Book Gnome
Book recommendations, RPG Adventure stories, and Chaos
Monday, January 24, 2022
A Promising 2022
Friday, July 9, 2021
Saturday, June 26, 2021
Adventurer's Campsite from Monster Menagerie 2
Today I want to talk a little bit about one of my favorite case incentives for Dungeons and Dragons Icon of the Realms miniatures, the Adventurer’s Campsite. This fully painted campsite was a part of Monster Menagerie 2, which came out in January of 2017 as the sixth set of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons miniature lines. What once were called case incentives are now known as premium figures, removing the need to buy an entire case to get the privilege to buy an expensive miniature. They also released most of this set as a Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Minis: W4 Adventurer's Campsite but it did not come with the same exact parts, causing some confusion.
For me the biggest asset was Ezmerelda’s
Wagon, most of my parties acquire a wagon early on in their adventures and finally
having a model for it was rather awesome. The set also comes with all the
things you would want for setting up a camp encounter for you party. Two small
camp fires, two kegs, three treasure chests, two sack piles, three bedrolls,
two horses, two weapon racks, three back packs, two bags of holding, two spell
books and spell scrolls, and a cooking pot all came with the wagon.
A great way of using this set is having
your party set up their camp site by placing the different things on the battle
map and place where their characters are sitting for watch. This can help
players visualize the scene even if there is not a combat. It works in a
similar way as setting the miniatures out in marching order so everyone will have
an idea of where they are standing when a trap goes off or they are ambushed. You
can even use the models from this set to place around your dungeons or caverns
if the party finds abandoned camp sites from other adventurers who had to leave
in a hurry. I have used the chests and kegs to help fill out a few of my tavern
scenes as well.
Original box with components |
Monday, June 7, 2021
Some books I like that changed my life in subtle ways
Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Lightning Thief is about a young boy, Percy Jackson. He has difficulty in school with reading and attention spans, but as it turns out, his brain is hardwired for both ancient Greek and combat. He is the son of one of the Greek gods, and quickly in the series you figure out which. In book one we find out someone has stolen the lightning bolt of Zeus, his master bolt, and he will go to war with the entire world if it is not returned. Percy and his friends Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr protector of demigods, must travel across the land trying to find the bolt and clues on how to save their friends. The first set of books are the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series: Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titans Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and the Last Olympian follow Percy and his friends in their quest to prevent the end of the gods and mortals. These five books were amazing on their own, and Rick Riordan decided to write more expanding on myth. The Heroes of Olympus series features characters that survived the first series as well as a whole new camp of demigods, hidden away from the Greek camp. It seems there is a Roman camp on the other side of the united states that had no idea of the Greek camp. In this arc we meet Jason, a boy with no memory of where he came from but knows all the Roman names of the gods. He ends up in camp Half-blood with Piper, a girl he might be dating, and Leo, a young man who can build things and can control fire. They find out there is a prophecy that will need seven heroes to save the day. The second book starts with this strange boy named Percy, stricken with a loss of memory that only knows one thing, a girl named Annabeth is probably pissed. He ends up at the Roman camp and receives a similar prophecy. The Heroes of Olympus series is as follows: Lost Hero, Son of Neptune, Mark of Athena, House of Hades, and The Blood of Olympus. There were parts in these books that have destroyed me. He is continuing the Greek and Roman stories now with the Trials of Apollo, the Hidden Oracle, the Dark Prophecy, the Burning Maze, and Tyrants’ Tomb. Apollo has been struck down from the heavens for something that happened in the Blood of Olympus and now is a mortal teenager, Lester Papadopoulos, now forced to gain his divinity back by freeing the oracles that have been hidden away from the world by an evil organization bent on domination.
He has also written a series about the Norse gods called Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer, the Hammer of Thor, and the Ship of the Dead which all feature a young boy named Magnus trying to stop Ragnarok with the help of a mute elf, a fashion sensible dwarf, and a young Muslim American girl that wants to be a pilot that also happens to be a Valkyrie, we also meet Sam, a kid that is gender fluid, Sam rocks. He also wrote the Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid, Throne of Fire, and the Serpent’s Shadow. Carter and Sadie are forced to save the world with the help of Egyptian gods that must possess human hosts to interact with the world. These all are fun series for getting young adults into mythology, some of the myths are edited for content reasons but still live up to the amazingness that is mythology. Rick Riordan has also been working on getting more children of all ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations in his books. Inclusion is important for these young readers. These books are about accepting who you are and what you came from as well as making your own story. Looking back at the world mythologies, the heroes were from all walks of life, it did not matter if you were old or young, blind or had a gimp leg, everyone has a purpose and a destiny.
