, The bustling trading port soon turned into a leading world financial center. In 1990, Mr Lee stepped down as the Prime Minister and his deputy Mr Goh Cheok Tong took over the reins. Mr Lee became the Senior Minister and chief advisor to Mr Goh, but still wielded much political clout and influence, so much so that the general public wondered if Mr Goh was merely a political stand-in for the much more experienced Senior Minister.

Additionally, Prime Minister Goh had to weather several crisis (crises) during his tenure, and his handling of them was mediocre at best. He lacked natural charisma, unlike Senior Minister Lee. This became evident when PM Goh shouldered much of the blame for the public hospitals' slow decision-making throughout the SARS outbreak in early 2004 (the Government's clumsy multi-tiered command framework and rigid laws being the actual reasons). Many Singaporeans died as a result of this, and people were openly frustrated with the Prime Minister and the existing command system.

By then, the population had already heard of sweeping reforms (after the 1st and 2nd "Shiawase Decision" were passed in the United States) throughout the world where numerous Corporations—Seretech Corporation (New York), Shiawase Inc. (U.S.), Ares Macrotechnology (U.S), Aztechnology Corp. (Aztlan), and Renraku Computer Systems (Japan Imperial State) have wrested control and gained extraterritoriality status from their federal courts; making them near-equals to Central Governments in terms of law-making and security on their own private turfs (commonly known as "Sprawls").

They would not need to answer to the Government for their actions and can even maintain their own private security forces. This in turn allows the Corporations to go about their business without interference and generate more commercial revenue purely based on market forces. They will also be able to answer directly for their own policies and decisions, thus freeing the Central Government from the extra burden of having to oversee them.

With less responsibilities, the Central Government then has more time and resources to work on its people and their welfare, which was supposed to be their goal in the first place. Financial-wise, the Corporations will cough up a token sum annually to the Government as goodwill for the land that the Corporation sits on.

Singaporeans made their feelings known the year after, when Mr Lee Sien Loong, eldest son of the Senior Minister, was elected to become the 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore after the 2004 Elections. He retained several traits of his father; his bold decision-making to introduce F1 Night Racing and open world-class Integrated Resorts (w/ the casinos inside being the main attraction) improved tourism and boosted the economy greatly.

In 2008, due to increasing pressure from the public, PM Lee passed the Priva-Heal law whereby the three (read: all) major health-care subsidiaries in Singapore were taken over by multi-national Corporations and given total freedom in terms of decision making and policies within their territory. They still could not keep a private security force, but by doing this, the country had already taken a big step in supporting the fast-growing international trend of granting extraterritoriality to certain entities.

With the influx of the bigger Corporations, Singapore soon became a cosmopolitan world city, vibrant in business and the arts. At this point (2010-), PM Lee Sien Loong's two sons, Lee Hong'e and Lee Hao'e had become capable young men. In the mold of their father and grandfather– they excelled at studying and were top scholars, and showed leadership as army officers during National Service.

However, the elder son Hong'e displayed signs of rebelliousness and fierce independence in a particular incident during his officer stint, which involved a complaint made against a fellow officer which was unfortunately leaked to the media. The accused was court martial-ed and fined for his actions. For his part, Hongyi was given a stern reprimand for bypassing proper channels in his complaint, and causing the media leak which painted the Singapore Defense Forces (SDF) in a negative light.

On December 24th 2011, Singapore felt the "Awakening". A large percentage of children were born "deformed". They were later given official racial types in their SINs— Dwarves and Elves. This Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE) affected as much as 40% of total births that year, and caused untold chaos with expectant mothers committing mass suicide in order to avoid this "disease".

This world-wide phenomenon— which included violent "mana storms" in Australia killing thousands in the Outback; Europe experienced a toxic flood so severe that the North Sea pushed in the mouth of the Elbe River, destroying many dikes and dams; claiming countless victims. A strange orange glow enveloped the whole of North America for several days preventing projectile action and erased traces. Stone circles and standing stones erupted along known ley lines in Britain, and the appearance of the great dragon Ryumyo over Mount Fuji in Japan Imperial State; all these sparked many (especially the racist cults e.g. Humanis Policlub, Sons of Sauron) to conclude that the world is indeed coming to an end.

A historic interview was given by the great dragon Dunkelzahn at Cherry Creek Lake in Denver on January 27, 2012 explaining the "Awakening". He claimed that Magic has returned to the world, and that the new races were simply evolutionary manifestations of DNA; not freaks of nature. The pointy-eared Elves (w/ the fine facial features) were magically inclined, while the stout Dwarves were physically hardy and resistant to many harmful effects (toxins and pathogens etc). He also warned that this event was just the first of many more changes to come; and that change was inevitable as the era of the Sixth World is upon us.

Racial riots ensued, and local abortion rates hit sky-high proportions as pregnant mothers refused to birth the Demi (street slang for non-humans in Singapore). PM Lee decided on another radical solution. He offered Aztechnology Corp.— one of the Big Ten AAA Mega-Corporation hailing from Aztlan (Central America), acres of free land in the west (Ju'Rong Town, Tuas Industrials). They were also promised extraterritoriality— as that was one of the prereqs required to attract a Big Ten Megacorp.

Thus, in January 2013, Singapore became an official City-State; the PAP dissolving Ju'Rong Town,Tuas Industrials and surrounding pockets of land, making way for Aztechnology Corp. to build the first official Sprawl on the island.

The Western Aztechnology Sprawl totaled 54 acres of industrialized land, has two large-scale hospitals, a personal security force (army) of 4000 combat-trained, submachine gun-toting personnel; 16 missile turret units defending the sprawl's perimeter, an undisclosed number of Hyperhawk fighter jets to man the skies, and a handful of hybrid Aztech warships patrolling the waters off the west coast. The Mega-Corporation also employed over 270,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life— making it the single biggest employer in Singapore City-State, and offered special counselling for families who had Demi offspring; shielding them from the unforgiving public within their sturdy metalline walls.

In the span of a few years, Aztechnology Corp. had greatly lessened the fear and hate of meta-humanity in Singapore, and the rest of the island regained commercial viability by late 2017, w/ the Mega-Corporation leading the way in terms of productivity and net profits. PM Lee won the next two General Elections by landslide margins; the contented public now firmly on his side.

This era of stability did not last, as the following decade (2020-2030) was to prove Dunkelzahn's words right.

(To be continued)
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The Winter of '64. ("Singapore Slinged" Sneak Preview)

2010-11-04T04:10:00.020+08:00

Your eyes are glued onto what is happening on Holo-Hub Channel 14, and so are the hundreds standing with you in Hookers' Pub at Lower Desker Road. The stink of sweat permeates through the suffocating stale air, but no one seems to care.

There has to be a reason why the taps ran dry and the electicity shut down two days ago. Shortages like these were frequent ever since the Workers' Party came into power in 2062, but never have these been island-wide.

Rumors of surgical nuclear EMP strikes from the doomsday terrorist cult Winternight that were said to have crippled vital Matrix resources in North America/Europe have been going rampant for the past few days, wreaking havoc on the Sporean Stock Exchange and putting paid to the highly-anticipated launch of the Novatech IPO.

You snap out of your random thoughts, as blurry images of massive riots near City Hall protestingthe virtual stoppage of the economy is being broadcasted overhead. The newscast proceeds to show images of crazed Demi (Orks and Trolls) smashing windows, fences and grabbing whatever foodstuff/furniture/items of value in the affluent residential districts of B.T.9 (formerly known as Bukit Timah) and the Tri-Zonal East Enclave (Tampines-1, Pasir Ris, Little Simei).

Yes, this is the real thing, only worse.

The whole f'kin island is in full-loot mode.

Suddenly, the newscast come to an abrupt end. In its place, a familiar figure appears on the bluish holo-screen. A small Chinesehumanoid in a tight white skin-suit steadies himself. He gingerly presses his right palm onto the screen in a forced effort to engage the public. A meek voice heavy with a Canton accent fills the pub.

"Hail all Sporeans, I am your interim PrimeAdministrator — Mr Robert See Seng Juan. I do not have much time to speak, as thisemergency power source, kindly sponsored by AdmerEALty Industries™, *crackle*will *crackle* last only a few minutes…

In this time of darkness, (ahem) I have to saythat we will have to be patient as we ourselves do not know the source of this*crackle* madness. Rest assured that we are not the only ones. I have receivedreliable information that this phenomenon is in fact happening -worldwide-.

I say, and I repeat, that all existing electronic data have been wiped out in our fair city; and past government records erased from ourarchives. The recovery process will be long, but it is *crackle* underway.

For now, we have set up an Emergency Identification Process(EiP) whereby all Sporeans will have a week's grace to walk or hovcycle to CityHall before curfew hours; to re-register *crackle* themselves as a legitimate citizen and show us proofof your assets if available. Failure to do so will deem you as an alien*crackle* and subject to *crackle* the city’s laws without question.

I conclude this announcement with my assurancethat *crackle* ..."

Saturday Afternoon at the Meadows = The new Black?

2010-10-26T11:39:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

"The Dryad lay dead at your feet. She dropped two rare Items of Power, which will contribute to an easier time cleansing Caen of the Blighted (Unclean). You have also gained enough XP to attain Paragon Tier for the first time in this campaign."

*clears throat*

The Dungeon Master continues,

"Thank you for playing the final installment of this chapter and possibly DnD 4E."

"What?!"

*cue "End of the World" music*

The above scenario was being played out RL in a specific part of Eastern Singapore. It all seemed rather sad and teary. But I dare say that apart from missing the characters being played out by my group, and the continuity of the plot, all this is happening for the better.

Why, you'd ask? As great gamers and resourceful guys to boot, Alvin, Shell, Shane and I ( sans Kat as he is taking an extended break from tabletop gaming) have decided on a new time-slot for our fortnightly gaming sessions at my East Meadows condominium.

"12pm - 3pm on Alternate Saturday Afternoons."

"So black, so black, it's a crazy situation.." (East Meadows in the afternoon, clubhouse on the left.)

This gives players who have to work on Sundays much better rest, allows us to use the fully air-conditioned clubhouse for our sessions, and gives us leeway to recruit interested players who could not make the "midnight shift" timing previously. And not to mention, our subscription to DnD Insider is ending soon, so we will not have convenient access to the Character Builder and updated Powers/Errata anymore. And you know how much the 4E game depends on the Character Builder to do up our heroes without having to sift through ten thousand books and missing out important details due to sheer fatigue.

So it is with a heavy heart that we leave the 4E World, but I am secretly happy that the World of Fracas and Ca-en will live on; as I can easily adapt it to any other traditional RPG game system that we would be playing in the future.

And I emphasize once again, "Never say never. The Heroes might rise again in another form and revisit Ca-en one day." Also, we can always go back to playing Castle Ravenloft and Caverns of Ashalala (something) if we ever wanted a "Powercard" kick in the butt once in a while.

The four of us are now deciding on a change of environment in our games, with Shadowrun: 4E being one of the forerunners in the candidate race. I have roped in Palladium Games "TMNT and Other Oddities" and "Runequest: 2nd Edition" as our other choices.

This Saturday, we will be meeting up and discussing on the possibilities during the lunch hour and acclimatising
ourselves to the spanking new time-slot. Who would have thought this insane times-slot was feasible.

Imagine. Lunch time on a Saturday, and with the gamers in our group not working on most Saturdays in the first place.

Amazing how we came to this option, huh?

So I now proudly announce the arrival of the new Black. Otherwise called, "Saturday Afternoons at the Meadows".

C'yall on the flip side.

Latest Update (26/10/10): The group have decided on Shadowrun 4E w/ the most current errata (1.8A). The campaign proper should start in mid December, once I get everything sorted out. We will be discussing more about character creation and house-rules during this Saturday's lunch meeting.

"Mr Sandman? Give me a Sandbox game, and preferably with bugs included to preserve old-school authenticity. kkthxbye."

2010-10-21T13:17:00.008+08:00

Hey all,

Let us take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

Ultima Online (1998)

Star Wars Galaxies. (Pre-NGE 2005)

In my opinion, these are two of the greatest "sandbox" games ever made for any platform.

For the uninitiated, a "sandbox game" indicates a gaming genre that is open-ended; like a child at a playground playing with his spade digging sand and doing whatever he chooses and pleases. There is no fixed end point, and no common beginning. Everyone can do things in the game at their own pace, their own time.

Many gamers baulk at this due to the openness of the genre itself, as there is no one surefire way to progress through the game. Most of these games are also skill-based, and do not emphasize on the numerical "Level" of the character to show growth. Thus, there is limited feedback for the inexperienced gamer to know if he is heading in the right direction towards the end-game.

But here is the thing about these sandbox games. There is no hard-and-fast endgame, just like in real life. Actually, a Singaporean chasing the 5Cs will beg to differ but that is a whole 'nother story. In UO, one could aspire to be a great Dragon Slayer or maybe a world-famous Fishcake Seller.

How you go about doing that will depend on the relevant skills that you have trained hard for e.g. cooking for hours in-game to hone your Culinary skills, or fighting monstrous beasts to train up the Sword skill for the ultimate battle with the fire-breathing winged one. The contacts that you make in the game are also paramount, as they can provide you with resources that you might need to achieve your immediate goals.

Fast forward to 2010. I see games now leaning heavily on FPS engines, and being more action-oriented and frenetic in pace. The majority of the public now want their games and fun like that, and being a business, the makers and developers have to cater to their crowd.

Once in while though, a franchise comes along wanting to be different. A rich brat entering a public school for the first time with his head held high; friendless but yet oblivious to it, as he is true to himself. He is different and he wants the world (school) to know.

I own the normal version on the left. Ah Jin own the Overpriced one in the middle.

That rich kid is Square Enix (Square)- makers of Final Fantasy XiV Online, and he is bringing the sand-spade to class. They have recently launched the game to much chagrin from their players. Square does not want to compete with the juggernaut which is World of Warcraft, so their choice was to go old-school sandbox style and get a niche market, supported by their impressive IP (The Final Fantasy Series) and their legions of fanboys. Square knows that the players will QQ about the characters' inability to jump, the absence of an auction house, the lack of meaningful quests, the lack of "direction" and pace, and an over-dependence on crafting and the player community in general.

But you know what? The same people who bitch now will still play the game. It is Final Fantasy after all, and not Crapa-Crapa Online. The brand itself is too big for these teething problems. "The MMO is new so give it time" excuse is also valid for now. And let's not forget the beautiful graphics of the ~~gers~~ races in the world of Eorzea- namely the Catgirl race and the Elezen (Human) race.

I personally pre-ordered three copies of the game on the 27th, but it has not yet shipped from the United States as they said the official launch date is the 30th. My friend Ah Jin bought the standard copy from Sim Lim on the 29th, installed it on the same day and is playing on the Besaid server. I thought that pre-ordering meant that I get the game on time at the earliest date that it could be played. Guess I was wrong there.

This inactivity did mean that I get to watch numerous videos of gameplay from Youtube and read about the latest news and happenings in the FF forums. From my gathering, there is an emphasis on vertical and horizontal character growth (Levels and Skills) and the freedom to mix and match skills and abilities due to its unique Armoury System. Gameplay looks slow like hell; almost chess-game like with a noticeable pause in between every hit. The world looks BEAUTIFUL though, and I can imagine what the game would look like on a top-end rig. And sadly on the other end of the spectrum, I can see myself playing the game on my computer.

*pauses*

Hmm. Bummer.

Okay, I will update more on my adventures in Eorzea when I get there eventually.

C'yall on the flip side.

Now, Quarterly DnD Sessions? (Chapter Two's Finale)

2010-09-30T16:58:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

My Ca-en DnD session is slated to return in mid-October, after a lengthy break of close to three months.

But I have been thinking seriously, and came to a decision recently.

Lack of players due to commitments I do understand, but recently, there has been cases of players just missing due to sporadic interest. Maybe my campaign is not gripping enough, the 4th Ed system too clunky, or maybe some have just got bored of the tabletop RPG genre- which is basically slower than the current computer/MMO games; which promotes instant gratification, impatience and "Rewards NOW NOW!".

Whatever the reason, I will end Chapter 2 in the next session. For my next adventure, I will further tinker with the combat system to quicken the pace of the game, and yet try to preserve the integrity and essence of the RPG itself.

Our gaming circle needs new blood, and interested individuals who love gaming, the joy of role-playing and working/succeeding as a group. The present time-slot that we play at now is deterring many potential new-comers from joining us as we are masquerading as real-life vampires; only playing after midnight and slogging til four/five in the morning. This is something I will look into also, maybe making our gaming session earlier, 10 pm perhaps, and ending at 2ish am?

I will take my time to ponder over the points after the final session next month. I love creating adventures, but I do want players to come over for the joy of the game itself, wanting to explore, kill and solve puzzles; not just as a commitment, which kills the joy of and meaning of the word "game" itself.

Gaming has never been this hard, unless it is not fun. I will reflect on this and hopefully come out better and stronger.

Comments can be added in the new Chatbox on the left. <------

C'yall on the flip side.

"The Dinner Invitation That you Have Been -Dying- For." (My Thoughts on Castle Ravenloft)

2010-09-13T03:08:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

My present DnD group is still currently in the midst of our extended break, with Alvin set to return to the sunny island of Singapore in a week or two.I have been busy doing other things in life, e.g. Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDo), and revising on my drum skills during our weekly jamming sessions on the now-vacant Saturday night slots.

Yesterday, me and my brother Shane travelled to the game shop at Bugis Junction before our tennis session at Melville. He bought another clincher for the group; the brand new, hot off the oven DnD 4e cooperative boardgame --->
--Castle Ravenloft--

Pleasure comes at a price though, and this time, Pleasure is valued at an approximate S$115.

It seems that Count Strahd is hungry again, wanting would-be heroes to meet him for dinner to discuss important issues involving massive loss of blood and severed limbs.

Eagerly, Shane, Shell, Pongtau and I tested the game last night for about three hours, and I am happy to say that the game is a fun romp, with color coded cards and chips galore, and five shiny new heroes with virgin necks to give.

The games are quick and engaging, lasting about an hour for each scenario. And the randomness of the dungeons' layout is imperative to replayability, thus making it a big plus in my eyes. We succeeded on our first two missions rather smoothly, but our party wiped on Scenario 3 due to a combination of poor strategy and bad luck.
This proves to me that the game's difficulty level is up to par, which to me is important as I hate playing a cake-walk board game in which you inevitably win regardless of tactics .

In Castle Ravenloft, I really love the idea of Encounter Cards drawn during each character's turn. By throwing endless traps, hostile environments, and devious plot twists at the heroes, it makes the players feel great urgency; knowing that if they dilly-dally too long without working towards the quest objective, they will die a painful death in the dank corridors of the Castle. This sense of escalating dread and doom was sorely lacking in many other RPG board games on the market like Talisman 4th Ed etc, where one can almost grind endlessly to "level up" before meeting the end boss etc.

The five heroes are your basic Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard, with the joker in the pack being the Ranger. Touted as a master explorer, she to me seems like a glorified punching bag. She does have the most accurate power in the game though - Careful Attack-, allowing one to automatically hit an adjacent enemy for 1 damage. No questions asked.

By the way, over 75% of the mobs in the game are 1 health.

The Fighter is the soak-bag, with mad AC (17) and HP (10). (But pales in comparison with the Paladin in the new sister set - Wrath of Ashadalon) He is great for being the aggro-grabber for the party when new tiles are being exposed and with monsters rushing at the party.

