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In the centuries since the Breaking of the World by the ancient Archmage Mithröde, baleful Horrors and dark Faerie creatures have roamed at will — unchallenged, unfettered, and unstoppable.
But now is the time of the coming of prophesy. Now is the time of the rebirth. Now is the time of the Phoenix reborn!
09/23/22
The Dreams of a Dying Mind's proved a false prophecy, after almost two years of play in PF2e, and we begin a new campaign based in Ista, in Savage Worlds (yes, I am a glutton for punishment).
07/19/20
A new adventure begins, based on Tomb of Terrors for Savage Worlds. With the quarantine of 2020 and little gaming on the horizon at home, I turned to the internet and virtual tabletop (VTT) gaming.
What a great resource! I have played in several campaigns in different games and with different VTT's but wanted to start my own and give back. Armed with a great campaign idea, I was stuck for months deciding on the game. I find D&D5e a bit simplistic, though VERY well supported in the VTT community, and did not think I could endure it for a long term game. Pathfinder is well supported, but without my Masterfinder rules is just a clunky power-gamer's fantasy. Savage Worlds was another contender, but after playing it online, I remembered how swingy and random it really is, so no go. I looked at Conan 2d20 and Hackmaster, but without trying them first, it seems daunting to commit to a long term game when I might hate the system. Homebrewing rulesets in a VTT is ALOT of work and requires mad skillz I just don't have, so Masterfinder is just out.
But the release of the Gamemastery Guide for Pathfinder 2e really changed my opinion of the game (that it was even worse than D&D4e or Pathfinder 1e in power scaling). The No Proficiency to Level variant rule found therein gives it a very D&D5e feel with the meaty crunch of Pathfinder 1e blended with a light seasoning of D&D4e. Deciding that this (finally!) would be the system, I began coding Fantasy Ground Unity for the adventure/campaign with my homebrew world. Then I invited some players and readied myself.
Unfortunately, I was introduced to a different VTT called Foundry. This program is amazing, but I had to redo much of my work, and the original players bowed out due to time conflict anyways. Undaunted, I put out feelers across a broader base and quickly got many responses. Thus, Dreams of a Dying Mind kicked off in fine style.
03/23/19
D&D 5e ran for a bit before the conversion work bogged me down. The other GMs never really got their campaigns going, sadly. I ran quite a bit of Nexus using my Masterfinder as well as a few other campaigns and that was glorious, though reviews amoung my players has been mixed with some hating it (I would say without understanding it & with closed minds) and others loving it (and I agree!…imagine that).
Lately, the other GMs started running Fantasy Age, using the Adventure Game Engine (AGE) and while I initially was enthralled by it (as I often am by the shiny newness) I find little to recommend it in the long term. While traveling and trying to reconcile myself to returning to 5e and the conversion work, I was exposed to ACKs (Adventurer Conqueror King System).
I am smitten (so shiny!). I love the way the rules weave elements of reward and advancement into play. The combat is quick and familiar, and wealth actually has concrete value in-game. We have played several sessions, picking up the Player's Choice campaign with the characters re-imagined at first level and it has been good fun (though everyone has pre-generated a couple back-up characters due to the perceived lethality of the game.
11/09/16
We had a good time in Masterfinder but switched into a sci-fi campaign to accommodate other players. That morphed into the new FFG Star Wars RPG when I was given the book for my birthday in March. That ran for quite awhile and was interesting, but I am not a fan of running in another person's universe. After attempting to restart the Player's choice campaign and being rebuffed, we ended up dusting off D&D 5e and began not one, but three(!) campaigns. My contribution is picking up The Harbinger of Night campaign where we left off at the siege of Blackwall Keep, now at 5th level in 5e.
11/04/15
Play has continued since the last update…switching campaigns on and off with fun had. But now a new campaign using my Masterfinder system for a non-Nexus game has begun: Player's choice.
06/30/14
Three new players join the table and in their honor (really so as not to scare them off) we play straight Pathfinder. We have restarted Of Serpent Tears and Shackled Skulls, with Justin and Heather's prior experience in the campaign explained away as prophetic dream sent to help the party destroy the evil buried on the Smuggler's Shiv. Good times, though 1st level play is brutally dangerous….
