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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.