Arcana Evolved

[MikeB]

Hello Everyone. As, Drew has posted earlier I will be running an Arcana Evolved Campaign starting this Tuesday. What is Arcana Evolved you might ask? You can find out more about it by going to www.montecook.com and www.diamondthrone.com. Basically in a nutshell. Its D&D with a twist. Using the same D20 Rules but different classes and subtle changes in the spell system.

The Campaign will be Based in the Lands of the Diamond Throne. The Diamond Throne is a large area, a kingdom, ruled by the giants on the continent they call Dor-Erthenos. The world itself, a planet slightly smaller than our Earth, is called Serran by humankind. The Giants rule the Diamond Throne as Stewerds or Shepards of the people they rule. They are not your typical D&D Giants and believe in ritual and fairness. When the Giants came to Dor-Ethenos, another race of cruel taskmasters ruled called the Dramoj. They were a Magical race that had been given the ability of Evolution and Great Magic from the Dragons. This was a mistake, as the Dramoj became a race of cruel taskmasters enslaving all the other races within the land now called the Diamond Throne. Seeing this terrible plight and knowing that they would also be enslaved if they let the Dramoj continue their Evil Empire. The Giants called upon the Ritual of Chu-Julad and took everything that is good and wise in them and turned it into anger and strength to battle the evil Dramoj. With the help of the other races they set free and their Alies the Sibecai the Giants were able to Exterminate the Dramoj.

During the war the Giants fought with the Dramoj, the Dragons who had given the Dramoj the power of Evolution had disappeared from sight for many generations. Now in the last generation of men the Dragons have returned and with them a race of Draconic Humanoids called Dracha. It is unknown the Dragons intent or purpose and they are an unknown wild card in the Lands of the Diamond throne.

Characters will start at 2nd level. You will use 28 point build for your characters stats and start off with 1000 gp, no more than 500 of which can be spent on one item. Other than that you are free to purchase whatever equipment within reason.from the Arcana Evolved book. Also, your character will start off with Max Hitpoints at 1st level and from there on get the average plus 1. For example, if you have a 4th level character with d6 for hit dice you would get 6 for first, 5 for second (average d6 = 3.5 + 1 = 4.5 round up one level round down the next) 4 for third and 5 for fourth for a total of 20 + con bonuses.

Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in playing. If you don't want to go through the trouble of creating a character, I will have a pre-generated one available for you.

[Skyman]

Character

Name: Na Ofatei...(Na-h Ow-fuh-tAAy)
Class: Greenbound/Giant
STR 11
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 17
CHA 14

HP16
Weapon:Great Maul (AKA: BAMF)

Feats: Track & Born Hero

Still working on equipment but got my spells lined up. He's a bit of a big Samuel L Jackson looking hippie. I'm just stuck on his pulp fiction characters attitude at the end of the movie as a base feeling for his way of doing things.

[MikeB]

Well I hope you all had a good time last night at the game. I enjoyed GMing more than I thought I would. I've considered making a campaign log, but I'm not sure if I have the focus to keep it going for more than a couple of entries. Let me know if you have any questions about anything that I didn't go over last night. Just to let everyone else on the boards know, there is room for a couple of more players. Thanks

[Skyman]

I had a great time. I liked the legless beggar dude

[Skyman]

Just letting you know it was fun. The most unusual combat scenario I've had in awhile. That scout was kicking our butt. Can't wait till next week.

[Drew]

His dice were kicking our butt! Two crits in a row can take down anyone!

[MikeB]

Yeah, my dice were on fire. I thought the battle was over when you guys took down the Warmain. 2 lucky shots later, Fenris is down and it was looking bad for you guys. Looking back, I probably should have had the warriors surrender earlier good dice roles or not. On a side note, I had an image in my head of Murfash coming out of the mist like a specter and his mindblade attaching itself to the Warmain's skull leeching his life energy.

[Skyman]

The dice really made the ncounter interesting for sure


Yeah Murfash had the bad azz tatical idea with the mist

[MikeB]

I may have found a new player named Paul. He lives in Escondido and runs his own game on Saturdays there, but says the Tuesday night schedule works perfect for him. I'm going to see if we can get his character made so that he can be ready to play by Tuesday. Any quips?

[Skyman]

I'm groovy with Paul joining...good job

[MikeB]

Cool. I'm going to talk to him later tonight to secure everything. Also I'm going to borrow a battlemat from my friend Jon for our next game. I might be able to get some fantasy type miniatures also.