11/19/13
Never let it be said that I let sleeping dogs lie. Time to give Pathfinder by Paizo Publishing a go. Back to D&D 3e…we have come almost full circle. Savage Worlds begin to get old so I looked elsewhere to satisfy my itch for that perfect game. I dabbled with EABA, even toyed with trying my hand at homebrew rules, but have settled on Pathfinder. I will, optimistically and initially, say I like it. Of course I have already totally modified and houseruled it into something lumbering and probably not playtested enough. But I am running, and the players seem to appreciate that. Talk of continuing The Harbinger of Night with Talent and Kesa once we feel comfortable enough with the system has ensued. As well, Kannith and Kylie in Dominion still have an empire to build and we have some mass combat rules to test. Deadric's name was tossed about as well as Ruin's, but for now a whole new campaign Of Serpent Tears and Shackled Skulls has started. The only true test of a game system is when I play though, so I hope to hook my friend enough so he'll adopt my new rules ;)
12/06/12
We played out an entire adventure arc in A Shining Beacon then went back to Dominion, mixing and matching characters, as the players claimed they desired. I have to say, I really like Savage Worlds. Very fast, furious, and fun.
10/26/12
A new adventure begins, A Shining Beacon, set in the Kingdom of Kanday. Still just for Justin & Heather as they are the only reliable players. The Dominion game was going well, but I was exposed to the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition game and found much to admire about it. Some combination of that game and Savage Worlds would be the perfect game. However, due to the lack of such a game, I was torn at what to run and I floundered, facillating between the systems and campaigns. Trying to resurrect the prior campaign has proved difficult as certain players (you know who you are) got frustrated and threw away all their old characters. So, this new game using Savage Worlds is where we are at.
04/09/2012
All has been quiet on the gaming front until recently. No takers on playing Savage Worlds versions of Viggo, Ruin or the characters from Harbinger of Night, but we have started a fresh campaign set in the north of Furyundy. So far just Ruin's player and his wife and I hope to keep it that way, as it gets frustrating to add players who can't make it consistently.
11/10/2011
We played 30-some-odd sessions of the Kings of Kings campaign before my friend burned out (happens to the best of us my friend!) back in the summer. His prep work and efforts at scenary and gadgets is unparalled in my experience of gaming. Typically, I had also burned out on Fantasy Craft, mostly due to its incredible crunch, and stopped my campaign as well.
I picked up running my old Nexus campaign, which is based on the Amber-universe but with my own characters and background. It has gone through several iterations looking for the game system meant to contain its awesomeness and this latest attempt called upon the Exalted system by White Wolf.
It worked really well, though more due to the incredible roleplay from my players more then the game system. The play harkened back to the best days of gaming ever; but alas, running that game draws on the wellspring of my imagination to exhaustion, and I ran dry.
But now, months later, I am feeling the itch of excitement at running once again! And yes, I have found a new game system to inflict on my players! The World of Arcallis is about to be Savaged!
Savage Worlds that is! I am excited, but that excitement is tempered by the failure of so many other systems to deliver what I want. Seems pretty good so far from my reading of it. It has a vast following on the internet with dozens of conversions for existing worlds and game systems. I hope to run some introductory stuff, then mass convert characters (players just love that!). Riiiight….
04/22/2011
Six sessions after I started my new campaign, my friend finally started his long-awaited game, Kings of Kings. It cut my game short by a session to finish the first adventure, but has been a good time. In the meantime, back in early March, I picked up running The Harbinger of Night campaign using Fantasy Craft for the same crew who played it in D&D4e and it has been a good time so far.
09/10/2010
A new campaign kicks off to test out Fantasy Craft: From the Shadow of Karavakos. So far just two characters, one old, Bhaum, and one new. This is the story of the rebuilding of Ista after the lifting of the fifty year curse that has laid upon it.
08/22/2010
Well, the summer does what it always does - kills gaming. It was May the last time we all sat down together and played, but school starts soon and the gaming shall begin again! In that vein, I have found a sweet little game based on the OGL called Fantasycraft by Crafty Games. It has a lot to commend it, but I am unsure if I want to commit to a conversion and have it fail like so many other games have.
To that end I plan on running a campaign using the system as-is levels 1-20, if possible, to get a feel for the nuances of the system. At the moment I am looking at converting the Pathfinder adventure path Souls for Smuggler's Shiv. That seems like a lot of work though, so I may give Pathfinder a shot, lol.
