Valiant Swords of Greyhawk: Session 12 - "That's a Good Looking Statue"

 

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger)played by Battletech Terry
• Sir Kentor (Human Paladin) played by Paladin Steve
• Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
• The Mighty Xyzzifax (Human-ish Wizard) played by Blaster
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
• Malice (Human Bard) played by Grognard Mike

Everyone is level 3/4-ish at this point.

Malice, Sir Lantor, and Sir Kentor rejoin the Valiant Swords back at camp, which was very near the entrance to the dungeon, having been provided a map from Jaric. Malice, at least, is impressed by the carriage the party now owns. The Valiant Swords enter the dungeon, letting Bubo scout ahead. On our way to a door we have not yet opened, Sir Kentor sees a section of the wall that is miscolored, and he opens the secret door that he’d discovered. This looks like it was once a storage room – full of building supplies. Xyzzifax suggests we look around, and see if there is a second secret door – but a thorough search doesn’t turn anything up.

After a few snide comments, we continue on our way. In the hallway leading to the door, Samson and Sir Lantor notice a pair of secret doors across the hall from each 1 1other. While Samson is explaining to the party, Sir Lantor opens the door that he’d spotted. It reveals an irregularly shaped room full of barrels and casks. The party enters the room to see what might be in them. Opening a few of them, they appear to be foodstuffs. And, swarms of rats!

Sir Lantor scythes through a group of them with a wide swing of his sword. Xyzzifax flies up to them, and unleashes a thunder wave! Many rats go flying! Samson fires an arrow, and produces a fine rat on a stick. Malice rushes up the rats that were blown around by the Thunderwave, and casts burning hands. Braedon puts an arrow into the rats nearest Sir Lantor, and then Sir Kentor draws Verminax. He rushes to Sir Lantor’s side, and the rat-slaying blade does its bloody work. Then, then remaining rats swarm the knights, and many of them are able to find skin on Sir Lantor, and blood is drawn in many tiny bites.

Sir Lantor swings wildly at the rats around him, and his skill is enough that he’s able to have a great deal of success. Then Xyzzifax lobs a firebolt into the midst of them. Rats die, but Sir Kentor is singed. Samson is able to shoot a rat off of Sir Kentor, and Malice follows up with a firebolt of her own, killing the last of the rats.

We gather ourselves back up, and check the secret door on the other side of the hall. There are wooden cabinets on the walls and work tables. There is a central table made of stone, with smooth black slate. Malice is sure that we should tell Rufus about this place. Xyzzifax is sure this is a wizard’s workshop. He ecitedly activates his arcane sense and flies around the room. On one of the tables there is a bag with something magical – he snatches it with mage hand. He also can sense something magical in a cabinet, and in a jar on a shelf. He asks Samson to examine the jar – there is dead black cat suspended in a clear liquid. There is a large cork in the bottle.

Cat's not dead BTW - it's in suspended animation. Of course you have to open it to find that out.

Xyzzifax hands the bag over to Samson so that he can determine its properties. It is a bag of holding! Xyzzifax opens the cabinet, and there jars and bottles filling it. Then Xyssizfax reaches into the bag of holding, and feels a tug on his hand, and quickly pulls his hand back out. He reaches in again with Mage Hand, and feeling around inside nothing seems to happen. Then, he reaches in again himself, and feels a tug on his arm. He tries to pull it out, and just like that Xyzzifax is pulled into the sack – which then falls to the floor.

It's definitely a bag, and it's definitely magical, but that ain't your usual "holding" ...

Samson opens the bag, and he is about to put his hand in. Sir Kentor stops him, and then with Sir Lantor’s hands wrapped around Sir Kentor’s waist. He pulls and pulls, but isn’t able Xyzzifax out. They switch positions, and Sir Lantor isn’t able to pull him out, either. Once more, they swap position, and finally Sir Kentor is able to pull Xyzzifax out! “Get that thing away from me!” he shrieks, and firebolts the bag. The bag just sizzles away.

Here is an example of making rulings on things as a DM - old school dungeons have cursed items, most modern adventures and versions of the rules do not. The Artificer knows things are magical - and what they are - by touch. As written this would knock cursed items completely out of the game - and where's the fun in that?  Instead I'm going with the idea that they are often made to look like a more typical, beneficial item. A lot of old versions even had them detecting as a specific magic item like a basic magical +1 sword or, as in this case, a bag of holding. Instead of a Bag of Devouring.

Xyzzifax spends a few moments recollecting himself. Then, he finally goes back to the cabinet, and looks through it. He finds a potion bottle, and mage hands it over to Samson, who is able to determine it is a potion of invisibility. We look through the rest of cabinets, and find a goodly supply of spell components. Xyzzifax collects a bit of everything. Braedon takes the potion of invisibility. Before we mess with the cat, we search the room to see if there’s anything else. As we’re doing so, we decide to bring the bottled cat back to Burne, to see if he knows what it might be.

We find in the wizard’s workshop yet another secret door! And it is a wizard’s laboratory! Dominating the room is a large skeleton hanging from the ceiling. Around the room are wooden tables, and a stone table as well. There is a smoked glass bottle with a stopper in it on one of them. On one wall are torture devices, and on another is stretched skin with runic writing in it. The center of the room has a long cold fire pit. And, there are a pair of vats in a corner, and a third nearby vat is filled with a murky, muddy looking liquid. There’s a wooden coffin resting upright against a wall, and a pair of kegs as well. Xyzzifax strides to the center of the room and activates his arcane senses once more.

Unsurprisingly the smoked glass bottle is magical. There is something beneath a stack of magical, and the stretched leather skin is enchanted as well. And, on the stone block, something is detecting magic as well. Xyzzifax begins casting the Identify ritual, and points out the wood stack for Sir Kentor to check out. He finds a small, shiny gold ring, which is quickly handed to Samson. He is only able to tell that it is magical, which is a warning sign in and of itself. He sets it down next to smoked glass bottle. Samson goes over to the stone block, and looks for what might be magical over there. He does have to make a step stool from his crystal. Xyzzifax is pretty sure that the bottle is containing a liquid or a gas rather than a being. Malice is over at the stretched skin, and Xyzzifax comes over to her. Its magical writing is bragging about how a great wizard can use all of the four elements.

On the stone block, Samson finds a bone rod. It is a wand of wonder! Xyzzifax snatches it from Samson’s hands, and he knows that he’ll have to attune to it before he can make use of it. We think we’re going to take the ring and the jar back to Burne.

This is a really fun room for the DM.

So, finally, we return to the door that we’d originally planned on opening. Samson moves up to it, and checks to see if it is trapped. Its not, so the door is opened – revealing an L shaped kitchen, with a quartet of zombie cooks. They turn balefully towards us. Braedon gives them an arrow of greeting! Malice puts a firebolt into the same one. Sir Kentor moves up and slashes it with Verminax, slaying it. Sir Lantor charges the next Zombie, and cleaves it in two. Xyzzifax flies to Sir Lantor’s side, and imagines what would happen if he’d have fireball from his wand of wonder. A zombie shuffles up to Sir Lantor, and grapples him, biting at his cheek. Samson takes a few steps forward, and punches with his newly gauntleted fists. Braeden moves up to where he can see the zombie that’s grappling with Sir Lantor – an arrow through the brainpan is enough to turn it to a rotten body that falls to the ground. Malice sprints to the corner, and looses her firebolt, crisping the final zombie.

