4 days ago
Ripper DMing: Temple of Elemental Evil VIII
We didn't get very far, but then again we haven't seen each other for almost a month, so the mouths were flapping! It was also that stupid daylights savings-time, so we had to quit early, however the main part of the game was to test out miniature play, so we did accomplish this goal.
We didn't get very far at all, only 2 rooms, and nobody moved more then a couple of yards. They had decided to set up a base camp within the dungeon itself, but before they could rest and reclaim spells, they first had to take over that section of the dungeon.
They had a skeletal gnoll which one of the clerics had stolen, they had him guard the main door; which kept all of the badies the heck away from that door, but it did stir up some curiosity on the part of the Ogre chief across the hall. He was too much of a coward to investigate it himself, or even send his own people over to see what was going on, so he sent a hobgoblin thief to sneak around back, and pop out of the secret door in the room the PCs were camped out in.
The hobgoblin wasn't a good thief, he got caught and got everybody in the secret chamber killed. Kim's character had heard the door opening, and Shannon ran both of his fighters over to defend the door. That poor thief didn't know what hit him! A huge battle ensued and we spent all of our gametime trying to figure out mini rules and deciding if we liked playing with them or not.
Here is the board that we used. 
I put a large piece of vinyl over the grid that I had made. Now it isn't perfect, but it worked better then if I had laminated the board. I marked out the rooms with colored dry erase markers, and instead of erasing and redrawing the rooms again, when the Players were ready to move. We just had to slide the vinyl over to the center of the map, or higher if we knew that we wanted to head in a specific direction.
Now, I don't have any monsters, but my wife picked me up a bunch of little cowboys and indians. They represent the monsters, but I'm going to have to glue pennies on the bottoms of all of them because they don't weigh enough, and the vinyl doesn't sit perfectly flat so they tend to fall over.
Prep took a lot longer, and we all were struggling with the rules; I myself have never played with miniatures. I also screwed up with my handout count, I forgot to print off a quick cheat list form myself and only had the bulky mini-handbook which I had posted to this blog to work off of. I assume that the more we use them, then the faster that we'll become at taking our turns.
Everybody was pleased with them! They had an easier time seeing what was around them, and for me, it just seemed more fair because I didn't have to pick who what getting attacked at random, which one has to do when playing with just one's imagination. It also aided in strategy.
While the game was very short, and we didn't get much done, I think that we all had a good time (which is most important to me), and everybody seems to be pleased with the new way of playing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My Blog List
-
Ho provato Pasión de las Pasiones! - Salve, Ieri sera ci siamo trovati a giocare Pasión de las Pasiones. Si tratta di un gioco di ruolo che ha lo scopo di riprodurre un copione delle teleno...
-
Play as Sculpture, Play as Prism - Watching my eldest child and friends engaging in imaginative play, I'm often struck by the fact that what seems to excite them is deciding who gets to be...5 days ago
-
I saved the timeline! - One of the other participants in the game jam I joined produced a Game Boy adventure called OuttaTime. You can try it yourself in your browser here: http...
1 week ago -
The Light Dawns - THIS!!! Yes, a thousand times, this! Back in the day, I referred to this as “neo-classicalgaming,” which is to say, the sorts of games that came ou...
3 weeks ago -
Daggerheart vs. the MCDM RPG vs. D&D: A Playtest Comparison - If games to suit every play style and new games bringing fresh ideas makes a golden age, then the best time for gamers is now. In the past weeks, I’ve play...3 weeks ago
-
MASSIVE GEEKOUT With David Finn Of Signal Of Doom – Episode 275 – 3/29/2024 - Shane Plays Geek Talk Episode #275 – 3/29/2024 A wide-ranging geekout with David Finn of the Signal of Doom podcast. Lots of comic book and MCU chat (lik...3 weeks ago
-
Protect your Gamemasters (and don't call it "fudging") - *November last year I went to check out X. I had heard lots of promissing things about the changes there, and the possibilities that come with them. Gott...
1 month ago -
Attronarch's Athenaeum - Over at the forum El Borak mentioned Attronarch in his thread Hirelings, loyalty, and morale which you should take a look at. Attronarch has a website Att...1 month ago
-
Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon? - Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after the passing of Janelle Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well known p...
2 months ago -
Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...3 months ago
-
Sex-Crazed Falling Stars, Free Weather Magic, and Adventures: News of the Hill Cantons - *Grandma Gaya, the Rav-Witch of High Kezmarok*, seeks the stout of limb and humble of mind in the *obtaining of fallen stars* from an upcoming prophesied ...
3 months ago -
Thanks for your comments, friends! - Dear friends and followers of the blog, Thanks for all your comments over the years. When Google+ opened, I decided to jump on board. Everything got coupl...7 months ago
-
GUARDIANS OSR Superhero RPG- DC Heroics House Rules - It's been a rough year with sickness. But here I am. Let's go. Guardians is a fun little game from Night Owl Workshop games. They have a lot of fun OS...