03/21/2010
The Warhammer game adventure is going well. The campaign is a rambling affair with a suprisingly coherent story as the players always seem to end up with a hook for the next adventure. So far a very good time. I have started the adventure logs here and have started a cast page here.
In related news, I like the Empire (from Warhammer) as Furyundy, so I will be grafting the map into my world. So far it fits pretty well, but suffered from some shrinkage in the transfer.
01/12/2010
We started playing the new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition last week. It is fun and we are having a good time. Nothing significant in the campaign so far, but it is good to be back in the saddle again!
09/01/2009
Well, the old site is gone now. It had been with its host since 2004 and before that another hosting site from 2000 or 2001. I like the wiki format much more.
Not much new on the gaming front. Summer is over though, so I imagine we will get back to the table more often.
08/02/2009
I am pretty sure the move from wikispaces is complete. My running has taken a break with Viggo's player running Anima for us. It is a decent game, very epic. Reminds me of Rolemaster…
6/17/2009
I have started migrating my pages from wikispaces as the markup language here is more robust. I haven't gotten it all yet, but I have added some new stuff here. Also, wikidot has an attached forum for each site, so drop by and leave a message.
4/28/2009
With the main gaming night campaign about to start with another GM soon (I needed a break), I have started two new campaigns to run on the off-days. One for Viggo and Ruin as they began their trek south towards fulfilling their destinies (ruins-of-empire), and another attempt at The Harbinger of Night with Viggo, Simeon, and Ruin's players plus Ruin's player's girlfriend.
4/26/2009
A new start. Wonder if this wiki will work?
04/03/09
Simeon, Ruin, and Viggo re-made into D&D4e and reborn! Back in August we kicked off the Finding Hope Anew campaign picking up on the night of Simeon's wedding to Viggo's sister Kristanna. A sprinkle of prophesy for each character and a tie-in to the Proving of the Warlord set it off nicely. Add in three more players over the next month and then the fact that we actually get together once a week on a regular basis from then until now, and you have a gaming miracle!
The 4th edition is pure combat with very little to offer outside that narrow focus. Not a bad thing, especially when every character is effective and useful on the battlefield. But it does leave me wanting more. There is a lot to commend in the 3rd edition, but we adapt to the times, eh?
I tried my hand at converting this site to a wiki, but had little luck. I have done much work on Arcallis, but little of it is written coherently enough for posting here. My favorite method of world-building is developing a new campaign area as we play it. Finding Hope Anew has really clarified and solidified a lot of campaign elements for me. I also like when game mechanic elements speak to me, which much of 4th edition has, especially Manual of the Planes and the Genasi race from Forgotten Realms.
I have promised that I won't make anyone switch game systems for the current campaign, but I would like to try something different for the next campaign: EABA or a derivitive may be that game. EABA is like the old West End Games Star Wars, with some HERO and GURPs elements thrown in. The best part is the cure to the dice craziness in Star Wars that EABA contains. Very elegant and simple; I shake my head at how the most obvious solutions never are until they are pointed out.
11/18/06
"…to probably herald the end of the gaming bonanza…" More prophetic words have never been written. After switching to Rolemaster we played several sessions and had some success and player happiness. However the cumbersome nature of the charts and obtuse skill mechanics crushed the life and laughter out of the campaign with suprising rapidity. When players hoard Fate Chips on the off-chance of having to, oh, say not be decapitated, the game loses some of the free-wheeling and heroic feel. We played maybe 5 sessions after the switch and we even moved the adventure along some and enjoyed some of the critical results we saw. A new player joined us and took the role of one of the major NPCs prepetory to joining us with a character of his own. That was the last night we played. It was a disaster.
Transitions from the end of one adventure to the start of another can be rough; even rougher when trying to put power into the players hands so they can decide their course and they fail to act at all. It certainly didn't help that summer plans had started to intrude as they always seem do, and that my WoW addiction had started back up, or that all the flaws of Rolemaster came to the forefront that night. All these things put gaming to bed for the last 5 months.
I want to love Rolemaster, I really think the potential is there, but the underlying mechanics and assumptions of the the authers destroy the fun of the game. I don't mind looking up charts and criticals and tracking bleeding and all the other stuff, I kinda like it. I love the magic system: the charts, the spell lists, the classes. One of the problems is the fact that the average person fails 75% of the time at trival/easy actions and that even with impressive numbers/ranks one still needs a decent roll to have a hope of a success. The other problem lies in the spending of Development Points; I dislike that many hybrid caster classes are double penalized in weaker spell-sets and higher costs for everything. Good game in theory, with much to recommend it, but ultimately, a flop.
