Dungeons and Dragons
A friend was recently in the area and had gotten the special edition of the Tomb of Horrors for 4th edition, given only to DMs who participate in the RPGA materials. He’s pretty into that scene, and he wanted to show off the amazing PC-killing power of the module, so we all got together for an eight hour session. Amazingly, nobody died! But my paladin got close a good three times!
The module tried to emulate the original as much as possible, including many of the same traps, images, and general stupid tricks. We moved slowly just because we knew about the tomb’s reputation, and we managed to avoid many of the more obvious pit traps and terrible rooms, although we thought we screwed up hard when we entered the room on the three treasure chests. I opened the oak chest, assume some kind of Last Crusade business, and this was the wrong choice, as a giant skeleton popped out and tried to kill us all, and almost succeeded. My character fell down twice, and failed every death check he made, but we managed to pull through.
There were more pit traps and crawl spaces and locked doors. Every door in this place needed to be broken down, and there was no rhythm to it at all. We walked into a chapel, and I, in my infinite stupidity, decided to touch the altar, which promptly exploded. I dusted myself off and we went down a set of stairs and broke through a lot of doors. We ran across a door behind which we heard music, so we broke in and followed the noise, only for the floor to suddenly pitch and we were now sliding into a furnace. I assumed that my character was totally and completely dead, because she was wearing plate mail and had no strength or dexterity at all, and she was closest the furnace. Everyone else managed to escape handily, but my character kept slipping, and it was only from the amazing and awesome power of Tenser’s Floating Disk that helped me survive.
Oh man, Tenser’s Floating Disk. This saved our ass so many times. Getting over pit traps (which were everywhere) were much easier with it. We even used it to get a key out of a vat of acid. We started to get on a roll after the furnace trap, not feeling any real threat. We came across a fake Acererak, who, while he managed to drop half the party, we still killed him easily, and got through to the second half of dungeon, which we charged through, without any threat. My character continued to be rock stupid, at one point decided to just put on a crown and scepter she found on a throne. Somehow, she survived this idiotic action, and we pressed on, having to give up because we ran out of time. It was interesting, and I’m amazed that nobody died. I guess the DM was taking it a little easy on us.
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
What I Played Today: March 27
Crackdown II, Starcraft II, Mafia II, Picross 3D, Puzzle Quest 2, Dungeons and Dragons
I got some early time on the PAX floor today, got a chance to try out some games that I wouldn't have otherwise, on account of me not wanting to wait in line. I played in a short rocket tag version of Crackdown II, losing miserably, but it looks as good as before and while the controls are a bit stiff, I'm sure they'll perform better once my fingers have readjusted.
I played Starcraft II for about 10 minutes, getting a feel for the new system. It behaves a lot like the old system, only with different units and vastly improved graphics. Everything is crisp and updated, and some of the new units, like the Thor, a giant mech piloted by Arnold Swarchenegger, are just awesome.
I wanted to see the presentation of Civilization V (looks great!) but I had a moment to kill so I tried Mafia II in the same booth. Man it looks like a stinker. It's a sandbox game where you're playing a mafioso in the 50's. The setting is the only part that really impressed me, the rest was just dull. They had me handing cigarettes to an dude as part of a mission. Woopie. I also got into a fistfight with an Asian for no discernable reason.
I'm apparently a big dumbie, and have been looking for a game in stores that isn't even out yet, Picross 3D. It was on the floor, and I got about 15 seconds with it before the game froze. Ack. Looks about as promising as I imagined though.
Also spent a fair amount of time observing the new Puzzle Quest 2, due out sometime in the next couple of months. My first thought is how much better the graphics are; they completely renovated the design, and it's a bit more dark and edgey and less middle-school margin doodling. The new adjustments to game play also seem to help ensure the games don't drag forever, and have a much more down to earth adventurer feel, with the world map being a few towns and wilderness instead of an entire continent. I'm looking forward to this one.
I had very little success playing a board game today, but I did finally get to run the DM Challenge scenario that I have been preparing for what feels like forever. It went well, I thought, as I hosted a group who were all pretty familiar with each other. There were a lot of things that I could have done to make the game run more smoothly, and I feel dumb for forgetting them. The party also had a lot of terrible rolls, which even lead to one of them dying, a first for me in 4th edition. I took it real easy for the final encounter, and they mopped it up after the disappointing and long slaughter floor encounter before that. I think it went well...I'll see tomorrow how close I came to winning. I'm not expecting much.
More tomorrow...hoping to play more board games.
I got some early time on the PAX floor today, got a chance to try out some games that I wouldn't have otherwise, on account of me not wanting to wait in line. I played in a short rocket tag version of Crackdown II, losing miserably, but it looks as good as before and while the controls are a bit stiff, I'm sure they'll perform better once my fingers have readjusted.
I played Starcraft II for about 10 minutes, getting a feel for the new system. It behaves a lot like the old system, only with different units and vastly improved graphics. Everything is crisp and updated, and some of the new units, like the Thor, a giant mech piloted by Arnold Swarchenegger, are just awesome.