We search the room, and can see that there are cooking pits filled with ash, and lot of spoiled food. Sir Kentor looks around, hoping to find an old cookbook. There is nothing of use, so we simply go out the other door, and cross the corridor, and open the door there. It’s a dining hall! A number of wooden chairs and tables. On the side of the room, there is a large wooden carving with a pair of beautiful chairs attached to them. It is, unfortunately, covered in a fuzzy green fungus. There is another door, so we continue to press forward.

It is a lounge of sorts, designed for after dinner drinking activity. There are long dry kegs, and earthenware tankards. There is a statue at the center of the room, a full sized nude human woman. Leering at her are a group of goblins. A pair of them fire arrows at the front line – and clearly they’re drunk. They miss - a lot. Samson returns fire with his crossbow, just luckily barely hitting one of them. Malice charges into the room, firebolting the same one, killing it. Braedon sprints to the corner or the room, hitting it cleanly with an arrow. Xyzzifax takes into the air, and firebolts the same one, killing it. Sir Lantor charges across the room, and the goblin almost skitters out of the way, but its luck does not hold. Sir Lantor kills it outright. Sir Kentor charges, throwing his warhammer in mid stride. It slams into the goblins face, and he spits a bloody tooth.

Man these things have had a lot of looks over the years ...

The three remaining goblins charge the knights, two at the Paladin and the third at the Fighter. Sir Kentor makes fine work with his shield, and Sir Lantor parries the blow. Still, the goblin hit hard enough that his wrist aches. Samon takes a shot at the broken toothed goblin. Malice steps up behind Sir Kentor, and slays the wounded goblin with her glaive. Xyzzifax misty steps across the room, swinging at the goblin with a magical mace. Sir Lantor swings at the same one, and it skitters out of the way. On the backswing, Sir Lantor finally manages to hit it, opening a deep laceration. Sir Kentor thrusts with Verminax, but the nimble goblin stays out of the way.

The goblins keep their distance, wildly swinging their scimitars. Sir Lantor swings widely in response, but the goblin’s keeping their distance means that it keeps them alive. Samson slides around the statue, hitting the wounded goblin with his crossbow, killing it. Malice slices the last goblin, and then Braedon strides to right behind her, and puts an arrow into the goblin’s heart. A grand total of 26 silver pieces are found among them. Xyzzifax inspects the statue, attempting to deduce if it is a true statue or a petrified woman. He’s not certain. Looking at it, it seems to be anchored to the floor.

They were really fascinated with the statue here. Rules question of the day: Does petrification leave a lingering magical aura?

We make our way out, and trudge to a nearby door, discussing how we might move the statue after all. The door leads to an oddly shaped room that is an austere bedroom. Covering the entire northern wall is a carving of the wizard sending an enemy army fleeing in terror. Otherwise, there is fine bedroom furniture. We search the room, and Samson finds a poison needle on the handle of the nightstand. He pulls out his tools, and disables it easily. Then, he picks the lock on the nightstand’s drawer. There very nice handkerchiefs and a dagger within. Samson lifts the dagger, and confirms that its magical.

There are a pair of doors out of the room, so we take our normal precautions, and Samson opens the door. It is another unusually shaped room, most likely for meditation and study. And, the wizard obviously practiced his magic here, the far wall is bumpy and discolored. We give the room a quick search, then move to the other door off of the bedroom. It is a closet, the clothes have not done well over the age, and moths have chewn on almost everything. A wooden stand has four large books, and another table with a stack papers. Sir Kentor checks the stack of papers, as Malice goes to look at the books. The letters that Kentor finds are written in the common tongue, and fairly mundane – the most recent date on any of them is decades ago, and they mostly cover the construction that had been going on. The first book is a historical work on this area. The second book is an encyclopedia on plants written in elvish. The third book is written in some sort of gibberish, or perhaps a coded language. The final book discusses the weather, written in the common tongue. There are notes written in the margins in an undecipherable script. Malice casts Comprehend Languages, and sees that the third book is a diary of the Wizard Zelagar. It is a diary of one of his past adventures. We may need to take the books elsewhere to sell them. And then, we head out to return to camp, to see what we may be able to learn from them.

Another fun session with the main players back in business. The combat in this one was not terribly threatening, mostly low-level small stuff, but it was still interesting. The best part though was the exploration because none of them are terribly familiar with this adventure and it felt like we were all kids again as they are trying to puzzle out the stuff in the workshop and then the statue. This kind of thing is one of the best parts of playing RPGs. 

Valiant Swords of Greyhawk: Session 11 - Side Questing

 

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger) played by Battletech Terry
• The Mighty Xyzzifax (Human-ish Wizard) played by Blaster
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David

 All are level 2 or 3 at this point. This account is mainly written by The Great and Powerful Xyzzifax.

We were short half of our players this week so the ones who made it decided to try out some downtime and crafting options and to follow up on some rumors ...

Having returned to the peaceful hamlet of Homlett, the party elects to spend 2 weeks conducting some much needed R&R.

Xyzzifax buys a couple of spell scrolls from Burne, who has the audacity to attempt to price gouge him over a scroll of magic missile. This ridiculous and disrespectful offer is refused, and Xyzzifax vows to never forget this insult. Xyzzifax, ever self reliant, then spends 12 days crafting his own scrolls.

The party's wizard, not lacking in ego, is quickly developing a rivalry with Burne - even if Burne does not really see it yet.

Minion Samson spends 12 days crafting some silly hand crossbow contraption. He should just learn fire bolt. It’s better.

This is Samson the Mechanist working on a custom crossbow rig to strap to Lantor's forearm to give him a one-shot missile weapon he can use with his greatsword drawn.

Minion Braedon spends a week researching the Temple of Elemental Evil proper, and learns that there are 5 dungeon levels, consisting of the main temple, and 4 lower levels. He also learns from a drunken dwarf that some of the weapons used in the battle of the temple came from a dwarf settlement named Khundrakar under the stone tooth at the edge of the mountains nearby. The fortress has since fallen, but is rumored to contain “fabulous magic weapons” minion Braedon is given a map in exchange for the cost of 10 drinks.

This is the DM dropping hints about other dungeons they could explore - in this case Forge of Fury.

Minion Jaric spends time in the bar carousing, listening for rumors. He hears from a traveling merchant a tale of another Fighter/Mage duo that built a lair rumored to contain some strong magic items. The merchant sells him a map with the supposed location of this lair for 100gp.

In this case it is B1, In Search of the Unknown, the 5E version of which is another fine Goodman Games product.

Under Xyzzifax’s masterful leadership, the party elects to pursue this rumor of a fortress full of magic items.

For the journey they also purchase transportation: with minions Jaric and Braedon purchasing riding horses, minion Samson purchasing a mastiff large enough for him to ride, and Xyzzifax footing the bill for a carriage to be pulled by the horses. After all, a wizard of his prowess should not suffer the indignity of riding in a donkey cart any longer.

