Simon's Campaign Log (Newbie DM (Long!!))

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Shell Mortal (11/24/03 7:22 am) Reply	Cheers Simon! Well the campain is over now, I know Simon hasnt Updated the loggs, but he did have Exams and all. An I would like to say that the Logs are Really entertaining! thanx for them Simon (i havnt read them up till now, since well spoilers suck) It would have been so terrible knowing that I was going to be hit with a +1 bolt of humanoid slaying!!! Nuke would have been upset, poor man. I would like to congradulate Simon here on running an excellent game as a newbie Dm (when I first Dmed the players knew less about the rules than me so it was easy!) Weare as simon i think was at a slight dissadvantage here since the Player of the Pixie and of Hassan are almost Rules lawyers! (Sorry Chris you know I love you Simon had a hard group of players! I know I refuse to Dm for them anymore they are too monstrous! The only comment I would really like to make is I felt the loss of so many my characters demoalizing and it somewhat put me off the campain. Usually i spend alot of time workign out their stats, goals, their spells and hopes and dreams. Shiriki was an experiment character and I killed her off because well shifters are broken. Riley and Dartanion (sorry thats the way i spelt it and he is my Dog) went on to bigger and better things when they woke up as lost souls in the Abyss (A game Chris is running), and Nuke well... i wouldnt be surprised if Hommlet awakens one day to find itself on fire. Nuke isnt a nice boy and he's a bit mad with pyromania to boot but I Love playing him and he is easy to get along with if you dont burn too well. After his death it just didnt feel it was worth takign time over my characters, you've yet to hear of the explioits (and tradgic deaths) of Aven and Ferris (her retainer), of Oh god what was his name? yeah Vernon the 1/2ling wizard, of Fenrir (the hound archon) and lastley (although this one survived) of Argus McTrepur (in honour of Rupert from Survivor (cant belive they voted him off)) the Psionic (Savant) Dwarf. up until aven all my characters had detailed histories and i really enjoyed pplayign them, after that it was jsut one death after another. Its all good for Drew and ben who will stop at nothign to create some monstrocity that kills everything and gets all the treasure but playing a half snake monk man just isnt my style! so if it come to needing to make somehtin like that to survive the adventure with one or two characters... well seriously! (this is not a comment on Simon, its a comment for monte!) and i lost like 6 characters! poor tim well... he lost so many i lost count although he did call at least 2 or was it 3 of them marcus so at least it didnt seem like so many =) In the end I was happy for the hurting to stop. Cheers for the Game Simon, (MN: dont buy simon Adventures for his birthday Again!) In my opinion you did well, sorry if i wasnt as attentive as i should have been Nukes death took it out of me! and I know we all Had Fun. Even if it was Painful. Shell =)
Zarlord Mortal (11/25/03 5:26 pm) Reply	Good One!! I must agree with Michelle, Simon. You did a great job as DM. I am the least experienced of all the players (seeing that I only filled in for absent players, and they were the only times i have ever played D&D ) but I really enjoyed the games I did play. I may have done some really stupid things, but I am learning! I agree that it can get hard for other players, as well as for the DM when there are players like Drew and Ben, who make outragiously powerful characters, and you can't increase the power of the monsters cause it disadvantages the players who have normal characters. But you did a great job overall, if I didn't know better, I would have thought you had DMed before, you ran it that well. Well done, and I look forward to the rest of the journal, as there were some hilarious moments that have to be captured in writing!!