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Lon Lethen Teaser
Lon Lethen |
A few of my players are familiar with this terrifying creature! For more information check out my new Patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=53549880
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Upon a Dark Place Session 19
Great Halibar’s ghost! Confusion started our session. It turned out Ochranna’s Anvil had somehow managed to snag a soul, unfortunately it was Lord Halibar Nel Daxis Aldrabriane, the party’s long deceased cambion employer and old ruler of Hafbuilt before it was destroyed. The act of his death at the hands of the red dragon Kaismir and their brain devouring ally left his soul adrift and the party’s use of speak with dead on his remains threw off the resurrection cycle just enough for there to be some oddities. Zamira wanted to stab him but his audible confusion made her pause. For him, only a moment or two had passed while actual months of time had passed. He asked about the big gem and the scroll they were supposed to give to the ally of his in the empty city, they told him the dragon had “left town” and Wilbur pulled out his giant dragon claw he had taken from her corpse. They gave him the briefest rundown of what had happened over the last few months and he informed them he owned Ochranna a huge favor for carving out Halfbuilt for him, which is why he was possibly now their spirit guide.
The group brought up the formless
and Lord Halibar told them that with the use of the now haunted anvil they
could craft Soul Urns for fighting the formless, but certain items would be
needed for their construction. Udaren black clay, Spark Adamantine, Mithril
netting, the heart of a Sladd, and silver from the astral sea. The clay was the
major component while the other parts are the focusing apparatus to guide the
magic into the vessels and seal it away. Bastion has the ability to cast
planeshift, so a few of the otherworldly components should be able to be gained
with it. The concern was the Mithril Netting, which seemed to be in Stormcroak,
the home of the potentially cannibalistic frogmen with a town so great, you
never want to leave. They also were informed that his structure was a large
artifact as well, it could be magically shrunk down to be pocket size, it would
just take ten minutes. While the group was discussing options their wizard
friend saw someone running in the tunnels outside the church.
Outside a new character burst into
the scene, while being chased by monsters made by the formless of course. Brandt
had sent his eidolon Baz ahead to find a safe path but had lost sight of him
and numerous creatures crafted by the formless were at his heels. He and his
allies had been sent to observe a potential threat beneath the surface and were
overwhelmed by the “Flesh Stitcher” or as the party knew him, the Patchwork Man.
Brandt yelled to the stunned looking drow in the church entrance to hold them
off for a minute and ran into the church past him.
The party turned to see a non-assuming
man with silver and white hair and light armor running into the church with Eldzar
at his heels, both claiming there were formless monsters in the corridor. The group
saw indeed what looked to be giant sewn together bodies cramming their way into
the doorway. They party jumped into action, Bastion using wrathful mantle,
illuminating the party and giving everyone a bonus on saving throws, but
luckily got this up before combat truly started. Cecil ran up to the first
monster and took a big swing with Kneecappa, his earth breaker maul, sending
bits of monster flying. Bastion used spray of shooting stars, injuring and
dazzling a few of the monsters. Wilbur used Create pit under one of the
monsters, sending it crashing down thirty feet. Eldzar sent a rain of fire down
the pit but ended too close to it, falling in. Both Nimhe and Zamira noticed an
even larger monster and teleported, Nimhe via her belt, and Zamira through the
shadows, to end up flanking the giant stitched monstrosity, each getting an
attack off. Brandt surrounded the monster with a ring of fire, cooking the
beast. Baz the eidolon also reappeared at this moment, informing Brandt the way
to safety was up ahead. The group quickly worked their way through the lesser
monsters and watched as the giant cooked monster split into two identical
monsters, but now spreading out to take on more foes. eventually they brought
all of them down and in the following calm, introductions were made.
Brandt gave the group the important
details about his past, the fight with the formless creature and the loss of
his five companions, one of companion’s arm was found in the stitched monsters form
as it burned. He told them the path behind him was broken but these things
slipped through after he ran from the strange stitched tornado of lamia and
other creatures the Patchwork Man commanded. The group decided to take him
along, as they had a shared foe. Eldzar could not stop looking at Brandt with
what the party assumed was distrust or distain, Eldzar told them he would go
research a few of their other items they needed for the Soul Urns and would
come back. He went down a tunnel and disappeared. The group also realized they could not contact the Portal Dwarf and he did not respond to any of the sending spells.
