Buddha's New D&D Thread is Groovy, Man.

[Razgovory]

Anyone see/hear anything about The Black Company rpg?  My buddy got access to it and I told him to send it my way, as I'm onto the third book and want to see what they do with the setting and style as a rpg.

Green Ronin published one a few years back.  It's for D20 I think.  It was part of their mystic vistas line which was excellent.  They had one that took place in the middle ages that actually captured the feel of the time period not the modern cynical viewpoint that so often seen in stuff like this.  They also did ones on the Old Testament, Rome, Trojan war and Egypt.  I've heard they were all pretty good.

[Neil]

I didn't think Succubus were bound by Laws.

You thought wrong.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Bumped so I can find it sooner after I play tomorrow (Red Hand Of Doom post war Dragon Hunting/looting.) where I will likely level up to 12th level. new feat (improved favored Enemy: Dragon : gives me a stackanle +3 on my dragon hitting. All my arrows will be doing 1d8 +11 (+1d6 fire damage if not immune) each. My Animal Companion gets meaner and bigger, learns new tricks, and I've figured how to buff him properly to get into more melee/needed flanks against minions etc.

I like this character as much as my fighter that I got up to like 15th or something a couple years ago. The Ranger is obviously not the tank, but he is hella useful in many situations. My first real bowman experience, playing D&D. I think I might try some kind of Spellcaster the next big campaign I'm in, as I've yet to really take that out for a spin except in my own game where I've been enjoying the NPC Wizard Ramon The Evoker. who's now a werewolf. That game has got to happen again soon, but these kids and there schedules. sheesh.

I also have been writing out my ideas for a Mutants & Masterminds (or maybe some other superhero system) Campaign I'd like to run. I've got a big crossover Event kind of idea using riffs on both Marvel & Dc characters. Maybe it's just an excuse to buy heroclix. :p Some guys buy Ferraris in their 40's, get divorced. Me, I get deep into pen & Paper RPGs.

[jimmy olsen]

My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. 

It's amazing how often that phrase is heard in Asia. :p

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Bah. My game tonight will have to wait as the other player who makes it every time is sidelined by a sister's surprise (to him) birthday party. bitch. :p

[jimmy olsen]

My beloved seal companion Crotch Ripper died in my defense last night. 

It's amazing how often that phrase is heard in Asia. :p

Japan must be much different than Korea!

[BuddhaRhubarb]

found a thrift store copy of 2nd ed ad&d PHB for 2.99. picked it up so as to better understand the 2.0 game I'm playing as irregularly as all my other games. I played that game on Thursday evening until we heard about the Tsunami, then we watched the news. Fun if a bit on the low powered side (I'm playing a 4th level Dwarf Fighter named Hogun Axebeard he's got really decent full plate 3/2 proficency with his +1 Bronze Dwarven WarAxe.) though I always love playing the tank. The DM always lays on good food also... we had Bison Pie.

We have been trudging through this Dwarven Kingdom inside a mountain, ostensibly to see if we can quell the crazed Goblins who have been using it as a base since the magic crown of the King had driven him and all who tried to wear it after- MAD!!! ... We've sprung lots of traps, fought Drow, undead, goblins, orcs, etc. Gotten some swag. Fun game.

On Thursday we started after having rested in this library we had stumbled upon (found some manuals that once we exit the dungeon we can use to buff up our ability scores - manual of gainful exerxise etc... before the next adventure) we trudged onwards down a wide staircase that was damaged by earthquakes... we met some Grimlocks who gave us a decent fight except that the fighter/MU elf (Thaddeus) and his mithril bow tore them to shreds from a distance. He sank every arrow for heavy damage as we my dwarf and the other PC the ex-pirate "Billy The Black" sucked up damage. Our friar Tuck like healer(the DM's NPC) healed us up, using all his heals for the day.

Then we delved on, avoiding some traps for a change.... eventually ran across more goblins, easily dispatched by my waraxe most of them. The tougher challenge came when we ran across a human Necromancer and his zombie slaves, rogue/assassin thug hirelings. It was a fun, kind of epic fight with the zombies turned, we managed to kill or scare off everyone, including one PC Billy The Black, but the DM gave him a tough odds saving throw after the cleric applied some 0 level heal to his wounds, and he made it.

