Vampire Queen 5E and 10 Year Anniversary 1E Softcovers With The Classic Greyhawk Campaign Setting- Session Report 6

 So as you know from the last session last week I'm deeply engrained with DM Steve's Tainted Greyhawk campaign where we're treading on the outer edges of the vampire queen's domain. We finished off the last of the zombie bandits from last game. This wasn't an easy fight to say the least. But then we came across the bandit king's lair during the daylight hours. And the bastard was a vampire and that lair was guarded by giant rats and giant bats. 

We're playing a variation of Hanging Coffins of The Vampire Queen. Which  is fantastic module  available from Dark Wizard Games here.  Back to the band king vampire, there was no way that we were going to let this thing keep existing but it was going to be a slog to get to him. We were conserving our mages and so forth. So it was down to dirty tricks and two caskets of burning oil down the enterance of the cavern lair. 
The free willed intelligent zombies are part of the vampire queen's mercenary forces and have been one of the hazards that we've run into twice now. This part time we were ready. There were passive dangers from the bandit king's lair including dart traps, pit traps, green slime (always a crowd pleaser), and rot grub pits. All passive defenses. And then there were the numerous giant rats, and bats to contend with not to mention the unintelligent zombies and two intelligent ghoul body guards. We had to think our way past everything. And we had to do it by sunset with all of the traps designed to slow us down. And finally we got to the stone coffin and it was a false set up with an intellgent slime monster. And here's where the wizard's fire ball spell came in truly handy. 

This is so DM Steve, slow us down and let the NPC rise to finish us off. Not this time, we have two thieves and they found the secret door to the bandit king's tomb behind a false mozaic of the undead bastard who was apparently some minor knoble in life. We staked hime, cut off the head, stuffed the head with garlic, and then staked the body out for sunrise while we waited in the bushes for his forces to come! This is where we ended the session. 

Vampire Queen 5E and 10 Year Anniversary 1E Softcovers With The Classic Greyhawk Campaign Setting- Session Report 5

 During tonight's game we ran straight into the arms of undead bandits. And it wasn't pretty but a fortunate fireball from one of our wizards saved our hides. We're geting close to the Vampire queen's castle and the undead are getting worse. Hanging Coffins of The Vampire Queen is available from Dark Wizard Games here.  

And all of this kicked off from a week or so ago's Castles & Crusade's Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen session right here on the blog!  DM Steve is using a variation on James Ward Tainted Lands and the undead mixed with the Hanging Coffins. And these things have been tough but the real headache was running into a party of pig faced Orc adventurers! These things were mercenaries working for the vampire queen. And scattered throughout out the vampire queen's lands have been her mercenaries and forces. We've recovered some treasure but it's mostly been supplies and such! We're on the outer edges of the vampire queen's domain. 

We were going to hook up with the local resistence to the vampire queen and instead walked right into an ambush by undesd bandits. And these things are free willed and intelligent zombies with passion for violence and an appetite for flesh or brains. We were ready for them this time however! 
This is a Tainted Lands version of Greyhawk where the lands have been subverted by the presence of dark lord like rulers. And the Tainted Lands has extended its reach across Greyhawk. Castles & Crusades is ideally suited to this style of campaign. But it has been tough going to say the least! 

Vampire Queen 5E and 10 Year Anniversary 1E Softcovers With The Classic Greyhawk Campaign Setting- Session Report - Two

So we pick up right where we left off on the blog here. We're playing in a Tainted Lands version of Greyhawk. And we've been forced to flee the skeleton forces of the Vampire Queen & go deeper into the wilderness whilst circling around back to the track where the vampire queen's lair & castle are. 

During session two we've encountered packs of wolves and had been forced to flee toward a trapper's cabin to restock and supply. Even with higher level PC's this has proven to be a bit on the daunting side with lots of dodging and weaving. Our two cleric have been put upon for both martial and first aid while we found the trapper's cabin with no one home. We've left appropriate gold coin as recompense as we've gathered new arrows, torches, etc. 