But the time has come to game again. Viggo, Simeon, Ruin. Characters too good for the trash heap; their story must go on. But what system? Back to D&D? Perhaps. It is a good, solid system, with few flaws at the lower levels. This will be the backup in case my plan fails. My plan? To re-invent QUEST and use it for our gaming group. Wish me luck.
05/10/06
And then there was gaming! And Lo, it was good. The Once and Reborn King is reborn, as Viggo, Simeon, Ruin, and a cast of NPCs travel to the Tower of the Dead to face Nilgeranthrib, the Great Lich. The unlikely adventure I ran for Viggo and Ruin in GURPS last year this time somehow blossomed into a full-blown D&D campaign almost overnight. Viggo translated beautifully into D&D and the adventure picked up shortly after the the (unplayed) finish to the original adventure. A new (old) player joined at the same time, just as I had about given up hope of finding players, and is a perfect match for the play group. Then Ruin returned to the fold, and the gaming goodness overflowth. Knock on wood, but this is the best gaming in years.
The third time is the charm with The Harbinger of Night campaign. My Sunday morning gaming group allowed me to talk them into trying D&D3e and running for them. So I put them into the campaign I had already tried running twice before. This time it seems to be working. More good times.
And in more news, to probably herald the end of the gaming bonanza, I have gotten the bug to switch games systems a tad, and to that end I have started reading my Rolemaster books again. We'll see….
02/17/06
Well things fell through with the group I had gotten together due to personality conflicts and weakness of character (both drawn-up and intrinsic). All looked bleak, but then I was able to start running for a solid group who had invited me to play with them a few months ago. I switched them into the Harbinger of Night campaign and they have taken to it well, DnD nay-sayers and all. Personal troubles took one of my (two) remaining evening players away from the table; then, out of the blue, an old player from years ago contacted one (the remaining one)of my players about coming back. And Lo! There was much gaming, and it was good! I may be jinxing myself by writing this but The Once and Reborn King may be underway once again.
In other interesting news, The World of Arcallis has received a write-up at Gamegrene.com. Very cool, though I am a bit embarrassed at the glowing praise. If only they knew how much I makeup on the fly! One thing I have learned over years of running campaigns and reading fiction is that a little detail here and there and leaving the rest to a person's imagination often infuses a work with more reality then volumes of dry information. Tricks of the trade, hehe. If I start getting more hits or positive reinforcement maybe that will guilt me into finishing my maps, campaign logs, and other work I have off-line for the world.
10/17/05
I certainly am tired of no gaming, so to that end I am trying to get a campaign started. I have spammed the gaming forums in the area, called everyone I used to roleplay with, and sent out a mass emailing. Tomorrow night could be either really lonely or I am going to have to move into a bigger place to hold everyone. Hopefully it'll be just right with 4-5 players eager to embark on an exciting adventure, but I'll take what I can get. I am going to try GURPS out coughhouserulescough and hope for the best. I am excited to get back to Arcallis. Eberron was fun, but it wasn't home :) Check things out in Harbinger of Night
06/16/05
Well, I am still here, though Arcallis has been sitting idle for far too long. We have been playing in the Eberron campaign setting lately. We were playing a heavily modified D&D3e, but I have introduced a new group of players to the game, so I have used pretty straight 3e rules (at least the major portions). After playing both for some time, I think our house rules were well done, though needing some help. I have hopes of using some material from the upcoming Monte Cook book, Iron Heroes, to fix some of it. That said, my Excel character sheets are awesome, as they keep everyone using the same rulesets, whether normal, or modified. I'll post the newer versions, though to use them in another campaign would require checking them for compatibility with the campaign's ruleset.
Sadly, I don't think I will ever get my core group of players involved in D&D3e, so I have been toying with GURPS 4e, as well as HERO 5e. HERO is a great supers game, but breaks down (for me) at the finer resolution of normal humans. In my previous experience with GURPS (around 15 years) it broke down at the higher levels of play. However, after reading the newest edition of the game, I think there is hope for the system, and perhaps, hope for my Arcallis campaign in it.
