Trying Something Else

Trying out cut and paste from Monser Maker

Bollenger Grey Eye		Level 9 Elite Brute (Leader)
Medium natural humanoid		XP 800
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +6 HP 240; Bloodied 120 (See Etnal Resurection) AC 21; Fortitude 22; Reflex 20; Will 21 Speed 5 Action Points 1
m Mace (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+12 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5
Etnal Resurection (immediate reaction, when dead or reduced to 0 or fewer hit points; at-will) • Teleportaion, Healing
The Etnal is teleported to the nearest wayshrine fully healed and with all aflictions removed.
C Clear The Area (standard; recharge 6) • Weapon
Requires greataxe; close burst 1; +10 vs. AC; 2d12 + 10 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square
No Depth Perception (no action)
Bollenger suffers from a -2 on all ranged attackes.
Alignment Unaligned		Languages —
Str 14 (+6)	Dex 14 (+6)		Wis 14 (+6)
Con 20 (+9)	Int 14 (+6)		Cha 17 (+7)
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Adventure Tools: Monster Maker

Neat video

Testing out embedding a video.

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Crunching: 4E PH Weapons

Testing out a table gaget for a weapons article.

There it was.

Trying out Monster cards from Dungeon Mastering:

• Clawfoot Thug
• Level 1 Brute

• Small Natural Humaniod
• XP 100

• Initiative +1
 
• Senses Perception +1;Darkvision

• HP 33; Bloodied 16

• AC 16; Fortitude 14, Reflex 13, Will 13

• Speed 6

• Clawfoot Longsword (standard; at-will)  •  Weapon

• +4 vs AC; 1d10+3 damage

• Wild Swing (standard; recharge 5+)  •  Weapon

• +4 vs AC; 2d10+3 damage and the target is pushed 1 square.

• Shifty (Minor; at-will)

• The Clawfoot shifts 1 squared as a minor action.

• Align. Evil
• Lang. Draconic

• Skills Acrobatics +6, Stealth +6

• Str 16 (+3)
• Dex 11 (+1)
• Wis 16 (+1)

• Con 11 (0)
• Int 9 (--1)
• Cha 10 (0)

• Equipment Hide Armor, Longsword

Clawfoot Thug

My version of a kobold:

Clawfoot Thug Level 1 Brute Medium Natural Humanoid (Reptile) XP 100
Initiative +1 Senses Perception +1; Darkvision
HP 33; Bloodied 16
AC 16; Fortitude 14, Reflex 13, Will 13
Speed 6
M Clawfoot Longsword (Standard; at-will) ♦ Weapon
+4 vs AC; 1d10+3 damage
m Wild Swing (Standard; recharge 56) ♦ Weapon
+4 vs AC; 2d10+3 damage and the target is pushed 1 square.
Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Skills Acrobatics +6, Stealth +6
Str 16 (+3) Dex 13 (+1) Wis 13 (+1) Con 11 (+0) Int 9 (-1) Cha 10 (+0)
Equipment Hide Armor, Longsword

Gimp Mapping-Fu

Using the photo I posted yesterday I have been practicing my l33t mapping skills in gimp following RobA's tutorial Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map at Cartographers Guild.com I thought I would post the result of too many hours of practice. (click the thumbnail for a larger 1.4 Meg version.)

It is still not where I want it to be, but it is getting much closer.
Though the mountains and forests look pretty good, the grass/land needs improvement; I still haven't added the city and forest of glass on the southwest Continent on the river delta; I need more labels for things; The islands need help and the sea texture is a bit too coarse; I also need to add a compass rose, scale and other eye candy.

Snork
--
Snorkey: all I see are masks, bump maps and textures.

World Building on a Battle Mat

My group has been conducting a world building exercise for my new 4E game (which starts Jan 29) using the Dawn of Worlds rule system. When we started we were using a 81/2 x 11 graph paper, however, after creating a different world on a battle map I decided to transfer the small map onto something a little larger.

On the whole it took about 3 hours to do.