Asking around about the fortress they intend to pursue, the party uncovers some other rumors.

• The first of which is that Rhogann’s (the fighter) room contains battle trophies taken from his slain foes.
• The second is that there is a room with many pools of water.
• The third is that there are rumored to be cursed items inside.
• The fourth is that once inside, no one has returne to tell the tale.

The fortress is 2 days travel away. Along the way, Braedon and Jaric swap stories.

The party follows the map and arrives at what appears to be an overgrown, black slate rock outcropping at the top of a hill. Inside a crack in the rock, lies a short passageway, leading to a door. After an inspection from minion Samson, the door appears to be chipped, clearly having been forced open in the past. The party moves inside and discovers a long passageway with a total of 6 niches in the left and right walls, and multiple passageways branching off left right and center. Minion Samson finds a secret door in one of the niches. Sending Minion Bubo ahead to scout, there is a short flight of ascending stairs, past which the party discovers multiple decomposing bodies. Moving towards the bodies, the party discovers two magic mouth spells, which foretell doom to all who enter. Xyzzifax laughs at this pathetic and toothless spell, vowing to steal every item of value within, after all, tomb raiding is his profession.

Moving forward to the gruesome scene, The bodies appear to be what is left of an adventuring party. From a distance, and from an inspection from minion Bubo, the 5 bodies appear to consist of:

• A human fighter with a broken sword
• A human wizard impaled by a sword
• A Dwarf fighter, facedown, still clutching his weapon,
• A Human warrior/guard with a broken shield, though with no armor and no weapon
• Another Human fighter whose head is bashed in.

Dried blood is everywhere.

Xyzzifax opens his mind, activating his magic sense, but detects no sources of magic nearby. He then casts mage hand to retrieve the sack near the dwarf, but it is empty.

With multiple long hallways branching off in every direction, Xyzzifax sends forth the ever useful minion Bubo, who flies every passageway not blocked by a door, giving the party an idea of their options to begin the great looting operation. After discovering almost a dozen doors, the party surveys their options, and selects a door.

There are a lot of loooong passages in this dungeon and having Bubo the flying recon drone meant I drew out a bunch of it at once. ToV removing the 100' limit for familiar comms is rough.

As the party lines up, the door is checked for traps, and judging it to be clear, the door is opened, revealing for fur-clad, greataxe-wielding barbarians!

A brief, but bloody fight ensues, with minion Braedon displaying his prowess with twin blades, minion Jaric demonstrating the power of his magical staff, and minion Samson and the mighty Xyzzifax displaying their intelligence by not being in melee with barbarians.

The party emerges victorious with some minor injuries, which are quickly healed by a ritual from minion Jaric.

The party presses on, with one passage ending in a spiral, appearing to simple be an unfinished portion of the dungeon. The next passage ends in what seems to be an overgrown garden, populated by some sort of disgusting fungus zombies! A fight ensues, with many of the zombies being incinerated by a flaming sphere from Xyzzifax, cut down by minion Braedon, struck down by minion Jaric, or struck by a well placed crossbow bolt from minion Samson. Two of the fungus zombies shoot some sort of disgusting discharge at minions Jaric and Braedon, with the two sustaining major injuries by the time the fight is concluded, with all of the fungus creatures lying slain. Minion Braedon recalls that this appears to be a strain of Apocalyptic fungus, which takes over the minds of living creatures, transforming them into mindless, shambling drones. The party decides that this garden is not worth exploring further due to the presence of the fungus, and moves on to the last door in the Southwestern section. The door opens, revealing a room that appears to have once been a small meeting hall, with shattered benches, and a raised stone block stage.

Having expending much of their power in the previous combat, the party elects to retreat from the dungeon, with Xyzzifax deploying minion Bubo to scout the way back out of the dungeon. Bubo spies a small pack of kobolds converging on the party’s location. The group lays in wait behind a door as the kobolds approach, monitored by minion Bubo, the party ambushes them, and easily overpowers the group of weak diminutive creatures, and withdraws from the dungeon to set up camp for the night.

Even reduced to a more typical party size the group is blowing through encounters without much trouble. This is also where the real utility of the Mechanist begins to show as he can detect magic, spot traps, and just handle all kinds of mundane challenges far easier than most characters. He can also fight halfway decently. 

40K Friday - Blood Angel Intercessors

 

I've been working on putting together my Vampire Counts army for Old World - sorting through the pile and repurposing things from my Kings of War Undead and Age of Sigmar Soulblight armies but when I sat down to do some painting I kept looking at the red army on my painting table and I just got pulled away.

I had some assault intercessors that had been sitting at "almost finished" for months now. It's a weird hang-up of mine that I can get a model most of the way to "finished" and then stop and overthink the final stages and eventually move on to something else instead of just finishing the damn thing. I have units that have been at this stage for literal years, sometimes since my kids were still "kids" kinds of years. I have been making an effort last year and this year to clear out some of this pro level of dumb backlog and I am liking the progress. The armies that are mostly still on the sprue - like the Black Templars primaris stuff - are just going to have to wait until next year.

Last month I managed to knock out those assault intercessors - all 20 of them - and get them into the display case which is pretty much the finish line for me. That's two full squads which is as much foot-type regular assault as I should need. I also finished up a custom Sanguinor that I had sitting on the table as well. 

3rd shelf yellow helmets are the assault guys, winged guy on the right is the new Sanguinor

My takeaway from these 3 units is that you would think I would know by now that picking up someone's old half-painted squads on eBay is not nearly the shortcut that it appears to be. Finished squads -sure, but then you lose some of the options to make them "yours" and customize them a bit. I've long been a sucker for that unit that someone started but didn't finish - maybe they are built with some custom parts or have some other interesting tweaks or have the beginning of an interesting paint job but that need someone to finish them out. That someone is me - though it may take 5 years to actually accomplish it. The way I build & paint I would probably be better off focusing on one or two armies ... well that horse left the barn about 1989 so I am way past that now.

This week I am working on regular intercessors, the ones with guns, and I am actually close to finishing them too. I am at the putting-the-shoulder-pad-decals-on stage which will be followed by some touching up, painting any other details I have ignored thus far but have decided now that I want to paint them, then a final shade wash, then the clear coat, then finishing the base with flock and tufts, then cussing over any mistakes I missed prior to all that, and then finally putting them in the case. I might finish all of that next week or it might be 2031. Hopefully it's next week. Three finished five-man squads would cover basic troopers for the foreseeable future.

That's another quirk I've realized I have: if there is a type of unit I want to add to the army I tend to want to do all of them at once to ensure they all look like they belong together. I could have focused in and done one five-man intercessor squad but I had set aside three for team red and I am unlikely to take just one squad if I take any. So I end up painting fifteen of them all at once which is a bigger effort and tends to drag out - for me anyway. At lest it's not Orks where I'm doing 20-man squads of boyz - and I can't take just one of those either.

