Trouble in Cobblestone Creek

Another one shot over the weekend. It went very well, but not as planned:


The Sheriff and three deputies of the town of Cobblestone Creek set out to the hamlet of Gibson. Rumors had come in that their had been trouble with the natives, and no-one had heard from Gibson in several days. 

When they got there, the town was dead. 

They found the bodies gathered into the town saloon. What was left of the townsfolk had been gnawed on by wolves. 

It wasn't long before the Cobblestone Creek crew had berried the bodies and went looking for wolves. 

Then the part split up and they started to get killed off in turn. 

This is where thing departed from what I had expected. 

The plan was for all of the PCs, the outstanding gunslinging law enforcement of the town, to die in horrible and gruesome ways. Then I would hand out the players real character sheets. It would be up to the alcoholic, gambling addicted, lowlifes to save the town of Cobblestone creek from the Werewolves. 

But here is what actually happened. 

I botched a stealth roll for one of the wolves. I rolled in plain sight, so there was no real way I could hand wave it. One of the characters got in behind the thing and pumped it full of as much lead in a round as the mechanics would allow.

So in the end, two of the PCs survived the encounter. Although one was rather gnawed on. 

This is were the players rebelled. They demanded that they be turned into Werewolves and be allowed to bring down the town of Cobblestone creek. They demanded it in such unison that I could not deny them. 

So the game ended with four newly made werewolves running free in the countryside wreaking havoc. I am sure this will be a one shot with a sequel. 

R.I.P. Jayden, Beloved Nephew

A duel was the only way to solve it. A duel or some underhanded kidnapping work. Thats the way it works with these people. You make it a matter of honor, or you ransom your freedom. 

Of course, being an older man myself, I cannot duel and must have a champion. My hired gun, Jordan, had taken off on some fool mission to kidnap a girl and solve the problem that way. I figured he would get himself killed or captured. 

Jayden insisted that I let him be my champion. He had held his own with our last encounter with our disgruntled shipmate. So of course I thought he could hold his own. 

And he did. 

He got a shot off first. But then two bullets ripped through him. 

Jayden's ever present cigaret fell from his lips. A soft "oh" escaped him. Then he slumped to the grass. 

It was a that moment, as Jayden lay slain at my feet, that Jorden came in over the radio. He had pulled off his escipade, and there was no reason for to duel. 

Jayden, you will be missed.

-Baron Harveset Bowmen MD.

Anatomy of a Rhinoat

The Rhinoat started off as a joke early on in the Aire'Nevahn campaign. Hutch, the purple haired bounty hunter gnome needed a bit of a back story for why she had had previous dealings with the street sweeping philosopher Shaajid. So the players come up with an brief recap of an adventure that involved the chase of a half goat half rhino creature.
As the campaign carried on, the story of this creature evolved. The rhinoat is in fact a sacred mount for gnomish warriors from Hutch's home. Eventually, we even met up with a few rhinoats and Hutch got a mount.
As the twists and turns of the plot demanded that Mr Wells needed to be hidden from spiritual detection, there was only one natural thing to do. Turn him into a rhinoat.
I am now playing a rhinoat.
What started off as a little bit of a joke has now become my character. Mr. Wells does not mind it so much as part of the proper treatment of a rhinoat is to constantly scratch it behind the ears.

One Shots

I have been entertaining friends on the weekends. Usually, as things wind down in the evenings I kick off a one shot. The last two that i have run have gone something like this:

A Very Special Green Ops Christmas: Operation White House
Its Christmas Eve 2009. Santa and the Elfs are all busy delivering presents. The most dangerous missions are left up to the elite Green Ops team.
The adventure followed two members of the Green Ops team as they set out to deliver presents to the the president of the United States.
Of course as they are sneaking through, air vents and take on the secret service, another sinister force is going through the white house. John McCain in power armor and Sara Palin with a shot gun are trying to fill the Obama's stockings with coal.
The final results: McCain has a christmas ornament flash bang induced heart attack. Palin gets a shot in the face from the secret service. And half the united states gets hypnotized by irresistible sugar plums.


The Sad Tail of Montgumery Jones
As a group of my friends are leaving my place after a gaming session, they stumble onto an unlikely event. A well dressed man walks past them, followed by several paces behind by the same man, only haggard and worn. They will soon come to call these men Montgomery Jones.
The following weeks lead to several run ins with the man and his doppelganger. Eventually they find that the haggard version of Mr Jones has is the original and that he was replaced while he was forced to serve as a teapot in the halls of the Fay.
Monty shows the group a bush that acts as a portal, which can only be seen through glasses which Monty says was a man once named Edwards.
Through the glasses, anything that is Fay touched is illuminated: Montgomery's doppelganger, the portal to the Fey realms and one of the part members.
Soon the party sets off through the portal into the Fay realms.