Really fun evening of old school delving

Today I'm going to play my M&M game, where my character is a demon from Hell trying to live fulltime in a human form that pleases him. The world of the game is akin to your Buffy-verse, or Supernatural, or any of those Fantasy TV shows (Though the DM has a loftier vision, thats how it's been seeming to me. I don't mind, actually, it makes it easier  to relate for me to think of it that way, as I'm used to a more straight up Super hero kind of game with all these same people... we're trying to shake it up as we've done a lot of the real straight up superhero schtick for a few years... getting old.

[jimmy olsen]

A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!

[BuddhaRhubarb]

A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!

The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)

last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"

[Razgovory]

I didn't think Succubus were bound by Laws.

You thought wrong.

Chaotic Evil.

[jimmy olsen]

A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!

The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)

last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"

Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?

[BuddhaRhubarb]

A mithril bow already at the 4th level? What kind of gear are you guys gonna be packing when you hit tenth!

The DM kind of buffed us up a bit with magic weapons, as we've somehow missed all the gold so far and we all rolled horribly rolling up our characters (no array old school dm) and playing 2.0 you don't get any hit/damage bonuses unless you have 16+ on the appropriate ability. Of the three PCs only one has a 16 (the elf on dex)

last night we delved further in on this adventure that is a bit of a riff on White Plume Mountain. killed hella lot of Goblins, and got closer to "the gold"

Aside from the comedy gold that can result from the roll on comeliness, what's the benifit of playing 2.0 over 3.5?

other than the fact that I have more experience (and the core rulebooks) with 3.5...

2.0 is (to my mind) is even clunkier than 3.0/.5  as far as game mechanics , leveling up etc goes. I don't like the over 16 to get any bonuses thing, is an easy example, nor do I like the "THAC0" to hit system.... But gameplay all depends on the DM. no matter the system, thus my 2.0 game is quite satisfying to play. But I'd never run a 2.0 game.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

In other news, We're finally going to play the big endgame of my scenario's first story arc... the search for their monk buddy "T'wong Fu". There is a big double wedding for T'wong and his Fiancee, Leila, (both of whom are "Drunken Master" candidates.) and The NPC Favored Soul BellaDawna & an Efreeti swashbuckler named Creel Vroot (wedding forced through deck of many things) The wedding will be akin to a superhero wedding in the comics, if you are looking for a template.

The aftermath will basically give the players some choices for further adventuring: Quests, Oaths Made, etc.

* There are a few backstory threads like The Gnome Warlock's service to a Black Dragon (owed favours for powers granted/taught), or various revenge on the killers/kidnappers of parents etc from every character's backstory.

* The Ogre Mage who has helped them is going with A Lady Pirate, The Efreeti, up the coast to search for some mythical treasure.

* There's the over-arching conspiracy of the game - Evil Doppelgangers are systemically making the core races extinct, they've almost finished off the humans, working on Dwarfs, and planning the rest. There are a few threads to follow there... At the wedding they find that the Mayor of the town a human Paladin they've met is actually in the doppelganger Illuminati, but has had a change of heart and is now going to help the Band unravel the conspiracy, if he can) - it's another effect from the deck of many things - an enemy becomes an ally - was the card drawn.

* There is an actual human in the Illuminati, a Druid/Scout/Ranger who (Clovis the Last Human I'm calling him) is head of a gigantic cult dedicated to half-variations of various races. It's adherents are all mixed race/species types. They don't realize that they are part of the conspiracy, it's just really a front, and a druggy recruitment/money/magic laundering operation.

* (The Other Cult) Reverend Jericho seems to run an almost liberal kind of church, accepting people of any or no faith in his "sanctuary"... He's also a fake human. He has recently though wnated to step up the Dwarf cleansing, and is doing a lot of Dwarf-hate pamphleteering etc.

* The Dragon Princess Bodeena is at the wedding with the ulterior motive f finding a bold group of adventurers to scale Mount Xanthax and slay the evil frost giants who have been raiding her stronghold in Skytown (floating city nearby, she arrived via a magical autogyro)

* reaching back to their first adventure I have a "PCs as Butch & Sundance on the run from The Pinkertons" kind of story arc, though these Pinkertons are working for the Hag Covey that the Sea Hag they killed in the first game belonged to, and these Hags are pissed, paying various hired guns to take out the group (lots of Red Herring" reasons for their "wantedness" though.) eventually they discover who's really after them, and can decide if they want to tackle the Covey, itself. this thread can be dangled during any of the other quests, as a side quest/excuse for random monsters.

[jimmy olsen]

* There's the over-arching conspiracy of the game - Evil Doppelgangers are systemically making the core races extinct, they've almost finished off the humans, working on Dwarfs, and planning the rest.

How does that even work?