Vellian Ebon Hand Cultist (12/16/03 6:14 pm) Reply	Hi Everybody! Hey, guess who. Mwahahaha! Good job with the logs, dude. Although I'm not sure I appreciate the "helpful suggestions" of how to deal with my character . Surely I'm not all that bad Just for the benefit of others who may not pick up immediately on who I am, I'm the guy who made the so-called "monstrosities", Kami and Vellian. I'd just like to point out that I don't make characters specifically to cause trouble for the DM or the other players, I didn't make Vellian simply so I could take all the money and leap ahead of the rest of the party, I had a concept for a character and I decided to give it a shot. Making new and improved characters is one of my favourite things about this game and people tend to assume that I do it just so that my character is better than everyone else's, but that is not entirely true. What I tend to feel is that a game should be fun for all involved (though not necessarily at the same time), people who like to roleplay and interact with NPCs should be given every opportunity to do so, players who enjoy combat should be thrown into battle whenever it could occur. In a similar vein, those of us who like to make characters that are considered "outrageously powerful" by others should be allowed to play that character. Personally, I have several characters that I have made that DMs have refused to let me play, and although I respect their authority to run thier game as they see fit I still find it disappointing to have put so much work into something and never get to use it . However, I did enjoy playing this campaign although the rest of the players may have preferred if I had played a half-elf bard ( ) or something similarly low-powered. But I will stand by my creations using Simons own words against him: "I really encourage you to min/max your characters to hell because if you don't, they're going to die" Cheers Simon, it was fun (for me anyway )
Infiniti2000 Brother of Venom (12/16/03 8:38 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Hi Everybody! Vellian is a nightmare for a regular campaign. It would be fun as a one shot with similar characters, but to have to deal with that over and over would be a horrible burden on the DM. You guys should be thanking Simon profusely as he has put a lot of work into this and tried to make it fun for everyone. We've really enjoyed the updates, too, evil pixie assassin bastard or not. Thanks for updating us from the player's perspective, though. Feedback from the players will definitely help all the other DM's out there gauge their own success. "...the rest of the players may have preferred if I had played a half-elf bard..." Have you seen the Gamer's 2E trailer? Really funny.
Cordo Crowfoot Deathmantle Cultist (12/17/03 2:36 am) Reply	Re: Hi Everybody! In other words... "In theory I agree that each player deserves to have fun. But for me the only way I can have fun is to play a character much more powerful than the other players and steal all the treasure, nominally in the pursuit of an abstract goal to prove this concept can be done. If by demanding everyone adjust to my play style, I harm the campaign or make it less fun for others, too bad, they are responsible for sucking whatever fun out of the game they can get." Glad you aren't in my campaign! Simon, my sympathies!
srmilich Tolling Bell Cultist (2/23/04 10:24 pm) Reply	Re: Hi Everybody! Damn, I've been slack!! My poor log got all the way down to page 6 and I hadn't even finished it yet. For those who didn't see my game over post, the game concluded over two months ago, I have just been extremely lazy. Hopefully I will get the rest of the logs done soon, I have done about another 1 and a 1/2, and will post them shortly. I just wanted to respond to Cordo's last post, I think you are being a little harsh there. Maybe Andrew didn't word it correctly, and we all know that text on a page is such a poor substitute for speech, but ruining the game for everyone is not what his characters are all about. He followed the rules as written, and maximised his characters chance of doing well. As he himself stated to me once, Kami wasn't too bad as a character, until he was given monk levels and then he became horrendous. That's why he was withdrawn. Personally, I think the constrictor naga is ECLed incorrectly, but maybe thats just me. $:\$ Vellian, on the other hand, I didn't really have a problem with him, as he smote all before him in the CRM until he came up against ppl that knew his tactics, and were able to stop him sneak attacking. Once you did that, he was much more manageable. As I have constantly stated, nerfing a rogue is quite easy. If he can't sneak attack, quite often he is useless. Vellian did virtually nothing in the first attack on the Fire Temple, as his foes were ready for him. Believe me, we allow a lot of monster characters in our group to alleviate core race boredom, and compared to Avian, Vellian's influence was minor! I didn't see anyone complaining on the boards about him having a DC 28 save for phantasmal killer. If I didn't roll well, that little bastard could have instantly killed Chymon! Just in finishing, Andrew was planning a response to your post, but the browser ate it and he couldn't be bothered entering it all in again. I hope I have helped clarify the general idea of what he was getting at in his description of how he plays D&D. New log being posted soon!! Cheers, Simon.
