Star Wars PC: Quinn Dawnrunner

Player: Casey

Male Human Jedi 5

Str 10
Dex 17
Con 12
Int 11
Wis 14
Cha 14

Fort: 17
Ref: 19
Will: 18

HP: 74
Speed: 6
Initiative: 16
Perception: 9
Base Attack: 5
Force Points: 7
Destiny Points: 1

Attacks:
+8 melee (2d8, lightsaber (green)

Skills:
Acrobatics +5
Endurance +3
Initiative +16/5*
Jump +2
Mechanics +2
Perception +16/4*
Pilot +10
Use the Force +14

Feats:
Force Sensitivity
Force Training (x2)
Skill Focus (Use the Force)
Strong in the Force
Weapon Finesse
Weapon Proficiency (Lightsaber)
Weapon Proficiency (Simple)

Talents:
Deflect
Force Intuition
Force Perception

Force Powers:
Force Thrust
Mind Trick
Move Object
Rebuke
Surge
Vital Transfer

Languages:
Basic

Equipment:
Lightsaber
Comlink (short range)
Aquata breather

Homeworld: Corellia

History: Quinn was tested at a young age just like all children for force sensitivity. Ki-Adi-Mundi administered the test and was surprised how strong the force was in the future pupil. He was a good student during his training as a youngling. He developed his skill with a lightsaber early on and was poised to become a great combatant. He felt a different calling and started down the path of the Jedi Guardian. His first master as a Jedi Padawan was Master Windu. Quinn's current Master is Quin'lan Voss as Master Windu moved him under his guidance.

Game Schedule - September through October

September 5th - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
September 12th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason J., Ben, Dave L., Paul, Joe)
September 19th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason J., Ben, Dave L., Paul, Joe)
September 26th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason J., Ben, Dave L., Paul, Joe)

October 3rd - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
October 5th - Star Wars RPG First Session (Dave F., Dave M., Nick, Jason M., Casey)
October 10th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason J., Ben, Dave L., Paul, Joe)
October 17th - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
October 24th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason J., Ben, Dave L., Paul, Joe)
October 31st - Halloween - Gaming Off

Tentative schedule for September and October. Jamie and Joe might be out for the 19th, we should know for sure this Friday. Other than that, everybody chime in and let me know what your October schedule looks like, and I'll adjust from there.

Game Schedule - August through September

August 1st - Boardgames
August 8th - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
August 15th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Ben, Dave L., Jason, Steven)
August 22nd - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
August 29th - D&D 4e Group B (Ben, Jason, Dave L., Steven - Chris out)

September 5th - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
September 12th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason, Ben, Dave L., Paul, Steven)
September 19th - D&D 4e Group A (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
September 26th - D&D 4e Group B (Chris, Jason, Ben, Dave L., Paul, Steven)

The latest revision to the plan: Two groups. One (Group A) is the group that is currently playing D&D Keep on the Shadowfell, and consists of Dave, Dan, Max, Joe and Jamie. We'll try to meet twice a month, as long as everybody's schedules align.

Group B is the modified Wandering Wolves group, consisting of Ben, Chris, Dave Lamplugh, Jason, Paul and Steven, one of the owners of Epoch Coffee, who Chris indicated might be interested. This group will continue D&D Keep on the Shadowfell, with Steven bringing in a new character to join. This group will also meet twice a month, in theory. Sometimes it might be only four people, sometimes it'll be six, ideally it'll be five more often than not. But this seems like a good way of hedging our bets, with everybody's crazy schedule, and playing twice a month.

For All You Eberron Folks

The 4E playtest version of The Artificer is up. It looks... interesting.

Anyone played this?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15987



Maybe for board game night, possibly?

Power Cards!

Just so you all know, a full set of cool, useful power cards is available for download in PDF format here. These will make keeping track of your encounter and daily powers in 4E much simpler.

