July's schedule goes back to our normal gaming times. We will play board games at the Derby Line Village Hall at 6PM on July 16th.
We now play two roleplaying games: D&D 3.5 AND A Song of Ice and Fire. We are doing a mega RPG day where we will play one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. The next date for that is July 23rd.
We got a few new board games so be sure to check out our list of games to see what we have. As always, let us know if you wish us to bring any particular board games to the board game night.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Border Board Games June 11th
Border Board Games met on a new night in June, June 11th, so as not to conflict with the Green Mountain gamers Game'n Grill event on the following weekend. BBG welcomed a new face to the group as Jeff popped by to enjoy some games with us.
We started the night with a light and easy game of Ave Caesar. Homer remained almost completely baffled throughout the two races as he was always caught in corners and trapped in bottle necks. Following a couple of circuits of the chariot racing game we then moved on to a few rounds of 7 Wonders.
Though it has become a favorite among the group for its easy to grasp mechanics, quick game play and minimal downtime, it was actuality Shannon and Jeff's first time playing. While guild points boosted me (Richard) into a solid first place finish, Jeff finished strong in his own right taking second place on the strength of a balanced Military, Wonders and VP card system.
Shannon brought along a new game for the group to try. The theme and name of the game was Werewolf (forgive me if I muffed the name S.) The game involves minimal equipment as it simply involves passing out role cards and assigning a mayor or moderator. It is basically a variation of Russian Sledge whereby during the day the villagers (and the hidden werewolves) vote to eliminate the person they believe to be plaguing their town. The game then proceeds to a night phase whereby players close their eyes and the Seer awakens to peek at any other players card. That completed, the Werewolves then awaken and choose their victim. In order for the victim to die the vote must be unanimous.
The game progresses until only villagers (including special villagers like the Hunter or the Witch) or werewolves are left standing. What we learned was that while leery of claims the game could accommodate 8 to 18 people, it probably does play better with a larger group. This would create more tension on part of the werewolves and the villagers as each tries to seek the others out.
Following Werewolf we then tried a co-op game Pandemic. It's one of those games that we haven't busted out in a while so it was a chance to refresh ourselves with the game and introduce Jeff to Euro co-op games. It was a hit or miss affair with the team managing to cure the diseases before the world dissolved into chaos and death. Things certainly started out poorly with the Swine Flu sweeping through Asia until Homer the gallant Medic charged in to clean up the mess. Meanwhile Beth the research station builder guy (can't recall the actual name) and Shannon the dispatcher helped move Jeff the scientist and Homer to the latest hot spots to execute cures and construct critical new research facilities outside of Atlanta.
It was one of those peculiar games where some areas continued to be hammered mercilessly but others occurred with such infrequency as to present little challenge at all. Certainly the Swine Flu hit most areas in Asia prior to its control but the dengue fever in Africa and South America did little more than trouble Lagos, Miami and Mexico City. The Black Plague made an appearance in the Middle East and SARS swept through the northern latitudes to create more tension later on. With the deck perilously close to expiring, the team executed the final cure for the win.
We started the night with a light and easy game of Ave Caesar. Homer remained almost completely baffled throughout the two races as he was always caught in corners and trapped in bottle necks. Following a couple of circuits of the chariot racing game we then moved on to a few rounds of 7 Wonders.
Though it has become a favorite among the group for its easy to grasp mechanics, quick game play and minimal downtime, it was actuality Shannon and Jeff's first time playing. While guild points boosted me (Richard) into a solid first place finish, Jeff finished strong in his own right taking second place on the strength of a balanced Military, Wonders and VP card system.
Shannon brought along a new game for the group to try. The theme and name of the game was Werewolf (forgive me if I muffed the name S.) The game involves minimal equipment as it simply involves passing out role cards and assigning a mayor or moderator. It is basically a variation of Russian Sledge whereby during the day the villagers (and the hidden werewolves) vote to eliminate the person they believe to be plaguing their town. The game then proceeds to a night phase whereby players close their eyes and the Seer awakens to peek at any other players card. That completed, the Werewolves then awaken and choose their victim. In order for the victim to die the vote must be unanimous.
