GLORIOUS HANGOVER POST: The Sigil 6 Olde Gods

GLORIOUS HANGOVER POST: The Sigil 6 Olde Gods

Last night the Sigil 6 sought out balance upon landing in Song, one of the last surviving Ten-Towns in this world, via Concordant Gem.

Sigil 6 Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel
Chapter 2 Old Gods

PIC: Owl face with ram's horns - the Frostmaiden

We began the campaign in 5 Torches Deep, shifted over to 5e and now we are playing Godbound.

Read more about the Sigil 6 here.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

I like to get a blog post down and out while the game is still fresh but this morning I realized I needed to say a bit more. A few of my favorite gaming things happened in this session and I want to discuss it.

When the players realized that the Frostmaiden couldn’t be reasoned with and wanted nothing short of hearing the last gasps of a frozen world, they were in a tough spot.

Kuru’s player said, “So, is this a simple assassination mission?”

No one liked that idea too much. Maybe it was because Outlands Expedition Teams had to answer to their community in Sigil after a mission and talk about why they made the decisions they did and how it protected planar balance. Maybe it was because Trundle was asked about how the team decided an action was protecting said balance and his answer was nuanced and eloquent. Maybe it was just because the Thursday Night Group isn’t fond of easy answers.

Then they did my favorite thing – they incorporated a detail from a game we played in this campaign 2 years ago as a tool to solve their current problem. They all remembered the Tree Goddess they pissed off in the Gate City of Xaos on the edge of the Outlands.

The Elder Ring, Dryad Crone, The Holy Willow

  • Roots, Seeds, Secrets

The first game was travel and getting used to the area. The second game I started with a bang. The Bandit God mugged one of the players at knifepoint while the kids of the town were watching a puppet show about Gith liberating her people from the cruel Illithid.

I decided the gods were weak and had trouble healing. They’d have 4d10 hit points and powers that went with their spheres of influences.

The Toad-Wizard-God tossed an acidic mist spell into the plaza, trying to kill the Bandit God and a brutal battle followed. I liked it. I haven’t run a good D&D combat in a long while and this one was fun.

At the end of the game, the players were gathered around Trundle as he tried to destroy the stone that had done the first murder in the gods’ dead world. It was a brutal death artifact. The Elder Ring approached. I rolled an encounter table and rolled a 10 – considers offers/leaves. She was not willing to jump them; they were right in front of the portal to Limbo. She asked them to give the stone to her. They refused.

She nodded and walked away.

from Feuding Gods in the Portal City of Xaos
Sigil 6 sign
subject divider

Trundle has the Journey Word, which means he can get to just about any place they’ve been over the course of the campaign and he can get there fairly quickly. At first, I thought that his power made the Planes too small but actually it makes the entire campaign a giant problem-solving toybox. They reached deep in the campaign’s toybox for an old toy I had just about forgotten about.

So, we start next game with the Frostmaiden, showing up to the roofless cottage in Song (the Roc tore the roof off, you see), summoned by Jusko using his Command Word on the Roc (the beast failed its save, you see) just as Trundle, Shepherd and Kuru return from their field trip to rouse a Tree goddess from a dead world.

I have no idea what will happen next but whatever it is, it’ll be my favorite thing in gaming: the players taking the world around them, kicking it in the teeth and putting it all back together in interesting ways.

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The Sigil 6 Olde Gods

The Sigil 6 Olde Gods

Tonight the Sigil 6 sought out balance upon landing in Song, one of the last surviving Ten-Towns in this world, via Concordant Gem.

Sigil 6 Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel
Chapter 2 Old Gods

PIC: Owl face with ram's horns - the Frostmaiden

We began the campaign in 5 Torches Deep, shifted over to 5e and now we are playing Godbound.

Read more about the Sigil 6 here.

