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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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Dark*Matter #23: Greed Island 1

      1. Game date: 2018 Jul 04
        1. GM: Law
        2. PCs: David (Ari), Malakai (AJ), Percival (Andrew)
      2. 2012 Summer, hot & humid
      3. At Hoffman Institute
        1. David Irving
          1. 32 yo 6′ tall, white, well-groomed, fairly well-built, with glasses
          2. Greatest desire: To do good, and want to not be tempted to do evil anymore
        2. Malakai
          1. Looks like Forrest Griffin
          2. History: Story of triumph/victory – graduated trade school, carpentry. Did that because didn’t want to go to college.
            1. Wanted to do amateur MMA as a kid.
        3. Director Johnson calls them into office
          1. Team from Detroit has checked in, but Pulson hasn’t.  Rest of team busy on another mission
          2. Need them to look for Pulson. Give address of apartment on Long Island
      4. Long Island
        1. Visit run down apt complex. Apt door is slightly ajar, but inside is nicely furnished
        2. Ambushed by a pair of thieves, but they easily defeat them
        3. The two find a Playstation 1 memory stick
          1. Plug it in. All 15 spots taken up by one saved memory stick. Title of game is Greed Island.
      5. Repair store
        1. Got into computer, and saw Pulson had been looking at Greed Island on the internet.
        2. He was communicating with Lido of Lido’s Game Store.
      6. Starbucks
        1. Met Brandon
          1. Rarest of rare games – less than 100 copies made.
          2. $5.6M PER game
          3. Unknown who made it.
            1. Rumor has it a guy named Jin made it.
            2. No one knows who he is.
            3. For sale about a month after PS1 made. 1996-1997
          4. A few copies coming up for auction
            1. Barrett Young – billionaire philanthropist, including money to Church.
              1. Plethora of organizations – YMCA, Boys and Girls club
              2. Rumor is he’s putting in bids. Trying to get all 5 copies.
            2. Old man. Previously married.
            3. His company is Barrett Core. Corp offices at Barrett Tower
              1. Investment company. Buys companies and resells.
              2. One of the taller towers in Manhattan
          5. Auction in 2 weeks.
      7. Barrett Tower
        1. Met with Barrett Young and his bodyguard.
          1. Percival spoke with security and reception to get his way into Young’s office.
          2. Entered just as hearing Young say something about “18-20 players”
      8. Back at Hoffman Institute
        1. Fill in Johnson
          1. He says to see what happens at auction in 2 weeks.
          2. Who else bids, and amount
      9. Auction hall
        1. Grab catalogue
        2. Copy of Greed Island sold by the estate of a Gary, in a will.
          1. He was an avid player, and his will said if he was gone for 5 years, it was to be auctioned.
        3. PS turned off, and save copy showed a Gary
          1. Auction said that the game protects itself as well as powers itself.
          2. 4 guard shoot the PS with handguns, but no damage comes to itself!
        4. First copy bought by Young for $20M
        5. 2nd copy:
          1. Someone bidding up Young, a younger fat Asian man. Young still won by $25M
          2. Bodyguard leaves, Malachi follows him out
            1. He went in elevator to another floor, and in following him, a car on fire and a couple of bodies bleeding out.
            2. As they confront each other, a car peels out and almost rams into them, but the bodyguard pulls Malachi out of the way
        6. Other copies won by Barrett Young for $28M, $32M, $35M.
          1. He makes it a show of winning
        7. Barrett afterwards comes up and says that it is time for us to learn the truth. Gives us an address in the Hamptons to meet the next night.
      10. Hamptons
        1. Very nice house. Dinner party going on. About 30-40 people
        2. Barrett says he will say that he tell people about the game, but we can first all audition
          1. Bodyguard is tough, but we passed after 3 tests
            1. Ask why we are interested in Greed Island
            2. Power test
            3. Spirit test
        3. Greed Island
          1. Some are just curious. Some think it is a gate to hell
          2. Created by a powerful person named Jin. Motivation unknown.
          3. Players don’t disappear. They are transported to another world.
          4. Barrett would like to recruit us in beating the game. Reward of $10M awaits them. All rights and properties and other items solely belong to Greed Island. If agree, then he will let us play. If agree, sign the contract.
            1. Skim them – long winded, but fairly straightforward
        4. The bodyguard is a player, but has been gone for the past 3 weeks! He goes and comes back!
          1. “The strong can” come back he says.
          2. Leads us to the cellar. 15-16 PSs.
          3. Some consoles have connectors that allow up to 8 players to play. One entrant at a time.
            1. How to enter? “Hold hands over consoles, and channel spirit into the game.”
              1. A 13 y/o kid enters easily, disappearing into the console, others take a few more minutes.
              2. Malachi disappears
              3. Pervical disappears
              4. Then Irving enters
      11. Greed Island
        1. We each individually appear in an empty hut, wearing just knit shorts and woolen shirts.
        2. Go down stairs and meet a floating lady who tells us that to  stop an evil mage, need to collect 6 sacred stones.
          1. She also says that death in the game is death in real life.
          2. Won’t tell us how to get out of the game.
        3. Went down another set of stairs, which leads to a plain where we see the other two.
        4. To the left is a volcano, and on the right is a city
      12. Epilogue:
        1. XP: 4 each

