Sunday, December 5, 2010

D&D - the sessions.

So, I thought it might be interesting to see how my brain works when planning a D&D session for my friends - we do a weekly session on sunday for a couple of hours, so not a lot of content is needed per week.

My session plans tend to be a bit spotty and almost random but the majority of the planning and situational stuff is done in my head.

Anyway, here is plan 1 from july this year:


introduce adams character at port

on way to LETHER
on ship


sky is blue, seas are perfect, boat cruising
skipper asks to take care of small problem in the cargo bay
a rat

reaction to death of rat: make perception check

tentacle explodes through hull
water pours in through breach at a rate of 2.5ft per round

deck1: 9 tentacles in ground, immobile but 10ft reach, minion health
deck2: 6 tentacles in walls, 10ft of movement, minion health, grapple
    (grapple = opposed strength check)
deck3: no tentacles, ominous silence, creaking
top deck: 8 small tentacles dotted around top, 2 giant tentacles

small tentacles: AC 25    HP 1    Fort 19 Ref 24 Will 20

big tentacles: AC 22    HP 108    Fort 26 Ref 18 Will 20
        Vul 10 fire
        Primary attack  +14 vs AC 1d12 damage + 6
        Secondary attack +14 vs AC 1d6 + 4
            grapple
            1d6 per round trapped
            elevates 30ft above ground

trin and (adam) have 6 rounds to kill the big tentacles, otherwise the boat is destroyed.

boat sinks/destroyed

3000xp
3 days at sea until a ship comes to pick them up
takes them to the southern port of lether, where they are greeted with a town
1000xp for safe travel/surviving

port of Tamilan:
Tavern
Shipyard
Church (mausoleum underneath)
Blacksmith
Town square
Magic Shoppe

Eerily quiet in this town
Steam from blacksmith
church doors are open
almost appears abandoned
blacksmith tells story about the warlock that came a few weeks ago, around the same time the weird white portals opened... there's one in the church
the town's population died, slowly
then became undead
and slaughtered the rest
those who didn't die in the undead onslaught
were bitten, cursed.

Friday, December 3, 2010

The blue invasion

Blue LEDs.

Companies switched to using blue to highlight interesting stuff on fancy new technology back in the turn of the millenium, give or take a few years.

They're shiny, they're bright, they look very futuristic, and they are getting old.

Not just old, but in IT terms, they are dinosaurs.

Why aren't we using violet, or yellow, or BRIGHT GREEN LEDs? Did everyone become so enraptured by the lightsaber that glowy blue is the new black?

It's not just some equipment either. I sit here at my desk, with my mouse glaring it's blue cyclopean eye at me, with its twin on the keyboard bright under my palm, the numlock light glowing a deep blue, the twin pinpoint eyes of my laptop's hard drive and power lights above that, and then the giant blue i/o designed power button near the screen. My monitor has a blue power light, as does my phone to alert me to new emails, my PVR has a bright blue standby light and all my 7 or 12 segment displays are in a muted BLUE!

Thankfully my printer, my faithful old Canon printer, has a simple green power light. Is that so much to ask for?