Mass Effect Play: Notes

Play started at around 7:30 and ended a little after 10 pm.

I transcribed, with embellishments, this from five and ½ pages of hand written notes taken during the session. I do not think that I have written 5 pages out long hand (or any hand) in one sitting in more than a decade and a half.

There were a number of jokes about mushrooms and pizza and such (fungus creatures and all). Overall the game stayed on topic and the atmosphere was peaceful and focused. Two players were out tonight.

Also I typed this up in a little over 1 ½ hours immediate after the game. I now need to go back and clean up all the red lines of death (spelling errors) and the few green lines (syntax errors). I did open up the Mass Effect Wiki to get correct name spellings.

Editing and corrections took another hour.

Slicing and Dicing it into blog posts took about 30 min.

Mass Effect Play: Session Conclusion

We disarm the Asari by removing her class II Savant Biotic amp (normally reserved for Biotic Commando's).

We know that Saren, with Matriarch Benezia came to Ferros looking for the Cipher several weeks ago, and that when he left the Geth's mission changed to "Destroy the Cipher". T'Soni recognizes the Asari as Shiala, one of Benezia's older, veteran body guards.

We evac to the ship with the unconscious prisoner along with the colonists of Ferros: For some reason they now wish to leave their Geth infested planet. Bunking will be tight till we can off load them.

Characters will have time to train and use some of the points awarded over the last several sessions.

All characters are now at 136 points.

Mass Effect Play: Thorian Part 3

Part 3: Growing Flowers

Traveling on we come to a massive cavern some 300 meters tall and between 50-75 meters wide. For the first time we see species #37: The Thorian in all of its massive glory. The entity is the size of a small cruser and is suspended by innumerable small tendrils and eight large "roots".

A proboscis ejects a green skinned Asari that appears to be of the same composition as the Thorian Creepers but has specific facial features and battle armor. It addresses us "You are not welcome here; go back the way you came."

Shepard, being diplomatic, asks "We are here for the Cipher, once we have it we will leave you in peace. "

"We sense that the air you move only contains lies", The Asari replies "Your kind is only suitable for service or fertilizer, that is you must go back the way you came."

"We know that you are wise and noble being …" starts Shepard.

"…oh no, that made it angry" says T'Soni and uses biotics to throw the asari off the ledge. It hits the far wall and lands in the pit with a splat.

A fusion grenade in hand, Shepard throws at a root. It hits and explodes partially severing it.

Talia takes aim at another root.

Chakwas shoots at a Thorian Creeper.

Garrus shoots at a root.

Kaidan throws a high explosive grenade at the cluster of Thorian Creepers but it flips out of his hand and lands behind the party.

T'Soni has a sense of that there is another presence in the room and moves off from the group to search for it.

A Thorian Creeper hits Shepard but is largely unaffected due to his armor.

Another Thorian Creeper attacks Garrus and also hits.

Talia fires her shotgun at the root she was aiming at and generates an enormous hole in it causing the massive Thorian sages a little to one side.

Chakwas and the Privates take down a Thorian Creeper.

Garrus hits another root with his assault rifle.

Kaidan sight's a root down the barrel of his shotgun.

T'Soni, using clairvoyance senses exactly where the other Asari is located. An oversized pod like the one the Thorian Creeper emerged from.

The Thorian deposits more Thorian Creepers.

A Thorian Creeper comes up to Shepard and deals a massive blow and Shepard folds to the ground.

Another Thorian Creeper confronts Garrus with the first blow largely absorbed by his body armor, but the second one really hurt, yet he stays standing.

A final Thorian Creeper hits Talia.

Chakwas Heals Shepard with MediGel returning him to combat.

Shepard draws his Sonic Blade and attacks a Thorian Creeper while still lying on the ground.

Talia takes aim at a root.

Garrus throws a high explosive grenade at the cluster of Thorian Creepers, and the blast knocks 2 of them off the ledge.

Kaidan hits a root with his shotgun, but it is largely ineffective.