02/26/04
Redemption Redeemed is under way! Joining the group is a new player from the far coast who has been an excellent addition so far. In addition, we have another player on the back burner, one that has expressed definate interest, and another who is a blast from the past. Never rains but it pours….but, I never count my players before they are sitting at the table (to mix metaphors horribly). My experience so far is that one of three people you meet and play with actually stick around for the long haul.
I have been working on the Player's Guide, started work on a gazetteer, and done some work with excel spreadsheets for the campaign. Good stuff. For now, only the guide is on the site, but I may post the rest once I finalize it.
02/05/04
Crash & burn! The Dark Legacy Campaign screeched to a halt back in November as one player decided he didn't like the style of play and quit/suicided, while another made a dark choice, committing himself to the powers of destruction and chaos. A crushing defeat to my campaign plans, but certainly a bright spot in the continuity, as players don't always win.
Gaming has been a bit rocky since. Just me, Marty, and Jacob playing Veloss occasionally. But, I have the bug to run again and I have a good campaign idea. Once we get a few players (good luck!) I plan on picking up the Redemption Campaign from the point at which it went sour (my fault) and finishing it in grand style.
To this end I have reworked the site a little, as well as putting some time and effort into creating a Player's Guide to the World of Arcallis.
09/04/03
Clanpages.com just vanished off the face of the internet, my website with it. I finally found a decently priced webhost and once again here is my site. It doesn't change much, but that doesn't mean I don't have a lot to put here, just a lack of talent and dedication.
Ander never showed back in March, but we have muddled on without him. The Dark Legacy campaign has moved along with many good adventures and good times. Martin has been running his Veloss of late and that is a good time too. Maybe between the two of us we can get more stuff posted. Sign the guestbook, drop an email about what you'd like to see.
03/29/03
Once again, Ander creeps back into the campaign. Or at least soon he will be. Ander's player joined the current group for a night of gaming goodness and made a good impression, and vice versa. With a quick wrap-up of the current scene and a bit of revisionist re-writing I think I can drop a new party on Ander without too much discontinuity. Mmmmm….Eleven Baneful Gates.
On another note, Martin finally got me some of his maps and we have taken a serios look at joining our two worlds. I will be making him up a sister site to post his game-world material on. He tells me I have to give up online gaming, and while I agreee I shold, I am not sure I can, or want to. But, boy, did I get a lot done in the week I just had between the Shadowbane beta and its release.
All is on track in the Dark Legacy campaign. Currently the party is being troubled by The Speaker in Dreams, a higher level adventure then the party, but with the cards and chips they are up to the task. The fear of character death is so much more effective then the actual death of characters. The scambling to spend chips and cards, and the tension of critical dice rolls really improves the game I think. It puts a lot of power into the players' hands to drive the story and dramatic scenes.
Now if only I can keep up the enthusiasm for work on the campaign….
01/17/03
Well, after a good start we have suffered the usual problems of player loss and time conflicts :( Ah, well. Still good fun when we all are able to get together. I haven't felt like writing, but I have kept some notes so when I do I won't be totally lost.
About the only bright spot in not having everyone together is Martin's willingness to run his campaign on the spur of the moment. So far big fun, and he is humoring me (or punishing) by using all my house rules against me :) I kinda like them, but it's good to see it from a player's perspective.
10/08/02
Big fun! Played three more sessions so far and loving it! I have posted the sessions in the Other Stories section under Dark Legacy. So far everyone seems excited and having fun. Smooth transition of the Fate Chips and Fate Deck and the new rules on Wounds, Vitality, and Body seem pretty good and very workable, though more playtesting is definatly needed. Nice to have a good mix of character classes and races, a very balanced party for the nonce.
As far as running goes, my biggest concern is the growing size of my bookbag and the constant shuffling through books to find things. Very tiring and distracting from the fun focus.
Added a new section for Artwork, the campaign logs, and a few tidbits here and there. Something specific you want to see about Arcallis? Drop me a line, I'll see what I can do.
09/19/02
Well, we have yet to actually play beyond an introductory evening, but I am excited about the new gaming group. The new campaign is titled Dark Legacy and I have it planned out for several adventures at least. Should be fun!
One of the players is also a GM and a creator of worlds. We are looking to collaborate, and he has decided to add his continent of Ar'Neth to my world. Look for updated maps and a section detailing his campaign. Turns out he is also a tinkerer of rules, so we get along just fine :)
Check out the Houserules section for updated rules on combat, magic, magic items, spells, skills, and character generation. The World Guide has some updated sections, including: History, Economics, Demographics, and Magick.
