Vithujin reports

Caves of Myrddin con session #2 report here.

Caves of Myrddin con session 1

Man, going to night class, then running an online game at 4:30 am, then working a full day and then running a 7pm to 11pm con game was a stupid, stupid plan.  Maybe if I was ten years younger I wouldn't feel it so hard, but right now I'm still pretty wrecked even after 7 hours of sleep.

But anyhoo, on with the session report.  I had six players last night.  Nick, one of my Wednesday night crew, signed up, so he played Vithujin, a.k.a. the infamous Elfy Don't.  I'm feel honored and gratified that a guy who plays my game for free every Wednesday would be willing to pay for an opportunity to play some more, but for some reason I also find it hilarious.  Either way Nick's a good guy and welcome in my game anytime.  Nick was extremely cool about not rubbing his extra levels and knowledge of the game in the other players' faces.

Next up is Shannon.  She and a couple friends (one of them her husband maybe? I forget) are regulars at my Winter War games.  It was good to see her again.  She played Linnea the Magic-User until an Arduinian morghoul (Like a ghoul, but even more so.  Grodd bless Dave Hargrave) floated across a pit and ripped her in half.  The party was totally patting themselves on the back about putting that pit between the monster and them.  When it just floated across the looks on their faces were priceless.  Later Shannon played Sophina the Dwarf and kicked some serious ass with a battle axe.  I forgot to ask her if her dwarf had a beard.

Matthew is a reader on the Gameblog and I got the impression that he boned up on the campaign matter.  He played Dandy Wasdewy, a Welshman and thief with one hit point.  Later he became known as Deadly Dandy Wasdewy, because of his affinity for scoring lethal criticals on monsters.  He killed the morghoul with a wicked crossbow shot and literally plucked out the black heart of a frog-demon with a spear.  The heart is still on his spear, beating malevolently.

Jim is an older guy with a beard and noted that he had an OD&D boxed set on a shelf somewhere.  He played an elf whose name I forget and was probably the most careful mapper I've seen.  Due to his precise mapping he located a 20' x 10' secret room with a silver idol of a dude with a goathead holding lightning bolts.  This was sold to a "collector of curiosities", which is Wasdewy-speak for "we sell it to the local coven of Satan and make up a cover story for the cleric."

Moira played Liddia the Elf.  She was the party sleep spell machine.  She also was very helpful in keeping Ian, her little brother, under control.  Ian played Ian the Cleric.  He was the youngest person in the group and combined the player personality type of Crazy Try Anything Guy and Doesn't Understand That Actions Have Consequences Kid.  Just the sort of dude I want in a con game.  He kept trying to find the rumored magic pig that grants a wish if you eat it.  He nearly found himself in William of Crevan's dungeon for braining one of his lord's peasant's prize porker.

Probably the highlight of the evening was when the party discovered the lair of Joe Mama's Mama, a big ugly troll in a pink floral muumuu.  They figured out out it was his mommy because they found a framed photo of him in a place of honor on her bookshelf.

today's experiment

I want to talk a little about today's game outside of the usual "here's what the drunken henchman tells you" context.  As you may have heard one of the claims being made about the new edition of D&D is that it will accomodate characters from previous editions.  My impression from the early presentation was that you'd be playing a 1st edition assassin and your buddy next to you would have a 4e warlock and it would somehow all hold together without the DM going insane or you lusting after the warlock's feats and powers.  I think the folks at Wizards have backed off this claim slightly in the past couple of days.  The real deal seems to me that the default PC will look a lot like a 1st or 2nd edition character, but lots of 3e and 4e fiddly bits will be available as options.  I dunno.  I have no direct info.