The game progresses until only villagers (including special villagers like the Hunter or the Witch) or werewolves are left standing. What we learned was that while leery of claims the game could accommodate 8 to 18 people, it probably does play better with a larger group. This would create more tension on part of the werewolves and the villagers as each tries to seek the others out.
Following Werewolf we then tried a co-op game Pandemic. It's one of those games that we haven't busted out in a while so it was a chance to refresh ourselves with the game and introduce Jeff to Euro co-op games. It was a hit or miss affair with the team managing to cure the diseases before the world dissolved into chaos and death. Things certainly started out poorly with the Swine Flu sweeping through Asia until Homer the gallant Medic charged in to clean up the mess. Meanwhile Beth the research station builder guy (can't recall the actual name) and Shannon the dispatcher helped move Jeff the scientist and Homer to the latest hot spots to execute cures and construct critical new research facilities outside of Atlanta.
It was one of those peculiar games where some areas continued to be hammered mercilessly but others occurred with such infrequency as to present little challenge at all. Certainly the Swine Flu hit most areas in Asia prior to its control but the dengue fever in Africa and South America did little more than trouble Lagos, Miami and Mexico City. The Black Plague made an appearance in the Middle East and SARS swept through the northern latitudes to create more tension later on. With the deck perilously close to expiring, the team executed the final cure for the win.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The Bad Penny
The party was led into the backroom of the Bad Penny, a small taproom in the mid-level towers of Sharn. The front room was filled with the usual assortment of middling merchants and tradesmen while the backroom held in unlikely triumvirate of people. Three figures were seated around a large table, eyeing the group like butchers appraising livestock.
The half-elf in the middle had the looks of one knowing her business. The House Lyrandar tattoo gracing the side of her cheek and neck only proved it. To her right sat a dour looking dwarf and to her left a fidgety gnome. As the party would soon learn, they were in the presence of representatives from three of the Dragonmarked Houses. Mervin d'Kundarak, the dwarf, represented the city's and his family's banking interests. Elsa d'Lyrandar was the chief factor of Lyrandar's shipping operations in the city. The last figure, the gnome Romeo Goldpurse, represented House Sivis as one of its chief scribes and investigators.
Without much in the way of introduction, Elsa slid a piece of parchment across the table, asking if the party was familiar with House script. Acknowledging that they were, she then asked if they noticed anything peculiar about the script in front of them. Waylander suspected it may have been a forgery, a conclusion the others agreed to after some discussion. If only it were so easy.
The script was actually part of a cargo that vanished along with the Siren's Song. The ship, under contract to House Lyrandar, was transporting supplies and funds to a Margrave University expedition on the northwest coast of Xendrik. It never arrived. And yet, script issued by House Kundarak, secured and authenticated by House Sivis, transported by House Lyrandar appears suddenly in the Cliffside neighborhood in the grubby mitts of a known thief Heinrich Yost.
The party was tasked with finding Yost and learning how the script came to be in his possession. Despite representing three Dragonmarked Houses, the trio agreed it would be best to seek out independent contractors to solve this riddle. Suspicions were aroused that the loss of a Lyrandar airship was no chance disaster. Somewhere within their organizations, someone was leaking sensitive information. Better to have outsiders, persons with no ties to these great Houses, search out the truth.
Thanks to Elis' offering of medical advice among the downtrodden of Cliffside, the group was able to identify one of Yost's hangouts within a couple of hours. The Golden Goose, despite its name, had very little of its golden lustre remaining. A shabby structure held up by inertia and fastened together by despair and filth, it looked the part of a pirate hangout. Some spreading around of gold, a cup of fresh-squeezed crab juice later ("Who drinks crab juice?" Elis asked. "They were out of shark," Bris replied.) and the location of Yost's hangout was uncovered. Apparently he ran with the Wharf Rats gang.
As it turned out, the name was more than appropriate. In dire rat form the Wharf rats would swim out to vessels approaching the harbor. Then, under cover of darkness, they would plunder the choicest loot before the land-based thieves could do so. The party spent time gambling with the unlikely named Elis the thief and Waylander actually came out ahead in the endeavor. Around midnight they spotted their quarry.