08/17/02
Once again, a couple weeks of gaming back in Dec. and Jan., then nada :( Very, very sad. However, I have gotten some new players, which prompted my interest in getting this website back on the web after RPGHost stopped free hosting. Took a bit of work (and will require lots more) but here is the site as is. Enjoy! My fingers are crossed for a role-playing revival!
12/22/01
Probably the last news update of the year. And what an update! Elricson is in the house once again after a three year hiatus and with him comes another excellent player! Bonus! Ander and the gang are moving in fits and starts towards the ultimate goal of the Elven Baneful Gates. With Elricson's arrival I have a feeling things will once again get on track. Now if only Tymerian (you know who you are) and Aeluin (amen) were back, the circle would be complete.
As always I hope that the introduction of new blood will spur me to write again and clean up the tattered edges of the site. Let's hope. The one thing I have to say is: I really like D&D3e. Although its still D&D with the quirky AC and hitpoints, it really does work pretty well for heroic fantasy gaming. A few modifications and The Once and Reborn King may yet see a finale.
10/01/01
I am in the process of catching up on the Adventure Logs. I have started writing them from the most recent sessions first. Check out the Adventure Logs under Book One, Part II, Adventure Six: The Peacock Throne if you would like to see the most recent sessions and writeups. So far everyone likes the concept of the Fate Deck and Fate Chips that I am using from QUEST. The experience system is also working rather well, and I feel more free then ever to give gobs of exp out without upsetting the balance.
Since the campaign has converted to D&D3e I have been updating the Houserules section a bit more. Feel free to give me feedback on the rules or any questions you may have.
09/22/01
A powerful and ecclectic group of adventurers accompanies Ander into the deep desert seeking the Eleven Baneful Gates. Uzarad, the Hss-tathi warrior-mage; his ogre mamluk, Omar abd al-Nisir; the bugbear desert scout, Grim al-Har; Akbar min Najm, the wandering priest of adventure; Yllani, the disguised Soft Whisper Holy Slayer; and the powerful, but reserved, Ardasir al-Dalah, Janni sheik of the Haunted Lands. Once again my epic campaign stirs from its fitful slumber. Why epic? Well if you look at the dates of the first adventure in the Adventure Logs you might notice the 1995 start date. Certainly not the longest campaign I have ever run (yet), but certainly the one with the most lives, as it has seemingly died four or five times now. It keeps worrying me like a tenacious dog with an oversized bone. The story cries out: Tell me! So I do.
Ander's player is now the only person left of the original six who started the campaign, and therefore Ander is the only main character left playing. The other original players have lost interest (can't be me (ha!)), found other interests (can't imagine how (it's gaming, for goodness sake!)), or left the area for career oriented reasons (they gotta get those priorities straight). I fear the time grows near when I must….I don't even know what. Restart the campaign? Divvy up the main characters amoung my current players? Kill the campaign? Hmm, as to the first: too much has gone before to restart. Ander's player would kill me having to re-live so much. As to the second: the original players breathed such life into the characters they played that to have strangers taking over their personalities and actions seems somehow repugnent. And as to killing the campaign….well, as many times as the campaign has already died and revived itself, it just doesn't seem possible or from a personal standpoint desireable. I want to tell this story!
Ah, well. Who knows what the future holds. For right now Ander is the focus of the story so perhaps surrounding him with supporting cast played by the new players will give them time to acclimate to the campaign and rise to the challenge of taking over and re-inventing the main characters. Perhaps, or perhaps some of the key players of old will return to take up the gauntlet that is the telling of the epic story of The Once and Re-born King!
08/30/01
Finally, a break from running. One of the players in my Redemption campaign has started a D&D3e campaign set in Faerun. It's hardcore, hack & slash, gaming goodness. Very relaxing and illuminating to see the world again from a player's eyes. The best part is my creative juices are starting to percolate.