 

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Dark*Matter: Manuel “Percival” Archuleta

Law offered to run a game in our Dark*Matter Campaign, so I got to create a PC to play! As the other PCs are currently about ~70 XP, my PC started with 40 XP (8 advances). So here is Manuel “Percival” Archuleta

Manuel is an American-born fillipino. Because of all his troubles in school and with the law (having been arrested a few times), his family sent him to the Phillipines to live with his extended family. There, he didn’t fare much better, and got involved with the various street gangs that plagued Manilo. He was a father by age 18, and that stabilized his life a little. Nevertheless, it was not enough that he could be a good father regardless of how much he loved his daughter and found he was becoming a grandfather before his 35th birthday.

Going to visit his daughter and her mother one evening, he arrived at a scene of horror – their gruesomely mutilated corpses amongst a dozen others, and a pack of demonic beasts ravaging the village. He managed to survive fighting off the beasts with the aid of a priest who had been hunting the creatures, which was led by an Aswang. The priest, it turned out, was a member of the Templarios – a sect within the Church that rooted out and destroyed such beasts of hell.

It was a turning point for Archuleta, and he dedicated himself to the fighter against such evil, and was christened by Father Ricardo as Percival.

  1. Human
  2. Stats
    1. Str d4
    2. Agi d10
      1. Fighting d10 (4)
      2. Shooting d6 (2)
      3. Driving d4 (1)
    3. Vigor d4
    4. Smarts d6
      1. Streetwise d6 (2)
      2. Notice d6 (2)
    5. Spirit: d10
      1. Faith d10 (4)
  3. Hindrances: 1 Major or 2 minor
    1. Code of Honor: Catholic
    2. Minor Vow: Chastity
    3. Bad Eyes: -2 beyond 10 yards
  4. Advances
    1. Two-Fisted
    2. Arcane Background (Miracles)
      1. Deflection
      2. Smite
    3. Str d6
    4. Vig d6
    5. Martial Artist
    6. Adept
    7. New Power: Healing
    8. New Power: Puppet
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Dangwaru

​The Tortle have a saying – “we wear our homes on our backs”. And yet, this one seems intent on asking for your help in returning to her birthplace at the Snout of Omgar. There, she says, she will pay you handsomely for ridding Dangwaru – theTyphoon Palace, of the monsters that terrorize the youth of Ahoyhoy.

