Baldur's Gate III

 I picked up Baldur's Gate 3 yesterday and spent most of the night/early morning playing it with my oldest. We did a LAN connect between our two computers and it was an absolute blast.

The game plays just like D&D 5th Edition. So combat is easy and intuitive and honestly a lot of fun. Characters are just like 5e as well.

I did a version of my witch Larina for solo play.  Here she is as a Warlock.

And for the game I started with my son, I am playing a version of my paladin Johan.  He is playing his typical character, a blue dragonborn wizard. But tonight was not about exploring new things. It was about Dad and Son time with characters we both know well.

I guess there are something like 1,700 alternate endings to this game and several hundred hours of cinematics. Plus, according to my son who has been playing it since it was in Early Access, it is very mod-able.

This is good, because once you design your character that is what you have. Want something new/different? Make a new character. So it is like D&D! ;)

The game is gorgeous and the game play is easy. Actually playing the game is typical of computer RPGS. In my first go I missed saving a cleric that could have helped me (found her later) and a wizard.

Woo hoo! I have 18 hp and an ally!

Since the main plot involves Mind Flayers (that's not a spoiler, that is the first 3 mins of the game), you can even ally yourself with the enemy of my enemy, a githyanki.

And the nicest cleric of Shar you will ever meet.

I am not sure how much I am going to get to play it. But looking forward to it!

#RPGaDay2023 WEIRDEST game you've played

The weirdest wasn't due to the rules, but rather the add-ons.

It was a Gen Con and we were playing in an AD&D 1st Ed game. That year I want to take my family on a tour of all the editions of D&D prior to 5e coming out.  The DM though, had a copy of the old Lion Rampant Whimsy Cards, and he LOVED them.  

The game though was so damn weird and not at all AD&D 1st ed. Felt pretty disappointed, to be honest.

I liked the idea of the cards, but not this guy's execution of them.

When the modern editions came out, the Path of Horror Cards in particular, I picked them up. So not a complete loss really.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 11

 Hidden by the darkness is a small door, only large enough to allow one medium creature through at a time. 

This small room is filled with gems. Most are useless glass but have a magical glamour on them to make them look like real gems.  A dispel magic will remove this.

There are 3d10+10 real gems worth 1d6x5 gp each.

There are no creatures or other creatures.

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite tie-in FICTION

 Normally I avoid tie-in fiction for RPGs. 90% of the time, you can what I call, "hear the dice being rolled in the background." Most of it tries to cleave too close to the rules and less interested in telling a good story. 

But that is not always the case.

Back when I was gearing up to run the GDQ series for my family, I wanted to read what others had done, to immerse myself in the world and the adventures again.  That is when I discovered the writing of Pauli Kidd.

Pauli took the familiar locations and then gave me characters I really enjoyed. The Justicar, Escalla, even Cinders. They were a very rare treat. She did a fantastic job here, and I never heard the dice once.

Set in the World of Greyhawk, these books are less about these fabled locations and more about the characters. I had so much fun with them that I included Evelyn, the Princess Escalla as the daughter of the Justicar and Escalla (half-human/half-pixie, looks like an elf) in my own running of these adventures. Through interaction with the party, she became the lead freedom fighter to free the surface elves from their enslavement by the Drow across multiple planes. 

Another set are the Brimstone Angels series for the Forgotten Realms by Erin M. Evans. While the books focus on the twin tieflings Farideh and Havilar, the books cover some of the biggest events in Faerûn and even deftly cover things like the changes in world history from 3rd Edition to 4th Edition to 5th Edition.

Her books were so well received that it even added details to the rules, such as Mahen, Farideh, and Havilar to the list of Dragonborn names. 

There are few others, but these are the best in my mind.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 10

 Moving through the door, the party finds themselves in a long room. Inside waiting are two succubi.

They look at the party and tell them that all they really need are two more souls, and their 1,000 year servitude to the Vampire Queen is complete. So they are taking volunteers. 

If two characters agree to give up their souls (not likely) all four disappear in a cloud of brimstone.

If the alu-fiends are still alive, they do have souls, but the party would need to trick them somehow into giving their souls to the succubi.