The Cleric is another stand-out, with his -Healing Strike- being another stand-out At-Will power. Its ability to heal a party member within 1 tile of him after successfully hitting the enemy is brilliant.

The Wizard and the Rogue round out the selection, with the clothed one buffing fellow members in his current tile for +1 Attack, and the Rogue with the meh class ability to disarm traps at a +5 bonus. The Wizard comes with -Magic Missile- and -Scorching Burst- as a couple of the At-Wills, and the iconic -Fireball- as one of the various daily powers she can choose from. The rogue has the reliable -Backstab-, and being darn accurate with his hits. (at +7 to +9 to hit)

Rules are modified and simplified from 4E DnD rules, with NADs removed from the equation, and many of the status effects which bogs the PnP game down non-existent in Castle Ravenloft. Slowed, Immobilized, Unconscious, and Dead (or "Lose the Game" in CR terms) are the only conditions that are present.

Castle Ravenloft and the soon-to be released sister set- Wrath of Ashadalon

My tuition kids are trying their hands at this simplified 4E treat, and initial signs are good; pointing to them liking the game or at least being interested enough to listen to me explain the rules.

C'yall on the flip side.

Shooting (at) Blanks

2010-08-06T19:06:00.004+08:00

Hey all,

We will be taking a break from Chapter 2 after this National Day Week, as our resident sorcerer Astra will be going on an RL holiday to Europe for a month or so.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in Ca-en, the party are hot on the heels of the evil dryad Yeminsha, and kinda realized that she might have something to do with the missing item in the arcane casing that they found in the stone pile after defeating Melchiot, Guardian of the Oasis Temple, who was there to collect the precious mineral -EquestK with help from his limited elemental forces.

Backpacks filled with EquestK and fresh after swiftly beating up on the hapless Guardian, the four now head back to Segai the Dreamcaster who awaits the supply to fuel his creations, vanquish Yeminsha, and also, to help the party in their cause to save Maya and the region against the crazed Mandingo.

I wish them the best of luck in the next session; and since we are on the topic of luck and randomness, I now divert your precious attention to this really advanced piece of computer technology. ---->

Nope. Nothing wrong with your browser. And you can quit rubbing your eyes. The keys are blank.

Yes. A keyboard with umm, blank keys. Why haven't anyone thought of it before? How many times have you been on a keyboard and secretly wished that the keys were blank?

Yeap, right. None.

Aptly called the Das Keyboard Ultimate. The people from ~~Daft~~ Das Enterprises must have been smoking crack if they thought they could pull this off. And it cost the same as their other exact model but with key markings -- the Das Keyboard Professional.

So, professionals in the workplace use keyboards with markings, and umm so non-professionals with all the time in the world use the Ultimate to do their LoLs, Teh Suxxorzs and Wah-Laus?

We actually have to pay for a deliberate factory manufacturing defect?

Sign me up, and I think that it is absolutely fair.

Why?

Just like in Geylang, Desker Road, and other seedy places around the world, you usually have to pay for sex.

Same.

You pay for the sexiness you get with this Mistress of Keyboards. She is not as dependable as the conventional wife-y one as she requires you to have the skills to pay the bills upfront. But if you do meet the prerequisites, the Mistress will purr and make you a really happy ~~geek~~ man.

Cost of sex(iness)?

S$250~ after shipping at Amazon.com.

I am saving up for it and you should too.

Now, stop looking at your keyboard when you are typing, as it will soon be a thing of the past, at least when you are in my room that is.

Hehe, c'yall on the flip side.

"I Wanna Be an Aspiring Caen Traveller" Series-- History of the Greater Desert of Harsh's or "What's the deal with all the sand in my eyes?"

2010-08-02T17:41:00.006+08:00

South-Eastern Caen is arguably the most picturesque of the major regions in Fracas. The Opan Plains is a wide expanse of green undulating grass, with a smattering of trees and exotic plants to complete the storybook setting.
Common birds and docile wildlife populate the plains, while merchant carts and wagons travel along Pelor's Way, eager for coins in the constant trade between Sccor, Coraltea and Maya. The weather is generally good, with occasional light rain delivering refreshment to all. One of Caen's longest rivers - River Sendimendes separates the Plains from a totally different landscape.

The Greater Desert of Harsh's is located west of the River Sedimendes, and is a great expanse of arid sand, home to barbaric hordes, Klinik communities, ancient reptiles like the Brontozoads, Raptorzoads, and the Velozoads.
A huge multi-headed Ptera-Hydra is known to reside in the region, along one of the western dunes. Travellers are advised to avoid the western part of the Desert for that sole reason.

This arid landscape is known for its very harsh and windy desert nights, where the temperature drops to near freezing point and sandstorms are frequent. Day is in fact the best time to travel in the Desert, despite the heat and dryness making breathing a labored chore.

Historians have stated that life on Caen originated from the Greater Desert, with the startling discovery of dino-fossils dating back a few hundred years. As time went by, primitive humans and orcs arrived on Caen, and formed organized tribes hunting the Zoads for food. Their thick hides and body oil were not spared, and was used in the making of shelters, and the latter as fuel for the warming of bodies when the nights were cold.

Those tribes soon settled down in the northern area of the desert, taking advantage of the warmer climate and the proximity of the River Harsh. Many chose to reside at an unnamed piece of flatland beside the river, while the others travelled further north in search of other suitable spots to start a settlement.

After several years, Gragg, one of the inhabitants at the unnamed flatland, discovered by chance during one of his frequent grub-gathering trips that the flooded plains across the river contained deposits of valuable minerals and stones. He dredged up several platinum ingots and speckles of the incredibly rare forgemetal, used to make the best warrior armor in Caen at that time.

Needless to say, Gragg's life changed and he was soon the most influential half-orc around town. Many paid him handsomely to get information regarding the exact location of the dredgings. News of this discovery spread like wildfire and many started migrating to Graggeg (the entire town was now named partially after him), in search of riches.

Upriver, Harshamupula- a sizable fortress-town, was not affected much, as they were resource-rich in timber and farm produce. The farmers there worshipped Corellon Stonehands- God of Creation, and have his fertile volcanic soil to thank for their abundant harvests. But the same could not be said for the town of Zhyx, along one of the subsidaries of the River Harsh. Many left the town to make the long trip towards Graggeg. That made Zhyx the Warlord -- ruler of the Zhyx stronghold, quite mad; as he was green with jealousy over how matters have panned out. He tried to persuade Gragg into subsidising his town maintenance costs, as there was not enough taxpayers around anymore.

Gragg stubbornly refused, and smugly told Zhyx that life was all about seizing chances and taking the path to the greenest pasture. Livid, Zhyx poisoned the riverflow towards Graggeg, killing many in the process. Gragg, through his reliable contacts, found out that Zhyx was the mastermind behind all of this. The next morning, Gragg announced war on the town of Zhyx. A few thousand-strong army was mobilized and victory was imminent.

After several bloody months of fighting, the Graggeg troops finally managed to make it past the Zhyxian defenses and into the town proper. But they were swiftly rebuffed by a vastly inferior force of hastily assembled townsfolk and common craftsmen. It was then clear that some of the invading forces from Graggeg still had family ties in Zhyx and could not fight properly, leaving barely enough to even retreat safely from the town in the end.

Gragg had failed to conquer Zhyx but inflicted enough pain to warn Zhyx not to mess around with him again. The town of Graggeg grew in importance and size, until it became a large desert port-city. There were several more clashes over the years, but it all ended when Sccor built Castle Greyskill near Caen's Molar. The paranoid desert natives finally had an outsider threat to band against, and relations between the desert natives and Sccor soured to the point where both sides keep making veiled threats to incite all-out war, with numerous skirmishes occurring which involved reducing Sccor's presence in the Greater Desert. It is a situation that holds true even up to this day.

The natives of the Greater Desert mostly wield large two handed weapons like the great axe and the two-handed club. Their battle tactics are crude, and direct at best, the aggressors preferring to outnumber the opponent, swiftly flanking them, and then massacre those trapped in between. Thus with an emphasis on swiftness, the natives uses light armor like leather and hide almost exclusively. Chain mail had and still plays a significant role in their warfare, especially so for the elites. Forgemetal is used to line the chain mail coats of the most able of the desertmen warlords and generals, allowing them to safely enter battle and lead the charge unscathed.

As time passed, the desert natives started to value heavier and sturdier armor, due to the rapid innovation of the Sccorians on the battlefield. The force at which those new Sccorian weapons impact the filmsy light armor of the natives was much greater than in the olden times, some blows shattering the armor completely. The natives began looking for an alternative armor source and found the best solution - open trade with anyone, merchants and pirates alike.
Sccor condemned the move and stated openly that anyone found dealing with the savages would be banned from the city and treated as traitors.

Up to this day, a handful of vessels still travel to the desert towns and cities by way of the River Harsh, bringing supplies of iron and ca-steel (a slightly lighter, more malleable and anti-rust metal) from the Western Caen region. Feylink - a rare ultra-light linkage material found only on particular islands east of Caen, is sometimes brought by enterprising pirates. Brisk trade is made; the visitors leave happy with supplies of platinum and precious stones, while the local armorsmiths are able to make sturdier armor (plate equivalent) for war against the Sccorians.

Saturday's DnD Group's Spotlight: "We're Halfway There~" Edition

2010-05-26T19:26:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

The Heroes of Maya have had a rough couple of weeks in the Desert.

While assisting Hen-Lord Alan in finding his missing patrols, they stumbled upon clues which shed light on an unlikely alliance between the burly desert barbarians, the fiery minions of Zzen, the ancient Ghosts of Lake Nell and who knows what else. If not curbed, their combined prowess might devastate the nigh-impregnable fortress -- Castle Greyskill and cause total chaos to the unprotected region.

To complicate matters even more, Hen-Lord Alan has also been cursed by a ritual planted in a pelican-beak shard, and has been placed in stasis for the time being to prevent the enemies from knowing the Heroes' next choice of action.

Currently, the four are a couple of hundred feet down in FirstFrost Crypt- the Desert Elves' dwelling and burial grounds for their deceased. Sir Gaspar of Greyskill is trying to secure the trust of these secretive elves, namely the ruling Sai-Ow family, and prevent them from pledging to the alliance, if it is not already too late. The elven crypts have been tainted, and the dead inside are restless again.

Dharva Sai-Ow, the alpha male descendant of the clan, had sent Elva- his own sister (go figure.), down one of the burial chambers to investigate but she has not returned. He is worried that she could be in a spot of trouble and wanted the party to find her, and in return, he would warm up to the idea of forging closer ties with the Castle Greyskill and the surface dwellers.

Guy would certainly hope for that to happen. In a recent skirmish, he managed to tame (or sit on) a reluctant Bi-Zoad (domesticated two-legged single rider mount), and could easily wind up being the first non-Desert Elf to bring one of these swift scouting mounts out from Firstfrost if he gets the blessing of Dharva. Party wise, Trogdor is having fun with a powerful Elven amulet blessed with a strong anti-tainted presence, while Osiris is getting used to his new blade given to him by his Queen, and Astra, well, he's blasting all the grouped-up minions to smithereens.

Will Guy, Astra, Trogdor and Osiris be able to thwart this sinister alliance and their plans? What is Pelor, and the oft-missing Queen up to? And why is it that most heroic-tier quests ask for the party to find a missing "something"?

C'yall on the flip side.

"Newer = even bulkier and clunkier."

2010-05-06T17:53:00.042+08:00

Hey all,

I just came across this little tidbit of information.

The new Nintendo DSi XL is out. A more up to date version of the DS. With an enlarged screen (touted as being 93% bigger than the original DS Lite) and armed with not one but, two built-in cameras; the extra one being able to take pictures of your "business" look while plodding away on the XL.

But the point is that for all of that to work, this technological monstrosity is bigger, heavier, and clunkier. Nowadays. the general public wants up-size right now. Instant gratification. And they do not care the package it comes in. Just something they can brag to their friends about.

"Mine is an inch wider across and 3/4 inches longer.", a typical DSi XL user is heard exclaiming to a regular DS Lite user.

"Take this! My iPad is larger than your iPhone, and has the same native graphics resolution which makes for really ugly applications that are not optimized for the iPad itself.", a satisfied Mac-Supporter would say.

Latching on to a great idea and expanding on it is vital in any business. Look at what the Japanese did. So, DnD 4E came up with their own version of Size Matters.

3-D tiles have just arrived. Thick, cardboard and rather flat. Official 3-D combat rules are on the way, adding on to the already lengthy combat encounters. The players and the poor DM are now required to have minor mathematical genius genes as part of their resume in becoming a complete player.

Drawing an imaginary hyperbola, arc, swing or flight path, and translating it into linear 5 ft blocks is now a necessary skill. I have not even brought in the dreaded LoS (Line of Sight) issues which is again unnecessarily made complicated by this 3D "upgrade" to the game.

My gaming group have experienced some of these situations first hand and I have to say, we are not looking forward to all this hoopla generated by WoTC in their insane quest to fatten their coffers.

Personally, I feel that the DM can just wing it, and decide on the fly if a spell with 5 range can hit someone standing 3 squares up and 2 squares in away from the edge of the elevation. Teleport 5? Heck, I might let them teleport 5 up and a couple in if it matters. And as WoTC has decreed, the players' powers are supposed to be special, even unique in some sense, so a bit of slack should be given; especially when it comes to 3-D movement in a non-3D optimized gaming table.

DnD 4E May Rules/Powers Update
While I am typing this article whole new slew of ~~nerfs~~ gaming balances have been introduced yet again in the 4E May Rules/Powers Update. I have written about this in a previous article, and even though they did write in this edition that they will slow down this knee-jerk process in future, I reckon that the slowing down is not because they have seen the light of what they are doing but more in the line of everything has been roughly balanced out in their eyes.

Did they ever take into account for every power/ruling they balanced well, they utterly nerfed several to virtual unplayability (read: not cool) ? Take Blood Pulse for instance. In its original form, it was ultra-cool and over-strong yes. It had to be balanced. Either the the bonus damage dice must go or the trigger changed to a voluntary movement instead of forced. But in its nerfed version, it can go fly a kite. Maybe wear a skirt even. The bonus damage is now a fixed damage modifier, and take this: only on voluntary movement.

Recent powers are considered overpowered (Intuitive Strike). but the question begs: How long does it take WoTC to know that scaling modifiers (tied to ability scores) tend to cause the problem. Especially if it modifies the chance to hit or to a lesser extent, the damage inflicted.

Magic Weapon and Righteous Brand are two such powers that come to mind. They were given errata some time back, but the R & D did not learn with the printing of Intuitive Strike in Martial Power 2. Same problem, but they must have been thinking: Ah what the heck, if it is broke, errata it in a month then.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For my next article, I will be posting an update on Chapter 2, what the Heroes have been up to, and some random thoughts about our sessions. So keep your eyes peeled for it.

"You have no need to outrun a Dragon. You need only outrun the slowest farmer." - Tab Earber, survivor of Kystik's*

2010-04-20T00:00:00.087+08:00

*Young Green Dragon (Deceased). Attacked the Northern Farmlands. Killed by the Heroes of Maya at his lair in the Forest.

There is this rare Mind Flayer Telepath DnD figurine resting on my desk. It was a Christmas gift from the Alex the Tard-tical two years ago, and I have used the so-tong sparingly for a few sessions since then. It was my choice for Kharisma K. Karpenter, a custom Mind Flayer Warlock, in Shell's adventure.

The thing was that I had more fun with the Flayer than the character itself. I was fiddling with it a lot, and making it do imaginary spell-casting action. Of course, it could be also due to the fact that I played a Star Warlock who was more into cowing his opponents into submission (Intimidation) than attacking them.

These plastic figurines spruce up the combat part of the game, allowing one to visualize the action going on. But most importantly, these 1-sq inch based markers allow you a visual peek at your character and maybe even show off a little of its concept or uniqueness.

You imagine playing a Warforged Crossbow Caster; imagine a Warforged holding a crossbow, maybe in light armor, softly chanting arcane recitations. You soon realize that the idea is great; and then proceed to buy a DnD figurine depicting just that.

The players will be able to identify the character instantly instead of having to look through pages of character sheets with garbled handwriting or sub-par printing. Even if they do not get what they are seeing by looking at the figurine, they would be curious enough to ask you about the peculiarity of it all.

A sample conversation between two players who spend the time to figure their characters out:

Fie: "Eh, why is your character holding an ugly two-handed phallic-looking farming tool in his hands?"

*No answer. Fie starts to repeat himself.*

Fie: "Why is your charac-"

Kat: "For your information, it's called a dickspade, okay? And Rhombert B. Fielding is a lv 9 skilled harvester of multiple grains including wheat and oats. With a feat invested in Advanced Seasonal Changes. Any more dumb questions or can we just get this adventure started?"

*awkward silence. End of conversation.*

Um, right. I have tagged a photo of several sample figurines below, including the Warforged Crossbow Caster and his friends.

(L-R) ~~Vek~~ Chippendale's Gay Stripper, The Warforged Crossbow Caster, Shit on Four Legs.

So go enhance your roleplaying experience with this simple addition to your game. Wizards of the Coast has minted thousands of figurines for every encounter you can possibly think of; so no excuses as these people have worked their butts off to pry the hard-earned cash off your hands.

But the figurines are worth it. Look at the countless ways you can interact with them. Shake them violently to show that they have been "bloodied". Lift them off the ground to prep for a "Daily", shouting nonsensical war cries. Lay them flat on the grid when they are prone. Smack them hard when you miss on a "1". Rotate them around when they are flanked and tell your DM that you were alert to it and thus will not grant combat advantage to the enemy for that round.

See?

It's never wrong to go plastic and get all natural with the game.

Update: On a more serious note, our group are looking to pool some cash together and buy a large number of DnD figurines to make our encounters more visually pleasing and systematic for the DM as well. Hopefully, I will get to meet the seller and see his entire collection. More on that when it happens.

The HoM Fact-Files: This story is really (about) Astra.

2010-04-05T14:24:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

My campaign will be resuming this week after a month's break, with the characters exploring the rest of the Pit Trap hideout they stumbled upon.

Alvin sent me a unique take on his character a couple of weeks back, giving me new and previously unknown information on the naive Changeling Sorcerer who has begun adventuring with the HoM. Here it is, his character background, in his own words.

TheBeginnings of Astra

My earliest memory of my parents is blurred and fuzzy atbest. They placed a ring around my neck and told me that they will always bewith me. I never really understood what it meant but we can come to that later.It was carved from a single, perfect topaz and had the color of honey. Iremember that it always felt warm, like my mum’s embrace.

I was brought up as Astra Smith in the Smith family. We lived in theoutskirts of Jarr, a mining town nestled on the eastern shore of Khorvaire inthe Tranquil Isles.

My adopted parents told me that they found me in a basket,crying, outside their door one day, with nothing except a short note beggingthem to care and raise me- and the ring that was around my neck. They treatedme as their own and loved me deeply. Even though life was simple, they taughtme everything they knew and tried to give me their best.

I never knew I was different, I meant, my hair was white andfine, and look sickly all the time as I have generally pale gray skin. Theyweren’t many people in the village and we only travel in when my parents wanted to celebrate my birthday. I always felt uncomfortable with the staresand gazes from the others, but my parents told me that everything was fine.