srmilich Tolling Bell Cultist (2/23/04 10:38 pm) Reply	Session 14 Session 14 Vellian: NE Pixie Rogue4/Assassin4 (ECL 12) Hassan: LN Human Monk1/Cleric1 of Fharlangan/Diviner9 Avian: CN Sylph Sorc8 (ECL 11) Kenjy: LN Human Monk10 Aven: NG Human Cleric9 of Pelor/Divine Prelate1 Marcus: NG Half-drow Fighter4/Cleric4 of Pelor/Divine Champion of Pelor2 With a large force of spider-eaters about to descend on the party from the heavens, everyone dived back into the hole, and Vellian picked it up and flew down to the air door. Momentarily confounded at the lack of any key hole or door handle, he eventually decided to touch his greater key of air to the door, which began to slide downwards. As he entered the hallway, he attempted to make the door close again, only to have it sit in the open position, which would allow the spider eaters to enter after him!! He decided to move further into the corridor, dumping everyone out of the hole when they reached the main passageway. To his relief, the door began to close behind him, and they examined their surroundings. The weird patterns on the wall disturbed everybody, and as they decided what to do, some arrowhawks swooped down from above. Two attacked the party with their claws, while another two hung back and fired their rays of electricity. The party accounted for these birds rather quickly, and turned their attention towards one of the doors. It resisted all their efforts to open it, and eventually a battering ram was procured from extra-dimensional storage and it was bashed down. A few slaves blinked in astonishment as the door crumbled in front of them, and any attempts to communicate with them were frustrated by the fact that they were tongueless. Vellian, annoyed by the fact that these slaves were completely useless, slit the throat of one, but was diverted from slaying the rest by one of the doors noisily lowering into the ground, and a group of six ogres clad in full plate charging into the room. Two fireballs later, and the ogres were no more, and the party quickly began stripping them of their full plate for selling later. (Maybe it�s just me, but would you commence looting in the middle of an obviously armed and prepared enemy fortress? Maybe you would ensure you were safe first?) $:\$ Kenjy and Marcus found themselves in mid �yoink� when the opposite door opened and some more guards, mostly human charged into the room as well. (Hedrack has Naquent doing some corridor sweeps with guards, has sent the assassin Victor and Daagra out scouting. Will be also sending out the earth elemental, he knows the reputation of this party, is not taking any chances!! Naquent is currently gathering a large force so that she can search as well.) Again, the heroes accounted for these forces without too much trouble, capturing one of the guards and questioning him about how to open the doors. After being thoroughly intimidated by Avian, he blurted out that all they had to do was touch the door and it would slide down. (The party had been trying to open the slave door, which required an EEE or obex holy symbol). Having gained this information, the group moved onwards, opening the western door (moving anti-clockwise around the fane). Moving past the table the ogres had set up, (Avian for some reason taking some ogre cheese) and into the main corridors, they explored the clone room, becoming quite freaked out. The succubus then attacked, casting unholy blight, and after Vellian successfully worked out where the spell was coming from, Kenjy and Hassan attacked the supposed �clone�. They were not able to inflict enough damage to kill the succubus (go damage reduction!) before it teleported away. Then, for some inexplicable reason, they decapitated every single clone! (Too bad Unariq isn�t coming back) GM info (The succubus went to visit Varachan, who sent it to the gelugon to tell it to stay in it�s room, while he went to order Chymon to not move from her position no matter what, under the guise of protecting from an attack from another direction. Thrommel had gone to the dwarven temple and killed/vampirised all the inhabitants, waiting there patiently each day for the party to come back. I hoped this removal of enemy NPC's would be enough for my party to survive.) Exploring Ukemils rooms, the party found little of interest aside from his valuables, Kenjy becoming so frustrated that he started ripping down curtains looking for secret passages and the like. Unfortunately, this occurred as Naquent was moving up the corridor with a large force of bugbears, ogres and the minotaur barbarians, along with the two drow (she had depopulated all the guards near her for the corridor sweeps). She heard the noise, called a halt to the patrol, and when Aven and his retainer emerged from the room, the minotaurs charged! In the ensuing rounds, Aven�s retainer and