2023 – Well that went by fast!

About Bikes

A garage queen. That’s what she was this year. I didn’t even put enough on her to get her to a servicing. She suffered in a knock over at the start of the year. Then later the battery finally called it quits. 2024 should see a MotoGP trip again. I might camp more, I’ve lost some of the accommodation options I had last time and I will be much tighter on funds I think.

I think my pushbikes sat in the garage the entire year almost. I certainly didn’t take them anywhere to ride.

About Babes

Another year of high school. One has friends dramas, one doesn’t. But they are doing well, they’re just not sure what it is they want to do yet. The eldest has started learning to DRIVE!

About Bytes

Not really a lot here this year, tech wise. I didn’t pick up any new tech. The tech I had trundled along well. Not much spare cash this year to be honest. And mistakes were made in other areas.

It was a bigger year in my other hobbies. Running a D&D campaign with some other school teachers that gets along ok. Next year, I think I will be more flexible and so the game should be more consistent. Beyond that group, my other group finished off Strahd. That was a fun adventure and my character was integral in his final defeat! Then continued as player in the follow on campaign, Spelljammer, which is all new to me. This and the existing Dungeon of the Mad Mage, are moving a little slower and seem a little less dramatic. But I am enjoying the games.

Mistakes were made and I spent way too much on the Battletech Kickstarter, which I hope to see in the new year. That will give me way too many minis…

Battetech Mercanaries

I also threw a little bit of money (I felt a bit burnt by my eyes being bigger than my credit card in the Battletech one) at the TMNT Kickstarter. I just bought the books (in the plain, original colours) and the dice tray.

TMNT

Baldur’s Gate released and I’ve been enjoying it. It’s challenging, massive, and keeps me engaged. Well done to Larian Studios.

Some grumpy old lady in BG3

About Me

So my year on class wasn’t the greatest. My class (by all accounts) was a very tough bunch of kids, that all the other teachers on the same stage (and supported me throughout) all say that they would have struggled with. However, I also think I made some mistakes early on, which a more experienced teacher might have avoided, that were a factor in the struggle with my class. It was a very busy year and in the end I was very happy to see it end.

I will not be on class next year, and part of me worries that it means that the executives think that I have failed. I’ve not had any feedback from them on the topic, so I’m kind of in the dark about it. I did say in my “what do you want to do next year” that I would like a class, but was happy to not be on class and I know the teacher that they swapped me over with was super keen to have a class. I will be working across all stages next year and while it will be complicated, it should also be less stressful. And certainly less administration!

The two pay rises this year will certainly help in the coming year too. Now I just need to finalise my accreditation to get the next one.

D&D – When you get to do stuff

I’m in the middle of a campaign through Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I’m playing a duregar paladin who has been ostracised (and hunted down) by the others as he follows the dwarven goddess Haela Brightaxe. This makes him something of an oddity.

Anyway, I was interested in playing yet another dwarf, but who wasn’t a dwarf. I’m not an extreme min-maxer by any stretch, but I do like to create characters that will work well in the adventure. So as duregar, Dalgal gets particular abilities, such as better dark vision, and as an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, certain more. He’s a few levels up, so picks up invisibility, but also took Blind Fighting and gains Vow of Enmity. I often create these characters and then never end up using most of their abilities. Like my Gloomstalker, who are invisible to other creatures who use dark vision, but only when there is no other light around. And then he adventures with a party that is half full of people who need lanterns in the dark….

Anywho. So the party is a few levels down this dungeon and they open a door to find a zone of darkness. I can’t remember if there was an attempt by another member, but for whatever reason we suspected that there was actually some creatures in there attacking us. Forgive me, this tale starts during the previous session, so it was close to six weeks ago. Dal stepped up, turned invisible and crept through the darkness.

He found it contained a couple of Drow and a Drider.

Before he could sneak back, some of the other party came in and were attacked. Combat ensued, which included one of our party dispelling the darkness, only for another to recast it. The party fought on with area attacks (that sometimes hit Dal, who was still in the darkness) and people getting poisoned all over the place.

BUT, Dal has advantage against poison… another tick for my build! And resistance, but it didn’t get that far.

I swore my Vow at the Drider, giving me advantage. Even in the darkness, I didn’t suffer disadvantage because I could see within 10′ of me. So swing away I did.