Next up ... I am not sure. I was thinking maybe aggressors - hey it's only a 3-man squad - but I need some leaders here too. Individual special models can turn into an infinite project for me too but if I just try to get them done maybe I can avoid that particular tendency this time. I should probably look into my jump pack intercessors too since that's kind of a signature thing for Blood Angels.

I also have to decide what kind of elite stuff I want to focus on next.  Sanguinary guard? New terminators? Carve out some of the pile of death company that's waiting to take the field? This is where the analysis paralysis can take hold if I let it. One unit at a time ...

If I can finish these guys up this month that puts me up to 37 BA models finished so far this year as I did finally finish the biker chaplain I mentioned in August. I think 50+ sounds like a decent goal.

One final note: as is fairly evident from the shelf picture up there my army uses a lot of different reds. Being complied over many years and from multiple sources it was inevitable but I actually like it - my justification is that the whole force is out on campaign - it's a fighting company, not a parade company - and between battle damage, environmental effects, and supply challenges everyone's armor ends up slightly different. I know within the force there is GW Blood Angels Contrast Red, GW Mephiston Red, Army Painter Dragon Red, and Testor's Flat Red at least. Add in various highlighting techniques, stains, and washes and there is a lot of variation in there when you see them up close but on the table they look pretty coherent. 

One thing that helps is that a few years ago I went back and made some deliberate choices on how I wanted to base the army going forward. I wanted it to be fairly simple so I could replicate it on every model, I wanted it to comprised of easily acquired materials, and I wanted it to show off and contrast the color. I'm not a huge fan of all-green basing on mostly red models so no grass this time. I probably could have gone with snow bases as it looks great with a nice bright red scheme but I already have snow on my Eldar, my Iron Warriors, and all of my chaos daemons so I wanted to do something else. I ended up with the sort of grey desert bases you see above. This is:

• Base color is GW Mechanicus Standard Grey
• Flock is Gale Force Nine Ash Waste
• Tufts are Army Painter Highland tufts

Once I had this figured out I went back and applied it to all of my existing models and I've been doing it to all of the new ones as I go. When your army is a sort of home for wayward miniatures it goes a long way towards making them look like they are part of the same force.

I can admire those people who have an entire army painted at once by one person or service using all the same paints but it's never going to be a thing for me.

More to come ...

Valiant Swords of Greyhawk - Session 10: The Gnoll Fort

 

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger) played by Battletech Terry
• Sir Kentor (Human Paladin) played by Paladin Steve
• Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
• The Mighty Xyzzifax (Human-ish Wizard) played by Blaster
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
• Malice (Human Bard) played by Grognard Mike
• Inigo Vulnstack (Elven Rogue) played by Invisible Paddy

 All are level 2 or 3 at this point. This account is mainly written by Malice.

Malice rejoins the Valiant Swords, arriving at camp in the morning. She trusted her ability to be sneak through the wilderness, and she trusted the camp to stand out. She arrives just as Xyzzifax is having Bubo fly over the gnoll fortress, to give us a literal bird’s eye view of their encampment. A rough count of gnoll activity across an hour. There’s a pair on the wall at all time, and we identify at least ten different gnolls come in and out of buildings. In the hour he observes, none leave the fort. We discuss the possibility of waiting for a hunting party to leave, if only so that we can split their numbers by killing them. We decide that even if they have night vision, attacking at night is our best bet.

We watch throughout the day, and into the night. We watch for a full night as well. There are a few fires that are made in the fort. We decide that those of us who are sneaky will get close to see what we can do to thin them out, whereas the heavy armored people are holding back. Xyzzifax will fly over their camp, and drop the cask of oil, and start a fire to draw their attention, so we can rush the gate without drawing all the ranged fire in the world. The plan goes off without a hitch – after dropping the bomb, the fire starts on one of the smaller buildings. And the Valiant Swords take off towards the gate.

Xyzzifax hears a bunch of howling and barking as he flies off. We manage to get closer to the gate at a full run, and they fire a pair of bows at our charging group. Sir Lantor is hit with a glancing blow. Xyzzifax drops out the the sky, forming a sword of crackling red lightning – terribly scorching the beast. Jaric charges forward, a holy flame encircling the same gnoll. Inigo launches a firebolt into the fort, and sprints between the gap in the walls. He discovers, much to his misfortune, that there was a pit trap that had been prepared. He falls, twenty feet into the hole. But he’s good at this kind of thing, and rolls when he hits the bottom.

Braedon rushes forward to Jaric’s side, pausing to shoot the misfortunate gnoll, killing it. Samson likewise charges and fires his crossbow – there is only one gnoll remaining on the wall at the moment, and it sprouts a crossbow bolt. Xyzzifax closes with that gnoll, and the sword hissing and crackling, the gnoll takes a terrible wound. The mage flies over the head of the gnoll, down into the pit with Inigo. “Grab my ankles, knife ears!” Malice charges forward, and is shouting, calling out the positions of the gnoll and the beasts in the pen that she can see. Inigo is pulled out of the pit by Xyzzifax, and Malice calls Lantor and Kentor forward.

Sir Kentor charges to the berm, and scrambles up the earthen wall, and glows as he calls a shield of faith around himself. Sir Lantor is close on his heels. The gnoll was ready for this pair, though, and he gives a loud, yipping bark. Then, he inexpertly withdraws, and pays for it with his life, as both knights carve him into several pieces. His body falls in more than two directions. The beasts in the pen rush the wall, baying and howling – and one chewing on the dead gnoll.

The Valiant Swords all make it to the top of the wall. Xyzzifax commands that the gnoll be kicked down into the pen, with what we can now see are giant hyaenas. Malice asks are we killing the hyaenas or going to the stairs – the group agrees stairs and we rush that way, Sir Lantor obligingly dropping the gnoll. As we rush to the stairs, Malice casts light on Jaric’s shield, and Verminax glows brightly as well.

Rushing down the stairs, ten gnolls come out of the nearest stone buildings, one of them quickly taking charge of their motley group. Braedon decides that the leader needs to be taken out, and starts by landing a very good shot with his longbow. Blood gurgles from the wound. With howls, a pair of gnolls charge the knights. Sir Lantor is hit, but only takes a bruising blow. Two others throw spears at Inigo and Braedon. They are both, unfortunately, grazed by the attacks. A trio of gnolls rush to the hyaena pens, opening the gate, and whistling out to them. And, the final two rush to their boss’s aid.

The stairwell is crowded, and Inigo is jostled as he tries to tries to shoot, causing his shot to go wide. Xyzzifax takes into the air, and shoots a firebolt at the gnoll leader. That is enough to lead to his fiery death. Jaric calls forth a spiritual hammer, but the gnoll is able to parry the blow. That leaves him open to be slashed by Sir Kentor, though. And Samson follows it up with a crossbow bolt – but the gnoll is still on his feet! Malice shoots out a trio of scorching rays, but only one manages to land on one of the gnolls at the hyaena pen. Sir Lantor slices both of the gnolls on the front line, leaving them both reeling from the force of his blow. Braedon fires another arrow into the scorched gnoll, killing the one that Malice had wounded.

