It was a small group that got together on July 16 for the monthly Border Board games gathering. We welcomed Carlo back into the fold after a few absences and he brought along some new games and nearly new games to try. We started with King of Tokyo, a game Beth and I first tried at the Game'n Grill in Norwich last month. I followed a more aggressive tact this time around with my giant alien thingy. Rather than back away at the first hit, I stuck it out for several rounds quickly building up my fame points (or whatever the stars represent). The carnage was hot and heavy as Beth's Cyberbunny went down alarmingly fast (breaking a string of Cyberbunny victories as Carlo told it) and then Carlo's Kraken followed soon after. It came down to Shannon and I (Shannon having taken the ubiquitous giant lizard) and a timely card purchase claimed the victory in the last portion of my turn.
Next up came a try at the Seven Wonder expansion leaders. The Leaders not only provided us with extra coins to start the game (doubling starting money to 6 coins) but an interesting complimentary twist. As it played out, the King Midas leader card proved the decisive one for me. I managed to squeak out the win with 64 points, owing in part to the six bonus points derived from having Midas' gold for VPs power. Not all of the Leaders are of equal value as many of the cards that formed my starting hand ended up in the rubbish pile after being passed around the table. But there are enough interesting twists that, if your homecity actually manages to match their powers, can provide a solid edge.
Lastly we ventured into the world of Talisman. Since having seen it played at Games 'Til You Puke in May, I'd had a hankering for a down and dirty dungeon romp. It has elements of strategy coupled with a heaping helping of luck. Given that the players are all vying for final victory on their own, it lacks the cooperative mayhem of Arkham Horror with an equally random set of circumstances. Our misunderstanding of the Ogre Chieftain's power may have given Homer the victory but a victory it was as the Alchemist, Cleric (and Valkyrie before), Wizard and Assassin all withered before the Ogre's Crown of Might.
It's a relatively simple system but one where bad things happening lead to even more bad things happening. Shannon's (and later my own) decision to enter The Dungeon proved disastrous. Not only were the critters harder than in the Highlands, the loot rewards seemed fewer and further between. While Homer and carlo romped merrily through the Highlands acquiring relics and loot galore, Shannon and I slogged painfully through the Dungeon trying to find a way out that wasn't infested by vampires and slimes. Character selection goes a long way in talisman. A Craft dedicated character would fare well in the Dungeon while Strength based ones do better in the Highlands. The final ring approaching the Crown certainly does appear to favor an all or nothing approach. Balanced stats appear to become a liability unless other characters are busy attacking you there.
I think it's a game that I would like to play again, when I have many hours to spare, but one I might be more inclined to carefully choose a character to use rather than going on impulse alone.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
A Song of Fear and Loathing
We kicked off the start of A Song of Ice and Fire campaign on June 19 with Jason and Adam joining the regular RPG crew of Beth, Homer and myself. While most of us are familiar with the novels/setting, Jason and Adam were the only ones familiar with the mechanics of the system. Luckily, the first step for our campaign was the creation of our house.
House creation, it turns out, is a fabulous introduction to the setting. While we had tossed around some ideas in our heads, not knowing the what and where made latching on to character ideas more difficult. The only thing we seemed set on was establishing a presence somewhere in Dorne. With that kernel to build on, we set about creating House Drake.
The mechanics of house creation are at once delightful and frustrating. The element of randomness ensures that the peculiar circumstances of your House will very likely be quite different even if you should try to replicate that same house in that same Kingdom. The variables attributed to the different kingdoms add local flavor without necessarily predetermining your fate. How much difference could some tosses of a few d6s make? Quite a lot as it turned out.
House Drake, by choice, is set in the borderlands between the Reach and the Stormlands. This location provided the crux of external conflict that we sought. Our rolls also granted us a small castle, a reasonably fair sized standing army, mines, a mercantile town at a crossroads and plenty of under developed land that has fallen into lawlessness. Our house house was also relatively newly founded and already in a state of decay.
