Brando-nomiCON 2012

I know that this was a long time ago, but I still want to do a recap, mostly to record the fun.  The short version is that we drank some Bugman's Best Imperial Dwarven Stout, went on a geocaching adventure, shot guns at the range, arm wrestled, played croquet, had a hot-wing eating competition (5 pounds), went to the Red Dragon Inn, played The Fool (a kind of Russian euchre), ate bacon infused waffles, slayed heretics for Him, castle panicked, ate eggy-weggs, drank awesome margs (cinco duh mayo), and embarked on the most cut-throat 2nd edition dungeon crawl this side of Minthril Hall.

I used the Forgotten Realms Undermountain as the frame, but made up every room myself.  I also have a tagline.  "Undermountain!  It's fairly unfair."

The central concept is that all your wins over the weekend are for your Team.  Iron or Bronze. (I have a thing for Plato's Republic).  And when you do your dungeon crawl in Undermountain, all the gold you get is banked for your Team.  You may have characters from the other Team on your adventuring party, and if they die, someone from the opposite Team can come in.  And here's the thing.  You can't actively hurt any of the other characters.  "Actively" is decided by me, on a case by case basis.  If you're a Cleric, you may choose to only heal members of your Team, if you're guarding a corner, you may just dodge and hide, etc.  The end result is so much fun and so devilish that I consider it the height of super-death D&D.

Here's the final Score:
Bronze Team:

13pp, 818gp, 230sp, 1755cp =  (923.55gp)

Iron Team:

12pp, 914gp, 359sp, 1791cp = (1027.81gp)

Masterwork Shortsword (nonmagical +1), shield, longsword, longbow, 2 daggers (The gear doesn't count for the total, but is considered general Iron Team gear for next year)

Best Quotes: 

“I live my life drinking beer and eating chicken wings” – Alistair Goodblood

"Wait a minute. That’s not a D20!" (Have you ever seen a player roll a D12 for while and wonder why they can't hit anything.  Pure awesomeness.)

“Rat-thrasher Stroooong!”

Best Deaths: 

“Oh, you’re badly injured?  Here’s a healing potion.  Just kidding.  That was ETTERCAP POISON!"

Swan dive into a 120’ pit, onto a granite floor.

Got into a nest of Carrion Crawlers, for the paralyze and slow eat.

Take note that every single one of these was Cullen.

MVP:  Preston. 

Swooping wyvern?  No problem, here’s some Call Lightning.

Fifty angry lizardmen in wooden huts?  No problem, here’s Wall of Fire.

Handful of Ghouls?  No problem, here’s a Pillar of Fire.

Black Dragon near a treasure room?  No problem, here’s a Blade Barrier.

Seriously, who doesn't like casting Blade Barrier on a young black dragon?  It's like a food processor. That’s so much easier than getting a bunch of acid on ya.

Thank you to everyone who came out and geeked out.  I'll get a more robust croquet set for next year so you guys don't snap them in half in your fits of rage, and I'll brew at least 20 gallons of beer.  Iron Team = 1, Bronze Team = 0

Gunters - The First Gate

Yesterday, Ernest Cline revealed his online Easter Egg Hunt contest in the spirit of his awesome book, Ready Player One:

The clue to where the Atari2600 challenge is online is hidden in the text of the book, and that first gate is open now.  

...aaaaand Solved:

The rest of you Gunters have until July 1st to catch up, because I'll be virtually camping on that gate until it opens up.  That DeLorean is all mine!

Good Gunting!

Cybertech

Nothing to see here.  Except for my Cyberpunk RPG players.

Stores

Store pages for the Cyberpunk RPG.

Equipment

Cyberpunk RPG equipment pages.

Bestiarum Vocabulum 2

The Carrion Crawler

Oh, yes. The dreaded carrion crawler.  According to my memory of the white second edition monster manual, it looks like a cross between a fat white cephalopod and a cutworm.  They're about 6 foot long and can run down most adventurers. They can climb up walls and ceilings. A nest of these is as deadly as a pack of ghouls.  I love using them for those total party kills.  First they paralyze you with their wiggly tentacle mouths, then they move in for the slow eat.  Super terrible.  And they're must tougher than you'd think.

It's a pretty good monster.

Apparently it was introduced way back in the 1975 Greyhawk D&D.   The only more dickish move would be to give them a 1-2 punch of Rust Monsters, then come in with some CCs.   There's no glory in killing these things.  Only danger.

Bestiarum Vocabulum 1

Today's lesson will be the Daemonette. Apparently, Daemonettes appear as both beautiful and repulsive to those who look upon them. Their bewitching opal eyes and enchanting aura veil their androgynous features and grotesque claws, revealing an alluring appearance the beholder will always consider the epitome of beauty.

Yeah, because nothing says "beautiful, bewitching, and alluring" like crab claws. I can't remember the rules for 40K, but I think their big crab claws can punch through the sides of tanks, and snip well armoured men in half. Their other claim to fame is that because they're so "alluring", they cause their opponents to hesitate, because obviouly they're just so interesting that you momentarily stop defending yourself to mumble "What in the blazes is that sexy thing?" That leaves them with an opening to eviscerate your sorry butt.

In Dark Heresy our group inadvertently summoned one*, and had to dispatch her quickly, while fighting in an small underground bunker/map room. They kept referring to it as a Kitchen-ette, while they shot it a few times with hellpistols and .44 magnum revolvers. No big deal. In game terms, their "alluring" trick causes you to pass a willpower check each turn, or spend half of that turn gawking. Oh, you need a full round to do an action? Reloading? Invocation? That's too bad. One surefire way to defend against this is to be a Techpriest with the Chem-Geld trait. Apparently in the year 40K, there is only war. And terrible choices. *They didn't actually summon one. Only heritics do that.