Almost 30 years to the day after I received the Moldvay Basic Set as a birthday present and created my first character (Racoop the Red), my long-dedication has paid off in a way that I would never have then imagined: the mass dissemination-- through millions of wirelessly-connected, pocket-, book,- and suitcase- sized electronic computers distributed throughout not only North America and Western Europe, but virtually every country in the world-- of my roughly-two-page, D&D-inspired, fictivicious word-work.
Read it here, in Issue 2 of Fiction Brigade!
http://www.fictionbrigade.com/issues/issue-2/
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Siege of Quitokai aftermath
In the several months since their arrival in Quitokai, the adventurers from Khanbaliq had, by their simple presence, discouraged the slavers from coming anywhere near. In that time Gwinch had instructed his followers, directing them in assisting a wandering monk to build a small shrine near the village. Gwinch and Kishi made peace and even discussed plans for resuming the “Emperor’s mission” to pursue the rogue Governor, based on information about a lost highway provided by the villagers. But he also had information about the location of the slavers’ local stronghold and was considering making an attack. Finally, he was curious to encounter and with some luck, befriend a tiger. Another traveller who stopped in Quitokai said that he’d seen such an animal one night at the shrine.
But all these plans were put aside when Quitokai was attacked by a combined force of the “jungle clans”—groups of people who unlike the agriculturalist of Quitokai, lived deep in the jungle. The attackers included the “Red Clan” and the “Wolf Clan” who employed half-trained wolves in their assault.
Although Quitokai’s defenders held the compound, in the morning it was discovered that the raiders had made off with a number of animals, most notably about two dozen water buffaloes. Gwinch, Gunjar and Kishi decided that, on the whole, the villagers had been gone to them, and recovering the water buffalo might gain their permanent favor for future endeavors—whether seeking the lost highway or attacking the slavers’ citadel. One of the wolves had been captured; Gwinch tended the animal's wounds and relying on his past experience with animals, made a friend of him.
Accompanied by a young shaman and two warriors, the adventurers set off in pursuit of the raiders. The tracks of two dozen water buffalo driven through the jungle proved easy to follow and by about noon they would clear confirmation that they were gaining on the raiders—they came upon the aftermath of a large battle between members of two of the clans, plus about half a roasted water buffalo. After dispatching the oversized beetles who were feasting on the carcasses, the party discovered a survivor. The survivor, a member of the viper clan explained that he and his fellows had been grazing their water buffalo when the wolf clan ambushed them and killed many of his friends—and then stole the buffalo! Admitting that the buffalo were newly acquired, the survivor showed an abundance of fear-inspired hatred of the wolf clan and the party took him along with them.
As evening approached, they made a camp for the night, with four people on watch (Gwinch, Gunjar, Deng a priest from Khanbaliq, and Akoi the shaman form Quitokai). About midnight, Gwinch’s wolf began to howl in a way that Gwinch interpreted as a greeting. Gwinch heard some noise in the brush and very soon three men jumped out with knives and attacked Deng. Although the party overwhelmed the attackers by numbers, they found their weapons useless against them. One of the men had brought down Akoi and seemed about to tear out the shaman’s throat with his teeth when the party unleashed its magic. Deng paralyzed one of the three rabid men, Saisho blasted a second with magic missiles, and Kishi dropped a tree branch on the third—not killing him, but pinning him to the ground so that Saisho could finish him off with a blade of lightning. Akoi was saved—though badly wounded. (Gwinch's wolf ran off during or after the battle.)
In the morning, Gunjar put Akoi on his horse and sent him back to Quitokai, escorted by the two village warriors. The rest of the party pressed on. About an hour later, they reached a large clearing that held an old stone guardpost and an animal pen containing the missing water buffalo.
Three men were there, idly watching the beasts. The bulk of the party fell back into the trees and fanned out around the clearing, Kishi approached invisibly, and Gwinch, Saisho, and Gunjar approached openly, presenting themselves as travelers. The men—who seemed to be neither forest people nor farmers— but rogues from the lands of civilization, seemed to know their own kind and greeted the party with courtesy. When talked turned to the buffaloes and who their owners might be, one of the men went to get “the Lady.”