Knowing these facts, we designed our characters. Beth's character Ella is the heir to the House Drake line by our Lord Ondrew Drake's first marriage. Homer's character Torrhen is next in succession being the first born of Ondrew's second wife. My character Garth is a bastard-born child of a camp follower from Ondrew's years as a mercenary campaigner. Though older than the others, Garth's lineage predates Ondrew's possession of Castle Drake and he seems content to lead his father's Irregulars. Last to the group is our young Maester Gyles, played by Adam. Apparently this is Adam's first non-warrior character so the change of scenery will provide some interesting dynamics as he explores the social combat system of SoIaF.
Jason, our GM, set the stage. Lord Ondrew's health is failing and he knows that his time is short. He calls together all of his children hoping to perhaps bequeath upon them some final morsels of wisdom coupled with his wishes for the succession of his House. It turns out that his two legitimate children are joined by not one but two bastards. Whether the other, Warick, is baseborn as was Garth is something we have yet to discover.
Our newly arrived Maester determines that Lord Ondrew's ill-health has less to do with a lifetime spent on the battlefield and is more likely attributable to a conscious attempt to kill him. Gyles suspects that poison is at work and devises an herbal remedy that he hopes will restore the Lord Drake to health. What remains unclear is who precisely has made the attempt and how.
The grasping second wife, Celia Hayford (Torrhen's mother) seems anxious to be rid of her risen-from-the-ranks soldier of a husband. Would she truly slay Lord Drake knowing that Ella is being groomed to assume his mantle? What then of Ella's safety? Adding to the mystery is the recent recalling of Torrhen from his fostering with House Martell. He left a mere child but returns now with fancy armor (the purchase of which has strained the Drake household finances) and spurs. Is he complicit in his mothers schemes or simply an unwitting beneficiary?
The scheming is not confined to Celia alone, however. Her brother Anders Hayworth commands the castle garrison. While the garrison is trained, its loyalties to the House seem divided between their commander and the heir apparent. Suspicious parcels and the commissioning of House troops to move supplies along our roads strikes Ella as being quite peculiar.
And then word reaches the castle that the Buckwells have moved to retake a border town lost in earlier clashes between House Drake and House Buckwell soon after the ascension of King Robert Baratheon to the throne. Fearing that the Buckwells grow bold by the news of Lord Ondrew's poor health, we devised a plan to present a show of force to dissuade the Buckwells by intimidation or steel as the case warrants. Knowing that the garrisons loyalties might be compromised, Garth insists of bringing along a few squads of his skirmishers (the uneducated might call them guerrillas) as well as House Drakes' compliment of undisciplined cavalry under Torrhen's command.
Torrhen agrees to the plan knowing that the cavalry, a new feature among the archers and skirmishers that formed the basis of Drake's Company, could use some seasoning. better to test their mettle in a skirmish than to watch them crumple in the heat of battle. Hopefully his training with the Martell's will help him retain command of the horsemen. Bolstered by the irregulars, we hope to present a sufficient show of arms to send the Buckwells scurrying back into their clapboard halls. By boldly riding out along the frontier, we also hope to showcase Ella before the smallfolk as the true and rightful heir to House Drake.
House creation, it turns out, is a fabulous introduction to the setting. While we had tossed around some ideas in our heads, not knowing the what and where made latching on to character ideas more difficult. The only thing we seemed set on was establishing a presence somewhere in Dorne. With that kernel to build on, we set about creating House Drake.
The mechanics of house creation are at once delightful and frustrating. The element of randomness ensures that the peculiar circumstances of your House will very likely be quite different even if you should try to replicate that same house in that same Kingdom. The variables attributed to the different kingdoms add local flavor without necessarily predetermining your fate. How much difference could some tosses of a few d6s make? Quite a lot as it turned out.
House Drake, by choice, is set in the borderlands between the Reach and the Stormlands. This location provided the crux of external conflict that we sought. Our rolls also granted us a small castle, a reasonably fair sized standing army, mines, a mercantile town at a crossroads and plenty of under developed land that has fallen into lawlessness. Our house house was also relatively newly founded and already in a state of decay.
