1992 Imperial Bastion

Today we're going to talk about some awesome gear Jerry Wargate donated to us earlier this year.  Of course, we're not talking about it when it was done, because I'm really slow at doing this Terrain Log.  However, in keeping with our plodding pace, we'll now discuss the 1992 card buildings Jerry obtained for us.

The boxes you see in the photo above were produced by Games Workshop way back in 1992, for 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000.  More than twenty years ago, Jerry Wargate, myself and more than a few others in our tiny little burg used to pine after these buildings.  Of course, that was the days of coke bottle towers, book hills and cardboard tube silos.  We've come up in the world (a little bit), and when Jerry saw these for sale he pounced on them.

Somehow, they were entirely intact!  Both in the shrink wrap - though in that photo above I had already opened it to inventory the kit.  I was pretty excited.  I think our stance on leaving things in the box is known, but in case it isn't - we believe gamestuff was meant to be gamed with, not languishing in a pristine form forever.  So I went to work pretty quick.  Today, we'll examine the Imperial Bastion.

This particular piece is a little large by today's standards.  The center portion is roughly equal to a bastion, but it also has two outside "wings".  Bases of the correct size had to be created, which we took from our standard masonite sheet.  It was given a coat of Rustoleum Multicolored Texture Aged Iron, which is a great material available for a few bucks at Wal-Mart.

We painted the bulkheads, which was a particularly nostalgic experience for me.  It took a moment to figure out how we needed to glue them together and paint them, even though there was an instruction sheet there was definitely a better way to paint the bulkheads after they were already constructed with the building.  Getting it all to go together was more challenging, and took two sets of hands.

I mixed some talus with some dark flock and flocked the inside and pathways of the base.  It's more prevalent in some places than others, but breaks up the monotony of the Rustoleum coat.  It's strewn around as messilly as I could manage and still secure it well with some Elmer's White Glue.

I just had a great idea.  Totally should have hit the base with some weathering powders.  I'm doing that now.  That's a fantastic use for it.  I can blend it into the Rustoleum nicely, and bond it with some rubbing alcohol.  I have no idea why I didn't do that in the first place - I have at least eight more powders I haven't even opened yet...

The Southwest is Mine!

Our new Mage: The Awakening campaign, Asleep No More, is underway!  You can check out most of the vital information and the session log over to the right, under it's State of Play.  It's been a minute since we updated the campaign logs on the site, but now we're back with a vengeance!

We started developing a background for the area we are now calling the Southwest with the Smokefall Ridge campaign a few years ago.  Though that campaign for World of Darkness is set in 1876, this new campaign is set in 2013, just a short distance from Smokefall Ridge.  It's just part of the overall development of our setting, which I'm happily calling South by Southwest.

On to Dallas!  Our campaign is set in modern day Texas, centered on the Awakened Free City of Dallas and it's mages.  We'll have more crunchy info on Dallas next week, but the basics can be seen on the campaign page.  In short, it's the refuge of the Free Council in North America, and it's Awakened politics reflect this.  There's set to be some interesting and dynamic interplay between the Orders of the Pentacle, but outside threats and rivals encroach upon the Free City in numbers not seen since the Unseen War.

Yet, what do i mean the Southwest?  Wikipedia defines it as mostly New Mexico and Arizona, but my definition includes Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.  For our purposes, it does not include California, Colorado, Utah or Nevada.  That's a little arbitrary, but I want to keep it tight and focused on what I know.  Those other states I consider to be part of the West, not the Southwest.

The new World of Darkness is rich with a lot of potential.  We had a "weird west" campaign, but now we're getting to the meat of it with the mages.  They have always been my favorite "supernatural" and the theriomorphs and vampires will add color as antagonists.  The game's engine can be focused on any sort of trope, from superhero to Cthulhu mythos.  The new books, as I've said before, are wonderfully organized, organic and easy to teach to newcomers.