I have begun thinking about how I would convert my original QUEST campaign to D&D3e. So far Ander is done (with the player's help), as are several important NPCs. The most important change came from thinking about Third Edition's greatest flaw (in my mind): experience. It's just so arbitrary that defeating a monster of X level gains a party of Y level Z experience points. Our party in Faerun has gone from level 1 to level 5 in several short weeks of game time (of harrowing adventure I must admit). We are able to consistantly defeat creatures far more powerful then the CRs should allow for according to the rules. Even taking into account better stats and more players (which splits exp more), we are capable of defeating CRs 4 and 5 above our level with minimal effort. In my mind this means something is terribly wrong with the CR system, and since the CR system is the backbone of the experience system, the experience system is also seriously flawed.
In a flash of brilliance (I have them often, or so I think) I determined that I could use my excellent experience system from QUEST with Third Edition by either multiplying needed experience by 10, or reducing the experience awards by 10. Looking at Ander, who is around 10th or 11th level in QUEST, which translates loosley to 5th level in D&D, I saw that he had around 125,000 experience. 5th level in Third Edition is 10,000 experience, and 6th level is 15,000 experience. You see where I am going with this I imagine. Its just perfect. This means my Age vs Experience Rules are usable pretty much intact (though considering the steep experience rise after level 10 or so, I think I will remove the built in experience slow down I had instituted for QUEST).
What this means is that time, effort, and intensity determine experience, not just defeating monsters. I will probably actually continue using the CR experience system to award experience for combats, but since everything is scaled by a factor of ten, combat isn't the most important defining factor anymore. Everyone earns experience on a daily basis based on an activity level for that day. Laying around like a couch-potatoe earns you very little, while studying and practicing hard earns you considerably more. Adventuring, with its daily life-threatening stresses, earns the most experience. Tack on role-playing awards and PCs can advance at epic rates, but still on a time scale comprehendable and comparable to NPCs. Check out the House Rules section for more details on this. Also be on the lookout for updated character sheets for the D&D3e conversion and for the re-start of The Once and Reborn King campaign!
07/01/01
I figure I'd better put some news up so people don't think I am not keeping up with things. I have added some CC2 files for diorama objects and some dungeon maps. I am making CW files for D&D3e so I can have character sheets to post. I have added content here and there around the site, though nothing of grave import. Further news as it happens.
05/16/01
I have decided that D&D3e isn't so bad after all. I don't know if it was the caffeine or maybe all the sugar (or maybe the really excellent Psionics Handbook), but I suddenly had a change of heart. In this spirit, I have been updating the Houserules section with modifications to the game to make it Arcallis-friendly. Sorcerers and Wizards were the primary concern, since the Horrors are the campaign focus, and they love to eat magick-users. I am trying to figure out a good way to make postable and decent looking D&D3e character sheets so I can post the PCs, but I am having trouble. I have started making scale maps of locations the players will be fighting and exploring using CC2 and the response so far is extremely positive. I will post some of the files for anyone interested.
04/20/01
Added a new world map and atlas to the World Guide sections.
04/05/01
Well this page has been up for just about a year now. Woohoo! (I am sure). The campaign is chugging along, however, having sold my soul to D&D 3rd Edition to find players, I now find myself despising D&D and almost dreading game night. I can only say that D&D is so much better then RIFTS that I may continue running D&D just to get the stink of that system off me until I can convert these guys over to QUEST. Always good to have motivation to get back to work writing the rules.
On a different note, right after saying how dissappointed I was with Fractal Terrains and getting my maps done, I actually got my map to show up in Fractal Terrains on a spinninng globe (excellent!). Now for the really hard part and the terrain mapping into Wilbur and FT (bogus!).
It also seems that Tablesmith has developed into quite the little program with many new features. The author has been hard at work. Its a damn shame that I spent several days making Central Casting tables for TableMaster (3500+ lines of code). I am not sure I have it in me to go back and re-do it.
Keep checking back and enjoy the site, there are some unmentioned updates to various parts (History especially).
01/31/01
I see this site getting alot more hits nowadays, so I figured I better post an update before people think nothing is going on. I have nothing new to post about the site itself. Mapping seems like a chore now so I haven't done much with it. Fractal Terrains turned out to be a bust for the most part, so the thought of doing it all by hand depresses me.
So far the D&D campaign is running smoothly, everyone seems excited and interested. The group seems to have finalized with 5 players, which seems a good number. The only problems have been in converting the D&D mentality into an already established non-D&D campaign. Money, prices and gold pieces is the worst part of it, though clerical magic is right up there.
