Art
Showing posts with label Update from the Lich Queen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Update from the Lich Queen. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
Update from the Lich Queen 8/28/17
Life
I got my name and gender marker changed! It's official now, according to the state I'm a girl. Fantastic. It's both exciting, and a little scary. In general though, it's awesome. You should've seen me, I was shaking so much through the whole thing. I've been crazy busy.Art
I actually have done a bit of artwork. Here you go!
Starcraft
I got the remaster, and let me tell you, I'm addicted. Played through most of the campaign, and uh, played a few ladder games. I suck again! It's a good feeling though, the game is enjoyable. I'm playing Terran at the moment, I used to be a Protoss player but so far that is slowly changing, as I'm highly enjoying the slow push of Terran siege with mechs. I'm not a huge fan of bio in all honesty, but it's not because it's bad, it's because I have a giant bias towards robots. However I'm practicing both, and I can pretty confidently beat an AI, players are another story. I've beaten one or two, and lost all the rest.I'm considering making some posts about Starcraft actually. I think it could be fun.
D&D
So this is actually going to be two sessions since I didn't make a thing about the last one.Session 1
The party mutinied and was about to throw the captain overboard, our CG character stopped it and the CNs agreed that we'd keep him died up for the time being (spoiler alert, the CE finished him off later). They went to town inspected the goods they had and made a deal, which down in a shady part of town. After an obvious ambush and a showdown, they made off with their loot and were about to head back to the ship before we ended.Session 2
This was rather fun, we were missing some people, they explored the missing people reports and were ambushed by a doppelganger and his Naga men, a plot to lure helpless victims to captivity. The players had brought a sizeable force to combat them, and were able to fend them off. However one of them escaped, and the Naga decided to launch their attack before the town could ready their full defenses.This worked out in the Naga's favor, and it wasn't really about the players losing in this section, it was more about an epic cinematic set piece that I got to show off. I know, people aren't fond of cinematic style gameplay, but this was one of those cases where I thought it would work. This was all improv too so I didn't have time to debate the whole thing.
Either way, people seemed to enjoy it. The players went to the front lines and held the forces off while all the ships on the dock loaded every spot they could with civilians and guards. Eventually, they hopped on board the captain's ship, the rogue throwing a bomb to fend off some of the Naga as the remaining men hopped on board. As they sailed off back towards Dock Town, they heard this massive roar as a hulking Kraken jumped from the water, it's limbs flaying around as it began attacking to last few boats. The players all began firing at it wildly, the ranger rolling a fantastic crit and hitting the beast in it's eye. It recoiled in pain and dunked it's head back into the water, trying to get away from the accurate bow fire. It was only a delay, but it was just enough to ensure the rest of the boats could escape.
In the end, the town belonged to the Naga, but everyone seemed to have a good time.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Update from the Lich Queen 8/14/17
Legal Stuff
I had to go talk to someone about putting in paperwork to get my name legally changed. As tiresome as it was, it was also incredibly exciting and rewarding. Additionally, due to my shitty circumstances I'm actually going to be able to get the whole $116 fee payed for! Awesome.Contradiction
Is a fun game, you should check it out. I watched somebody do a full play-through and I don't really regret it much.Artwork
I did some artwork for a friend as a commission, and it's totally 100% NSFW unfortunately. I can't show that here, but I'm also working on a little secret project that I hope to unveil sometime later. The project involves a mixture of writing and artwork, and hopefully to prove to be a fantastic outlet for my creative energies.Saturday Game
Was unfortunately postponed. Scheduling issues.Monday, July 24, 2017
Update from the Lich Queen (7/24/17)
Hey! It's lich queen Naomi again. The last two weeks have essentially been non stop work. Writing, map designing, digging through the monster manual, etc. I've had to learn 5E's rules, look through it's changes, talk to the players, introduce some people to the game, etc, etc. It's been a bit tiring actually, but it's had some excitement. First off there is the one-shot I ran.
I ran a one-shot with only two of my players (they were the most readily available) to try and get the gist of 5Es rules. I personally have an easier time learning when I'm just doing what it is I'm trying to learn. My players seem the same. I also wanted to get those two up to speed, so I could focus on teaching the new players separately once we are running the main campaign. On top of that, we were all kind of itching to play, so it wasn't exactly a bad idea to me.