  • Godbound powers continue to have a profound effect on the game. “What does Auril, the Frostmaiden, want more than she wants to freeze the world to death?” Shit, nothing. That felt like a shitty answer. Why? The other seasonal gods were cruel to her in the olden days and now she wants winter vengeance.
  • Trundle has a power where he can know the fastest path towards something. He asked for the fastest path to The Elder Ring, a tree goddess they thwarted in their first sessions. Her druid sect can be found in a Gate-Town in the Outlands, Faunel – the town that leads to the Beastlands.
  • They split the party. Trundle, Kuru and Shepherd went through Trundle’s Well of Worlds to find the Elder Ring. We discussed the well’s vestibule, the entryway that leads to the worlds it has access to. When they arrived the Arch-Druid was defeating a young druid challenger who wanted the leadership role (“Wasn’t that a thing in AD&D? Or was that just monks?”) Trundle’s pitch for he Elder Ring to take root in the Winter World and provide a spring-like balance was so good, I didn’t ask for a roll.
  • The Elder Ring will take root in this Winter World but Trundle must craft the Arch-Druid a mighty weapon. Done deal!
  • Jusko, who elected to stay in Song alone, was attacked by Auril’s Roc and several squads of Auril’s Claws (elite rangers). The rangers nearly took Jusko down in the first round. He used his powers to cause winds to interfere with their bows and took to air with his wings. He used Command to demand the Roc fetch the Frostmaiden; failed save. We’ll start there next week.

Godbound powers mean nothing ever goes the way I think it will and I am constantly asked to think about bits of lore and information I had never anticipated. Thinking of this world’s gods as seasonal deities was an interesting spin brought about from Shepherd’s question about Auril the Frostmaiden’s drives and goals. This has spawned thoughts on the world beyond the Ten-Towns.

Jotting down favorite moments at the end of the game is a nice tradition.

I dig that they are looking for ways to make this world better without killing Auril and are using setting-bits that were established 2 years ago.

White board notes on the group's favorite moments.

Trundle’s speech to the Arch-Druid about why the Elder Ring should venture to the Winter World was just amazing.

Sigil 6 Sign

I was glad to hear that Jusko’s fight with the winter goddess’ elite rangers and Roc was tense. I nearly dropped him in the first round. It was intense.

Sigil 6 Sign

They fought a Giant Owl and then Auril’s Roc. The Giant Owl was rolled from the encounter table but the rangers and Roc were chosen as Auril’s reaction to the Sigil 6’s arrival (and Jusko using powers to change the weather to a chilly Autumn). “They have hollow bones,” became a phrase players said to offer confidence while combating these vicious giant birds.

2d6 encounter table Rime of the Frostmaiden way off book Sigil 6 Godbound edition 2Winter Storm 3 horde of Wolves 4 Yeti 5 Giant Owl 6 Rangers: Auril's Claws 7 Druids: Auril's Chosen 8 Scavengers 9 Frost Giant 10 Owlbear 11 Roc 12 White Dragon: Moonless Midwinter Night Need more details, roll 2 more d6. 1-2 soon to come / 3-4 on its way / 5-6 just passed 1-2 recovering / 3-4 hunting / 5-6 hunting you

Arch-Druid: “Surely you are not the Sigil 6 who stole the Elder Ring’s weapon, destroying the last remnant of the Goddess’ dead world…”

Shepherd: “That would be us.”

Sigil 6 Sign

Each of the Ten-Towns is named for some piece of the world it safeguards. Song is home to the world’s not-yet-finished dirge but maybe the song will have some hopeful verses. Jusko took out his sitar and contributed, inspiring me to describe Song-folk’s singing and dancing.

Sigil 6 Sign

Trundle is a dwarf who favors wood over stone, forest over tunnels. He threw his signature missile weapon, a hard wooden ball that we call, the bocce balls. After he and Kuru dropped a giant owl servant of the Frostmaiden, Song’s children went looking it and a child brought it back to Trundle and so he made her a little stone mouse for her trouble. It was a cute moment.

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Reddit GM Advice: Rejoice!, Too Old for this Shit, & Opportunities to Role-Play

Reddit GM Advice: Rejoice!, Too Old for this Shit, & Opportunities to Role-Play

TEXT: REDDIT GM ADVICE THREAD

PIC: Reddit logo in front of Dice Envy's beautiful rainbow dice set.

