RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

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Solomoriah
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RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Solomoriah »

The Fantasy Store in St. Charles, Missouri has a semi-regular most-monthly RPG Demo Day event, and the next one is May 13th. I'll be there this time, running CS1 Castle by the Sea for one session from noon to 4pm. Anyone who can make it is invited!

See their website for more information: http://www.fantasyshoponline.com/saint-charles/
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Solomoriah
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Solomoriah »

Just ordered some Core Rules copies to give away at the event, and right now there is a SHIPSAVE17 coupon code for Lulu.com that gives you 15% off plus free ground shipping. I can get a lot more to give away using the proceeds from the game when I can get that kind of deal. (Amazon.com is the best deal when you can't get free Lulu shipping.)
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Solomoriah »

Getting kind of excited. Not exactly nervous; not my first rodeo. But I have no idea if there will be a good turnout... gah.
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

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Turnout was light, owing apparently to an anime convention in town that they hadn't known about when they set the schedule. I did have players, so we did play. Here's the after-action report:

Of the mostly 3rd level pregens, Thorus the Dwarf Fighter, Apoqulis the Human Cleric, Barthal the Halfling Thief, and Morningstar the (2nd level) Elf Fighter/Magic-User entered the castle. They had a brief fight with the giant snake, which went badly for the snake; it missed its attack on its surprise round (having surprised even the elf), and though Barthal's attack with his sling was a miss, both Morningstar and Thorus hit it, killing it more or less instantly.

Inside the castle, there was some comedy as they tried and failed to force the interior doors; eventually they got the big doors to the throne room open. The last time I ran this adventure, the players went around the throne room first, but this group went right in.

Confronted with a room full of dead bodies, they made the obvious assumption that the monsters would rise and fight them, which they did. The skeletaire fled through the secret door, exactly as per its given strategy, going first to collect the boy and the horn, and then to get its undead minions together.

The adventurers defeated the zombies in the throne room, with some injury but no deaths; Thorus tore down the curtains from the dais area, and they quickly found and opened the secret door.

The phantom barbarian at the top of the stairs stymied them for a bit; instead of going up, Thorus forced the other door and the party quickly explored the back corridor. But at one door they heard buzzing, and the other was spiked from their side, causing them to decide that neither room was worth exploring just then. The skeletaire, they assumed, must have ascended the stairs.

Two characters touched the phantom and fled in fear before one made his saving throw (Apoqulis, I think, though my memory on this is fuzzy). They then rallied the frightened characters and went up the stairs.

In the upstairs corridor, Barthal checked the first door for traps while Morningstar scouted around the corner; rather than open that door, he moved on to the next one, the one leading into the room where the zombies were, and as he began his search, the door suddenly opened!

On the other side were six zombies; beyond them, Barthal and Thorus could see the skeletaire and the boy. I described how the boy had the horn around his neck, and also around his neck was a rope which the skeletaire was using as a leash.

The monsters got surprise, and Barthal and Thorus took hits from the skeletaire's magic missile spell. Then, Barthal took a heavy hit from a zombie and fell. In the next round, the adventurers got initiative over the skeletaire (as, of course, zombies always lose initiative, they did not roll); Morningstar did a nice maneuver, exchanging places with Barthal, whom Apoqulis cast his last cure light wounds on. Thorus hit a zombie, the skeletaire cast some spell but nobody had to make a saving throw, and then the zombies attacked.

The next round, the zombies rolled for initiative, attacked on their turn, and attacked again at the end of the round. The skeletaire had cast haste on them, it seemed. That monster, having used its offensive magic at that point (and I'll admit, I forgot about the sleep spell), switched to its wand of paralyzation.

Oh, and Apoqulis turned the undead, driving three of the six zombies back.

The next few rounds were a bit repetitive, as the player characters traded blows with the zombies while the skeletaire tried its wand repeatedly with no effect... the players made every save. Barthal, though he had been healed, was still at negative hit points and so could not participate, but the others slowly began to wear down the remaining zombies.

When the next-to-last combatant zombie fell, and the last one took a step back (which the players did not understand at the time, as they thought the skeletaire was in control), the skeletaire became concerned. They don't fail morale checks, but they aren't stupid... it knew, cornered as it was, that it was about to lose. So it cast its continual darkness spell, hoping to slip by the party.

When it did, the rope-leash made contact with Thorus, who had advanced into the room. He grabbed it and spent the next several rounds playing tug-of-war with an undead wizard in total darkness.