We left the cabin as soon as possible and fled into the woods at daybreak at break neck pace with the wolf packs on our tail. The night found us in a cave back on the trail we needed and our backs against the cavern wall. We're counting torches and conserving arrows. We heard pig faced orcs down in the valley below and saw that they had a shaman. This is bad news. This means that the vampire queen is using mercenary forces to shore up her own. We ended here for now. 
 This is beginning to feel like a horror movie instead of a Castles & Crusades game given that we're using James Ward's Tainted Lands as a sorta of a background element for Greyhawk this isn't a bad thing. 

Vampire Queen 5E and 10 Year Anniversary 1E Softcovers With The Classic Greyhawk Campaign Setting- Session Report -

 

Over the years I've been obessed with my buddy Mark Taormino's Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen. There's less then twenty four hours left for the Kickstarter. So when I got invited to bring in one of my high level PC's into DM Steve's Tainted Lands game. I was jumping at the chance to get out from behind the screen. Lazlo The Amazing my 10th level wizard was finally getting a work out.  This blog post picks right up from this commentary  here on the blog. 

Our party met mid point between Hommlet and serveral other classic Greyhawk locations. Yes this is a Tainted lands version of Greyhawk. We encountered skeleton riders part way down the road as a random encounter.  This was tough fight as these bastard undead were taking human prisoners to the vampire for tonight's feast. Two of our number bought it with cross bolts to the chest.
We retreated with the skeletons giving chase. And then sounding a horn for reenforcements. Needless to say that things were not going as planned. We retreated deep into the woodlands and hastely buried our dead. 
The sounds of horns awakened us! The undead were on our trail! This was not supposed to go like this. We stumbled into an ideallic looking cabin in the woods and a full array of skeletons camped out by it! Our party had to get back on the offensive and attacked immediately. This time we were able to defeat the skeleton warriors. 

 So we're using a combination of Castles & Crusades with higher level PC's. And it's going pretty solidly with the players having to think on thier feet when it comes to dealing with deadlier intelligent undead. These undead are organized, intelligent, and going to town on the local populace with these being the norm for James Ward's Tainted Lands

The Ghouls & The Black Market - A Wretched Darkness Rpg One Shot Mini Campaign Report

 

First of all gotta apologize to the Red Room, we've been dropping the ball on the Wretched Darkness rpg. Lately the big thing that has been keeping our Wretched Darkness campaign from happening has been work scheduling among players. The players are very excited about getting hip deep into a game.The PC's are all set and we've already got them rolled up. So let's get the advertisment out of the way first. 

 You can purchase Wretched Darkness from: Big Geek Emporium: https://biggeekemporium.com/product/w... Lulu: https://www.lulu.com/shop/joe-coombs-... (paper back)

The group of players gets involved with a black market antiques seller who is far more then he seems. The antiques seller is actually a ghoul and has enlisted the PC's to recover these relics. Why?! Because these relics are actually the remains of relics used in lost Ghoul kingdoms long before the Flood of Noah. And they could spell the end of humanity. Why would monsters care?!

Because of the fact that even monsters don't want to live on a burnt out rock!

These relics will in point of fact summon the 'father of all ghouls'. And this is a bad thing because this monster god is known for his appetites and they are not kind to anyone who runs across it. The monster has been kept in the Beyond for eons. Should the Dark Forces come across these relics. Well things could hit the fan in our campaign fast! 
The player's PC's are all local monsters a mix of human, Children of the Night, and more. The stomping ground for this is New York City sans '69 Minutes into the Future'.
Note that this also crossses our Wretched Flesh Rpg campaign where the relics were fenced and made thier way to the U.S.. The PC's failed to recover the relics. And now they have to deal with the aftermath. 
The original Ghoul Kingdoms were a part of the Middle East but swept away by the Biblical Flood. 

The PC's first stop is going to be the Ghoul Market in New York City under the East Manhatten Bridge. The locals only think it's a massive homeless encampment the supernaturals know better. 

The Sword & The Worm Sorcerer - - Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise & Wretched Space Rpg Campaign Session Report

 Last night's Cha'alt & Wretched Space  rpg crossover game got into rip roaring turf as we came face to face with some of the spacer gangs we'd face two weeks back. And the group got into a protracted blaster fight in the wastelands in last night's session. 

