Secret Warlock: Guest DM part 2

As promised I have a few thoughts on the guest DM from my Secret Warlock campaign. I'd like to start with some thoughts on the idea itself. I may be one of the luckiest people who play D and D because most of the players I know are also good DM's. I have heard that DM's are hard to find and a good DM is worth his or her weight in gold. I certainly agree witht the second part, but apart from some time on the virtual table, I haven't noticed a scarcity of DM's. Because most of the players I know also DM I have thought several times of having one or more of them run a game or two in my world.

Unless of course you run out. 

It can be fun to play in someone else's sandbox sometimes, but the idea can be a bit daunting. The key is to make sure you have your own stamp to put on things, but definitely don't kill any of the regular DM's sacred cows. It might be really hard to balance the needs of the DM's world with your story. Remember that it's not your world so you may need to let a few things flow differently than you normally would, but if you didn't have a story to tell there would be no point in you running the game.

One of my favorite things about playing D and D is the shared storytelling you get to do. I don't always run it that way. Sometimes it's easier just to kick down doors and chew bubblegum. When it works however it is awesome. Which is why I love the idea of switching DMs up sometimes. One of the best games I have been in was The Ebon Hand of Sharneth. It started as an all stealth Mercenary group and has evolved into a group where all of us take a turn at DMing. We have had some off moments of course, but on the whole it has been an enjoyable effort.

Sure it's big enough, but look at the location

I want to say a few words about the game the guest DM ran. Several people brought in new characters, but I chose to keep my Secret Warlock around for the adventure. It was actually kind of fun because I was able to let loose a little because I wasn't trying to hide who I was as much. You have no idea how much easier it is to be able to just say warlock's curse instead of trying to jump through hoops to get the idea across without saying it.

Other than being a slightly different dynamic with different characters, the main difference between this game and the normal game was the structure. Our normal DM tends to give us a lot of options. In fact sometimes it is a bit like Tolkien where we get lost looking for the forest because we are buried under a sea of Ents. It was sort of pleasant to have a more structured adventure. Though it did get a bit railroady in parts. I think the highlight of my evening was seeing our DM try to horse whisper a Nightmare.

On the whole I had a good time with our guest DM, but I am looking forward to getting back into the main story even if that means more twists, turns and blind alleys leading to dead ends. I know I'll enjoy the ride. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes, and...?"

Secret Warlock: Guest DM

We have a guest DM this week. I am kind of excited to see what happens. If I have time I will update tonight with more info if not I'll post a breakdown next week. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes, and...?"

Secret Warlock: It's a Bugbear Party

Hey baby you want to see my multiclass ability?

Well I got to have an actual party tonight. We helped save a Bugbear village from an Evil Necromancer (TM). In return they threw us an epic party. It was fun because myself and the new Satyr in the group had a contest to see who could catch the most fleas. (I'll give you a moment to think about that). I also played have you met Ted with the bugbear in the group. Good news he ended up married. We are finally back on track to stop the disease. We just need one more component the Fury of a Fire Giant. I have a good idea how to get it, but we need to bring back the two fire giants that fell off our ship a couple of weeks ago. Now where did I put that Raise Dead ritual scroll. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always "Yes, and...?"

Secret Warlock: Motivation

The campaign that I am playing in as a secret warlock was put on hold for this week. Since I don't have a review to do I would like to share another motivational poster. This one ties in to the Aggro Control poster I shared a couple of weeks ago. It's always important to remember that I don't have to outrun the T-Rex. I just have to outrun my demonic minion.

A zombie army also works in a pinch

Secret Warlock: Breaking the World

So we started the session chained to the top of a demon temple. Not exactly how I wanted to begin my day, but the good news is that when the sun set it would all be over. By over of course I mean we would be turned inside out to begin our 1,000 years of torture. Now as a winter fey I am a fan of torture. A good torture is a wonderful way to start the week. But I really like having my insides on the inside.

Your entrails will be your extrails

It can be fun to have a game with a countdown. Nothing motivates you like the certainty of having your insides become your outsides. We needed to find a way off the roof quickly. Of course I tried teleporting and there was some sort of arcane energy blocking us in. After poking around a bit the Psionicist found a catch in the arcane energy. She sent some focused thought at the catch and broke the world.

I’m not entirely sure what happened. All I know is that we faded to black and I woke up standing in a beautiful green field. My friends were all there, but they kept talking about the horrible things they were seeing like a pit full of Demons. Have you ever seen the first episode of Deep Space Nine? It was kind of like that. I had been having kind of a rough day so when a devil showed up and started threatening to eat us I said, “Why don’t you come over here and say that.” I was a little surprised when he did so I bugs bunny kissed him.