10 months ago -
Coming Fast! 50th Anniversary of OD&D January 2024 (OGL comments) (& how Wizbro is stupid) - The 50th Anniversary, the 50th Birthday of OD&D is approaching and will be here in January 2024. Wizards of the Coast, instead of preparing for something s...1 year ago
-
Original Dungeons & Dragons Has Its 50th Anniversary In January 2024 (Feb 2023) - The countdown to the 50th Anniversary of the Original Dungeons and Dragons in January 2024 continues. Give the drama with Wizards during January 2023, it...1 year ago
-
I'm In!! The monthly posting challenge leadup to the 50th Anniversary of OD&D in 2024 - I am inspired by this post found here, to be part of the monthly posting during 2023 and 2024 to highlight the 50th Anniversary of OD&D. We were challeng...1 year ago
-
It's been a decade, now... - This is a tough time of year for me. So, with your indulgence, here's this link to a post I did a decade ago... EDIT: I have no idea why it didn't take. S...2 years ago
-
This Blog is now on Indefinite Hiatus - Greetings, I haven’t been able to post except sporadically for a while. I just found out I will need to find a new place to live within the next few months...2 years ago
-
Ind of the Year - The Colors of Magic - On December 1st, there will be a nice bundle of small, indie itch RPGs from around the world called the *Ind of the Year Bundle 2020* that includes *The Co...
3 years ago -
Be The DM, 1 - OK, I've run plenty of games and I've talked with and read the thoughts of many other DM's. One thing is certain; No two DM's are the same. I have seen ...3 years ago
-
The Crowning of King Harold - Here is a spooky story that comes from my latest novel, Lions Red and Gold, available now in digital and dead tree only on Amazon. I post it here in ho...
3 years ago -
MIDLANDS CHARACTER GENERATION - Character development (of Player via imagined formative experiences) in my dog in DMing. Placyer character development is a huge part of my sandbox. I use ...3 years ago
-
Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ... - Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ...: LINK to Description and Ordering: https://www.tlbgames.com/colle...4 years ago
-
Character Concepts: Planescape pt 3 - Part 1 Part 2 Continuing my series on oddball Planescape Faction Personalities... Harmonium Sidby the Stick (LG/halfling/fighter) - Sidby's a good enough b...4 years ago
-
D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...
4 years ago -
Announcing the Contest Winner! (Plus Some Interesting US Coin Facts) - The third semi-annual Save Versus All Wands contest - What is the Value of this Coin Hoard - is over. $1,000 was the winning guess, only a bit below the ...
5 years ago
Links to Suggested Stuff
7 comments:
"instead of erasing and redrawing the rooms again, when the Players were ready to move. We just had to slide the vinyl over to the center of the map, or higher if we knew that we wanted to head in a specific direction"
That is such a great idea. Man, why the hell hasn't everyone else (me) thought of that before.
I know you said you don't have any monsters, but what types of plastic mans do you use for your PCs?
Hey Ryan,
We don't use plastic pieces for PC's. Unfortunately, trying to photograph the little boogers is a trick and they didn't come out as clear as I'd hoped. The pieces in the pics are from my collection of good old fashioned hand painted lead figures. This pictures don't do them justice.
My folks had started playing D&D around 1980, and I started playing the year after that. The DM that we played with, used minis, and we got into the hobby of painting them ourselves. I have right around 300 minis that have all been painted by either myself or my folks. So some of these figures are around 30 years old. The ones in the pics are some of the oldest in the bunch and they've held up remarkably.
Here recently, I've started getting back into painting, and have a werewolf that turned out amazing, and a female lich that I have yet to start on.
Now for NPC's and monsters, because of cost obviously, we have had to resort to using those little plastic cowboys and indians that you see little kids play with. They're cheap (only a dollar or two for 25 of them) and if they get knocked around too much it's not a big deal. We had looked into a couple of other options, like Hero Clicks, but at the local comic book shop, they still run around a buck a piece. That would cost us a mint after a while. The only issue we've really run into when using them, is they're so light, that sometimes they tip over. Super Glue and some pennies will solve that problem. Otherwise it's a quick cheap fix that will work for now :)
Regards,
Tala (Rip's wife)
Buying monster figures is kind of a losing proposition. You just never have enough of the right ones, unless you buy literally everything in multiples and paint them all up.
And then where do you store them?
I travel to my game, at a gaming shop, and bringing painted monster figures with me is an impossibility. So we just use plastic figures for the players, and dice for the monsters. I picked up a bunch of white d6s from the dollar store, you get 10 to a pack so it ends up being 10 cents each. This is close to what you'd pay if you bought good dice in bulk, which I've seen going for 13 cents each.
The benefit with the dice is that I can say a given monster is asleep if it has a "1" up, or entangled with a "6" on it. Keeping track is pretty easy then.
For battles with less than 7 monsters you can number the dice instead, to keep track of monster HP and status very easily.
For huge battles with lots of 1HD monsters, you can put the HP right on the die. Assuming, of course, that you use d6 HP dice.
How can you tell which way the monsters are facing?
The cowboys and indians are working fine. I've glued pennies to the bottoms to make them more sturdy, they were so light that they kept falling over, but now they aren't drunk. They are slightly too big, but that is a trade-off that I'm willing to except.
I'm currently running my players through ToEE. The players are almost done with the first dungeon level, and I could sense that they were getting weary of the crawl. To spice things up, I had the remaining earth temple devotees attack the party during the night. It was a big surprise and went over quite well. I added an NPC cleric who escaped, I expect that I'll make him a recurring villain!
What's that figure with the Cleopatra hairdo and the sling?
Post a Comment