Rick Berman sums up Star Trek 2

Ron Moore was so right. Gene created Star Trek for TV. Short, character driven stories, with thoughtful ideas and purpose. Not Iron Man 147.

— Rick Berman (@berman_rick) May 5, 2013

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! OST

I'm slightly overcome by this convergence of several things I love: the free availability of independent music (especially when it contains hints of chip tune), the embeddable goodness of the awesome service that is SoundCloud, and the mathematical cartoon Adventure Time. D3Publisher has released the original soundtrack for Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! and you can listen to the whole algebraic thing right here:

Roll20 adds API, javascript your dungeons!

The amazing Roll20 has revealed a new alpha feature, a Javascript API that lets you automate all sorts of actions inside your games, from automatically identifying monsters as bloodied/dead (which would save me a lot of faffing about) to traps and boss reveals. Take a look at the promo video:

You need to be a paid mentor ($9.99 a month / $99 a year) to use the API but if that's a bit steep for you it's still worth becoming a paid supporter ($4.99 a month / $49 a year) just to get the dynamic lighting effect.

And if you're flat broke like me, Roll20's free service is still awesome and should be thanked for enabling people to play roleplaying games anytime, anywhere.

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Seven

This is part seven of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session, and holy shit here I am writing it up less than 24 hours after the session, as opposed to 8 or 9 days! See all previous entries here.

Searos, Marroar, Scrindrel, Giovana and Malachi were deep inside the first level of Shadowfell Keep. When we last left them, they had defeated numerous zombies in some sort of Hall of Runes. They had a final room full of them to get through before they would be able to approach a mysterious hazy light in a passageway to the east. The zombies at first seemed troublesome, grabbing Marroar and immobilising him, but he quickly freed himself and with a thunderous magical wave the weaker zombies crumbled to dust. Malachi, the rogue locksmith, was able to deliver some sneaky backstabbing action, and the room was soon cleared.

Two racks of decrepit armour hung on the north and south walls, and when approached, a magical thundering voice boomed forth with a riddle, which cannot be repeated here due to copyright issues. The group's first answer to the riddle was incorrect, and the magical voice expressed its disappointment, again with a phrase owned by Wizards of the Coast. On their second attempt, the group guessed the correct word and were rewarded with magical iron scale armour and a mysterious black cube.

The cube (which I can tell you about, because it's an addition to this published adventure) had 4 red recessed tiles around its middle, and on the top on the bottom displayed the abyssal runes for Time and Death. Marroar depressed two of the sides, one after the other and found that around him, time had stopped! Sadly the sides remained in place; the object had a finite number of uses.

Searos donned his newly acquired magical armour, and handed down his chain-mail to Giovana. Bravely, our adventurers then entered the next chamber, a long crypt intersected with a wider chamber at the end, making the shape of a crucifix. Its walls were lined with upright sarcophagi. A shimmering light beckoned the party forwards but as they reached the centre of the room, skeletal warriors were dispensed from each sarcophagus. A fierce battle ensued (they usually do) before Scrindrel found two alters at the north and south end of the larger chamber, under a giant domed ceiling which bore the likeness of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon God. Scrindrel guessed correctly that a prayer must be offered to end the onslaught, but was unable to read the draconic inscription on the altars* and had to wait for Malachi to fight his way through the continually spawning skeletons before he could finally read the prayer aloud. Having done so, all of the skeletons returned to their tombs and a giant door to Sir Keegan's reseting place was unlocked.

Entering the small chamber where the knight's coffin lay, Searos attempted to disturb its lid, and it blew open, the terrifying remains of Sir Keegan himself leaping out and drawing his sword. He proceeded to question the adventurers as to their true intentions, as he suspected that they were here to profit from the evil of the rift. Finally they convinced him they were here to seal it once and for all, and he offered them his enchanted sword to help them achieve the great task.

Suddenly, their discussion was interrupted by the reappearance of Splug, the goblin who had double crossed them! Cliffhanger!

* DM Notes: In the published adventure, any sort of prayer or offering to Bahamut would have been enough to make the skeletons retire and end the encounter, but at the time this felt like it would have ended the combat too soon and not been enough of a challenge, so I decided that someone who spoke Draconic had to read out the inscription of the altar first. I quite like adapting the material to the players and their actions as I go, and improvising new stuff to help the story progress. While I'm on the subject, the cube is not in the original adventure either, but I'm conscious that Shadowfell can be a bit turn/combat heavy so I like to introduce more roleplaying elements here and there. I'm sure you guessed that Marvin Padraig was invented on the fly to move things in the right direction as well!

Overclocked Remix

How did I not know about this before? I just found all the music I'll need for the next few years at least at http://ocremix.org/remixes/

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Six

This is part six of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session, although usually I've forgotten most of it by the time I come to write it up. See all previous entries here.