I was happy and loved.

But happiness doesn’t last forever. I was awaken from myslumber when my mom, hugged me crying and begging those men to spare them.Father was lying down on the ground, lifeless. I never did know why those mencame. They pulled me from my mum and killed her in front of me. I never knewwhat death was until then. I didn’t know how to react. “No witnesses!", was all that wassaid as the axe came crashing down.

Before I knew anything, blinding light enveloped the area and stopped both me and theblade just two inches away from my head. In the next moment, a surge of energyripped through my body. It created such a big force that it blew everythingaway. The men, the house and it destroyed everything.

I was saved but everything had changed.

I awoke in a warm bed, surrounded by people. I was found andrescued by the Society of the Red Hood. They were sorcerers. They have beentracking the people who murdered my parents. They were a group of bandits andhad wanted to use my house as a trap for the sorcerers who were hunting them.

They recognize that I was different. They knew that I was achangeling. Under their care, I discovered my potential in magic. My mentor,Major Rays, groomed me and taught me the acts of sorcery. More importantly, thereseem to be something unique about that ring. They were fascinated that it couldproduce a strong blast that activated and hurt enemies when I was threatened. I knew that itprotected me, but I didn’t know how. Unfortunately, none of the sorcerers werepowerful enough to identify my ring.

From their training, I grew in strength and learned myabilities well. At the age of 16, I was given my first mission together with Major. We were supposed to be on a scouting mission; a simple introduction to the dangers of the living world.

We travelled to thecontinent of Ca-en.

This simple mission turned out to be a disaster. We werebeing ambushed a group of men, that called themselves, the Holocaust. They werepowerful and had in their midst a strong wizard. They capture the both of usand my mentor was tortured, wanting him to tell them our secrets. She refusedand therefore wasn’t spared. But I was again being protected. They couldn’ttouch me. However the wizard is powerful and forcefully broke the bond betweenthe ring and myself.

The agony was too much to bear and I thought I had died. I didn’t know what happened next.

After I awoke, I realized I could not remember anythingabout myself except for a scar. It was a ring-like circle, on my chest.

My quest has begun…

"Autumn has arrived early this year.. I repeat, Autumn has arrived early this year.." (A Godfather's Report)

2010-03-18T23:23:00.017+08:00

Hey all,

Chapter 2 has been postponed until Trogdor recovers from his ~~unexpected death~~ army and girlfriend commitments. He is likely to be out of action until early next month.

At the Desert, the Heroes of Maya are helping Hen-Lord Alan locate several missing patrols around Castle Greyskill. Whatever the reason is regarding the disappearances, it seems bent on sending them to the Under, permanently.

Ahh. Talking about mysteries, I have been assigned the role of "Godfather" to my really cute niece, Autumn Elizabeth Kwek.

She was born on the afternoon of March 18th, and has a full head of jet-black hair and a hearty cry. Her features are delicate and clear; thus I nicknamed her "Christian Advanced 2.0" as she seems like a superior-looking Christian comparing both their Day 1 looks.

The unverified picture above shows an extremely charming Oriental dude cradling Autumn -the equally charismatic girl-child- in his arms. From that snapshot alone, one could see ~~the dude's~~ her smooth skin, wide smile and overall youthfulness.

Attached loosely on the belt of the Oriental dude's slim waist was a hastily written DnD 4e Character Sheet:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: the_Godfada
Age: 34
Race: Human-ish
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Class: Scholar/Bard real-life Hybrid, recently multiclass-ed as a Godfather.
Level : Huh?

Strength: 8
Constitution: 13

Dexterity: 12
Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 13
Charisma: Numbers do not do him justice but I would say a 16 at least.

Feats:

Tennis Concentrate (Minor Style- You gain specific bonuses to the At-Will powers called Forehand, Backhand, Volley, First/Second Serve)
~~Spit~~ Acid Laden Speech (You deal 1d6 acid damage to your target for each round of heated conversation you engage in),
Lesser Godfather (Multiclass Feat- choose a child. He/she now gains the godchild keyword and you gain the Godfather keyword. The godchild gains "At every level of experience the godchild gains, the godfather has to reward him/her with an item of appropriate level/value.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, a hearty congrats again to my sperm-laden brother Shane and his toon-generating wife Momo.

I wish Autumn a speedy journey to the day she can walk, talk, and comprehend; discovering that even though her lesser godfather would not be able to get her everything she wants, but one day he might be able to get her something she needs.

Cyall' on the flip side. (Astra's Beginnings to come soon.)

The HoM Fact-Files: Osiris the Mispronounced.

2010-03-02T14:23:00.014+08:00

Hi all,

Shell's assassin has a magical fullblade presumably blessed by the Queen of Winters herself. Want to know more? Read on. This excerpt is by Shell, written specially for his character.

For decades he lay in silence and darkness, waiting. Waiting for the call of the Queen to once again pass back through the Veil of Life. So long has he waited that he no longer remembers what spurred him to strike this deal with the Queen or what the Queen demands in return. Darkness is all he can remember now.
Three years ago, the Queen had appeared before him. She led him slowly towards a bright light, a gate through the Veil.

"You shall now be known as Osiris, the Bringer of Death to those whose time is neigh."
She continues, "You will be provided the skills necessary to undertake the task and the revenge you so longed for, along with this-"
The Queen passes a long black blade to him.
"Dath le Sefet. It shall be your instrument for as long as your service is required."
Osiris marveled at the make of the simple yet elegant two-hander, cold to the naked touch, and the Queen spoke again.
"It possesses greater power, especially if you show that you are worthy of it and the path."

Dath le Sefet replica (S$29.99) Comes in three different colors- Black, Really Black and Too Black.

In an instant, Osiris materialized at the gates of Castle Greyskill. He trained there for several years and left for Maya soon after, a strange calling urging him on.

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Dath le Sefet? Interesting. Maybe its Elven for "I Teleport quite a bit."

Next time round, I will be posting Alvin's take on Astra-- his reflex-tanking sorcerer, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

"The Young Ones, Darling We're the Young Ones..."

2010-02-20T12:10:00.005+08:00

Hey all,

On Chinese New Year Day Two, I rounded up my unsuspecting cousins and put them through two and a half hours of ~~tutorials~~ DnD 4e basic starter rules (modified). Throughout that time, I had to tell them the fun part was soon to come, and that the creation of the characters and the many many rules would not translate to the game proper. They all agreed and snored blissfully while waiting for the real thing to happen.

Shane had to go home early but was on Skype playing the part of God, with useful comments coming by way of the speakers attached to my computer next to the gaming table.

The necessary evil - Dice.

Finally, at about three in the morning, the final student passed his DnD examinations and the adventure started.

The DM and his ~~minion~~ cousin during tutorial.

I whipped up an impromtu adventure for them in Greenich Village where Mib Trannor, the self-styled dictator of the area has asked for his annual first-born offerings again. And the adventurers were conveniently the first-borns, and were relocated to the forest south to wait out the sacrificial period.

My cousins played a versatile party of five.

Rhino, the quietly bloodied Human Cleric (Lewis),
Mamasan, the Tiefling Wizard who cooks Boars (Melissa)
Vanessa, the male Elven Fighter with 12 Intelligence (Clara)
Ang Mo Kio, the brash Eladrin Ranger who announces his powers (Andy)
Lorong Ah Soo, the crafty halfling rogue who cannot really bluff well (Kelly)

They went through a skill challenge which tested their ability to forage food as they had run out of provisions in the forested clearing. Along the way, they smashed up three large wild boars, and with a bit of Nature, Mamasan cooked them and even managed to preserve some as Ba-Kua (dried pork) in case they had to prolong their stay in the unfriendly wilds.

Ba Kua, anyone? Rhino stands ~~bloodied~~ proud amongst the vanquished boars.

After successfully getting their rations, they had to tackle a search party organized by Mib which they managed to distract intially (Mamasan Ghost Sound an SnSD tune to the east) and disposed off later with brute force after a failed Bluff check by Ah Soo to misdirect them.

They rested after that, and returned to town after receiving news that Mib had gone out of the village for some business. The five first-born will have to contend with the crazed man when he returns but that is ... another adventure for another day.

Maybe next year.

*grins*

Happy New Year everyone, and may you roll critical hits regularly all-season round.

The HoM Fact-Files: How the "Sir" got to be in Guy.

2010-02-16T03:59:00.015+08:00

Hey all,

Not too long ago, Shane sent me his "Sir Guy" fact-file which touched on his homeland, childhood, teenage years, and his reasons behind risking it all - for a ticket to Maya.

Here it is, by him, in its full glory.

Tanglebottom was a halfling orphan who grew up in PaxOnarchos, a city known for its human-only populace, druids, knights and council, northwest of Sccor on the edge of the great forest.

Cutting purses and burglary was the common meansof survival for orphans his age, but Tanglebottom was fortunate enough to meetthe kindly but slightly addled librarian, Edward Pennyworth, whom, mistakingTanglebottom as a human child, took him in and provided for him.

Under his tutelage, Tanglebottom learnt to readand write. He honed those skills in the library, absorbing volumes upon volumesof texts on knighthood, nobility and warfare. Seeing Tanglebottom's interest insuch matters, Edward also engaged a trainer to teach Tanglebottom the art ofswordplay. It was during this period where Tanglebottom first conceived of theidea of "Sir" Guy, The Morning Star- perfect knight and Savior of thepeople.

Edward passed away when Tanglebottom was 17, neverwondering why his foster son grew not an inch in the 12 years they've beentogether.

On his dying bed, he told Tanglebottom to seek theOnarch Knight's council to be a knight. Tanglebottom did but was immediatelyrejected on the grounds that he was a halfling.

Tanglebottom agreed with them of course, though hisconcept of the rejection was a little twisted. "Sir Tanglebottom" wasn't reallythe most inspirational Knight's name and the fact that he has yet to grow abeard weighed heavily on his mind.

He decided to reinvent himself, stepping into the shoes of his image of the perfect knight- "Sir" Guy. The halfling pawned all he had left, bought himself a suit of armor, weapons and most importantly, a boat ticket to the port town of Maya.

Sir Guy's secret- Notice the slightly bent knees for greater lateral support.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I will c'yall on the flip side, with personal contributions from Shell and Alvin themselves.

"Hey, the power does nothing?", "Nonsense!! It does jack... Shadowjack."

2010-01-31T13:02:00.005+08:00

Hey all,

Chapter 2: Blight of the Chained Demon kicked off last Saturday after a lengthy break. The first episode was especially fight-light due to my time allocated to the introduction and assimilation of the two new party members - Orisis (Osiris) and Astra the Bee-Squasher.

It was a rather smooth transition and they were introduced as outstanding recruits of the Headquarters, ready to help our severely depleted Heroes of Maya. As a bonus, Orisis (Osiris) was a former trainee at Castle Greyskill and would be of help in the party's trip to the Greater Desert of Harsh's where the castle is located.

During the session, there was a lengthy skill challenge involving the luckless farmers at the Northern Farmlands (First, a dragon attack and barely two weeks later, half of the new settlers from Greenich were abducted from their camp in a night raid.)

The party eventually found out that a winged humanoid had taken the role of a prominent "villager" in the Farmlands. He had been trying to implicate Arsilus, an exile, for his part in the night raid and eliminated the party's transportation (their horses from the Mayian stables) in hopes that they might not continue in their investigations.

Back in town, the party confronted him in his house, with Orisis (Osiris) skillfully getting in by the back door to prevent his escape.

Then, came the move. The hapless resourceful assassin decided to use "Shadowjack", his new level 7 assassin power which allows Osiris to attach himself to said target like a bad clothing choice, making him an effective stickler until the end of the winged humanoid's turn.

Unluckily, this also meant that he lost his position to block the backdoor. And the fact that the winged humanoid might be able to fly. With his wings. And with a very brave assassin stuck to him for a single turn.

What transpired next was pure gold. The rest of the party watched in ~~horror~~ amazement as Orisis (Osiris) fought valiantly sixty feet in the air while the winged one continued his ascent into the star-lit night. For a moment, he was atop the creature's shoulders stabbing down on it with his fullblade.

Orisis (Osiris) practicing his mid-air balancing act during a training session.

Alas, the pain forced the creature into action. He threw Osiris off his precarious perch and he came crashing down to earth, skilfully avoiding major damage. The winged one then disappeared from their view.

Alvin the Arsenal Fan (Astra) summarized the mood by deadpanning in his roleplay voice,

"What actually happened?"

Shell (Orisis/Osiris) simply shrugged, and continued proclaiming his feat in reducing the actual fall damage to five.

Great.

With that said, I am looking forward to our next session, when the new party helps Hen-Lord Alan (Castle Greyskill's first-in-command) with his missing patrols in the harsh lands of the Desert.

C'yall soon on the flip side.

Countdown to Chapter 2: Secret Live Transmission Leaked. (Bonus In-Game Offer included!)

2010-01-20T01:57:00.008+08:00

--------------------------------------------------------------

His deathless eyes examine the huge map in front of him. He traces his bony index finger down the rough surface of the yellowed paper, and then stops.

He stares at what had made him pause - a blend of desert, plains and mountains layered over miles of landmass. His icy gaze narrows down on the area considerably and he jabs his finger forcefully at a particular spot on it.

"They think they have the Queen to guide them. And help from the meddlesome Shining One. But I too, have allies and ways so powerful that I cannot even start to fathom the greatness of them all."

"The prototypes had strength in abundance, but their flesh is weak like the mortals, and crumble too easily."

"But in time, and with each day that passes, I inch closer to perfection, and ultimate victory. For one cannot stop something... that cannot be stopped."

"Not even..."

"A God."

Cackling laughter is heard in the distance coming from a small naked figure, and an approving snort acknowledges the support.

"stop something that cannot be... stopped...stop something...that cannot be-", mumbled the small naked figure before being rudely interrupted mid-sentence.

"Now. Listen carefully..."

The room is empty once again. A large yellowed piece of paper rests on the table -blank-. A feathered quill dripping with red ink lays beside, seeping its edges with ugly blotches .

END OF SCENE
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Hi all,

I will like my existing players (Shane and Kat) in the campaign to :

submit their updated character sheets to me by Friday latest.
Kindly include in the mail: current possessions (mundane and magical) and gold.
Any questions regarding character choices or the campaign can be posted to me via the blog (preferred), Skype or SMS.

New players (Alvin) or existing players doing up new characters (Shell):

are encouraged to participate in Leeto's Grapevine (Shoutbox), letting us know their new characters' names and a brief background introduction.
submit their updated character sheets to me by Friday latest.
Any questions regarding character choices or the campaign can be posted to me via the blog (preferred), Skype or SMS.

Help Save Haiti Shape Up Our Campaign (Limited Time In-Game Bonus Included!)

Remember, the 9d20 blog can be used as a medium to role-play characters out of session and for you to get involved in shaping up Fracas and Ca-en too. Any interesting information regarding the characters, the world of Fracas or the continent of Ca-en can be sent to me via email so that I can put it on the blog.

I currently accept short stories, autobiographies, poems, songs, films, DVDs etc concerning your character and his experiences in Fracas or Ca-en: e.g. his/her childhood, hometown, goals, legends heard or places visited in Fracas/Ca-en.

To encourage this, anyone who does an article for me before the Chinese New Year will get his piece posted and receive a special in-game bonus perk (custom regional backgrounds, situational in-game modifiers, custom contacts etc) to be announced after the promotion ends.

Disclaimer: The published article is subject to changes upon discretion of the DM and prior discussion with said player.

"There is life in this one yet." - FieTheDM commenting on Roger Federer, circa Jan 2010 (Game Update)

2010-01-11T16:12:00.001+08:00

Hey all,

The New Year is here and with everything new comes -hope-.

Alvin has decided to take over the space left by Vek (Drefonis) in my Ca-en campaign. He is planning a crafty Sorcerer (Cosmic perhaps?) to ease the party's AoE and ranged woes.

Meanwhile, Shell's Swordmage (Fel) is a thing of the past. The angst-filled one realized that his discovery of an ancient tome of Blood Magic required him to pursue an agenda entirely different from the party. He left quietly on his own at the break of dawn after spending his last night at The Bar with his mates and Head-Captain Tel.

So as the story unfolds, the Heroes of Maya- they of the purple collarpins, are left with two original members.

(L-R) Trogdor and Guy. Clean shaven metrosexuals.

The ever-reliable Sir Guy the Brave, Morningstar of Pelor, Saviour of the Northern Farmlands, and Trogdor the Burninator, the diety-torn Dragonborn who incurred the displeasure of the Queen more than once in the past. But fickle as Trogdor might be, he seems to have matured over time and harden his resolve to serve the Raven Queen. A trip to Castle Greyskill might prove timely in cementing his desire to assist the Queen and her Cause.

Head-Captain Tel will be surprised to say the least when he next see the heroes (or the lack of them) for a planned meeting at the HQ.

This has been mentioned numerous times, but now I can write this again in confidence. Leading up to Chapter 2 in a fortnight, I will be posting all-new background articles and game information to allow my players further immersion during their adventures in the vast continent of Ca-en.

So keep your eyes peeled and your guards up, for Chapter 2 is coming soon to a town near you!

"Fun Mali Fun... Hoy Hoy! ... Fun Mali Fun..." (Popular Northern druidic folk-song)

2009-12-23T13:28:00.009+08:00

Hey all,

Want to see a picture of absolute Fail?

On the left is an illustration from Swordmage Essentials 382. It shows a swordmage holding a shield in his off hand. Go figure that one out.

Now, for all of you who have always accused WotC of having writers do Class Guides without having an inkling of what they are writing about just as long as it sounds good, or that Dragon articles are written by random bespectacled overweight men who have the ability to make really crappy swordmagi?

Hey, you are god damned right.

---> Last Saturday was fun. I ran "Kings of Morose Hill" (a DnD adventure set in Morose, Caen) for my brother and a few of our friends.

For me personally, I felt that it turned out rather well. As I had not DMed for quite some time and now that my original campaign has been derailed for the time being, I decided to test out several ideas I had previously planned to debut in Chapter Two.

Visual Progression Skill Challenges - I went with Skill Challenges that showed the encounter's progress by flinging (yes, flinging) colored chips onto the table. (red- failure, blue,green,yellow-success). Any good idea that a player comes up with during the encounter but does not fall into the success/fail categories gets a +2 one-off token that can be used to modify a single skill check in that ongoing Skill Challenge. With this new system, the players were up for it, and the visuals of two red chips on the table - knowing that a third will automatically fail the Challenge- is priceless. Gaining the one-off token put a smile on their faces and let them know that participation pays off.
Less Linear Skill Challenges - The ones I experimented with were less linear and could encompass many skills if needed. I saw a marked improvement in the players' participation, and I felt the challenges progressed more naturally, and that the new design smoothened out previous kinks in the system. Overall, I think the updated Skill Challenges worked, and even though I had to spend more time designing them; it brought me one step closer to refining a less constrictive system where the players can feel free to do what they feel is right and not feel stifled by the rules.
Initiative Cards - These 4x4 plain calling cards helped tons with Readying and Delaying sequences. I will invert an initiative card when a player/creature delays, or turn the card sideways if they readied an action. Whenever a Delayed Turn or a Ready action triggers, the appropriate initiative card will then be placed on top of the current creature's card. Personally, it made my DMing more manageable, and with less effort needed, I can concentrate more on tactical or role-playing options available. I will improve it by placing vital stats (HP, AC, NADs?) of the creature on the card itself instead of always having to refer to my notes.