  1. GM: Andrew (DCI #:5109855060)
  2. Players and Rewards:
    1. Omni – Human Ranger 1
      1. 1265 XP, 490 GP, 20 Downtime days, 0 Renown
    2. Gundy Hazel (Solid) – Human Monk 3
      1. 1265 XP, 490 GP, 20 Downtime days, 0 Renown
    3. Primus Ivoriil (C.Z.) – Half-elf Paladin 4
      1. 1265 XP, 490 GP, 20 Downtime days, 0 Renown
    4. DAL59 – Human Wizard 3
      1. 1265 XP, 490 GP, 20 Downtime days, 0 Renown
    5. Sonic – Dragonborn Rogue 1
      1. 302 XP, xx GP, 10 Downtime days
    6. Ayberk – Human Paladin 1
      1. 212 XP, xx GP, 10 Downtime days, 0 Renown
  3. Monsters

    1. Lizard:

      50/6=8.3333

      Shadow

      400/6=66.6667

      Mimic

      450/5=90

      Topi

      600/4=150

      Xorn

      1800/4=450

      Shadow

      200/4=50

      Slug

      700/4=175

      Ghost

      1100/4=275
  4. Treasure:
    1. From Treasure room, everything converted to GP is 1,960 GP. Divided by 4 = 490
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Storm King’s Thunder #1 – A Great Upheaval 1

  1. GM: Andrew (DCI #:5109855060)
  2. Players:
    1. Sparlock (Chad): Half-elf Warlock Hexblade 1
    2. Zarr (Daniel): Half-elf Bard 1
    3. DAL 59 (DAL): Human Wizard 2
    4. Phenaus (Brandon): Dwarf Cleric (Grave) 1
    5. Arara (Wolffine): Drow Sorcerer 1
  3. 1485 DR: The Year of the Iron Dwarf’s Vengeance
  4. Nightstone: A fortified settlement located a few miles south of the Ardeep Forest, in the untamed hills between Waterdeep and Daggerford.
    1. 5 traveling companions are making their way there after having heard rumors of goblins terrorizing the settlement. The High Steward of Nightstone, Lady Velrosa Nandar, a Waterdhavian noble has offered a reward to anyone able to deal with the goblin threat.
    2. Leaving the main road for the trail to Nightstone, the more perceptive of the group begin to hear the tolling of a bell a few miles into the 10 mile journey. It continues unceasingly for the remainder of the trip…
    3. Cresting the last hill reveals the town situated on a small rise in the middle of a large river, forming a natural moat. A wooden palisade surrounds it, with a lowered drawbridge flanked by stone watchtowers. Further to the right, a stone keep overlooking the village is partially collapsed; likewise the wooden bridge that connects the keep to the village.
    4. No activity other than the continuous ringing of the bell is seen or heard.
  5. Goblins!
    1. Making their way through the towers into the abandoned town square, the group encounter a pair of large wolves tearing at the corpse of a dog – no doubt, an unlucky pet. Noticing the arrival of the group, the wolves aggressively attack!
    2. The sounds of fighting draw out several goblins from the surrounding buildings! More mayhem ensues, but the party is victorious in vanquishing the little monsters.
    3. Curiously, there are enormous 5-foot rocks scattered among the town square – as well as similar boulders smashing through the roof and walls of several of the buildings. There is also a large gouge in the ground some 6 feet deep in the center of the square.
    4. Investigating the buildings leads the group to find a pair of goblins swinging from the bell-rope in the church. The entranced goblins have long since been deafened by the bell over the past several hours that they don’t even notice the party.
    5. Questioning a captured goblin, she reveals that “Boss Hark” sent them to the human’s home 2 nights ago to look for treasures when the humans came to their home in the caves o the north. The goblins didn’t kill the humans here, and she doesn’t know why they went to their home. Letting her live, she tells them her home is in the dripping caves a mile north of the village.
    6. The party barricades themselves in a building to rest.
  6. Epilogue:
    1. XP: 10 Goblins (50 xp each) & 2 Worgs (100 XP each) = 700 XP Total; 700/5=140 Each
    2. Treasure:
      1. Goblins carry:

        1. Stolen utensils

          0

          3 Vials of perfume

          5

          Battered copper flagon emblazoned with grinning visage of a halfing

          1

          gold wedding ring

          25

          Coin

          0.39

          3 blocks of incense

          15

          Silver amulet shaped like a unicorn’s head

          25

          “poor box”

          .52

          Sack of food!