I made a list of 3 GM advice subreddits called RefAdvice.

r/OSR HELP and r/DnD DMing

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The Sigil 6 Arrive at the Radiant Citadel (Finally)

The Sigil 6 Arrive at the Radiant Citadel (Finally)

Tonight the Sigil 6 arrived in the Radiant Citadel and set out on a rescue operation to a frozen Winter World.

We began the campaign in 5 Torches Deep, shifted over to 5e and now we are playing Godbound.

Read more about the Sigil 6 here.

  • Hetty Wright, a Citadel clerk, interviews the Sigil 6 in the Passge of Respite and despite some uncomfortable interviews (Kuru and Hajek, I’m looking at youse)
  • Quarace, their Drider Agent from Sigil, welcomes the S6 to the Radiant Citadel. Jusko uses a new power to read her and sees her desire to do right by the Sigil 6 but also real fear and shame from her upbringing as a Drow assassin who failed and was turned into a Drider by Lloth. It was an interesting insight into a long-time NPC.
  • Shepherd and Trundle visit the House of Convalescence and do some healing. They see refugees from several worlds and get an idea of problems in other Concordant Worlds that orbit the citadel.
  • Kuru, using his magic-cutting flame dagger, and Trundle, using his firebrand shortsword, cut their way through the ice that had consumed the Winter World’s concordant gem.
  • Hajek found the HQ of Hajek Mercantile, the organization his family set up. Dozens and dozens of games ago, Hajek wrote his family name on a world being born. His power-hungry family now rule that world.

I thought we were going to arrive a month ago but due to a few cancelled games and taking 3 sessions on the Rock of Bral hunting Mind Flayers we had some delays. And that is fine. Honestly, if the players had decided to set up shop on the Rock of Bral and make that their campaign, I would’ve been fine with it (and I said so).

I did some prep!

I used my own brainstorm sheet, Context, Cool Shit and Consequences. It was helpful to have some important places from the Citadel written down. The Alexandrian’s name lists was really helpful too.

And I made an encounter table for Winter World (in which Rime of the Frostmaiden’s Ten-Towns are the last ten surviving towns in an ice-choked world and that world is a Jewel-World that orbits the Radiant Citadel).

2d6 encounter table Rime of the Frostmaiden way off book Sigil 6 Godbound edition 2Winter Storm 3 horde of Wolves 4 Yeti 5 Giant Owl 6 Rangers: Auril's Claws 7 Druids: Auril's Chosen 8 Scavengers 9 Frost Giant 10 Owlbear 11 Roc 12 White Dragon: Moonless Midwinter Night Need more details, roll 2 more d6. 1-2 soon to come / 3-4 on its way / 5-6 just passed 1-2 recovering / 3-4 hunting / 5-6 hunting you

And I will stat out the 3 incarnations of the Frostmaiden, making them less the horrendous Maiden/Lady/Ice Womb (not kidding) from the book and more into winter-things: Huntress/Death/Ice Storm.

“I’m getting Babylon 5 vibes from this thing,” Anthony said. Yeah, I see that.

We had a chat about our favorite moments after the game was over. Here are a few:

Trundle was the only person in the Citadel Intake interview who was reasonable and it was just a funny contrast. I loved Trundle’s description of how he ascertains what is balance in his service to the Lady of Pain.

The description of the Radiant Citadel was starting to make it a three-dimensional palce (yay!).

There was some excitement at the idea of using newfound Godfound powers to heal Quarace of her state as a Drider. Huh.

Some appreciation that Kuru’s aunties who had set him up as a Master Spy in the Hall of Whispers.

Enjoyed the high fantasy epicness of carving into magical ice that was encasing a gem ship.

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Wizard’s Apprentice

Wizard’s Apprentice

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

Daydreaming about a game about playing a wizard’s apprentice.

To become a wizard the apprentice must…

…summon an entity from another world, keeping it contained and making a useful pact.