I also learnt several things along the way.

Length of One-Off? The session started at midnight and ended at about half past five in the morning, which is approximately five hours. We were getting close to a conclusion in the second quest, but that might have taken another forty minutes or so to wrap up. Thus, my "One-Off" time estimation is still not good even thought I had more than a One-Off in mind when I wrote this adventure, which might have caused several discrepancies.
Custom items (Magical/Mundane) - They are fun and add flavor and lore to an adventure. Some can even turn out to be useful in other ways when the right opportunity arises.
"Fun" Factor - No harm done to slightly over-power the players, a mob or even an event if it results in creating a memorable scene. Of course, the premise cannot be too far-fetched (not hard to do in an already mythical world of sword and sorcery), so experiment and find the right amount of pizazz and fun to add to your DnD sessions.

---> Lest I forget, Christmas is just around the corner, so a loud and boisterous "Merry Christmas" to all four of you my faithful readers out there.

Drive carefully, avoid opportunity attacks if possible, and enjoy yourselves. C'yall on the flip side.

My Gift: A One-Off at the Chalet of Seven (Updated: Kings of Morose Hill)

2009-12-16T00:58:00.016+08:00

Hey all,

This Saturday, Pongtau -- our former Warlock, has invited us to a chalet of six, and that is with me and Shane included. Before you get into fits talking about the minimum number required for a healthy chalet, please allow me to change the subject. I am not usually the one who brings cheap wine or salty snacks, but for this special occasion, I will bring along with me a unique One-Off. (read: a single session DnD adventure which can last for the night.)

These few days, I will be working out the details of the adventure (tentatively named Kings of Morose Hill), set along Pelor's Way in the town of Morose, as shown in the map below.

Traditionally, Morose is a popular stop for wagons and weary travelers looking to journey between the southeastern region of Caen, via the Plains of Pelor, towards Sccor, City of the North or vice versa.

The town of about eight hundred is known for its numerous graveyards and the particularly short lifespan of their small population. The reason being that many of their inexperienced youths are swayed by the tunes and promises of the village's head- Victor "Third" Montgomerie, who runs "The 3rd Reich"- a thriving adventuring guild, supplying local men for out-of-town expeditions.

How it all started ...

The party of five (hopefully) starts out as a typical bunch of fledging adventurers who stumbled upon a magical ornate chest amongst a mysterious wagon crash near Morose. Excitedly, they return to town in the dead of the night with their find, and make a shocking discovery in their "secret" hideout (the backroom of an unused farmhouse).

What it all means?

The ornate chest might contain item/s and information which will lead to several custom backgrounds for the characters involved in the adventure. (( More to be revealed at the start of the adventure proper.))

"On the rainy week before Christmas, WotC gave to me..." (sings)

2009-12-15T19:59:00.002+08:00

Hey all,

Singapore is all dark, rainy and wet these past couple of weeks, and it makes me want to turn emo make an assassin (Ninja!), a monk or something shadowy (warlock?) to embrace the changing season. It helped that WotC released "More Toys for Assassins" earlier on today so I should be able to get working on a shiny new dark 'un in the Character Builder update later tonight.

With Shane thinking of a ranged rogue, Shell rolling an assassin (Ninja!) himself and Vek a cloth-clad avenger, I will try not to accelerate our party's demise with a wrong turn into an ill-advised class. But it never hurts to come up with a few new concepts, and if all else fails, I do have my reliable wizard build or Sunny the SNSD Paladin of Pelor to fall back on.

I grew up on Ninja gamebooks (Way of the Tiger) and AD&D, where the monk and assassin (Ninja!) classes were so flavorful and historically accurate in what they could do. Even now, these classes might not be the strongest or optimal in DPR (damage per round), but the joy of a classic monk brutalizing stuff with his bare fists is...
ki-learly unmatched.

The assassin (Ninja!) class is obviously not a suitable choice for going unarmed fighting, but they can fake it and go without a double handed melee weapon by taking their pick of short-ranged implement powers in the class. With this build, the assassin (Ninja!) can utilize a light shield in his off hand too.
On the other hand, the Monk and the Assassin classes are flexible enough to warrant holding an ordinary double staff (A fullblade/urgosh might favor the Assassin as they do have [w] dice powers, unlike the Monk) for the AC bonus and allow their personal Ki Focus to power both their implement/weapon attacks.

Anyhow, it's way cool that these "Oriental" classes are in 4E, be it that WotC does not want us to see them as Oriental classes and omitted "Ki" as the keywork for its power source just in case it sounded too.. Oriental. Yellow, Oriental, Chi-sh or whatever their PR personnel want to call it, I just know that these classes can only get better.
The Assassin (Ninja!) is a DDi subscriber-only product and will still be supported in future, while the full Monk class will be out next year in PHB3 with even more feats, paths and powers. Not to mention many more Ki foci choices too.

Personally, I cannot wait to get my hands on PHB3 as I am a lifelong Monk fan-boy. The rest of the Psionic classes are just gravy to me. By the way, the Ardent (Psionic Leader) preview came out today as well.

Heals? Power Points? Leader? Heals?

Our current healer-less SoW party scoffs at these keywords.

And why they could not come up with a better name for the class beats me. There is already an Ardent Champion paragon path, the Ardent Strike at-will power and the Ardent paladin class feature etc to further confuse a 4e player. I would even have taken Mantle-ist, over classes like Shock, Missile or an Astral (all connected to common at-will powers).

No worries, it might just be the yuletide holiday mood and the festive resting of the braincells which led to this unfortunate event. I just hope that this is not a benchmark for the future naming of classes to come.

If not, Alex might have a ready-made job for him at WotC. (Maybe a primal class called a "DearDear" or something which excels at maiming fawns, bears and other British wildlife)

*Shudders*

LATEST UPDATE: Vek has left my Ca-en campaign due to work/character constraints and I wish him the best in our alternate SoW adventures. I will be looking for a fourth player and thus, Chapter 2 is indefinitely canned until then.

Winter on Earth, Autumn in Caen, and hell to the person who took my handphone.

2009-12-02T16:15:00.018+08:00

Hey all,

Rainy season in Singapore is officially on, wrecking havoc on my regular "Tennis at 5pm/8pm" readied actions.

Talking about relentless natural forces, the folks over at WotC have churned out several new DnD 4e articles, with the latest one rounding out the fighter (again), with new powers given to shield, polearms and spear builds.

Due to their DDi concept of a monthly e-magazine chock full of class/power/item/feat/skill updates, power creep in 4e is inevitable and quicker to rear its ugly head due to the sheer number of new options the game has to be given with each passing month.

Of course, these choices are all purely optional because not everyone has access to a DDI paid subscription, or a DM who agrees to non-corebook content. But if they read the largely accessible DnD 4e forums, the said information is readily available and a few players might feel short-changed at not being able to incorporate the content into their game. Worse still, they might lament that the adventure is not flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of 4e.

Take Winged Horde for example, a new Wizard at-will that came out in Class Acts 381 last month. It is basically a vs. Will area burst 1 (expandable to 2) which targets only enemies for 1d6 + Int + modifiers, and stuck on with a situationally cool ability (target cannot make opportunity attacks until the end of the caster's next turn.)

And its nearest competitor and former Wizard area burst staple- Scorched Burst -- a vs. Reflex area burst 1 (expandable to 2) which target unfortunate friends and foes alike for 1d6 + Int +modifiers and has a perennially constant effect of doing nothing else apart from damage. Hooray for "massive" damage vanilla powers.

This is but one of the many powers that have been rendered dead weight due to new content coming out. It is true that the wizard has been improved tremendously since its 4e inception, but when you put in goodies such as Winged Horde, I think certain older powers must be changed to fit other roles.

[For example, why not boost the damage of Scorched Burst from a 1d6 to a 1d8? It can have a slightly higher base damage at the cost of not being able to aim "smart" and having no control element whatsoever. The 1d8 will also do less than other area striker builds while maintaining a role in the wizard at-will powers as being the most "damaging" elemental area burst in their arsenal, thus making it less obsolete.]

Also, WotC has to help out other lesser used classes as well instead of just piling the love onto one or two already established classes.As I was mentioning before, the 4e fighter class has seen many passes made at it, and this article further broadens the already deep and much improved class. Do not get me wrong, I love my fighters and my paladins and what not, but aren't rogues, warlocks and clerics in the game too?

Emphasis must be given to the malnourished, and the players will be happier with broader choices in a wider range of classes.

Anyway, that is just 4e imploding on its own, as I seriously fear it might crumble under its ever-increasing weight.

But on a brighter note, the situation on my side looks fine. My regular playgroup enjoys playing with new content, including embracing all of the November Nerfs (tm) with as little ranting as humanly possible.

We just need to continue to strive to find a balance between encounter grinding and meaningful skill challenges so as to mold the 4e system into a more open-ended RPG. The players will then able to choose actions without fear of complicated rules that takes minutes to complete. (Yes, jumping horizontally and vertically or even both at the same time, I'm looking at you!)

Weekly, inroads to smoothen out our brand of 4e have been made. I have had long discussions with Shane about ambiguous rules and the need to speed up session play. We clarified our group's take on the Blind/LoS rules, "stealth before combat" house-rules and several other minor details on delaying/readying.

Now, time for some Secret Information!

*shrouds the next few paragraphs in shadowy swirls*

I am in the midst of penning a short prelude (lv 5 to 7?) preceding the current timeline in my campaign.

This installment goes back about half a decade in time, when Maya was still a sleepy infant settlement ruled by Hevok the Barbarian. Watch out for a certain Smutt McScurvy- a young pirate eyeing a particular drinking establishment in town. Unique in itself, the party could be sailing the high seas for treasures untold!

With all that is currently brewing in Southeastern Caen, players will be able to better understand how Maya and her inhabitants first started out, and differentiate first-hand between fact and popular myth.

Chapter 2 seems likely to start in January or so, so be ready for several primer articles ushering in new mechanics/background information this month.

Until then, stay dry and safe, talk to y'all soon.

"Rats Live on no evil Star." (A conversation piece edited for your taste.)

2009-10-28T17:11:00.016+08:00

Hey all,

"Radio killed the Radio Star, Radio killed the Radio Star.." And rats live on no evil star. *garble garble*

The last line might have been pushing it a little, but palindromes have been around for ages, and I for one have been intrigued by them since young. Back to the front, and front to the back, always constant, yet so different at first sight.

Okay, an update on Chapter 2 of my Caen Campaign. Shell recently revealed to me that his current campaign arc will end in about a couple of months, which means that mine will probably start in December thereabouts. For the campaign-related articles that I promised the last time to ease the players into the new chapter, they will appear weekly in the month of November.

In this day and time, Humans residing in Singapore have a lot on their mind, be it pondering on their next life quest or deciding on what item/s (vehicles, entertainment, necessities) to spend their gold pieces dollars on, or just basic responsibilities. DnD is a past time and not a full-time job (nor is it mine), so releasing the campaign-related information a few weeks before the start of Chapter 2 actually makes a lot of sense.
Our attention span can only last so long, and this way, the players would be able to recall and use some of the information, or jot it down somewhere for future references.

Recently, I had a conversation with an old friend of mine. He was mildly interested in joining the DnD sessions and being a Singaporean Gamer, until he realized that he did not want to be: a typical Singaporean Gamer.

The above images depicting typical "Singaporean Gamers" must have gone through his mind. No wonder he was scared. Composing himself, he gave me his initial view of my players and my sessions (without seeing or knowing my players.)

min/max abilities,
not wanting to role-play much but just see the game as a goal-oriented activity (rat-race).
requires a great deal of help from the DM for quest-related information that are not obvious in the first place or tied to an ostentatious amount of XP.

Yes, our DnD players do have some of those traits but to a certain extent, except for a select group who has all of those qualities. I retorted that there are many different players who derive joy from DnD in other ways rather than the traditional "role-play" way. Then he said something that was rather narrow-minded but made some sense.

"I understand that there are different people around. But why play a role-playing game without much role-playing? The environment should encourage non-linear play, interaction between the characters, and the goals should just be markers of your path through life."

He continued, "But this is impossible amongst typical Singaporeans. They worry too much about making the right move, how not to look "foolish" to their other gamer friends so that they can succeed and not be considered a failure. DnD originally allowed one to be a hero, and for one to act as one in his own way.

He laughed cynically (he is compulsive at that), "But for typical Singaporeans, they never were comfortable in doing things their own way. Our society does not promote that. We turn out to be mere unfeeling robots, squeezing the life out of an activity that is supposed to be fun and natural, and trying to win a non-competition."

I kept quiet for a while after his rant. I wanted to tell him that what he said was totally not true of my gaming clique. But I did not want to lie. I have many players who take the game this way. They feel pressured, angry and dejected after a session. Rare are the days when players recall fondly of gathering up to adventure in a faraway world, killing mythical creatures and saving a damsel in distress, instead focusing on whether they got the most out of a situation or what could have been.

But there is hope yet. I told him that I can see that in the right environment and setting, those same gamers will role-play. That plays a big part in making someone come out of their private shell and be someone else.
I mean why bother if there is no difference if one role plays or not,-and I'm not talking about XP or rewards here-, just that would it have made a difference at all?

Also, another thought struck me. If my friend was stuck in an environment where nothing you role play matters, he might just turn out to be the typical Singaporean Gamer that he hates so much.

I too, have a bit of those traits in me as well. But the desire for me to play/win with a certain style is very strong and tends to overwhelm my Singaporean instincts. I purposely roleplay out most actions to minimize the impact of the move just being a cold and calculated, min/maxed Singaporean Gamer move.

This is also one game that I can min/max my character but I do not need to min/max my actions. The min/maxed character simply gives me the option to do so if there was a situation that arose- aka "be ready for anything".

All I am saying that is we might never be amazingly eloquent gamers like some ang-mos or arty-farty dudes are, but the keyword here is "some". Not all of them are eloquent and cool, and I know of a few who are even worse than "Typical Singaporean Gamers".

All we need is to maintain a certain style and the simple joy of going into something without actually coldly calculating every move (unless we are dying of course), then we can go beyond our "Typical Singaporean" roots, and leap into the untapped realm of our imagination.

Singaporean imagination. *grins* An oxymoron no more.

The Positive Evolution of 4 Point Oh. (Recent Musings of FieTheDM)

2009-10-18T13:55:00.007+08:00

Hey all,

The DnD website had been redesigned a couple of weeks back and me for one, feel that it is an upgrade over the previous installment. Its magazine front is much more eye-catching, and there is a certain gloss and structure to it that makes you want to read its content.

Just like the 4.0 game itself, the newly integrated website (nicely linked to its forums etc) strives to change itself for the better over time so as to entice people to look, to try and ultimately, hope to engage its core crowd enough for them to click a link or play the game. That I feel, with the exception of the ugly new forums, is a step in the right direction.

4.0 has been going towards the direction of multiple but much shorter adventures (delves they call it, or "3 to 4 encounter" sort of dungeons/quests), which can loosely link themselves to a main storyline or an end-goal. I am heartened to see this change as many potential DMs are intimidated by having to make a really long dungeon romp if they are just starting out and this delve-concept provides chew-sized pieces -easily digestible- for the creative mind.

The new Chaos Scar campaign is one example. It actually returns to old-school role playing roots. The plot structure is more open-ended now, with the description of the region given, and only the start and end-goal stated. How the DM and the players get there (to the end-goal) is entirely up to them.

Simple. Clean.

Hooray for simplicity and allowing decisions to affect the game-world. Wonder why it took them a whole year to realize that DnD featuring the ideas of the players, and allowing them to immerse themselves in the world by being able to contribute/change it will make a happy campaign?

WoTC's action-first "Movie Scripted"-driven plotline is still around, but is no longer the default pace for every single minute of the campaign, but rather encouraged at given points in the adventure.

New DMs reading and wanting to start a campaign in the Chaos Scar region will thus find that free reign had been bestowed on them. Some say that with freer reign comes greater power comes greater responsibility comes a greater chance to do wrong too, but without a clear right or wrong, the new DMs would be more willing to imprint their own ideas and style on the campaign, which was tougher to do in the tightly scripted Scales of War or their previously published adventure material.

For example, Shane had to alter whole parts or delete complete encounters to place some of his own designs in Scales of War, to give the campaign his own feel. I totally agree with that choice, but more often than not, the adventure still feels like Scales of War due to its pacing and inherent railroading of choices, as being participants of an action movie is the campaign's trademark.

If so wanted, Chaos Scar can allow freedom of movement between quests and adventures, to the point that a party (without proper planning or background evaluation) can venture into a dungeon not meant for their "skill" or "level" and get royally crushed by over-leveled creatures.

This leads back to the DM's discretion. How he plans the control of "his" Chaos Scar will alter the mood and the pace of the campaign. I can safely say that if three new DMs run the open-concept campaign next week, their individual sessions will almost be like playing three largely different campaigns, flavored with their own unique journey from Point A to B- which is the party's goal.

It is early days still, but let us all applaud this small step in 4.o, which makes a giant leap in the direction of old-school gaming. Folks, not everything old is obsolete, or everything new -great-.

In fact if you give Old a go, it might actually turn out to be gold.

The newest addition to Gamer-dom and a free passport to Nerdaria.

2009-10-01T18:32:00.016+08:00

Hey all,

My brother's (Shane) son Christian is gonna be one tomorrow! Here is a huge shout out from me to our newest Gamer-dom addition.

*issues the boy a passport to Nerdaria*

Christian will soon be able to mumble coherent words, so... watch out world! That simple fact itself will make him a better role-player than Alex ever was.

Umm yes, that one. Alex the 6-year ~~old~~ drama student; he does try his best to ~~act like a retard~~ role-play, but alas.

I hereby dedicate this article to Christian Caden Kwek. May he grow up to learn that pure DPS is not always good and that Uncle Fie adores him.

"Care for a left handed forehand, kiddo?"

"Wake me up, when September ends." - A lazy blue dragon's quip.

2009-09-15T12:59:00.036+08:00

September is well on its way, and the week-long school holidays are over. Our 2 DMs have been hard at work, churning out bi-monthly sessions for us to play in. Najip had quit Shane's SoW campaign, leaving us with 4 players again (sounds familiar?).

I thought hard about switching characters to make up for his loss, but the thing is if Sunny is not in the party, we will kinda lack a "tank" role sorta character too, even though she is not a master at keeping hate. The current party will just have to sort ourselves out and play without a member with proper ranged and AoE again.

During Shane's SoW session, Sunny was wielding her new "Solar Enemy" power, which marks out choice targets for her shortsword to smack with. As a child of the Sun, Pelor had granted her this power, and one day at paragon level, she might walk the path of a Morninglord (mistress).

As a party, the four of us worked rather well as a team, with Vek soaking hits and damaging mobs as a respectable off-tank, Kat healing like I have never seen a healer heal before (in fact, I have never seen one deal zero damage before too), and Shell going down to mobs like I have never seen before. He is rather squishy, and that is the life of a melee ranger. Or is it? *grins*

Alvin- the new addition to Shell's adventure, is sticking to two sessions a month (aka Shell's adventure), so I will postpone my adventure until Shell takes a break from his. He proposed a level 10 break so that Alvin can get some closure when his adventure ends. I respect that and will stick to this plan unless altered.