        2. 81.91/5=16.382
    3. Downtime: 5
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Starfinder: Dead Suns 1 – Incident at Absalom Station 2

    1. Game date: 2018 Mar 18
      1. GM: Law
      2. PCs: Bubbles, Syphillus, Arius, AJ (new PC Kulon?) & Obozaya – pregen Vesk Soldier (Thor)
    2. Absalom Station:
      1. Spent next few days later exploring the station
        1. Invitation to embassy of Eox by Gavarlosk Noor – for this afternoon
          1. (Eox is a planet of Elebriens – a species who had to transform themselves to undead to avoid extinction)
        2. Undead guards. Foyer with black marble and purplish light. We are only non-undead.
          1. Escorted to His Excellence
      2. Says he knows about the dispute over ship and “driftrock”
        1. Offers himself as a mediator
        2. Says we are neutral
      3. Go to Aqion
        1. Find out what happened to crew
        2. Determine the value of cargo
        3. And find out about the driftrock
        4. Offers each of us 600 cred
          1. Arius asked for 2000 cred w/ diplomacy 25
        5. Also, a package for the embassy, which is now quarantined
          1. Personal favor, will increase to 1100 cred each
        6. Arius succeeded in getting agreement for 1400
        7. The Aquion:
          1. Package ever been to Absalom station
          2. Package not dangerous, illegal or contraband
      4. As we are leaving, message bot flies up and spits out a letter
        1. Cordially invited to offices of Ms. Joss (a female Lashunta) in Blue Rise Tower (where the Astral Extractions are based)
          1. Marketing preparations
            1. Says Aquion hired by company to explore and get rights to minerals
          2. To me, the rules seem very plausible as defined in the contract
        2. Aquion:
          1. Found a few weeks ago.
          2. A month before then, it was hired out
      5. Leaving there, another messenger – Captain Otao Sericce (a red-skinned human). Invites us to his ship
        1. He is an unofficial spokesman for the Collective.
          1. They value their independence and freedom; struggle against the corps
        2. Believes the crew prob thought that if they brought it back, it wasn’t “staking a claim” for the Astral Extraction in the future, but rather, it was something that they brought back, and is loot.
          1. He is not disputing the AE claim, and will return all information about exploration to them.
        3. They didn’t hire gang to kill people, but to protect their own. The AE hired the gang.
        4. Creel has a cousin that is in the Collective.
        5. Aquion
          1. Freighter, medium sized – 4 engine
            1. 6-10 crew
    3. To the Aquion
      1. Shuttle is an upgraded Ringworks Wanderer station ship, called the Hippocampus
      2. As we leave the Armada into the Quarantine Zone, I detect another ship leaving the Armada for the same destination
        1. Tiny ship
          1. Tiny Interceptor, called a Death’s Hand Necroglider
      3. Message on transponder from Aquion
        1. “Attention: Ship under quarantine. Do not approach.”
      4. Landing
        1. Entering into the airlock, found Akata
      5. Exploring
        1. Found a corridor with signs of battle, and a body of a space goblin with throat torn out
        2. Fought a lot of Akata, and some space goblines
        3. Have found residue of Noqual
      6. Bridge
        1. I restored ship functions
        2. Got records
          1. Discovery of driftrock
          2. Found strange geods
          3. Creatures hatched from the geods and attacked – descriptions are of the Akata
          4. “Something else, it came from the rock. Will open ship to airlock, may do something.”
          5. “Didn’t work – set autopilot to Absalom station. We are going to head to the rock.”
      7. With that information, we returned to the airlock, only to find out that our shuttle was no longer there!!
    4. Level up to level 2!
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Dark*Matter #21: Thin Blue Line