I spent the rest of the evening unleashing the fury of winter on the devils, while the rest of the party tried to figure a way out of the situation we were in. It turns out we were still locked on the top of the temple and the world we were in was some kind of arcane construct. I’m still not sure why I saw it as a green field, but it makes a good story.

I am not sure how we are going to escape, and I know we need to get back soon or we might have nothing but dead giants waiting for us, but I didn’t care. It was fun to just unleash the fury for an evening and let the rest of the group worry about the consequences. I’m sure I’ll be back to worrying about things soon. Until next time remember, don’t let your DM tell you no. It’s always, “Yes, and…?”

Secret Warlock: Rules behind the World

In retrospect I really should have known better

I’d like to revisit the encounter with the Gaood, or evil tattooed fairies for this week’s post. I really enjoyed this encounter. I have made this character to be a Lord of the Winter Fey, so any time I get to incorporate that aspect of my character I really feel rewarded for bringing it to the table. The last time I was that excited I used the fact that I was a Lord of Winter to show an icy room who was boss. One of the best things about my DM for this game is she actually uses the background and personality information I give her in the game. I’m very happy with this because so often my DM’s have asked for background and then ignored it. I know I am guilty of this myself on occasion. I think using your characters’ hard work is better reward than any amount of mechanical bonus, not that I would mind a mechanical benefit. One more thought on this and then I’m moving on. I think all the 4e haters who say it’s all about combat and just a tabletop MMO should play with my DM. It might change their minds a bit.

I said I enjoyed the encounter, and I did, because I got to put on my Winter Fey Emissary hat and try to negotiate with the Evil Tatooed Fairies.  When we first ran into them they claimed to just be after some fun, and not to know who the Gaood were. Some of the other players believed them, or appeared to, but I had a feeling they knew more than they were letting on. In fact, I became convinced they were the Gaood in disguise. I enjoyed trying to convince the fairies to aid us, and I really enjoyed showcasing my supposed knowledge of the fey. All of this brings me to the part of the encounter that was frustrating, and to the point of today’s article.

The Wizard I wanted to be before

I have become a huge fan of Jim Butcher. I started reading the Dresden Files because of the SciFi Channel show. I loved the show, and I love the books it was based on. If you haven’t read them or seen the show you should check them both out. Harry Dresden is the Wizard I want to be now. I don’t want to spoil the series, but there is a pretty large focus on Fey creatures, particularly the Winter Court as the books go on. A lot of Aramil is inspired by the Dresden Files, and my understanding of how the world works is based a lot on how the world of the Dresden Files works. To a large degree I am playing Aramil as if he were a Winter Court Lord in the Dresden Files, and my expectations of how the world works is based on that assumption. The problem was I don’t think my DM was working from the same set of assumptions.

When I talk about the rules behind the world I don’t mean whether you are playing 3e or 4e or DnDnext. I am talking about the basics of how the world works. For example do the laws of contagion and similarity apply, or is there some other basis for magic? Does knowing someone’s true name give you power over them? Finally, most important for my character, how do the rules of hospitality apply when dealing with evil tattooed fairies. As I said my understanding of fey creatures is inspired by Harry Dresden with a pinch of Shakespeare for good measure.

Fuego! Evil Fairies!

 I am sure part of the problem stemmed from the fact that they weren’t actually fairies, but I was very disappointed when they acted in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I took pains to make an agreement with them that left little wiggle room, and I insisted that they declare us guests which in my mind would have given us some measure of protection. Even though they were not fairies I was very surprised that they would betray a guest, particularly one highly placed in the Winter Court. So when they started making my friends dance while I played the dirge, and when they turned my dirge into a disco I called down the wrath of winter on them. I was very upset and I am planning on getting sweet, sweet revenge on them in the next session, but the entire situation could have been avoided if I had a discussion with the DM regarding my expectations for how the world works, before I acted on them.

Whether you are a player or a DM I encourage you to examine your assumptions. Go ahead and have a discussion about some of the basics. Having a deeper understanding of the rules behind the world can help your immersion, and lead to a richer game experience. I imagine we would be fighting Evil tattooed pixies tonight no matter what I had done, but I would feel less a fool if I hadn’t made such a thing of them making us guests since it didn’t really seem to matter. Until next time remember don’t let your DM tell you no. It’s always, “Yes and…?”

Coming Attractions

Stop in the name of Love Before I eat your heart!

It looks like another exciting here at Prone Ooze. First I have part two of my Party Optimization Article. I hope you enjoy part one, which can be found here. For Secret Warlock I am going to do a post on the importance of understanding the rules behind the world. For Weekly Homebrew I am working on an Epic Level Solo. The plan for it is to either cap the paragon tier or be a threat early in the epic tier. Other articles I am thinking about include a detailed post on backgrounds and motivations, a look at how women are portrayed in D and D versus how they are portrayed generally, and some ideas for hooking evil characters inspired by Malvan, my other warlock. If you have a request for a homebrew monster or an article please post in the comments or find me on twitter or facebook. I do have a poll for the future of my Weekly Homebrew column. Thanks to the two readers who voted. Everyone else please vote for what you would like to see. Until next time remember, don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes, and...?"