Thus, my promised Caen/Chapter 2 article posting will be delayed until a week or so before my campaign proper starts. I want the information to be fresh in my players' minds as they can be put to use in parts of the campaign.

Lastly, on to something cool that I have been doing for the past week when not sprucing up my campaign, tuitioning, DnDing or playing tennis.

Champions Online by Cryptic Studios; the same company who brought us City of Heroes and Villains.

A visual DDi Character Builder on steroids disguised as a Super-Hero MMO. The Devious Lone Shark? Powerwoman or the innocent Obama-Girl?

This online game's character creation is so deep and fun that I could spend hours making a single character. The gameplay is okay, with generic quests etc, but seeing your character built up and succeed in the game is rewarding to say the least. And its one of those few MMOs that I do not feel the need to grind the levels fast. And for my personality, that is saying a lot.

These are but a few of the characters that I have created up to now. On the left is Leonardo, the Bladed Fury. He is my take on the TmnT and one of my improvised babies as the creator did not have any "turtle" looks or accessories. And that include the shell. I had to customise a bulky backpack to fit the "shell look and I have to say that it turned out rather well.

At the bottom (starting clockwise from the top right), is...

1. Triple H, the King of Kings - I am so asking for a name change on this character, which I predict will happen one day when I start playing Trips regularly. (Leonardo- formerly Teenage Mutant Non-Ninja Turtle, had already been smacked by the Cryptic Studios Name-Change Police.)

2. Lord Soth - I could not get to play him in my DnD sessions, so I recreated him in the MMO. A supernatural knight who condemns the weak and teleport/hovers above the mundane, his green and yellow scarf knitted for him by his deceased wife fluttering slightly in the cold air. Awesome.

3. The Cancer Stick - A reluctant super-cigarette whose dirty nails and toxic fumes can overwhelm and DoT villains to a sloooow death.

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

2009-08-26T16:13:00.029+08:00

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.

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.
Actions taken in battle will be final and conclusive.
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.

Lo and Behold, Simple Ways and Customs of a Hero -- Book of Futures, Vol 1.

2009-08-25T21:55:00.008+08:00

The tattered tome laid in Fel's hands. Suddenly, his eyes glow red, and arcane symbols impair his vision. He opens the tome again for the umpteenth time, and just as he expected, some of the the pages made sense. He could feel immense power coming from the tome, but is he the only one?

--Tome of Blood's Terminology--
Bloodcost: Before attacking with a Blood power, the bloodmage pays 1d4 hit points ( +2 additional hp at paragon tier, +4 additional hp at epic tier) for each target involved . This damage cannot be prevented or reduced.
Bloodlink: If the target has the bloodied status, he is considered to have bloodlink with the Bloodmage.

Blood Strike___________Bloodmage Attack 1
Tentacles of blood pierce the enemies, and bring them closer to the cause.
Encounter ♦ Arcane, Blood, Implement, Versatile
Standard Action ______ ____ _ ________Close burst 3
Target: One, two or three enemies in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d4 + Intelligence modifier damage.

Bloodlink: You ignore the bloodcost for the target.
The target takes an additional d4 damage, and is pulled
to the nearest square adjacent to you.
If there is no such space available, the target remains in
its original location.

Bloody Retribution___ Bloodmage Attack 5
As stated in the Tome of Blood, revenge is sweet. Seeing it in action, even better.
Daily ♦ Arcane, Blood, Implement, Versatile
Immediate Reaction________________Close Burst 5
Trigger: A creature within burst bloodies you
Target: The creature that bloodied you
Attack: Intelligence vs. Reflex
Hit: 4d4+ Intelligence modifier damage. The target takes ongoing
damage equal to your Intelligence modifier (save ends). You ignore
the bloodcost for this target.

Effect: You may make a secondary attack against each enemy within 2 squares
of the target.
Secondary Target: Each enemy within 2 squares of the primary target.
Secondary Attack: Intelligence vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d4 + Intelligence modifier damage.

Bloodlink: You may use this power as a standard action instead of a triggered immediate reaction against a bloodlinked target.

----------

Sir Guy, with his acts of bravery and selflessness told at immigrant campfires around the northern farmlands and the temple grounds of Pelor, ponders over his new-found status. Especially so after an encounter with several halflings at the after-party organized by Trogdor to celebrate Head-Captain Tel's promotion. At the back of his mind, the disappearance of Pelor leaves many questions unanswered.

Sir Guy's Merry Men of Movement and Miscellaneous ActionsS____________________ Farmlands Savior Utility 6
You whistle a merry tune, and a couple of halfling peasants appear, ready to do your bidding.
Daily ♦ Martial
Minor Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal
Effect: You gain an additional move action and a minor action for this turn.
You can also spend a healing surge.

Special: This does not take up a level 6 utility slot if your Farmlands faction
is "Savior" level or higher.

----------

Drefonis sits on the edge of the bed, playing out pivotal scenes in his memorable fights against Kystik and the Grandfather. His feints, his stealthy attacks, are etched firmly in his mind. He also recalled what Leeto had said to him regarding his next task for the Guild, and contemplates on the soundness of it all.

Dre's Measured Quickie_________ Dirty Leeto Utility 6
You feint awkwardly by gyrating your pelvis, while your dagger stabs at the unsuspecting victim's vitals.
Daily ♦ Martial
Move Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal
Effect: You roll a Bluff check against a target adjacent to you. If successful, you gain combat advantage and can make a modified basic melee attack (Charisma vs. AC) against the target.

Special: You can add your sneak attack dice to the damage against the target even if you have already expended it this round.

Quiet Step________________MoTG Utility 2
Softly, you meld into the darkness, making friends with the shadows.
Daily ♦ Martial
Move Action ______ ____ _ ________Personal
Effect: You become invisible until you attack or after 3 rounds has passed, whichever
occurs first.

Special: You can replace any rogue power you currently possess with this daily power.

----------

Trogdor rolls about in his bed, hardly able to sleep. He looks forward to visiting Castle Greyskill, where he can finally make amends with the Raven Queen and collect his reward from Hen-Lord Alan for returning Raven's Grasp to its rightful place. His alter-ego seems more placid, more controllable now, could it be a result of the new-found peace he has in his heart?

Creature of Havoc________ Trog's Character Feature
The wounds are many, too many, you scream for salvation and unleash the ...
Daily ♦ Psionic
Immediate Reaction ______ ____ _ ________Personal
Trigger: You are reduced to 0 hp or less.
Effect: You transform into a fearsome man-beast, with almost no control over your actions. You attack each creature in a close burst 2 (Str + 2 vs. AC), dealing 3d8 + Strength modifier damage with your savage claws and bite if you hit. You revert back to your original form after this attack.

Special: Your allies in the burst take only half damage if hit. If you are not holding a shield when this power is triggered, you deal an extra 1d8 to enemies in the close burst 2 area.

Heavy Shield Throw: This custom ability allows Trogdor to clumsily throw his heavy shield into the fray, usually out of desperation or in his preparation to harness his inner self.

Encounter ♦ Martial
Standard Action ______ ____ _ ________Ranged 4, (7)
Target: One creature in range
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: Strength modifier damage, target is pushed 1 square.

Special: On a critical hit, the target is also knocked prone.

The New Scales of War (Shane's Edition) and a random weather report.

2009-08-17T13:41:00.051+08:00

Hi all,

Shane had his first Scales of War DMing session on Saturday, taking over Vek and bringing the new party (Fubar the Halfling Sorc and Kithen Ralph the Half Orc Ranger are the remnants of the original group) to the city of Overlook.

We had great fun in the city, exploring shops and giving epic chase to a child vandal who had just splashed paint onto the inn the adventurers were staying in. Ralph and Vek- who was playing Pantiless the Elf Avenger, scaled about 2524 buildings , leapt over 4421 obstacles before finally pinning him down with the help of the other members of the party.
Me, Fubar and Daigo (Kat) were chasing, intimidating, bluffing, and percepting the vandal from quite a distance away as we did not have the acrobatics and athletics skills of our two Special Olympians who were trying to outdo each other.

Do not worry guys! Everyone is a winner at the Special Olympics.

Shane was trying out new methods e.g. Players'/Mob Initiative cards to track the battle, post-it notes to confer penalties etc, and colored markings on the mobs to book-keep the various effects on them. All in all, I will have to say that most of it worked, so bravo to the new DM. The set up time was still rather lengthy, but the in-combat time was cut down significantly, especially with Shane rolling his results on his I-Phone instead of using traditional dice.

My gripe about Scales of War is still the lack of atmosphere in the non-town regions. Sometimes, I feel that the encounters are there solely to make up for the action element and encounter quota for the level.
There is this particular encounter we had at the monastery when we were 80 feet up in an indoor cavern of sorts, where we fought several Orcs and a few crossbowmen defending two single-file wooden bridges over a pit which we needed to cross to get further into the monastery.
Our previous encounter just before this occurred in a large lighted hall, where there were many staircases at the sides with Orcs swarming about but after we dispatched them, we discovered that they all led to nothing interesting.
Then boom, the dimly-lit "Cavern" of Single Filed Doom was next. A bit jarring for my taste. I do not see a link joining these particular encounters, just separate action scenes cut out from different movies and made to awkwardly fit.

And with all new parties, I made a new character to join in the fun. This time round, I am playing Sunny, Honey Bunny - the ridiculously charismatic female Halfling Paladin who was a former member of a popular Halfling girl-group (Drunken Tigress).
Her moods swings from being painfully cute with winks and pseudo-korean girl-band phrases (Geegeegeegeegee, Job yo?, OH Unnie~!) to being a pain in the opponents' asses, recklessly drawing AoOs so that she can charge into them with lethal momentum.
She is 3 feet 8 inches tall and about 81 pounds, and has a bright cherubic face with a sunny demeanour. Clad in sun-colored plate armor and brandishing a gleaming short sword of Charrrrging, she is a picture of um, stability.
Sunny is contemplating other deity choices besides Pelor, as the God of the Sun and Crops was her industrious parents' natural choice. Her personal shortlist now includes Corellon (Beauty) and Tiamat (Covetous, Wealth) as she is coming to terms with her own character and what she actually needs to fulfil her ambition.
Party-wise, she is slowly trying to find her feet and assume her role as the main tanker, and as her confidence grow, she will be an asset to the party, not to mention the intangibles - her "wholesome" good looks and sunny mood boosting morale for the hot-blooded males in her group.

As it was already fast approaching six in the morning, we stopped for the night after finishing the "Bridge" encounter and advanced to level 4 w/o the extra feat. Sunny swore she heard the other Orcs and what-else deeper in the monastery breathe a collective sigh of relief.

They will survive for another week.

"I got good news and bad news." - Vek

2009-08-03T12:47:00.039+08:00

Hey all,

The Scales of War adventure that Vek was DMing for us has come to an unfortunate end. He cited lack of interest in being a DM and the added duties/commitment as the prime reasons for his decision.

Shane- the shaman (healer) in the original adventure, will take over DM duties in Chapter 2. The party will again be reformed to incorporate Kat, who will sacrifice War-War Lock to become our new healer. He is currently looking at a pacifist cleric build, but has yet to confirm his intentions.

I will be creating a new character too, as "Magicman" was politely declined by Shane due to his "hybrid is still a playtest" reasoning. As the DM, he has the final say so I might roll up a Paladin or a Barbarian instead. The new update to the Character Generator is set for tomorrow, and I will wait for that before making my decision. Divine Powers would have been in the database by then, and I can conveniently check if a new-age DPS paladin is viable.
My hand itches for a d12 or a 2d6 weapon wielding kind of character and these two classes fit the bill. Avenger can be an after-thought as well.

On to the good news.

The Monster Builder Beta has arrived in DDi! This gem of a building tool houses over 2500 monsters all ready for customization and cut/paste duties.

The Monster Builder is quick to fire up and easy to use for hassle-free encounter management.

Personally, I love the drag-and-paste feature in the program, where I get to shamelessly drag the firebreath power from a red dragon onto an unsuspecting domestic horse template. Firemare Kirin anyone?

Go check it out, aspiring DMs, and create your own flavor of madness today.

Ever felt like going back to DnD 3.5? Do you miss Weapon Finesse, splashing 1 level of something, the overly-complicated Grappling rules which felt like calculus, or the good ole' days when Intelligence didn't do squat to your AC and Charisma was the premier dump stat of the game?

I am Genie for your weeeeesh granted. (poof)

DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) Beta. The developers have decided that the game go F2P (Free to Play) game when it goes live on September 9th 2009. The Beta has almost forty good days left until it launches free next month. You can test if your rig can run the game smoothly, and if you enjoy their particular style of adapting DnD 3.5 to an MMO setting.

It is a good way for me to get a fix when the DnD "playing" pang hits my brain. The game runs smoothly, and I love the graphics when my character punches baddies into moosh, or decaptitates hapless minions with my super-aggressive Greataxe of Burrrnnnning.

DDO's graphics and gameplay is brilliant by F2P gaming standards, and can easily match some of the smaller existing MMOs in the market nowadays.

Don't just take my word for it, go try it out. What could go wrong? It is free to play anyway. You might just find your own personal gaming paradise online. (when taking a break from Mafia Wars of course.)

"People, please sit tight and hold on to your loved ones, we are about to dock in approximately three weeks to a month."

2009-07-22T12:21:00.068+08:00

Hey all,

The month of August is nearing. There are many interesting dates to note during that period, like ~~Singapore's National Day~~, Revenant/Divine Powers update on DDi Character Builder, my birthday (cough), and most important of all - The long awaited return to Caen for our Heroes of Maya.

As promised, from this week onwards until the start of the adventure proper, relevant background history of the immediate region will be published. I have also finalized official custom character powers/abilities for Guy, Fel, Trogdor, and Drefonis. This will be further touched on in its own home-brewed article down the road.

Watch out for all these and more!

For the past few days, the 9d20 site is going through a "growing pains" change. An additional sidebar has been placed on the right so that more information can be displayed efficiently without the need to scroll down all the way to the next lunar year.
With the expectation of new columns/previews/polls in the future, this change was necessary to prevent congestion and constipation of the various articles.

Do feedback comments to me regarding this, either in RL, sms, tweet, or shoutbox so that I know what the readers like/dislike. The different monitors and browsers used may also impact personal experience, so do let me know if my site is unknowingly providing grief to anyone.

On to something quite extra I read in the forums recently...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Stormwind Fallacy, aka the Roleplayer vs Rollplayer Fallacy Just because one optimizes his characters mechanically does not mean that they cannot also roleplay, and vice versa.
Corollary: Doing one in a game does not preclude, nor infringe upon, the ability to do the other in the same game. Many read 'optimizes his characters mechanically' to include more generally playing in an optimal way. Whether you do or not, Stormwind does not always hold. As we are discovering, you will sometimes reach moments where the choice indicated by roleplaying differs from the choice indicated by optimization, and you cannot choose both. Accordingly I would revise Stormwind as follows: Just because one optimizes his characters mechanically does not at all times mean that they cannot also roleplay, and vice versa.
Corollary: Doing one in a game does not preclude, nor at all times infringe upon, the ability to do the other in the same game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire thread can be read here. He just needed to write that the statement is not entirely true all the time and he saves like ten minutes of his life writing all these lawyer-aspirant stuff. Hey, maybe he does want to grow up to be a lawyer in real life.

DnD 4th Edition does make the roll-players want to optimize mechanically, as the game does away with the random stats generating of yesteryear and replace it with the default 22-point buy system.

The stat-mongers now have the ability to prepare a character from the get-go, and build it all the way to the upper levels, without needing to worry about "what if I cannot roll the charisma for the paladin that I wanted to make, and still score decent stats to meet the other pre-requisites?" or "whyyy did not have the luck to roll a half-decent rogue? I should have washed my hands before throwing the dice. I hope I get to play another game soon."
All these stuff are dealt away with the 22-point buy system and keeps them happy, but at a cost of lower numbers in the other "not-important" stats.

But think about it for a moment.

The role-players get a nice bite of the cake too. In the past, when they want to roleplay, they usually have to put a really high stat they rolled onto the roleplaying stat (aka Charisma) and the rest of their stats might be crap due to the luck of the other rolls.
Now with the 22-point buy system, no longer. They can have both role playing stats while maintaining decent stats, due to the ability to shape the characters themselves. These "balanced" characters are definitely playable and do not require much number-crunching. More people can thus enjoy 4th Ed in general, and get into the thick of the action immediately.

However, most turn their noses at such builds as they are not "optimized". However, it is not entirely true. There are several "balanced" stats character-builds that start to shine at 11th and beyond; which shows that with a bit of patience + the right group, you eventually get to have as much fun as Mr "Level 1 20 Strength Barbarian."

ELAMUSA. My recent Goliath ranger ("Staff" Diskount) in Shell's game might have to be shelved for a more well-balanced party setup. He does really well in the DPS department, and roleplaying him and his pet lizard was a serious blast. But Diskount + a melee pet is sometimes rather extra with the other 4 melee characters in the party.

Shell does put effort into maintaining an arcane presence in his world and my new character would fit into that mold, although he is a little bit unorthodox.

This versatile character maintains a close-combat feel while being able to shoot spells from far (20 squares). He can work just behind the spear fighter and the paladin, or go toe to toe once in a while when the time is right. He does not do mad damage like Diskount, but he fills the arcane void in the party, does decent damage, and will improve as time passes by.

He is an Eladrin, who lives to perfect the magic missile and swordmagery. His name? "Magicman". His origins? Found on his character sheet and in DDi.

"Lay on Arms and other oddities." - Freak show advertisement found on a tree near Pelor's Way.

2009-07-14T13:16:00.035+08:00

Hey all,

After a couple of weeks of turmoil and upheaval, our group's DnD sessions are shakily back on track. On another good note, we accidentally found a superior spot to host our gaming sessions.

The winner? The corridor behind my house.

It has great lights and smoother airflow, and the players do not need to rush like dogs on wheels whenever Mother Nature cries buckets. Fond memories of the dark, yellow-lighted playground will always be there as it provided us numerous sessions and degenerating myopia all-year long.

Last Saturday, Shell's new adventure was revived (after the departure of our cleric) at the corridor. I gleefully rolled up and played "Staff" Diskount-- a Goliath ranger (multiclassed avenger) hailing from the Koopong tribe in the northern mountains. A lumbering tribesman by birth, he does not believe in dexterity, quick feet or the traditional ranger ways. Stealth and blinding speed is not his forte. Diskount instead relies on good'ole anticipation, wisely knowing when to get in and out of the kitchen so to speak.
(But he has been badly burnt a few times, triggering recurring visions of his home-land.)

Diskount has a faithful Komodo dragon sidekick named Ba'Ze (twentypercent). This small, brown but immensely tough lizard loves watching Diskount do mad combat tricks with his magical blunt pole of serpent-ness. Sometimes, as his master bludgeons the enemies into pulp, he would join in the fray with his razor-sharp claws and teeth. Ba'Ze has an insatiable appetite, and he jolly well knows when another hot meal is on the way. Together, this odd duo roam the lands in search of adventure.

The thing about our party is that we are basically an all-melee orgy-bash. Yes, all 6 of us. (Ba'Ze included) That makes for rather interesting fights if tactics don't go our way. The party must quickly learn to adapt to the future encounters that Shell had planned for us.