The pair of bleeding gnolls fall back from the front line, and the next two nearest gnolls come forward. Once again, Lantor gets the worst of it, actually bleeding from this slash himself. The pair of gnolls that were with their leader charge forward, and throw spears at Braedon. One hits – its only a flesh wound. That same gnoll makes a shrill laugh, and Braedon is psychically impacted by the blow. The two that were left near the pen, flee back deeper into the fort.

Inigo shoots one of the pair that had closed to melee. Xyzzifax flies forward, and creates an illusion of a fat, white rabbit to distract the giant hyaenas. Two of them push on the fence, trying to get to the illusory bunny. The other two come out, though only one rushes towards the stairwell. Jaric summons forth a spiritual hammer on one of the pair that had been fleeing, and the holy might is enough to kill it!

Sir Kentor stabs the gnoll in front of him, and Verminax tastes the gnoll’s blood! Malice firebolts that same one in quick succession, dropping it. Samson joins Jaric in shooting the other fleeing one, and kills it. Sir Lantor slams hard on the one gnoll remaining in melee, who manages to take the blow. Braedon, drawn in by the echoing laughter of the gnoll, charges it, drawing his shortswords. He slashes the gnoll thrice, and though all three blows connect, the laughing gnoll stays on his feet.

The gnoll in front of Sir Lantor tries to stab him, but the blow is parried by Sir Kentor, who follows with a riposte, slaying the gnoll. Another charges Lantor, and their weapons clash. The gnoll in melee with Braedon stabs him, leaving the Ranger wounded once again. Malice had healed him, but they opened the wound exactly as if it had never been healed. Xyzzifax flies down to the giant hyaena, and the lightning sword reignites, and he drives it into the beast. It snaps at the mage, but Xyzzifax is able to stay up and out of his way. Then, it follows up with a yip at the one remaining gnoll, almost sounding like he’s talking to the gnoll.

Once more the spiritual hammer flies through the air at Jaric’s command, slamming into the giant hyaena. Then, he charges the creature, slamming into it with the staff of striking. There is a crack of power, and the sound of the hyaena’s ribs breaking. Sir Kentor swings at the last remaining gnoll, and he gives a response bark to the hyaena. He dodges the knight’s blow, magic between it and the hyaena keeping the blow from landing. Malice steps up, lunges with the glaive, but it is not enough to overcome the magic. But that is enough to leave an opening for Sir Lantor, with a pair of well executed slashes, the unwounded gnoll is killed at once. And Samson, with only a single target left, puts a crossbow bolt into the giant hyaena.

Braedon steps up to beside Jaric, stabbing the giant hyaena twice. The beast has been hit so many times that it staggers, and falls over with a slump. Inigo rushes forward, and slams the pen shut. Ths is enough action to draw the attention of one of the remaining giant hyaenas from the illusionary rabbit. Xyzzifax flies to the roof of the nearest hut, deactivating his sword. Sir Kentor hurries to Inigo’s side. Malice moves much less quickly, throwing a firebolt at the giant hyaena, singing it. Braedon goes back to where he’d dropped his bow, sheathes his sword, and takes up his missile weapon once more.

A pair of gnolls come back around the corner, rushing with them is a half dozen of normal sized hyaenas. Inigo gives them an arrow of greeting, shooting at one of the gnolls, and then he backs off – leaving the knights on the front line. Xyzzifax flies to the roof nearest to the gnolls, and hits one of them with a firebolt. The giant hyaena that Malice shot climbs right over the face, and charges towards her. But, the knights are between her and it, and Sir Kentor’s shield is able block the blow. The spiritual hammer bobs forward, chasing Jaric towards the giant hyaena. Once again, he unleashes the power of the staff of striking, slamming into the head of the beast, leaving it dazed. He then follows it up with another jab, leaving the beast stagger back. Sir Kentor follows up with a a clean slash, killing the giant hyaena.

Malice continues her walking pace, and flings a firebolt at the gnoll that Xyzziafax had targeted. And then Samson hits it with a crossbow bolt. That gnoll is looking in terrible shape, and Sir Lantor charges, flinging a dagger as he run. Malice speaks a quick word of magic, and the dagger finds its mark, finally killing the gnoll. Braedon gets closer to the rest of the Valiant Swords, and shoots the only gnoll still standing. Sadly, the arrow just grazes him. The gnoll says something in his own language.

Sir Lantor is swarmed by the pack of hyaenas, and the gnoll. Sir Lantor is hit not only by the gnoll’s spear, but three hyaenas are able to find places not sufficiently covered by armor. Still, the knight staggers under the barrage of blows. Inigo shoots at the gnoll – the arrow is lodged in the gnoll’s armor, leaving only a bruise. Inigo flies over the group, and slams down with a thunder wave – it doesn’t cause a lot of damage, but the hyaenas are scattered all over the place as the blast knocks them through the air.

Jaric charges the nearest hyaena, but it manages to be able to stay away from the terrifying staff. Sir Kentor is quick on Jaric’s heels, killing the hyaena as he rushes past it, and he gest to Sir Lantor’s side, taking up a guarding position. Malice and Samson each fire into the fray, one with a firebolt and the other with a crossbow, but neither of the pair find their mark. Sir Lantor brings down his mighty blade onto one of the hyaenas, killing it. Malice gives a word in the back speech of Iuz, and some of Sir Lantor’s worst wounds heal. Braedon moves up to Jaric and Malice, and puts an arrow into one of the hyaenas, killing it.

The gnolls and hyaenas attack the knights, and with an amazing bit of luck, one manages to actually bite the west of Sir Kentor. But, he reacts by slaying one of the hyaenas that attacked Sir Lantor. Inigo takes a quick shot, killing the hyaena. Xyzzifax reactivates the crackling lightning sword, and leaves a scarring wound from the electricity. The last giant hyaena finally loses interest in the rabbit, and rushes across the pen.

Jaric and his spiritual hammer take just a few steps, and slams over the edge of the pen, cracking into the giant hyaena. Compared to his earlier blows, this is not nearly so impressive. Sir Kentor runs the gnoll through, and then hurries to Jaric’s side. Malice moves to Sir Lantor’s side, and slays the last of the normal sized hyaenas as she looks appraisingly at the knight’s wounds. Samson puts a crossbow bolt into the giant hyaena as Malice mutters in the black speech, and more of Sir Lantor’s wounds heal. Sir Lantor, Xyzzifax, and Malice can see that there are more coming from up the street. Braedon moves to here he can back up that trio, but then spins to put an arrow into the giant hyaena.

Coming into the light, we can see a half dozen gnolls following a leader, another giant hyaena, , and a trio of normal hyaenas. Inigo shoots the giant hyaena in the pen, and finally that is a shot that is noticable. The huge beast gives a paid yelp as the arrow hits its soft underbelly. Xyzzifax puts a firebolt right into the lead gnoll.