…learn 1 spell from teacher.

…learn 1 spell from rival.

…learn 1 spell from ancient source.

…create 1 spell.

…craft a meaningful tool or weapon.

…enchant your staff.

…pass a final test decided by no less than 3 wizards (teacher cannot be involved)

I’m imagining that these were put together from a quote from an ancient wizard that went something like:

A wizard has been touched by another world. In their tome you will find their elder’s magic, an understanding of their enemy’s spells and an arcane creation all their own. They have crafted their own arcane implement and hold their staff proudly.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

What kind of arcane practitioner(s) teaches you?

A Hedge Wizard

The Hedge Wizard’s tower is…

…half a day’s walk from a grateful village.

…at the crossroads of a long-dead empire’s trade routes.

…or at the foot of the mountain where the dragon they helped hunt was slain.

…at the entrance to a demon-haunted gorge.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

A Court Sorcerer

The monarch they serve is…

…impossibly young, at the mercy of a noble council.

…dying, with vultures circling to take the throne.

…or in the prime of their power, trying to stop a civil war from erupting.

…away at war.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

A Back-alley Warlock

To survive the warlock is…

…in hiding.

…a lone player in an active criminal web.

…a crime lord of an up-and-coming syndicate.

…trying desperately to stop a Mage War.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

A War Mage

This mage serves…

…a mercenary company they helped found.

…in a storied company of the Emperor’s Legion.

…in a rebel cell attempting to topple a throne.

…in a ducal army, laying siege to their hated rival.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

A Boneyard Necromancer

The Boneyard is a…

…necropolis built by long-gone civilization.

…a dragon cemetery where these mythic beasts go when they die.

…an ancient battlefield, still scarred by arcane weapons, whose energies are lost to time.

…a city’s labyrinth of tombs.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

A Country Witch

Her hut is currently…

…at the edge of a haunted forest.

…among a ring of villages plagued by bandits.

…along the coast, where frothing raiders often land.

…in land claimed by a corrupt cabal of knights.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

An Arcane College

This college was founded in…

…an ancient city where magic was said to be born.

…a library built atop the world.

…an otherworldly borderlands where alien beings frequently wander through.

…a remote island where the first sorcerer was punished after stealing arcane fire from the gods.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

Was your apprentice sent to learn magic because of one or more of the follow reasons or is there another?

You summoned something fell and lost control of it.

You attempted to marshal elemental forces.

You found your teacher so you could learn some mystery that only arcane arts can solve.

You fell into another world and came back marked by the experience in ways that made home uncomfortable for you.

You see something wrong with the world that you currently believe only magic can change.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

Tempted to use Fighting and Why It is Horrible for any violence.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

When you cast a spell, tell your friends what energy from this world or another that you are attempting to manipulate and to what effect.

The GM will tell you one or more of the following:

It works as you intended but…

…does something surprising.

…and the landcape’s buried history exerts some influence.

…but demands more than you had anticipated.

…but plants a seed that will bear fell fruit later.

You have forgotten or misunderstood a vital lesson…

…and the GM will describe how these energies begin to coalesce in ways you had not anticipated.

…and the GM will describe the pain inflicted on your flesh.

…and the GM will describe the horror you have wrought.

Wizard's hat, wizard's staff and wizard's tome on a dark red background. Art by @lineartestpilot

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The Sigil 6 Brains and Thorns on the Rock of Bral

The Sigil 6 Brains and Thorns on the Rock of Bral

We began the campaign in 5 Torches Deep, shifted over to 5e and now we are playing Godbound.

Read more about the Sigil 6 here.

The Sigil 6 used several Words and Powers to fly and then Shadow-walk into the Illithid’s subterranean lair under Prince Andru’s palace. The elvish mercenaries got a pair of lucky shots off and hit Shepherd.

One of the Mind Flayers was astral projecting to get reinforcements; its body was limp but its Mind Flayer comrade was nearby surrounded by wyverns with thrall-studs in their skulls to make psionic domination easier. It was a 3 round battle but the wyvern tail-venom was nasty; Trundle was dropped in the first round and Kuru followed soon after – but not before stealing the Mind Flayer’s ability to probability travel.