T'Soni, using her sonic blade deftly cuts the Asari free of the pod. However, while pre-occupied with this a Thorian Creeper snuck up on her causes her some pain, though she remains able to fight.

Thorian Creeper attacks Sheppard twice, but by parrying the second attack manages to dismember it. The other hit is not sufficient to penetrate his armor.

Garrus is hit and hurt by a Thorian Creeper, and he falls to the ground.

The Thorian deposits a new Thorian Creeper.

Shepard jumps to his feat slices into a Thorian Creeper and drops it.

Talia shots a root with her shotgun and it breaks.

Chakwas maneuvers over to Garrus and restores him back to consciousness.

Kaidan severs one of the last, close by (in shotgun range) roots. Four roots remain, and the Thorian is listing badly.

T'Soni shots the Thorian Creeper that savaged her.

The Privates remove two more Thorian Creepers, so the Thorian deposits 5 more.
Shepard switches to his assault rifle and aims at a root.

Talia aims at the same root.

Garrus, from the ground aims at another root.

Kaidan uses a biotic push to knock all the Thorian Creepers into the abyss.

T'Soni drags the Asari into the group; it is quickly determined that she is the original of the green skinned "clone" that we saw earlier.

The Thorian deposits a second example of the Asari Clone along with four more Thorian Creepers before the party.

Shepard shoots and damages a root.

Talia hits the same root, leaving it connected by a thread.

Chakwas, using psionic healing determines that the Asari is being mentally dominated by a greater mind (presumably the Thorian). Reducing her state of awareness level might disable the clone, so she drugs the Asari.

Garrus shoot s another root and damages it.

Kaidan throws a grenade at the Asari but misses and it lands upon another Thorian Creeper. The explosion hurts them but doesn't knock any of them into the pit.

T'Soni knocks all of the Thorian Creepers into the pit leaving only the Asari Clone.

The Clone pushes everyone into the wall with such extreme force that Shepard and Talia are down and dying (bleeding), and T'Soni is unconscious.

Chakwas treats the dying Shepard and is extremely effective; he is nearly at full health.

Garrus breaks the damaged root and the Thorian is hanging by a thread. The Clone slumps to her knees.

T'Soni states that now is the time for diplomacy, but Kaidan disagrees saying "It has three roots left" as he severs one more.

The Thorian, with a groan, has its remaining roots ripped from the walls and falls into the abyss.

The Clone's body slumps into a pile and starts flowering.

Kaidan says "I didn't know that the Thorian made the flowers grow?"

Mass Effect Play: Thorian Part 2

Part 2: Battle in the Dark

We continue down the tunnel and come to a large, open area where 4 Thorian Creepers drop down upon us and another battle ensues.

The Thorian Creepers hit Talia severely, Garrus lightly, Kaidan painfully and Dr T'Soni so badly that she collapses and is dying.

Talia apply MediGel to T'Soni and brings her back to awareness.

Kaidan tries to throw two of the Thorian Creepers back, away from himself and Dr T'Soni but is unsuccessful.

T'Soni applies MediGel to herself and is largely restored.

Thorian Creepers attack Talia viciously and leave her down and dying; Kaidan so horribly that he is also knocked out, but is not dying. One Thorian Creeper attempts to maul Garrius but Garrius reverses the move and drops the Thorian Creeper to the ground and places his boot upon the creatures "neck".

Shepard blasts the Thorian Creeper on Kaidan and blows it away.

Garrus disarticulates the pinned Thorian Creeper with his shotgun.

T'Soni applies MediGel to Talia so that she is no longer dying.

The Last 2 Thorian Creepers go after Garrus, who shudders from the blows but remains conscious.

Shepard and Garrus focus fire on one Thorian Creeper but it remains mobile.

T'Soni applies more MediGel to Talia, though better she is still not up.

One Thorian Creeper hits Shepard but he is still up and fighting. The other Thorian Creeper just misses Garrus, twice.

Shepard fires his shotgun at one and it disassembles itself.

Garrus aims at his Thorian Creeper.