    1. Game date: 2018 Mar 17
      1. PCs: Markov, Lester, Maverick, Bill, Jonah, Angus
        1. Jonah Redding (played by Andrew Huang): Ex-marine, dishonorably discharged for running from combat
          1. Minor deathwish
          2. Major delusion: Sees an assassin in every crowd. But, his family was killed by an assassin after discharge, one that no one else saw…
    2. 2014 Oct 06
    3. Florida: HQ
      1. Recuperating after encounter in Prague, Director Jones informs team that a contact at the Detroit Police that requests backup.
      2. Corktown Precint’s Captain Malcolm Simms is a friend of Hoffman
      3. Increase in abnormal repots in Detroit.
        1. Over past few months, increase in the dark matter levels. Corresponds to increase in the supernatural.
      4. Go to Detroit and contact Simms.
      5. A new recruit there as well – one Jonah Redding whom the Institute has been watching
      6. Background
        1. XA908
          1. Revealed a mound
        2. An octo (Dr. Lilian Brown) found it in her search for occult, and managed to open some doorways
    4. Detroit:
      1. On the drive up, Maverick researches background on Simms
      2. Captain Malcolm Simms:
        1. <IMG of SIMMS
      3. The group meets with Sergeant James MacMillan
        1. <IMG of MacMillan
      4. He escorts them to Simms
    5. Central rail
      1. Encounter Golem:
        1. Fumble lester & Mav
        2. Shaken: (+2)
        3. 17, 13, 4, 7 (Mav),
        4. <IMG Golem
    6. Temple Beth Shalom
      1. 1 / -6
    7. Epilogue:
      1. 2 XP

 

GM notes: These adventures in Detroit come from the fantastic Savage Worlds sandbox guide Thin Blue Line from Melior Via. The setting is reminiscent of the initial seasons of the X-files, and the production value of the book is excellent. The writing clearly comes from a place of great love for Detroit. Thank you Melior Via for allowing me the use of some of the pictures and for the wonderful setting!

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Dark*Matter #20: The Alchemist

  1. Game date: 2017 Dec 31
    1. PCs: Markov, Maverick, Lester
  2. 2014 Summer
  3. Background:
    1. Missing young woman are unfortunately not uncommon among Eastern European countries.
    2. Many of these have many social ills, with drug dependency very common
    3. Over the past few months however, there has been an uptick in the middle-class young women who have gone missing; with people left behind who are concerned and able to do something about it. In particular, 8 of the reported missing women are new mothers.
    4. There’s an ambitious dhamphir Daniel Vlcek in Prague, who is making a play at moving up the ladder. To do so, he wants to get his hands on an elixir that is said to be death to the undying – the dust of life. It was rumored to be in the possession of the Alchemist, a 2 century old vampire that slumbers under an old monastery.
  4. Hook:
    1. Hoffman Institute Europe receives a message that a body found is one of the missing woman. Interpol has ruled the case a suicide due to slashed wrists, but Hoffman’s sources say that some carvings on her body are in the shape of an old gypsy rune meant to defile a body.
      1. Anezka Krejci
  5. Scene 1: Morgue
    1. Talk way into Czech police morgue
    2. Investigations: many of the missing are tied to a Dr. Pietor Czersonwich (wife Olivie)
  6. Scene 2:  Speaking with the doctor
    1. He is an OB/GYN:
      1. “Disposes” of unwanted newborns, ostensibly giving them up for adoption
      2. Didn’t want to help, but he can’t refuse his master!
    2. Gave the names to a Mr. Radek Novotny
  7. Scene 3: Infiltrating a Mafia (Jaksikovci): Dominik
    1. Firefight!
  8. Scene 4: Alchemist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sendivogius) Michael Sendivogius (Polish: Michał Sędziwój; 1566–1636
  9. Taking out the guards
  10. Murdering a baby
  11. Dust of death
  12. Captured the Alchemist
  13. Scene 5:
    1. Vlcek sends his dogs
  14. Epilogue
    1. XP: 5
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Starfinder: Dead Suns 1 – Incident at Absalom Station 1