Dal did suffer some wounds in return, but then Lay on Hands helped that.

And the Drider fell and quickly the party recovered and then Drow fell as well, at least two fell to Dal’s Knock (what’s Knock? See below). It was so much fun having all these abilities, that I had picked in order to make Dal a tough opponent in the darkness of the dungeon, come together so well.

Oh, and his magic Warhammer has been named Knock because initially we didn’t have anyone who was good at locks. But Dal would step up and simply bash the door with his Warhammer. And so it become “Knock”. I’ve even edited it in Roll20, so when I attack with it, Roll20 says Knock and not Warhammer +1.

D&D Witchlight2 – Fortress Sydney

I was going to write this as one, but decided to split it. So for this entry, the Witchlight group I’m running tried to get together for a long session during the school holidays, and we managed it. Mostly. We ended up 1 player down. We held the session in Fortress Sydney, a gaming themed bar/gaming cafe/esport arena.

The other post will talk about the location. This will talk about the game.

The group headed to Downfall to find the hag, Bavlorna. They followed along a creek they had found (and through the magic of the fey) which led them to Downfall. They were directed to introduce themselves to the King and along the way they stumbled about the village.

The first few encounters went quite uneventfully until they found they had to cross another river using stepping stones. One character decided to execute a series of cartwheels and flips to cross over, rather than just small jumps (they were only 2 feet apart, he wouldn’t even have to roll!). He failed miserably and plummeted into the water. Where he was set upon by a pair of Merrow (image monster mermen).

Scrambling out of the water to fight he managed to step on another stone which turned out to be a rock elemental. So in a three way fight/argument/attempted apology, they took some damage but managed to cross the river before the merrow were able to drag them away. This was the same character that earlier tried leaping from the boat in the carnival.

Next they helped someone put out some fires being started by animated coals. Then it was on to the court, where they agreed to become members of the Soggy Court and agreed to help the King return an item so they would be able to talk to Bavlorna.

They were given some new, more “elegant” clothes. They chatted to some of the Bullywugs. Got a note from a rebel. Talked to some shopkeepers.

They decided to go find this rebel, and headed further around the village (the village is a big circle of dry mounds with a lake in the middle and surrounded by the swamp).

Here they found themselves being taunted by some pixies in a tree. One of the characters got fed up and started to climb the tree. So ensued a fight with an old, large, tree blight.

Again, there was banter, fighting, running, running back, someone tried to light a fire. I gave them every opportunity to move away, but they kept thinking that they could talk to the tree and that somehow the pixies were in control of it.

As it was, I let them take out the tree eventually, but the pair of them were very close to death.

And there is no healer in this party.

That was the end of the session.

They did completely ignore the other person they were searching for. They had been told that Clapperclaw would be able to guide them to the next region in Prismeer. So when they met him, I showed them this picture. Then I described how he kept pointing with his hands, or clapping his claws together. The party barely said a word to him and walked off. I wonder if they will realise later..

D&D Witchlight 2 – Into Prismeer

Sorry, I really haven’t been keeping up with this game. It’s weekly, but with work and lives, we get 3/4 of the people, usually fortnightly.

After a bit of dithering about, the party managed to get Witch and Light to help them into Prismeer, and the last time all three players were together, they stepped through the portal and I finished the session, Witch and Light’s last clues hanging in the air.

Since stepping through they have been stumbling their way across Hither in Prismeer. Among other escapades was their attempt to leap onto the travelling inn. This ended up with a few miss leaps.

They saved a fey dragon in a locked gilded cage, but couldn’t open it without help from the goblin Jingle Jangle. That led them to a confrontation with the haregon bandits. They sold their special memory for that. The dragon was freed, the bandits ignoring them and Jingle Jangle and the sentient hill hopeful that they will deal with the hag.

Some more small adventures and they now approach Downfall.

We are hoping to run a long session in these holidays (we’re all school teachers and it’s a term break). However with our rubbish ability to actually meet up, I think we are going to be disappointed.

BG3 Thoughts after release

Well, first up, it’s still awesome. In fact it decidedly more awesome than it was. They’ve just added more stuff. Even in the first act, which I am still deep inside, there is more stuff and things have changed.

