I took a half day because I had a lot of errands to run. So the first half, from about 7am to 2pm was this coloration:

Road of the Patriarch is the third novel of The Sellswords series by R.A. Salvatore. ( Read more... )

The Promise of the Witch King is the second novel of The Sellswords series by R.A. Salvatore. ( Read more... )

So we started the campaign on Christmas. The setting: Luskan, 25th of Nightal, 1357.
Kay has a brand new shiny rogue, level one. Human of course named Meg.

Meg is the daughter of a carpenter. A good man in a bad city. He's tried to shelter Meg from the influences of the city, but there's only so much he could do. Meg got involved with ruffians associated with Rethnor's Silver Blades. He father, upon hearing of this snapped, beating Meg badly and causing a permanent rift between them, and consequently driving her further in to rebellion and in to the clutches of the web of intrigue between the Five Captains of Luskan.

Meg does odd jobs here and there. She's not a member of any gang or guild, but a "friend of hers" is Cullen, a low-level soldier for the Silver Blades: Rethnor's Gang. Winter in Luskan is hard. The merchant area is almost empty except for the permanent residents who largely work from their homes. No caravans are running this time of year. Shipping is as normal, and the Five Captains make their wages by skimming the cream of every shipment...but the low-level thugs have to earn their pay through the rackets.

Unaligned rogues and other thugs have to make due with the scraps they get from the members of the five gangs:
Rethnor's Silver Blades
Kurth's Night Masks
Baram's Hunter's Claws
Taerl's Dark Jesters
Suljack's Blood Reapers

Meg got to earn a little on a job trying to wring some gold out of a butcher who was courting another gang for protection, even though he clearly lives on Silver Blade turf!

Meg and Garrick, her burly friend was to "clarify things" for this cheeky butcher.
They broke in, and alerted the butcher, who was in no mood to deal with any more attempts of coercion. The butcher got stabbed in the guts by Meg, and Garrick beaned him in the head, knocking him unconscious. They tore the place apart in making it look like a robbery, lifted some gold and a bit of meat and reported back to Cullen.

The butcher lived and apparently the butcher's shop got cleaned out of all the stock on hand. The butcher is taking his "case" to the "Captain's court" hoping for some sort of justice.

Meg has taken up a part-time gig at The Cutlass, waiting tables when Delly find's herself "otherwise entertained". It's a bit of gold, she's fed and she hears all kinds of news.

Meg took a quick job for a little old grandmother who has rats in her basement. nice old lady who can't pay much, but offers baking services. Meg soon found herself fighting three dire rats, which very nearly killed her. She staggered back upstairs afterward and collapsed unconscious.The kindly grandmother patched her up and Meg recovered enough to make it home, where she fell deathly ill for several days. She earned a couple gold and gets pies every week for as long as she wants them. Something strange about the old lady though...

When I run a game, I admit, I am hesitant to kill PCs.

Usually part of this is due to the fact that I want the players to really dig their characters, put a lot of effort in to them, love playing them. They're NOT just a piece of paper or a pawn on a chessboard.

That said, I want their experience to be fun, scary, with a constant threat of danger and possibly even mortality. ( Read more... )

So how do you guys do it? What are your thoughts on killing PCs and fudging die rolls?

One biggie illustration done, came out all right. Not great. Not satisfied on an academic level. Client very happy, so I win regardless. Beat my deadline. Largely I had some issues with the way the composition came together, especially the colors. (I'm almost never satisfied with my work anyhow, so this should all be old news)

My schedule for December is booked solid. January is half full as well.  Yay Team!

Now I'm going to treat myself to a half-day, some housekeeping, some actual food and prepping for some D&D.

The full Gods of the Shroud eBook is now available. It makes a pretty good companion to the Death-Mother (which also has some very cool art by your friendly neighborhood tracer/ art-guy, the Illustrious Jeff Preston)

Support your local starving artist!
$5.99 for a good cause!