Knowing these facts, we designed our characters. Beth's character Ella is the heir to the House Drake line by our Lord Ondrew Drake's first marriage. Homer's character Torrhen is next in succession being the first born of Ondrew's second wife. My character Garth is a bastard-born child of a camp follower from Ondrew's years as a mercenary campaigner. Though older than the others, Garth's lineage predates Ondrew's possession of Castle Drake and he seems content to lead his father's Irregulars. Last to the group is our young Maester Gyles, played by Adam. Apparently this is Adam's first non-warrior character so the change of scenery will provide some interesting dynamics as he explores the social combat system of SoIaF.
Jason, our GM, set the stage. Lord Ondrew's health is failing and he knows that his time is short. He calls together all of his children hoping to perhaps bequeath upon them some final morsels of wisdom coupled with his wishes for the succession of his House. It turns out that his two legitimate children are joined by not one but two bastards. Whether the other, Warick, is baseborn as was Garth is something we have yet to discover.
Our newly arrived Maester determines that Lord Ondrew's ill-health has less to do with a lifetime spent on the battlefield and is more likely attributable to a conscious attempt to kill him. Gyles suspects that poison is at work and devises an herbal remedy that he hopes will restore the Lord Drake to health. What remains unclear is who precisely has made the attempt and how.
The grasping second wife, Celia Hayford (Torrhen's mother) seems anxious to be rid of her risen-from-the-ranks soldier of a husband. Would she truly slay Lord Drake knowing that Ella is being groomed to assume his mantle? What then of Ella's safety? Adding to the mystery is the recent recalling of Torrhen from his fostering with House Martell. He left a mere child but returns now with fancy armor (the purchase of which has strained the Drake household finances) and spurs. Is he complicit in his mothers schemes or simply an unwitting beneficiary?
The scheming is not confined to Celia alone, however. Her brother Anders Hayworth commands the castle garrison. While the garrison is trained, its loyalties to the House seem divided between their commander and the heir apparent. Suspicious parcels and the commissioning of House troops to move supplies along our roads strikes Ella as being quite peculiar.
And then word reaches the castle that the Buckwells have moved to retake a border town lost in earlier clashes between House Drake and House Buckwell soon after the ascension of King Robert Baratheon to the throne. Fearing that the Buckwells grow bold by the news of Lord Ondrew's poor health, we devised a plan to present a show of force to dissuade the Buckwells by intimidation or steel as the case warrants. Knowing that the garrisons loyalties might be compromised, Garth insists of bringing along a few squads of his skirmishers (the uneducated might call them guerrillas) as well as House Drakes' compliment of undisciplined cavalry under Torrhen's command.
Torrhen agrees to the plan knowing that the cavalry, a new feature among the archers and skirmishers that formed the basis of Drake's Company, could use some seasoning. better to test their mettle in a skirmish than to watch them crumple in the heat of battle. Hopefully his training with the Martell's will help him retain command of the horsemen. Bolstered by the irregulars, we hope to present a sufficient show of arms to send the Buckwells scurrying back into their clapboard halls. By boldly riding out along the frontier, we also hope to showcase Ella before the smallfolk as the true and rightful heir to House Drake.
Monday, June 20, 2011
July Game Dates
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
June's Game Nights
June is going to be a screwy month and our game nights will not follow our usual pattern. The board game night will be June 11th at 6 PM at the Derby Line Village Hall. This was changed so anyone from Border Board Games could attend our regular game night as well as attend the Green Mountain Gamers, Game 'n Grill on June 18th in Norwich, VT.
Our new D&D 3.5 campaign was scheduled for the 4th Saturday but one of the players will be gone that weekend so we are in the process of rescheduling that date. The new date will be posted on the website once it has been settled.
We are also starting a discussion to begin A Song of Ice and Fire RPG. If joining Ice and Fire and/or D&D interest you, please let us know. We have room for new players.
Our new D&D 3.5 campaign was scheduled for the 4th Saturday but one of the players will be gone that weekend so we are in the process of rescheduling that date. The new date will be posted on the website once it has been settled.