During the fight that seemed to drag on our party suddenly encountered a demon worm outside of the city limits. And then things started to get down & dirty as worm took on various party member's faces. We're still not sure what this meant but things got even weirder. 

We were suddenly overtaken by worm drovers whose boss was a wizard  seemed to look like Xusia from old Eighties film 'The Sword & The Sorcerer'. And that's when the worm begged for help telepathically'. 'I can pay you to help me with this damn wizard!', the worm blasted our way & too the bandits who were attacking us. 
And that's when everyone switched their blaster fire on the wizard & his worm drovers. The demon worm started to animate any dead that were around us as well. 

And finally after an hour or so of game time we finally were able to unhinge the drovers off of the worm. Our party just went with it the animating the dead thing. 

The drovers high tailed it away but then I got the lingering feeling that we were going to have to deal with them again. If you've never seen the Eighties cultclassic 'The Sword & The Sorcerer' then you've never seen the black wizard Xusia. The take away is this the black wizard never gives up! If our deranged DM is modeling his worm wizard on Xusia then this guy won't either. 

The worm wasn't as good as his word. He lead us to a small underground dungeon & let us know that the treasure was in there. He also coughed up a magic sword & a few magic trinkets. Now as a player I've dealt with lots of these things on both sides of the screen. And the free coupons aside for a sling shot ride on the Purple Puliveriser in one of the outlying citys there's nothing that instills trust about this worm. 

And our group let the bandits have the treasure & went back to our original plan. We moved our speeders back into the deeper desert wastelands to locate the fabled Federation  spacecraft we were promised. And the demon worm assured us he could get us there. We didn't listen to the beast as we moved away as fast as we could. 
And that's when a Federation space craft picked us up & where we ended! 

I don't have a good feeling about this pick up & because we ended there I don't trust DM Steve at this point. Things have turned quite serious as we're stuck between two battling Federation factions at this point over the fate of Cha'alt. One is a spoiled princess & the other is her older brother who are rivals who have split the throne in half. Thus deviding the Federation itself against a ruinious interstellar economic situation. 

We're not sure how the demon worm fits in but those things don't just show up outta no where?! 

Purple Nuputials - Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise & Wretched Space Rpg Campaign Session Report

 This week Venger back his puple van over to DM Steve's house  & we got the brunt of it! Steve just received his new copy of Cha'alt book one after giving his brother Pete his copy for his birthday. So one of our PC's got his head blown off by a sorcerer of  the cult of  the Baleful Sorcerers  of Tsathag'kha. We're picking up right from here.  And some of here
And things went down hill from here. After getting shouted at by Zonetec for 3 hours after almost letting loose a memic device in  Aviladad. Then player's PC's were captured by the local mafia and they want a piece of the drug action The rest of the party meanwhile were on Cha'alt rocketing through the back alleys of  the city of A'agrybah with alien hitmen on thier heels. The Blackguard didn't make contact with their target & instead interrupted a drug deal. And blew the stash all over the alley. The alien mafia wasn't happy either & hence the alien hitman. 

 The city of A'agrybah city patrol was shot by a PC  vie a bad dice roll and now their out for blood. The wizard's guild also wants to talk to the PC's. Something  about a missing necklace of mind enhancement that was lost in a sexcapade of one of the PC's. The necklace has ended up in the hands of the cult of  the Baleful Sorcerers  of Tsathag'kha on Cha'alt. Lots of shooting & blaster fire later the hitman ended up propped dead in a stall in the backstreets of the city of A'agrybah. 

Now the PC's are hold up again in an alien brothel having some information given to them via the alien sex worker's network at double the rates. Can the PC's escape the city guards and make it into the black pyramid in order to dodge the demonic things coming their way?! Well not if their inhaling the black purple lotus that is going around the brothel as part of ah alien  wedding ceremony currently being held there. 

 

The league of Karens wants a word with the PC's after getting blackmailed by them over one of their senior members being caught in a comprimising position with a sand worm. Don't ask. The league contacted their contract vat grown  assassins to go  after the PC's now. But things are getting much more dark as two of  their assassins accidently got vaporized by the cult of  the Baleful Sorcerers  of Tsathag'kha. Again don't ask. 