“The Lady,” explained that she had purchased the buffalo just the day before, and accepted the party’s word that they were stolen—she offered to sell them for the same price she’s paid for them—15 tael each. The party flatly refused to pay anything—although they offered to assist her in tracking down the raiders so that she might collect her costs from them. Violence broke out, and very soon the Lady and her men were dead. The party buried the bodies, looted the house, and decided to make their camp there, even though they still had several hours of daylight still, hoping that maybe the raiders would attack them there and save them the trouble of trying to follow their trail.
Towards evening, they received a surprise visit by a group of villagers from Quitokai. The villagers reported that some of their sister villages had also been attacked—these other settlements were less well-defended and had been completely overrun, and many of their occupants captured. The party decided to return the buffaloes to Quitokai and then to go to the other villages and try to find out what happened.
The trip back to Quitokai was uneventful and the atmosphere was generally joyful, at least for those without relatives in the other villages. While his disciples enjoyed a night of feasting, Gwinch went out to the shrine, hoping to meet the tiger. Happily, Kishi and Saisho accompanied him, both invisible, While Gwinch meditated in the little grove, the other two watched for trouble. And trouble came—eight villagers from Quitokai armed with spears. When the villagers pounced, Kishi blasted three of them with magic and the others fled into the bush.
The party returned to the compound, ready for more treachery, but found everything as it should be, and they decided not to change their plan to help the people of Quitokai rescue their kidnapped relatives.
The next morning, Gwinch, Saisho, Kishi, Little Gamo, and Deng, together with Gwinch’s student-monks, and 5 villagers set off for Hoko, a village up the river.
They arrived and found it in complete ruins. Gwinch picked up what he though was the trail of the kidnappers, and the party followed it straight east, first through the jungle and then over grasslands and through thickets of bamboo. That night it rained, and the next day, the trail was difficult to find. After another hour spent traveling east without finding any clear signs that they were going in the right direction, the party opted to head toward the mountains to the north and the rough location of the slavers’ stronghold figring that would be the kidnappers’ ultimate destination.
Night brought them to the edge of the jungle, much thicker then what they’d been travelling through closer to Quitokai. Kishi used her magic to ascend into the air on a pair of fiery wings—looking down into the jungle she saw lights or other signs of human activity. The party made their camp. Again, Gwinch and Deng promised the others that they could spend the night in meditation while still keeping their senses alert to danger. Gwinch, for his part, spent the night in a tree on the edge of the jungle. Not long after the darkness was complete, he heard the sound of something man-sized slipping very quickly through it. As he climbed down the tree, he watched a gaunt human-like figure break through the undergrowth and charge down the slight slope toward the party. Gwinch leaped to the ground and cased after it, shouting to awaken his companions. Hearing Gwinch, the creature turned on him and charged.
Some of Gwinch’s student-sohei were among the first awake and one of them placed a well-aimed arrow in the middle of the creature’s back. Gwinch saw it burst out of its chest—bloodlessly. And the creature didn’t even falter. The creature reached Gwinch, parried his sword blade with its forearms and seized Gwinch by the shoulders. At this point, Saisho’s magic missiles hit the creature—it screeched and through itself at Gwinch, assuming the form of a spider that crawled inside Gwinch’s armor.
Using the ring that he’d taken from Omesa, Saisho commanded the spider to crawl out, and then placed it in a jar.
In the morning, the villagers, shaken by terrible dreams, suggested to Gwinch that if his plan was to investigate the slavers’ stronghold, there were easier ways to get there then passing through or anywhere near that jungle. If they returned to Quitokai and followed the river and brought with them the girl who had escaped, they would get there sooner and safer. He agreed and they returned to Quitokai.
But all these plans were put aside when Quitokai was attacked by a combined force of the “jungle clans”—groups of people who unlike the agriculturalist of Quitokai, lived deep in the jungle. The attackers included the “Red Clan” and the “Wolf Clan” who employed half-trained wolves in their assault.
Although Quitokai’s defenders held the compound, in the morning it was discovered that the raiders had made off with a number of animals, most notably about two dozen water buffaloes. Gwinch, Gunjar and Kishi decided that, on the whole, the villagers had been gone to them, and recovering the water buffalo might gain their permanent favor for future endeavors—whether seeking the lost highway or attacking the slavers’ citadel. One of the wolves had been captured; Gwinch tended the animal's wounds and relying on his past experience with animals, made a friend of him.