Luckily, one of our party members is a ~~wasted slot~~ paladin. Not any ordinary plated I-can’t-do-decent-damage-din. But an uber one, in the mold of a certain ang-mo kung-fu master.

How uber, you ask?

"Really uber," I say.

How really uber, you ask?

"He is so uber that... he don't just lay on hands. That is like so wimpy," I say.

"He freakin' lay on arms. Whole slabs of them. Honest."

Talk about a teammate that lay it all on the line for his friends and team-mates. This is something else, folks. The real deal we are talking about here is...

(drum roll)

Presenting Justice the Mad-ladin -- with his Boisterous Strikes to liven the party mood, Shielding Smiths to help "craft" AC for the boys, and a touch of "My plate armor is still brand-new as I have not been hit yet" bravado.

Good for you, Justice. Good for you.

Disclaimer: This dude pictured here is NOT Justice the Mad-ladin as this dude obviously has magical stuff on him. Our Justice? He does not need them. Our Justice scoffs on stats, and spits on the graves of the prepared. Hooha!

p/s: Shane-- His cleric is still alive and kicking in David's Type 1 adventure. Here's wishing him more unblemished sessions! Do us proud!

p/p/s: Fie the DM-- I am still working on several aspects of Chapter 2: Blight of the Chained Demon. Watch this space for new updates soon!

Summer Madness, Lollipops, Bagels, Phoenixes, Tapered Dogs (and Change)...

2009-06-25T12:04:00.044+08:00

Hey all,

These few weeks have been great. I am happily involved in three ongoing DnD adventures, namely Shell's world of ELAMUSA, Vek's Scales of War (SoW) Official 4E Campaign, and Lex's Chapter 1 (of 74 maybe) which is about to end in a couple of months' time. (2 sessions completed so far.)

Between groups of mad sawn-off rifle, I mean staff-wielding shooter dudes, a level 8 Ogre trying desperately to tell us something (he died too fast for us to hear him properly. I do vaguely remember him going "FtF??!1"), and a mandatory cut-scene involving us involuntarily spending a night with a female witch/hag/pelican/whatever in a swamp, I can safely say I had been through quite a bit these days.

Then, there are my characters. In Vek's, I am Unn'Sah - the brash bandana-wearing 6ft 5in Swordmage feminist wielding a modified tennis racket(widely referred to as a longsword in DnD terms). In Shell's ELAMUSA world, I am Evening D'Odds-the quiet but deadly (random) Sorceress who blew her "top" off while dreaming away at the inn.
There is also the tormented Lang's Zai or Lz- the famous bard (in several small pubs at least) in Lex's immense world of three days North and a days South. Couple days West might be an option to uncover a loose floorboard. East is out of bounds due to family issues.

Oh, I have been spending way too much time on the DDi Character Generator, which is strangely addictive even though it is just exactly what it said it was - a character generator. I guess I have always been a builder in a way, be it cards or games. Thinking of and experimenting with builds is interesting; once in a blue moon when it works devilishly well, it is all worth the time wasted, uh spent I mean.
The DDi Character Generator makes it easier for me to throw an idea together, as it contains an updated-monthly DnD database that saves me the time of needing to flip through several books or check random handouts to recall an obscure feat/item/power. I am anxiously waiting for the first Tuesday of next month, where the Revenant race and the newer hybrid classes will be added into the mix.

This experience decided something for me. It confirmed my intention to get my own DDi subscription, even though I already "technically" have a small part in PT's account. I plan to share the account with Shane and Vek, at 5 Usd a month for a year.
Now that I think about it, it is rather cheap for that amount of cash. What can we buy with 5 Usd nowadays anyway?

3 copies of 8 Days? 5 cups of SweetTalk Bubble Tea? Three-quarter of a pack of unbranded cigarettes? The plastic ear of Christian's amazing Elmo toy?

The online deal is made sweeter with confirmation of more snippets of PHB3 coming out in the coming months, hopefully Monk-related (I am a monk fanatic). For fans who prefer gory poison-on-flesh striker action; a whole DDi Exclusive character class- The Assassin is scheduled to arrive in a few weeks.

Tennis have been great as of late. I bought a new Yonex racket, and yes they do make Yonex tennis rackets. I have been experimenting with new strokes and several new concepts I read/saw about on the 'net. I can feel myself wanting to play more. I feel like a student, all over again. I felt alive, hungry.
Through all this, I realized something.
It is not about the fact that I easily get hungry. I learnt that change is sometimes needed to challenge oneself, to do better and not rest on one's laurels. This is the attitude I want to put in all my students as well, for both their studies and sports. Heck, we re-specialize feats, skills, powers and what-not in 4E too. For the growth of the character, to make him/her stronger.

We are only worthy to witness his shoes.

Roger Federer. The greatest of all-time. He changed himself after suffering crushing losses at Wimbledon'08 and the Australian Open this year. He was rumored to have bawled his eyes out. But since then, during the clay court season, he played more aggressive and went back to utilizing his trusty slice more often (which he mentioned was not a "natural" part of his game). Yes, he might not think that it is a natural part of his game, but the slice does win him points and wreck the tempo of the opponent on the other side.
That itself is worth forcing the stroke into his repertoire. I should add that he is not too shabby in the execution of the stroke.

*Imagine Tiffany cutlery, slicing thin layers of fine cheese, with a classical tune playing softly at the back.*

Now, the Federer Express has a career Slam in his ever-thickening resume, and is heading for a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title. The No.1 spot is there for the taking, exactly one year after he relinquished it to a Spanish guy who could play some tennis.

A modern phoenix, no ? And an inspiring tale to share, yes.

Lastly and I am going rather out of topic here, my computer now has Foxit PDF Editor, which will allow me to make customized DnD "excerpts" with the exact layout and fonts. Monster and power templates can also be easily home-brewed; and did I mention this? They will look like the real thing in the books. Spoofs and parodies? Sign me up, babeeee!

p/s (11:35PM) - Oh no! Evening D'Odds, my Sorc in Shell's adventure seems to be in limbo due to player shortage.

p/p/s(1:20AM) - Hmm, now that I experimented more, some of the embedded information in the original text seems hard to edit, and the doggone fonts screws up when I try to type in certain letters. Oh well, at least I tried, back to MS Word for me until I install the rest of the Foxit suite in the future.

"Excuse me, maya know where to find a proper map of...?"

2009-06-14T14:18:00.004+08:00

Hey all,

My original map of Maya have been compared to many things. Toblerone chocolate pieces, blocks of random blocks, a five year old kid's scrawling on the classroom wall just to name a few. It was not that the original was not effective in showing the party important locations, but since I have some time on my hands now, I decided to use CC3 to flesh out the existing areas and future points of interest.
The town is now much easier to update, and more systematic in the long run. As a bonus, it does not hurt that it is more appealing to the eyes too.

In comes the ever-trusty grid which shows town travel (2 minute blocks). Khelid Kadashim's charred compound after the "Black Monday" incident is shown clearly in the Slums now, and so is the upper class district just north of the now-defunct Bankers' Bank.

Additionally, the Beggar's Territory, with Feldra- wife of Reyden Nylors, at the helm, has been updated at the Docks area. The party will remember a dispute with the ruffians on their first day in Maya, resulting in the heroes almost being arrested by the town guards if not for them barging into one of the Territory's warehouses and making themselves a temporary new hideout.

I will be updating the map regularly, so just bear with the 1.1 for now.

Note: Each hex represents 2 minutes of even-paced walking.

Town of Maya ver 1.1 (Click to Enlarge)

"A picture says a thousand words, and a thousand words is quite a bit." -- Fie the DM.

2009-06-05T18:43:00.039+08:00

Hey all,

I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of my ongoing series "Legends of Caen", which was meant to provide interesting background regarding the history and lore of this huge northern landmass in my current campaign.

These days, I have been busy trying my hand at mapping my world with CC3, and I have to say, it has been bucket-loads of fun. As I design the map, I can flesh out my existing plot lines and solidify future plans.

Without further ado, these are selected zoom-ins to show the particular region of Caen that our four heroes are currently adventuring in, or are soon to explore.

At the bottom, you are treated to a glimpse of my work in progress- the world of Fracas.

NOTE: Each hex represents approximately half a day of travel, difficult terrain not withstanding.

Maya and its surroundings. (version 1.2)

Maya, and destination-to-be - Castle Greyskill. (version 1.2)

Caen, and the other two continents of Fracas.

Legends of Caen -- Zzen, God of Unspeakable Death

2009-06-02T16:41:00.011+08:00

Zzen Elmatraq was a pious human paladin whose deeds for the Great City of the North was surpassed by few.

He led the Sccor's Elite XX Overt Regiment (SeXXoR) to great effect, during the trying times when the city itself was expanding and had to deal with the surrounding pockets of hostile resistance. Many Lizardmen, Kuo-toas, Salamanders and their respective encampments were all destroyed in the name of unity, peace, and long-term harmony.

King Pinn Nafors the Second, ruler of Sccor, admired him so much that he sanctioned the erection of a battle-keep for Zzen's overt operations in the desert, where fierce barbaric tribes threatened the safety of the walled city. Castle Greyskill was to be a bastion of defense, and news of any invading tribes could be quickly passed on to Sccor itself, where ample preparations could be made.

Coupled with the imposing keep and the quiet influence of the Raven Queen, Zzen and his SeXXoR fought numerous battles in the desert, winning all of them. He often disregarded the relaying of tactical information about the barbaric tribes and their movements, and just dispatching them solely with his elite regiment. The old-fashioned paladin had always believed in practical training, and sending troops-in-training to hostile environments for hands-on assignments is a norm in his regimented army.

In addition to his obvious prowess with his sword hand, Zzen was a born leader by example. He had many loyal followers and supporters in Sccor, who admired his drive and will to succeed even in the harshest of conditions.

The sight of the blonde mustachioed paladin, wearing the fabled Greyskilled - a whole suit of matching dark-grey magical plate armor emblazoned with a multitude of fierce Raven Queen insignias, was enough to send lesser enemies scurrying for cover.

Sadly, as time went by, Sccor became rich and complacent along with its inhabitants. Zzen's regiment was obsolete; as years went by without battle. He indulged in the finery of life, including booze and drugs from Sccor's famous spice farms. Zzen was often seen at parties and gala events, dancing and drinking the night away, while reminiscing about his glory days past.

One night during a high society gathering, he drunkenly poured wine onto, and insulted then-mayor Reeche Sliever, a master politician whose wit and viciousness was known throughout the land. In the weeks after, Zzen was embroiled in a smear campaign, vicious lies weaving him into places he had never even step foot into. He was eventually charged with malicious intent to usurp Sccor's royal throne, and found guilty by the tribunal.

King Nafors personally delivered the verdict and sentenced Zzen to die by Unspeakable Death. The condemned paladin was to drink from a poisoned chalice, which will corrode his throat, and then his entire body. He would perish slowly and painfully, without uttering a single sound.

It was carried out a few days later, in front of the Sccorian masses.

A few years passed and nothing much was heard of Zzen. Sccor continued to prosper and the Queen finally bore a heir to the throne- Prince Blor Nafor the Third.

On Prince Blor Nafors's fifth birthday , Sccor was suddenly hit by a freak slimepour from the mountains near it. Hundreds of citizens perished and the Royal Grounds decimated to the ground; as huge waves of green gooey slime flowed down the streets and consumed all. King Pinn and Reeche reportedly drowned, and the young prince was killed too. The entire Nafors family line was wiped out in a single night.

From that night onwards, the sky betrayed to the naked eye a new star- a greenish-black one, small but bright enough for all to see.

The Elder Druids from the Grove of Western Sccor Forest were intrigued by the events before them, and performed age-old rituals to find out the root of it all. They discovered that Zzen had somehow ascended to deitydom, an act never before accomplished by a mortal being in Caen, and once deemed impossible.

Startled by these revelations, they called upon the Five Great Gods of Caen- Pelor, The Raven Queen, Tempus, Mystara and Corellon Stonehands. Pelor reckoned if nothing was done, the delicate balance of the Arial would be disrupted by this new upstart, and total chaos could ensue.

The Five grudgingly decided to bind Zzen into the fabric of Caen itself, The Raven Queen wanted no part in it but lent her power anyway. As told in tales passed down the generations, months of epic storm raged through the skies, and the seas frothed with anger.

This period was to be known as the Years of Storm. Finally, after seven years, there was an eerie calm. Slowly, adventurers who returned by ship from the Far South spoke of something incredulous.

It was about Southern Caen- the huge virgin landmass, separated from Sccor by the Luna Sea.
Once, it was beautiful, luscious and untouched by mankind, but had now become desolate wasteland, no life in sight. The air was hot and stuffy, with greenish mist rising slowly from vents in the ground. Legend has it that the Five Gods binded Zzen's essence there, thinly spread over the endless acres.

The new star disappeared from the skies after that, and balance was restored to Caen. Ever since then, no one but the brave and foolish would travel to the Far South. A few makeshift settlements are rumored to mine and trade in the rich volcanic ash farmed from the dangerous land.

"Give a man a fire, and keep him warm for a day. Set him on fire, and keep him warm for life." -- Strategems in Life, Aplocal De'Sat.

2009-05-26T02:23:00.005+08:00

Hi to my players and readers,

It has been a roller-coaster couple of months since I last posted on 9d20. We had sporadic DnD sessions during that time, with two of my original players not appearing from time to time due to RL commitments. Funny thing was, it all worked out rather fine in the end. (Out-of-game Hindsight check)

Weilian was MiA in his army camp for weeks, so I revamped him as one of the key NPCs instead. Pongtau moved over as a dwarven cleric to Shell's campaign, due to our lack of numbers in that campaign after Alex left the game (quit).
The party size was reduced to four- Guy, Fel, Trogdor and Drefonis.

The last two weeks have been great, with the first chapter of my story drawing to a close after the party returned intact from the Oasis, and were largely pivotal in the success of the double trial of Nate Bankers and Weilian.
We had great fun as the smaller group maintained cohesiveness while tackling battles and roleplaying encounters in a shorter timespan. Time was efficiently spent due to lesser distractions about, and we achieved more in the process.
I now firmly believe that DnD 4th Edition is best played with four or five players, period. No more, no less.

Of course, the four of them had to adapt to the new party size and increased danger factor. Some of the tactics formerly employed by the party had to be changed due to the reduction of AoE effects, and lesser DPS on the whole. (Both players who left were striker classes.)

Guy changed his build into a more offensive one, Fel changed his feats and improved his survivability. Trogdor is now making more use of his sacrificial and healing abilities, and Dre slowly honing up his rogue combinations.
They coped fine, with a few hairy moments here and there but nothing much that they could not realllly handle. (Mandingo's minions did give them quite a scare though.)

The party is now wiser, freshly level 8, and have clearly sorted out their characters' motivations as the chapter drew to its conclusion. The upcoming hooks are many, and the rewards unimaginable.

Meanwhile, we have decided to take a break from Caen for a couple of months.
I will be using this period to integrate new game-table rules (e.g. the DM rolling selected skills like Stealth, Perception and Insight for the players, so as to add an element of uncertainty).
I will be posting up carefully hand-selected Caen lore to allow players a deeper knowledge and feel of the world they have been adventuring in for the past year.

With these, I hope that the players will be able to understand more of Caen, and also make better choices for their characters' futures. A loose episodic theme will also be implemented as I revealed before in an earlier post (Heroes Encapsulated) on the blog.

I look forward to our next foray into Caen, and may the "Heroes of Maya" continue to write themselves into Caen folklore.

"And I'm telling you (I'm not going) !!" -- J. Hudson's screaming in Showgirls.

2009-02-09T06:42:00.002+08:00

Hey all,

I hoped you guys had a really great Lunar New Year, and now its back to business again.

Actually not.

We, the group have been taking a break from table-top gaming, and Kat had just gone for his reservist training (two weeks). So, this gives us an opportunity to recharge our brain cells, and refresh whatever needs refreshing. We might also have to review the whole 4th Edition scene in our little community.

My Caen campaign is nearing the end of its arc, sputtering along with periodic sessions. Shell's campaign has been hit by "players" quitting/not coming etc, so the party line-up is left with me, Shane, PT, and Kat. It is just getting harder and harder for the group to meet up, due to various reasons. But one takes the cake though.

There is this particular player who reasons about not having fun, not touching 4th Edition EVER, and leaving the party without a second healer and in limbo (as we planned characters based on the players setup).
Such drastic action is usually just not cool. We kind of expected it from him, but to leave real-life friends hanging, even though we expected that too, is not too manly.

This reminds me of the Jennifer Hudson epic song titled "And I'm telling you (I'm not going)".

Diva? Hissy-fit induced tantrums? Black singer-wannabe douchebag punching his famous singer girlfriend?

Just not cool.

We, as a group, had learnt more about how to play DnD 4th Ed etc, but at the same time, we also learn that a good attitude is not taught, but more a natural upbringing and how different people deal with certain issues in life.

I have recently tried my hand at amateur tennis coaching, and I realized something. No, its not about lycra tights, spandex tops or pink headbands. I realized that I do not need a super-talented student with insane upside etc. What I am looking for is the show of a strong love for the tennis game itself.

That alone will create determination, commitment, and a willingness to listen and take advice/criticism. Of course, a good attitude for the coaching session is paramount too. I do not want to see pouting when I ask my students to pick up the stray balls, run an extra round etc. But I am glad to say that the current group that I have is not shabby at all.

These basic guidelines make a good learning/transfer of knowledge process. One might argue that DnD is not that, but who is to say DnD/RPGs does not involve transfer of knowledge? The DM will have to tell you the scene, and describe the consequences of your own actions to you. By the virtue of that, it is already transfer of knowledge.

Attitude towards tennis training can be linked to attitude towards the DM's response to a player's action, or the general vibe one gives at the session. Sleeping? Playing hand-held games/incessant SMSing/phone-hog? Showing excessive disinterest/sighing, dampening the mood?

Not optimal for tennis lessons, any lessons in general, DnD, and most aspects of life.

Think about that, while taking a dump in the toilet. And life will be clearer after you come out of the door.

And yes, I will be thinking hard about Shadowrun. A re-run of a lousy movie is never a good thing.

"Let it be known that all good things come in shady packages." (Read: Fie's Shadowrun 4th Ed Preview! and Darkfall Online)

2009-01-26T15:44:00.010+08:00

Hey all,

A Happy Chinese "Niu"(New) Year to you! (This crap pun was taken from a crap commercial I saw on local TV.)

I mentioned in my earlier post that I will be touching on the new exciting stuff happening in my local gaming circle.

First off, there is the latest MMO hope- Darkfall Online, or DFO for short. This MMO is a bit like the Obama inauguration speech. The game is new, but its intrinsic values are old. No levels, player-run economy, freedom to do "whatever" you wish to. In fact, it is a UO/SwG/EvE inspired clone w/ a full-pvp ruleset twist. aka, "sandbox" full of bloodied sand.

In 2002, Adventurine S.A., a Greek-based independent gaming company, bought the game engine/concept over from another like-minded company who was going bankrupt. The years passed and nothing much was heard.

The interested public and fans thought that the game had gone into vaporware-mode. The signs were there. No publicity, no news, no new trailers, no developer's post, etc etc. But by an apparent act of God, snippets of the game resurfaced again a year ago, along with the announcement that it would be launched in the beginning of 2009.

