Category: Gamemastery

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Lost Mines of Phandelver 1

  1. GM: Law
    1. 5 kids (grades 10, 9, 8, 7, 5), playing (respectively) Bard the Bard, Merlin (Wizard), ?? (Wizard), Mordek (? Rogue), Thorin (Ranger), and Andrew playing Bertie the Big Nose (named on account of his prominently protruding probosis, a Cleric
  2. Side note:
    1. My friend’s kids have been wanting to play D&D since I introduced them to the game about 3 years ago (but they were still fairly young). Since then, they’ve watch the Hobbit movies, and are more familiar with the fantasy genre. I also invited over some co-workers kids, all of whom had heard of D&D, but never had played. I was pretty surprised at the awareness of the game, not really realizing the penetration of it into the cultural awareness. One mom said she’d heard about it “from Sheldon on Big Bang Theory”, and another mom and daughter from Stranger Things. And, as we just started playing, the youngest said he had played this game at a camp and there was a goblin ambush coming up!
    2. Law, who had previously played through the first part of Lost Mines of Phandelver GM’ed the game, and it was a great deal of fun! The kids all had a good time, and didn’t want to stop, even though it was quite past their bedtimes. Over the past few days, they’ve been telling their parents they could get their friends to play, and wanted to game again.
  3. Story:
    1. We were newly hired caravan guards helping to guard provisions to be delivered to the town of Phandelver. Our employers first set out a few days before us. However, as we neared our destination, we came upon the dead horses of both of them, black arrows sticking out of their flank. As we deliberated what to do, a flight of arrows caught us by surprise as a group of goblins ambushed us! With a set of fantastic rolls, we easily overcame them. But our employers were nowhere to be found. There was an empty map case on one horse, and a set of tracks leading away to the north.
    2. The party tied up the horse with the caravan, and went north in search of the missing pair – as we couldn’t get paid without them! The tracks led into the mouth of a cave that had a small stream coming out of it. There, we were once again attacked by goblins – we overcame them, but not before one of them got out a cry for help.
    3. Nevertheless, we proceeded into the dark cave, lit only by the light of a small globe summoned by Bertie. We moved past the sounds of some growling on the right, and as we neared a bend in the stream, just caught sight of a bridge up ahead. There was a passage way to the left which we decided to take, but only Thorin and Merlin were able to get there before a torrent of water suddenly filled the passage and washed the rest of the party back out into the forest. A few bumps, but no major damage.
    4. Making our way back, we found ourselves entering into the heart of the goblin camp – complete with wolves, and a pair of naked bathing goblins! A fight ensued, but we were victorious but exhausted of resources. However, we located ?? Who was tied up in the back. He told us the had taken Rockseeker away.
    5. Retreating to rest and recover, we proceeded back along the stream the next day, and came upon a cavern full of crates of provisions – and were ambushed by more goblins hiding amongst them! Even as combat was entailed, a sudden sound caused Bertie and Bard to realize that an extremely large goblin had snuck up behind us with a pair of large wolves! Several of us were clobbered in the fight, but magical healing kept any of the adventurer’s from perishing before defeating the goblin leader.
    6. Amongst the recovered goods, we found a clue leading us onward.
  4. Rewards:
    1. XP: 350 each

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 6

Really Useful Box(R) Plastic Storage Box, 7 liters – $10-14 each, measures 15.5″ x 13.5″ x 3.25″. Removable top.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. Like the other 3.25″ ones, there’s some play in between the top of the pieces and the lid, but the lid is fairly flat other than a small ridge along the outside.
    2. These stack pretty nicely, with just a little bit of shifting. But with the ridge on the lid, they are unlikely to slide off one another.
    3. They feel quite durable.
    4. A thought I had was the possibility of using these to transport prebuilt set-ups; it occurred to me that I may be able to put the terrain tray with the new magnetic pieces onto the lid, and then cover with the “bottom” portion to make it easy to move the entire tray.
      1. I tested this in the last few pictures. You can see that the train fits pretty nicely EXCEPT for the little fabric that extends beyond a ridge in the lid – that unfortunately pushes the pieces at the edges up just enough that it weakens the magnetic force so the pieces can move around.
      2. I also turned it upside down (the container right-sided up) and shook it a bit to see what would happen, then turned it back. For the most part, the magnets held pretty well! This is a testament to their strength. For most transporting between gaming locations, I wouldn’t expect the whole box to be turned upside down…
      3. Now, the pre-built tray could work very well placed into the container normally – but I found it a little difficult to get my hands into it to lift it out, which is why I tried building it on the lid.
      4. So, does anyone know where we can buy some thin metal sheets cut to exactly 12″ x 12″ that I can put into the lid? I don’t really need to have the fabric covering (as you can see in this sample build, I covered the entire thing; oh, and the new double door is fantastic!)