[Drew]

I also have a new player who's interested in joining. She's fairly inexperienced at gaming but has played rifts and world of darkness but she's never played DnD. Any problems with a newbie joining the group?

[Skyman]

this is great!

[MikeB]

A Newbie is cool with me. Maybe we should have a pre-made character for her.

[Drew]

Well haven't heard from her about tomorrow. Do have another player who's also interested and would probably be joining tomorrow. He says he hasn't played in a while though but here is what he said about char choices, if Mike wants to make one for hime: "I would probably like to play an elven rogue, a human ranger, or an a cleric of some kind. I'm open to anything though really. If the GM has a character concept in mind I'm flexible."

Anyway, I think we got our group pretty well rounded out, if these new people show up. That makes 6 of us which is pretty much perfect.

[MikeB]

Cool. He could play Fenris, who is pretty close to being a human ranger. I'll make another character in case the girl shows up or give him an option. Paul the new guy I have talked to has got the info and will be making a character.

[Skyman]

Sweet...I'm feeling a bit under the weather but I'm going to make it. Just giving you guys a heads up in case I look like shit

[Skyman]

So that was way cool.

Nice to meet Jason and Paul. I hope they return to game with us.

[Drew]

So that was way cool.

Nice to meet Jason and Paul. I hope they return to game with us.

As do I. Always more fun with a group that size... not too many that it takes terribly long to get anything done, but large enough we don't die with every encounter! :)

[MikeB]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to next week.

[thosewhoharp]

That was extremely fun. I went to game empire yesterday and they didnt seem to have either Unearthed or Evolved. Guess I'll try gametowne next.

I've been extremely busy but I think I'll finally have the chance to check my .pdf collection. I might still have them somewhere. But hey at least I'll have my own dice this time!

Just a heads-up: I wont be able to make it on 4-10 as I'll be in Seattle.

[Skyman]

Hey Thosewhoharp,

Ya missed a big fight and your guy got drilled by cats. I saved him...because thats what my guy does and you went back to kicking butt. I love your great sword

Mike that was a gnarly fight from start to finish...Had a GREAT time!

[MikeB]

I'm glad you had a good time. Maybe once we get the combat down a little better, it won't take the whole session for us to have a fight. Although it always seems to happen that way. I hope they haven't been too boring. Yeah Jason, you missed out. Your character almost died while you weren't there. I'll have to think of some way to move him out of the action as you won't be there next week either.

[Skyman]

Ok that was way cool. Short round was really cool. BTW I'm really loving that whip!

[MikeB]

Hey. Good game the other night. By the way, you guys all receive 770 experience for the last session 270 for killing the monster and 500 for bringing the 2 bandits to captivity. If you guys want to buy anything in town out of session, let me know. I think I'm am going to put Shortround on a character sheet. That should spell his doom for sure:lolup: . Also think about choosing your 3rd level feat if you haven't done so already. Remember, if it is a ceremonial feat it will cost 300gp in component fees for the ritual.

[Skyman]

Oh right my FEAT! Almost forgot. Hope Paul realizes he went up a level. Fun game with that CR2 monster beating the hell outta of us. Short Round has been hitting better than most of us. I figure he deserves some love.

[MikeB]

Hi guys. just wanted to let Simon and Drew know that you got 300 experience each for last games session, for figuring out where the bandits hideout is. Good idea Simon for checking out the library and your guys bad cop, whoops wait who's supposed to be the good cop interrogation was funny. If you guys have any input about how things could go better, let me know?

[Skyman]

Hi guys. just wanted to let Simon and Drew know that you got 300 experience each for last games session, for figuring out where the bandits hideout is. Good idea Simon for checking out the library and your guys bad cop, whoops wait who's supposed to be the good cop interrogation was funny. If you guys have any input about how things could go better, let me know?

Woot! Yeah when I roll a 1 on diplomacy...I become the bad cop. Odd how another thread got into talking about torture in debate soon after

[MikeB]

Had a good time arguing with Drew about his game last night. All of you get 450 experience for vanquishing the Blue Knight from your plagued dreams. Also all of you get 1 hero point, except for Simon's character who gets 2 because he is my favorite (actually because he has the born hero feat.)