Fast forward to now. A few days to the much-anticipated beta where players can actually try out this game without just reading/dreaming/jizzing about it. The beta will be paramount to soothe the many naysayers harping that this game is in fact an elaborate hoax, that it is too big, ambitious and with a concept far too dated for the WoW world of today.
(Update: 27/1/09: The 25th have passed and the beta is going along fine, albeit invites were only given to players in big guilds and only in the next few phases would a normal player like me get a chance (16%) to experience the beta.)

I have to admit I did have my reservations, as there is too little information out for a game that is supposedly coming out on the 25th Feb 2009. But then I realized that this is actually a small company with a limited budget. Being able to garner such publicity through sheer "word-of-internet-mouth" in fact saved them much in advertising costs. I have to add that being mysterious never fails to whet the appetites of gamers, especially those wanting to go back to 0ld-school roots.

But a major part of me wants this to game to work, so as Obama recited at the Washington Mall, (loosely translated by me) -

"In this icy winter of new-fangled MMOs without the RPG part, I urge all old-time gamers, to stick by the timeless values of relative integrity, player-run economy/quests, and above all, time. Give something time, and hope is born. And when hope is born, umm... Faith follows.
DnD loosely mirrors these values, even though it has been tainted by the ugly claws of commercialism, Wall Street (WoTC), whatever."

Okay. Obama did not exactly utter those words, at least not in public yet. So let us pray for a smooth delivery, and God bless us all.

Part 2 (Of this otherwise already amazing double-header post!)

Let us imagine if Darkfall turns out to be a complete hogwash and is actually a Pokemon Online rip, and we fail to see the light of it. Do not fret, gamers.

There is still, Shadowrun 4th Edition. I know I have been talking about SR4 for a couple of posts already and that all that I wanted to gush about it has already been gushed.

This time, I am going to show you something concrete.

Without further ado, I now present to you the gist of Fie the DM's first SR4 campaign set in the summer of 2070, Singapore Island-City.

Your eyes are glued on what is happening on Holo-Hub Channel 14, and so are the hundreds with you in the local pub. Nervous chattering is heard everywhere, and the stink of sweat permeates in the overcrowded space.
There had to be a reason why the taps ran dry and the electricity shut down two days ago. Shortages like these were frequent ever since the Workers Party came into power in 2068, but never had this been island-wide.
Yes, this is the real thing, only worse. The whole f'kin island is in blackout/full-loot mode.
Images of massive riots near City Hall protesting the virtual stoppage of the economy, crazed Sporeans smashing windows, fences and grabbing whatever foodstuff/furniture/items of value in the affluent residential districts of B.T. 9 (formerly known as Bukit Timah) and the Tri-Zonal East Towns (Tampines-1, Pasir Ris, Little Simei) are being shown. Suddenly, the images stopped and a familiar image appears on the holo-screen, fidgeting on his podium.

"Hail all Sporeans, I am your Prime Administrator, Robert See. I do not have much time to speak, as this emergency power source, kindly sponsered by AdmerEALty Industries, *crackle* will *crackle* last us only a few minutes.
In this time of darkness, (ahem) I have to say that we will have to be patient as we ourselves do not know the source of this *crackle* madness. Rest assured that we are not not the only ones. I have received reliable sources that this phenomenon is in fact- worldwide.

For now, I say, and I repeat, that all existing electronic data island-wide have been wiped out, and past government records erased.

We have set up an Emergency Identification Process (EiP) whereby all Sporeans will have a week's grace to walk or cycle to City Hall during daylight, to re-register *crackle* yourself with our government as a citizen and show us proof of your assets in paper. Failure to do so will deem you as an illegal *crackle* immigrant and subject to law.

I promise to conclude this announcement with my assurance that *crackle* ..."
This is the starting story-plot of my campaign and I will be fleshing out the country and its various zones in subsequent handouts etc. The starting characters will be thrown into the scenario and enjoy the advancement of both their personal goals and the overhanging storyline.

SINner? Former contacts? A handy stash of equipment? Or just an alert mind? These can come in handy as you come to grasp with the new reality of life in ---

"SINgapore 2070 -- The Sun, the Sins and the Sea."

For now, enjoy the lunar festivities and I will talk to you again in a few RL days.

"As I run in the shadows of the Valley of Death..." (Rigger's Paradise, RCA Records)

2009-01-15T18:03:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

Chinese New Year is around the corner.

It is one of those rare times in the year where work grinds to a halt in Singapore, and the festive mood takes over the Chinese majority. Same for us gamers. We will be taking a break for the next week, but might squeeze in a Saturday meet-up session just before Reunion Dinner on Sunday.

And honestly, we might even be able to meet up during the late night of the first day of Chinese New Year, as the modern Chinese nowadays tend to celebrate more on the first weekend of the Chinese New Year instead, with no work the next day (Sunday) to dampen their buoyant mood. (Read: they get to gamble/drink until the wee hours of the morning, and get to sleep like a pig the next day.)

This break will allow me to take a step back and read up more on Shadowrun: 4th Edition, and maybe even do up a campaign for a test-run.

Sometimes, I long for a proper roleplaying game with the right balance of combat/RP (not knocking the rest of the genre), and this might be it. We will never know until we try it, but at least there is a glimmer of hope in the Valley of Glitch Deaths.

The combat looks brutal and fast, and we will have to put more effort into the other aspects of the game, for we will not want a 1-hr mission, with the sheepish DM going," That's all for today folks. Thanks for making it all the way down to Simei for the fifty-five minute session." He adds," Go take your midnight cab now, as its already 2am."
I am looking forward to making a fun and action-packed campaign. There is much to figure out in the game though, and the DM preparation is more open-ended and tougher in a sense. As said, I will read up more thoroughly on the manual and work on it accordingly. No biggie I suppose.

To go forward, sometimes we have to take a step back. New fangled games just lose its roots while appealing to the new generation. Take a look at Fallout 3. FPS? Yes. Roleplaying? Umm, not so much. A whole legacy diminished, catered to new blood. They had to be realistic and look beyond the "isometric-view" dinosaur gamers, to get a bigger share of the pie. Yes, but please do not tell me that this is a follow up to Fallout 1 and 2.

Nuff' said. Let's take a trip back Old-school, y'all.

*turns on the Dinosaur-mobile, circa 1999-2003, cries a bit*

Ultima Online. SWG. Those were the two games which gave me a bit of the feel of a player-centric game. Player-run economies, quests etc... But those days are dead. Almost.

Now, its all WoW this and WoW that. A huge population of players slaving to the coolest employer around- Blizzard Entertainment.
They crow,"I downed this boss, 24 man raids, epic fails, leetsauce, weaksauce, threat, warlocks, warriors blah blah.." The players get happy when they see new WoW clones try but fail miserably as WoW had already bottlecapped the market, making it so hard to just survive in this already small pond. They are playing the best MMO in the world. Or more accurately, the only MMO in the world at this rate that it is going.
Colored loot, super-easy XP leading to less of a grind, so that one can meet his friend at level 60 in like two weeks. Guild Wars anyone? At least I did not need to pay monthly for GW.

Just to let you know, I am not bashing WoW. I know that it is one hell of an addictive game and is a complete MMO experience for most. Blizzard is one of the best game-makers around, and their track record is second to none. Diablo 2, for the record, ruined my life. :)
But all in all, WoW is just a game, nothing more. Interaction and role-playing? Players shaping up the world with their own hands? A girl in a lup-sup bar giving superficial love?

*crickets chirping*

Anyway, is that even important anymore? I wonder.

But as said, there is still hope. A new hope. When all is gone and the lights goes off, darkness falls.

Darkfall. ----> Feb 25th, 2009. Mark that date down in your calendar.

More about that in my next post.

"Battlegrounds Hack-n-Slash d20 System, less on the roleplay, thanks!" (Thoughts on the current RPG scene)

2009-01-11T19:15:00.008+08:00

Every game has its good and bad points. But like chicken rice, no matter good or bad, there is usually still the chicken and the rice. Which brings us to a role-playing game. It needs role-playing elements and of course, it must be enjoyable as a game.

4th Edition DnD.

It is a roleplaying game. With a filmsy Skill Challenge system for determining complicated role-playing encounters which doesn't work anyway, and an elaborate tactical grid combat model. We can definitely see where WoTC concentrated their effort on in 4th Ed.
This also conveniently allows WoTC to heighten demand for their overpriced plastic miniatures (some of them which I do admit looks quite okay in terms of mass-produced China-sweatshop standard).
All in all, the game sometimes degenerates into a hack-and-slash fest, sadly even when the DM does not want it that way, as the combat in 4th Ed takes around half an hour, all the way up to two hours for "epic" fights.

"No zombies or motorized hacksaws please as we continue to mow down the minions, thanks."

We experienced this quite often in our heroic-tier campaigns, and the players can expect the bulk of the four-hour long DnD sessions to be combat-oriented if at least two such 4th Ed encounters are thrown in.

Okay, you must be asking, but if the combat is fun and all, won't we want to spend more time in the part of the game which is indeniably the game's strength?

Umm, yes.

If combat was does not end up being an inevitable household chore (think washing stacks of dishes and plates after a hard day of work, and you had just wanted to go to bed in the first place.)
Combat in 4th Ed is fun on paper with the various at-will, encounter and daily powers given to us by the game, but pardon the cliche, after a while, it does feels a bit like an MMO, where I am clicking my character's special powers on his on-screen HUD. The various status effects inflicted on mobs/players is reminiscent of MMOs in general as well. (and boy does it feel like the dishes and plates analogy.)

Too many skills depend on tactical placement and the cooperation of the party, which is important for most games, but to keep track of all these on the battleground (kitchen table), means distracting one from roleplaying his fighter in the old days, where one can shout,

" I hack at him wildly with my great axe. Arrrrr!!!"

*rolls a 1 on a d20* - loses an arm and a finger according to Shell's Custom Crit System (CCS)

In fact, that might be the only thing that the fighter could do as an attacking option (besides Power Attack etc) in the old days. But by keeping it simple, it allows one to flesh out his toon (character) in his own unique way rather than allowing the name of the power to compensate for it.
Constantly having to wonder which three squares to move away to get concealment, which exact few squares to stand on to get the most out of the entire's party power array etc, starts to grate on the party and the DM alike, like say, an hour into an epic fight.
The sheer number of status modifiers accumulating on the mobs and players does not help with the ease of book-keeping too.

All in all, I feel that DnD 4th Ed is too clunky in combat form after playing firsthand, contrary to their boast of a cleaner/faster system. The "Powers" system did simplify the creation of a character, but not the actual time spent in a fight due to unforseen "splash damage" time taken from remembering the sheer number of status effect modifiers, the 202th time a mark moved in the same battle, and trying to optimize play between 4-6 players with individual powers requiring specific placement.

It is of no fault of the players or the DM that they want to optimize play, but the system itself is rather flawed when so much time have to be spent to do it efficiently. WoTC should buck up and start "patching" the existing game content first, before churning out endless sourcebooks/splashbooks in a short-term attempt to grab quick cash.

I am still having fun playing the game though.

I play the game primarily for friends, for their companionship and interaction, and of course, a four-hour journey into a different body/soul/mind. I enjoy the personal challenge, trying to keep myself in character, longer and longer as the weeks go by, until one day, when Pongtau, Shell, Lex or Shane ask me to buy a drink at the vending machine next to our gaming table, I can snarl to him in Deep Speech,

"Get it yourself, thrall, before I siphon your brain and mush your senses!"

By then, I would have hopefully snapped to my senses, and go about buying the drinks.

I never viewed myself as a great roleplayer, as all these things should come naturally to the great and the gifted. But I do try my best, and for what I lack in, I make up for it in intensity and the willingness to grind on and improve oneself.

Three words to all our players, vets included.

"Do-not-f*cking give up."

Peace all, and stay tuned next time when I will be touching on the original 4th Edition game which came into existence way before DnD 4th Edition. (Clue: It rhymes with Shallow Buns.)

p/s: Vek is selling his custom-made dice which rolls a 6 approx. 32.1 percent of the time. Word goes that the local casinos are trying to head-hunt him for his mad skills.

Two weeks of Real Life, Shell's campaign, King's Bounty and Shadowrunning? (A definitive belated New Year's post)

2009-01-04T19:45:00.011+08:00

Hi all,

Firstly, a Happy belated New Year's to all my readers/fans/thralls !!!

I had been taking a break from my campaign for these past few weeks, making way for Shell's new DnD adventure. I was enjoying typical end of the year festivities (read: lots of sleeping, tennis, tuition-ing). But there were of course, exceptions from the boring same-old same-old. For the past week, the twitchy fingers of mine were occupied by the best game I have played in recent memory -

King's Bounty: The Legend.

This little gem of a game comes from the demented Russian makers of Space Rangers 2 - Katauri Interactive. They bought the engine of the game from a small company that was running out of resources, and added their own unique tongue-in-cheek humor/quest touch to it. Add the title "King's Bounty" to the mix and you got yourself a cult hit. (Only reason I can think of for now that KB:TL is not bigger, is due to the inept distribution and customer service of the crappy Atari distributor brand.)

It may look like a rehash of Heroes of Might and Magic and all its related TBS/RTS brethen at first glance, but after playing it for a couple of hours, the depth of KB:TL is astounding. I have to admit after countless hours on it, I am still learning new stuff and concepts e.g. stacks, race, morality, in the game itself.

Yes. The game has the morality concept floating about in the midst. And does it really well.

Some of your items are affected by the actions you make in the game, making them "living" items, with mood swings attached. The elven artifact that I retrieved in my particular game was not happy with me at all at first, due to my non-elven ways. I had to stop hanging about with undeads in my army, and killing random elven troops in the game to appease it. That did not stop the artifact from stopping its effect completely at times, forcing me to "suppress" it forcibly to maintain its effect.

Your actions e.g. helping/killing a tyrant, influence the game greatly, thus making you think twice before doing anything. I for one, roleplayed a vastly charismatic Paladin who was bent on ridding evil using Evil itself, except that the said paladin is now divorced and newly married, with his new wife correcting his ways e.g. a goodie Human/Elven army. KB:TL did not slap a "Role-Playing" tag to its genre, but yet makes you want to do it. Amazing stuff I tell you.

Pros: Humor,Off-beat, Deep, simple yet beautiful graphics
Cons: Time-consuming, some bugs that crashes you back to desktop
Rating: 9/10 ("Jizz in my Pants" standard)

Enough about KB:TL for now, before this post rapidly turns into a game review. You really have to play it to do it enough justice. Thank Caiphon for this to restore my faith in computer games after how Fallout 3 disappointed me greatly.

Back to Real Life. Last week, on a random trip to my local gaming store, I was lucky enough to find Shadowrun: 4th Edition propping up the shelves. Years ago, my friends and I had a blast playing the game in its 2nd Ed incarnation. The rules were rather clunky at parts and we had to constantly refer back to the rulebook for clarification. No longer is that the case.
The current edition boast award-winning credentials (Game of the Year 2006: Gen Con), and is basically a "reduced fat" version of the previous. The clunky was trimmed down, while the exciting (read: brutal combat, realistic wounds/death system, tons of firepower, immersive world) kept at its gory best.

I am still reading through the book but it bodes well for the future, and I am having thoughts about DMing a short campaign one day. Shane, Alex and Pongtau have already made characters for the game, and as they all say in 2070, we might be making a 'run soon! (More on this in a later post.)

And finally, Shell's campaign! These few sessions, our party of five had been hacking and slashing our way to gain Crowtel's "respect", and have reached character level 3 as I write this. We will be uncovering the mystery of the tainted corestones and their effect on the world, as the campaign goes on I presume.

I am playing Kharisma K. Karpenter, an intense mindflayer starlock who went to Crowtel to find out more about Caiphon- her patron star, when she met up with the other four ( Grim, Oshamus, BBW and whichever character Lex is playing that week), and instead, got herself embroiled in a world-changing plotline.
We are still looking for the city to give us due respect as they have been rather coy with their rewards and praises thus far. I cannot blame them for not trusting an illithid like me, but our numerous exploits should be able to speak for themselves.

Okay, this has been a long post, signing off here and I will be back very soon with more news regarding Shadowrun, Shell's adventure and my Caen adventure (which is returning after the New Year!)

"Better Nate than Never." (Excerpt from "Finger Food for Oozes Cookbook" included)

2008-12-16T14:30:00.004+08:00

Hey all,

For the past two sessions of my Caen campaign, our heroes have been a lil' bit busy. Their sword arms were working overtime and in the matter of a day, they had already cleaved off the head of the dictator, Mib Tranor and indirectly caused the death of their long-time nemesis - Nate Bankers after encountering him in the underground dungeon of Greenich.

Our resident transmuter/rich man's son/wayward gayboy was trapped by the party, and ravaged by hungry oozes in the cavern that he had been hiding in for the past week . They must have felt that Nate was quite a delicacy, as there was almost nothing left of him, except a partially digested lizardman decoration earring.

Kind of a mixed feelings thingy, as the party wanted to bring Nate back to Maya for trial. Technically, Nate is "still" going back to Maya, except that he would be testifying as a bone ornament in a tiny bottle I suppose.

As of now, we will be taking a short break from Caen, while allowing Shell to start a bit of his new campaign (slated all the way to Epic, I heard.) I will be bringing you more of the happenings, including 9d20's New Year's stuff for gamers.

Okay, now for the Finger Food for Oozes excerpt that I had promised to show you.

Enjoy and cook well, all.

Ooze's Babi Ponteh (Page 82: Simple Underground Delicacies of the North)
Ingredients
A slab of Human or Boar (Human preferred for tangier taste), Ooze's acidic goo, a dabbling of common salt, three teaspoons of vinegar, and grounded mud granules.
Directions
1.Take the slab of something and hack it into comfortable munching bite-sizes.
2.Fry the pieces in a pan for about six turns. Add in the common salt and the mud granules, taking care to dabble evenly on the exposed parts of the human/boar.
3.The vinegar should be added next onto the active stack. Let it simmer in the pan, allowing it to take ongoing fire damage (5) for another ten turns.
4.Finally, throw in the acidic goo as an aggressive afterthought, and serve the dish as an immediate reaction to a hungry stomach.
5. Done properly, the OBP should be gobbled up in no time at all , until save ends. (with a -2 penalty)

"Heroes Encapsulated. It now comes in more munchable bits!"

2008-11-28T18:08:00.005+08:00

Hey all,

One chapter. Three months. Twelve sessions.

That is the format that I will be aiming for my ongoing Caen campaign next year. It will allow me to pace the action properly and move the storyline along a definite path, littered with several sidequests.

For my current chapter, it has lasted about half a year and the time is ripe for a conclusion. The players themselves have grown considerably, and experienced the DnD system first-hand.
They now have a better grasp of the rules and how/what they might want to play in the years to come.

My players will be able to continue with their original characters next summer (with their items and where they left off). They also have the option to make totally new characters who will be buffed up to a certain control level, and given stock magical items to compensate for the loss of their original custom items.

Update
In the current Caen chapter, our party of six have now tailed Nate all the way to the village of Greenich-a collection of repressed villagers protected by their local "hero" Mib Tranor. Mib let slip that Nate had dealed with him a few days before. He allowed Nate access to his private dungeon, and has no idea where he was down there.
The party climbed down a deep hole in the ground as directed by Chriss- the architect, and were appalled by the conditions of the cramped and hastily built underground mudwalk. And being only able to walk in a single file, and running the risk of hurting allies with their ranged attacks added to their frustations. And everyone know that in small packages lies great surprises. (or something along that line.)

