Author: Dennis

Leman

by Dennis••0•Posted inLeman

Tonight, we finished another D&D campaign under the leadership of DTH, who really ramped up the challenge this time. I don’t get to play very often, and of the few times I’ve been able to be a player over the last decade, I’ve rarely gotten as emotionally invested in a character as I’ve been with Leman, my warrior-priest. I built my character slowly and logically and I’ve enjoyed every step of the way.

The one thing that I’ve noticed with the third edition rules that we use, is that you level up more often than you do under the second edition rules that I’ve spent most of my D&D career using. Once every three or so session we seemed to level, which I thought was a bit much. It wasn’t because of XP rewards that were too high, but rather that the amounts you needed to gather before climbing another level was much more evenly spaced. In second edition the XP targets per level were almost exponential, so it took longer and longer each level.

Patron

by Dennis••0•Posted inJournal

Last night I went to a birthday party of an acquaintance of mine who had suggested to bring something to drink if you didn’t like beer. I dislike beer so I thought it might be a good idea to bring a bottle of Patron that Jim had brought for me when he came over recently. Now, for whatever masochistic reason, the rule is that once you open a bottle of Patron,  you can’t stop until it’s absolutely dry. Luckily, I found some compatriots that helped me out at the party.

It’s a curious habit we humans have. We are literally slowly poisoning yourself into a stupor. I can imagine and understand that a long time ago we did this with hallucinogens in order to achieve a state of spiritual enlightenment, but that aspect has all but completely disappeared and now it’s a voluntary poisoning with little to no spiritual aspect to it.

Now it seems the purpose is three-fold; on the one hand it’s to enjoy the beverage as it is, but it’s likely that the alcohol doesn’t add much to the actual taste of the beverage. Second, I think it’s a tool we use to let down our social guards a bit and be less inhibited to interact with others, but if we try we’re likely to be able to achieve that without alcohol. And third, I think it’s in order to make good on an informal social contract where everyone drinks and you stand out if you don’t. Each reason by itself is a poor reason to drink alcohol and I’m not even sure that combined they’re an any better reason to drink alcohol. And yet we do.

I have that say that I’m glad I was mixing up glasses of this delicious tequila with glasses of water, otherwise I don’t think I would have woken up as painlessly as I did this morning. :)

Manitou

by Dennis••0•Posted inRPG

Synopsis

When Mr. Armitage unexpectedly shows up wounded at Dr. Nannetti’s house carrying a newspaper clipping of an accidental shooting at a ranch in Oswego County, NY, he manages to convince the investigators that a pack of werewolves are causing trouble in the little rancher community of Redfield. Frequent disappearances and even more frequent cattle mutilations have caused a lot of tension between ranchers but also between the ranchers and the nearby Mohawk and Iroquois reservation.

The investigators decide to stage a small expedition to Redfield and investigate. After two days of hard driving they finally arrive and find the small community to be friendly and open. When the following day Mr. Simons’ dog Barry is brutally murdered, things take a turn for the worse.

Visiting with Mr. McClain and his son on their ranch, they are invited to spend the night. They accept and are treated to a delicious meal and interesting conversation. At night, the ranch is attacked by two man/wolf hybrids, one of which the investigators manage to kill, but not without Mr. McClain getting lost in the fight and the next day being found decapitated some distance from the ranch.

When the sheriff is called in he treats the investigators as suspects and interrogates them seperately. He concludes that their story doesn’t add up and when Sir O’Reilly gets lippy, he locks him away in the local jail. The sheriff then takes Mr. McClain’s son and heads out to the ranch to do some more research in what happens.

When the investigators are later warned that Mr. McClain’s son is dead, they suspect the sheriff of being dirty and they free Sir O’Reilly from the jail and head out to the ranch only to find the corpse of Mr. McClain’s son and the sheriff inside the ranch shooting at them. They return fire and manage to take the ranch only to be beset by more werewolves at nightfall.

The investigators survive the night, but not without taking heavy damage. They don’t trust anyone in Redfield and decide to grab their things and return to Arkham. Mr. Armitage, not keen on giving up, especially when everyone agrees they haven’t gotten to the bottom of things, decides to stay behind and try to finish up what they started, but the rest is ready to throw in the towel and head home.

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Prison of Darkness

by Dennis••0•Posted inRPG

Synopsis

The Nameless, a loose-knit group of vigilantes who fight the evil forces of the occult, have come in the posession of an old painting by Bohemian warlock Pavel Dvorak who was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1476. They, through a series of intermediaries, trying to remain anonymous, ask Mr. Simons to verify the authenticity of the painting. Sir O’Reilly and Mr. Mason, each through different channels and for different reasons, come to the aid to Mr. Simons’ attempt.

Quickly, it turns out the painting has a very storied past and that a person is locked inside of it, only becoming visible at roughly 10pm each evening, showing more and more of himself. It turns out to be late Mr. Armitage, a erstwhile companion of Sir O’Reilly who died when banishing a malevolent spirit from a farmhouse in a village outside of Arkham.

Doing their research, the investigators find a way to ressurrect Mr. Armitage, which was The Nameless’ reason for giving them the painting all along. They manage to perform the ritual and ressurrect Mr. Armitage, only for him to disappear without a trace the following day.

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