One thing I have been doing is playing with TableMaster, an out-of-print table rolling software. I had thought of using Tablesmith, another bit of table rolling software, but I didn't like the results I was getting. However, it looks like the creator of Tablesmith has been hard at work and I think I will give it another try (always better to use supported software I think). I will try to get something new on the site soon, maybe some Tablesmith or TableMaster tables.
On a side note, I must commend Bravenet for the excellent counter service. Check them out if you are in need of a guestbook or counter as they have some neat features and it is easy to use.
12/18/00
Grrr, I hate when real-life impinges on gaming. The new gaming group is having comminications problems, scheduling problems, and loss of player problems. I hope this all gets straightened out soon and we can get on with the gaming! In other news, I have switch to RPGHost for my primary server space, since Adelphia's 5MB was getting cramped. Hopefully this will work out better. I have added yet another new section called: House Rules. This will be the repository for D&D3e related house rules. I can't help it: I am a tinkerer. Nothing is ever just right. Ah well.
12/05/00
I have added a new section called Other Stories. This will be the repository of tales of adventure not relating to the main storyline. So far the new party has proven quite up to the challenges thrown at them, and we have a good group of gamers. Who knows, maybe their stories will have an impact on The Once and Reborn King.
11/19/00
I am still here working on the site and content. I have made numerous changes, though I haven't bothered listing them as they have been small. Most importantly, I have been hard at work updating the QUEST rules (in real-life) and the Creation Workshop files (again, not posted yet). I would rather wait till these things are done, then post the finished product. Whoever you are reading this page, especially if you come here again and again, why don't you sign the Guestbook and let me know who you are! As of late, I have been trying to sign the guestbooks of the sites I visit over and over, just out of courtesy. In other news, I have started a secondary campaign, with all supporting characters, in the new D&D 3e (gotta lure those players in somehow). Not too bad so far. Combat goes quick, though skills and skill resolution are a bit weak. I will be writing up their adventures in the near future and posting them.
10/15/00
Running has gotten me in the gaming mood once again. I have been hard at work catching up on the Adventure Logs, updating rules, working on maps, and even, in that rare moment, thinking of the campaign direction. I love the Fall.
10/09/00
Well, the campaign kicked off tonight in high fashion. The party (now consisting of only Ander and Tymerian) finished Book One, Part Two, Adventure V: "Corsairs of the Great Sea", which we started back in Febuary or January of this year. I hate the summer hiatus. Here's hoping we pick up some more players soon!
10/05/00
I have done a major face-lift on the site, I hope it is easier to read. Work continues on the QUEST rules. No-go on the campaign re-start, very sad :(
09/27/00
I am working on updating the QUEST files. Hopefully, the campaign rumbles to life again this Wednesday night *crosses-fingers*.
08/11/00
I converted the QUEST game files from Lotus Wordpro directly to html and uploaded them. This means they are not well organized, nor hyperlinked, but you are welcome to puruse them at your leisure. Also, many game concepts are outdated as I have not updated the written files for awhile with the new playtest material (really makes you want to read them I bet). Hey its a start.
08/08/00
Character Artist was released recently and I have added some portraits to the downloads page. Also I have added to the Adventure Logs a little. The downloads page also now includes the Creation Workshop files needed to create QUEST characters of your own if you have CW.
07/22/00
I have been waiting on the release of Fratal Terrains to continue my mapping projects. That means after GenCon. Other than that not much to report.
06/24/00
Not much of note has changed, but I am working on the site. A tweak here, a tweak there…
06/15/00
Added a bit of refinement overall, and added a bit more to the Adventure Logs, though I am still years behind. Stay tuned for the rules to QUEST and the CW files for making QUEST characters.
05/08/00
Well, had a bit of a crash (user induced, unfortunatly). I lost some fonts and can't find them anywhere. This made me realize that most other people must not have had those fonts as commonly as I thought. Therefore, I have changed the basic font I am using to Chaucer. I hope this is a more common font.
04/15/00
Added a character sheet, updated the atlas world map, added a guestbook. Its getting there, but there is a lot left to convert to HTML or to write up so keep ckecking back!
04/10/00
added new links, updated character sheets, and yet more subtle tweaks.
04/09/00
Charater Sheets added to Character's Page. General upgrades and tweaks also. More to come soon!
04/04/00
Continued expansion of the site. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions about the layout of this site. Hard to read? Confusing layout? Tell me!