Accompanied by a young shaman and two warriors, the adventurers set off in pursuit of the raiders. The tracks of two dozen water buffalo driven through the jungle proved easy to follow and by about noon they would clear confirmation that they were gaining on the raiders—they came upon the aftermath of a large battle between members of two of the clans, plus about half a roasted water buffalo. After dispatching the oversized beetles who were feasting on the carcasses, the party discovered a survivor. The survivor, a member of the viper clan explained that he and his fellows had been grazing their water buffalo when the wolf clan ambushed them and killed many of his friends—and then stole the buffalo! Admitting that the buffalo were newly acquired, the survivor showed an abundance of fear-inspired hatred of the wolf clan and the party took him along with them.
As evening approached, they made a camp for the night, with four people on watch (Gwinch, Gunjar, Deng a priest from Khanbaliq, and Akoi the shaman form Quitokai). About midnight, Gwinch’s wolf began to howl in a way that Gwinch interpreted as a greeting. Gwinch heard some noise in the brush and very soon three men jumped out with knives and attacked Deng. Although the party overwhelmed the attackers by numbers, they found their weapons useless against them. One of the men had brought down Akoi and seemed about to tear out the shaman’s throat with his teeth when the party unleashed its magic. Deng paralyzed one of the three rabid men, Saisho blasted a second with magic missiles, and Kishi dropped a tree branch on the third—not killing him, but pinning him to the ground so that Saisho could finish him off with a blade of lightning. Akoi was saved—though badly wounded. (Gwinch's wolf ran off during or after the battle.)
In the morning, Gunjar put Akoi on his horse and sent him back to Quitokai, escorted by the two village warriors. The rest of the party pressed on. About an hour later, they reached a large clearing that held an old stone guardpost and an animal pen containing the missing water buffalo.
Three men were there, idly watching the beasts. The bulk of the party fell back into the trees and fanned out around the clearing, Kishi approached invisibly, and Gwinch, Saisho, and Gunjar approached openly, presenting themselves as travelers. The men—who seemed to be neither forest people nor farmers— but rogues from the lands of civilization, seemed to know their own kind and greeted the party with courtesy. When talked turned to the buffaloes and who their owners might be, one of the men went to get “the Lady.”
“The Lady,” explained that she had purchased the buffalo just the day before, and accepted the party’s word that they were stolen—she offered to sell them for the same price she’s paid for them—15 tael each. The party flatly refused to pay anything—although they offered to assist her in tracking down the raiders so that she might collect her costs from them. Violence broke out, and very soon the Lady and her men were dead. The party buried the bodies, looted the house, and decided to make their camp there, even though they still had several hours of daylight still, hoping that maybe the raiders would attack them there and save them the trouble of trying to follow their trail.
Towards evening, they received a surprise visit by a group of villagers from Quitokai. The villagers reported that some of their sister villages had also been attacked—these other settlements were less well-defended and had been completely overrun, and many of their occupants captured. The party decided to return the buffaloes to Quitokai and then to go to the other villages and try to find out what happened.
The trip back to Quitokai was uneventful and the atmosphere was generally joyful, at least for those without relatives in the other villages. While his disciples enjoyed a night of feasting, Gwinch went out to the shrine, hoping to meet the tiger. Happily, Kishi and Saisho accompanied him, both invisible, While Gwinch meditated in the little grove, the other two watched for trouble. And trouble came—eight villagers from Quitokai armed with spears. When the villagers pounced, Kishi blasted three of them with magic and the others fled into the bush.
The party returned to the compound, ready for more treachery, but found everything as it should be, and they decided not to change their plan to help the people of Quitokai rescue their kidnapped relatives.
The next morning, Gwinch, Saisho, Kishi, Little Gamo, and Deng, together with Gwinch’s student-monks, and 5 villagers set off for Hoko, a village up the river.
They arrived and found it in complete ruins. Gwinch picked up what he though was the trail of the kidnappers, and the party followed it straight east, first through the jungle and then over grasslands and through thickets of bamboo. That night it rained, and the next day, the trail was difficult to find. After another hour spent traveling east without finding any clear signs that they were going in the right direction, the party opted to head toward the mountains to the north and the rough location of the slavers’ stronghold figring that would be the kidnappers’ ultimate destination.