Hello all

This is Max signing in — I'll be getting together with Dan tomorrow to work on character creation, so I'll be ready to go on Friday. Thanks again for making room at the table!

hey Jason,
Any word on the pirates character sheets.
I can easily create my character again the next time we
play.
Dave

hello gaming blog

it's dirty dave here, signing on to the blog. Should I be working on character creation? I've been perusing the live char sheets Randy linked. greek and latin editions....oh well, I'll keep in touch...
it will become clear.

Welcome 4th Ed magic changes

Got to thinking as I was (failing to) fall asleep last night — did they fix counterspells in 4th Ed.? Why, yes, they did. At least, I couldn't find them in the wizard pages in the PHB. I assume they're history. They'd be better handled as Interrupt Actions anyway; maybe there's a power or class feature somewhere that adds it, or will be.

Another massive change: identify is dead! Long live identify. Man, that's such a welcome change. Now you just need a short rest to inspect the object. Well done!

Game Schedule - June - August

June 13th - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
June 20th - Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells
June 27th - D&D 4e (Paul, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dave L.)

July 4th - Gaming Off
July 11th - D&D 4e (Paul (?), Chris, Jason, Ben, Randy, Dave L.)
July 18th - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
July 25th - Game off, San Diego Con

August 1st - Boardgames (Chris, Ben, Dave L.)
August 8th - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
August 15th - ?? Who's available, and what do we want to play?
August 22nd - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Max, Joe & Jamie)
August 29th - D&D 4e (Paul, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dave L.)

OK, here's a tentative and modified schedule for the summer. The D&D group with Dan, Dave, Jamie & Joe will probably aim for second week, but we'll also probably just schedule by availability at the end of each session.

The rest of it is all down to availability. Paul, let me know what your schedule looks like... if you can make a different week, we'll move D&D 4e around to accommodate, since it'll more than likely be a once-a-month game it should be easy enough to get everybody there for it. Other than that, I am hoping to play a Traveller game (and I know Jason is ready to run one) and maybe after August I'll have time to read up on the Warhammer 40K rules and adventures that I've got and get one of those ready, for anyone who wants to play.

As usual, chime in the comments with availability that you know of.

D&D 4th Edition Character-Building

There are two D&D 4th Edition groups using this blog, but both are games I'm running, so there are the same basic house rules and such.

1. We're using the standard array, as described on page 17 of the PHB 4th Edition.

2. I'm open to someone playing a Warforged, using the article just posted on the D&D Insider site. Not expecting anyone to, or even particularly encouraging, but if you want to, I'm open to it.

3. Characters must be Good, Unaligned or Lawful Good. No evil characters.

4. First session will probably involve finishing up (or building from scratch) characters, but if folks want to build their characters during the ensuing weeks and bring them to the game for GM approval/any fine-tuning, that's cool and will help get the game session going sooner. To that end:

Group 1 (Joe & Jamie R., Dan G., Dave F.) - Currently we have a Defender (Dan's Human Paladin)... so there's room for just about anything. Ideally, someone would be a Leader (Warlord or Cleric), a Striker (Ranger, Rogue or Warlock) and a Controller (Wizard) for a completely balanced party, but you can probably get by without any given role... I'd just recommend not building a party of entirely fighters and paladins, etc. Any questions, feel free to email me. And update in the comments if you decide on a general character idea. Also, we're one person short of a five-person group... not a big deal, but we might add one more person to the group before we start. As for time, is 7 PM a time to aim for with you guys? That'd let us get a good four or five hours of gaming in before midnight, if that cutoff time is acceptable to everyone.

Group 2 (Dave L., Chris, Ben, Jason, Paul) - Currently we have a Leader (Ben's Dragonborn Warlord) and, if Jason decides he wants to stick with him, a Controller (Eladrin Wizard). So you guys need a Striker (Ranger, Rogue or Warlock) and a Defender (Paladin or Fighter), and then you can double up on any particular role. If anyone has particular leanings, post them in the comments. Chris and Dave, if you guys want to do character creation with me sometime in the next couple weeks, let me know... it shouldn't take more than an hour or so.