Either way, I got to shooting my mouth off about wanting to try running characters from divergent editions side by side, as sort of a control group.  Can an ordinary DM make this work without benefit of a 5e rulebook telling him how to get it done?  Zak made me put up or shut up, so here's the roster from todays game:

Niles Calder ran Louie le Mouche, a 3rd level rogue made under 2nd edition Advanced D&D
Arthur Fisher ran Clark Clarkson, a (2nd level?) half-orc cleric of Hieronymus Bosch, a 3e character
Zak Smith ran Vortullak the Untamed, a 1st level Warlord made with 4e
Mike Fernandez ran Tufi, a 1st level Gungan Jedi made with Star Wars Saga

Mike was a last minute sub.  Originally Peter Robbins was going to play a character from the World of Azamar, a fantasy rpg I know nothing about, but he had to cancel.

The real trick to making this hodgepodge group was deciding which mechanics were owned by the PCs and which were owned by the DM.  For example, when the dragon breathed fire everyone used my save chart.  What their Reflex save was didn't matter one bit.  But when they cast spells they used the rules for their own edition as best as we could.  The only place this felt strained was when Zak used one of his Warlord powers to swap places with a giant golden spider that was trying to kill them.  That felt really dissociated and like it had nothing to do with my game.  I explained it away as some sort of secret anime powered weeaboo magic, but it still felt a little grating.  Zak's potential damage output was also hella higher than the 2e and 3e guys.  The jedi just sliced through all kinds of shit, as would be expected.  He came real close to beheading the dragon.

So anyway, I'm now convinced that something like WotC's plan is feasible, assuming the 4e stuff is toned down a bit to bring the number more in line with previous editions.

Caves of Myrddin update

So the Dragon of Dundagel seems to be in a bit of a mood today.  He's been seen flying around the countryside, plucking up peasants and dropping them from great heights, panicing herds and flocks, and he even set fire to the village of Endelstow, home of everyone's least favorite cleric:

Vicar Sithney finally has evidence to support his claim that the adventurers at St. Emmet's are making things worse, not better.

In totally unrelated news, a slightly charred Vortullak the Untamed returned from the dungeons today.  His companions Louie le Mouche, Clark the Half-Orc and Tufi the Rabittduck are nowhere to be seen.  By some strange coincidence Vortullak is offering for sale a map he claims leads straight to the dragon's lair.  Opening bid is 200gp.

he paid, he can call it whatever he wants

Vithujin the Elf, occasional survivor of the dangers under Dundagel, has returned once more to the guesthouse at the Abbey of St. Emmet. Once there, he immediately begins making arrangements for a celebration he calls the "Woed Ruckus", a week long marathon of feasting and wenching. Reaching into the pouches at his belt, he pulls forth gold, and even platinum coins* to pay the locals for their various services.


As a joke, Vithujin has payed for some fliers to be made up. He intended to send some invitations over to the scoundrels at Le Lepin Bleu (Hugo le Bâtard's manor), but due to heavy drinking and gross overpayment the fliers end up in every settlement surrounding the Abbey.

Let the Woed Ruckus begin!

Our generous host Vithujin the Elf, the Pantless Pilgrim, the Demon Freezer, and only person to have successfully prodded the Dragon of Dundagel and been remortaled to talk about it; is throwing a party.

Already in attendance are those persons possessing a gentle spirit, quick wit, or firm backside.

Now the rest of you need to show up.

The plan is to fill the Abbey with songs, stories, and seductions for a full week.

St. Emmet's antennae will be flailing wildly.

*DM's note: this is the first appearance of platinum pieces in the Wessex campaign.  They are stamped ARTHUR REX.

I love toys like this.

Here's a nifty toy for making viking type fantasy ladies, shared with me by someone in my Google+ feed. The site that hosts this game has a bunch of other fantasy character makers, including a few for male characters.

medieval Flemish names

One of the more common types of mercenary for hire in Wessex are Flemish crossbowmen.  King Stephen's chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, is Pretender of Flanders and imports boatloads of these guys.  A few of them are bound to make their way into private contracts with adventurers.  They are considered more trustworthy than Welsh bowmen.

