Yea, I abandoned this place as I have done to lo, many online journals before it.  Just lost interest.  In blogging about the campaign I was running as well as running the campaign I was running.  And instead of copping to my disinterest to my players and putting it out on the table - what should we do about this? - I just went on running it in a distinctly lackluster manner.  Sorry, guys.

Shawn is running a campaign now, based on a 3.5 city build called Ptolus.  It's pretty damned fun so far.  I've been thinking about why I lost interest in my campaign and what it is about this one that is holding my interest.  I think mine just dragged on way too long for the amount of actual plot I had, and I failed to get the players really committed to what was going on.  The best part of it was the two sessions that were set in a city, and had the players clashing with local authorities and interacting with NPCs more than once.  I spent most of the campaign trying to give my players what I thought they wanted, not what really gets me interested in a game.

Shawn's story is winding up, or at least the first leg of a longer, more involved story that he has percolating, and he advanced the idea of each of us taking the reins for a short 1-2 session story set in Ptolus.  This would give him a break and let the others have a shot behind the screen.  Rob's been talking about running a campaign at some point, and a short test run of how the dice roll on the other side would be good practice.  And I've been thinking a lot about how my campaign worked (and didn't work) and I'd like to give it another shot.

If I go on with this journal, I think it'll be more in this vein, rather than recaps of sessions.  I'm following the Burning Alpha of the Dresden Files rpg that Evil Hat is developing with interest, I'm attempting to get my friend Erik to run some Unknown Armies, I would like to do some more DRYH if I can get anyone interested (anyone know a good application to roll dice online?).  D&D is fun, but there's a whole world of other tabletop RPGs out there that I've hardly begun to see. 

Had a conversation with a DM friend of mine - well, really I went over to his place to raid his miniatures stash, but it turned out he was heavy on the Mechwarrior/Warhammer types and low on, say, orcs.  So I was chatting with him about the high price of miniatures and he turned me on to Cardboard Heroes, which are exactly what they sound like, cardboard cutouts of D&D monsters and PC types.  I found a place that had some samples for free download, and then took the idea and ran with it.  Oh, Google image search, you have saved me so much money...

Basically I made a whole bunch of tiny little placards out of card stock with little images printed on them, just the size of a grid square.  So easy, so simple.  I'll add some pictures to this post after our game on Monday.  

I'm putting our second session together and it's a bit frustrating - I know 4th edition is a new ruleset, I understand the challenge of getting everything ready in time for publication, but the Monster Manual seems a bit on the thin side.  I get the feeling that I might be cobbling custom enemies together by the end of this campaign pretty regularly.  Is this something that DMs just have to deal with?  I know there was a lot more depth in 3.5 in terms of monster variety - do I just have to wait for this system to mature?

And does anyone have any idea how I'd go about converting the 3.5 monsters to 4th?

It's been brought to my attention that I should do a bit of background on the game and players.

DM: Me, Karla Andrich, Brennil on GamersWithJobs.com
Silent and Mok Hannan: Shawn Andrich, my lawfully wedded husband, cofounder of GWJ, where he is known as Certis
Gaald: Rob Borges, Gaald on GWJ, editor of the GWJ Conference Call podcast
Xenthir: Trachalio on GWJ

We play in meatspace, otherwise known as my living room, every Monday night.  Well, one Monday night so far.  Current plan is to game once a week, barring conflicts of time.  I see the campaign lasting perhaps 10 sessions, enough to level everyone up and see a satisfyingly long story arc without taxing everyone's patience.  I'm really enjoying things so far, so I can see going ahead with a second campaign right off the bat.

Shawn and I decided that he should run two characters, since all the encounter math is optimized for 4-6 characters, and also he likes the attention.  It's working out well, mostly because Silent is, well, silent.  He doesn't speak.  Also combat is surprisingly streamlined, so keeping track of two characters isn't difficult.  It's working out so far.