T'Soni levitates the last Thorian Creeper so that it cannot attack while the remaining fighters blast it into pieces.

At this point Dr Chakwas and Private First Class Marucho and Rodain are called in for support and assistance before proceeding further. Everyone is restored to full health. Ammo is switched out.

Mass Effect Play: Thorian Part 1

Part 1: Into the Darkness

After some SCIENCE we crafted knock-out gas grenades to render the inhabitants of Zhu's hope helpless. We lift up the crashed ship to expose a narrow stair way down into the darkness.
The marching order is: Shepard, Garrus, Kaidan, T'Soni, and Talia. (The remainder of the crew stayed behind to secure the exit.)

As we make our way down the tunnel Garrus notices a large pod on the wall. Just as he taps Shepard on the shoulder the pod unfolds into a lithe three fingered featureless humanoid that starts moving toward the party.

Shepard, "Greeting we come in peace".

Dr. T'Soni makes a concerned expression, "There is danger here", she says as she draws her pistol.

Shepard pulls his sonic blade and stabs the creature, making a solid blow, but not phasing the creature in anyway.

Garrus shoots at the creature with his assault rifle and also hits.

Kaidan attempts to throw the creature but it squirms in his biotic grasp and only pushes it back two meters.

T'Soni aims.

The Creature, to later be name a "Thorian Creeper", hits Shepard with its claws but fails to penetrate his armor.

Talia fires at the creature but misses.

Garrus aims with the assault rifle.

Kaidan focuses pyrokinesis upon the creatures torso and raises it's temperature by 800 degrees, to no effect other than it is now glowing red hot.

T'Soni shoots with her shot gun and blows the Thorian Creeper into little flaming pieces. She then analyzes the remains and determines that the creature is an undifferentiated fungal mass: There are no organs, no bones or structures of any kind. It is presumed that something else, something external is animating this thing. Its body structure is most similar to a turian or a quarian.

After combat analysis also showed that shotguns were the most effective weapon against this creature so everyone arms themselves appropriately.

Mass Effect Play: Previously on Feros

Note: I will be generating a more detailed back story at a later time.

Previously: The team had discovered that ExoGeni was up to no good: they had discovered Life form #35 and found that its spores had a psychoactive effect on intelligent life. Management decided to use the inhabitants of Zhu's Hope as test subjects to see the effects of the spores. Net result: even though the planet is overrun with Geth, none of the inhabitants wish to leave. From a krogain that Wrex knew (and managed to flip to our side), we discovered that Species #37 was known as the Thorian and that Saren was searching the planet for "The Cipher". We do know that Saren has departed the planet, leavingthe Geth behind to destroy "The Cipher" and all witnesses.

Mass Effect Play: Rule Changes

In the 3E GURPS Mass Effect Game that we play every other week our GM made the following rule Changes:

Rule Changes: All pistols and assault rifles now only roll for one shot; if there is no aim and the shot just hits then it is a "Grazing Shot". Accuracy of the weapon now dictates the damage multiplier. Critical hits are now only on a 3 or 4 though the better you make the shot the higher the multiplier. No bonus for HUD or laser targeting (essentially, they are a wash when making a snapshot.)
No called Shots.

The change was instituted to speed up combat (Assault Rifles with 3 shots takes a long time to resolve).

This should have no effect on the Sniper, even though he won't be making "Critical Hits" as often, He will still be making kills (as he will almost always hit with a 10 or better getting a massive multiplier).

World Creation: 4E Game,The Second Age (partial); The Map

Here is a scan of the map that was the result of the First Age (part 2) and the second age (partial) activities. As you can see using the correct rules for "Shape Land" (16 squares instead of 4) made a big difference: Both in the coast line and the terrain within the lands.

I do look forward to seeing the world completed, and to show the players a world littered with atlantian ruins. (I personally, look forward to strolling through the forest of glass).

World Creation: 4E Game,The Second Age (partial)

We continued into the Second Age using the Dawn of World's Rule system, however, we lacked the time that evening to get to a sensible stopping point, so we ended it after the completion of turn #2. Hopefully, the next time my group meets we can complete the world so that we can start playing in it.