[Skyman]

That's right Biatches

[MikeB]

Hello Everybody. For vanquishing the minions of the Fiendish Shadow Troll, everyone in attendance gets 540 experience. Drew is not going to make it next week, so the game will probably be at my house. Assuming enough people are going to show up. Chime in if you are going to make it.

[Uber_snotling]

I can be there if you can point me to where there is (there being your house).

I assume my XP total starts at 3300?

[MikeB]

Excellent. My house is in Normal Heights, not far from Drew's. I'll e-mail everybody the info, once I have a confirmation from everyone.

[Skyman]

I just want to say ignore everything I said last night...the whole two hours of it Mike. I'm having to take steroids for some weird reaction I had at work and it might have influenced my ability to appear sane

[Uber_snotling]

Geez Simon, I didn't know you were a 'roid rager. No wonder why you insisted we fight that shadow troll using only our teeth.

Speaking only for myself, I thought the role-playing was a bunch of fun and enjoyed the time. Insofar as us getting into a fight, I don't know what kind of wussy shadow troll wouldn't just eat us for lunch without parlaying at all. So the relative immediacy of the attack was fine to me.

I was frustrated with the three PCs inability to damage the fey minions, since we were relying on the NPCs to really take them down. In a sense, this is good since we now know that going up against the bad boss might not be the brightest idea. In terms of rolling dice though, it sucks to have each of us roll for ten+ rounds and do minimal damage to the beasties. And it wasn't like the fey beasties were overpowered, since they weren't dealing more damage than Not'myfaultey could heal. But their damage resistance plus quickness made them tough to hit for the two caster types and invulnerable to damage from my pointy swords. The combination of damage resistance and armor class made the PCs impotent.

A suggestion for the future would be to try to balance the encounters so that at least half of the PCs have a reliable method of dealing damage so we aren't totally reliant on the NPCs to save us. If they are going to have damage resistance and high AC, make them vulnerable to spells or fire or something in our arsenal.

[Drew]

them vulnerable to spells or fire or something in our arsenal.

:lolup: ... we don't exactly have those in our arsenal. We are rather unprepared for pretty much any encounter that we can't talk our way out of. But by god, there are very few that we haven't managed to weasle out of in some way!

[Skyman]

Geez Simon, I didn't know you were a 'roid rager. No wonder why you insisted we fight that shadow troll using only our teeth.



Yeah I'm sorry about that.

[Uber_snotling]

Are we still on for Tuesday?

My woman needs to know.

[Skyman]

I think so...but then I think it's up to MikeB

[MikeB]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you guys sooner, but I won't be able to play on Tuesday. I just found out. I could do Wed or Thursday, If you guys could make it on one of those days let me know and we can still play. I will try to call or e-mail everyone who hasn't responded by tomorrow evening.

[Skyman]

I think we should wait next week then...Drew will be back by then anyways. We need all the help we can get

[MikeB]

Seems like it has been a year since we played last:biggrin: I am ready to rumble with some fresh ideas and big grin on my face. (Is this a sign of enthusiasm or Bi-Polar illness?) The Shadow Troll is hungry waiting to feast on your carcasses and suck the marrow out of your bones. MuaHaHahaha!

[Skyman]

Yeah that was cool

Nice meeting Joel and Ash

[MikeB]

Hello everyone. Great Session last night. Everyone gets 800 experience for defeating the Shadow Troll and freeing your Trollkin Compatriots. I was surprised you guys were able to take him down. Joel and Ashley, it was great meeting you both. If either of you would like to get with me and make some tweaks to your characters, just let me know.

[Skyman]

Including me, and I'm not even in the campaign.

Well ya could always join

[Uber_snotling]

Sure, I leave for a week or two and you guys kill a shadow troll?

Unbefrickinlievable.

[Skyman]

We had a LOT of help....he threw a fart bomb that took most of the group out. We got lucky after 4 tries with guilt "Why don't ya eva call ya mom!" We came that close to gooing him but we were afraid where the money shot would go. I did a lot of healing.

[Skyman]

I would, but I got one game a week in me, and it's taken.

the best always are....well if you ever want to jump in we got a great NPC named Short Round who kicks azz

[MikeB]

Yeah, that would be cool if you wanted to play Shart AKA Short Round. Hey, the Balrog was supposed to be a secret. Now I'm going to have to rip off some other book for a new encounter :redface:

[MikeB]

Hello Everyone. For returning the missing fey home and other misc events, everyone that made it last night receives 800 experience points. Hope to see everyone next week at the game.