There is a flurry of activity at the pen, as the giant hyaena tries to bite Jaric, but Sir Kentor blocks it with his shield, and then slashes with Verminax. The gnoll leader tries to shoot Xyzzifax with a bow, but the wily mage stays out of the way. Jaric slams down on the Giant Hyaena with the spiritual hammer, and as the beast expires he moves towards the approaching gnolls, hurling a sacred flame into their midst. Sir Kentor hoists his shield and takes Sir Lantor’s side. But, it is for naught, because Sir Lantor charges forward, throwing his dagger. Neither it, nor Malice’s firebolt are able to strike true. Samson sprints, coming around all of the buildings. It means that he has a front row seat to see Sir Lantor being completely overrun by the group’s enemies.

At some point in here someone utters the phrase "form the meat wall" - it was probably not Lantor or Kentor ...

The hyaenas attack in concert, two of them managing to draw blood. Three of the gnolls are able to get inside his defenses, as well, their spears stabbing him time and again. Sir Lantor, though, in defiance of all of the gnolls, keeps standing! Inigo is the last of the Valiant Swords to come out from behind the buildings, and he shoots a gnoll, Xyzzifax flies over the group, chanting to give a much more powerful thunder wave. All three hyaenas are killed right out. One of the gnolls is killed as well. Most of the gnolls are knocked around, bones breaking, ears bleeding.

The gnoll leader and giant hyaena both charge Sir Lantor as well. There is a quick yip from the hyaena to the leader, and then he bites Sir Lantor. The blood loss has the knight staggering, but miraculously his has not yet fallen. But the leader’s glaive is enough to finally drop the knight to the ground. Jaric points at one of the gnolls and utters a quick prayer, and the sacred flame ignites on one of the wounded gnolls.

Sir Kentor strides up to beside the fallen Sir Lantor, and announces that the leader of the has been judged. He slashes, but the large gnoll is able to block with his glaive. Malice rushes to Sir Lantor’s side, and heals him. As the knight gets to his feet, Samson fires into the crowd. Sir Lantor slashes with his greatsword, not once, but twice. Both times, the huge blade hits, leaving deep gashes in the leader.

The gnolls rally, and attack the knights and Malice. Their spears find Malice’s range, and she is stabbed by both of them. She gurgles, bleeding from her wounds. Sir Lantor is able to block one of the attacks, and then kills the unfortunate gnoll. Inigo puts an arrow through the throat of the lead gnoll. He is standing, but his death is inevitable. And then Xyzzifax makes it official, he lands behind the gnoll, and drives the lightning sword into him. The giant hyaena tries to bite Xyzzifax, but he is able to bring up a shield spell.

Jaric closes into the swirling melee, swinging with his spiritual hammer and staff. He doesn’t manage to finish off any of the gnolls, though. Sir Kentor drives Verminax deep into the giant hyaena. Malice spreads her fingers, and sends forth a cone of fire, killing a pair of gnolls. Sir Lantor drives his greatsword into the giant hyaena, killing it. Braedon shoots the wounded gnoll, leaving only one left standing. It turns, and flees from the fight – it earns him a slash across the back from Sir Lantor. Inigo gives chase, and puts an arrow into him. Xyzzifax sneers, and blasts him with a pair of magic missiles, killing him.

We search the grounds, and discover that the sturdiest of the buildings is an old defaced temple. They’ve been performing some profane rituals here. Once upon a time, this was a temple to the gods of the old faith, but they have been desecrating it in the name of the demon lord of gnolls. Malice spends a few minutes casting a healing ritual, for herself, Lantor, and Braedon. And then Jaric uses miracles to further heal Sir Lantor. Searching the camp, we’re able to find some coinage and small jewelry. And, the pack leader’s glaive is magical! Malice quickly claims it for her own. We return to Hommlet, to sell what we can.

That was a lot of fighting and a lot of gnolls! They did have to work for it some but it went pretty well. This was a nice change from the prior - and future - dungeon crawling that makes up most of the adventure. It's also nicely modern in the sense that it's not just a random monster lair - there's a story here about what it was before (a human farming community overrun by gnolls) and also what's going on with the gnoll tribe (their troops are being poached by the temple and the leader is not happy about it). It may not matter at all but there are details there to be found if your party cares.

If it was basic gnolls it could have gotten a little dull but they have an interesting ability in ToV:

This is another 4E-style ability that can change up a potentially static fight. It is only DC12 - but it is Charisma, so many characters will not have much of a bonus on this. A little damage and some forced movement can be fun. It only went off a few times here but it was great when it did.

Managing 8 PC's with as many options as they have is challenging but this session was not that bad. This being a raid on a hostile camp was sort of one long running fight with some scouting and recon before and then some exploration afterwards so it had more action than just rolling to hit. Being a defined location but outdoors allowed for more movement and gave ranged abilities a chance to show off. 

Valiant Swords of Greyhawk - Session 9: The Moathouse Epilogue and the King’s Road

 

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger)played by Battletech Terry
• Sir Kentor (Human Paladin) played by Paladin Steve
• Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
• The Mighty Xyzzifax (Human-ish Wizard) played by Blaster
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
• Inigo Vulnstack (Elven Rogue) played by Invisible Paddy

 All are level 2 or 3 at this point. Grognard Mike is out this week so Malice is hanging out in Hommlet , where we begin this session ... 

The player version - written from a particular point of view:
(and yes, he calls them minions sitting around the table too)

• The MIghty Xyzzifax, played by Alex
• Minion Braeden played by Terry
• Minion Kentor played by Steve
• Minion Lantor played by Brandon
• Minion Samson played by Will
• Minion Jaric played by Dave
• Minion Inigo played by Paddy

Back in town, Malice continues to suffer from a horrendous case of food poisoning from the Paladin’s undercooked chili. The party, now flush with cash from the liberation of the moathouse from the clutches of the temple cult, opts to do some shopping.

The Generous Xyzzifax pays 100 gp to the innkeeper to cover the bill for his room, and purchases a scroll of invisibility from Burne.

Minion Braeden visits the Jaroo the Druid, checking to see of any useful herbs to acquire.

Minion Kentor asks around and manages to acquire a suit of full plate armor by bartering with Otis, a local. The price is negotiated to include the beginning of a potential courtship of Otis’s granddaughter, Matilda.

Minion Kentor arranges to have the armor re-sized, and later in the evening, treats the maiden Matilda to the finest feast the Inn of the Welcome Wench has to offer, a seven course meal, and the most expensive wine in Hommlett. Matilda is infatuated. The next day, minion Kentor is uncharacteristically slothful, with bags under his eyes, and claims to have been up all night “polishing his new armor”. Xyzzifax is not sure whether minion Kentor is laughably Vain or a cunning liar.

Matilda is now a recurring NPC in the campaign.

The party ventures forth, returning to the moat house, on a mission to eradicate the remaining bugbear infestation. Upon initial observation, the Porticulis has been raised. Minion Bubo is sent to scout further, and is unable to detect the presence of bugbears where they were previously located. In fact, it appears that the entire Moathouse dungeon is empty, until minion Bubo is unfortunately intercepted in mid air. Xyzzifax feels his familiar’s life force’s sudden absence, but he knows his faithful servant will return within the hour.