When Thorus finally got the upper hand, rather than be pulled in, the skeletaire released its hold on the rope. Following the verbal directions of the other party members (who had successfully retreated from the room, and thus from the darkness), he backed out, leading the boy with him.

They quickly closed the door and spiked it, and assumed they had the situation under control.

The boy told them his sister was prisoner in a nearby room, and with his guidance entered the irregular room at the back which connected to both towers. The process of breaking in to the cage where the girl was being held was itself a bit comic, as no one seemed able to make a good roll, but eventually she was freed. While this was going on, one party member (I don't remember who) checked the other tower, discovered the stirges, and closed the door again just in time.

They argued about whether or not they should try to defeat the skeletaire; they were not in good condition, with one party member reduced to survival mode and two others pretty beat up. I don't remember what they decided... it didn't matter. The skeletaire had used its knock spell to escape the spiked door, and was waiting for them in the corridor.

They tried to open the door, and discovered it was wizard locked. Oops.

After a brief discussion, Thorus hacked down the door with his axe, revealing the skeletaire standing just twenty or so feet away. The party then traded ranged attacks with the monster; it was using its thus-far-unsuccessful wand of paralyzation, but now it seemed to be doing better... in a few moments, the three remaining functional party members were paralyzed.

What the players didn't know was that the skeletaire's wand was out of charges, and it knew it was out. This left it with its magic dagger, which of course would be fine for slitting the throats of the party members who were paralyzed, but it did not know where Barthal was (nor did it know he was out of the fight), and furthermore it was pretty badly beaten up.

I really couldn't think of a strategy that seemed appropriate to this monster. I had portrayed it as cautious, which does go along with the strategy I originally wrote in the adventure; its advantages were exhausted, with the boy who controlled the other undead monsters in the hands of the missing halfling, and all its spells and charges gone. In my mind I imagined the monster pacing, trying to decide how to proceed.

So that's what it did. The monster stepped into its sanctum (outside which door it had stood for the whole last fight) and began to pace, trying to decide what to do. It did know it had time to think; after all, the effect would last 2d8 turns, i.e. 20 to 80 minutes, and a halfling and two little children could hardly get away with the bodies of an adult dwarf, elf, and human.

It didn't look good for the party, but I saw a glimmer of daylight... would Barthal's player see it also?

I decided to let the players discuss it, even though there was only one half-operational player character left on the battlemat. So I took a rest room break to give them a moment.

When I returned, Barthal's player wanted to know if he could use the horn. In the guise of the boy, I explained that it only worked when there were dead bodies to animate with it. He questioned the boy further, and learned that the horn's user had control of the monsters.

He also learned there was a pair of rooms on the lower level full of skeletons the boy could control. The look of dawning comprehension on his face was priceless.

He took both children downstairs (as the girl would not leave her brother), and the boy led Barthal to the skeletons; under the halfling's direction, the boy set up the bow-armed skeletons to protect his comrades and the sword-and-shield-armed skeletons to enter the skeletaire's lair and attack it.

It was kind of a silly fight; the skeletaire's dagger did little harm to the skeletons, just as their swords did little harm to the skeletaire. The fight thus took three or four rounds, even given the skeletaire's poor condition. But in the end, the forces of good (assisted by the living dead) won the day.

The skeletons were then put to work carrying the paralyzed party members outside. Barthal looted the body, of course, pocketing the goat-headed medallion for himself, and sharing the other items with the party members when they were themselves again. The skeletons were ordered to jump into the sea (which would not necessarily destroy them, but Barthal figured it would make Apoqulis happy) and the session was over.

I think everyone had a good time. I know I did!
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by SmootRK »

Sounds like a good time to me!
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by SmootRK »

Noticed an odd error. Phone smilies cause an sql error. Fixed when iremoved the smilies.
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Hywaywolf »

sounds like a fun day. were any of your players new to BF
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Solomoriah »

All of them. To be honest, I ended up with two; they were experienced players, just not BFRPG, so I gave them each two characters and we went from there.

Hopefully, if I do this again, there won't be a convention sucking away all our air...
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Hywaywolf »

anime is encroaching over all the cons I have been to in the last decade.
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Re: RPG Demo Day in St. Charles, Missouri

Post by Solomoriah »

Hah. Actually, this was an anime con into which "organized play" RPGs had infiltrated.
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