Secret Warlock

As much as I wish it were an affair with a
Succubus was not in my backstory

I have recently started giving my characters background stories again. This can be a very rewarding activity particularly if you have a DM who pays attention to, and uses your backstory. Even if your DM completely ignores it though having a backstory can help you to get into the mindset of your character. Unfortunately because I haven’t been in a long running campaign for so long I have gotten out of the habit. It has been hard work getting back into it and an offhand comment to the DM while crafting Aramil’s backstory leads directly to the point of this post.

After we had recovered our crew and passed the Daughters of Sora Kell’s test, we went to confront them and also to actually open negotiations between them and our kingdom which is what we were there for. We were only able to speak with one of them.  I enjoyed the opportunity to play a little bit angry since they had kidnapped our crew. The Daughter we were able to speak to told us that she would be willing to negotiate with us, but only if we proved that our kingdom would be a valuable ally. Needless to say we were all a little irritated that we were going to be put through another test, but we had no real options.

We asked what we could do to prove our worth to the Daughters. She informed us that some of her subjects, two clans of giants, were fighting and also had somehow released a terrible plague that was ravaging themselves and was about to spread to the rest of the country. She wanted us to stop the plague, and make peace among the warring giant clans. Having little choice we agreed.

All that was left was a forest fire

It took some time, but we tracked down the creator of the plague. It turns out that he had been killed by the leader of the rival clan. After bringing him back to life we discovered that he had designed the plague to only target the rival clan, and he wasn’t sure why it was spreading. Unfotunately we had the leader of the other clan on our airship, and before we could find out more they tried to kill each other and us in the process. They almost took down our airship, but in the end we threw both of them over the side. I imagine that will have consequences later, but for now we were able to find what we needed to stop the plague. We needed the fantasy of a Gaood. Sadly, we had no idea what a Gaood was let alone how to get the fantasy of one.

I may come back to this, but to make a long story short we tracked down the Gaood to a continent on the other side of the world. We were able to get transported there by some Archons who had been tasked with guarding the secret of the plague. We were able to convince them to help us when we told them we were trying to stop the plague that the giants had released.

When we arrived we were accosted by a group of pixies with evil looking tattoos who claimed all they wanted to do was play. We tried to convince them to help us find the Gaood so we could stop the plague that was ravaging our land. They said several times that they didn’t know who the Gaood were and insisted on wanting to party. It was at this point that the DM reminded me that when I was telling her about my background I had mentioned wanting to have a party as one of my characters goals. I was not at all pleased with this turn of events. We needed to get to the Gaood and we certainly didn’t have time to have a party while the world was burning.

I wasn't fooled by you either Yoda. 

It turned out that the pixies actually were the Gaood which was not a large surprise to me. Because I had an idea that they wouldn’t help us if we didn’t give in to their request for play I agreed to sing them one song on the condition that they named us guests. In a future post I will probably talk about the idea of being sure you understand the rules behind the world before you count on them. However, what is important right now is that they, to my mind at least betrayed us as guests by enchanting most of us to make us dance while I sang. After some time trying to convince them to let us go and trying to break free of the enchantment I realized how important it is to be careful what I wish for, because I got it.

I had to leave the game right after we rolled initiative, but I am very excited to see how we are going to get out of this one. Hopefully we will find some way to get their fantasy so we can save the giants and open relations with Droamm and the Daughter’s of Sora Kell. Until next time remember, don’t let your DM tell you no. It’s always, “Yes and…?”

Coming Attractions

I suppose as long as I'm here I
can play Benedick for you

I have had a really good week. I had my first day off in two weeks, which I used to get some content loaded on my blog, and also a guest post on A Single Step. I also watched a hilarious rendition of Much Ado About Nothing staring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I am going out of town for a couple of days so I am going to schedule a few posts in case my hotel doesn't have free wifi. I am going to try to stick to the schedule I am outlining here, but I may end up with some more filler. I promise I will get some content up at the end of the week if I don't get any before then.

For Secret Warlock I am still working on the short story, but I don't think I'l get it finished in time so I am planning on posting about Evil Pixies, being careful what you wish for, and the importance of the rules behind the world.

Ok I'd like play the level three Executive.

For Weekly Homebrew I will try to get some more posted about the village of Bristle. This is the most likely to be cut, but I have found a system for a player run town that is in outline form right now I may post some stuff about it as well.

For the rest of the week I am planning an article dealing with the idea of creating a party that works well together mechanically and thematically. I still want to do something about skills, and I will likely have a few thoughts on DnDnext as we keep hearing more about it. As always if you have ideas for articles or would like to see something here please post in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter or Facebook. Until next time remember, don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes and...?"