Yost was trundling back in with a large sea chest, aided by one of his fellows, and headed for the upper level of the Wharf Rats undercity lair. Bold as brass the adventurers followed him up, encountering his companion in the process of examining the stolen loot. While Elis had the man-rat nearly convinced of the group's legitimacy, it all fell apart soon after Waylander tried to muscle his way through a locked door. Luckily the battlemage was just as quick to unleash magical darts of death that struck down the wererat before he could alert his fellows.
They found the key to the door on the dead thief and proceed into a back room. It, in turn, lead to a ladder and hatch in the ceiling. Boldly going where no man ought to go head first, Waylander found himself on the receiving end of a sahuagin's poisoned spear. It appeared that he had barged in on negotiations between Yost and his sahuagin chieftain ally Zilzbek. Clinging to the ladder, Waylander tried to fight off the attackers but succeeded mainly in preventing the ascension of his compatriots. Fortunately Bris was able to fire a deadly bolt up the hatch and strike Zizlbek a near mortal blow. This afforded Waylander the chance to dash into the room. Unfortunately, it also enabled the wererat captain and sahuagin chief to attack him mercilessly.
This too proved fortuitous as then Elis and Bris entered the fray, free from assault as they climbed up. In short order the sahuagin was dispatched and, despite regenerating from some of his wounds, Yost was also compelled to surrender. In questioning the wererat captain, the party learned that Yost had purchased the script from Zilzbek. The sahuagin, he said, were working with a group of wreckers near Gull Rock, a small fishing community across the Dagger River and to the west.
Yost proclaimed that he knew nothing about the origin of the script, knowing only that it had great value if it could be cashed in. If the party sought more answers, they would need to head to Gull Rock to find out more. Though Waylander wanted to simply kill Yost then and there, Elis suggested they might be able to get a bounty from their sponsors if they kept him alive. Likewise, using Yost as a hostage might also enable them to get out of the Wharf Rats lair unhindered.
Honor among thieves is a sentiment that holds as much water as a net, the party discovered. Elis concocted a plan to attach two bottles of Alchemist's Ice around Yost's neck. the clinking bottles would force the man to be slow and careful, preventing a dash for freedom, he explained. In theory it was a good plan. In practice, Waylander might as well have killed Yost upstairs. Elis' hands were not as steady as they could have been, setting off the delicate ice bombs with himself and Yost's head at ground zero.
With the former captain now dead, the Wharf rats set about plundering their former chief's possessions. This enabled the party to escape, clutching Yost's frozen and severed head. They returned to the Bad Penny only to discover that the three patrons were gone, a function perhaps of it being in the middle of the night. their gnome guide Rumley, however, was still there. He encouraged the group to rest in the rooms the patrons had secured and to meet with them in the morning if they had anything to report. Elis decided it might be safer to stay at the temple of Dol, Dorn but vowed to return in the morning. Believing in the good nature of their patrons and likely lacking the options a cleric of Dol Dorn could avail himself of, Bris and Waylander headed to their rooms to rest and recover from their ordeal.
The half-elf in the middle had the looks of one knowing her business. The House Lyrandar tattoo gracing the side of her cheek and neck only proved it. To her right sat a dour looking dwarf and to her left a fidgety gnome. As the party would soon learn, they were in the presence of representatives from three of the Dragonmarked Houses. Mervin d'Kundarak, the dwarf, represented the city's and his family's banking interests. Elsa d'Lyrandar was the chief factor of Lyrandar's shipping operations in the city. The last figure, the gnome Romeo Goldpurse, represented House Sivis as one of its chief scribes and investigators.
Without much in the way of introduction, Elsa slid a piece of parchment across the table, asking if the party was familiar with House script. Acknowledging that they were, she then asked if they noticed anything peculiar about the script in front of them. Waylander suspected it may have been a forgery, a conclusion the others agreed to after some discussion. If only it were so easy.
The script was actually part of a cargo that vanished along with the Siren's Song. The ship, under contract to House Lyrandar, was transporting supplies and funds to a Margrave University expedition on the northwest coast of Xendrik. It never arrived. And yet, script issued by House Kundarak, secured and authenticated by House Sivis, transported by House Lyrandar appears suddenly in the Cliffside neighborhood in the grubby mitts of a known thief Heinrich Yost.