Remembrances of the Ice Battle

Not the first time an epic battle has been inspired by a well-painted miniature, and surely not the last. Here, Matay of the Harosh clan charges atop his mastodon mount, accompanied by his pet winter wolf. When Matay fell, he fell hard.

Below, not exactly Xydryk's finest moment. Floating sixty feet in the air, a spell misfired and surrounded him with a stinking cloud. Aereni do not effluviate, the annoyed wizard thought to himself — then spent the next thirty seconds in agonizing nausea.

Of course, things weren't going so well for Xydryk's stalwart companions, either; Lysander, for example, has just discovered that six mirror images of himself don't help much in the face of a charging ten-foot-wide pachyderm. And Brand will shortly make a very surprising discovery regarding the giant on the right... sadly, in an extremely painful way.

Calendar Now Less Sucky

I made the Google calendar at right public, so that you don't have to be signed in to see events. Now with 20% less suck.

D&D 4th Edition Teases

There's a preview column up at the Wizards site for May.

A little more than a quarter of the way down the page, past the teases for Keep on the Frostfell (the adventure we'll be playing, btw, so nobody buy it!) there's a link to all the teases they've done before on tiers, weapons, classes, etc. Just below that, in the Monster Manual section, there's a .zip file with the three page entry for Orcs.

If all the monsters get this kind of treatment, the new monster manual is going to kick ass. I was very pleased with what I saw.

Game Schedule - May - July

May 2nd - Free Comic Book Day on Saturday - Game off
May 9th - Board Game Night (Chris, Randy, Jason, anybody else?)
May 16th - Pirates o/t Spanish Main (Ben, Randy, Chris, Jason, Dirty Dave)
May 23rd - Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells (Paul, Ben, Chris, Jason, Randy --- Nate?)
May 30th - Pirates o/t Spanish Main (Randy, Chris, Jason, Dirty Dave)

June 6th - Boardgames - Randy, Jason, Ben in? (Chris, Paul out)
June 13th - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Nick, Randy, Joe & Jamie)
June 20th - Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells
June 27th - D&D 4th Edition character-building? (Paul, Chris, Jason, Matt, Ben, Randy group)

July 4th - Traveller? - (Paul out)
July 11th - D&D 4e (Dave F., Dan, Nick, Randy, Joe & Jamie)
July 18th - Traveller? - (Paul out)
July 25th - Game off, San Diego Con

All of this has become rather tentative, but hopefully we'll be able to get schedules worked out and games run on a more regular basis soon. It occurs to me that maybe we ought to move to a biweekly schedule, but given that everybody's week off never seems to coincide, that might cause more problems than it solves.

At any rate, I've modified the May schedule according to availability. It looks like Ben might only get to play one Pirates session (if it's a three-session adventure), and I think Paul, since he'd be out for two of them and doesn't know where his character is at any rate, decided to pass on Pirates this time as well. I have done a bit more planning on Wolves, and I'm now pretty sure it'll take only two sessions to finish, but I want to make sure everybody (save Nate, who is bowing out for a while) can make it for both.

The June and July schedules are more exercises in speculation, and I'd love to hear from you guys about schedule conflicts you know about so we can plan this better.

I'm thinking of doing a once-a-month 4th edition game for the guys at the shop, which *might* be the second week of each month. So I've blocked that out, but that could change to a different week. I'm thinking of running the same adventure series in 4th ed for our group, since everybody seemed interested. That would also allow me to get twice as much out of my prep time.

I'd like to have someone else alternate a campaign at the same time, so that I could have some time to prep Eyes of the Lich Queen for a return in late July or early August, probably after San Diego Con. Jason, anything you're wanting to run? I'd love to play any number of games, including a Traveller game (if you wind up liking the new rules), more Savage Worlds/pulp, or anything else you might fancy running. I'd also love to *play* D&D 4th Edition as opposed to just running it.