The party can kill the succubi, but they will return in 21 days to do it all over again.  If it looks like the party will fight they will simply disappear and return later.  They have no treasure and are really prisoners of the Vampire Queen.

These demons are smart and are not fond of combat.

Succubus

Armor Class: 0 [19]
Hit Dice: 6+6*** (33 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d3 x2) or 1 kiss (see below)
Special: Energy drain, demon abilities.
THAC0: 13 [+6]
Movement: 120’ (40’) / fly 180' (60') 
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6+)
Morale: 8
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 825
Number Appearing: 1 (1d2) 
Treasure Type: I, Q (typically)

Succubi are demons (Lilim) that appear as beautiful women. They are not particularly strong, nor do they work well in groups, but they are cunning and exceptionally intelligent. 

The succubus's kiss can drain a victim of one energy level (or one point of Constitution). 

Succubi have the following demonic powers:

• Become Ethereal at will
• Charm Person
• Clairaudience
• ESP
• Shape-change, humanoid forms only
• Suggestion
• Succubi can also gate in other demons, but there is only a 40% chance the gate will open: 

• Type IV (70%)
• Type VI (25%)
• Lord or Prince (5%)
• Succubi never gate in Type V demons due to a long-standing enmity. 

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite DICE

 Favorite dice??? How do you choose that? I have different sets for different needs.

This is the set I use when playing Ravenloft of any other Horror themed D&D-like game. Made up my black and red dice with some Castles & Crusades dice thrown in.

These are my main D&D dice right now.

My Ghosts of Albion Dice.

I got a bunch of Drow Dice at Gen Con and have used at Gen Con when running the GDQ series.

Some of my oldest dice. Used these throughout highschool.

Various witch-themed dice.

Halloween-themed dice!

More old dice to add to my collections.

Some "Holmes-themed" dice, including some Gary Con ones.

A box of character-themed dice with their minis.

Various dice bags from my years of playing.

These though are my best sets. Original TSR-era Dragon Dice from the Basic and Expert sets. These are my "showcase" ones. These are the rules and dice that don't get played. I have plenty of other copies for the table. 

So you see...how can I choose?

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 9

Going back to Room #2 the next passage looks similar to the passageway for Room #6 (and #3).  Once entering the room the party sees two succubi.

These "succubi" are in fact two Alu-fiends.

Alu-Fiend Demon

Armor Class: 1 [18]
Hit Dice: 6+6*** (33 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4+2 x2) or 1 weapon (1d6) +2
THAC0: 13 [+6]
Movement: 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6+)
Morale: 10
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 1,250
Number Appearing: 1d2 (1d4) 
Treasure Type: C

The alu-demon is the female demonic offspring of a succubus (or other Lilim) and human. Though part demon, not all alu-demons are inherently chaotic (although good alu-demons are extremely rare). The typical alu-demon has black or brown hair and dark green, brown, or black eyes.

Alu-demons might be sent to the Material Plane to seduce mortals. When on such missions they typically arrange their flowing hair so it hides their horns and also fold their wings against their backs (and tuck them under their robe, shirt, or whatever garment of clothing one happens to be wearing at the time).

Each time an alu-demon hits with its claw attack it gains temporary hit points equal to the damage she inflicts. These temporary hit points disappear in one hour. 

Alu-fiends have the following demonic powers:

• vampiric touch 
• immune to poison
• magic resistance (15%)
• telepathy 100 ft.
• Alu-fiends can cast the following spells: 

• Charm person (3/day)
• Dimension door (1/day)
• ESP (3/day)
• Suggestion (1/day)

There is a 15% chance that these alu-fiends will not attack at all.  They are here to drive victims to their "sisters" in Room 10, behind the closed door ahead.  They will claim they are trapped here due to the magic of the Vampire Queen. This is mostly true. They will claim that if the party can get a scepter from the next room they will be freed and seek their vengeance against the mages of the Vampire Queen (this is a complete lie. They heard this from other demons here).

End of an Era: Heavy Metal Magazine

Recently I read on fred's HM fan blog that Heavy Metal magazine is no more.