The party chose to rest in the church before
shrinking it to bring with. Cecil took the first watch and noticed a strange
hound like creature that entered the tunnel section with the dead bodies in it.
The creature, upon further glance appeared to be a fiery hell hound. The hellhound
ate some of the bodies, coughed and vomited up what it had eaten, and ran off
into one of the other tunnels. Nimhe took second watch and was warned about the
hound, Wilbur took third, neither of their watches were as interesting.
The group had a loose idea of which
way the city of Stormcroak was in, using the Puldiver’s compass to help guide
them. They journeyed through corridors and worm carved tunnels, eventually
finding groups of tunnels that intersected oddly. They eventually found a crossroads
with signs pointing to Stormcroak and even found a frogman. Lenard Lemond greeted
them and asked if they were on their way to Stormcroak, he sat on a toadstool
playing what appeared to be a banjo. The group asked him about the city and the
Mithril Net. He informed them they were a few weeks early for the festival in
praise for their god that used the net, which currently was in Highcroak Keep,
the ruling house of the city. He told them it had been a while since they had
had visitors and his cousin Toppa had returned a little while back. Toppa was
almost a folk hero to Lenard, having left and come back numerous times whereas
Lenard has only been this far from the city. The group thanked him and made their way to
the city of frogmen… Stormcroak.
Formless giant surrounded by fire |
Battle on two fronts, split form giant |
Zamira facing off the Formless giant |
Our new ally |
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Upon a Dark Place Session 18
Our session started with a bit of
catch up, out heroes had been dealing with the stress of one of their number
waking up with nightmares the last few weeks. In his constant dream, Bastion
found himself drifting through dirt and stone to a strange cathedral or temple
of Ochranna, the goddess he followed. In the darkness of the rock buried structure,
he could see in the shadowed recess of the building a strange shape above a
void. Strange clicking, resembling chanting was drowned out by the sounds of a
oversized beating heart. His vision found the shape in the back of the space
and saw it was indeed a giant heart thumping. The chanting and the beating
stopped and multiple long spindly legs tore open a seam. This is where Bastion
would wake screaming each night.
Bastion was not the only one with
subplots rising! Cecil had dreams of oversized dog headed men fighting against
a man standing taller than the trees and swinging laughing sword. Wilbur had
received word from his brother in Lateia that refugees from other settlements
have been arriving, having been driven from their homes by a mysterious group
wielding alchemical blue fire. Nimhe had been hearing rumors of a group of gold
skinned female warrior humanoids in the south eastern region of the Deep that
had been hunting drow. Zamira had been hearing whispers in the wind of Cypher,
which seemed to somehow be tied to her dagger and strange siblings. She had
also gotten a letter from Drogo, who also had a dagger and was a half-brother
to Zamira, telling her he was fine.
We established the group all had
housing near each other in the town, for notification purposes it would be
easier to find them all in the same place versus sending messengers all over
the place. (Nimhe also had another house for privacy and quiet.) We also
learned that Bastion lives on Zamira’s couch. In the morning in question
Bastion’s screams woke the whole group. Bastion and Zamira talked about the
dream a bit, Wilbur hearing from under the building from where he built his
underground warren and both Cecil and Nimhe were within earshot as well.
Bastion also noticed Eldzar patiently waiting out on the street to be noticed
by the group.
Eldzar Salaran, their Kaismir drow
elf ally, had a lead to a site that had ties to their common foe, the Formless.
It seemed there was some guardians since scouts had gone missing. Bastion asked
if it was a church or holy site and surprised Eldzar, who confirmed it was an
old temple from the surface brought low ages ago. The only thing they lacked
was the exact location. Cue Zamira remembering a strange compass or locket she
took of the Puldiver’s Delvers a few months back. By focusing on a location or
item the locket can work as a Wayfinder to the item. Useful, they decided also
to go to the portal Dwarf for faster travel anyways, the location was on the
other side of Halfbuilt, which would take a few weeks to get to otherwise.