And of course I have ideas for a Deadland game, a Star Wars RPG, a return to Spycraft, Warhammer 40K and more... but I don't know when on Earth I'll have time to prep/run them. Warhammer 40K Inquisitors is most likely, since I actually have adventures for that one that I could get ready, but I'm not sure what the interest is in that game.

I'm also not against setting aside a week each month for board games and such. I do own a game store, after all, and see a regularly large number of boardgames I'd love to buy and try out.

Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells (1)

Dravago 16 - Dravago 17

Part One - Action at the Auction House
After a somewhat eventful stay in Stormreach, the next quest for the Wandering Wolves began at an auction held at Von Ruthvek's Splendors of the South Antiquities Boutique on the evening of Dravago 16.

Using the disguises that they had adopted for all of their time in Stormreach, the Wandering Wolves approached Von Ruthvek's boutique as the sun began to fall. They were asked to surrender any weapons, and asked if they wanted to bank any money to bid on the auctions. Lysander gave a small sum to a House Kundarak dwarf, who immediately placed it in a secure carriage that shortly carried it away with other moneys to a Kundarak bank in Stormreach. In exchange, he was given a wooden paddle with his name on it and a letter of credit for the money.

A sign cautioned "By Order of the Storm Lords, there is no unauthorized magic use inside the walls of Von Ruthvek's Establishment." The security seemed relatively light to Pel and Lysander, a half-dozen members of the Stormreach Guard and a couple Medani sentries, as well as a half-dozen dwarves from House Kundarak. They soon discovered that each auction item was held inside a glass case with a glyph of warding, and that the most valuable items were stored in a Kundarak vault at the back of the shop, which seemed impressively impregnable.

The event was catered by House Ghallanda, who served fine cuisine from all of the Five Nations, as well as a few spicy (and borderline dangerous) treats from Valenar and Q'barra and plenty of Kuryeva, the trademark berry gin of Xen'drik. While they waited for the auction to begin and kept an eye out for Kalibar Jenks, the Wolves mingled with a couple dozen people there for the auction. In terms of folks they knew, they spotted Halas Martain, who was representing the Wayfinder Foundation, but went out of their way not to talk to him. They also spoke with Caius d'Lyrandar, the lieutenant of a Lyrandar wind galleon who turned out to be much more than he appeared.

They also met the guest of honor, Professor Greyare, the only surviving member of the original Yaoteco Venta expedition. He was a man in his early fifties, and was clearly a bit paranoid and unsettled after what he had been through in the wilds of Xen'drik. He was quite friendly with Sithov Nagel, the Aundarian sorcerer who had rescued him, and his standoffish half-orc bodyguard Tellus.

There were a number of bidders there for the auction for Seeker's journal, including Sithov, The Library of Korranberg's gnomish bard Gorenof Vanetos, Lord Dassix d'Cannith and Lady Vanessa d'Cannith, representing different factions of the splintered House of Making, an Aundarian wizard named Weldon Noveq and an art dealer named Melveris that many assumed was a Sea Baron of Lhazaar in disguise. The Wolves had seen Lady Vanessa at Lady Elaydren's wedding, but they didn't speak to her in particular during the auction.

While everyone circulated, Pel and Lysander in particular spread their particular charms around looking for information. They found out details on a number of the bidders, including a private confederation of mages headed by Weldon Noveq, and Pel detected some friction between Sithov and Melveris, but was unable to ferret out any further information.

After about four hours of auction on antiquities from throughout Xen'drik, including a 3-foot tall obsidian statue of Vulkoor, the drow scorpion god, Alexa Von Ruthvek came to the stage and asked the bidders on Seeker's Journal to come forward, while asking the remaining, thinned crowd to be quite while the event of the night took place.