The setup was actually kind of simple, it was a 3 person game, just Maggot, Dunmur, and myself as GM. We generated characters real fast (Fun fact: I generated Maggot's character and had Maggot generate Dunmur's character) and I threw them into a game they had NO CLUE what has going on, and this is intentional. It's intentional because I have a more long-term purpose for this game, and I don't want the player's influencing it too much. That's not to say I'm railroading any aspect of this, but instead I had a simple concept that has one or two important aspects, and I need them there to get this idea to work without a hitch.
Side note: We're playing online using Roll20, the name's I'm using are their online aliases, I know their real names but I don't feel like using them.
Things didn't go entirely as planned but it did work out ... sort of. See I kinda misunderstood the CR guidelines (and forgot that 5E's CRs suck ass), and almost killed both players. The players were on a boat before it got attacked by this giant tentacley kraken like beast, the boat was destroyed and they were knocked out unconscious. Their bodies slipped into the water and as their vision faded to black, something happened. They were taken down into an underwater prison, where they finally awoke inside a damp cell. I was pretty lenient on what they had, most of what was taken from their person was simply weapons or things that could open the cells, I of course made an exception for the rogue's Thieve's Tools.
The first fight was pretty fun, Maggot (our Rogue), gets clever and starts throwing objects at the naga guard he runs into. The two of them gang up on it, take his weapon, and finish it off. In a way, they got a bit lucky since everything went off without a hitch. They round the corner, find their stuff, and turn around to notice that two naga have started coming that way to investigate what's going on. Dunmur (our Bard) is just like "Nah, fuck it, 2v1 I can take both of you!", and actually rolls intimidation to get both of them to come fight him. While Maggot is trying to hide around the corner and slip away, however he doesn't want to abandon the bard, so he stays kinda close. The naga charges up annnnd the next thing I know both of them are at 0 hp. "Uh oh ... I think these guys are a bit much." I took a pause for a second and took a thought. The naga knocks out the bard using non-lethal damage, he's dragged off and hastily thrown into a cell, they don't even strip his gear. The other was dragged off by a civilian that they freed, who knew a thing or two about medicine. He heals him up, takes the healing potion from Maggot's body and administers it.
Skip forward a bit, the bard escapes his cell, and the rogue has been unlocking all the cells while the naga were distracted. They gather all of the men and go for the front door, which is magically sealed. Maggot realizes this and is a bit perplexed, and looks over to Dunmur for assistance, he has knock, right? Nope. He used both level 2 slots in the first fight because, reasons. I make up some bullshit about one of the NPCs knowing how to undo the lock but he needs a few minutes, in which they need to guard him, but Maggot isn't going to sit for 5+ minutes. He wanders off to the side and checks one of the store rooms where there is another equipment chest. I look down at my notes and see that I had an item pile that was meant for the research lab, and realizing that the fight in there will be way too tough for them right now, I just move the item pile to that chest. It has a little circlet, a potion, and some explosives, of course that's the hint for the players to just blow the fucking door up, and they do. They're essentially in the clear all the way to the exit now, so I make things a little more tense by throwing two giant naga at them (for reference I was using a Yuan-ti Abomination, CR 7), and they simply slither towards the party, trying to cut their way through the other prisoners. They scramble around, find the potions of water breathing I left around, and make their escape with some of the NPCs who helped out.
I didn't get to show everything, but Dunmur did clearly ask "wait ... were they turning the humans into those lizard things?", I thought ... should I let him know? Fuck it, why not. I say "yes, absolutely, you guys didn't get to see the rest of the hints but that was the idea". They talk about it for a bit, and Maggot even asked "can you keep that character sheet? I'd actually like to play this character later."
I'm actually some what excited to potentially play a game with Dograx, the rogue, as he was kind of a neat character. While we randomly rolled most of the characters, Dograx was a dragonborn, rogue who was raised by wolves. Maggot took that as a sign that while Dograx knew some common, he communicated mostly in growls and signals, and did not like speaking if he could help it. I may run a solo game with him provided there is time, and additionally, I have another campaign idea stored away for later that he could be apart, especially since the players were not informed which world this took place in.
