TheAuldGrump

No game tonight, Megan and I just celebrated our fourth. The Auld Grump

Added a Pick & Mix to our pledge - two Morneville Churches and two Bleakwood Mausoleums. The Auld Grump

That is one of two (2) hip hop or rap songs in my collection of music. (And Megan's reaction was kind of the same as yours. 'WTF was that?' - only not the acronym. ) The other is Read a Book (Warning - foul language. Lots of it.) To the tune of Beethoven's 5th.... *** Megan is saying that she will be wrapping her Eberron game in a few months, and is working on a Norse kingdom management game. I am thinking about a variant PC - from an equivalent to the area that the Eastern Roman Empire called The Land of the Row Boats. (Or, just possibly, Land of the Red Heads.) Or maybe do a rider from the taiga, possibly a ranger, possibly a paladin. With points in Dance and Acrobatics. Lawful, but using Law to protect the Chaos of others. (Not protecting from Chaos - protecting the right of freedom, and making the world safe to travel. Ideally, a multiclass ranger/paladin.) Mounted archer, medium armor, able to dismount from a moving horse at a run. Also, married, with two daughters. (And loads of uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, more cousins.... Enough to populate a small village. ) Recently got a map for Mimr's Well - sent it to her device. Also sending her Monkey God's Frost & Fur. (Has one of my favorite magic items - a box containing d100 cows.) The Auld Grump

Mother says that I should always be polite when we have new guests at the hotel. -Norman Bates The Auld Grump

Heh! I've been there. The Auld Grump Shhh, the baby is sleeping. The Auld Grump

Brother Vinni has the Mountain Horror - that used to have a horned alternate head to make it into a not-Deathclaw miniature. I don't know they still include the alternate head, or if they got a C&D notice for treading too close to the Fallout IP. But they do have some rather nice not-Fallout minis. The Auld Grump

Last two days of the after school program. Tomorrow we will see if the Dread Skeleton Ogre Juggernaut is more effective against the Fearsome Foursome. (The Five Man Band got a slightly tougher version - having an extra player.) One of the things that stuck in my mind about Tom's cleric - he focused on keeping people - PCs and NPCs both - alive, not on keeping them in the fight. At the end of the battle there were a lot of NPCs in negative HP, but all were stable. If I had a vote for MVP in Tuesday's game, I am pretty sure Tom would have won it hands down. But most of the actual damage was done by Nate's rogue - his flanking bonus was never more than a five foot step away. And... the fighter tanked. He had managed to upgrade his armor to breastplate for the Raid on the Smuggler's Tavern. Even so, the Juggernaut hit him more often than not - a 24 STR has a lot of penetration. The ranger has decided that his next Favored Enemy is going to be Undead. His dice were not his friend, and the number of times he missed by one or two was embarrassing. The wizard stuck with Disrupt Undead - as a zero level spell he could cast it all day if needs be. Only a D6 damage, but it was a D6 every round - kind of hard to miss the juggernaut with a ranged touch attack and a decent DEX, even using the wizard's attack bonus. And the Juggernaut still managed to last six rounds - reliably putting somebody down for the count every round. (Two attacks - one was a PC every round and the other an NPC. If I had focused on NPCs he could have taken out all of them.) The Fearsome Foursome doesn't have a cleric - they have a paladin and a witch to handle healing, and the paladin doesn't have a lot of healing power. The rogue and the ranger will need to be careful. The Auld Grump

The Five Man Band finished the raid on the Smugglers yesterday, and then got attacked by the Undead Juggernaut when they thought they were safe in the barracks.... No fatalities. None! The cleric held back and popped healing spells and channeled Positive Energy on everybody that went down, stabilizing them, if not bringing them back into the fight. Even the NPC squaddies all survived - that is how big a difference having a cleric that is filling their role properly can make. The Juggernaut (Dread Skeleton from Advanced Bestiary) was dealing a lot of damage, but Tom focused on keeping people alive. So, the whole group is getting bonus XP. (And told them that I had expected casualties - that they played well enough that no one died!) In this afternoon's game the Fearsome Foursome has begun their Raid on the Smuggler's Tavern - the Witch hexing the ogre, and pretty much preventing him from bull rushing out and opening a path. Upstairs the rogue and the ranger tried talking to folks - and didn't notice the goblin runner ducking out and down to the sea caves, so the downstairs party wouldn't have had surprise - except that they started their assault before the goblin runner pelted downstairs to warn the smugglers about the raid. The upstairs crew is also dealing with the act that, to all appearances, no one upstairs is involved with the smuggling ring.... (Not quite true - the bartender does know, as does the goblin beer back.) A lack of night vision is causing problems for the downstairs crew - but no one has escaped... yet. And, right now... I need some aloe vera... the sun was not kind to me on Sunday and Monday. (The sky was overcast after the game on Monday, but there weas still enough sun to lightly roast me.) The Auld Grump - at the kids game right now... and no aloe at hand....

