Colton played in the 3.5 game that David ran.
They started at about 5:30
pm on Friday night.
Colton dragged himself into our hotel room at 5 AM Saturday morning.
He looked tired but was grinning.
I asked him how it went and he said he had a lot of fun, then he added:
Grandpa, you are going to have to get some third edition stuff now.
Of course I said "no problem" as he sank down and slid into a contented deep sleep.
I got up about an hour later to go downstairs, had a continental breakfast and started the second day of the convention.
Colton did not wake up until I went back up to the room at about 1:30
PM to wake him up for the B-B-Que.....
Luckily, I got a hint from David a few weeks ago, saying that his game might run past midnight...
So, I had not signed Colton up for ANY games for Saturday morning.
Below is a short report on the games we played in.
Not being able to play in all the same games as Colton, the reports of his adventures are very short.
Plus I took him home right after our Sunday games and so we had little time to chat about any of that stuff.
Friday Afternoon:
We played a short game of Munchkins while we waited for more folks to arrive and the time for the main
RPG Games to begin.
That game is hilarious and Colton and I plan to get a copy as soon as possible.
IMO; The more players you have in the game, the more fun to be had.....
Friday Evening:
David Rhea: 3.5 Edition rules, with low level PCs.
Colton played a thief.
The game went a bit long ending at 5 AM on Saturday morning….
They played about 11-12 hours in one sitting……..
I occasionally looked over to see Colton smiling a lot of the time and laughter coming from the table quite often.
One story I found funny was when Colton had to toss a rock at one of his fellow PCs (Another thief I think) to get his attention because that other PC was too busy killing normal sewer rats (They could not even damage him) and so not noticing that Colton's PC was trying to save fellow adventurers who were drowning….
Colton nearly killed that other PC with the rock.
I watched this game for a long time after the game I played ended at around 1:30 AM (See below).
Tim Kask, OD&D, 12th level PCs.
Our adventuring party was not very lucky in this game.
I played a Thief: (CN alignment) and that PC had the dubious honor of being the only PC to have Died TWICE in Tim's games for the entire weekend.
Quicksilver (Thief's Name) picked up a shiny bauble that he had noticed half buried under a heap of rubbish and humanoid remains (Mostly bones and dried husks).
For some reason he instantly Died.
He was revived by a fellow PC, and then (After putting on some gloves) went over to pick up the shiny bauble again....
Tim chuckled heartily...... as he readied his dice for the death of the Thief (Again).
Fortunately, some of the other PCs grabbed the thief and pulled him away.
All the while he struggled to get away and looking longingly at the shiny (Deadly) bauble fading in the distance.
Later on, he was faced with another choice that had even more deadly implications.
This time he was not satisfied with just personal suicidal actions.
This time the thief made a choice that lead to everyone's death.
We lost initiative, and it was over before we knew what had happened.
Five PCs (we had eight PCs) were out of action in the first half of that first round, and it got worse from there.
The Paladin was the last to fall as the creature(s) simply toyed with him for a few moments before eliminating him too.
That decision made for a TPK for Tim Kask that night.
Tim seemed inordinately happy with that result too, yelling to Rob and Frank about the TPK of the adventuring group.
Saturday Morning:
Colton slept….. and he needed it too.
Jon Hershberger, First Edition Rules with some house rules additions.
(I had managed only one hour of sleep before sitting down to play).
Was worrying about Colton the night before (See above) and I could not sleep waiting for Colton to finish.
I played a Human Fighter/Thief (12/12).
The game is partly described in another post above, but I will clarify some points from that post and add some more information.
We started at the front door of a large Temple structure surrounded by a dense Jungle that we had trekked through to get to the area.
We were able to find the temple based on a partial map delivered to one of the PCs (we never knew which PC) from his now dead brother telling of a huge treasure hoard.
When we arrived ALL the PCs were down 33% of total HPs (Based on troubles encountered getting there).
As stated in that other post above, we met a Stone Golem early in the game, but it was actually our Second encounter.
We had defeated a few large apes first, and it then the Golem took life and that fight took us a LONG time and it looked like we might not be able to win out for a while.
Later on in the adventure, the Mage summoned a 16HD Earth Elemental that made easy short work of some dangerous areas for us.
It also enlarged some smallish tunnels, and made doors, and hallways where none had been before.
Immediately after the Mage Summoned the Elemental, the Paladin had a close companion.
My PC (Fighter/Thief) was terrified about the likelihood of the powerful Elemental creature going wild (He had heard they could).
He wanted the protection a Paladin could help provide if such a thing happened.
Unfortunately, later on, the Paladin ran away screaming in terror after failing a save, leaving the Fighter/Thief to face his own fears alone....
The Paladin later recovered to rejoin the group to join in our battle against a Type Five Demon.
After a fierce fight, the party defeated the Demon, sending it back to wherever it had originated, and we all became rich beyond out wildest dreams.
Saturday Evening:
Robert Kuntz; 2nd level PCs, First Edition Rules.
We (Colton and I) played together in this game and we all had a lot of fun.
I played an Elf Fighter (The famous; Kimpera - Kobold Slayer, with his trusty Long sword, Goblin Sticker in hand).
Colton played an Elf Thief (Quicksilver)
Rob said we had located and defeated an area that even Gary Gygax never found, Rob said that the NPCs we met had been waiting for 37 years for visitors....
I wont say where that area was, or what we found there, since lots of folks will probably be playing the adventure in the future (You find it yourself, no help from me!)
Although for a while we were wishing we had let them wait for another 37 years, it was a tough encounter for low level PCs....
Lets just say we had the strategic and tactical disadvantage in every possible way except in numbers, which is what saved us in the end.
