Dungeonpocolypse - part 2

The action continues into the second period. The Alliance musters the troops and opens the three doors into the next area. The area is a single large room with a single door in the north-east corner of the room. There are four balconies on the north wall covering the entire room on which are perched a mixture of archers and flame skulls. The floor of the room is populated by six assorted golems. There is also a fountain in the room. The cry of "get 'em" was heard and the forces of the alliance poured into the room.

The fight went well at this point the Golems and their covering fire did manage to damage the Alliance forces some but ultimately they overwhelmed the area. A couple of surprises discovered by the players were that Golems were pretty much immune to spells and Flame Skulls were immune to fire and cold. The fountain was a surprise as well in that it provided some needed healing.

The forces were once again mustered and through the single door they marched. One by two, and through and through...into a long narrow hallway running east to west along all three tiles. The single Blood Ghost Berserker was no real match for the tide of adventurers but more clogging and unclogging occurred before the group was able to move to the real meat of the area. A wide corridor running west to east populated by all manor of melee prowess and magic support as well as a Beholder. Many characters were wounded, a few were killed and one now commemorates the hall with an amazing statue in his honor. The support for the Beholder was removed when the party hit two unlucky dice rolls in a row. The first was the DM roll to determine the eye stalk power used by the Beholder. The power was a DC 17 save vs Petrification. The second roll was the attempted save by Casey for his Warrior which he could only fail on a one.  He had rolled stellar all night but not this time. Shortly thereafter his compatriots destroyed the Beholder and healed those that needed it. Here ends part two

Defeated List from Part Two

5 Flame Skulls

6 Hobgoblin Archers

5 Hobgoblin Sargents

1 Demonic Gnoll Archer

1 Clay Golem

2 Stone Golems

2 Berserk Flesh Golems

1 Iron Golem

1 Blood Ghost Berserker

1 Cleric of Lagozed

1 Drow Guard

2 Drider Sorcerers

2 Formorian Giants

4 Feral Minotaurs

1 Beholder

Gone but not Forgotten

Tri Kreen Barbarian

Aspect of Kord

Elven Ranger

Warrior

Wemic Barbarian

Those who were there, did I miss something? Do you wish to add your heroic tale of triumph? Just post them to the comments below. And I need better pictures!

Above: The swarm begins on the Clay and Stone Golems.

Below: View of the death march 

Nerdy YouTube Gems

In the past I've pointed out some cool nerdy movies available on Netflix. This time I am focusing on movies/shows that you can watch on Youtube. Most of these are broken into eight to ten minute episodes but keep you eyes open for the long versions especially the first three. All of these can be found on the Dead Gentlemen Productions channel.

The Gamers - The original spoof on gamers. College guys yuck it up while adventuring to find and defeat the Shadow! All the embarrassing glory of a DnD game without actually being there. Sound and special effects are really poor but the dialog really makes this movie.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising - The "sequel" to the original but only in spirit. Better overall quality of sound and special effects. Some say its not as funny as the original but I actually enjoy it more.

The Gamers: Hand of Fate - Cass, Brother Silence from Dorkness Rising is smitten with a gamer girl who plays card games. He sets out to learn the game "9 Empires" to win the story tournament at GenCon and win a date with her. The card game did not really exist until after the movie came out. Life imitates art. Many funny scenes as Cass confronts the imposing members of the gaming group "The Legacy" who want the story players to go away so that cash prizes will become the norm.

Journey Quest: Season One - The Wizard Superfluous (or Perf) does not want to be an adventurer. He tries to flee the party at every opportunity. Every time he uses magic something bad happens. What happens when Perf, the least qualified member of the group, acquires the intelligent, talking, animated sword proving he is "the one"? Glorion the Paladin is particularly funny with his world view of death equals mercy.

Journey Quest: Season Two - Perf and the party continue their quest to set the land right. Perf continues to amaze with his ability to pervert any magic he attempts to cast. The sword continually teases Perf and attempts to get him killed so that he can be free. Bonus of big Bob Sapp as the barbarian king!

The Gamers: Natural One - A brother tests his sister's boyfriend to see if he is husband material. The test is a Shadowrun with the best game master in Canada. Mr Johnson gets the same treatment that fantasy rpgs and card games have received is this short series.

The Gamers: Humans and Households -The gamers are now the fantasy party. The Wizard plays an Activist, the Cleric plays a Nurse, The Fighter plays an Athlete and the Rogue plays as a Hacker is the twisted version of the Gamers. A nice change of pace and interesting concept. Funny as always.

Well, darn

I should be blogging about Dungeonpocolypse part two, scheduled to happen last night. Instead I am sitting in my recliner where I have been most of the last 24 hours after tweaking my lower back. I wish I could say I hurt my back lifting downed tree limbs or putting my lawn mower away for the season. No, I hurt my back putting bacon I had cooked for my son in the warming drawer for when he woke up. I bent down to place a sandwich plate with two strips of bacon in the drawer and felt a sharp pain. The pain continued to build through most of the day and in the early afternoon I canceled the game. It really sucks getting older.

In any event I should be able to reschedule for a few weeks out and get the game rolling again. The worst part of this "injury" is that I cannot do much of anything like paint miniatures or craft dungeon terrain. Not to mention that it is a beautiful fall day in central Ohio and I have many chores to take care of outside.

I have been debating with myself about which RPG system I will use going forward (after I finish my current campaign). I have been very partial to Pathfinder since WOTC created the atrocity that was 4th edition but the new Dungeons and Dragons Next has really impressed me. The books are beautifully illustrated and well organized. The rules for DnD Next are what 4th should have been; streamlined, familiar and emphasizing role-playing. Spells and spell books are back as are true healing spells (Clerics in 4th allowed the target to spend a Healing surge for when they cast a spell). Next has added a few other innovations including the level scaling of spells like cure, fireball and lightning bolt. The free pdf version covers the rules and 4 basic classes.

Pathfinder, on the other hand, is only very much like its predecessor DnD 3.5. The concepts are adjusted from 3.5 but the basic rules are very much the same. So much so that the entire library of 3.5 and open GL books are very much compatible with the rule set. Where DnD Next has a free basic rules pdf Pathfinder has a free rules website that contains all the classes and many of the monsters. The Pathfinder SRD also contains modified and home brew content.

Both systems are well supported with supplements (Pathfinder has a huge head start) and miniatures. The DnD next miniatures with their flying dragons are really special but are interchangeable between systems. Tough choices....any thoughts?