The Mighty Xyzzifax directs his minions to the room where minion Bubo met his unfortunate end, and the party is faced with two carrion crawlers, feasting upon the bodies of the now decomposing gnolls. The first two fall easily, but three more appear! Kentor and Lantor are paralyzed, and minion Jaric unveils his new staff of striking, which after two strikes, explodes a carrion crawler, covering the group in its bug guts. One carrion crawler escapes down the long passageway leading out of the dungeon, with the final crawler killed by an expertly aimed crossbow shot from minion Samson as it too, attempted to flee. and the group now sees that every interceding door (two of which were previously wizard locked) have been smashed down. After a quick survey, the party finds that the remainder of the dungeon is now empty.

Bubo's demise was to a carrion crawler on the ceiling. I have to put some familiar-risk into it here and there and creatures not particularly bound to the floor seemed like a a good way to do it. 

Paladin Steve on whiffing and blowing his save:" I used all of my good rolls on a date."

After some debate the party elects to follow the high road into the forest, in the direction of Nulb, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

As the party travels along the road, minion Braeden senses something amiss, but he is unable to tell exactly what it is. His ranger senses are tingling. The party takes defensive positions, with Xyzzifax flying into the canopy, and minions Jaric and Samson direct the cart and minion donkey forward. The trap is sprung as an ankheg erupts from the ground, and devours faithful minion donkey!

The party launches into action, and with combined strikes, and a powerful magic missile attack from the Mighty Xyzzifax, the ankheg is felled. The fight is not over however, as two more erupt from the ground, flanking the cart. They begin by spraying minions Kentor, Lantor, and Jaric with acid breath, but the group manages to avoid the worst of the spray. Xyzzifax produces his trusty wand of lesser petrification, and uses it on on of the ankhegs. However, the wands magic seems to sputter, utterly expending, barely getting the spell off before the wand itself turns to stone.

The second ankheg ferociously tears into minion Samson’s shoulder, spitting acid into the wound. Samson briefly screams before losing consciousness,as the large insect, with two free legs, scrapes a shallow hole into the ground, deposits minion Samson into it, then covers him. Seemingly saving him for a tasty snack later!

Minions Kentor and Lantor yell in a rage, and together, slay the wretched beast. The final remaining insect, suffering from being turned to stone, suffers attacks from minions Inigo and Jaric. Minion Jaric who once again displays the power of his staff of striking, unleashing powerful strikes. Staggered, from this mighty blow, the final beast falls to another salvo of magic missiles from Xyzzifax.

They were pretty shocked when the ankheg buried Samson. This is a new ability these things have in the Monster Vault and I knew it would be fun - it was immensely entertaining. Giving monsters interesting abilities beyond claw/bite/cast a spell was a lot of fun in 4E D&D and it is really encouraging to see that kind of thing returning.

The Temple Campaign - Time to Catch Up

 

The campaign has continued weekly but I've been slacking on posting about it here. With the end of the campaign in sight it's time to catch up. I used to be fairly rigorous about posting session summaries here but it feel tougher to do that now for some reason. My players have been really good about putting summaries up on the Obsidian Portal site though so I'm going to lean on that: I'm going to repost their take on things and add comments of my own to give my future self and anyone who cares the "full take" on what's happening. 

I will start this tomorrow but as a prelude to that here are a bunch of links to what has been presented so far:

• Session Zero - Nailing down the framework and the PCs
• Session One - The Terrible Tower of Saltmarsh
• Session Two - Beneath the Tower of Zenopus
• Session Three - Hommlet Ho!
• Session Four - The Moathouse
• Session Five - In the Dungeon of the Moathouse
• Session Six - Bugbear Battle
• Session Seven - Ghouls, Guards, and a Giant Crayfish
• Session Eight - The Moathouse Finale

We just ran session 42 last weekend so I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm aiming for 2-3 per week until I catch up. but even at that pace it may be over before I get there.

Prior research/decisions:

• Greyhawk setting talk
• Rules talk about Tales of the Valiant
• Leveling Expectations for the Temple in a 5E game
• Part 1
• Part 2

Pathfinder Adventure Path Changes - They're Quarterly Now

 

I bought a lot of Adventure Path books during Pathfinder's 1st edition. A quick count says I have at least 10 complete AP's, plus the various supporting themed books and map packs and possibly card decks if I really liked one ... it's a lot of material at 70+ books. They started out at $20 for a 96 page full-color softcover adventure with some supporting material. Typically there were six books in each series taking Pathfinder characters from level 1 to somewhere in the teens, possibly all the way to 20. These were released monthly and if you subscribed you got the PDF for free which was a nice touch as not everyone did (or does) that.

One thing that I think is often overlooked is that by doing this Paizo established that a company could sell adventures regularly and consistently - which was not something we really saw much before and for the last 25 years has been stated to be a non-viable type of product for a larger RPG company. They showed everyone it could be done.

Good things about the AP approach:

• You got a nicely presented adventure with locations, maps, NPCs, a new monster or two, and some information on the part of the campaign world (Golarion) where it was set. That's a pretty decent package.
• The 6-part format meant that the adventures were connected and - ideally - focused on a larger situation than you might find in a one-off adventure. The format also meant that you had a guaranteed long campaign if you wanted to stay with it.
•  Making it a known monthly effort also meant that you knew there was a new episode coming and eventually a completely new path a few months down the road if you didn't like the current one. They were very good about describing each one well in advance, at the very least something like " a big pirate adventure set in X part of Golarion", or "an AP where advanced technology shows up along with robots and a crashed spaceship", or " an adventure set in an Egypt-like land with pyramids and mummies."
• They also put out a free Players Guide for each one early on describing some of the big concepts and how different races and classes and alignments would fit it - or how they might not fit in particularly well. This was a big help in getting players lined up for a new campaign.

Not as good things about the APs:

• Seeing a description about a new AP gets the DM excited. Part 1 comes out and looks good so you start a campaign. However you haven't seen parts 2-5 yet and so it's hard to lay any groundwork for the future, bring in or emphasize certain NPCs or organizations, or local features. I mean, it's my game so if I want the local druid circle to be a factor then I can do that regardless but it's still usually better to know the big picture before you start. In that case you end up waiting six months for the whole thing to come out and you may or may not be ready to run a new campaign at that time.
• To get these things done on schedule different authors wrote each part. Sometimes one would write two parts, like #1 and #4, but even if they did there could be dissonance between parts, seeming misunderstandings about the overall focus of the thing, plot points and NPCs disappearing completely along the way, and just a lack of coherence in some cases. A good DM can fix a lot of this, but many of them did need some work to really tighten them up.
• The fixed nature of the "six parts per AP" sometimes meant we got filler. Not every adventure needs this many pages ... but it's going to get 500+ pages regardless because that's how it works. I think the thieves' guild oriented one ended up around 11th-12th level while Wrath of the Righteous was trying to pack in a 1-20 run across other planes and including a bunch of Mythic stuff along the way. Not every concept was a great fit for this format.
• If you don't like the concept then you get to wait six months for the next one. This was not always a bad thing as it was extremely unlikely you were going to be able to complete one of these in a six month window - so they start to stack up on the shelf.

