Pre-game D&D Post for May 23rd Game

Adventure theme/name: Finding a wizard in a Telflamm, needle in a haystack? Or Where’s Milo?

The group has decided that the Shadowrift in Tammar needs to be closed. Their only lead is the satyr’s mention that he knew of a wizard that traveled with Victor back in his adventuring days that had become something of an expert on rifts, portals, and the planes. His name is Milo. Last time he had been heard of he was making a name for himself in Telflamm, the largest city in Thesk.

Meanwhile, since the death of his parents, Slang has seemed a bit down, and as the party packs their things up to head to Telflamm, he decides that he is going to stay and help the satyr with maintaining the crystals. Seems that though his dad was a bit ‘misguided’ Slang doesn’t want to let his and his mother’s sacrifice go to waste. In actuality, Slang’s player (Pete) is not really feeling much of a connection with Slang, so he is going to try out a shaman instead.

Ruby on Rails for Ubuntu 9.04

Alrighty! Now I’m cooking with gas. Funny side note. I don’t grill with gas, I’m a charcoal guy. So I was about to say, actually, I’m not cooking with gas. Only, you see my home stove is gas, so …

Anyways! I got through the VERY helpful Ubuntu guide for installing Ruby on Rails, and it worked! I had a few issues, but they were only minor and easily gotten around. So major hurdle one for Ubuntu has been gotten passed. My next step will doing some word processing with Open Office to see how I like it.

Installing Ubuntu – I thought this was supposed to be easy…

I spent many hours last night, getting, and attempting to install Ubuntu 9.04. So far, no luck. Sigh! I got the ISO image, burned it, verified it, and then ran memtest on the machine, and ran the disk check, etc. All good to go.

Had a few issues with the partitioning helper built into the installer, but have three times gotten through it and gotten to the point of 42% or 56% on copying files and the whole thing hangs. Going to download and burn a new cd at a slower speed and see if it has any better luck.

This is why we stick with Windows and Macs though, 95% of the time they just work. My assumption is Ubuntu is the same way though. It usually just works. At least thats what I have been told.

Update: New disk has worked in at least one machine (one that had no OS and was basically a new install). Now the questions are: Will it work on my other machine? Can I figure out how to get on the network with this Linux box? Why is chocolate so tasty? No wait… strike that last one.

Part 8 of Alpha Omega – The Fall posted

Latest part of the Fall posted.

Recap: Terintal, Drigzin, Kaliana, and Stan make their way into the ruins of Denver.

Preview: Travel in the ruins of Denver turns out to be frought with dangers.

Crafty folk those wizards…

So I’ve been doing a good bit of work on my campaign, trying to figure out where to take them once they get into the paragon tier, and where the whole campaign is going. In doing so I’ve been doing a lot of reading through various source books. I have to say, the WotC crew has impressed me with thier crafty use of old materials in 4th edition.

What the heck am I talking about? How about, Ravenloft, Planescape, and Spelljammer all being part of D&D core now. Sort of. So these are elements of previous editions that many people either loved or hated. I loved all three. But how in the new products are the creators giving a nod to them? Well, the Manual of the Planes of course.

Give a GM an Inch…

… and they might just write you into the plot!

Disclaimer: This is a general rant, and NOT pointed at any specific person in my current campaign.

If you are playing in a PnP RPG and you just show up each week to play, that’s absolutley fine. Just don’t expect your GM to do anything but the same. In absence of good character back stories, motivations, or even suggestions of a tie in, you get whatever plot the GM dreams up.

On the other hand, if you give your player a backstory, some motivations, tie-in suggestions, personality quirks, religious convictions  or favorite food, then you might just see them show up in the next few adventures.

It’s not easy being green…

No, its not about Kermit. Its about environmental awareness, and trying to reduce my environmental footprint. My wife has been getting more and more into the green movement. Kind of ironic, when you consider her business is all about paper products. Paper products are recyclable though, and Stampin Up does spend a lot of time and effort to be a green company. But I digress.

So for a year or so now I’ve driven a hybrid. I have a few CFLs at the house, but really, we are not green nuts or anything. But slowly over the passed few months, that has started to really change more and more. Now I’m not about to start wearing birkenstocks or unplug all my appliances all day, but there does seem some really effective ways that I can reduce our carbon footprint.

RPGA Rules in Play for My Game

Retraining

Class Features: When you would normally make a retrain choice, you can instead choose to take a class feature retrain. When you retrain for a new class feature (and only for a class feature), you are able to retrain up to 2 powers and 2 feats with the class feature retrain. Each character is only allowed one class feature retrain. If you choose to retrain in this manner, make a note of it on your adventure log.

Adventuring Companies

In the FORGOTTEN REALMS, adventurers often band together under a common cause or motivation. These groups are commonly called adventuring companies, but they really could represent any collective of adventurers organizing as a long-term group; for example, they could be part of an extended family or clan, a small religious sect, or a special team in a military organization. In the Living Forgotten Realms campaign, you can form such a group with fellow players, declaring your affiliation with other characters that share your character’s goals and motives. Here’s how it works.

D&D Wrap Up for 5-9 Game

Full house: Read, Pete, Allen, Sam, Ron, and Cory (and myself of course)

Having recovered (short rest) from the fight with the skeletons, the party withdrew to the city, and then went to the inn to regroup. A wounded satyr arrived and implored the party for aid. It seems Slang(Pete)’s parents were in trouble at the ogre camp. Something about an owlbear attack. It was an ambush and two satyrs and three owlbears later, the party was victorious, though banged up, and had a prisoner (the original satyr).

He was easily convinced to spill his guts saying that Slang’s dad (Victor) was wanting the party held to give him the time to do something. So the party went back to Victor’s house and found a tunnel leading back into the old city. The party decided they would wait here for the return of Victor, until Tristan(Allen) went down the tunnel a ways and heard Victor and Carain working on something in the old city.

Alpha Omega – The Fall, Part 7 Posted

Part Seven is done. I hope you enjoy it.

Recap: The companions have arrived at New Boulder, but Drigzin was following them. Now he is in trouble.

Preview: The companions become a group of four, and make plans for Denver.