Log of Events:

Turn 1
Snorkey	Creates Goblins (mass 1), Orcs (mass 2), and Kobolds (mass 3), all evil
Stephen	The Sleeper (now known as the Scales of Balance) creates an order made up of all races, devoted to creating balance in the world (neutral in outlook)
Andrea	Half-elves plunder Atlantean colonies for secrets of seafaring, creates 2 more fleets
Bill	Seductive Evil spawns race in own image (Halflings - evil on landmass 1), City of Gray Skies spawn sub race of Atlanteans - the free-willed undead, corrupts race (undead to evil)
Rob	First Born's offspring on crystal city cannot maintain it, it crashes into sea - First Born and followers become race of aboleths (evil)
Laura	Avatar commands uncorrupted Sunborn to hibernate, small groups go into long sleep to awaken to disseminate knowledge periodically after the dark age is over
Dave	Elven army retreats from Solstice, leaves behind a sub race of "Gold" elves, elves advance in SCIENCE!, builds a wonder in Eldar - the Great Library of Eldar (mass 3)
Turn 2
Snorkey	Creates order with Dis, The GodKillers (evil)
Stephen	Commands order to raise an army, avatar raises army, Sunborn in hibernation become corrupt (to neutral) as their souls slowly decay
Andrea	Creates avatar - a giant Kraken, who then creates race of Merpeople (good) advanced in weapon smithing, creates coral reef along west coast of mass 1, Merpeople raise armies - half elves raise armies and create city (Dawn's Glory), half-elves advance in literature
Bill	Gold elves contact evil outer gods via library's gates and are corrupted to evil, take new name Drow, Dwarves are created in depths of earth (neutral) and go on quest for sky to reach the surface
Rob	Aboleths establish city of the Throat in Fang Isles, create race of Sahaugin
Laura	Hibernating Sunborn are purified (back to good but retain air of superiority), creates order who establishes New Atlantis (city)
Dave	Avatar creates army in Aldar, army heads back to Solstice to take care of Drow (and elvish civil war begins), elves advance in music

World Creation: 4E Game,The First Age, Part 2

With two players absent for the first session of world building and filling too little of the world when we "shaped land" or "shape climate" actions, we as a group, decided to continue the world using the First age point values and just weave the new players into the flow.

Log of Events:

Turn 1
Snorkey	Pass
stephan	Pass
Andrea	Created a cove with islands surrounded by mountains on M1
Bill	Added mountains & forest to M1
Rob	Commands Scaled Order to build City of Dragons (a wonder) in the depths of the forest; Creates Cove of Brass on M2; Clarifies tundra in North of M2
Laura	Commands Atlanteans to share knowledge of magic, etc. with other races; Command City of Mol to create space elevator; Atlanteans spread to areas on M1 and M3
Dave	Elves discover engineering
Turn 2
Snorkey	Creates sub race of Hungry called the Humans at the ancient site of the City of Brass
stephan	Creates avatar known as "The Sleeper"
Andrea	Creates avatar - an underwater dragon dwelling in the big cove on the west of Mass 1, avatar makes race of seafaring half-elves (neutral)
Bill	Avatar advances elves in the art of sexuality and creates the Order of the Small Death to serve as divine prostitutes
Rob	Scaled Order begins to breed with dragons creating the "sub race" of the Dragonborn
Laura	Create Order of the Mythos of the Outer Darkness - an evil order spurring off of the Sunborn
Dave	Elves discover Architecture
Turn 3
Snorkey	Command humans to create city: Bronze (atop ruins of Brass)
stephan	Pass
Andrea	Avatar founds city (J) on mass 1, of the half-elves, named Twilight Crown (because when the sun sets it looks like it sets in a crown of the surrounding mountains)
Bill	made forests and jungles on mass 1
Rob	Pass
Laura	Order of Mythos of Outer Darkness creates gates in each of the Atlantean libraries
Dave	Avatar raises army of elves on Mass 2
Turn 4
Snorkey	Pass
Stephan	Pass
Andrea	Avatar creates order of holy priests to protect Twilight Crown (devoted to underwater dragon), called Twilight Order
Bill	Pass
Rob	Made massive coniferous forest spanning width of mass 2, north of Brass (taiga) and makes the taiga band sub-arctic, made huge bay into mass 1
Laura	Catastrophe - gods of the Outer Darkness are nastier than they thought in Atlantean arrogance, tsunami rushes through Molldavean Sea, wiping out Atlantean cities
Dave	Elven army loots and pillages reeling Atlanteans, overruns city of Solstice, take over the top spot in the art of instruction
Turn 5
Snorkey	People of Dis explore city of Zoe, trip something up, transforms city and surroundings into glass, Humans go into city of Moll
Stephan	Pass until after Dave
Andrea	Commands Twilight City to create school for seafaring and raises a fleet
Bill	Outer god makes appearance at Atlantean library on mass 2 (in the taiga) causing its destruction and leaving a massive crater and treefall
Rob	The First Born gathers army to conquer flying City of Crystal from Atlanteans and take it over
Laura	Avatar and Atlanteans spread knowledge throughout the world in hidden caches
Dave	Pass
Stephan	Magic goes away, replaced by life essence of caster to power it, arcane, psionic, and divine arts become harder to perform and much more costly, these arts enter a dark age, caused by The Sleeper (who also symbolizes renewal and balance)

