Snow days are a wonderful time for teachers.  Usually it’s a day to check off some of those little things that have been piling up but are low on the priority list. 

Sometimes, however, its just nice to sit back and watch the snow fall and recharge the batteries.  Whether its reading a book, playing some video games or taking some time to colour some pictures with my daughter, there really isn’t anything like a snow day.

Today so far, I have had a chance to do a little exercise on the treadmill and catch some riveting episodes of Super Why with Rachel.  What do you do with your snow days?

Well, the school year has finally come to an end and I find myself out from underneath piles of papers to grade and paperwork to file for the demonic taskmasters otherwise known as the Department of Education.  With my new-found freedom and modicum of free time, I thought I should dust off the old blog and see what’s been going on since my post waayyy back in September.

Weekly gaming has continued here on Fridays with 4th edition passed by we have stuck with 3.5 and are dipping our toes into the world of Pathfinder.  Hopefully, this August our excitement that was so thoroughly crushed with the release of 4e will be rewarded with the publication of the Pathfinder Core Rules from Paizo.  Presently we are playing Monte Cooke’s Dungeon-a-Day megadungeon which has been quite a romp.  I’m DMing after an almost 8 month break which was very nice.  While a player we played the Sunless Citadel module (which none of our group had done) as well as the first installment of the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path.  Mixed in there was a stomp through the first couple levels of the updated Maure Castle from Dungeon magazine.

Looking back at the list it would seem that we have focused primarily on dungeon crawls but our group always seems to find a way to work roleplaying into adventures that would appear to be most point and shoot type adventures with Crimson Throne being the exception, of course.

As things start to slow down for the summer, I am looking forward to continuing the Dungeon-a-Day mega-dungeon.  Last year we had a big blow-out to our Ptolus campaign that saw us do the old-school marathon session broken up with a BBQ supper which I am hoping to hold again this year.   Hopefully, we can get to a point where we can finish a major section/level of the dungeon that will give us a nice break point.  As school gears up again, I think I’ll be handing the reins back to one of the other DMs in the group who can run things while I get back into the teaching groove.

What are your summer gaming plans?  Do you find that you get to game more or less during the summer?  How do you handle vacations/missing players?  Do you soldier on or just plan breaks?  Any mega-sessions going on?

Hope to hear from some of you who still might have me in your feeds.

It’s September so its been a return to work for me as the students return to the clasroom.  This is the busiest time of the year for most educators as we prepare for the students to return as well as learn all the new policies and procedures for the upcoming year.   Because of these tumultous time everything else takes a backseat including blogging and gaming.  In the past few weeks we have had a hard time getting our group together for a full session. Read the rest of this entry »

As the days tick down to the grand-daddy con of them all, Gen-Con, I again lament the fact the East Coast of Canada is devoid of any real gaming conventions.  To my knowledge we have one convention here that is primarily an anime convention with a sprinkling of gaming going on but nothing really devoted to rpg (or comic) goodness.  It is times like this that I let my mind wander and think about what it would take to get a convention on the go here on the East Coast.

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As you know, I have been running a Ptolus game off and on for 2 years now.  Last weekend, we finally finished the Night of Dissolution module bringing the players to 10th level.  During the final battle in the game I realized for the first time that I was DMing above my pay grade.  What does that mean?  Read the rest of this entry »

It has been  few days since I last wrote so I thought I would update on the preparations for the big gaming marathon that is happening tomorrow which is the big ’season finale’ of our Ptolus campaign – The Night of Dissolution module.  I have been working on prepping for the game (my weak spot as I tend to run on the fly).  It makes me respect those endless preppers who have tons of material ready to go.  Usually our sessions are about 5 hours in length but we’re a chatty group so if we get in 3 hours its a good night.  Tomorrow I am faced with 10 hours to fill and a clear objective to reach the finish line of the module.  How does one plan for that much time?

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I had planned on the next post on Hacking 3.5 to be about various feats and skill changes our group could make as we look to fresh up 3.5 for continued play.  However, on Friday something came up during our session that made me stop and look at the bigger picture of the game.  It occurred to me as we were discussing making possible house rules that we were approaching the game from totally different viewpoints BUT all felt that everyone was viewing the game the same as we did.  Confused?  Let me explain. 

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The group has decided that we are going to have a full day session to serve as a season finale of our Ptolus campaign.  If I time things properly we can get to this by next weekend (August 2nd).  So, the plan is to make this an event.  I have shuffled the wife and daughter off for the afternoon and early evening to avoid distractions.  I am planning a suppertime BBQ (burgers and hot dogs with potato salad) which will allow for easy cooking/cleanup and then back to gaming quickly.  So, the event is prepared now I must prepare the session to make it something worthwhile.

The season finale of our campaign is going to be the end of the Night of Dissolution (NoD) module from Malhavoc Press which we have been running since we ran out of the adventures in the Big Book (BB).  The party just crested 9th level so I am looking to make sure that the module is challenging enough but that they can achieve success after some tense moments. 

Usually I use my Tact-Tiles for mapping.  These are great for large maps but the company is no longer in business so you can’t buy them new.  You can try second hand or go the do-it-yourself route.  For this session I have decided to do something a little different.  For those of you who aren’t my players, read on.  Players, please stay out. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that our group is sticking with the 3.5 ruleset we are faced with the task of figuring out what hacks/tweaks/changes we will make to freshen it up.  So far we are looking at Monte Cook’s Book of Experimental Might I and Book of Experimental Might II from Malhavoc Press as well as the new Pathfinder RPG from Paizo.  The biggest issue is to help the melee types (mostly our group Knight) to have more to do in a round especially since he was the biggest supporter of a change to 4e.

When deciding to hack 3.5 the questions most on our minds were: what needs to be freshened up and what is broken in our opinion?  Foremost on our knight’s player’s mind was that he had little to do in a round other than swing his sword and absorb damage.  He also found that he was absorbing a lot of damage for himself so he had little chance to use his abilities to absorb damage for others negating much of his classes’ special abilities.

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Once again it is Friday and I am working on prepping for tonight’s game.  Last week, the party decided to take the fight to the Temple of the Ebon Hand after the Cultists hired the Vai assassins to attack them in their home.  We worked our way partway through the temple and the party had allowed someone to detect them in what was otherwise a fairly stealthy infiltration for this group of yahoos.  So, tonight, I have the bad guys about to be alerted to invaders to their temple and the party ready to kick some major @$$.  This confrontation has been building for a while and I want the party to have some real success tonight.  An old enemy who has been dogging the group since second level will once again rear his head and I think this time the party might be able to best him.  If played right some real treasure and fame may come to the party after tonight’s session. 

One thing that I always struggle with as a DM is to build the right amount of frustration to challenge.  I think we have reached the point tonight where I need to payoff some of the trials and tribulations the party has gone through and reward them for their hard work.  The party is on the cusp of 9th level which for us is a rare feat since our campaigns usually stall out around 4th-5th.

So, a big showdown between the Runic Street Boys and the Temple of the Ebon Hand cultists tonight.  Let’s get ready to rumble!