The one where I play DnD Next, Origins Game Fair Part 2

Tim, Dan, and I went to Origins Game Fair on the 14th. We all signed up to play some DnD Next at 8:00pm. The adventure was from the Legacy of Crystal Shards. First the story of what happened and then I talk about the mechanics under the fold.

I got into a session of DnD Next at the Origins Game Fair. It was the Shards of Icewind Dale part of the Legacy of the Crystal Shards. I played Sir Endless Star a Paladin of Torm. We played at 1st level for the first half of the adventure and 2nd level for the second half.

The Roster
Dan - Spikey, Ranger
Me - Sir Endless Star, Paladin of Torm
Tim - Roger, Rogue
Ray - Mithian, Cleric of Ilmater
Mike - Eldeth, Magic-User
Rob - Ironhelm, Dwarf, Fighter

The adventure threw together two groups of old school gamers. Dan, Tim, and I from NW Pa. Ray, Mike and Rob from Harrisburg. Combined, we  had a century of experience with tabletop roleplaying.

The Story

The adventure proper involved us as guards escorting a caravan to one of the Ten Towns of the Icewind dale. We got attacked by Saber-Tooth Tigers and one of the wagons get knocked over during the fight. The party won but the carvanmaster wanted to leave the wagon and its merchant behind. The party agreed to stay and help. In the course of doing so we found a crate full of silver weapons which was a very unusual piece of cargo.

We fixed up the wagon and begin moving to the town. Contrary nothing bad happen along the way. That is not until we hit the town. Even tho we started out hour behind the rest of the caravan, the traffic jam at the gate meant they were still trying to get through. Just as we had the town in sight a bunch of yetis attacked.

We rushed down to the gate and threw ourselves into the fray. After several minutes of combat we managed to get the wagons in (including the one we were escorting) and shut the gates.

In the aftermath, we learned that yetis are solitary creatures and this was very unusual. We were paid off for our caravan work and helped with the clean up. During the clean up a merchant from the local apothecary caught several of the party's ears. He had a tale of woe about he paid for protection from somebody named Slim and got nothing for it. Especially since he felt had to the "protection" money.

Talking with the local sheriff, I found out that Slim was known for hiring out guards. Most of the party was excited about going after Slim and getting the merchant's money back. I reminded them that we are strangers in this town, that we had no authority, that we had only one side of the story. They were ready to ignore me until I firmly stated that if they did this as the Torm's hand on Faerun I would oppose them.

We compromised on acting as the merchant's agent. I again pointed out that we did this right that having the merchant as a friend could help us as we were strangers here. Do this wrong we would be either imprisoned or forced to leave in the midst of a snow storm with yetis on the prowl.

So we headed to the Northwind Tavern where Slim lived. We got directions to his rooms. Before I could knock, one of the more enthusiastic party members kicked down the door. For a second I thought out in the storm would be our ultimate destination. But Torm was with us and we caught the inhabitants of the room in the midst of a murder. Moreso one of the perpetrators was a Wererat. We all rushed into the room but the wererat was took quick. He shapeshifted into to a small rat and escaped.

I went into the room and with my sword point at one of remaining human throat announced that I was Torm's Hand on Faerun, that they were outnumber and retribution would fall if they did not surrendered. They exercised their better judgment and surrendered.

From the information gathered, we uncovered a conspiracy where Slim and his thugs were conspiring with one of the town leaders to take over. The Yetis were magically controlled and sent in to create chaos. The party learned they had supplies at the warehouse they needed to retrieve. We laid an ambush and broke the back of their conspiracy in the ensuing fight.

Origins Game Fair Report Part 1

This weekend I headed out to the Origins Game Fair with Tim of Gothridge and Dan from the Monday night gaming group. The drive was about 3.5 hours and we got into check-in around 10am. Word to the wise, PRE-REGISTER. The line was a killer and it took us an hour to get through it. By the time we checked in the line has grown to probably a two hour wait.

Dan grabbed some card game events he wanted and we all signed up for a 8pm DnD Next event. Another word for the wise. Don't sign up for a 8pm event when you have a 3 hour+ drive afterwards.  Then we went to the dealer's area to see what could be had. The first booth we stumbled on was SJ Games and Dan roped me into a munchkin demo game. It was Dan, a nice SJ Games rep, a little girl, and I playing the game. Tim wanted to stretch his legs continued further into the vendor area.