I think I learned a lot about CR from this game, and I also tried an important little technique I learned from the well-known Matt Colville. Don't go easy on the players. It's not to say that you can't change things slightly or alter a tiny part of the dungeon, but instead to try and avoid the downward spiral of nerfing everything in your dungeon until it's no longer challenging. I kept a lot of it the same, but changed just a few things and then said to myself: "Nothing changes from here, let them figure out what needs to be done."
In the end? They got inventive, they weren't just doing the "I attack the naga ... again" routine, which I find happens in some of my games as players are trying way too much to play it like a video game where the only thing you can do is try harder until you die... If this weren't a one-shot where the players were stuck in a prison, I probably wouldn't have even let them get away given the fact that it probably would've been their fault.
One-Shot
I ran a one-shot with only two of my players (they were the most readily available) to try and get the gist of 5Es rules. I personally have an easier time learning when I'm just doing what it is I'm trying to learn. My players seem the same. I also wanted to get those two up to speed, so I could focus on teaching the new players separately once we are running the main campaign. On top of that, we were all kind of itching to play, so it wasn't exactly a bad idea to me.The setup was actually kind of simple, it was a 3 person game, just Maggot, Dunmur, and myself as GM. We generated characters real fast (Fun fact: I generated Maggot's character and had Maggot generate Dunmur's character) and I threw them into a game they had NO CLUE what has going on, and this is intentional. It's intentional because I have a more long-term purpose for this game, and I don't want the player's influencing it too much. That's not to say I'm railroading any aspect of this, but instead I had a simple concept that has one or two important aspects, and I need them there to get this idea to work without a hitch.
Side note: We're playing online using Roll20, the name's I'm using are their online aliases, I know their real names but I don't feel like using them.
Things didn't go entirely as planned but it did work out ... sort of. See I kinda misunderstood the CR guidelines (and forgot that 5E's CRs suck ass), and almost killed both players. The players were on a boat before it got attacked by this giant tentacley kraken like beast, the boat was destroyed and they were knocked out unconscious. Their bodies slipped into the water and as their vision faded to black, something happened. They were taken down into an underwater prison, where they finally awoke inside a damp cell. I was pretty lenient on what they had, most of what was taken from their person was simply weapons or things that could open the cells, I of course made an exception for the rogue's Thieve's Tools.
The first fight was pretty fun, Maggot (our Rogue), gets clever and starts throwing objects at the naga guard he runs into. The two of them gang up on it, take his weapon, and finish it off. In a way, they got a bit lucky since everything went off without a hitch. They round the corner, find their stuff, and turn around to notice that two naga have started coming that way to investigate what's going on. Dunmur (our Bard) is just like "Nah, fuck it, 2v1 I can take both of you!", and actually rolls intimidation to get both of them to come fight him. While Maggot is trying to hide around the corner and slip away, however he doesn't want to abandon the bard, so he stays kinda close. The naga charges up annnnd the next thing I know both of them are at 0 hp. "Uh oh ... I think these guys are a bit much." I took a pause for a second and took a thought. The naga knocks out the bard using non-lethal damage, he's dragged off and hastily thrown into a cell, they don't even strip his gear. The other was dragged off by a civilian that they freed, who knew a thing or two about medicine. He heals him up, takes the healing potion from Maggot's body and administers it.
Skip forward a bit, the bard escapes his cell, and the rogue has been unlocking all the cells while the naga were distracted. They gather all of the men and go for the front door, which is magically sealed. Maggot realizes this and is a bit perplexed, and looks over to Dunmur for assistance, he has knock, right? Nope. He used both level 2 slots in the first fight because, reasons. I make up some bullshit about one of the NPCs knowing how to undo the lock but he needs a few minutes, in which they need to guard him, but Maggot isn't going to sit for 5+ minutes. He wanders off to the side and checks one of the store rooms where there is another equipment chest. I look down at my notes and see that I had an item pile that was meant for the research lab, and realizing that the fight in there will be way too tough for them right now, I just move the item pile to that chest. It has a little circlet, a potion, and some explosives, of course that's the hint for the players to just blow the fucking door up, and they do. They're essentially in the clear all the way to the exit now, so I make things a little more tense by throwing two giant naga at them (for reference I was using a Yuan-ti Abomination, CR 7), and they simply slither towards the party, trying to cut their way through the other prisoners. They scramble around, find the potions of water breathing I left around, and make their escape with some of the NPCs who helped out.