Night brought them to the edge of the jungle, much thicker then what they’d been travelling through closer to Quitokai. Kishi used her magic to ascend into the air on a pair of fiery wings—looking down into the jungle she saw lights or other signs of human activity. The party made their camp. Again, Gwinch and Deng promised the others that they could spend the night in meditation while still keeping their senses alert to danger. Gwinch, for his part, spent the night in a tree on the edge of the jungle. Not long after the darkness was complete, he heard the sound of something man-sized slipping very quickly through it. As he climbed down the tree, he watched a gaunt human-like figure break through the undergrowth and charge down the slight slope toward the party. Gwinch leaped to the ground and cased after it, shouting to awaken his companions. Hearing Gwinch, the creature turned on him and charged.
Some of Gwinch’s student-sohei were among the first awake and one of them placed a well-aimed arrow in the middle of the creature’s back. Gwinch saw it burst out of its chest—bloodlessly. And the creature didn’t even falter. The creature reached Gwinch, parried his sword blade with its forearms and seized Gwinch by the shoulders. At this point, Saisho’s magic missiles hit the creature—it screeched and through itself at Gwinch, assuming the form of a spider that crawled inside Gwinch’s armor.
Using the ring that he’d taken from Omesa, Saisho commanded the spider to crawl out, and then placed it in a jar.
In the morning, the villagers, shaken by terrible dreams, suggested to Gwinch that if his plan was to investigate the slavers’ stronghold, there were easier ways to get there then passing through or anywhere near that jungle. If they returned to Quitokai and followed the river and brought with them the girl who had escaped, they would get there sooner and safer. He agreed and they returned to Quitokai.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Why do you like playing D&D so much?
Why do you like playing D&D so much?
This was White Bear’s question after a game session that everyone seemed to enjoy but that was, admittedly, not much like D&D. Despite the name, actual Dragons have always been a rarity of course, and the prevalence of Dungeons requires a shift in meaning from “miserable prison cell” to “sprawling underground labyrinth populated by treasure-guarding monsters.”
But there was none of any of that. Instead there was Khanbaliq (my thoroughly fictional, somewhat fantastical version of Beijing under the Mongols), a visiting Khan from the edge of the empire, a feast, a story-telling contest, a townhouse, and a marriage negotiation.
Beatriss (or maybe White Bear) commented that she really doesn’t like Khanbaliq. It’s seedy and weird, and there are lots of people who don’t seem to like her; the series of gates inside of gates, locked wards, and walled compounds ad to the sense that it’s really dangerous. Plus Madam Guto has directly threatened her children. (Yeah, children. Babies actually. Lycanthropes, albeit, but still babies. It happens sometimes, even in D&D).
The visiting Khan is lifted from a TSR product, the module OA6, Ronin Challenge. But transformed from a big guy from “India” on an elephant to a big guy from “one of the stans” with lots of horses and camels. He’s come to stay in Khanbaliq for about a year—on business.
Buyuk, the visiting Khan has made his camp a few hours from the city, where he has space to stretch out and hunt and graze his herds and race his horses and just be a big man with a bunch of followers.
To his feast, he invited a couple of the Khans who stay in and around Khanbaliq, including Samsar Anca, (Tetsukichi’s adopted father). Buyuk served his guests a lot of meat and gave nice gifts.
He also proposed a story-telling contest. Buyuk himself told the story of The Lady and Her Five Suitors. Beatriss told the story of her origins in Cynadiceand the reasons for her being expelled from the city and, very obliquely, how she made her way from there to Khanbaliq. The other guests talked about hunting. (And then Buyuk brought out some dice and some pencils and paper and asked his guests whether they have ever wanted to be elves . . . )
Beatriss very much enjoyed the feast and told the Khan so. But back in Khanbaliq, she at last gave in to the nagging of her retainers Golfo and Nardon and agreed to go with them one night to the House of Jourdain. It was a short visit. She was wary to begin with, and when she heard the voice of Madam Guto calling on Nardon to “bring your friend inside and relax” she kind of freaked out. The guard standing in front of the barred gate did not put her at ease, so she used her magic ring to jump over the wall and run back to town. A sullen Golfo and a sheepish Nardon returned the next day. Nardon, finding it difficult to explain why thought he should bring his boss to a brothel, made the sudden realization that Madam Guto wasn’t so nice after all. (This paragraph, obviously, is the only one that really sounds like we’re playing D&D)
About a week later, Beatriss received, via Anca, a proposal of marriage from Khan Buyuk. Anca and Beatriss traveled together to the townhouse in the Imperial City where Buyuk was now staying so that they might discuss the particulars.