World Creation: 4E Game,The First Age; The Map

This is a scan of the graph paper map that my group produced during the course of the First Age.

Comparing it to the battle map image it is much harder to make out subtle features such as the forest to the south of Lake Pon. There was also not a lot of room to label items, so we keyed cities and such and placed the actual titles in the marginalia of the map.

I currently plan to trace out the this map to a battle map (assuming we continue this world, which is the leading favorite), using colored pens.

World Creation: 4E Game,The First Age

Log of Events:

Turn 1
Snorky	Pass
Dave	Put river and delta on land mass #1, named it the Perfume River
Bill	Put mountains on land mass #3
Rob	Made avatar - the First Born - a golden dragon, living in mountains on mass #3
Laura	Pass
Turn 2
Snorky	Pass
Dave	Extended river, made Lake Pon, made river delta tropical
Bill	More mountains, tropical NW of mountains on #3
Rob	Jungle to SE of mass #1 (around delta)
Laura	Made avatar - a being of light (named Moll of Atlantis) - who created "Atlantean" humanish race in delta on #1, neutral aligned
Turn 3
Snorky	Made single (BIG) mountain on mass #2, called it "Hope"
Dave	Made avatar - a female elf (named Athyns) - and the race of elves (good), west of mt range on mass #3
Bill	Pass
Rob	More mountains on #3 (a true continental divide)
Laura	Atlantans build city (called Moll) in delta area, they become advanced in magic
Turn 4
Snorky	Created race at Mount Hope, the Dis (evil), and put small desert around mountain
Dave	Made area on mass #3 east of moutains temperate and rainy
Bill	Created avatar - Seductive Evil - fair to look on, fair to hear - who taught the Atlanteans forbidden magic (corrupting them to evil)
Rob	First Born creates race of dragons (neutral), sect of elves become dragon worshipers (The Scaled Order), puts tundra on north part of mass #2
Laura	Makes class of Atlanteans - the Sun Born who lead and purify the race (back to neutral), the Atlanteans advance to become masters of psionics, but limited to the Sunborn sect
Turn 5
Snorky	Made city (named Brass) at foot of Mount Hope
Dave	Temperate rainy area becomes a forest (rain forest)
Bill	Makes southern edge of mass #2 tropical
Rob	Makes river and delta on mass #3, NW of continental divide, puts in jungle around river
Laura	Atlanteans advance in commerce, temperate band goes around the jungle delta and city of Moll
Turn 6
Snorky	Dis civilization advances in warfare
Dave	Commands avatar to influence elves to expand across central sea (the Sea of Twilight), made a Aldar River on mass #3
Bill	Creates Obsidian Order within the Atlantean civilization, dedicated to the preservation and expansion of necromantic arts
Rob	Puts mountains halfway around Lake Pon
Laura	Pass
Turn 7
Snorky	Commands city of Brass to raise an army
Dave	Mount Hope erupts on the eve of the City of Brass's moment of triumph, the pyroclastic flow destroys Brass and the people scatter, creates city of elves (Albian) on south coast of #2
Bill	Adds more desert to mass #2 near Mt Hope
Rob	First Born creates city of Cristal in mountains (location A on mass #3), and finishes surrounding Lake Pon with mountains