I didn't get to show everything, but Dunmur did clearly ask "wait ... were they turning the humans into those lizard things?", I thought ... should I let him know? Fuck it, why not. I say "yes, absolutely, you guys didn't get to see the rest of the hints but that was the idea". They talk about it for a bit, and Maggot even asked "can you keep that character sheet? I'd actually like to play this character later."
Postmortem
I think the important thing was that the tension was high enough and my GM skills aren't that rusty as I was able to improvise, make things a bit fun, and really make the situation seem doable. They got out alive, had to make sacrifices (they couldn't take all of the prisoners), but in the end, they were free.I'm actually some what excited to potentially play a game with Dograx, the rogue, as he was kind of a neat character. While we randomly rolled most of the characters, Dograx was a dragonborn, rogue who was raised by wolves. Maggot took that as a sign that while Dograx knew some common, he communicated mostly in growls and signals, and did not like speaking if he could help it. I may run a solo game with him provided there is time, and additionally, I have another campaign idea stored away for later that he could be apart, especially since the players were not informed which world this took place in.
I think I learned a lot about CR from this game, and I also tried an important little technique I learned from the well-known Matt Colville. Don't go easy on the players. It's not to say that you can't change things slightly or alter a tiny part of the dungeon, but instead to try and avoid the downward spiral of nerfing everything in your dungeon until it's no longer challenging. I kept a lot of it the same, but changed just a few things and then said to myself: "Nothing changes from here, let them figure out what needs to be done."
In the end? They got inventive, they weren't just doing the "I attack the naga ... again" routine, which I find happens in some of my games as players are trying way too much to play it like a video game where the only thing you can do is try harder until you die... If this weren't a one-shot where the players were stuck in a prison, I probably wouldn't have even let them get away given the fact that it probably would've been their fault.
City Campaign
I have something in the works, a West Marches inspired campaign setting where players are trapped in a large city as part of a resistance force against a massive army. The details are being worked on, but sooner or later I'll do a post about it's success or failure.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Update from the Lich Queen (7/17/17)
The blog is up and running! I'm going to hopefully rebuild the website's appearance and fine tune it to my liking, but in the meantime I'll be focusing on writing some content. I'm going to be busy for the next few days, but I hopefully will have something written up for Friday, I've been reviewing the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material, and skimming over the rules to prepare for an upcoming game which brings me to my next talking point.
I've been building a map for an upcoming 5E game with some older players of mine who have always been somewhat fun to play with.
Welcome to the world of Aldoras!
I spent sometime practicing mountains and this was sort of a test to see if I could get an alternate style, and I think it worked. They'll be starting in the region of Oldorf, as a party of travelling dwarven musicians. Additionally, I'm toying with an idea which I'll probably write a follow-up later; fog-of-war. Roll20 comes with a built in fog-of-war system, and with a little patience I think it can be a fun tool for the overworld map, letting the players explore on their own and discover things slowly. It looks barren right now, but imagine what it will look like when the players finally uncover the whole thing?
I've been building a map for an upcoming 5E game with some older players of mine who have always been somewhat fun to play with.
Welcome to the world of Aldoras!
I spent sometime practicing mountains and this was sort of a test to see if I could get an alternate style, and I think it worked. They'll be starting in the region of Oldorf, as a party of travelling dwarven musicians. Additionally, I'm toying with an idea which I'll probably write a follow-up later; fog-of-war. Roll20 comes with a built in fog-of-war system, and with a little patience I think it can be a fun tool for the overworld map, letting the players explore on their own and discover things slowly. It looks barren right now, but imagine what it will look like when the players finally uncover the whole thing?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)