So, what's in store for South By Southwest?  Well, other than our kickoff Mage campaign here, we'll be returning to 1876 for more Smokefall Ridge action.  There will also be a scattered amount of campaigning as mortals in the modern day, and plenty more Mage action in the years to come.  All in all, I hope it develops as much as any other campaign setting we've dreamed up - and our players in this new campaign have really given a lot to developing the area.

We've adopted a less restrictive session model where in addition to roleplaying in real time, we are also studying the backgrounds and relationships of our new player characters.  However, soon "school for wizards" will be over, and the players will be on their own!  So, study those Arcanum and get ready to meet the Consilium this Sunday.

See you on Game Day!

Dragonlance Adventures Campaign Log

The Wargate Assaults the Great Saga!

Abanasinia, 351 A.C.

More than three hundred years ago, there was a great Cataclysm.  Following that, the Gods left the world of Krynn.  Soon, the Dragons followed.  This is the Age of Despair.

Now, terrible tales flow across the lands.  Evil seems to be growing, and the New Gods have never answered the pleas of mortals to aid them.  There are stories of wars, of hordes of monsters and darker stirrings across the lands of Ansalon.  Five years ago, the adventurers split up and searched far and wide.

The explorers searched for stirrings of evil, to verify the horrible tales they had heard of armies on the march.  They looked for a sign of the True Gods and the evidence of their blessings - a true Cleric who wielded the might of the gods.  

The travelers found nothing of what they searched for, but learned more of themselves.  Now they return to their hometown of Solace to meet each other on the appointed day, five years after the beginnings of their journeys.  From across the lands, they travel back home.

Yet it is when they return home that their true adventure begins...

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Non-Player Characters

• Goldmoon, Human Cleric of Mishakal VI
• Riverwind, Human Ranger VI
• Gilthanas, Qualinesti Elf Fighter V / Magic-User IV
• Tika Waylan, Human Fighter IV (Thief III)

Deceased

• Nodd Nali, Qualinesti Elf White Wizard IV
• Johann "The Bastard" Krane, Human Fighter V
• Zirgnoz, Human White Wizard IV
• Flashpony, Human Fighter VI
• Ral-Stron Glowbreaker, Kender Barbarian IV
• Flint Striker, Human Thief VII
• Silverhorse, Human Fighter VI
• Sir Conlin A'Hayas, Human Cavalier VI

Disbanded

• Matius Gellantara, Human Fighter V
• Galvan Armos, Human Thief VI
• Abendego, Human Red Wizard IV
• Moonshadow, Human Red Wizard IV
• Torgen, Human Fighter VI
• Maclarion Mackakandale, Human Fighter VI
• Stonecolt, Human Fighter VI

Key

• First Generation Player Character
• Henchman
• Second Generation Player Character (Replacement or Later Addition)
• Third Generation Player Character (Replacement)
• Non-Player Character Joined to the Party
• Non-Player Character  (Potential Henchman)

---

Adventure Log  
Total Time: 48 hrs  (7.28.13)

