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.

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