Laura	Atlanteans advance in sailing, Moll of Atlantis makes a city on mass #3 in river delta, Zoey the Beautiful
Turn 8
Snorky	Creates 2 cities on mass #2, named Requiem and Dirge, and makes a temperate zone
Dave	Mt. Hope caldera fills with water and small river (Brass River) flows from it, founds new city (Aldar) for elves on mass #3,
Bill	Avatar of Evil founds City of Gray Skies on Lake Pon, a city of refugees (the dead)
Rob	Makes Silverbark Wood (with ancient silverbark trees) in middle of island #1
Laura	Purifies the Atlanteans and establishes 2 cities, on mass #2 - named Eclipse and Solstice
Turn 9
Snorky	Makes sub race of the Dis, the Eaters (presumably also evil)
Dave	Tropical rain forest established on south end of mass #2
Bill	Region around Lake Pon takes on arctic climate
Rob	Puts series of jagged islands south of mass #1 - the Fang Isles
Laura	Puts islands into inland sea - the Molldives, as well as spread race around the Sea of Twilight
Turn 10
Snorky	Makes sub race of the Eaters - called the Hungry (presumably also evil)
Dave	Puts mountains in middle of island 2 and west to the sea
Bill	Obsidian Order withdraws from the cities of the Atlanteans, City of Gray Skies advances in the art of healing
Rob	Shapes land - and defines coastline of mass #1
Laura	Atlanteans develop a magical floating city

World Creation: 4E Game, Introduction

Though I have covered world creation with the "Lands of the Seven" articles my group actually started with a world creation exercise for my up and coming D&D 4E game. I figured that by having active participation by my group in the worlds history I would get more player "Buy in" when it actually came time to play in it. Besides, as a working professional with grand kids to chase after, I don't have a lot of time or inspiration to come up with world and history by myself, not that I haven't tried.

During the first age of this game we made some mistakes:

• We used a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch graph paper (this is only because we didn't know any better).
• When affecting something that had a one inch measurement we only affected 4 squares on quarter inch graph paper, instead of the full 16 squares.
• I drew the initial continental outlines (three of them). I feel that this limited player creativity, boxing them in so to speak.
• I failed to initially name each of the land masses, and as a result in the upcomming posts, you will see entries about "land mass #1". Having names would have been better.

I hope you enjoy it,
Snork

World Creation: Lands of the Seven: The Final Map

This is a photo, admittedly a little low rez, of the final map of the "Lands of the Seven" game.

Using the battle mat was very helpful in that it kept the three primary players focused on what was happening and we could easly tell what was going on.

I started some work in Campaign Cartographer in an attempt to try and map it there. The second image is what I currently have.

In retrospect a slightly higher rez camera would have been nice. It would have also been interesting to be more diligent about capturing the map at each stage in its development.

Irregardless, I think it worked out very nicely.