One PC (A Mage, who was at that time the party leader) tossed one living enemy (Being magically held by a spell) down a trap door, and by doing so; he all but killed another PC when the enemy body landed on him.... only the quick action of the cleric saved the little hobbit.
(Later on we wondered if we should have let him pass on to his just rewards in hobbit heaven)
That Mage was immediately fired as party leader, and another Player/PC (Paul Jaquay's) was asked to lead the party after that hilarious episode.
Paul did a very nice job as the group's leader from that point on, until he had to leave for the night.
Much later on, with our THIRD leader for the night, we ended the nights gaming with the group leaving the dungeon somewhat in disgrace (Ummmnn we were running for our lives) after facing off against bad odds (7 PCs 2nd level) vs 9 nasty Gnolls (2 plus HD).
The Thief (Hobbit) questionably rushed to fight them beyond a doorway he had just opened, even after we saw what was on the other side.
Hobbits are so annoying sometimes ……..
The Gnolls were armed with spears (for the second rank) and melee weapons (for the front rank).
By the end of that one, we were almost out of (real) time, totally out of healing, totally out of healing potions.
The Gnolls could not seem to miss (Ever) and none of the PCs were hitting a thing......
All the PCs were down to LOW single digit HPs (Except for the MU who had not been hit).
Colton was the only one who had managed to slay any of them, using a Molotov cocktail (Burning Oil flask lobbed into the middle ranks of the Gnolls).
My Fighter had hit ONE Gnoll for nearly deadly damage in the first round and never got another hit in (Horrid Dice rolls).
In the end, running away was the only sane choice to be made.
We survived though...... going back to town with the loot we had managed to secure at that point.
Which was actually considerable, considering we were second level PCs.
Run away and live to fight another day.
My PC had to drag another fighter PC away from the fight, as he was still trying to swing after I yelled for everyone to run away....
Sunday Evening:
Mike Stewart: A Judges Guild adventure for low level PCs 2-3.
Colton played a Dwarven Fighter Lv. 2.
Not much to report except that Colton learned that at second level; a Hell Hound is a lot of enemy to fight, even if it is alone.
He was also very impressed with Mike Stewart as a
DM and the game in general.
(I know Colton is just a kid, but he knows what is fun)
Frank Mentzer: Aquaria Campaign
An adventure campaign for high-level PCs (18th+/-).
This will eventually be a BIG Campaign Setting in Book form, or perhaps a Box Set, which Frank will publish in about 2 years.
I played Mac; a Wood Elf Mage/Thief (17-17).
In addition to being a lot of fun; the game was also an introduction to the setting Frank is designing, and we were not ever going to be able to finish the game anyway.
Frank stated that he thought it would have taken at least 12 more hours (we played about 6 hours) and I think that may be shortcutting the length of time too.
Our first encounter was with a Huge Giant wielding a Fireball wand and riding a T-Rex.....
Every once in a while a PC would simply drop dead for no known reason, with no visible wounds.... and no signs of poison (The Clerics would have known).
The Party was making its way to a huge inland sea (Fresh water) where three islands lay.
Legend stated that a god had battled there and met his end.
The Largest island (about one mile wide, 5 miles long) was our ultimate destination.
We had just reached a certain point on that island when we ended the game for the night.
After I asked him, Frank said I could report a few things about his Aquaria Campaign setting:
I will paraphrase the following for brevity, and in part I know very little anyway:
First off, the Setting is not JUST for High Level PCs.
FAR from it in fact.
Low level PCs and starting PCs will find huge amounts of area and many adventures to campaign in.
But once they reach a high enough level; world-shaking events will get the attention of the most powerful beings on the continent.
Those beings will ask the aid of the PCs to look into the cause of the troubles.
There are at least 3 knew VERY nice newly created spells for Mages and Clerics.
Quickstudy: 4th Level MU Spell.
Upon completion of the spell, the MU receives full knowledge of all castable spells in an instant.
The usual time requirement (15 minutes per spell level) to study is negated.
The Spell caster MUST have already been well rested before hand however.
Inspiration: 4th level Cleric Spell.
Basically the Same as Quickstudy above, but for Clerics.
Rest: 4th level Cleric Spell.
When the spell is cast, beings designated by the cleric become fully rested (As if having had 12 hours of full rest).
Spell casters may then study or pray immediately after receiving such magical rest.
Another aspect of the Aquaria setting.
From my short exposure to the rules as stated by Frank, the setting and rules system can be loosely compared to OD&D, with a lot of obvious variations.
Some of the variations that I am aware of are: Race Restrictions, class options, and level restrictions are very different.
I plan to get this as soon as it hits the shelf (Sooner if at all possible).
I got to game with some awesome players and GREAT DMs, and I agree with Al that Blackmoore is a funny guy and very entertaining, as were so many of the other folks Colton and I played with and/or were DMed by.
ALL of the special Guests were incredible to EVERYONE.
They were Very patient with all the attention given to them by us fans too.
IMO: Stated from a guy who just finished attending his first
RPG Convention ever, this past weekend was a huge success for all who attended and an incredible effort by Mike and Doug (and the others who are less known, but were very vital to the convention from the background).
Certainly it was a wonderful time had by Colton and I.
Colton (also his first convention) said he wants to go next year and so do I.
BTW: Some may have noticed that Colton cleaned up in the Raffles, at least as to number of items he won......... and at the last raffle of the weekend, Mike gave Colton his raffles win too (Colton sends his thanks Mike, and please don't forget the item he traded with Al).
Colton won a package of those old TSR Rub on stickers and as soon as he sat back down he opened the package up and started applying a dragon sticker to the back of his PC sheet.....
I was startled at first, then chuckled as I told him to show it to Doug.....