then Aven himself were killed by the minotaurs, whilst Avian distracted the ogres with a hypnotic pattern and then finally fireballed them to death. Maracla outlined the pixie with a faerie fire, which Vellian dispelled, and when the drow cleric flew upwards to attempt to slay living the pixie, he grabbed her in his portable hole and closed it up tight. (This was the last time Vellians player got away with this, as I was informed by Infiniti2000 about having to spread it on a surface). I later found out Vellian's player conveniently omitted to tell me about that! Hassan started blowing up bugbears, while Marcus finished off the minotaurs. The emergence of the earth elemental from the northern corridor soon found their attention, and both retreated into Ukemil�s room, while the elemental followed them, pummeling them many a time. Avian turned his attention to it, unleashing many a fireball and a scorching ray. Kenjy charged Naquent, but was unable to hit her very often, while Vellian amused himself taking out Dirass. The pixie could see a cloaked, masked figure move up behind the monk, and lash out with a rapier, injuring him slightly. The monk absently lashed out with a backhand, instantly dropping Victor in one hit! Daagra also made her first appearance, firing some arrows at Hassan before dropping her bow and charging Kenjy. Striking out with a fist, she began clawing and rending the monk, who was unable to escape from her grasp. (DM Note: Get Daagra grappling and she is NASTY!!) Hassan and Marcus fled from the elemental, both being badly wounded, and Avian finished it off. Another armoured cleric made his appearance from the north, and remained anonymous until I had a slip of the tongue and revealed Hedrack�s identity. He cast disintegrate and destruction on Vellian, and to my amazement the little bugger made both saves! Avian greased the floor under Hedrack, who managed to get a spell off while lying on his butt, phantasmal killering the pixie to death. He also began bellowing for Chymon�s assistance. Kenjy managed to escape from Daagra�s grasp (only because I rolled a natural 1), and with 5 hp�s remaining, dashed to the air door and freedom. Seeing his companions fleeing, Avian also beat a hasty retreat, everyone diving into the portable hole and Hassan flying them out of there. He decided not to go to the dwarven temple (and thus missing out on Thrommel ) and retreated to the wilderness so the party could recover their wounds. As Hassan flew over the crater, he noticed that Rastor was no longer where it used to be. The town and its inhabitants had been destroyed, with large scorch marks all over the ground. Evidently some large beast had destroyed the town. He also noticed the orc encampment had been abandoned. This troubled the group, as if the cult was no longer attempting to hide it�s presence, it may mean that they were getting close to their goal. The party made camp some distance away, and rested until Hassan had memorised the necessary teleport to get them to Verbobonc. Clearly, some reinforcements were required. Hassan advertised for some replacement heroes, and soon two answered the call. Vernon: CG Halfling Invoker11 ( Aven�s replacement) and his companion, who he referred to as Phantom, due to the character not wanting to tell anyone his real name Phantom: CG Human Bbn3/Ftr4/Ghostwalker4 (Vellian�s replacement, running around with a mercurial greatsword) With the party prepped and ready to roll, Hassan invoked a teleport and miscast (AGAIN!), sending the party to a museum. Eventually the problem was rectified and the party appeared just inside the air door. Seeing no-one about, they chose to go the opposite way around the fane, coming across the tentacle trap room. Vernon immediately was grabbed by the tentacles, and Phantom was forced to enter the trap and cut him out, and the party retreated back to the doorway to determine what to do next. Vernon and Kenjy retreated, going into Naquents room, killing the spectre along the way, but not before Vernon was level drained. Meanwhile, Avian attempted to cast fabricate to make a large stone block to trap the tentacles in the floor, and during the ten minute casting time, noticed an extremely handsome looking man walk into the room from the south, smile slightly in his direction, then move off to the east. (This was Thrommel, who noticed the invisible sylph quite easily, and moved off to Hedrack�s room to let him know something was up. Hedrack wasn�t there, so Thrommel decided to come back in a short period) Having blocked the portal, the party moved onwards examining the demonic graft machine without being consumed, before finding and taking out the flesh golems with ease (once Avian had greased them to the floor) Here the session ended, with me about to play some shenanigans with Thrommel! Cheers, Simon.