House Ralpar

Today's post is by Jerry Wargate, who regales us with the tales of the elf-lords of the Gnarley Forest...

First Son of Ralpar, Lord of the North Umber, Ruros was raised in the last light of the once majestic circle of elvish royalty. Pushing away the court scholars best efforts to educate and refine him, Ruros preferred the clash of steel and the weight of the armor to the proper etiquette and taboo of court.  A warrior prince by nature, Ruros felt no stranger to the labor of the guardsmen or the unceasing vigilance of the border watch.

As the years rolled by the King had other sons,  Ganth and Hamboné.  Ruros spent little of his life in the comfort of the court, and watched the growth of his brothers from afar.  He traveled often in secret to aid against danger where needed inside the Gnarley kingdom.

Receiving summons to his father's chambers, Ruros walked inside to find his father in an endless slumber, unable to waken from his dreams.  Chief advisors of magical power and the divinely blessed used their arts and blessings to no avail, unable to stir the King from his sleep.

The kingdom now is ruled by a Steward - Elgaldim, Second Consul of the North Umber. The King's body sustained magically, his subjects waiting with baited breath for the waking of their king.  The Brothers Ralpar adventure afar, losing Ruros’s sorrow in battle, searching for power to return home with.  Tragically, Hambone’ fell inside the Temple of Elemental Evil.  

The wrath of The Sons of Ralpar has been fired against the denizens of the evil temple.

---

No one knows why the Lord Ralpar has fallen into his magical slumber.  There are many theories, as the Lord of the North Umber in the Gnarley Forest has many enemies.  The Brothers' Ralpar, should they survive their clash with the forces of Elemental Evil, might be in a better position to investigate the matter.

No one knows if the Lord Ralpar can even be awoken, but there are a few leads to be followed.  In Greyhawk City, there are wizards who might be able to help with the answer.  In the Gnarley itself, the druids work to find the source of the evil power that has overcome the regent.

All in all, it is a dark day for the elves of the Gnarley Forest.  In the back of everyone's mind, they know something evil lurks deep in the woods...something that has designs on the lands of the North Umber.  Perhaps the brothers will be successful in finding some information, or some clue that leads them to the truth.  The remaining blood kin of Ralpar have a daunting quest - and that's after they clash with the forces of Elemental Evil...and whatever else Oerth might throw their way.

Rulebook Ruminations: Flames of War, 3rd Edition

Well, it's time for another Rulebook Rumination.  Now, you guys know I never review a book as it is released...best I've ever done is blog my thoughts few months after it becomes available.  The reason for that is that I only review books that become relevant to our club, when they become relevant.  Now, our Flames of War inaugural campaign is over, and I just want to take a moment to share a few thoughts about the 3rd Edition rulebook.

While this was our first campaign, we've been preparing for WWII for well over a year before the commencement of the games.  I bought a hardcover copy of Flames of War, 2nd Edition before 3rd Edition was even announced.  It's been a little over a year since this new book was published, and there was basically nine months betwixt the time we got the book and when the tanks started rolling out of Moscow.  We've put this engine through it's paces.

The main thing I want to draw attention to is the mentality of the rules, if that's the correct word.  The phrasing of items is hard to wrap your head around if you're used to the conventions espoused in a lot of wargames, yet the mechanical conventions are very similar.  In this way, the game is both much alike and very different from most of the games we play.  In practice, a lot of these items are very simple, yet when you read them for the first time it's hard to connect all the rules.  We've seen this in other manuals before, in almost every game you've ever played - but the disparity between this system and some others makes it hard to study from the book.  However, the simple concepts make it very easy to teach.

Most of the rules are clear and concise, and due to the way things are set up there isn't a lot of room for "random events" you might see in other games.  Not a ton of special rules that are spread out over twenty plus army books.  To contrast, in Flames of War, most situations have specific methods of resolution.  Special rules don't override the basic flow of the game so much as provide an advantage or disadvantage regarding the basic rules.  What this means is that once you have the basic flow of the game down and how the resolution systems work, it's very easy to assimilate ALL the special rules, and further - they don't bog down the game as much.  Combine that with a system that uses less rolls rather than more rolls or book keeping and you have a very lean combat simulator that's expressive enough to cover the entirety of the second World War.