We are also starting a discussion to begin A Song of Ice and Fire RPG. If joining Ice and Fire and/or D&D interest you, please let us know. We have room for new players.
Ghosts of failures past
Border Board Games welcomed its newest guest Jason on Saturday night. It was a small group of seven but it afforded us sufficient players to engage in a couple of seven player games before dividing up for two tables to end the evening.
Seven Wonders was first to hit the table. It was the first time for both Jason and Shannon but the game play is fairly intuitive and easy to pick up.Zeke's military might and a good collection of non-scientific cards enabled him to build a strong foundation in spite of the lack of paper. Shannon's military might also peaked enabling him to score consistent victories against both Homer and Jason. In the end Shannon claimed victory by a single point outscoring Zeke 51-50.
We next moved on to Citadels. As is often the case, I floundered ineffectually watching as thieves made off with my hard earned butterscotch (or is that supposed to be gold or buttons?)and my thieves routinely returned empty handed. Jason made good use of the warlord early to build up his stockpile of butterscotch but cleverly avoided choosing the role in the late game thereby avoiding assault from both the Assassin and Thief. He quickly rushed ahead and completed his eight districts. Though I, as Warlord, could have destroyed one of his districts, it simply would have prolonged the game without giving me any real advantage. Jason's advantage in districts and bonus points enabled him to handily win the game.
To finish off the evening we split into two tables for games of Ghost Stories and Cargo Noir. Beth, Jason, Homer and Shannon tackled the world of seedy dealings on the docks. Though unable to watch much of the game save for the last round, one glance at Shannon's tableau to spy the Cronies told me all I needed to know. In our, albeit limited experience, the Cronies seems to end up in the winning players hand every time. His collection of goods in the final rounds further allowed him to purchase the militia and guide him to a convincing victory.
Rob brought along Ghost Stories and, for whatever reason, I was feeling masochistic that night. I've never won at Ghost Stories before and had never actually lived long enough to see Wu-Feng either. Despite being uncommonly difficult it is one of those peculiar games that makes you want to play one more time to see if things might turn out differently. We played the three-player option with Zeke using Yellow, Rob was red and I was blue. The fourth player was green which gave us special tokens allowing us to use green's curse die denial or bonus fourth fight die. It would prove to be pivotal.
We managed quite well at first despite the blue board filling up with alarming speed. I lost a few Qi but I was able to recover somewhat by defeating Qi/Yin-Yang token ghosts later on. To start the game Zeke and Rob moved to battle the surprisingly weak ghosts that first emerged. Meanwhile i sat in the Buddha shrine dropping Buddha bombs from the corner of Yellow and Green. Some quick steps over to the move player/move ghost village square helped send some of the nastiest ghosts screaming into hell without triggering their defeat conditions (though forgoing the spoils as well).
The stack of dead ghosts that accumulated off board was reminiscent of the results from Pac Man's stomach pumping. An impressive collection of ghost meat attested to our fighting prowess (though luck probably played a major role as well) though we burned through tokens at an alarming rate. Suddenly haunter ghosts started coming out in rapid succession. The fact that they followed ghost-calling cards didn't help our situation. We suddenly went from reasonably clear boards to overflowing and taking damage.
With the Buddha bombs no longer a viable tactic (there were no empty spaces to place them), it came down to hard grinds and picking off ghosts that threatened the next Taoist in line. Just as the Wu-Feng card appeared it looked like we had things well in hand. Zeke's special token knocked Wu-Feng down a peg and our Zen color token was black. Rob had two black tokens already in hand so it looked like all he needed was to roll a single black to secure the win. Suddenly a haunter wiped out the Zen token (and our second village square). Rob needed to roll three black for the win. Using his Green power token he added the fourth die. If he failed, he would die on his next turn. If he failed, neither Zeke nor I stood a chance as I did have my Green power token, and neither of us had any fight tokens or our Yin-Yang tokens to fall back on. Zeke would have needed to roll four black to win and I would have needed to roll four black on only three dice.