The auction began at 25,000 gp, and began as a contest between Sithov and Melveris, until Weldon and Vannessa d'Cannith joined at about the 60,000 gp mark. Lord Dassix d'Cannith joined in at 75,000 gp, and Gorenof entered at 80,000 gp.

At 95,000 gp, the private mages confederation was outbid, and Weldon left the building. Vanessa d'Cannith, who had outbid him, quickly hit her own limit, however, when Lord Dassix bid 115,000 gold, causing Vanessa to curse and storm out, and causing a bit of a stir amongst the crowd. Alexa Von Ruthvek suggested a small break to calm things down, and when the auction resumed, it was clear that Melveris had also been outbid, as he had slipped away during the break.

With only three bidders remaining, Gorenof picked things up at 120,000 gold, and that was too rich for Sithov Nagel, who graciously excused himself and left with Tellus and Professor Greyare. The crowd had thinned out considerably at this point, down only to those who had won an item in the prior auction and the two bidders remaining in the larger auction.

Lord Dassix and Gorenof exchanged bids one more time, and then Dassix extended his hand to congratulate Gorenof on the winning bid of 130,000 gold. The Library of Korranberg had won the journal and all of Seeker's notes, and would be the ones mounting an expedition to the lost giant city of Yaoteco Venta.

While Alexa Von Ruthvek was settling accounts and making sure everyone got their goods, however, some uninvited guests showed up. A band of drow burst in, taking hostages including an heiress who had won a valuable item and Caius d'Lyrandar. Pel managed to turn invisible before he was noticed, and the rest of the Wolves waited, unwilling to risk the hostages.

The drow demanded that Von Ruthvek open the vault, and when she hesitated, they stabbed the heiress severely wounding her. This was enough to push Von Ruthvek to open the vault, and two of the drow rushed inside. Before anything else could happen, Caius d'Lyrandar did something that provoked his drow guard, who promptly stabbed him and left him on the floor. With the hostages out of the equation, Luggoth went into action, and when he shifted forms, he frightened several of the drow. Pel moved to heal the heiress while remaining invisible, and as the drow and the Wolves jockeyed for position, Brand realized that all they wanted was the idol of their god back. He yelled out to them in drow to take the idol and nothing else and go, and they wouldn't be harmed, and they took him up on the offer.

Pel moved over to try and heal Caius d'Lyrandar, but right before he placed his hands on him, the fallen man transformed into a cloud of mist and flowed through the cracks in the floor.

With the drow gone, Von Ruthvek offered some valuable rings to the Wolves as a token of gratitude. However, the Wolves were hoping for a different form of gratitude, namely a place on the Korranberg Expedition. Gorenof Vanetos was sympathetic, but explained that the decision rested with his superiors, and he would message them and ask for permission, and get in touch with the Wolves in the morning. Since they couldn't use their true identities, they couldn't use their reputation, and thus Gorenof was not optimistic about their chances.

Fortunately, being a part of the auction was not the only way for the Wolves to find their way to Yaoteco Venta and a spell that might cure their old friend William. As they left the auction house, a voice called to them from a nearby alley. He presented himself as a follower of the Traveler, and gave Pel sheafs of paper that were clearly copies of the text in Seeker's journal, before disappearing into the night.

Though lacking the maps and context of the journal, these would provide clues that would lead the Wolves to a Giant laboratory in the jungles that promised to have further clues to Yaoteco Venta.

The next morning, Gorenof came to the Ship's Cat to tell them that the Library had refused him permission to add anyone to the auction. However, he did exchange a song of his with a song of Lysander's, explaining that such a thing would make it easier to find each other, if that turned out to be helpful to either of them later.

Gaming Schedule Up-to-date?

Is the gaming schedule up to date?