Disclaimer: Details are getting really sketchy. I really, really, really have to do this closer to the actual date of play next time. Also, this was a combat-heavy session, which was due in part to me forgetting to include a puzzle room at one stage. I'll work it into the next session. I'm very tired.

Having previously discovered a secret passageway, our noble adventurers followed it to discover the sleeping quarters of the goblin leader. And there he was, in all his obesity, fast asleep in his bunk. As our party are fair and honourable, but ultimately self-serving folk, a sword was stuck into Balgron (for it was he) as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this was not enough to finish him off, and he leapt from his bed and gathered a small handheld crossbow. A short, tense, cramped and comical battle ensued, at the end of which Balgron lay dead with various bolts and arrows protruding from his head and neck. Keys were found about his person and thus his treasure was verily robbed.

Having entered the stronghold through the secret passageway, our adventurers then exited via the main entrance, encountering armed goblin warriors along the way. It's the usual routine - swords, warhammers, arrows, spells and powers = dead goblins. You know the drill.

Having now started three paragraphs with the word "having" (including this one), Searos, Marroar, Scrindrel, Giovana and Malachi discovered that the keys they had acquired from the big fat dead goblin would allow them to unlock one of the doors in the original main chamber, and permit them further travel into the keep.

They entered a pitch-black chamber. Lighting their torches, they were presented with a maze of corridors. Terrible groans could be heard in the distance. Strange runes were found on the floor which had to be crossed in order to proceed further; in turn, each member of the party attempted to jump them. Those who failed and landed on the runes were suddenly filled with an overwhelming terror and attempted to flee the area, before finally coming to their senses a few moments later.

Suddenly, zombies attacked! It's not all goblins you know! Thankfully they were no match for the thunderous waves of a certain wizard. The zombies attempted to grab and hold on to our adventurers, but why? To save them for a snack for later? Or to attempt to rekindle some kind of human compassion through a simple act of affection? In any case, they were all eventually beheaded.

Our adventurers now approach Sir Keegan's final resting place, but not before they have to do that thing that I forgot about last time!

Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Five

This is part five of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session, although usually I've forgotten most of it by the time I come to write it up. See all previous entries here.

Having defeated the first batch of goblins in their guard room at the entrance to the Keep, our party were left with various exits to consider. Passageways and locked doors led to the west and south respectively, and as they were examining their surroundings, Scrindrel the Ranger heard faint screams from the north-west.

Following their previous misfortune with traps, the adventurers approached cautiously and, after passing a storeroom, found a what appeared to be a torture chamber, complete with assorted blood stains, iron maiden*, rack, tables of various implements of torture, and a terrifying hobgoblin eager to use them. Flanked by further goblin warriors, the hobgoblin attempted to bullrush Searos into the iron maiden but was unsuccessful. One of the goblin warriors tried to lure Marroar into a cage in the corner, but just made a fool of himself over a prolonged period of time. Malachi made some critical back stab sneak attacks, Scrindrel showered the enemies with arrows, and Giovana was at hand with divine healing and/or killing rays (depending on your allegiance to Giovana). Again, I'm paraphrasing. I should really write these the next day or something.

Shortly before the end of the battle, Scrindrel and Malachi found a naked beaten goblin in a cell by the name of Splug, who promised to help the adventurers in return for his freedom. Scrindrel was prepared to make such a deal, and Malachi offered Splug interesting new bone configurations to consider should he try to double-cross them. In the meantime however, their alliance was cemented through the process of Malachi using Splug as a human goblin shield.

Once the goblins were defeated along with their hobgoblin leader, Splug dressed himself in the armour of his former torturers, and relayed all the useful information he could about the surrounding environs. He was familiar with various rooms used by the goblins, including an excavation to the east. He also knew that their leader was Balgron the Fat, and that there was a secret passage that led directly to his quarters. He was unable to provide any further useful information, despite encouraging threats of bodily violence from Malachi.

The party decided to investigate the excavation to the east next, and in the approaching corridor found a secret passageway that they assumed led to Balgron's quarters. However, they failed in stealth and, alerted to their presence, the goblins in the excavation attacked, flanked by two guard drakes.

Another fierce battle commenced. The excavation site made it very difficult - the large chamber contained patches of the original floor dotted around like islands between massive trenches where the goblins had dugs to depths of up to 10ft in search of something. Rickety planks connected these ladders, and it was Searos who found out the hard way that these planks simply weren't designed for dwarves who wore heavy armour and had a penchant for carbohydrates.

Finally the battle was won, and the party could regroup before taking Balgron's quarters. Stay tuned! Next time: An increase in story accuracy guaranteed!

* As it was pointed out to me during the game, Iron Maiden's were never actually a real-life middle-ages torture device. Did you know that Dragons aren't real either?