There are new options, such as races and when designing your character. They have added alchemy, allowing you to harvest materials and create your own potions. New party members (Karlach especially) and new twists. Some things that were hinted at have developed, such as Gale’s need to consume magical items.

But it’s harder too. I’m playing on balanced and part of me feels like the team at Larian read my blog and changed some of the bosses to counter the methods I used to defeat some of the mini bosses around. I feel like the hag is a lot harder. I am working on a way to expose her so I can silence her, as at the moment she is invisible, I think, and wins initiative, steps and casts mirror image before anyone in my party can move. And suddenly I’m fighting four of them. And they all won initiative as well.

Even getting there is tougher. Along the way there is a toxic gas, which I would simply fireball and let burn away. Doesn’t work this time. You need to spot and then block the vents. Throwing things (I’ve seen rocks used, but I’ve used bones and skulls) blocks them.

I’m going to leave her and hit up the goblin strongpoint.

Something else was harder but as I write I can’t remember what it was.

But I’m loving it.

I’m still playing the areas that I’ve already played for over 140 hours in prerelease. I am playing a new character, a bard, which is interesting but seems powerful as a utility, especially during the dialogue, opening new bard options but also with stronger bonus generally.

So I’m feeling like this game is giving me a lot and the money spent was worth it. Now after over 10 hours in release (sadly real life has been in the way), that’s less than $1 per hour overall. And as I’m still in Act 1 (is there 3 Acts?) I may only be less than 1/3 through the game. I think each Tomb Raider was 20-30 hours. And it’s fun, the story is so in depth and I have no idea where it’s going to go.

It’s smooth on my very middle ranged system (no Mac version released yet, so I’m on my PC). In early release while both systems worked well, the newer NVME drive in my PC made loading times so much swifter than the older hybrid SDD/HDD in my few years old Mac. Though this didn’t affect actual gameplay or switching to cutscenes, just loading times.

If you have interest in story, or D&D, or RPGs, I highly recommend it.

D&D – Witchlight2 – Session 0 & 1

Dirla, the displacer beast, who runs Lost Property at the Witchlight Carnival.

The group gathered a little later than planned, but keen to get into it. A lot of nerves from the brand new player, and also some from me as my first face 2 face DM.

Firstly we ran a little session zero, mostly to give the new player time to get settled. One player had their character already, and the others rolled their’s. We also all linked into my D&D Beyond campaign. While I didn’t plan on using it too much, mostly just to share the resources, all the players are using the Beyond to roll at the moment, so all their rolls are logged.

The party formed.

• Human Wizard, Cameron
• Human Fighter, Alistair
• Human Monk, Snell
• Tabaxi Rogue, Wis

And we agreed to head down the lost things hook. With a twist, one of the players, concerned about not having a reason to go to the carnival, had invented the idea that they had been escorting their young nieces, who get lost in the carnival. I decided to add that in as well. I think I will have them taken to LoomLurch.

Their lost things are

• Cameron can’t keep secrets
• Alistair has no fashion sense
• Snell can’t smile
• and no one can read Wis’s handwriting

We went through some admin things, but I will have to discuss “what if a player is not here” because I don’t think I made that clear.

We still had some time, so we got started.

The carnival arrived in town, the adventurers, not yet a party, headed that way. Alistair in pursuit of his nieces who had dashed off the moment they saw the bright caravans in the sky. They happened to arrive at the ticket booth at the same time and the others agreed to help Alistair search for his family.

They paid to come into the carnival and then they started their search. Their first stop was Lost Property, where, after retrieving a young boy they talked to the displacer beast, Dirla, but at this stage he wasn’t much help.

After that, they thought that perhaps getting up high might help them find the nieces, so headed over to the Dragonfly rides. As they arrive, there is some sort of drama and one guest is almost thrown from one. Snell and Wis spot someone in the crowd and set off to chase them. The other two decide to continue with the ride.