More Wretched action next week! 

Footloose & Francy Free In The City of A'agrybah (not for long) - Session Report On Cha'alt Fuchia Mailaise

 So this week's game has been a nasty little romp through the back alleys of the city of A'agrybah. We've managed to dodge the cult of Karen goddess of managers. Don't ask. Almost got eaten by a series of sentiant slimes. Again don't ask. And got a wizard his enchanted sex toy collection. Really don't ask. Getting into the back end of Cha'alt Fuchia Mailaise has been interesting & messy. 

So right now we're heading over to make a back alley deal with a sorcerer of the order of Baleful  Tsathag'kha. We've dealt with these guys before and this is for a pass code for a 'deserted' Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport at the edge of the city. Things didn't go as planned as we ended up blaster muzzle first with the bodyguards of said wizard who wanted us to pay double. Rather then get into a long protracted blaster fight. We provided a small magic item for the price of the pass code. 

Things went from bad to worse as the wizard began to tell us about his dealings with the high tech facility of  Elysium. And what their operation was and how we could make excellent coin working for him after we're done 'liberating'  a space craft. Of course this isn't the only job he's got for us and the blasters did a lot of convincing to work for him. Asht'on Gar'ant is nasty piece of scum but he does pay well & we've no doubt that he will double cross us the first chance he gets. 

I'm not the one on the DM's side of the screen and so I'm playing an alien named ODen a sort of humanoid spacer scum whose ended up Cha'alt after a series of mis adventures. The pirate scume I've fallen in with has lost their space craft in a game of castles that went side ways. My blaster, a few credits, and the clothes on my back are all that I own in this twisted world. Our crew woke up in an alien brothel with all of the rest of the money gone & a Hell of a hang over. 
We've been cutting deal after deal over the last 72 hours to recoop our cash. And hence some of the risky deals that included running drugs, underground alien mating ritual porn, mini dungeon develving, doing three jobs for the thieves guild, and now this. 

This is going to be our second time dealing with the  'deserted' Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport & the pieces of crap who run it. Last time we got a space craft after losing two of our characters. The problem I've got playing with DM Steve's adventure is that their high risk or high death.  Oh did I happen to mention the fact that our captain is in debt to the loan sharks from Torth. And the scum sucking sorcerer we're working with is associated with them. 

'Build & Go' - Alternative Timelines & 2d6 Time Travel Campaign Session Report Update.

 The PC's made their way across the ruined landscape. No sun rose, nor did the sound of a single person reach their ears, and all around them was ruin. Yet their target trugged on. This blog post is going to pick up from here. 
So its been a rather busy day & I got together with one of my players & long time friends today. And we started talking about his old Cepheus Engine rpg PC. And we spoke at length about his PC poking around the time quake. And the other party following his historian/historical anthropologist through time. The other party got lost in the mix within the local time space continuum's break down. 

The party was separated & ended up in two different time periods on the same Earth's line. But it took days for one time line to catch up with the other. So while the player's PC's were occupying the same space they were not in the same time. The party's psychics were reading that all of the PC's were in the same location but not the same time line. 

The party finally got the idea that they had to leave as the time line deteroirated around them. As they left Earth they found a single hyperspace bouy pointing towards Io. 
Around Io they found a Trade Empire-class Commercial Transport  a massive 4500 tonne superfreighter in low orbit. As if the starship had been there for years it was coated with a massive waft of sulfur and other atmosphere dust coating its outer hull. 
The party's sensors could not detect the contents of the Trade Empire ship! The crew of PC's  was forced to go aboard. And once aboard to find out that there were the prefabbed buildings,food,  & supplies for building several colonies on board! 

And there was also a time drive in place aboard this ship. The PC's activated the drive and where whisked into the middle of a huge fire fight around Mars! And the ships were targeted by several 2nd men starships! They immediately left the area & stablized the starship! But now the 2nd men are aware of the party! They left the Trade Empire in a stable orbit and everything on board intact. The party copied the ship's computer drives and one of the places that the nav computer mentioned was 

Turquoise Valley. 

Drinking some whiskey in the saloon in New Liberty is a historian whose recording some of the local legends. We'll pick it up next game coming up!