I wanted to see the presentation of Civilization V (looks great!) but I had a moment to kill so I tried Mafia II in the same booth. Man it looks like a stinker. It's a sandbox game where you're playing a mafioso in the 50's. The setting is the only part that really impressed me, the rest was just dull. They had me handing cigarettes to an dude as part of a mission. Woopie. I also got into a fistfight with an Asian for no discernable reason.
I'm apparently a big dumbie, and have been looking for a game in stores that isn't even out yet, Picross 3D. It was on the floor, and I got about 15 seconds with it before the game froze. Ack. Looks about as promising as I imagined though.
Also spent a fair amount of time observing the new Puzzle Quest 2, due out sometime in the next couple of months. My first thought is how much better the graphics are; they completely renovated the design, and it's a bit more dark and edgey and less middle-school margin doodling. The new adjustments to game play also seem to help ensure the games don't drag forever, and have a much more down to earth adventurer feel, with the world map being a few towns and wilderness instead of an entire continent. I'm looking forward to this one.
I had very little success playing a board game today, but I did finally get to run the DM Challenge scenario that I have been preparing for what feels like forever. It went well, I thought, as I hosted a group who were all pretty familiar with each other. There were a lot of things that I could have done to make the game run more smoothly, and I feel dumb for forgetting them. The party also had a lot of terrible rolls, which even lead to one of them dying, a first for me in 4th edition. I took it real easy for the final encounter, and they mopped it up after the disappointing and long slaughter floor encounter before that. I think it went well...I'll see tomorrow how close I came to winning. I'm not expecting much.
More tomorrow...hoping to play more board games.
What I Played Today: March 26
Diner Dash, Dungeons and Dragons, Chaos in the Old World, Pandemic
Just a really quick update because I need to be getting to sleep so that I can do the same thing tomorrow. Got to PAX after getting some pastries about 1, where I got to stand in the queue room. The queue room is this great experience where you get to stand and wait. It actually can be really fun; there's a big board that has a lot of stuff happening to keep you entertained, and the energy of the crowd is great.
After that there was some wandering, a quick dash into the exhibit hall. I got quickly waylaid into playing the new console port of Diner Dash, and it controls pretty well, considering. My friend won an apron for beating me and getting the high score.
Then I played D&D Encounters for a few hours. The D&D Encounters model is neat, supposedly short sessions every week, in which you do a single encounter in an adventure. The encounters thrown at us were tough, but I was playing a heavy resist battlemind and was able to shrug off the majority of the damage. It was pretty neat, even though I spend a good 6 healing surges.
After that I went down to the board game rooms to see what was about. I walked past a game of Chaos in the Old World that was just starting up, and jumped in to play Nurgle. I thought that I was doing pretty well for most of the game, but a penultimate round slaughter of all my cultists kept me from getting a fair number of points, and the Sleenesh player had been killing peasants for fun all game, only for the last card to reward her 7 points for them, enough to jump her to 50 points and the win. But it was a good time, helping them learn how to play and playing this real tight tactical experience.
Afterwards, I played a game of Pandemic with them. Even with 4 players we lost. It was all time limit, we had the majority of the disease in the bag but we ran out of time. I'm starting to dislike that aspect of it, because that's a problem we really don't have any control over.
More planned tomorrow, including running an adventure with some new players.
Just a really quick update because I need to be getting to sleep so that I can do the same thing tomorrow. Got to PAX after getting some pastries about 1, where I got to stand in the queue room. The queue room is this great experience where you get to stand and wait. It actually can be really fun; there's a big board that has a lot of stuff happening to keep you entertained, and the energy of the crowd is great.
After that there was some wandering, a quick dash into the exhibit hall. I got quickly waylaid into playing the new console port of Diner Dash, and it controls pretty well, considering. My friend won an apron for beating me and getting the high score.
Then I played D&D Encounters for a few hours. The D&D Encounters model is neat, supposedly short sessions every week, in which you do a single encounter in an adventure. The encounters thrown at us were tough, but I was playing a heavy resist battlemind and was able to shrug off the majority of the damage. It was pretty neat, even though I spend a good 6 healing surges.
After that I went down to the board game rooms to see what was about. I walked past a game of Chaos in the Old World that was just starting up, and jumped in to play Nurgle. I thought that I was doing pretty well for most of the game, but a penultimate round slaughter of all my cultists kept me from getting a fair number of points, and the Sleenesh player had been killing peasants for fun all game, only for the last card to reward her 7 points for them, enough to jump her to 50 points and the win. But it was a good time, helping them learn how to play and playing this real tight tactical experience.
Afterwards, I played a game of Pandemic with them. Even with 4 players we lost. It was all time limit, we had the majority of the disease in the bag but we ran out of time. I'm starting to dislike that aspect of it, because that's a problem we really don't have any control over.
More planned tomorrow, including running an adventure with some new players.
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