Gleam’s Shadow

While writing this entry, I think I want to get the nieces found. Otherwise the party will not want to go and “enjoy” the carnival. So my plan is thus – the party can’t catch Kettlesteam, but as they reunite they receive a message from Darla – the nieces have been found. As they arrive back at Lost Property, the girls’ parents are there and they are reunited. As a thank you for helping, they are given an extra set of tickets so that they can enjoy all of the carnival. Hopefully, the party will remain and explore and then I can weave in all the “things are not quite right here” hints. I have two already now, the chase of Kettlesteam, and I had one character notice an unsettling shadow (Gleam’s Shadow) but they couldn’t figure out what.

So far, the new player seems to be liking it, the others as well. I’m having fun too. Hopefully it works. Minimum stuff needed as they are all using devices, and worst case I need a device, a notepad and maybe some dice (but can I let you in on a secret, I have a set of dice in pretty much any bag I take with me anywhere). But as I have MY OWN CLASS, I am storing some of the stuff (notebook, DM screen, maps, and some other random stuff there). All I need to take on a playing day are my favourite dice and the Witchlight book. Everything else is either on my iPad or online.

D&D – Witchlight – Planning for the return

I’ve revealed that I plan to run a face to face Witchlight adventure. I’ve been reflecting upon the last game to see what I might do to improve things. The feedback from my last group, while positive (actually really positive) was not very specific. Which didn’t really help my reflection (but was really affirming)

One of the things I want to use, mostly so I can show that cool picture is to have Yarnspinner as an encounter. So I’ve written a little piece for him. I’ll put that down the bottom of this post.

Clearly the game is going to run differently simply due to the different party and different level that they are at. But I’m also thinking about connections that I missed the first time around that give a bit more life to the story and involve some of the hags and Zybilna a bit more into the story.

Some of these include

• Hints of the 3 hags underlings in the carnival
• Not revealing as much about the hags in the carnival (chiefly the carousel information).
• more links between the hags, like the argument over the missing unicorn horn or the dead cat. Admittedly, the last group just walked in an went BAM, you’re dead.
• More hints around Zybilna and Tasha and….
• If they haven’t yet, I plan to get the Inn to introduce the 3 rules of Prismeer.

At least that’s what I have so far.

However, I have just realised the biggest problem with the game. I’m one of the soccer coaches for our school. One of the other players is the touch football coach. Our school only has 1 playing field so we will be coaching our teams on opposite days! I think he’s going to have to pull out of the game.

Back to recruiting…

But in the meantime, here is my Yarnspinner piece.

As you walk through the forest you start to hear voice up ahead. Well actually, it sounds like several voices. They don't sound alarmed or angry, rather some excitement perhaps (DC 10 Perception). You see that there is a clearing up ahead, but can't make out anything in the clearing yet (you're not really close enough and there are still several trees hiding the whole clearing).

If the party moves closer (sneaky or not). (Passive Perception greater than 15 start to notice a few webs in the trees nearby).

Ahead the forest opens up into a clearing where a couple of large trees have fallen, the space left in the canopy letting the dim light reach the floor of the forest. Gathered across the fallen trunk is a collection of creatures, most sitting down, with a few wandering around. There is a bear, sitting calmly next to a brace of rabbits. Nearby a couple of harengon sit, seemingly sharing something from a basket. A flash of movement catches your eyes and you spy several fairies perched in some of the higher branches of the fallen tree. They haven't noticed your arrival as the entire crowd seems to be looking away from you. Towards the sound of the voice, or voices. 

There is a collective gasp from the crowd as the voices rise to a crescendo and it sounds like someone is yelling. However, you can't really see through the fallen trees to see what is attracting their attention. You can make out some dark grey fur, but not what creature it comes from. (High perception - notices a couple of claws and an dark pupil less eye)

If the party goes closer the creatures in the crowd won't do anything, but if needed will shuffle sideways to let them through. Or to sit down.

As you clear the trees you see an enormous spider. Half hidden within the trees, this spider is the size of a small building and incredibly the voices seem to coming from it. Now that you are closer, the words are clear (and in their native language)(Yarnspinner has a charm similar in effect to Tongues and Speak with Animals). The spider appears to be reading from a large book.

All around the space are animals and fey creatures, all watching and listening intently to the spider.