Beatriss elected to not negotiate on her behalf, but asked Anca to assume the role of her guardian. Khan Buyuk, it turned out, had 9 other wives back home. And Beatriss had five fox-babies for whom she wanted protection. Also Buyuk was proposing a temporary marriage that would last for his one year while he stayed in Khanbaliq. As he explained it, a permanent marriage would require her to leave Khanbaliq with him, something she might not be ready to commit to. Buyuk and Anca agreed on a dowry and then Buyuk sent for a priest. But instead of a priest, a bureaucrat showed up to explain that people couldn’t just get married in the Imperial City whenever they wanted, that an application was necessary and an approval process.
So Beatriss went away with her guardian Anca, promising to return once the arrangements had been made and leaving Buyuk with a painted scroll of the fox-babies.
“What is the purpose of life?” A valid question—that can only be answered in living. So it is with D&D.
This was White Bear’s question after a game session that everyone seemed to enjoy but that was, admittedly, not much like D&D. Despite the name, actual Dragons have always been a rarity of course, and the prevalence of Dungeons requires a shift in meaning from “miserable prison cell” to “sprawling underground labyrinth populated by treasure-guarding monsters.”
But there was none of any of that. Instead there was Khanbaliq (my thoroughly fictional, somewhat fantastical version of Beijing under the Mongols), a visiting Khan from the edge of the empire, a feast, a story-telling contest, a townhouse, and a marriage negotiation.
Beatriss (or maybe White Bear) commented that she really doesn’t like Khanbaliq. It’s seedy and weird, and there are lots of people who don’t seem to like her; the series of gates inside of gates, locked wards, and walled compounds ad to the sense that it’s really dangerous. Plus Madam Guto has directly threatened her children. (Yeah, children. Babies actually. Lycanthropes, albeit, but still babies. It happens sometimes, even in D&D).
The visiting Khan is lifted from a TSR product, the module OA6, Ronin Challenge. But transformed from a big guy from “India” on an elephant to a big guy from “one of the stans” with lots of horses and camels. He’s come to stay in Khanbaliq for about a year—on business.
Buyuk, the visiting Khan has made his camp a few hours from the city, where he has space to stretch out and hunt and graze his herds and race his horses and just be a big man with a bunch of followers.
To his feast, he invited a couple of the Khans who stay in and around Khanbaliq, including Samsar Anca, (Tetsukichi’s adopted father). Buyuk served his guests a lot of meat and gave nice gifts.
He also proposed a story-telling contest. Buyuk himself told the story of The Lady and Her Five Suitors. Beatriss told the story of her origins in Cynadiceand the reasons for her being expelled from the city and, very obliquely, how she made her way from there to Khanbaliq. The other guests talked about hunting. (And then Buyuk brought out some dice and some pencils and paper and asked his guests whether they have ever wanted to be elves . . . )
Beatriss very much enjoyed the feast and told the Khan so. But back in Khanbaliq, she at last gave in to the nagging of her retainers Golfo and Nardon and agreed to go with them one night to the House of Jourdain. It was a short visit. She was wary to begin with, and when she heard the voice of Madam Guto calling on Nardon to “bring your friend inside and relax” she kind of freaked out. The guard standing in front of the barred gate did not put her at ease, so she used her magic ring to jump over the wall and run back to town. A sullen Golfo and a sheepish Nardon returned the next day. Nardon, finding it difficult to explain why thought he should bring his boss to a brothel, made the sudden realization that Madam Guto wasn’t so nice after all. (This paragraph, obviously, is the only one that really sounds like we’re playing D&D)
About a week later, Beatriss received, via Anca, a proposal of marriage from Khan Buyuk. Anca and Beatriss traveled together to the townhouse in the Imperial City where Buyuk was now staying so that they might discuss the particulars.