1. Dragons of Despair (4.28.13 through 6.2.13) Total Time: 21.5 hrs - The adventurers return from their five year mission to find a true cleric, and run into trouble on the road to Solace.  They soon run across two members of the plains tribes who have a crystal staff that everyone seems to be looking for...
• The adventurers meet on the road outside Solace, and are attacked by hobgoblins who demand a blue crystal staff!  Of course, none of the characters knew what they were talking about, until later they meet Goldmoon and Riverwind, who dropped the staff and it healed the Bastard!  Going into Solace, they stay with the plainsfolk until a strange old man let them know he knew they had the staff, and that they should take it to Xak Tsaroth.  The party leaves Solace and heads north, seeing the fires of a great army and avoiding the camps that are scattered on the charred earth.  The session ends as they brave the forest and draw nearer to Xak Tsaroth, city of the Ancients.  (3.5 hrs)
• The party explores the swamps near to Xak Tsaroth!  A nasty surprise and a moment of awe is dropped on Zirgnoz, who kills what appears to be a small dragon with a Magic Missile as Ral-Stron is mauled by it as he was crawling out of the swamp water.  The adventurers encounter dragon-men, but their spells are thwarted by the party during a short battle.  Zirgnoz's hawk familiar is able to see a dragon hunched over a fire in the distance, so the party goes around that  particular patch of swamp.  As the party draws closer to the city, they come upon a well that is deep and dark.  Suddenly a great black dragon flies out of the well, and engages the party from the air.  However, the arrows and spells of the group prove quite formidable, but as the dragon retreats a hasty decision is made.  Nodd Nali leaps in the well to escape the dragon...and the dragon flies into the well.  The session ends as the party stands at the edge of the well, in a great plaza in the ancient city of Xak Tsaroth.  (3 hrs)
• The party enters the (mostly) intact temple at Xak Tsaroth.  Inside, they have an encounter with the image of the goddess Mishakal!  Through this, they deduce they must find the Disks of Mishakal far below in the dungeon.  The only problem is that it's guarded by the dragon the party met earlier.  After freeing Galvan from his dragonman captors in a deeper part of the temple, the party encounters a swarm of filthy gully dwarves who bid them go below to meet their leader.  The party descends to the Halls of the Ancestors, and after avoiding a much bigger swarm of gully dwarves the party comes to a huge chain mechanism with giant pots coming up from and going down into the floor, and they watch dragonman overseers whipping the gully dwarves into them.  When more dragonmen come up as the gully dwarves go down, the adventurers defeat them soundly.  The dragonmen turn to statues and crumble to dust, and the party regroups at the giant winch.  (3.5 hrs)
• The party descends in the pot the next time the winch begins to turn, and they are lowered into a subterranean city deep below the surface!  Instantly set upon by draconians demanding to know where their compatriots were, the adventurers begin to clear the plaza and surrounding areas of monstrous threats.  Many draconians meet their ends!  (3.5 hrs)
• The party continues to explore the collapsed city, but bumble into a huge troop of sixteen draconian warriors.  The adventurers proved their mettle, forcing the few draconians who lived through their onslaught into retreat.  As they poke around the dingy and broken buildings, they eventually find an underground river rolling down the broken streets from the waterfall.  While following it, they see the dragon berating her minions.  They are instructed who leave to find a "Que-Shu" woman who has escaped.  Evidently, there are more prisoners in the dungeon.  The session ends when they find a large pool where streams meet and head north, making the grisly discovery of Nodd Nali's body.  The stash his body in a collapsed building and vow to return for it once their bloody work is done.  (4 hrs)
• After finding the escaped Que-Shu prisoner of the draconians (Sunstar), the adventurers attempt to find a safe spot to rest.  Galvan sets a snare for the gully dwarves running around with a few rations, and he succeeds in getting the scavenging aghar to parley.  The pitiful creatures are so rejoiced at the gifts from their new "friends" that they take the party to their king.  The Highbulp Phudge is rejoiced to hear the adventurers have come to slay the dragon, and shows them a secret passage into the dragon's lair!  The adventurers find the dragon with a captive, who endures a berating by the monster!  The party attempts to sneak into the chamber, but the dragon detects them and begins to attack!  However, the heroes are much more than the dragon can take alone - and soon Goldmoon busts the Crystal Staff across the dragon's snout!  There is a pulse of light, and the whole cavern complex begins to cave-in!  Both the dragon and Goldmoon disappear into the light, but the party hurries as fast as they can out of the collapsing underground city.  The kender Hugon falls to his death attempting to climb the 700 foot chain to the surface, but the other members of the party survive.  They find Goldmoon as they exit the temple far above, now bearing the seal of the goddess Mishakal.  The party leaves the ruins of the city, leaving west over the mountains toward Solace.  The adventure ends as the party sees the plumes of smoke rising from their hometown.  (4 hrs)