April 25th - Pirates o/t Spanish Main (Everyone in) - I thought this was going to be Wolves

May 2nd - Free Comic Book Day on Saturday - Game off - Okie doke
May 9th - Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells Part 9 - I will be in North Carolina
May 16th - Pirates o/t Spanish Main - I'm in
May 23rd - Wandering Wolves: Lure of the Ancient Spells Part 10 - I'm in
May 30th - Pirates o/t Spanish Main - I'm in

Also, I made a Google calendar for the group. Maybe it'll be useful, I dunno. Randy could put it in the sidebar, and then we could manage events with the calendar, including sending reminder emails, reporting attendance status, etc. It's Web 2.0, baby.

What's known about 4 Ed.

Being too (cheap|stubborn|smart|experienced -- take your pick) to spend $40 on the 4 Ed. advertising books, I set out to find out what the internuts know about 4 Ed and came across this PDF. It's a compilation of What Is Known (Or At Least Suspected Upon Good Evidence).

I am cautiously optimistic. Looks like it'll play more like Magic: The Gathering than AD&D. Which is probably good.

Vedim Baldirk

Now that Vedim is my cleric instead of Nate's (muah-hah!), I went over Vedim's character sheet more carefully and ensured all his numbers are correct. The version I play from (and which will always be most up-to-date) is on my character site.

It was tempting to build a new cleric of my very own and somehow 'swap' him/her out for Vedim, but it doesn't make much sense. Plus it might have broken continuity, and I know how strongly you comic book nerds feel about that.

Name: Vedim Baldirk
Race: Dwarf
Class: Cleric 6
Experience: 15,668
Alignment: Neutral
Religion: Onatar
Age: 55 Height: 4' 1" Weight: 155 lbs.

Statistics: STR 13, DEX 11, CON 17, INT 12, WIS 16, CHA 13, BAB +4, Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +8, Init +4, AC 18 (touch 10, flat 18) Move: 20', HP 55, Action Points 8

Skills: Appraise +1, Balance -6, Bluff +1, Climb -5, Concentration +8, Diplomacy +6, Disguise +1, Escape Artist -6, Forgery +1, Gather Information +1, Heal +9, Hide -6, Intimidate +1, Jump -5, Knowledge (Religion) +6, Knowledge (The Planes) +6, Listen +3, Move Silently -6, Ride +1, Search +1, Sense Motive +3, Spot +3, Survival +3, Swim -11, Use Rope +0

Class Abilities: Divine spellcasting [Earth, Fire], Turn Undead

Racial Abilities: Darkvision 60', Stonecunning, Stability, +2 on saves vs. poison, +2 on saves vs. spells and spell-like effects, +1 to attack vs. orcs and goblinoids, +4 dodge to AC vs. giants (ogres/trolls/giants), +2 to appraise vs. stone/metal, +2 craft vs. stone/metal

Weapons/Attacks: +6 (1d8 +2, Warhammer +1), +4 (1d8, Light crossbow)

Turn attempts per day: 4
Turning check: 1d20 + 3 (1 Cha, 2 Knowledge (Religion))
Turning damage: 2d6+7

Spells Prepared (typical):

Level 0 (5/day): Detect Magic x2, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Resistance

Level 1 (4+1/day): Bless, Divine Favor, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, Burning Hands [Fire]

Level 2 (4+1/day): Bull's Strength, Close Wounds, Quick March, Shield Other, Produce Flame [Fire]

Level 3 (3+1/day): Dispel Magic, Searing Light, Summon Monster III, Stone Shape [Earth]

Equipment:

+1 Warhammer, Light crossbow, 30 bolts, +1 breastplate, +1 chainmail (not worn), light steel shield, +1 amulet of natural armor, infinite scrollcase, Scroll: Eagle's Splendor (3), Scroll: Protection from Evil (3), Potion: Cure Light Wounds (2), Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds (27 charges), cleric's vestments, traveler's outfit, silver holy symbol, waterskin, 50' silk rope, backpack, Flask: Holy Water (2), 14 days trail rations, light horse, 508 gp

Feats: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Unquenchable Flame of Life
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Giant