We have both the smaller softcover version, and I can't say I'm really a fan.  The book is thick and the binding isn't that great...in fact, ours has a lot of pages falling out after one campaign's worth of being used.  The version I bought for myself was the large hardcover rulebook (you guys know how much I like hardcovers) and it's money well spent - it's a powerful tome that can stand up to some serious use.  Get the hardcover, and skip the softcover.  Or, if you decide you want the minis from one of the beginner sets, do yourself a favor and buy a hardcover as well.  The two extra guides that come with the hardcover are great as well, being a guide to the hobby and having a smattering of late-war armies that can be fielded (no lists are described in the rulebook by itself).

All in all, Flames of War is shaping up to be the Season 4 flagship here at the Wargate.  The game itself is grounded in reality, and draws a different sort of crowd than the standard Robots & Cannons or Swords & Sorcery battle games.  It doesn't require more than a handful of dice, so the conventions are easy to keep track of.  Armies aren't that large, and although you can find lists that require a lot of expensive pieces you can also get a 2000 point army for a little over $150 or so.  Best of all, the game is super easy to teach to new players - which is something every game club should be quite interested in.

AD&D 1e Character Outfitter

We've been in the Temple now for going on 12 weeks.  We've logged many hours, which you can see on our campaign page.  One thing has become apparent - the mortality rate of the Temple of Elemental Evil is higher than any other campaign so far, with 15 dead bodies of foolish adventurers so far.

The ramifications of this are far reaching, and we've seen it spelled out in deadly detail in the game.  When new players join the party, they are at a disadvantage if spit out into the game at a higher level.  They are expected to have a certain amount of magical defenses and capabilities at certain levels - that level being 3 in this classic Greyhawk game.  It's clear that I need to give starting players some magic so they don't immediately die in situations likely to be entered by adventurers in our current group.

We've been playing with it for a few weeks, and I've given all new characters a few magical items with which to start the game.  Not everyone gets a magic weapon, but there is a reasonable amount.  Throughout all that, I've just given out magic items from the book to folks to speed along play, but I've been threatening to codify the process to make it faster at the table.  Well, that day is here.

Check out the Character Outfitter here!

We'll be launching a new page soon, a Gaming Resources page.  A permanent link to any gaming material we'll be using will be posted on that page, and we have more than a few planned supplements.  Mostly, these focus on facilitating play rather than adding new material such as items or adventures.  You'll get to see more of them later, but there will be more than a few Character Outfitters from AD&D 1e and most likely 2e as well.  For now, the one we are currently using is available here.

I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts about what it is and what it's meant to do.

First of all, the main purpose is to quickly generate a few magic items for new player characters entering the game so they might remain competitive.  A few folks might scoff at this, but I'd say you'd have to look at the actual in play notes to get the idea - that none of this stuff is overpowered, and will hardly matter in the end.  Plenty of different magics are available, and they are only the most common and simplest magic items out there.  Sure there are some real gems...but the severity of the campaign will make sure nothing brought into the game from these tables is going to be unbalancing.

It's not meant to be a shopping catalog for player characters.  To that effect, this is Dungeon Master material only, to be referenced only by the DM during actual play.  This will prevent "window-shopping" and "playing the tables".  Not that it will matter...a 10th level character will only have a few magic items of lesser to mediocre power, and perhaps one of greater than average power.  Perhaps, yet not likely.

The inclusion of treasure is there to help offset the amount of treasure lost in the campaign vs. what will be needed simply to level up.  It's a huge issue, and this will help to mitigate it.  It won't solve it, but some adventurers may start with more money towards their next level - which is the basic problem most adventurers are having at the moment.

The moment that the main source of treasure becomes slain Player Characters, no new characters will be able to use the Outfitter at creation.  The moment that the party realizes it has a surplus of these lesser magical items, no new characters will be able to use the Outfitter at creation.

That's all for now.  The Character Outfitter will be on the table this week, and it looks like we even have our first player to try it out.  Poor Shaunny.  Murdered by shopkeepers last session.