Nostalgic High Level Play

Over the holiday break, despite being sick, we were able to squeeze in a few sessions of high level play using character that haven't seen action in many years.  This is mostly because they have few adventuring peers and play tends to focus more on low or mid-level characters coming up through the ranks.  Still, it is nice to break out the old leviathans from time to time.

My eldest son, 14, was able to take over the GMing reins so that I could play Lord Grimslade Flamewalker, a 16th level elf.  I made Grimslade on 2.8.87 and he is the most successful character I have ever developed.  When I first made him he was a member of an adventuring party, and the weakest one at that.  He had either -3 or -5 combat adds to start with.  Strangely, the rest of his party all died within an adventure or two, despite being "superior" to him in every way.  Yet Grimslade, who in his early days went by Airwalker after obtaining the eponymous cloak from the Treasure Vault* in an early game, survived many adventurers through the years (even though I GM 90+% of the time).  At this point he rarely does more than put on cameo appearances, but we thought an actual adventure would be the way to go.

My wife played Grimslade's wife - Starlight, a 14th level human wizard, a family friend played Zoey the hobb(it) rogue, and my third oldest son (10) played Captain Firebeard, a 7th level dwarven warrior with powers vastly beyond his level due to a trip through Jason Mill's awesome adventure, Something in the Wind (see The Vital Spot website).  For the second session, my second oldest son joined us with a 9th level imp rogue created from Michael Eidson's freshly revived 5.5e character generator at the Troll Mystic website (having no suitable PCs of the desired power of his own).

I will have to ask my son to post a brief synopsis of the setting and adventure here, as it is far richer than I can convey.  It was an adventure/dungeon he created to provide what he thought would be a suitable challenge for us.  The delvers traveled to another world of extremes to defeat ice trolls and isocroms (magic eating monsters) in a mountain fortress.  The isocroms forced us to abandon all spells and magical items save for those of the highest levels.  I was a little concerned because I didn't know how well high level T&T play would hold up, not having done so in almost a decade - we were facing monsters with 5,000 MRs on this adventure, after all, with 20th level saving rolls being nothing special.  I have to say that the sessions went very well and T&T can handle high level, creative play no problem.  Yes, the MRs and SRs were through the roof, but they are scalable for a reason, and they worked well.

We have probably one more session to finish off this adventure.  We've already decided that at least a handful of times a year the Great Old Ones will get to come out to play.



*A Catalyst product by Flying Buffalo.  It was a staple in my early games, along with all of the other great Catalyst products like the CityBooks, Grimtooth's Traps, Lejentia, Wilderness Encounters, et al.

Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls

Having survived the End of the World recently, we can now look forward to Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls in 2013.  Details for the kickstarter are promised soon.

Oaky Wood

It has been a while....

Set in Wilowisp's Oaky Wood region, my trollspawn have been exploring this setting this spring and summer, and now autumn, I guess.  They've cleared out the Ghostly Alchemist's lair and other minor excursions and were moving on to Merchant's Rest by traveling through the Oaky Wood.  Without going into great detail, they were accosted by the thieves in area 9.  I had intended it to be a brief shakedown and then we would get on with exploring the rest of forest between Lake Fall and Merchant's Rest.  Instead, they wanted to get back at the thieves and their guerrilla attacks on the thief camp took up the rest of the session.  I have to say their tactics were pretty solid, especially for kids (14, 12, 10, 8).  The oldest said he was inspired by reading the Guardians of the Flame books that I gave him.  An interesting tactic was the idea to cast Will-o-wisp on a makeshift staff as a decoy in the woods at night while the PCs escaped in another direction.

My point, I think, is that it is always interesting what the players will focus on and how they drive the play.  A good GM (if I can flatter myself by pretending to associate with such) will go with this.  I always have ideas to pursue if the PCs have nothing motivating them, but I always enjoy play more when the PCs have an axe to grind.

Posts...Not so Much

We've been playing lots of T&T and have several campaigns going, but I haven't managed to post much about them.  Campaign #1: The Thieving Magpie, five players (had seven but that was too much), Marillion; #2: Dedicated to Chaos, four players (spillover from #1), Queensryche; #3: The Devil You Know, five players - all female.  We call it the Girlie Group and it has been going for about 18 months, Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell ; #4: Demons & Wizards, four or five players - this is the group with the trollsons and an old friend, Demons & Wizards.  Plus we have various one offs at times with high level semi-retired characters, Lovecraft Variant, or whatever.  Almost everyweek we play with at least one of the groups.  All campaigns are inspired by the music of the above listed bands.

I would love to blog and publish more T&T stuff, but honestly, if I have to choose between playing and prepping for games or blogging about what I want to do, I choose the former.  Still, the summer is fast approaching and I have summers off, so maybe I will be able to post seesion summaries and other miscellania as I hope.  I haven't given up hope just yet even though I am reconsidering my dependence on technology.

Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day is 6.16 this year.  Doesn't look like FBI is participating.

Some Pics of my Game Room

T&T Grimoire Followup

 

Here are a few other (low quality) pictures of my T&T grimoire.  Our "house rules" are an entire rewrite, as our group likes to play T&T...largely 5th edition with the best bits of 7e, and various minor tweaks.  All players have access to the entire book (but the binding is one of a kind).  The rules are meant to be a "living" document and evolve as our play style changes over time and we experiment with various ideas.

The Company

In our private T&T yahoo group, we are discussing the merits of T&T...what we get out of it other than entertainment.  For many it is just a social event like getting drunk and playing poker.  I have been playing T&T for 30 years this year.  To me T&T is much more than an occasional social event.  To me it has been friendship, creative license, motivation to further my education, and exploring a sense of wonder most people abandon in childhood, among countless other things.  For me, T&T is The Company, as explained by Fish in his eponymous song:


Where beggars take cheques and children steal credit cards from the pockets of wrecks in the middle of the road. I came to in my future and that was just yesterday, unsure of my past and that's a knot in my gut. You buy me a drink then you think that you've got the right to crawl in my head and rifle my soul. You tell me I'm free and want me to compromise, to sell out my dreams you say you'll make it worthwhile. Oh, boys would you drink to me now, here on the hill, half way up, half way down. You tell me I'm drunk, then you sit back and smug a while, convinced that you're right, that you're still in command of your senses. I laugh at your superior attitude; your insincere platitudes make me throw up. Oh, boys would you drink to me now, here on the hill, half way up, half way down. Oh, boys would you drink to me now, here on the hill, half way up, half way down. Oh for the company born to the company, live for the company until I die. The sooner you realise that I'm perfectly happy if I'm left to decide the company I choose. The company I choose is solidly singular, totally trustworthy, straight, and sincere; polished, experienced, witty, and charming; so why don't you push off, this company's my own. Oh, boys would you drink to me now here on the hill, half way up, half way down. Oh, boys would you drink to me now here on the hill, half way up, half way down. Oh for the company, dream of the company; live for the company until I die. Oh for the company, dream of the company, drink to the company until we die; until we die; until we die.

T&T Grimoire

Some years ago the trollwife bought me an awesome leather 'grimoire.'  Never completing my research to properly fill it, I have recently repurposed it.  It now contains my house rules for T&T...and adds a great aura of mystique to the game when we play and I have to reference it.  Even when it is just sitting there, it fills the players with a sense of awe.  It fits the ambiance of our game room well, which is furnished in items right out of Earth's past, or some parallel fantasy world: swords, gargoyles, skulls, tapestries, candles, censers, and so forth cover the entire area.  I will have to post pictures soon of the game room to do it justice.