I have often said that Heavy Metal (the music, the magazine, and the movie) was/were as much of an influence on my early 80s gaming style as were the likes of Dragon magazine, White Dwarf, and really, far more than most of the Appendix N books.

The news comes to us via Bleeding Cool and Multiversity Comics.

While I have not read HM in a long time, it was part of my D&D experience as much as anything. I even rank Taarna among the celebrated heroes of fantasy, right along with Conan, Elric, Frodo, Fafhrd, and the Gray Mouser.

This is not an age that is kind to the printed word, less kind even to the printed word on paper. I don't hold out any hope that HM will return in a new form any more than I hope that Dragon will.

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite CHARACTER

 I do have a few. There is the whole Werper family with Johan I as the first character I ever created and played for longer than one session. Every version of *D&D gets a new version of Johan as either a Paladin or Cleric. A (mostly) unbroken line of father and son dedicated to fighting evil, particularly the undead.

But I have to say my favorite character has to be my little witch Larina Nix/Larina Nichols.  Johan gets a new version (a son of the previous) in every version of D&D. Larina gets a version for every game I ever play.  I don't play her in every game, but I at least give her a try in the character creation rules.

I also like to get custom art of her and support artists.

I might be a little obsessed. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 8

 This room has no door, but is difficult to find due to the unnatural darkness.

Once in this room magical light can be seen.  There are treasure chests with coins (4,500 gp worth) and 1d10x10 rings of various shapes and sizes.  Of these 1d4+5 will be magical. 

The magical rings can be determined from the following table; Magical Rings.

There is no other treasures or creatures here.

Monstrous Monday: Gargantua Demons, Basic-era

 We live in an unprecedented time of access to media. For example, when I was a kid if I wanted to watch a Godzilla movie I had to wait for the various "creature feature" shows that would be on my local Channel 8, 11, or 12 on the weekends and then hope that one of them would be showing Godzilla.  As I got older my options progressively grew to cable channels, VHS, DVD, and then BluRay. Now I have streaming choices. Tubi was (and is) always good for horror, but now Pluto has stepped into the ring with their 24-hour Godzilla channel and Godzilla movies on demand. Subtitled, not dubbed, for the most part.

As expected, I have been watching it all the time. I am reminded there are some really, really bad ones here (Son of Godzilla comes to mind) but also some I really enjoy.  One of those was 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Yeah, I have it on DVD, but catching it one night was a nice treat.

It also made me want to come back to my idea of giant, Kaiju-like demons for my games.

A collection of DIY Demons

Destroyah is about the same size as the official D&D (4th Edition) Orcus, though Destroyah was only about 10 bucks. Given the 1" = 5' scale, a 6½" Destroyah comes out to about 32.5'.  With horn, 35'.

It makes for a very scary demon to be honest.

D&D Demons with your humble 5'9" blogger to scale.

I have done these Gargantua demons before for both Spellcraft & Swordplay and D&D 5.  I should also do them for my hybrid Basic/Advanced "Basic Bestiary" stat block.

Gargantua
Gargantuan Fiend (Demon, Calabim)

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 240' (80') [24"]
   Fly: 300' (100') [30']
   Swim: 300' (100') [30']
Armor Class: -7 [26]
Hit Dice: 30d8+180******** (315 hp)
 Gargantuan: 22d20+44******** (495 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 4 (+15)
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite, 1 tail, 1 breath weapon (typical)

Damage: 4d8 x2, 4d12, 2d12, as per dragons
Special: Alternate forms, breath weapon, fear aura 120', immune to mind-affecting magics, magic resistance 75%, vulnerable to holy weapons.

Save: Monster 30
Morale: 12 (12)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 38,750 (OSE) 38,750 (LL)

Str: 25 (+6) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 25 (+6) Int: 6 (-1) Wis: 7 (-1) Cha: 2 (-4)

These horrors are destruction incarnate. These demons stand 40 to 50 feet tall.  Each one is unique, but all have characteristics in common.  They are typically humanoid in shape but could be covered in scales, leathery skin, fur, chitin, or any combination of these. Some gargantuas even have alternate forms they can transform into. This includes the sprouting of wings or even juvenile or ultimate forms. In one recorded case, a gargantua was able to divide into dozens of smaller forms of 1 HD each and then reform later as the larger, composite creature. 