Just before another SJ Games staffer handed me a couple of munchkin bookmarks. If you don't know, these bookmarks are also Munchkin game pieces. The rules are printed on them and you can use them in a variety of way. One of the bookmarks was an Adventure Time! bookmark. The idea was to ask them the time and if they gave an expected answer "It 11:00am" Then you can shout No it is Adventure Time! Mathematica! You then get a Door and Treasure card to put into your hand. But if the person says "It's Adventure Time!" you lose a level.

Figuring that the SJ Game rep was very aware of this, I decided to play a long con. We started playing around 11:15 and Dan had to leave for an event at noon. Shortly in the game I asked Dan about this and got him to tell everybody what time he needed to leave. I noticed that Dan didn't have a watch or his cell phone handy but the SJ Games staffer had a watch. During the next 15 minute I checked my cell phone and reminded Dan about the time. Then 20 minutes I played my initial cards and figured I could stock up with two money. I brought up Dan's deadline and causally asked the SJ Games staffer the time. He looked at the his watch and said it was 11:35. I slapped my hand on the table and loudly announced "No! It adventure time! Mathematica!"

The look on his face was precious when he realized I played him. And then he broke out in a big smile. When I showed Dan and the girl the bookmark they all busted laughing. With a grin I collected my door card and treasure. However don't feel bad for the staffer as it was he who won the game in the end.

After that Dan went to his event and I went shopping. Early on I ran into the Gamescience booth and Lou Zocchi. I filled him in on what was going at Judges Guild and gave him one of my test printouts of the new Wilderlands Map 1. I think he got a kick out of my story about how the Roll20 Virtual Tabletop is using a quantum noise generator as a source for random numbers. I picked up a package of huge numbered 3/8" hex sheets that included some blank wargame chits. In addition to dice the Gamescience booth has an assortment of older material including some Judges Guild. If you are looking for some mint copies he has both the original CSIO and the CS of the World Emperor for a pricey $200.

Continuing on, I ran across the KenzerCo booth. I finally picked the copy of Bag War Saga I wanted. I also admired the sheer awesomeness of their 5th edition Hackmaster books. I passed on buying them. I could afford them but I knew the chances of me using them were near nil.

Then I picked up some pretty dice for my wife, Kelly Anne. Some she keeps for herself and other she will use as toppers on the hair sticks she makes for sale. I found some Lego mini-figures for Gregory my youngest, and bought some Star Trek Heroclixs for my Jamie my oldest son.

At my first Origins I bought some miniature walls and fencing from Acheson Creations. They make their miniatures out of  tough plastic that holds a lot of detail. I looked at their booth again and found they had a bunch of medieval buildings this time. I bought a couple and under pressure from Tim bought some yurt. He said I got to have yurts in my game. Actually they are Pictish round houses but still.

I found a couple of vendors selling D&D and Pathfinder miniatures and bought a couple. I finally have a set of figures I can use for animated statues. It was probably way too expensive I bought one of larger miniatures to surprise the J Squad with at the Gold Star Anime.

Finally in the last rows I found the Columba Games booth. As readers know, Harn is one of my guilty pleasures. I been collecting Harn stuff since 1985. Not only that Columbia Games is always outstanding to deal with. Grant Dalgliesh was there and graciously let me prattle on about Harn for a few minutes. I thanked him for all the great work he and his dad has done over the years. It was a interesting conversation and it was great to see the human side of a company that I been dealing with for a long time.I aided their cause by getting Dan and Tim to buy a couple of the Harn books Columbia Games had at their booth.

The next post will be about DnD Next.

Heading to Origins

I will be heading to Origins on Saturday the 14th. Making a roughly 3 1/2 hour road trip with my friends Dan and Tim. Hopefully meet some people, play some games and do some shopping.

I will bringing my Majestic Realms Fudge RPG and dice for sure. I may pack Swords & Wizardry and my digest box of MW supplements as well. I have D&D Next on my iPad if that happens to come up.

So look me up if you happen to be at Origins.