Rob did it and we won. It was Rob's second ever victory and the first for Zeke and I. As Rob said during the post victory lull, it was a cinematic victory of the highest order. One last, desperate battle before the forces of evil destroyed the village. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from finally winning at a game you've never ever been able to even see victory in before.
Seven Wonders was first to hit the table. It was the first time for both Jason and Shannon but the game play is fairly intuitive and easy to pick up.Zeke's military might and a good collection of non-scientific cards enabled him to build a strong foundation in spite of the lack of paper. Shannon's military might also peaked enabling him to score consistent victories against both Homer and Jason. In the end Shannon claimed victory by a single point outscoring Zeke 51-50.
We next moved on to Citadels. As is often the case, I floundered ineffectually watching as thieves made off with my hard earned butterscotch (or is that supposed to be gold or buttons?)and my thieves routinely returned empty handed. Jason made good use of the warlord early to build up his stockpile of butterscotch but cleverly avoided choosing the role in the late game thereby avoiding assault from both the Assassin and Thief. He quickly rushed ahead and completed his eight districts. Though I, as Warlord, could have destroyed one of his districts, it simply would have prolonged the game without giving me any real advantage. Jason's advantage in districts and bonus points enabled him to handily win the game.
To finish off the evening we split into two tables for games of Ghost Stories and Cargo Noir. Beth, Jason, Homer and Shannon tackled the world of seedy dealings on the docks. Though unable to watch much of the game save for the last round, one glance at Shannon's tableau to spy the Cronies told me all I needed to know. In our, albeit limited experience, the Cronies seems to end up in the winning players hand every time. His collection of goods in the final rounds further allowed him to purchase the militia and guide him to a convincing victory.
Rob brought along Ghost Stories and, for whatever reason, I was feeling masochistic that night. I've never won at Ghost Stories before and had never actually lived long enough to see Wu-Feng either. Despite being uncommonly difficult it is one of those peculiar games that makes you want to play one more time to see if things might turn out differently. We played the three-player option with Zeke using Yellow, Rob was red and I was blue. The fourth player was green which gave us special tokens allowing us to use green's curse die denial or bonus fourth fight die. It would prove to be pivotal.
We managed quite well at first despite the blue board filling up with alarming speed. I lost a few Qi but I was able to recover somewhat by defeating Qi/Yin-Yang token ghosts later on. To start the game Zeke and Rob moved to battle the surprisingly weak ghosts that first emerged. Meanwhile i sat in the Buddha shrine dropping Buddha bombs from the corner of Yellow and Green. Some quick steps over to the move player/move ghost village square helped send some of the nastiest ghosts screaming into hell without triggering their defeat conditions (though forgoing the spoils as well).
The stack of dead ghosts that accumulated off board was reminiscent of the results from Pac Man's stomach pumping. An impressive collection of ghost meat attested to our fighting prowess (though luck probably played a major role as well) though we burned through tokens at an alarming rate. Suddenly haunter ghosts started coming out in rapid succession. The fact that they followed ghost-calling cards didn't help our situation. We suddenly went from reasonably clear boards to overflowing and taking damage.
With the Buddha bombs no longer a viable tactic (there were no empty spaces to place them), it came down to hard grinds and picking off ghosts that threatened the next Taoist in line. Just as the Wu-Feng card appeared it looked like we had things well in hand. Zeke's special token knocked Wu-Feng down a peg and our Zen color token was black. Rob had two black tokens already in hand so it looked like all he needed was to roll a single black to secure the win. Suddenly a haunter wiped out the Zen token (and our second village square). Rob needed to roll three black for the win. Using his Green power token he added the fourth die. If he failed, he would die on his next turn. If he failed, neither Zeke nor I stood a chance as I did have my Green power token, and neither of us had any fight tokens or our Yin-Yang tokens to fall back on. Zeke would have needed to roll four black to win and I would have needed to roll four black on only three dice.
Rob did it and we won. It was Rob's second ever victory and the first for Zeke and I. As Rob said during the post victory lull, it was a cinematic victory of the highest order. One last, desperate battle before the forces of evil destroyed the village. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from finally winning at a game you've never ever been able to even see victory in before.
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