    1. GM: Lawrence
      1. Ari: Scythix (Vesk): Scrawny vesk with a large axe
      2. AJ: Ajax (M Human): custom rig
      3. David: Mize (M Asian human): Slight, fades into background, but has a papable presence. Working odd jobs to get on ship
      4. Andrew: Bubbles (M Shirren): Iridescent green shell with a humped back which is a drone
      5. Thor: Obozaya (F Vesk) – large Vesk solider
    2. We are on a ship to Absalom Station, just coming out of Drift
    3. Doravor Kreel (M. Dwarf):
      1. Asked me to meet him about Starfinder Society
    4. Landing on Absalom Station
      1. Brightly lit station abuzz with activity!
        1. Weapon fire suddenly erupts
      2. Dwarf is killed
        1. On datapad, only my name and description as well as “Chiskiss” and an address
    5. Wardens come and say they recognize the people:
      1. Gangbangers known as Level 21 crew and the Downside Kings
    6. Address on datapad leads to Lorespire Complex
      1. Offered to join SFS, and the first task is to investigate why we were ambushed – coincidence? Or were we targeted
    7. Rumors
      1. A derelict ship Aqueons came with a driftrock in tow, and no crew!
        1. Heard that the crew were either killed to keep a secret, or went mad and walked out the airlock
      2. Two crews claim the rights:
        1. (Astral Extraction – a powerful mining conglomeratge – centered in the Diaspora; recently hired a ship belonging to Hardscrabble Collective
          1. Their public image is good, but they are known to hire criminals etc.
        2. Hardscrabble Collective- the Aqeon; they are a clan of asteroid miners. They count the Armada as a central gathering place. Hire their crew out. Not really a clan, but a coalition of individuals.
          1. They have hired the Level 21 gang to protect their interests
    8. On Level 21 investigating
      1. Stuffer shack encounter didn’t go so well after acosting some homeless patrons
      2. Found a bodega with a fat halfing (Mama Fats) female proprietor that said she will let Jabaksa (Ysoki leader of the level 21 crew) that we are looking for him.
    9. Downside King
      1. Leader: Ferani Nadaz (ferocious woman)
    10. Next morning, message for us at the Moon: 6 pm Bodega
    11. Investigation:
      1. Kings hired to threaten the Collective to hang over Aqueon and Driftrock
      2. Doravor Kreel: Mid-level SFS, took interest in
        1. Focused on mineral prospecting
        2. Native of Diaspora
        3. Ties to dwarves and other miners
        4. Active in challenging corp
        5. Personally invested in Collective
        6. Cousing was part of Collective who died b/c Astral Extraction didn’t pay for safety
    12. Back at Bodega: Ysoki Jabacksa and 2 humans
      1. Jabacksa said Downside Kings aren’t rivals, just on opposite sides of employers right now.
        1. Says Kings hang out at the bar Fusion Queen
        2. Ferani only became leader a few months ago when she killed prior leader
        3. Astral Extraction hires the Downside Kings – doesn’t know why they killed Doroval
    13. Fashion Queen
      1. Take out the bouncers
      2. Loud nightclub inside
      3. Disguised way in and took out 3 guards, one Vesk bodyguard, and Ferani
        1. Datapad shows communique between Astral Extractions and Kings ordering gang to kill Dorvar Kreel as a message to Collective, and to keep SFS from getting too curious about Aqeon.
    14. Return to Chisskiss
      1. He will pass on information and advised us to stay away from Astral Extraction