War, War Never Changes

There is a new addition to the games I am playing. This one will be rather unique as there is only the GM and me, and it is done by email.
We are using the Fallout system, but I won't get to see any of the dice. Although I will be aware of some of my stats, in general I will be separate from my character sheet.
As this is an email game I should be able to pull out the more interesting sections of the game and present them here.
I am excited about this game for several reasons:
The DM is one of my favorite people to game with. I love post-apocalyptic settings, especially the Fallout setting. As one of my favorite soul sucking video games of all times, Fallout has always been a system that I have always wanted to give a try on Pnp.

I hate Treece

We arrived on a small water planet, I don't recall the name. It was supposed to be a refueling stop and a place to take on some more passengers. The local authorities must have had word we were coming, because they had our parts all planned out for us.
I was called to do a medical exam for the high commissioner. His own physician was off planet and he had heard of some of the research that I had done. During the exam, I discovered two things that sealed my fate. The first is that the man was avidly against any treating with the hell of a planet Treece from which we just came. The second is that the man was in spectacular health for his age.
One of the passengers that we brought with us from Treece was the latest diplomat sent to rape this small paradise of its resources and natural beauty. Undoubtedly he is the one who had the high commissioner killed. With me as the last doctor to see him alive, and having declared him in excellent health, I knew I would be the one who would take the fall. Playing along would be the only thing that would get me out of this one.
I gave them what they wanted. The death is recorded as an acident with my signature on the autopsy report. At least it got me and my crew off world.
Don't think we are done yet. We still have our secret weapon. We are coming back to screw you Treece.

-Baron Harveset Bowman MD.

All About The Games

Here is a brief intro to the games I am currently involved in:

Travelers: Second Chances in the Spinward Marches
A collection of ex-pirates, ex-marines, and retired doctors start a new life aboard the small space freighter Pleasant Voyage. Always a step behind on their mortgage payments, the crew has to decide just how far they are willing to go to keep their boat afloat.
So far we have managed to make some enemies by being particularly callus when there was no need. But we have made our mortgage payments, and that is what matters.
I play the on-the-verge-of-senility Doctor Harveset Bowman.

True20: Aire'Nevahn
A fantasy game in a class of its own. In a world full of Rihnoats and secret factions, a group of strangers are thrown together with the common goal of getting away from the people that are trying to kill them. The plot is thick and complicated. Everyone seems to have their own angle.
In this adventure I play Mr. Wells, the proper and inexplicably English Butler. On the occasional side quest in the same setting, I play Germic, the half-halfing-orc with a friendly and trusting disposition.

GURPS: Supernatural
A cross between Supernatural and Buff the Vampire Slayer. A group of three friends always seem to find themselves in the middle of some supernatural trouble. Learning some of these arts themselves, they battle freaky mayors, sinister sherifs and the occasional serial killer.
I play Charles (Chuck) Worthington III, a young version of Jiles. Although currently young Chuck has his neck snapped and isn't much good to anyone.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Werewolves are the guardians of earth and her spirit. The story follows a group of cubs who are forming their own pack. So far nothing in their rite of initiation has gone too well.
I haven't gotten to much of a handle on the character I am playing yet. He will eventually become a taoist sotryteller, but at the moment he is just young, awkward and confused.

Theme and Setting

Moving to a new city can be an adventure. But it you don't get yourself out and meet people, you can find yourself sitting along in your new apartment trying to ward off cabin fever. Sitting on the floor, I might add, as you might not have enough money for proper furniture.

My solution to the uncomfortable floor problem is some good old fashioned pen and paper RPGs.

There is something about sitting back and playing some games with folks that causes almost instant comradery. There is nothing like slaying a few monsters with people to get to know them.

Finding a game to get into was far less difficult than I thought it would be. A little bit of searching online found me some gaming communities in my area with some open games. Actually, finding a game to get into was so easy that I am now in more games than I have time for.

Having previously tried and failed miserably at maintaining a blog as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family, I have decided to give a new approach a shot. Instead of keeping people posted about the mundane aspects of my life, I will keep on topics that interest me and that I care to write about. Mostly this will be pen and paper RPGs with the occasional dash of other local flavor thrown in.

Hopefully that will let people feel in touch with my life while keeping me posting.