I need to ask Kuru to hold his action if he wants to steal an ability. I love that power but we’ve been using it like an interrupt, which is a bit powerful. Kuru’s ability theft meant the Mind Flayer couldn’t just walk away from the losing battle. And so it died. Once the Mind Flayer was dead it was an easy thing for Shepherd, still in a Mind Flayer body, to psionically order them to sleep.

Kuru grabbed the Mind Flayers’ treasure. They were running a little low on funds. Now they should have some more liquid funds.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

I’ve been using the AD&D Monster Manual, Monster Manual 2 and Fiend Folio for the stats and such. For the wyvern’s poison tail venom, I went with a Hardiness Save, failure meant the damage was Straight d10 (which is BRUTAL) and success meant just a straight d6. This dropped 2 characters. If the players had tried to futz around with the wyverns instead of finding out early that Shepherd, in the Mind Flayer body, could easily mind control them once the other Mind Flayers were out of the picture it would’ve been a bad night for the Sigil 6.

I’ve been enjoying Godbound combats. They are fast, brutal and the players are using their powers in interesting ways. We got slowed down a bit by figuring out exactly how Effort works and when Effort is spent and when it is just making a power work and goes back to the character once that power is turned off. It is a process and that is fine.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

They killed Shepherd, forcing him from the Mind Flayer body, after they were refusing to leave the Illithid shell and return to his angel-made flesh golem procured in Ravenloft. We rolled some dice on it but it was all in good fun and Trundle and Jusko rolled well – ending it quickly. The corpseflea made his way into his golem sleeve and apologized for how he acted. Shepherd’s new Fact reflects his time spent in the Mind Flayer sleeve and he took a new power that we are coloring as a Psionic Blast.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

They used powers to look around Bral and see what was happening. They saw the Prince’s elf mercenary guards coming back to themselves and watched them kill Prince Andru, saying he had been in league with the Mind Flayers and had even given them access to Potions of Mind Control made to control elves. These elf soldiers were preparing to take over the Rock of Bral’s governance. No one was exactly comfortable with this. Trundle tried to get them to agree to turn the governance over to an elected republic but it was a failed Spirit Save. Nope.

They gave the Elf General (why didn’t I name him!?!) a letter of introduction to the Lady of Pain, hoping to set him up with Outlands Expedition Teams should they need more support. After getting some advice from their AWOL Githyanki ship captain, they overheard them talking about something called the Siege of Thorns. They found out these elves were on the losing side of a war in which their queen attempted to take control of the Radiant Citadel.

Inspiration for Elvish Empire is the Two Drakes‘ BBEG, Widow of Roses.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

Kuru wanted to steal something from the Prince’s palace before they left. Part of me is tempted to roll some dice at the start of next session but I’d also like to get to the Radiant Citadel already. I’ll roll up some random treasure.

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A few inspiring d6 tables to get the juices flowing.

A few inspiring d6 tables to get the juices flowing.

When do I use tables like the ones below?

I might use them before the game as my pre-game prep, figuring out a few rumors or a handful of missions or things that might be happening.

I might use one of the d6 tables to figure something out and disclaim some decision making to the dice. Maybe I want 2 factions that are fighting – handy to have 6 factions in a d6 table (or 4 or 8 or 10 or 12 or…you get the idea), isn’t it?

Might use it to figure out what is happening in a part of the map that I did not think the players were going to head into or to flesh out an idea.

Might just use them as lists of cool shit to inspire ideas during play. They can be a good way of writing down the campaign’s starting vibes.

If I’m stuck, I find I can usually write down 6 bullet-point ideas that aren’t fully formed. After that, 6 more bits to spice up those 6 and then one more to add something odd. If you really aren’t sure, put down your 6 favorite monsters, your 6 favorite types of places and 6 more odd things that have nothing to do with anything else. Roll some dice and see what comes of it or pick my favorite from each and see what that inspires.