World Creation: Lands of the Seven: Third Age

Log of Play:

Turn 11:
Snorky	The Hidden City crafts and captures Outreach to power their civilization.
Dave	Morn build The Great Library.
Stephen	Outreach and The Hidden City cause a huge explosion, destroying cities, and all of the armies. The resulting cataclysm creates the Extinction Sea, and the continent of Do'Karr.
Andrea	Passed
Turn 12:
Snorky	Creates Avatar: Spite, the last Eldar, affected by the explosion, merging the traits of the Eldar, the Heirs, The Gor, The Aron, and Metallic Dragons.
Dave	Arandell creates an army of Gor. The Gor expands into the Xob dessert, and build the city of Talen.
Stephen	The Child orders The Heirs to build a city near Talen, named Talen-el. Some of the Heirs move into the Frozen Savannah to live with the Sheenar. The Heirs advance in Commerce (+1).
Andrea	Passed
Turn 13:
Snorky	Spite creates the race of the Hungry Dead (-1) on Do'Karr. The Hungry Dead create the city of Ressurection on the Extinction Sea. The City advances in Divination (+1).
Dave	Arandell leads the army of Gor to destroy the Monestary of Hate, and renames it the Monestary of Enlightenment. Aron create the city Dawn on Vardo, and create the Wonderous Ship, called the Dawn Catcher. The Dawn Catcher sets sail to find the dawn.
Stephen	The Child creates Dawn-el. Advances The Heirs in Diplomacy (+1).
Andrea	Passed
Turn 14:
Snorky	Advance the Hungry Dead in Fate Magic (+1). Spite creates the city of Gateway.
Dave	Arandell leads the army of Gor to destroy the Monestary of Pain, and renames it the Well of Soothing. Aron advance in Architecture (+1).
Stephen	Dawnchildren make the Well of Soothing their home. Advance the Sheenar in Nature Magic (+1) and Wilderness Lore (+1).
Andrea	Passed
Turn 15:
Snorky	Spite creates Kar-Morn near Morn. The Hungry Dead create Kar-Goran and Kar-Talen.
Dave	Arandell commands Gor to create a Wonder, the Valhalla, a Gothic cathedral built into a cave with a fire that cannot be extinguished and needs no fuel. Gor Advance in the Arts (+1).
Stephen	Advance The Heirs in Metallurgy (+1). Create Order of The Remembrance. The Child convinces the other avatars to leave the races to their own, promising to come to their aid should they ask. Spite leaves behind a hand, an eye, and his tongue. Sheena gives no response and is presumed dead.
Andrea	Passed

World Creation: Lands of the Seven: Second Age

Log of Play

Turn 6:
Snorky	Corrupts the Eldar (-3) as they turn the other races to livestock.
Dave	Creates the Gor (+1). Advances Aron in Engineering (+1). Advances Gor in War Magic (+1).
Stephen	Creates The Heirs (+1), a sub race of the Eldar, whose capital city is Outreach. Advances Heirs in Practical Immortality.
Andrea	Passed
Turn 7:
Snorky	Corrupts to Eldar (-4) as he introduces blood magic.
Dave	Advances Gor in Warfare (+1).
Stephen	The Heirs advance to True Immortality. The Ancient makes them trade for their immortality, making them barren.
Andrea	Passed
Turn 8:
Snorky	Advances Eldar in Blood Magic (+2).
Dave	Creates Dragons (0) on Vendee. Gor build the city of Goran on Zhassana.
Stephen	Advances The Heirs in Healing Magic (+2). The Ancient leads the Heirs to build a new city, Goran-el.
Andrea	Passed
Turn 9:
Snorky	The Eldar capture and cannibalize The Ancient to power their civilization.
Dave	Creates Sub race of Dragons, the Metallic Dragons (+1). Advances Aron in Literature (+1).
Stephen	One of the Heirs gives birth to The Child, the next incarnation of The Ancient. The Child leads the Heirs to build a city near Morn, Morn-el, a reunited the Dawnchildren with their parent race.
Andrea	Passed
Turn 10:
Snorky	Event - The Hidden City grows, the curse grows with it. Population boomed as The Ancient Fueled their civilization. There was a failed attempt to abduct Arandell.
Dave	Arandell orders the Aron to create an army. The Gor also create an army. Advanced Aron in Shipbuilding.
Stephen	Advance The Heirs in Flight (+1). The Dawnchildren join the armies. The Child commands the Heirs to build a city on the continent of Vendee, Dragon-el.
Andrea	Passed