Bastion tried to think of any
information he could from the dream to give the group clues about what they
were dealing with. It had something to do with chittering and something spider
like, which seemed to be not something they wanted to deal with. As he attempted
to identify the chittering Stonebreaker walked by whistling, or what a bug man
would do for whistling, chittering. They called over Stonebreaker to ask him
questions about his people and if he knew of this chapel place. He told the
group that his people operated with a hive mind. The leader would direct the
troops around the caves looking for food and war. Stonebreaker left the hive
after getting injured in his head, losing his connection to the colony. He also
informed them that his people are really strong but eschew the use of armor, so
are pretty easy to hit. The group thanked him for his time and he went back off
to guard duty. They planned, had plenty of potions, and grabbed some riding
beetles. Still not trusting Eldzar, Cecil rode tandem beetle with him. Bastion
led the way with the wayfinder, also he remembered how to get to the Portal
Dwarf from there.
After a few hours out of town
Bastion noticed a strange hole hastily dug in the ground and a patch of fabric
on the cavern wall that did not even match the stonework. Nimhe tossed a pebble
at the square, they heard a squeak, and the entire crew descended on the
unconscious Kobold bleeding from a head wound. Cecil stole a few gems that had
spilled out of its bag and Nimhe quickly administered a healing potion while
cradling the kobold in her coils, tenderly. The kobold opened his eyes to a
doting group and said hi. The group, feeling terrible they almost ended this
tiny creature told him to be careful, someone had attacked him and they were
lucky to find him on the edge of death. He told them he was digging up gems,
which were rumored to be in the area. Cecil also put the gems he took back,
feeling sorry for the little guy, small even by goblin standards. They asked if
he knew of the chapel or Ochranna, and he had infomed them he knew neither of those
words. The group returned anything they took from the poor lad and sent him off
to their city, Cecil telling him to say that he sent him to find safety in the
city.
The group continued on, rested for
a night, and made it to the Portal Dwarf to be sent off hopefully to the
location needed. they passed the familiar golems and entreated with the Portal
Dwarf for his skills. Not having the best way of explaining exactly where they
needed to go Bastion stepped forward and the Dwarf placed his hands on
Bastion’s temples and looked into his mind, seeing their target. He made his
portal and the group could see the giant buried temple and a few large sized
bug men scurrying around the entrance. He would be able to get them there, and
the bartering began. The group wanted him to send a few of his golems along,
but he could not send them away like that, they would break apart, since they
can not be far from him. Instead, they looked through his portal and he created
giant hands of force and squished two of the bugmen together. The group jumped
in after and found themselves about fifty feet from the chapel doors, one bug
man on the move and possibly more within. The group savagely descended on the
remaining bug man and his two allies that came from within the temple. They
could here slow clapping from within the structure.
They entered, looking around in the
darkness for the source of the clapping, attempting to look intimidating in the
process. The clapping died away, being replaced by the sound of thousands of
bugs chittering coming from below. The main stretch of the temple was a raised
central bridge like structure with a dias on the far end, and in the furthest
alcove was where the giant heart should be, but instead of beating, it was now
still. The group approached and started across the platform as a huge sized
spider with a human body sticking out where the face should have been pulled
itself over the side of the bridge and attacked. The group spent the first-round
buffing each other with magic and advancing into attack formations on the
spider woman thing, sensing there was immense danger. The spider bit Cecil,
stripping the enlarge spell from Wilbur and the Wrathful Mantle from Bastion,
using them to great effect against the surrounding party. From the darkness
where the heart hung a large form entered the fray. It was the largest bugman
the party had ever seen, with fire and magic coursing through his chitinous
form, he stood over twenty feet tall and breathed out a cone of flame on the
party. Zamira and Nimhe took offence at that and teamed up on him whilst the
others worked on the spider. Eldzar Salaran took this time to invisibly move to
a more advantageous position and toss chain lighting into the foes, seeking to
not die at their many hands. Wilbur had upgraded his bombs and used them to
great effect on the spider. After a few close calls and Nimhe almost getting
swallowed by the immense bug man, the day was won.
In the aftermath the party
investigated a strange pool of liquid metal and Bastion was compelled to stick
his hands in, seeing visions from his goddess telling him to do so. He took the
metal and threw it into the alcove, the metal multiplying and filling the
chamber with light and covering up the multitude of terrible holes in the lower
part of the chamber dug out by the bugmen. The metal also formed an anvil,
still molten, but ready for use. Something else appeared, but we will get to
that next time.