Saturday, April 26, 2014

Games Galore

A big weekend for T&T down under. The cannonball delivery game go diverted in two ways - 1) there was a random suggestion for a game for assassins so I ran an off the cuff session with four assassins trying to kill the prince regent of Knorr or kill one of the other assassins and 2) because the wagon the players had had reinforced to bear the weight and had had a mezzanine floor put in for sleeping was burned out  by an ogre/goblin attack.

In the assassin game, all four pcs were killed. Two were sentenced to a cage fight and then the winner was executed when he bit the throat out of the loser; another was forced to box the hobbit wife of a businessman and Mrs. Parsnip rolled incredibly well for most attributes and turned out to have a lethal left hook. The last, a leprechaun, was deafened after Wink-Winging into a kettle drum when the orchestra started up and Wink-Winged again, this time blindly, and sliced himself inside two dinner guests.

Later today comes a Jack and the Beanstalk-based game.

The cannonballs game had an encounter based on Christine Lea's "Ephemera Furnace" from an Elder Tunnels 2010 issue.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Arena of Khaboom - L1-4 Opponents

Just to give you a look at what's coming...




Level 1   Level 2    Level 3               Level 4

  1. Goblin             1.   Bogeyman             1.   Ogre                      1.   Rock troll
  2. Skeleton          2.   Hobgoblin             2.   Minotaur               2.   Yeti
  3. Kobold            3.   Hippogriff             3.   Ice giant                3.   Fire giant
  4. Uruk                4.   Centaur                 4.   Manticore              4.   Wyvern
  5. Ratling            5.   Fire Snail               5.   Crok-uruk              5.   Jub-jub bird
  6. Glob                6.   Imp                        6.   Satyr                      6.   Clay golem
  7. Gremlin           7.   Lizardman             7.   Griffin                   7.   Lamia
  8. Living Statue  8.   Gargoyle               8.   Shadowjack          8.   Fire demon
  9. Barbarian         9.   Harpy                    9.   Medusa                 9.   Cockatrice
  10. Warg               10. Zombie                  10. Ghoul                    10. Wraith
  11. Ghost              11. Knight                   11. Archer                   11. Assassin
  12. Witch              12. Wizard                  12. Witch                    12. Wizard




Levels 5 and 6 soon!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Charlie's Diary of a Cosmic Mage



The Diary of a Cosmic Mage

Day 1: An elf came to visit me today. He had a book that he didn’t want any one to read any more because it appaarently had some information in it that would help lead the way to almost unlimited power.
           I charged 100Gps for a blank book spell for each 6 pages of book that I enchanted. He grudgingly agreed. There were 50 pages in the book so I charged 750Gps (discounted because of the size of the book).

Day 2: Today a leprechaun came to me wanting to play a practical joke on a hobbit at his birthday party. I suggested the spell “Fart”. He thought that was a good idea.
            I charged 20Gps for the spell. He amzingly agreed. So I went with him to the party, and when the moment was right I cast the spell.
          I heard a loud farting sound. He jumped and looked round very surprised.

Day 3: Today a party of adventurers invited me to come on an adventure with them. It took A LOT of persuading but I finally agreed to come with them.

Day 4: It turns out that this party is working for the Mayor of Khaboom. First there was a centaur named “Gustoudo”. Then an elf called “Trenifer Nicklo”. Then a human called “Han Yuckliner”. And last, a dwarf called “Ugraph Kickster”.
          They are helping take out a very powerful liche lord that lives at the bottom level of a dungeon. Personaly, I think it would be a better idea to make friends with this liche lord.

Day 4: Gustoudo seems nice enough.
Han is alright but I’ve never been too keen on people like him.
 Ugraph seems alright but he isn’t the most thoughtful person, takeing most of the food he has for himself and not sharing.
Trenifer is probably the kindest. She is a high ranking witch, so she understands what I like doing and is very respectful of what I do. I just hope I’m able to repay this somehow.

Day 5: We have just arrived at the entrance of this liche lord’s “dungeon” it was swarming with “good” kindreds. A man in blue robes came out to greet us. He was a nice fellow busy most of the time but that was understandable seeing as he was one of the Mayor’s chief advisors.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Arena of Khaboom - A Bestiary and Combat Manual

I have just 4 opponents to write up of the imposing list of 72 that sat before me way back when.

The current Arena opponent under the microscope is the mighty roc.

The roc actually made it in history at least as far as Noah's ark:

All feathered things yet ever knowne to men,
From the huge Rucke, unto the little Wren;
From Forrest, Fields, from Rivers and from Pons,
All that have webs, or cloven-footed ones;
To the Grand Arke, together friendly came,
Whose severall species were too long to name.


 Both Marco Polo’s Book of Travels and the Arabian Nights described the roc, the mythological bird of Arabia. Marko Polo describes rocs living in Madagascar, and envoys from Madagascar present the great Khan of Cathay with a roc feather. In fact Madagascar was the home of a gigantic bird the Aepyornis maximus or elephant bird. This bird may not have become extinct until the sixteenth century. While huge like the roc, this bird was not able to fly.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A Blank Canvas

The 'Slay the Dragon on Level 2' campaign ended last Friday and a new game beckons today. I feel the call of the ocean - pirates and islands, I think. Time to research carracks and cogs, captains and crew and to invent an archipelego.

Good job I've been on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride recently!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Solar System

After working hard at understanding photons, their origins and who they are made, we resorted to an old topic.

Once, Trollworld was part of our solar system. Then it got swapped for the planet Uranus.

Uranus had been sitting comfortably in another system, along with his sibling planets Myanus, Heranus, Hisanus, Itsanus, Ouranus and Theiranus.

All the planets except Trollworld are gas giants.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Magic City Mayor

You can buy issue one at DriveThru and at Lulu.

The main characters are:

The Mayor of Khaboom, elected and all democratically sound but troubled by the workings of the Wizards' Guild and now faced with a population explosion following a peace treaty with the Goblin King

House Elf, not an elf but a human advisor to the Mayor not much loved by the Guild

Samos Treek , a speedster who loves bearing bad news

Hildan Urvill, the Mayor's deputy who has just discovered sex and now wants to be no.1

Murgatroyd, the Mayor's right hand warrior bodyguard, who goes mad in a Jason and Medea fashion after discovering his wife's infidelity

An (as yet) unnamed minotaur who likes rampaging

The Goblin King, pretty confused at the cards fate has just dealt him and having to deal with segregation policies

An (as yet) unnamed demon, stirring up discontent and looking all too much like a goblin

The Khaboom people, moaning, oscilating and unhappy with the immigrants

The Wizards' Guild, just being capricious and machiavelian as ever

Mrs Miggins, House Elf's cook and the best pie maker in town

Issue 2 is in production :)