The party was tasked with finding Yost and learning how the script came to be in his possession. Despite representing three Dragonmarked Houses, the trio agreed it would be best to seek out independent contractors to solve this riddle. Suspicions were aroused that the loss of a Lyrandar airship was no chance disaster. Somewhere within their organizations, someone was leaking sensitive information. Better to have outsiders, persons with no ties to these great Houses, search out the truth.
Thanks to Elis' offering of medical advice among the downtrodden of Cliffside, the group was able to identify one of Yost's hangouts within a couple of hours. The Golden Goose, despite its name, had very little of its golden lustre remaining. A shabby structure held up by inertia and fastened together by despair and filth, it looked the part of a pirate hangout. Some spreading around of gold, a cup of fresh-squeezed crab juice later ("Who drinks crab juice?" Elis asked. "They were out of shark," Bris replied.) and the location of Yost's hangout was uncovered. Apparently he ran with the Wharf Rats gang.
As it turned out, the name was more than appropriate. In dire rat form the Wharf rats would swim out to vessels approaching the harbor. Then, under cover of darkness, they would plunder the choicest loot before the land-based thieves could do so. The party spent time gambling with the unlikely named Elis the thief and Waylander actually came out ahead in the endeavor. Around midnight they spotted their quarry.
Yost was trundling back in with a large sea chest, aided by one of his fellows, and headed for the upper level of the Wharf Rats undercity lair. Bold as brass the adventurers followed him up, encountering his companion in the process of examining the stolen loot. While Elis had the man-rat nearly convinced of the group's legitimacy, it all fell apart soon after Waylander tried to muscle his way through a locked door. Luckily the battlemage was just as quick to unleash magical darts of death that struck down the wererat before he could alert his fellows.
They found the key to the door on the dead thief and proceed into a back room. It, in turn, lead to a ladder and hatch in the ceiling. Boldly going where no man ought to go head first, Waylander found himself on the receiving end of a sahuagin's poisoned spear. It appeared that he had barged in on negotiations between Yost and his sahuagin chieftain ally Zilzbek. Clinging to the ladder, Waylander tried to fight off the attackers but succeeded mainly in preventing the ascension of his compatriots. Fortunately Bris was able to fire a deadly bolt up the hatch and strike Zizlbek a near mortal blow. This afforded Waylander the chance to dash into the room. Unfortunately, it also enabled the wererat captain and sahuagin chief to attack him mercilessly.
This too proved fortuitous as then Elis and Bris entered the fray, free from assault as they climbed up. In short order the sahuagin was dispatched and, despite regenerating from some of his wounds, Yost was also compelled to surrender. In questioning the wererat captain, the party learned that Yost had purchased the script from Zilzbek. The sahuagin, he said, were working with a group of wreckers near Gull Rock, a small fishing community across the Dagger River and to the west.
Yost proclaimed that he knew nothing about the origin of the script, knowing only that it had great value if it could be cashed in. If the party sought more answers, they would need to head to Gull Rock to find out more. Though Waylander wanted to simply kill Yost then and there, Elis suggested they might be able to get a bounty from their sponsors if they kept him alive. Likewise, using Yost as a hostage might also enable them to get out of the Wharf Rats lair unhindered.
Honor among thieves is a sentiment that holds as much water as a net, the party discovered. Elis concocted a plan to attach two bottles of Alchemist's Ice around Yost's neck. the clinking bottles would force the man to be slow and careful, preventing a dash for freedom, he explained. In theory it was a good plan. In practice, Waylander might as well have killed Yost upstairs. Elis' hands were not as steady as they could have been, setting off the delicate ice bombs with himself and Yost's head at ground zero.
With the former captain now dead, the Wharf rats set about plundering their former chief's possessions. This enabled the party to escape, clutching Yost's frozen and severed head. They returned to the Bad Penny only to discover that the three patrons were gone, a function perhaps of it being in the middle of the night. their gnome guide Rumley, however, was still there. He encouraged the group to rest in the rooms the patrons had secured and to meet with them in the morning if they had anything to report. Elis decided it might be safer to stay at the temple of Dol, Dorn but vowed to return in the morning. Believing in the good nature of their patrons and likely lacking the options a cleric of Dol Dorn could avail himself of, Bris and Waylander headed to their rooms to rest and recover from their ordeal.
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