Line of Hexes Subject Divider
PIC: faded gaming table behind the words TEXT: Type of place: 1 Ruined Tower 2 Ancient Temple 3 Beautiful Grove 4 Abandoned castle 5 Barrow 6 Wizard-scorched battlefield Glimmer of Past: 1 Shrine to dead god 2 Statue of a dead dynasty's monarch 3 Dying empire's boundary marker 4 Ancient druidic order's standing stone 5 Ancient road 6 Mass grave from a slaughter lost to history Wild Card: 1 Remnant of a spell gone wrong 2 Spirit, watching and judging 3 Ghost, longing and reaching 4 Bandit scout, hiding and assessing 5 Beast, hunting and sniffing 6 Your favorite monster
Line of Hexes Subject Divider
Places Serene Glade Ancient Witch-Tree Coven Devil Gorge Ancient Standing Stones Elf Ruins Raging River Factions (roll twice if you want factions fighting – same result might be in-fighting) Satyrs Queen’s Elves, returning to lands they left long ago Witch-Elves, sworn to fell trees, never left Tieflings (with a keep and small castle town in Devil Gorge) Gnomes, ply the river Scattered human nomads, hither and yon Problems Something ancient has stirred One faction’s forces is stalking the other from stealth One faction’s forces is retreating desperately Diplomacy among two factions is occurring One faction is celebrating a holy day Two factions are trading goods
Line of Hexes Subject Divider
The ship is dealing with

1 plague
2 storm damage
3 mutiny
4 a difficult mission ahead
5 being hunted by a sea beast
6 being hunted by a rival ship

Ship type:

1Merchant
2Ship of War
3Whaler/Beast Hunter
4Refugee Ark
5Cartographer
6Storm Wizard's Sanctum/Storm Deity's Temple

One more thing:

1 Ghost Ship
2 Treasure Map
3 Storm on the horizon
4 Pirates on the horizon
5 Land Ho!
6 Dragon
Line of Hexes Subject Divider

Inspired by:

Line of Hexes Subject Divider

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Reddit GM Advice: The Precarious Character/Strategy/Fun Triangle, Bummer Mentor & Your Voice is Enough

Reddit GM Advice: The Precarious Character/Strategy/Fun Triangle, Bummer Mentor & Your Voice is Enough

TEXT: REDDIT GM ADVICE THREAD

PIC: Reddit logo in front of Dice Envy's beautiful rainbow dice set.

I made a list of 3 GM advice subreddits called RefAdvice.

r/OSR HELP and r/DnD DMing

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Reddit GM Advice: Planning, Princess Glorious Chaos & Game Start Questions

Reddit GM Advice: Planning, Princess Glorious Chaos & Game Start Questions

TEXT: REDDIT GM ADVICE THREAD

PIC: Reddit logo in front of Dice Envy's beautiful rainbow dice set.

I made a list of 3 GM advice subreddits called RefAdvice.

r/OSR HELP and r/DnD DMing

Emiel Boven's Fun Skulls Subject Divider

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https://www.patreon.com/emielboven/posts
Emiel Boven's Fun Skulls Subject Divider

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https://www.patreon.com/emielboven/posts
Emiel Boven's Fun Skulls Subject Divider

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The Sigil 6: The Mind Flayer Hunt Gets Personal

The Sigil 6: The Mind Flayer Hunt Gets Personal

We began the campaign in 5 Torches Deep, shifted over to 5e and now we are playing Godbound.

Read more about the Sigil 6 here.

Our game is switching from 5e to Godbound. The characters were up to 12th level and Godbound is a fun system for powerful D&Dish folks.

The group voted for the Winter World to be their next adventure and so I started prepping and daydreaming about how I’d alter Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. They had killed a Mind Flayer that was living under the Rock of Bral last adventure and foolish me, I did not ask if that was the end of it.