The person singing in the video I linked was in my very first D&D game, back in the seventies. (It made watching Funniest Home Videos... strange.... ) He was a disk jockey for WHEB back then. The Auld Grump - back when disk jockeys were live, not prerecorded.

You face the morning cold... You need a caffeine rise. You brew a cup that's bold, You've got Marty Feldman Eyes! Well, the Five Man Band has put in their requisitions for expendable magic items for tonight's game - a nice mix, with the wizard getting a magic wand of sleep with twelve charges remaining. (I gave them a list and a budget - a lot of the money went into potions. Anything they don't use goes back into stores.) And they did realize that if there is a cliff, then there is both a top and a bottom. (I suspect that the Fearsome Foursome spilled the beans - and I am okay with this.) Fighter, cleric, and five men down below. Wizard and rogue up top - they plan to open negotiations with the wand of Sleep spells. (Shoot first, ask questions later.) The Auld Grump

Yeah... I remember that stage... Needing small amounts of milk/formula, very, very often, And changing almost as often. Then came teething. (For the record - edible teethers are an enormous blessing. They kept her happy and quiet. I do not know who invented them, but blessed be their name.) I wake up faster than Megan, so it generally fell to me to feed and change her in the small hours of the morning. The Auld Grump - she had an earache a few nights ago - and just wanted someone to hold her. I fell asleep with her on my lap, and we both slept that way until my alarm woke up Megan. My back is still not happy with me. Oh, no. I knew you had hit a rough patch, but I was hoping you could pull through. *Virtual hug* The Auld Grump

Nice, very High Mediaeval feel to them - Crusaders. And those bastards.... The Auld Grump

I have used a model ship in game before - and am familiar with all the drawbacks - though the model that I used was cardboard, printed from a PDF. (Obligatory image of The Maiden of the High Seas from World Works -) She gave me many years of happy gaming. (And was actually recommended in a Pathfinder Adventure Path - above one of Paizo's own flip maps.(Mind you, they also sell the PDF for The Maiden on their website - either way, they make a sale.)) Once all the furnishings and fittings are in place - including cargo - you realize how cramped ships, even large ships, are. In the case of the Maiden the masts are removable, for the sloop the masts - as supplied with the kit - are stubs. Both are definitely for people that enjoy the modeling as well as the using of the kits. The Auld Grump Much as I love the sloop, and trust me, I do love it - there is a model on their site that I want more, as the base of operations for players in Frog God's Blight, Just the right mix of filthy coal fired steamer and 17th Century nautica - The Blight is an anachronistic dark fantasy setting Been lusting after that model since before the Blight even gave her a home in my mind.... (It helps that I had my own city setting also called The Blight - in my case originally named Blythe. Otherwise, remarkably similar... pretty sure that Mr. Pett reads the same kinds of books that I do.) The Auld Grump - I definitely detected a touch of Clark Ashton Smith in The Blight....

I think every child around at the time had images in their heads of Leonard Nimoy as a doctor.... (And, yeah, me too.) *** Megan and Brigid are going to the last Old Port Festival, while I win our daily bread. Kind of sad to the Festival packing it in, they have been happening since before Megan was born. Paper mache floats, puppet shows, fried dough, fighter demonstrations by the local SCA chapter - and for three years I did The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (making me Professor Grump) with hand made puppets. (Putting the A in the SCA. That's the way to do it!) The Auld Grump - for those that have never experienced a Punch & Judy show... Mr. Punch is pretty danged loathsome.

A few years ago, LeMax had some oceanside scenery for their Christmas village. And some... pretty swampy looking trees. Sadly, the wharves, piers, and boardwalks have all been retired. The Auld Grump