Now I did like them most of the time so I have quite the pile on the shelf and I will probably end up adapting several of them to PF2E or some other game like Savage Worlds. I haven't bought one since the first one that came out for second edition. "Age of Ashes". The reason I stopped was because I wanted to do my own thing with the new system. I did, and then we stopped playing and have yet to hit it again in any serious way. 

In the interim they went to a new approach of 3-segment adventure paths. I believe this began with Starfinder and then was carried over to Pathfinder. This made a fair amount of sense to me as it lets you do more different things. They mostly covered levels 1-10 with some covering 11-20 and a few doing odd level ranges like 5-14. I think most people liked it as you still had big adventures covering the entire Pathfinder level range but you could change them up more easily. it also gives a DM some fun in connecting different paths and laying some groundwork and rumors about what else is going on that the players could decide to pursue. So this seems like a good move.

Last month though they announced another change to the format: Instead of monthly, they are going to quarterly releases that will cover material comparable to 3 monthly releases in the old format and instead of softcover they will be hardbacks. 

Now that's a big change and the primary concern online seems to be cost as instead of 3x$30 purchases a month apart it's going to be a single $80 purchase every three months. I get that it's a bigger chunk at once but it is technically less overall and it's a nice sturdy 256 page hardback. it seems pretty reasonable to me and this feels like less of a change than the prior one - this is just a change on format, the original switch to 3-book APs was a real change in approach. Additionally they have been publishing hardback collections of many of their more recent APs and those seem to sell well so why not just make them "hardback collections" from the start?

This also addresses a lot of my negatives from above, starting with having the whole AP on hand from the start. Considering it's what WOTC and a lot of 3rd party publishers do for 5E adventures, why not give it a try? 

I may have to look into these again now. Not sure about "Hellbreakers" yet but I will be looking them over.

And if you're interested in a description of all of the adventure paths someone has put together a pretty serious breakdown of all of them here. 

Checking in on Warhammer+ with Kill Lupercal

 It's been awhile since I mentioned Warhammer+. GW's subscription service that includes a TVshow/animation app and a separate set of game tool type apps. Frankly, not much has changed. There are a few more animations than there were in 2022 - but not that many. In 2022 I noted there were 10 episodes of Hammer and Bolter, for example. That's their traditional animation series about various random topics. Some of them are really good. Now, 3 1/2 years later there are 16. Not exactly prolific there are they? There are some more lore shows - available for free on many YouTube channels these days, even if not "official" GW takes. The games have all moved to new editions since launch and the apps were suitably revised. So ... sure. It's fine.

The big new thing recently was "Kill Lupercal", a CGI animated "series" - all of 3 episodes - which was hyped up as this an awesome new production. Set near the end of the Horus Heresy it's all about a titan battle group that heads out in less than optimal condition and ends up on a mission to take out the Warmaster Horus Lupercal. The concept is fine and the animation looks good. The problem is the execution.

The whole thing is made up of three 15 minute segments:

• Part 1 is the extremely drawn-out build up of the titan being repaired and various discussions of it's condition and what can be fixed and the Mechanicus doing Mechanicus things ... it's a bunch of standing around and talking and it takes half of the episode before out titan actually walks. They get out of the hanger, shoot up some traitor marines, and then at the end they encounter a lone mysterious titan. That's it, that's 1/3 of our story done.
• Part 2 is a discussion with the mystery titan, getting the other tians in the group introduced and lined up, and then everyone heads off to kill Horus. There is a fight with some superheavy tanks and then more discussion about what they should do.
• Part 3 finally gets to the point of the exercise and we get a real fight against traitor titans and the resolution of the whole Horus thing. This one is pretty good.

This show is analogous to Warhammer+ as a whole: too little too slowly and often focused on the wrong things. 

While the individual shows are better about this, the multi-episode series tend to plod along, especially at the beginning. I'm usually a fan of the gearing-up sequence in a movie or show but there are limits. They also need to realize that most of the people paying for this service are already invested in the 40K universe - they're not newbies. You don't need to explain what sisters of battle, or titans, or for goodness sake Space Marines are - we know. We want to see them doing stuff, not a lore-dump about what they are supposed to be doing. Some of this stuff feels like a cutscene intro to a videogame we're never going to play - let's get to the point, especially if we're going to have less than an hour to work through this story! We don't need minutes and minutes of characters standing around talking about auspex readings and how bad things are and what the Emperor would want  - it's 40k! How about we have those conversations while we're jumping into the action?

Besides the shows being slow, their rate of production is terribly slow.  Under the "Animations" banner on the site there are 12 entries:

• Astartes existed before this was a thing so it doesn't really count as a W+ production
• Angels of Death was their first CGI series and is still the best. Extra points for Blood Angels. It's from 2021.
• Hammer and Bolter was also a year 1 effort and has actually added some new episodes over the years - not many, but some.
• The Exodite is another 3-part CGI series that takes a while to get going and runs 30-something minutes total. Again it looks good but there just isn't that much there. Points for being Tau vs. Eldar and Imperials. It's from 2022.
• Interrogator is a 9-part series using traditional animation that has 15-20 minute episodes and ends up being around an hour and a half total. It's black and white too and a pretty serious dive into the grim dark civilian life of 40K. It's decent and it's from 2022.
• Blacktalon is a 6-part series using traditional animation set in the Age of Sigmar worlds. There are 20+ minute episodes and so you get an actual story here. It's from 2023.
• Pariah Nexus is a 3-part CGI series from 2023 and is one of the better offerings. It ends up being a little over an hour of story.
• Iron Within is a 30-minute CGI one-shot with guard and dark eldar and chaos marines that's more buildup than action. I think it's supposed to be more "horror" than action but ... we all know what the dark eldar are about, and we all know what chaos marines are about so you're not going to surprise anyone with the various bad things that happen. Even the title spoils what could have been one interesting wrinkle. I was disappointed with this one. It's from 2023.
• Broken Lance is a 30-minute CGI one-shot about a knight household. Once it gets going it's not bad. It's from 2024.
• The Enemy Without is a 5-minute glorified CGI trailer about the deathwatch and I'm not even sure what the point of it really is. It does at least get right to the action, so there is that. This one is from 2024.
• The Tithes is a 3-part CGI series from 2024 that totals up to about an hour. There is some interesting variety here.
• Then Kill Lupercal is the lone entry from 2025

So the output has not been great. Nor has it been consistent with formats and story lengths jumping all over the place. Some of this stuff is interesting and even good but there is just not that much of it. Someone could subscribe for a month and watch everything without breaking a sweat.

I really like this one

The rest of the offerings are battle reports, painting guides, lore videos, and pretty much the kind of thing you can find all over YouTube and the rest of the internet. I would not pay a subscription fee for these.

I suspect that most people pay a sub here for the 40K and AoS apps - those are actually handy and useful for building an army and playing some games and encourage one to maintain it. There are alternatives there as well.

There is an annual miniature that's free to subscribers and those are usually pretty cool and this is the only way to get them. Not sure I would pay just for that but it's one benefit to sticking with it.

Also very cool

For now I will be continuing my own subscription here, despite my problems with the service. I do use the apps, I do like some of the shows, and I keep hoping it will get better. We will see.