It was not the end of it. Kuru’s run-in with an aboleth’s mind control has left its mark; he doesn’t like cthonic mind control beasts. Shit got personal. Then Shepherd, the Corpseflea, jumped into the Mind Flayer corpse. I’m getting ahead of myself. First, the treasure tables…

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...
PIC: Monster Manual Mind Flayer, Monster Manual's Appendix Treasure Table and the DMG treasure Tables. TEXT: Randomly generated the treasure from the Mind Flayer. so much fun! 3000 Gold, 7000 Copper (coins from uncounted worlds) Potions of Plant Control, Invulnerability, Polymorph and Human Control (elves and half-elves). Scrolls: Find Familiar, Strength, Dig and one magic item, randomly generated which was - no shit A Bag of Holding

Nice thing about using the AD&D Monster Manual (and the Monster Manual II and the Fiend Folio) is that I get to use its treasure tables. I rolled, not knowing that there is an automated option. I decided the Mind Flayer kept bodies whose brains it had eaten in its Bag of Holding, doing some light, non-necromantic hobby-mummification for fun.

It seemed like the Sigil 6 wanted to put an epilogue on the slaying of the Mind Flayer from last week, talk to Prince Andru of Bral, maybe get a reward and then leave. I had described Andru’s honor guard as haughty elves in red and gold livery. They were turned away at the bridge to the prince’s palace, leading them to believe that this Mind Flayer wasn’t working alone. Even Jusko’s Leadership Word couldn’t penetrate, furthering the theory that some greater power was behind it all.

Shepherd is a corpseflea, a little spark of sentience that can jump into corpses (taken from the cool af 5 Torches Deep: Heritage supplement). I was straight-up eager for him to jump into the Mind Flayer body. He did. I asked for a Spirit Save and it was a fail. He wouldn’t be able to jump out at will. I got to describe the sense of communal consciousness and connection to the other Mind Flayers in his pod, especially the two others on the Rock of Bral, who he had grown up with from tadpoles. Getting to describe shit like going from primate bodies to something really alien is fun.

My vision of Mind Flayers is that they operate on science fiction logic. When Shepherd-in-the-Mind-Flayer saw their Githyanki-renegate ship captain, he could see the botched breeding cycle of a fine servant species. I described his friends as deliciously sentient. He was able to access his memories easily, not getting vague flashbacks like when he is in primate corpses.

He reached out telepathically to another Mind Flayer and learned that when the first Mind Flayer whose corpse he was riding had died, one Mind Flayer went into the astral plane, seeking reinforcements. The conversation didn’t go well and the third Mind Flayer suggested Shepherd go to the Elder Brain to regain his connection and focus rather than seeking out this primate-like individualism.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

Shepherd knew that when they went astral, their body was stowed in a secret area by some Mind Flayer thralls. They secreted back onto the Rock of Bral through Trundle’s almost-constructed Well of Worlds.

Behind the scenes, I rolled an Intelligence check for the third Mind Flayer. He succeeded. The Monster Manual said these things are geniuses. His friend is acting weird and reinforcements might be far away. They are surrounded by enemies. It moved the helpless Mind Flayer whose body was left behind while it went into the Astral Plane.

The thralls were a trap; they unzipped their skin and combined to become some combination of Voltron and John Carpenter’s The Thing. I statted it as a Hulking Abomination from Godbound, which suggested it have access to a Word – I chose Undying from Endurance. The fight was going rough and then Kuru, who can steal Gifts, stole the creature’s Undying. The beast flipped out and killed Kuru the next round but he had Undying. When Jusko finished the creature, screaming Kuru’s name like a killing word, Kuru popped back up, regenerating despite haven taken a cthonic tentacle through the skull.

It was a fun fight and I have just barely gotten my feet under me. This is going to be fun.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

What now? Now I’m going to roll up the treasure of the remaining Mind Flayers on treasure tables B, S, T and X. Let’s see what these Lovecraftian assholes are working with.

We’ll get to the Radiant Citadel some day…I think.

Sigil 6 Subject Divider with rule of 3 Sword and Rule of 3 key in front of a pink and purple gradient in the color of the Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel colors...

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