 

The build on the terrain tray next to the lid.

Placed onto the lid.

These next picture are close-ups of where the fabric is lifted up a bit by the ridge that runs alongside the edge of the lid – just enough to displace the rounded corners.

Looks like it fits great here, with the “bottom” closing fairly securely!

So, the next question I had was how securely would the magnetic pieces stay on the terrain tray, even when turned “upside-down”?

Looks pretty good! A few pieces came off – mostly where the fabric was pushed up by the ridge, weakening the magnetic field (and the rounded corners at the bottom are from the first Kickstarter, so don’t have magnets in the base).

And I flipped it one more time, and shook it around a bit, and still held up pretty well!

Here it is stacked on top of another 7-litre box, both with the lid down.

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 5

IRIS Portable Project Case – $5-6 each, measures 12.25″ x 13″ x 3.25″. Hinged top.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. These will suffice for storing, but are probably at the bottom of my list.
    2. They don’t really stack, and probably are best in the drawer organizer (shown below, about $50-60 for the organizer and the 6 cases)
    3. The lids bow up a bit as well, so there’s more room at the top of the pieces than the Sterilite 3.25″ containers.
    4. They are also fairly cheaply made – of the 20 or so I bought, two have broken hinges, and one has a cracked side – all in less than a year.

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 4

Artbin Super Satchel Slim Single Compartment Box 9100AB – $12-17 each (retail $20), measures 15″ x 14″ x 2″. Hinged top.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. I thought this was going to be the perfect solution, but then when I received them, it was quite the disappointment. The height is perfectly 2″ on the outside, which means that it is a tad too small to hold the DF!
    2. In addition, there are ridges that are also just under 2″ apart.
    3. So unfortunately, these are the only ones I bought which are a complete no-go.
    4. They otherwise stack well and seem durable

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 3

STERILITE 19638606 Large Clip Box, Clear – ~$6-7 each, measures 14″ x 11″ x 2.75″. Removable top.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. I would like it if it were closer to 2.25″ tall – as is, it leaves some room for pieces to move around up top, but it seems to fit the larger pieces (like the new DOD arch) quite nicely.
    2. The middle “depression” in the lid is fairly annoying – I could almost lay two of the 4″x6″ DF floors along the top to wedge in all the other pieces, but that depression leads to it tenting up in the middle.
    3. Stacks just ok – there is enough play for one to slide atop another.
    4. Seems pretty durable.
    5. Might try out the smaller one (STERILITE 19618606 Small Clip Box , 11″ x 6.88″ x 2.75 ~$2-3.50 each)

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 2

STERILITE 14028606 Divided Case, Clear Case – ~$4-6 each; 13.38″ x 10.75″ x 2.5. Hinged top.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. These are the perfect height! Smaller size as well means they aren’t quite a unwieldy fully loaded.
    2. The REMOVABLE divider trays are a nice bonus,
    3. HOWEVER, there are grooves on the bottom for those trays to fit in, which hampers their full utility.
    4. Stack very well – no detectable shifting. However, not much of a handle, so can be difficult to lift 3 up at once for example.
    5. Durable.
    6. Looks like these are going out of production, so may be unavailable in a few years.

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – 1

Sterilite 1716 6.2 qt Modular Latch Box – Going out of stock (listed at $32.99 for a single one at Amazon, but Walmart.com has 6 for $19.50); stated measurements of 15″ x 11.5″ x 3.25″, but in actuality, almost identical measurement to #3 below of 14″ x 11″ x 2.75″. Basically, I think #3 below (the one with the green latch at the top right of the six pictured above) is the replacement for this one.

  1. Thoughts:
    1. I would like it if it were closer to 2.25″ tall – this leaves some room for pieces to move around up top, but it seems to fit the larger pieces (like the new DOD arch) quite nicely.
    2. There are two raised areas in the lid which help with the stacking, but still a little slack so one can slide atop another.

 

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Dwarven Forge Storage – Introduction

I’ve been looking into more storage options for my growing DF collection (esp with these yearly kickstarters now!), and after reading through a lot of the options people use, as well as buying more containers, here are my reviews of them.

My main goal is storage with ease of access, but secondarily, the ability to use them to transport to off-site games.