2. Dragons of Flame (6.9.13 through 7.7.13) Total Time: 20.5 hrs - Once again the adventurers return to Solace, but find the city overtaken by the dragonarmy!  All resistance has ceased, and the party is allowed to wander amongst the ruins of what is home to many of them...
• The party finds Tika at the Inn of the Last Home, but after a few restful moments a brawl breaks out that finds five uncouth dragonmen dead.  However, the party is swarmed by the rest of the dragonarmy, and beaten nearly to death before being bound and thrown into a wheeled cage.  The party encounters the elf Gilthanas, and a few other men from in and around Solace.  The blacksmith, Theros Ironfeld, was badly mauled by the dragonmen - he was thrown into the cart to die.  Goldmoon heals him in the sight of all (except the draconians) to the astonishment of all who witness.  For three days, the party sits in the cage while the dragonarmy musters...then the huge slave caravan marches south.  After dark, the caravan is attacked - and Fewmaster Toede's aghar adjutant releases the players to in a fit of spite for Toede!  The party fights it's way free, and Gilthanas introduces them to their rescuers - an band of Qualinesti elves.  Gilthanas offers to shelter the party at his home, and they follow him through the woods.  (5 hrs)
• The adventurers arrive in Qualinost, city of the Elves.  After meeting with the Speaker of Sun, the party is escorted to a restful grove by Laurana.  After for most of the day, they are roused from their slumber and shown a great mosaic in the center of the city by the Speaker and the throng of the elven city.  They find out from the Speaker that the folk of Solace and the surrounding areas are held prisoner in Pax Tharkas, a fortress to the south.  The party agrees to accompany Gilthanas to the ancient city.  They return to the shady grove to rest for the night, but after Laurana shows them to the grove, they hear a sharp scream!  A wyvern has appeared, bearing Fewmaster Toede!  In the elven city, a battle ensues with dragonmen whose bodies degenerate into large acid pools when slain!  With most of the party succumbing to their evil poisons, Zirgnoz and The Bastard sacrifice their lives to protect Galvan and Goldmoon.  Sunstar also loses her life in this battle.  After this deadly encounter, Galvan elects to flee the dragonarmies, and leaves the party.  The adventurers leave to the south the next day, and after a time come upon a bloody scene near the Sla-Mori.  Dozens of hobgoblin and draconian bodies litter a clearing, and a bloody man emerges from beneath a heap of dead monsters.  He points and warns the party, who turn just as a troop of dragonmen emerge from the trees.  They are joined in battle by a small party of men, who help the man who gave the warning and assist against the dragonmen.  Silverhorse, Flashpony, Flint Striker and Eben Shatterstone join the party, and the adventurers prepare to find the Sla-Mori - a secret passage into dragonarmy occupied fortress of Pax Tharkas!  (4.5 hrs)
• The party enters the Sla-Mori, evading something hunting them outside the entrance.  For almost a day and a half the party wanders the lost halls beneath Pax Tharkas, thwarting traps and evading a 30-foot slug until they become trapped in an endless corridor.  Lost and without bearings, they eventually find the trap door they missed and force their way back into the main area of the Sla-Mori.  Although they found the ancient sword of Kith-Kanan, Wyrmslayer...the party must solve a dilemma when Ral-Stron feels the sword is a source of evil magic and attempts to destroy it.  Althought tensions are high, the need is greater.  Faced with dead ends and no leads, after being lost for so long they eventually arrive at the entrance of the Sla-Mori where they attempt to rest.  Soon after, they are beset by a party of hunting trolls, from which the rescue the Red Wizard Abendego.  The Wizard resolves to join and aid the party, since he has absolutely no idea where on Krynn he is.  (4 hrs)