Beatriss elected to not negotiate on her behalf, but asked Anca to assume the role of her guardian. Khan Buyuk, it turned out, had 9 other wives back home. And Beatriss had five fox-babies for whom she wanted protection. Also Buyuk was proposing a temporary marriage that would last for his one year while he stayed in Khanbaliq. As he explained it, a permanent marriage would require her to leave Khanbaliq with him, something she might not be ready to commit to. Buyuk and Anca agreed on a dowry and then Buyuk sent for a priest. But instead of a priest, a bureaucrat showed up to explain that people couldn’t just get married in the Imperial City whenever they wanted, that an application was necessary and an approval process.
So Beatriss went away with her guardian Anca, promising to return once the arrangements had been made and leaving Buyuk with a painted scroll of the fox-babies.
“What is the purpose of life?” A valid question—that can only be answered in living. So it is with D&D.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
NDT 11: Elves. Ick.
This session was kind of a “ride along” for Pavel, in part just because I wasn’t in the mood to do the kind of things that would slow down the main plotline. We made our way back to Sukiskyn, fighting some wolves along the way. Pyotr reacted stoically to the news that we hadn’t yet found his brother, but only the news that he had been taken to “Xitaqa,” a place that no one had heard of. We decided to make our way to Rifllian, sell the horses and other goods we had acquired, and hopefully find someone with specialized knowledge in forgotten places. Although Pavel himself finds large groups of elves even more unsettling than large groups of his own kind, the party as a whole seemed to find their stay in Rifllian very restful. The DM memorably described Rifllian as a kind of tourist trap, a compromise between elven and human sensibilities that leaves both unsatisfied. But we sold those horses and took our share. Pavel now has more money than he’s ever seen and no idea what to do with it. Get a dog? But the best ones are free.
Full story
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
NDT 10: ransacking
The bulk of the goblins' treasure was held by their chief and stored under or in his throne, and included an ancient and well-made shield that was claimed by Pavel. And he carried it into melee after failing once more to turn the undead creatures that beset the party, in this case three of the especially horrid re-animations of hobgoblins that Pavel himself had once encountered in the Caves of Chaos. Not only did turning the thouls fail, but so did attempts to lure them into a pit or burn down the roof on top of them. It was Roger who took on this last effort. When Cromartie heard him get dragged down from the roof, the rest of the party rushed into the Thoul's lair and hacked and slashed them Surprisingly satisfying after all the failed attempts to get creative. And then we ransacked their master's chambers. No sign of the map we expected to find to help us find Xitaqa, the place where the goblins had taken Stefan.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Night's Dark Terror Session 9: 5,000 gobbos
There we were . . . gobos shooting us with arrows as we crossed the bridge, and then ambushing us from behind. And when we crossed the bridge and entered their noisome den, it was demon dogs assailing us from all sides, while the cowardly gobbos shot at us from the darkness. Did I despair? No, I called on the Law and our enemies were transfixed. And then a great figure of scourgingsmitning appeared to aid us, driving the demon dogs yelping like puppies before a toddling child with a threshing flail. We rested and Lo! the lawless gobos broke in upon our rest. For this they were thoroughly scourged, smited, smitten, smitened, desmittened, and destroyed. And like the burst of driving rain that sweeps the garbage and shit and dead rats and the little nasty bugs crawling over the whole mess right down the alley into the gutter and then through the town into the river, so we the driving rain of Law swept through the goblin’s hall and killed their disgusting king and shivered his throne into pieces!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Night's Dark Terror Session Eight: demon fish and attacking the goblin stronghold
Pavel: “Allele did not return because he was DEVOURED by a legion of vicious demon fish!” (raises his left hand to show jagged lump of scar tissue at the base of his thumb; reaches his right hand into his pocket to pull out the dried, crumbling remains of a coldwater piranha) “It could have happened to me, it could happen to you.
“That’s how we decided that the time for sneaking around had passed and that it was time to confront evil head on.”
“That’s how we decided that the time for sneaking around had passed and that it was time to confront evil head on.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)