  1. The best for storage with ease of access so far is the flat-file drawers – those are fantastic, and I make good use of the ones I have. No more detail on that. Link here.
  1. I also like these Sterilite 7-drawer storage cart – they are a good size, and have individual hinged snap-lids for each drawer. Plus, they were only like $35 for the entire unit; unfortunately, I haven’t found any more to buy since about 2010. (Link to a previous post with more pictures of them.)

So the ideal criteria I was looking for when looking to dive into these containers are:

  • Sized 12″ x 12″ x 2″ on the INTERIOR (this comes into play with one of these)
  • Easily, and securely stackable
  • Durable

Here are pictures of 6 other models of various containers I have gotten to test in the past few weeks. I will be going through these from the top left and going clockwise in the following posts.

 

Here’s a quick setup I did as well to test #6. It is mostly the lastest Dungeon of Doom (Kickstarter #5), with a few other elements (will point those out).

 

   

The rounded corner piece here is from the original Dwarven Forge Kickstarter #1 – the paint job matches very well with the newest KS.

Overhead shot

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Watching a great GM is fantastic!

I wasn’t able to get out of work in time to jump into a Pathfinder Society game that my friend wanted to play in earlier tonight, but after I got finished, I stopped by to see how he was doing.

He had a GM that was role-playing a NPC fairy dragon who was looking for his “tricksy pixie Pandemonia” – its rare to see a GM having such a great time, and in the process, made the game very fun for all his players. Even though I wasn’t able to join in, just watching from the side for 15 min or so was like watching a great show on TV.

Good job GM!

(It was Pathfinder Society mod 4-05 at At Ease Games in San Diego.)

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Star Wars Saga Edition Use the Force Fix

For the most part, I like the newest incarnation of the Star Wars RPG put out by Wizards of the Coast – the Saga Edition. However, the main thing that bugs me about it is the way the Force works. By having Use the Force (UTF) as a skill, its (usuaully) starts at an absurdly high level for what I feel a 1st-level Jedi should be able to do. Plus, it doesn’t get a whole lot better as the character advances (a 20th-level Sith Lord only has ~10 more over that of a 1st-level – compare a 20th level Soldier with a 1st). Over the years, I’ve tried to come up with some fixes for it.

I’ve listed below some possibilities and have link to a table showing what a “typical” progression would look like.

1) Easy1: UTF cannot be a Trained skill until achieving a level of Jedi Knight/Sith Apprentice. A pre-requisite for the Feat Skill Focus (UTF) is a level in Jedi Master/Sith Lord. This significantly lowers the UTF for lower-level Jedi characters, but has the same maximum as the books. The problem is there are large bumps upon attained the Prestige Classes (not necessarily bad, as getting trained and taking skill focus for other skills does the same thing).

2) Easy2: A pre-requisite for the Feat Skill Focus (UTF) is a level of Jedi Knigh/Sith Apprentice. Similar to Easy1, but not as drastic a measure. This is what we are using in our current Dawn of Defiance Campaign.

3) Feel1: UTF is not a skill. Rather, it is a special check that is available to characters with the Force Sensitive Feat. The check is = character level + Cha mod + 1 per force-user level (ie. Jedi, Jedi Knight, Sith Lord, etc.) This leads to an extremely high final UTF at the higher levels.

4) Feel2: Same as Feel1, but the progression is only +1/2 per force-user level. This lowerls the maximum as compared to Feel1, but still leads to high UTF at levels 15+

5) Feel3: Similar to Feel1 & Feel2, but the check is = 1/2 character level + Cha mod + 1 per force-user level. This keeps the skill mechanic of adding +1/2 per character level. The same difficulty with high UTF at levels 15+

6) Mike1: UTF is a skill, but change the Feat Skill Focus (UTF) bonus to be a maximum provided by the level-based skill bonus, with a maximum of +5 at level 10.

7) Mike2: As Mike1, but the Skill Focus (UTF) bonus is equal to the Cha mod.

8) Mike3: A combination of Mike1 and Mike2, where the Skill Focus (UTF) bonus is capped at the lower of the level-based skill bonus or Cha mod.

I’d be interested to hear about other suggestions. My favorite at this time is Feel3; partially because it gives a good progression and follows the skill mechanic. A +33 is very high for a 20th level force-user, but I am of the opinion that the game really starts to break down past 16th level, and I don’t plan on running games past that level. In addition, I don’t see that as being a complete negative, as I would expect an equivalently leveled gun-fighter to have ~+28 on to-hit rolls and defenses to be around the same.

Link to the table. The light blue is what I expect most optimized force-user UTF will be with core rules, and the light green is where the various optional rules meet the inflection point as compared to that light blue column.