[Skyman]

Yes it would be cool to have everyone

[Drew]

skyman, do you have the running xp total?

[Uber_snotling]

I should be there next week. My business trip taking time is over for now.

[Skyman]

skyman, do you have the running xp total?

Add 2,350 xp to your xp from when we last added it


5720xp should be your total

[Drew]

awesome... thanks!

[MikeB]

So Everybody knows their experience totals. Fenris (Joel) should have 5200. Kaleria(Ashley) should have 4900. Fin (Ubersnotling aka Mike) 3820. Shortround has enough to be 3rd level now, any suggestions on where it should go? I was thinking of giving him a PC Class level since he has been hanging around you guys.

[Skyman]

lvls in azz kicking would be nice

[Skyman]

As long as Shortround doesn't get his Ks and Ls mixed up.

:lolup:

[Drew]

I was thinking of giving him a PC Class level since he has been hanging around you guys.

Something "thief" like I'd say...

[Skyman]

Don't worry I wasn't laughing at it for the originality


I was laughing because it was funny...which why most folks rehash humor to begin with

[MikeB]

Wow, what a show down with the minions of the Shadow Troll. In the end it was Murfache mano a mano with the leader. The rest of the party unconscious or burned to a crisp by fire Magic. Talk about muscle for the tussle, grit to get hit type of stuff.

Everyone who showed up receives 1080 experience. Murfache and Na-Owlfacte each get a hero point. I'm also pretty sure that is enough for a level up for the both of you. Remember to add a point to the stat of your choice. I also believe that gives you access to 2nd level spells.

Found on the bodies of the wretched trolls: 189 bloody queens(gold), 2 small rubies (25 queens each), a magical amulet((fire amulet- lets the wearer cast a fire templated fire burst spell caster levell 3 once per day), 2 scrolls of Lesser beast skin caster level 3, 3 potions of lesser battle healing (caster level 3), 2 masterwork Great Axes, 4 suits of heavy brigadine, 2 large size breast plates, 4 mauls, and 4 long spears.

I assumed that you used analyze magic on the magical stuff to speed things up.

[Uber_snotling]

Sorry I couldn't make it on Tuesday folks. I was a bit miserable and didn't want to spread that sort of mucusy love around.

Next week, I promise!

[MikeB]

The beloved Short Round lives but he was almost a fried chicken sandwich for the Troll leader.

Glad to hear you are coming next week Uber. Glad you didn't bring your plague censer and afflict us with your dreaded malaise. Now there is something more terrible than being Troll Frickasee.

[Skyman]

That was a crazy anus fight...I really need to pay attention to my character

[Skyman]

RIP Merfage

[MikeB]

Poor Merfage is just a pile of ashes now. The first casualty of the campaign. Will the Blue Knight take another before the day is through? Tune in next week. Same evolved time, same evolved channel.

[Drew]

Poor Merfage is just a pile of ashes now. The first casualty of the campaign. Will the Blue Knight take another before the day is through? Tune in next week. Same evolved time, same evolved channel.

It was a fifty/fifty shot... If I'd only rolled a four on damage instead of one!

[MikeB]

Short Round lives as does the rest of the party, just poor Murfage(Is that how yah spelled it?:naughty:) lies in a heap of ashes.

[Drew]

Murfache. It's like, Swalhili or something, for "silent". One of those names I have used over and over for characters.

[Skyman]

I cannot make it tonight because I have to do some stuff for my wifes B-Day

[Uber_snotling]

Are we still on then? Or is two players too few?

[Drew]

Far as I know we're on...

[Uber_snotling]

I'm going to bail as well. Sorry for the last minute decision, but I didn't hear from Mike B.

[MikeB]

Just so everyone is clear. Game is on for Tuesday July 10 2007. By the way a little experience re-cap. Fin, Na-Owlfacte, and Thallius receive 750 experience for driving off the Evil Outsider behind the Staue. Thallius and Elred receive 600 xp for Dropping 3 Litorian Bandits and capturing the Dracha Warrior.

I just realized, I posted ths on the wrong thread. That is what happens when your posting on obscure message boards, talking about things that most normal people would find as foreign as reading Chinese, at 1:00am in the morning.

Anyway, I'm hoping everyone had a good 4th of July and is ready to play.

[Skyman]

I'm there

[Skyman]

I cannot make it this week

[Drew]

That's okay... well, then, I suppose there is no point this week. Next week hopefully!