I'm going to try to blog some mechanics type impressions as we go along, whenever I feel like I have something to say.  If anyone wants to ask questions, please feel free - this is intended as a resource.  At the same time, I'll keep story spoilers off so that my players can come around and read back in the session archives in case they need a refresher on something that happened a few weeks back.

I may also write about other tabletop related stuff - I'm going to Gencon and playing a few new tabletop rpgs there, so expect some impressions on that, either from the con or when I get back.  I'm pretty excited to go and study at the feet of the masters, so to speak.  I think I can be a good DM, with experience, and advice never hurts either.   I do a decent faux British accent, I hear that's a real plus.

Our story opens with the heroes, seasoned yet still young adventurers, back home from a recent mission that left them victorious and in pocket.  They gather at their favorite tavern in Daronsford, rich trading city on the edge of civilized lands, to drink some ale and discuss their next move.

A young street brat appears and drops a strange wooden box on the table in front of Xenthir, elven wizard.  He was paid to deliver it, he says, and takes the soft hearted wizard for two silver and a hearty meal before telling them, well, not much of anything and then taking off.  A quick trip to the alley where he said he was given the job reveals nothing.  Opening the box (carefully, and with regard to the health and wellbeing of the city's denizens and buildings - so conscientious!) reveals a mummified, twitching hand, held by five silver rings nailed to the bottom of the box, and a note.

Xenthir,

You do not know me, but I have followed the exploits of you and your friends for some time now, and believe that you may be ready for this challenge. 

I know where your sister is.
 
Ask the innkeep to show you to the private room of The Inn of the Silver Hand.

-         a Friend

A sister?  Xenthir never knew he had one.  A quick arcane study of the thing reveals that it is not simply enchanted but actually, in some form, alive.  Mok, Eladrin rogue, is equally amazed - he once owned this hand, when he was still running his curio shop in Fathan, coastal city to the east.  Three days after coming into possession, his store had burned to the ground, and he assumed the hand had also been destroyed.  Gaald, human fighter, thinks that they need to exercise great caution, and Silent, dragonborn paladin, keeps his counsel, as always.

The private room contains a table, a map, and a mirror.  The mirror contains the form of Fjarnin, human wizard, forced to communicate through these remote means due to a besieging warlord keeping him occupied in his tower.  He needs their help to find a warlock and get from him the hiding place of his lost treasures - gold, magic items, rare and valuable grimoires - and Xenthir's sister, taken by the warlock in slavery when only a tiny child and lost thereafter. 

They have already accomplished a small part of this quest.  The hand in the box is the left hand of this warlock, one part of his dismembered body, scattered across the continent by the adventuring party who defeated but could not kill him nearly fifty years ago.  When reassembled, the warlock can be constrained to speak his secrets, and then, finally, destroyed once and for all.  A cantrip compels the hand to traverse the map and reveal their first goal, an abandoned mine shaft sunk into the western mountains, some two weeks travel from Darensford.

The wizard goes on to tell them that the pieces each hold a portion of the warlock's soul, bound to his body by horrible rites, and that they each possess the same uncanny life that the hand displays.  If not constrained by silver, the evil miasma exuded by their cursed flesh will slowly contaminate the area - and beings - around them, but they won't resist being gathered, since the goal of the warlock runs parallel to our heroes' in one respect. 

The body parts want to be found, and brought together.

The wizard leaves to return to the defense of his keep, and the heroes set out to gather supplies.  Not two block from the Inn, however, they are ambushed by a mage in green robes and three thugs.  Taken down after a fierce struggle, they reveal no special gear or equipment other than a green badge carried by the mage, with the sigil of a raised, warding hand. 

A cart, fifty feet of silver chain, a silver box large enough to contain a human head, and some wooden crates comprise their quick purchases, and the group retires to rest and regroup and steel themselves for the trials to come.  Who knows what evil lies in wait for them?  Yet they are confident, for they are...

Goodgers, Inc!