Coming Attractions

Coming up this week I am hoping to have a little more time than I did last week. I have three or four posts started that I would like to finish and get up here. I have a good start on a post on rituals, I am still thinking about a post on skills, especially after today's seminar at D and D XP. I have a few more thoughts to share on DnDnext as well.

Hint: If the person to your left is a
 hatter you might be at the wrong party. 

For Secret Warlock I am hoping to finish the origin story of Aramil at least and perhaps share Aramil's encounter with an icy room of doom and the epic party I immediately regretted wishing for. I may also have some thoughts on making sure you have an understanding of how the world actually works.

For my Weekly Homebrew I am going to keep working on fleshing out Bristle in preparation for running it again this Saturday. If I get the chance I may share completed stats for the fingerbone of St. Cuthbert but I will at least give a character sketch for another npc, perhaps the mayor this time.

As always if you have ideas for articles or requests for homebrew items, post in the comments or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes and...?"

Secret Warlock

Another picture of Aramil the Secret Warlock

Hello again. I am about to go to bed because I have had a very long day at work. I am working on a backstory for Aramil, and I discovered something intriguing about his past along the way. As soon as I get it finished I will post it here, but it looks like it's going to be a longer one and I want to make sure I get it right. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always "Yes, and...?"

Secret Warlock: An Introduction

For the past few weeks I have been playing in a really fun campaign called Flight of the Dragon. The campaign is run by the same DM who ran the excellent pirate game I played in a couple of weeks ago. The campaign is set in Eberron on floating continent of the DM’s design. The characters are an elite fighting group in the country’s flying battalion. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the game so I am not precisely sure how the game started.

White Dragon

From what I understand, there had been an unseasonably long and cold winter. The party had been tasked with figuring out what had caused the winter. It turned out to have been caused by a powerful Dragon. Somehow the party procured some of the dragon’s eggs. Then when the eggs were stolen tracked down the thieves and got them back.

I joined the party when they were trying to open diplomatic relations with the country of Droam. The Droamites had kidnapped the crew of our airship and we had recovered them. Apparently this was some sort of a test. They wanted to see how we handled the stress. We recovered the crew and went to confront the Droamite leader one of the sister’s of Sora Kell.

Aranis the Spoony Bard

Before I continue with my first appearance in the story I would like to tell you about my character.  My character is Aranis an Eladrin Warlock who is also a Noble Eladrin a Bralaini of winter. I took several powers that reflect my connection to the Winter Court including something that leaves a blizzard behind me whenever I teleport. When I made the character I had no idea winter was going to play such a prominent role in the game, but I am glad it worked out that way. I am thinking about having my patron have sent me to deal with the dragon because the dragon took on some of the prerogatives of winter.

When the DM described the game to me she explained that it was a game of secrets. I ran with the idea. Long ago in second edition I played with a lady who was playing a rogue who didn’t want to be known as a thief. She carried a mandolin and told people everywhere she went that she was a bard. I decided to do something similar and play a secret warlock. I am a multiclass bard, and I have told everyone I am a bard. I’m not sure how long the ruse will last or what the consequences will be, but I am excited to find out.

If you follow me on Twitter I have already made a few posts with the hashtag secretwarlock and spoonybard. For the most part these refer to this character. I am very much enjoying the game and I look forward to sharing it with you. Until next time remember don’t let your DM tell you no. It’s always “Yes,and…?” 

Coming Attractions

I have had a bit of a hard time coming up with content for my daily post schedule. It doesn't help that my first inclination is to write a Master's Thesis on each topic so I usually wind up writing like mad in the last few hours before I post. I have decided to add some structure to the blog which will hopefully make it easier to provide content.

Coming Attractions:I am going to start each  workweek with a Coming Attractions post. It is here that I will preview what is coming throughout the week or possibly even farther in the future. If you have something you would like me to look into here would be a great place to talk about it.

Secret Warlock: Starting this Tuesday I am going to chronicle the adventures of Aranis my spoony Bard, who is actually a Warlock in disguise. I am not sure if it will be fictional from my characters persepctive or more of an overview from my perspective. In fact I may occasionally do both.

Weekly Homebrew: On Thursdays I will post custom created monsters and other homebrew materials. This week I am going to continue with my idea for a Banking clan of Dragons.

Saturday Chainmail: Of course I will continue posting weekend chainmail updates.

I am going to keep the other days free for articles or other things I feel the need to write about. I am currently thinking about an article about sexuality in D and D, an article about balancing work, family and gaming and finally an article about what I have learned in my year of Virtual Table gaming. If you have ideas for articles or things you would like me to review feel free to comment below or find me on Facebook  or Twitter. Until next time remember, don't let your DM tell you no. It's always "Yes, and...?"