FLEMISH NAMES

d% Flemish male names
1 Ada, Adam, Addi
2 Adolf
3 Aio
4 Albern, Albert
5 Alem, Alda, Alfer
6 Alting, Alto, Alwin
7 Andree, Anno
8 Arnold
9 Ato, Avo
10 Baderic
11 Baldo, Baldric
12 Bartholomei, Bartold
13 Benjamin, Benno
14 Bern, Berner, Bernhard
15 Bero, Betto
16 Boldewin, Baldwin
17 Bono, Buddo
18 Brio
19 Cono, Conrad, Constantin
20 Dago, Dagmar
21 Dietmar, Ditmar
22 Diggo, Dodo
23 Ebbi, Ebberich
24 Ecco, Edo, Eno
25 Egmund, Ekbert
26 Eio, Elli, Ello
27 Emeric, Eric
28 Eoban
29 Etto, Evo
30 Falko
31 Fastrad
32 Finn, Fot
33 Folmar, Fulmar
34 Franco, Franko
35 Gaiko, Gebbo
36 Gerald, Geri, Gherard
37 Getti, Goto
38 Gorgii, Gregorio
39 Gunther, Guthar
40 Henryk
41 Herard, Herman
42 Hiddo
43 Hige
44 Hoo, Hubert
45 Iger, Igmar, Igo
46 Immo
47 Io, Ionis
48 Isa, Isaac
49 Ivi, Ivo, Iwain
50 Jalo
51 Jo, Johannes, Jonathas
52 Knut
53 Kraft
54 Laurentius
55 Lela
56 Liddo, Liopold
57 Limmo
58 Ludbert, Ludolf
59 Manno
60 Martino
61 Mauricius
62 Meiner
63 Menfrid
64 Meniko, Menko, Meno
65 Nandino, Nanno
66 Norbert
67 Odric, Oger
68 Oleman, Onolf
69 Osi, Otto, Ovo
70 Pappo
71 Paio
72 Paulus, Petrus, Phillipo
73 Rainer, Reinold
74 Rette, Rin
75 Richard, Ritger
76 Robbert, Robert
77 Rodolf, Rupert
78 Rutger
79 Salomon
80 Saxan, Saxbert, Saxo
81 Selo
82 Sibert, Sibold
83 Sicco, Sikko, Siger
84 Simon, Sosso
85 Stefan, Stephan, Steppo
86 Tammo
87 Tete, Tette
88 Theodi, Tedi
89 Tibbe
90 Tiego, Tio
91 Ubbo, Udo, Uno
92 Wago, Waldo
93 Walfrid, Walther
94 Wana
95 Waszo
96 Wenzo, Wigo
97 Wilbrand, Wilfrid
98 Willem, Willibrord
99 Windelmar
100 Wio, Wolber

d% female Flemish name
01-02 Adela
03-04 Agatha, Agnes
05-06 Aia
07-08 Alda
09-10 Aldwi
11-12 Ama, Ata, Ava
13-14 Benedicta
15-16 Betta
17-18 Berta
19-20 Dida
21-22 Enna
23-24 Erlinda
25-26 Ermina
27-28 Evergerd
29-30 Fida
31-32 Fokka
33-34 Gela
35-36 Gertrude
37-38 Ghisela, Gisla
39-40 Gutha
41-42 Heiga
43-44 Helena
45-46 Hema
47-48 Hera
49-50 Ide
51-52 Ige
53-54 Imma
55-56 Iudith
57-58 Laurentia
59-60 Ligef
61-62 Luua, Luva
63-64 Machtild
65-66 Maga, Magin
67-68 Megina
69-70 Menika
71-72 Murina
73-74 Notha
75-76 Oda
77-78 Ogiva
79-80 Olge
81-82 Oza
83-84 Sita
85-86 Sophia
87-88 Suvi
89-90 Susanne
91-92 Tetta
93-94 Tiada
95-96 Uda
97-98 Wela
99-00 Yolande

I haven't done any research into Flemish surnames.  Since we're talking about a small region across the sea appending "of Flanders" would obviously work.  Here's a quickie d6 chart if you really need one:

1. of Kassel
2. of Gent
3. of Bruges
4. of Dunkirk
5. of Antwerp
6. of Limburg

I think all those places are in Flanders.