Can the party survive this wooden underground coffin of a place and find the pesky banker? Check out this space for more.

"Okay. Let's have a recap..." - xoxo, Gossip Girl. (1.06)

2008-11-04T16:47:00.017+08:00

I have to admit that I am a fan of drama serials, even those crappy-ish ones, e.g. Gossip Girl, One Three Hill. I also love Laguna Beach when it first came out on MtV and its later editions. Who can resist LC, Jason the jerk etc. ( I draw the line at The Hills though, which sucks royally to the core.)

And my adventures, hooks and inherent pacing and cliff-hangers, yes, are of course influenced in a way or other, by all these drama-mama stuff.
That is why I ended one of my recent sessions at the start of a fight involving a bunch of "woodcutters". The players will be left hanging on a thread for a week or so wondering what they are up to, or at least have the opportunity to wonder why things happen the way it is.

I like to start my sessions with a lengthy recap. As we play once a week, it is good to re-tune the party's thoughts back to Caen. And of course, reminding the players of exactly what had happened a week ago, is not exactly a bad thing to do. Everybody has a life outside of the game and they may forget or not remember everything in its entirety. A recap is just good for everyone, and so is Robotech. (But that is another story altogether.)

As our chapter draws to a conclusion, I realized that I have learnt a lot from my first attempt as a 4th Edition DM. These are but some of the little "life" gems that I will take along with me for the upcoming rides.
(Do remember: This is not a jibe at any of my players. I value their participation above all else, and we have to recall that this is our first try at a new game. In all fairness, this is a first-child experiment to help our other adventures in the future.)

First and foremost, I learn that in future, to play with people that I will enjoy DMing, and not just because I want a certain number of players in a campaign etc. Bad vibes from certain players who are not enjoying the game will sour the experience of those who are genuinely trying to enjoy the game. Now that I have seen things in a clearer light, I am wiser on sending invitations for a run in my future adventures. "Yes, Freddy! I am looking at you! Get a good shift job or something so you can start rolling!" (A similar analogy is likened to a choice between a bright but sulky/bad-attitude student or a dimmer but happy/willing-to-learn student. Give me the latter anytime.*)

I see real-life personalities on the gaming table, and sometimes, they can be downright ugly. There is no "must-d0-or-you-are-stupid" because you are playing in the skin of another character. He/she might be that stupid. Thus, it should not be treated as a race to uberness. It is more about developing a strong party bond with different character types and forging ahead together at the expense of the unlucky baddies. Learning together. Sometimes, even dying together. But ultimately, having fun together. Something that I cannot stress hard enough. A general rule of thumb: Have fun, play fun. Fun is infectious, and goes a long way.

I cannot point a finger at the players for not enjoying the game. My campaign is not everybody's cup of tea, and I respect that. And of course, I am not expecting everyone to think of Caen or Maya every day, every minute of their real-life week. I do feel that for the session's length at least, the players should try to get more involved in the proceedings , let go of their inhibitions in real-life, and play freely and happily in another skin. Players should at least know the gist of their skills/powers, remember to bring their own character sheets/dice/figurines, or just act interested for the few hours. It is not about basic courtesy for the DM or the game. Just think of it as indirectly smoothening the session for everyone there. (Likewise on the DM's side, if he is ill-prepared for the week, or is in a generally frustrated or disinterested mood, he will also adversely affect the session.)

Everyone plays a part in helping the experience. Even Neekor. Be it noting down the initiative of the combat, helping with the book-keeping, tracking the gold, taking note of the hooks and clues that an important NPC gives instead of treating it like "Bah, another thing to note down, you do it then...". Players also play a part in shaping the world by developing the background of the character (discussing which part of Caen do they come from etc. They can even come up with their own names etc and check with the DM if it fits the campaign.) In many aspects, both the DM and the players play a part in making DnD an enjoyable experience.

Sometimes, we must take a step back, and actually remember that I, the DM, am essentially just trying to tell a story, with my players as the focal point. We have fun on the journey, together. It is not supposed to be something whereby, the players sit around a table and expect everything to fall from the sky, with the DM as a separate entity. It does not work that way. Maybe I am equating a player's fun to how involved he/she is in the campaign, as there are many types of players in the world, as shown in the DmG. But think about it. If you enjoy something and is directly related to the storyline itself, won't you do a little bit extra to help make the experience better for everyone involved?

You may think that "Damn if it is all gloom and doom as mentioned, why in the name of Black Zenith's arse are these guys still running the game?". Simple answer. It is not always like that. In fact, we have loads of fun most of the time, goofing about and role-playing serious stuff too. Many hours have been spent with them discussing amongst themselves on whether to partake certain quests/lines due to their differences in alignment. And better things are yet to come. --------->

Shihao's upcoming campaign will be our group's new revised foray into DnD 4th Edition. Discussions are on the way. Shihao and me were discussing time-limit checks (2 minutes for the whole party to decide on their actions, to cut down on combat time). A bag with individual tiles numbering 1-20 for skill checks is in the mix too. It will be a brilliant hybrid between letting the player choose his own fate, but yet not knowing if what he chose is good enough to successfully finish the intended action. He will also be doing detailed encounters with much terrain in the mix, which is something my battlemap lacks at times. More power to him, and I look forward to playing my Mind Flayer.

By the way, this is me voicing out my thoughts and calling the situation as I see it. From a DM's point of view. I like to think that improvement is always possible and that nothing is perfect. So with these points in mind, we can make future DnD runs even more enjoyable.

Okay, okay. Enough of thoughts and on to something non-humane and cowabunga-ly cool.

*cups hand to mouth and whispers*

I have managed to get my hands on a Palladium System "TmnT" Core Rules RPG in pdf. form. ( Thanks to Kizul from the US of A!) A TmnT campaign can be set in a ancient/modern/post-nuclear world; whereby the players are actually mutated animal-heroes/villains in every form imaginable. -------->

(Think mongeese Ninjas, owl scholar-scientists in a genetics-engineering lab, or Elephant Yakuza gang-members touting AK-47s. You get the idea.)

The character-rolling process is brilliant and TmnT is actually one of the rare games I do not mind making a character with the random generator. I will be able to bio-modify it to my tastes in the end, after finding out what the creature the system has picked for me. You will never play the same way twice and adds to a lot of replayability.

Pongtau is nice enough to help me print and bind it (Thanks man!), and I dare say that it might be one of the best books he will ever bind in his lifetime. *chuckles* Do give it a go when you guys have the time. You will not regret it.**

'Til we meet again next time, and remember- "The grass is always greener on the other side only if there is no shit on it."

* No, Freddy. You are not any of the students that I mentioned.

**If you are a fan of the Fallout series, TmnT, Wasteland, post-aplocalyptic stuff, Freeway Fighter, steampunk etc.

"Have a Merry lil' Christmas in Maya..." (Part 1 of quite a few parts)

2008-10-29T20:58:00.018+08:00

Woah. Its fast approaching the end of the year, and like real-life people who are preparing for the stock markets to hit rock-bottom, Mayians like-wise, are preparing for something of a different kind :

The Annual Mayian Fair.

Yeap. When Maya was founded about twenty odd years ago, then-leader Hevok and his right hand man- Khelid Kadashim worked hard to establish her foundations. Maya was flanked by the aggressive Lizardmen in the nearby swamps and kobold-kind in the brushland, while the dry desert north did not provide much refuge. What Maya did have was hardworking settlers and several parcels of farmable lands at the southern tip of the dry desert.

Hevok started the Scattered Brains Society- a peasant union, to develop the farms, while Khelid fronted the Mayian Trade Council. At first, Hevok was in charge, but he soon realized that while he was a leader by example, he was not adept at commercial dealings and subtle diplomacy. In less than a decade, Maya was soon a thriving fishing port, blessed with a great geographical location in the Caen mainland.

The Mayian people work hard all year round, and the harvests are bountiful at the end of the year. Hevok personally bought out a couple days' worth of crops and catches, and organized a small party in the centre of the town, now known to most as the Town Square.
This idea was overwhelmingly popular, and over the years, the tradition persisted. But this time, everyone came with a bit of what they had or could produce. Some even set up temporary stalls. These paved the way for the layout of the stalls at the square you see nowadays. During the festivities, you could buy foodstuff or exotic merchandise at a discounted rate.

The next edition of the fair is upon us in a couple of months. Hopefully, everyone will be able to forget Black Monday at the beginning of the year, and the current Northern killing spree; with the culprits still unknown. Tongues wag, saying that the Sccorian twins are at it again, as the burns look similar to that of the fire at the slums.
No one knows, but at least, the Lizardmen and Kobold threats have lessened, and the purple haze across the river quelled. One guy, a dwarf to be exact, is happy with these events.

Arlon.

His investment on the six fledging adventurers who had come to him at the start of their journey has come good. His business at Arlon's Finest is improving by leaps and bounds, while Guy, Fel, Trog, Dre, Emo and Weilian come back to him every few days- alive.
Which means they are gaining valuable experience while ridding Maya of another threat. It can only spell better days ahead. Ahem. And...
Not to mention the success of his own book- "Arlon and the Battle of Nowand4ever." (yes, the 4 is not a typo.)
It is a short story set in the northern plains of Destre, spanning only three chapters, depicting him as an orc-bashing war veteran in the epic Battle of Nowand4ever. The book would have been great if only the battle did not last so long (read: Forever.) and had sensibly ended by the end of the book.

Back to the meat and potatoes of the menu tonight.

Will the party ever expose "N" and his devious manipulations? What do they do with the escaped fugitives in their own ranks- Neekor and Weilian, when they return to town eventually? And is Penisters actually alive somewhere in Caen swigging spiced wine with Bakkor and Suanor? (or making sweet three-way love to them?)

Keep your eyes peeled in the coming few weeks for the conclusion of this chapter in our Caen campaign!

p/s: New comments on the left in the grapevine, and early Christmas gifts to be sent to the address in my profile. A hearty Thank You to the generous souls!

The Truth about Mary (4th Edition, I mean.)

2008-10-15T03:38:00.014+08:00

I still maintain that WoTC should never have got their hands on the DnD franchise.

* This is not a rant. It is by no mean a definite review of 4th Edition either. I am trying to look as objectively as I can, dissect the good and the bad, with the final product being a superior home-brewed 4.1E *

These people, creative and cool as they are, can really card-dify and rule/errata this classic game into an early demise. Randy Buehler, an okay professional Magic player (but more known for his "innovative" decklists- READ: boring but effective, a bit like Liverpool's style of football), is the President and the overall in charge. He is, and always will be, in my mind - a CARD player first, and DnD geek/sucker, second. 4th Edition, with some of the powers' effects looking like really lousy current Type II Magic cards, reeked of Randy and the rest of the MoTG "cannot-make-it-in Professional Magic-so-I- move-on-to-DnD" motley gang.

I see my players playing Power Cards- cheap Magic commons with the particular power's effect printed on paper, glued to the cardstock, and slotted into trading card sleeves. Yes, I do agree it helps simplify the process, and the players get to remember if they used up their third daily, second encounter, or an obscure custom power.
But wait a minute and think.
Why did they need to simplify the process again?
Mmhmm.
The rules and effect itself was tedious to remember. Thus, book-keeping to a minimum? Nah.

So, in a nutshell,

4th Edition combat is streamlined, but clunky. It is really time-consuming due to the myriad of effects and data involved. (e.g. "He marked who?", "Please remember the ongoing damage AND that you are stunned until the END of MY minion's next turn, not your next turn, which IS the case on some of the other powers.")
WoTC, I feel, is trying to make 4th Edition earn lots of gold for themselves. Due to the restrictive powers concept, which is time consuming to homebrew an entire class, it makes the masses buy more official stuff to play their dream class, instead of relying on inspiration, and trying their hand out at creating one of their own. There were many times I wanted to make a new class for the 4th Ed world but gave up after wondering about the many many powers that I will have to come up with just to make the class workable. (The 4th Ed. Monk is still a work in progress. I think I did a rather good job of overhauling the original forum version though.)
The success/failure based skill challenge is a failure. It needs a complete overhaul to make it more natural. I say that because the current situation is always too artificial and set-up. DMs around the world are saying stuff like,"You guys are now in a Skill Challenge to find the path to Mount Nevermind. Six successes versus three failures. Good Luck on finding the correct primary and secondary skills.". In fact, I recommend a checkpoint system where the DM, at certain pre-determined parts of the challenge, will assess the situation and see how to continue. In future posts, I will present the Checkpoint System for general feedback.
DnD is still cool. Except you need an internet connection to optimize your character choices or you might "lose" out on extra powers/paths.
The DM is placed in a neutral position rather than one of power nowadays. We are supposed to say YES remember? *sniggers*
I do not like to be referred to as a male "bitch". So, let me harp on the positives. I like the skill-pool system in the game. That is a simplification of the previous editions and yet, not detract from gameplay at all. In fact, its better.

Overall, ADnD 2nd edition is still my favourite incarnation of the game. You really only need a couple of books and you are good to go. We rely more on intuition and on-the-fly decisions rather than relying on rules for EVERYTHING. (Acrobatics or Athletics? I want to jump over the table, man.)
4th Edition is a breath of fresh air but somehow, I am still not certain if that is the air I want to breathe. For now, it is the only air out there, so what the heck.

p/s: Shihao gave us the hand-out to his new campaign loosely based on FR. It is looking promising and I see good things coming next year. Alex and PT are also working on their adventures. Theirs should be out by this decade.

Thrall and Error - or "How Maya was Birthed."

2008-10-14T11:15:00.004+08:00

This campaign was my first proper try at DMing since my days at Soulcraft. On Sunday afternoons at the shop, there were regular sessions fronted by various DMs like Beavis, Frank, and me. And even though it was my own shop, I could never DM much myself, as customers were filling in at odd intervals, interrupting the sessions quite a fair bit.
My longest streak lasted like three weeks. I then politely disbanded the party, asking them to join the other DMs instead, as I could not stay at the gametable for more than ten minutes at a time.
Was I frustrated? Yes. But I knew there was to be a better time, a better day.

Six facts you wished you never knew about Maya

It was originally named Baya, and was located in Bloody Bay. In my initial design, I mis-spelled it as Maya in my eagerness to create the MoTG (Mayian Official Thieves' Guild).
Maya was heavily inspired by Phlan, the starting town in Pool of Radiance, a SSI Gold-Box game in the mid 80s.
It has nothing to do with the cursed dark-skinned girl who carries the same name in Heroes: Season 2 (she was the one with the close burst 50 necrotic aura which yes, hurts creatures- friends and foes alike.) And no, there will be not be a nearby brother-town called Alehandro.
The poisoned swamps and the blighted beach were purely coincidental and not meant to draw similarities to Maya (the cursed girl) in any possible way.
I wanted to put Maya next to an active, inactive, dormant but, active volcano, nestled away in some hot, yet cold highlands. But I thought twice about blasting Maya to bits in about six minutes of game time after spending more than that amount of time creating it.
Fact 5 was a complete lie.

I was very pleased with myself when I finished the current campaign's background of Maya and Sccor. It was simple; yet rewarding to see that an adventure could be run just by providing a sub-regional background and a basic point-of-light origin.
Ameriza was to be brought in gradually, and the ensuing relationship between an entire island empire, a powerful city-state, and a developing fishing town should provide enough meat for a long time.

For my long-term project, I will be working on a proper map of Caen, once I find an appropriate cartographer-based program on the net. Then slowly bit by bit, the actual scale and detail of the different regions can be graphically depicted as professionally as my limited skill allows.

In future milestones, I will be posting my own home-brewed version of the 4E Monk character class. These ascetic beings have always been my favorite DnD class of all time (Bard comes a close 2nd), and it is only natural that I propose my take on it.
I will also be regularly updating session highlights, and supplying more random "Behind The Scenes" information like the Maya stuff above.

Last but not the least, if anyone has any cool custom stuff they want posted on the site, do drop me a PM or a message on the grapevine, so that I can feature it for our reading pleasure and honest critique.

This site is ours, so we can all contribute in our own unique way, and make 9d20 a whopping cool place to hang/type out.

P/S: Dre solved the mystery of the Thrall/Follower puzzle . You have to register as a Blogspot member to become a Thrall. So, please proceed to the Brain-cutting Chamber and get an ID. Thanks! (100 xp for the minor quest completion!)

"Fie your mind, and the rest will follow." - Confiecus, 1420

2008-10-12T03:39:00.001+08:00

Welcome one and all,

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alfie the DM, otherwise known in various alternate realities as Ah sHiN, Jean-Paul Van Damme (JPvD), Yu-Fie-Oh! the BeSM cardflopper, Kharisma K. Karpenter- Mind Flayer Starlock Intimidator, and sometimes even Piccolo Picadilly P'rane; the ill-created 4th edition noob Dragonborn Fighter. (I took Potent Challenge as a feat. Nuff said.)

I am currently DMing a DnD 4E Campaign for six of my buddies, namely: Shane (my brother), Vek, Shihao (Shell), and three of my former customers-turned-friends- Kat, Pongtau and Gari.

It was about three and a half months ago, in the middle of June, on a Saturday night in Simei at my condominium.
Since then, we play in the open as much as we can. Also, we start sessions at midnight usually and it can last all the way up until six in the morning at times. Thus, the cool night breeze and a view of the swimming pool next to us is quite refreshing; especially during the longer sessions.

The players roleplay as Sccorians who got acquainted on a sea-bound journey to Maya, a small fishing town south of Sccor- Jewel of the North. They have heard much about it, with word spreading that Maya was an ideal stopover, en-route to the established Sccor Int'l Port Facilities.
With the western slave empire of Ameriza providing two-way trade and commerce, including their most valuable export- sparkpowder, and the mining settlements of the Southlands; with their mineral rich resources shipping Caen-wide everyday, Maya was slowly emerging as a viable alternative to merchants who had always resented having to travel far north to trade their wares.

The original party comprised of Sir Guy- a charismatic and righteous Halfling Warlord, Trogdor the young and mentally tormented Dragonborn Paladin of the Raven Queen, Pennisters the Human Spiked-Chain Master (aka Lv1 Fighter), Emoticus the quiet but effective Human Warlock, Dre the very careful Tiefling Rogue and last but not the least- Weilian, a blind elven ranger with a dark agenda.
Pennisters went missing a month into the adventure, and was replaced by Fel the Eladrin Swordmage, who dabbled in the forbidden Blood Arts and was banished from his homeland for good.

The campaign plays out the party's trials and tribulations, and their quest to make a name for themselves in a new environment- Maya. The fishing town is bustling with trade and commerce, but the six soon find out that not everything is as rosy as it looks. There is murder, politics, and conspiracies galore, as ultimately, someone in control of Maya could become very powerful, such is the untapped potential of this town.

I am running out of time, as tuition beckons. Meanwhile...
Any comments, ideas or rants? Please leave a message at Leeto's Grapevine.
Remember to vote for Pennister's fate, and show your generous support of this wonderful site;

"Do your part. Be a follower. Be a Thrall." (tm)

(Edit: Hmm. Making Thralls is not an easy job. The links seem broken. *tinkers*)