If they attack - the creatures flee, Yarnspinner (AC 16, HP 138, 3 atks +8 to hit, 2d8 damage) will disengage as soon as possible and disappear into the dark woods. The woods themselves seem increasingly ominous, the air colder and darker. (Due to the emotional connection of the feywild)

If they listen - You realise the spider is telling a story. It seems to be some tale of adventure, with heroes, known as Valour's Call desperately trying to prevent a group calling themselves the League of Malevolence from getting hold of some powerful magical item. The Call, seemingly to include a Wizard and Cleric at least, are fighting with another Wizard and some kind of fighter. 

If they interrupt - There is a collective sigh from the crowd as you speak up, interrupting the spiders oration. A general chattering noise starts up as the creatures and fey start to grumble among themselves. The sky seems to get a bit colder.

Yarnspinner will ask the party to please find a seat and wait until the end of the story and then he is happy to talk to them. 

If the party insists, he apologises to the crowd, who slowly and grumpily disperse. The sky darkens a little more and the weather seems suddenly a fraction colder. Yarnspinner will interact grumpily with the party and try to hurrry them away.

At the end of the story there is a great applause and joyful shouts. The air seems a bit warmer and some new flowers bloom around the clearing. A happy bustle starts as the animals and fey disappear into the woods around you. Yarnspinner pauses as the fey leave, though it is hard to decide who he is watching. As the last creatures leave, Yarnspinner shakes himself a little and rises on his legs. He appears to readying to leave.

Yarnspinner is an opportunity to update any info that the party might need. Prismeer rules, location of hag, nature of Valor's Call and the League (but doesn't know all of both parties nor that they are in Prismeer, he's just a storyteller).

D&D: Honour Among Thieves

Look, I’m going to go against the trend a little. At least the trend I’ve seen and heard from other D&D players. I thought the movie was just ok.

I looked at it as a movie first. It wasn’t quite funny enough to be a fun romp. The story wasn’t really as complicated as it tried to seem. I didn’t care quite enough about the characters as I might have. The production itself was good, nothing to complain about there.

It just seemed a little lacklustre compared to some other things I’ve watched recently. The real trouble is that it was a movie and not a series. We’ve all seen some amazing television over the past few years, even some fantasy shows that have really gone well. I will admit that there are some that I enjoyed that many did not (Wheel of Time and Rings of Power), so I clearly have a different view on these.

However, after listening to a few D&D YouTube folks, I do want to agree wholeheartedly with some of their thoughts. (And I really do apologise as I can’t remember which ones said this). In some ways the movie reflected really well the way an actual D&D campaign might go. There was crazy schemes, parties heading off on completely unexpected directions or focusing on some random detail. Some humour always happens too, but sometimes parts are, well, a bit boring for some of the party, especially if something that really engages someone else’s character so you are kind of left twiddling your thumbs waiting.

But as a movie, it was ok. And everyone else’s reactions makes me feel I completely missed something in the movie. Would I see it again – not at the movies where it costs almost $30 per ticket. On Netflix or something, I am confident I would happily watch it a few times again.

D&D – A new Witchlight

I put up a flier in my workplace because I thought it might be fun to run a D&D game with my workmates. What do I want, well I would like to play D&D face to face, and I’d love to have a go at DM’ing that. I would like to run it during the week because I can’t really spare the weekends (so am probably dropping out of the face to face game I was in).

I have four people interested so far. We have one who plays frequently, one who has played a little, one who has played another system a little and one brand new person. After a little chat with them, we have a plan for location (my classroom) and a schedule (mid week, after school). This will be the plan at least at the start, maybe later we will move location or time.

The other thing we discussed is what to play. I had three ideas. If they were all new, I would have run Lost Mines. I considered Dragon of Icespire, but I am currently a player in that so didn’t want to ruin it. The other idea for newbies was Stormwreck Isle. I also suggested my own home-brew (but secretly hoped they wouldn’t want to as I’m not sure I’m happy with it yet), and the last idea was to run a published one. With the mix of ability I thought Witchlight would be good. It has lots of role-play, not much fighting and a good chance to get the hang of things without it being overwhelming.

Even though I have recently finished this adventure, it was a lot of fun. And remember, no group does the adventure the same way. And this group has different characters & different players. In this case, running it for 4 level 1 characters rather than 6 level 11 characters will make a difference too

I already have the physical book (I’ve found that even when I’m DM online, I like the actual book in my hands for the adventure). My players can join into D&D Beyond and join the campaign I’ve set up in there. This will give them all the book resources they could want. I also remembered (thanks to a question from one of my kids) that I have some physical cards for the game as I bought the dice set. This will be handy.