Their intellect is far below that of animals, and they exist only to destroy.  Powerful Balor or even Arch Fiends can control them, but it is challenging for them to do.  Mostly they are sent somewhere where everything must be destroyed or eaten.  Gargantua will even fight and kill other demons.  

All gargantua have massive claw and bite attacks.  Any critical hit roll on a bite indicates the victim has been swallowed whole.  Every gargantuan also has a breath weapon attack like that of a dragon. Typically fire, but lighting and wind are also typical. They do damage equal to the number of hp they have remaining, save vs. Breath Weapon for half.

Human wizards have been known to try to summon these creatures, but the destruction they cause usually outweighs any perceived benefits they may offer.  The spells to do so are carefully guarded.

Some scholars theorize these creatures are the remains of the ancient Titans like the Jötunar or even Die Hüne. But most believe these creatures began as normal animals infused with the evil essences of demons and their homes in the vast Abyss. 

#RPGaDay2023 SMARTEST RPG you've played

 Oh, now that is an interesting question.

It is a tossup, really.

Victoria and Baker Street are two very historically accurate Victorian-era RPGs. No steampunk, no gothic horror, no supernatural. Straight-up exploration of one of the more fascinating ages (in my mind) in history.  I love my Steampunk. I LOVE my Gothic Horror and Supernatural. But that loves comes from a solid grounding in the age, and these game both managed to give me what I love and be very clever about it.

Likewise, I love the tales of King Arthur and an age of a Mythic Britan.

While less grounded in actual history, these books both capture their subject matter well. Pendragon and Chivalry & Sorcery are great fun, and I just don't get to play them enough. 

It is great to do a historically accurate RPG as Victoria and Baker Street show, but Pendragon and C&S also demonstrate why historical accuracy sometimes needs to take a backseat (or passenger seat) to a good game.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 7

Moving on in this area, the party comes to a wider chamber. 

Lurking in the shadows is a true horror.  A skeletal horror, covered in blood with glowing red eyes.

It appears undead, but it is a Babu Demon. 

Babau Demon

These 7’ tall demons have ebony flesh that clings closely to their skeleton, appearing almost like a leathery corpse. They have a single curving horn that emerges from the back of their heads. 

Armor Class: -3 [22]
Hit Dice: 7+7 (45 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4+3 x2), 1 horn (1d6+3) or 1 weapon +3
THAC0: 12 [+7]
Movement: 150’ (50’)
Saving Throws: D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (7)
Morale: 8
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 2,050
Number Appearing: 1d3 
Treasure Type: C

Babau demons prefer to attack with weapons from a distance when possible and have STR 19 which grants bonuses to attacks and damage with some weapons.

• Glowing Eyes: Any creature within 20’ that looks into a babau’s glowing red eyes must succeed in a saving throw versus spells or be affected as if from a ray of enfeeblement. 
• Slimy Skin: A slimy red jelly coats the babe’s skin when in combat, reducing damage by 50% from cutting and stabbing weapons.
• Thief Skills: These demons have the abilities of a thief of 9th level. 
• Weapon Damage: Babau suffers damage from ordinary weapons and +2 damage from weapons of iron.
• Spell-Like Abilities: The babau can use the following at will.
• darkness 10’ radius
• dispel magic
• fear (as the wand of fear, by touch)
• fly
• levitate
• polymorph self
• heat metal.
• Gate Demon: a babau may gate (25% probability of success) another babau demon.

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite game you NEVER get to play

 My favorite game I never get to play? Easy.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft.

I love everything about this game and I never ever get to play it.  I think the last time was at Gen con maybe 10-12 years ago.

It was my inspiration behind Ghosts of Albion and NIGHT SHIFT. Neither of those games would have been made if it had not been for WitchCraft.

I can't even adequately put into words what this game means to me. Only the AD&D Monster Manual comes close.