• The party re-enters the Sla-Mori and rather deftly maps most of it.  In fact, they quickly find a hidden door they had overlooked upon searching the first time, and follow some hastily dug tunnels through a mountain of collapsed rock and structure.  The adventurers explore slowly, but quickly come upon a group of dragonmen menacing a young girl who happens to be Laurana, princess of Qualinesti!  They dispatch the dragonmen, and then work to free the other women imprisoned with Laurana in this part of Pax Tharkas.  Over 100 women of assorted ages later, and the party has a plan.  Free the women and children, and then free the miners to fight.  Now they have a better idea of how this can be accomplished, but a few questions and a little recon later and they realize that a half-mad red dragon guards the children, somewhat complicating matters!  (4 hrs)
• The party dons the garb of the women prisoners and attempt to file the children out of the den of the dragon, only to wake her up just as the last children are about to escape!  The party seals Flamestrike behind the gate of Pax Tharkas, and take the women and children up into the mine area.  After healing the half-dead Elistan and witnessing the birth of a new cleric, the miners turn on the draconian guards and make short work of them.  Flamestrike, however, had not been idle, and succeeded in breaking down the wall to get outside just as the party ushered the 800 slaves down the mining trail.  At once, Lord Verminaard himself appeared astride a vicious and huge red dragon, but once he threatened the children Flamestrike went mad and attacked his mount with a gout of flaming breath!  While the two dragons locked in combat, the party made good it's escape down a narrow mountain path into the valley below.  (3 hrs)
3. Dragons of Hope (7.14.13 through 7.28.13) Total Time: 6 hrs - Once free of the confines of Pax Tharkas, the adventurers must make some quick and heavy decisions.  The fate of the 800 refugees lies in their hands as they flee the dragonarmies to the south.
• Grabbing as many supplies as they can, the refugees brave a horrible mountain snowstorm while draconian patrols swarm around them.  The players manage to find a strange tower, where a curious lens device shows them an ancient message giving clues to the whereabouts of the entrance to Thorbardin, Kingdom of the Dwarves.  It just so happens to be the tomb of an ancient Black Robe, Fistandatilus himself!  The refugees elude the dragonarmies for a moment, camping at the old tower.  There is a council held that night, and five leaders are chosen for the newly freed refugees.  The new Council of Freedom asks the adventurers to help secure a safe place for the 800 refugees.  The party strikes out the next morning, and after a full days march south they find Skullcap, entrance to the tomb!  Perhaps if the refugees can't get out of the valley, they can find a way into it.  (2.5 hrs)
• Off Week - Brightflow Gap!
•  The party begins by attempting to climb the smooth, icy black rock of Skullcap without much equipment, at night.  After a failed attempt by Flint, the party decides to rest at the base of Skullcap.  Once morning arrives, the party scales the sides of the edifice with little problem, but encounter similar difficulties inside the throat of the giant rocky skull.  After descending a steep incline down the rocks' gullet, the players wander upon a construction deep underneath.  Moving past some giant, broken stairs, the party finds a small pool with a waterfall and heaps of coins and gems upon it!  Sir Conlin thinks he hears something, but the party dives right into the coins and gems and do not notice the shadow dragon, who promptly (upon waking) blasted half the party with it's essence leeching shadowy breath.  Blinded and weak, Sir Conlin, Flashpony and Silverhorse do their best to help Ral-Stron fight the dragon, who had managed to anger it and hold it's attention while the party did their best to fight through their debilitating injuries.  However, they were hard pressed to damage the monster and the long melee eventually wore them down.  The dragon butchered and devoured Flashpony, Ral-Stron, Silverhorse, Flint and Sir Conlin, leaving Maclarion and Torgen's whereabouts unknown.  (3.5 hrs)

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This concludes our foray into Krynn for AD&D 1st Edition.  Though the death toll in this particular game wasn't as rough as the other AD&D games, what was effectively a Total Party Kill (TPK) has shut down the storyline.  That's ok, but we need a break from the meat grinder for a while.  We've put in a great deal of time since last October when we began the AD&D experiment, and our AD&D adventures have really only just begun.

We have several projects in the works, so keep an eye peeled for future developments!  Thanks to all the guys for braving the horror of AD&D to try to complete those old, classic campaigns - and so far we've been defeated twice!  Better luck to the adventurers next time.

Just try to be wary of treasure piles sitting unguarded out in the open at the entrance of the dungeon.