Along with the dice, I have a carnival map and these info cards which should prove handy.

For my DM Screen, I’ve decided to use the one from one of the starter kits, mostly as it will be left at school and the one from this box is a cheaper one.

I did spend some money on these covers. I hope they will help to protect my books as I take them to school and back. While they do come in 4 choices (PHB, DMG, MM and generic) I only bought 2. One PHB and one generic that I will put Witchlight in. I don’t use the DMG or MM much, and I can use electronic versions of them, so not required. Even the PHB will likely stay home after the Session Zero. Of note, my BattleTech books also fit. I wouldn’t even have thought of these, except I wandered in a local game store and saw them sitting on the shelf. I did look at generic, cheaper ones but none seemed to be a size that would fit the books (either too large or way to small)

Expensive covers, so I hope they last a while.

So a there is a little bit of prep to do, deciding on some house rules, and which adventure hook to use, before session zero in a couple of weeks. I want to use OneNote for most of that. Session Zero will have the players rolling characters as well.

Then, before you know it, I’ll be running my first face to face as the Dungeon Master. Fun I hope. Bit nervous actually and I’m sure I’m over prepping.

D&D – Down with Strahd

It’s been a long and fascinating campaign as my party has wandered through Borovia trying to defeat Strahd and find a way home.

Initially Tilm (an investigative rogue) was my character, but I got a bit bored with him, so the DM and I concocted a plan for him to be kidnapped by Strahd and for the party to meet his cousin, Sister Fredis Braunforge, a War Priest of Moradin. The party also really needed some holiness and some healing.

This adventure went well and great fun was had by all as we explored across the land deciphering our Tarokka readings (the DM was using them as our milestones, so we were keen to level up before Strahd).

It had been expected that it would finish in the session 2 weeks ago. Tension had been building (and the DM was adding to it) as we explored through his castle, looking for the last item. We were nervous about bringing what we assumed was a castle full of minions down upon us, so kept away from our usual explore every room and clear every room to just slip quietly through for our item.

We faced him in his brothers tomb and with the weapons and knowledge we had gathered helped as we battled him and minions. With some injuries, but nothing that we couldn’t handle, we got him to the point that he dissolved into mist and fled.

Initially there was some discussion about hunting him, then exploring the castle, before we remembered that if we didn’t find him son, he would recover. Guessing that since we were in his brothers crypt, there was a good chance Strahd’s crypt should be nearby.

We headed back out into the maze of smaller crypts. We found his parents and had a small run in with a couple of giant spiders before one of our party disappeared. He was replaced with a wight.

We quickly dispatched the creature and our friend returned. Our rogue stepped forward. Only to disappear as well, and another wight appeared. We pushed this one back into the space and snap, it disappeared.

We had uncovered some kind of teleport trap. We thought we must be close.

Sister Fredis cast a dispel magic and it seemed to temporarily clear the trap. The group hurried forwards to find our way blocked by a portcullis.

The lizardfolk fighter gave a stretched and simply lifted it manually! The group hurried in, but to get the fighter through we wedged Fredis spare warhammer (she had found a better one in the adventure). It lasted long enough for the lizardfolk to get through before snapping. The haft clattering to the floor near her feet.

Inside we found a coffin. The plan was that the fighter would open the coffin, then Fredis (as the cleric) would strike with the haft of the warhammer. We had doused it with holy water.

Strahd, inside, had heard us clatter and bang our way into the crypt so was ready when the coffin opened. He let out a blast of necromancy at the fighter as Fredis struck. She called on Moradin to guide her strike (take a +10 bonus) and pinned Strahd to his coffin with a stake through his heart.

At this point the fight was over. He was paralysed and as long as the stake wasn’t removed (or damaged) we could simply hit him until he died.

So we did.

And then destroyed his coffin.

We had won and defeated the evil of Strahd.

Took us over 14 months at 2 hours, once every two weeks. It was a fun game, and story. Even though I have the book myself, I haven’t read it so had no spoilers for myself.

Next up, a Spelljammer campaign and I break from tradition and play something other than a dwarf.