Going off the Rails – Part One

Have you ever had a night of gaming go off the rails?

I had a 3-hour session turn into a 6-7 hour marathon of gaming. We should have cut it off, but everyone was having too much fun. The players had reached a remote village and were trying to set up a trade agreement. They offended the villagers and the party tried an Indiana Jones-style escape to a rope bridge and escape.

The one magic user who could have stopped the villagers with a spell instead flew to the bridge with an axe. He was prepared to cut the bridge after his fellow adventurers made it across. This is when the game exhaustion hit.

All of the players shouted, “Cut it now!” And the magic user complied, trapping everyone on the wrong side of the bridge. Note that it was the players that made the request, their characters obviously were too far away. A little meta-gaming goes a long way when injected into the story.

We ended right there with everyone high-fiving and congratulating each other. Only the player who cut the bridge looked concerned and perplexed.

At the start of the next session, everyone was sheepish. With a little sleep, they realized the implications of the last session. I started the next session with the characters toweling off from their heroic leap into the river and swimming to safety.

Sometimes, you just have to end with a gag to keep the fun alive. Die rolling and tactics are great, but a story sometimes has to jump to stay alive.

Click here for part 2.

Click here for part 3.
Click here for part 4. 

Click here for Part 5. 

Chaos Star

A Study in Recreation: Fear Itself

Today’s update is about Kippers and Jam‘s blog post on recreation. Adrian BK and company has revisited a module called Fear Itself, created back in 1999.

The authors lost the original copy and rewrote it after reconnecting with each other.

The details:

Module: BK1 Fear Itself
Author: Adrian BK
Level: 2-4 (AD&D)
Pages: 18
Price: Free!

You can download a copy from Kippers and Jam. This module features enough leeway to plug into nearly any campaign or play style. Fear Itself features glorious artwork from many artists and professional quality layout and formatting.

Take a look and don’t forget to thank the folks at Kipper and Jam for providing high quality game products.

Summer Camp

This is the first year I haven’t been to camp with my boys. Both have moved up from Cub Scout to Boy Scout and no longer require their parents at camp.

The program run by the Greater Niagara Frontier Council is amazing. Through out the summer, they mentor and guide youngsters to be the best they can. The leaders and counselors work gruelling hours out in the rough, week after week, all through July and into August. Parents and leaders only see a brief 4 day window of camp life. The staff lives it for weeks to make it all possible.

I already miss our 4 day camps. One of my favorite people at Camp Scouthaven is Digger, the camp Ranger.

He is always “on”, he is the face of the camp from sun up to sun down. He works tirelessly to make sure the camp is an amazing experience for young and old alike.

To put a point on it, I went to camp as a child and don’t really have a clear recollection of it. No one really stood out. My daughter dropped in for a closing dinner raves about Digger and his antics. If she remembers from a brief encounter over dinner, my boys are going to have wonderful memories of their time in camp.

If you have the opportunity to camp at Scouthaven, jump at it. If camping is not your thing, be sure to check out the GNFC website for other happenings at the camp, like the yearly sugar mapling breakfast.

The Waterhorse

Another image from my sketchpad, a waterhorse.

I am going to frame this one for my wife. 

Well, that didn't work out. She took it out the frame and got a tattoo. 

The Evil Reversal Hook

"The characters have proven their worth to the Horned One. They pursued the Hand of Light to the edges of the kingdom and captured him in an epic battle. On this day, they will assume their Mantles of Rank during the ritual of sacrifice. The Hand of Light will be extinguished forever, consolidating the Horned One's power with the elimination of the weak, as the prophecy foretold.

One last time, before the ceremonial shackles are transferred from the hands of the followers of the Horned One to the hands of the Light One, the enemies stand face to face in the darkness of a cell. Drums pound as the ritual begins in the next chamber.

The Hand of Light smirks and winks. A guard moves forward to strike him, but a quarrel arrests the motion. No harm can come to the Hand of Light except the final strike in the ritual chamber. The guards grumble profanities at the fate of their comrade but step over the corpse.

The Hand of Light pushes his way into position at the head of the hooded procession, and the final sacrifice stomps away with the clinking of shackles. Dim light, smoke, and heat pour from braziers around the ceremony chamber. The Hand of Light’s robe is a smudge of white before the altar. The High Priest of the Horned One steps forward, but the Hand of Light turns his back to him.

Or so it seemed. The ceremonial shackles click tight as the Hand of Light and Horned One of Chaos turn their attention to the sacrifice of the weak. Guards panic as the room erupts in cloying smoke, and the characters struggle to free themselves from the shackles that have secretly held them for many years. Madness reigns as the struggle for life and death rages in the ceremony chamber of Chaos…"