Game Day: Saturday, August 29, 2015

9:00 AM

The human/dwarven/gnomic/orcish adventure begins!

Doodle...use your Doodle...Doodle...Do the Doodle Dance!

Ah Day Camp, I love you, but you eat my life for one week a year.  Past that now, and time to plan.

Just sent an email to them for whom I have addresses.  Knowing that we're juggling the schedules of four couples to figure out when to play, I ask that you participate in the Doodle Poll here and mark your availability at your earliest convenience.  Note, I've already omitted Labor Day weekend due to Team Sorenson-Turner's conflicting wedding event.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this come to fruition!

Your friendly neighborhood GM,
Dan

Roll a Calendar Check

(TL:DR, check calendars for a game date to begin our adventure, please!) :-)

Okay folks, I've been able to piece together the time needed to draft the first adventure or so for PMG-LLC.  If you haven't already, take a look at your character bios here, first to ensure its accuracy, and second to approve of names/spellings, etc.

If you've not done so already, do try to share with your friendly neighborhood GM any secrets you may have either about yourself or that you know about another party member.  For those having trouble, consider this alternative: what character flaw(s) does your character possess?  Does (s)he follow a creed to a fault, foregoing better judgment, or can't help but try to snatch any shiny things in sight?  Maybe (s)he never backs down from a fight...or betting on one!  You can use your character sheet and stats to help inform this choice.  Perhaps a 0 Communication means that the your character has no filter and will speak his/her mind at the worst possible time.  Or a low Willpower score means your character is incredibly impulsive.

(Dan & Cortney, we can send you stats/character sheets for this purpose.)

Four of us will be occupied with church day camp activities, so this week might not be the wisest choice to begin playing (although the end of it may pan out potentially).  Philly crowd, I'd like to have a technical rehearsal to ensure that Skype or Roll20 will work for our situation.

Anywho, please check your calendars and see when in the near future it'd be a good time to schedule our first game day.

Your friendly neighborhood GM,
Dan

Haregate

In continuing my tradition of using outdated PC games as media development tools for RPG games, here is a composite image of Haregate.  (Easter eggs abound, including some awful, awful matte lines.  Turns out that Age of Empires II: HD Edition does use some slight perspective skewing in game. Who knew?)

I envision the Wheat Weevil Public House as the building 2nd on the right (Trade Workshop, just SW of Town Center) as you come in from the docks. 

Also, bonus points awarded to the player who identifies the awful, awful joke I'm making by naming this place "Haregate."  Hint: homophones and antonyms.

Your friendly neighborhood GM,
Dan

An Unlikely Origin

Thank you to the Swensons & Lakshmans for spending the morning with us hashing out character details.  For your sakes and for Dan & Cortney I wanted to share some details on how your characters all ended up in the same place:

How it all began:

Renbar Halvardr (Dan Sorenson)

Having learned the trade of brewing, Renbar set out from the Uncanny Valley intent on making his fortune as an Innkeeper extraordinaire.  Unfortunately for him, his good name did not echo past the mead halls of any establishment outside of earshot from his hometown in the Uncanny Valley.  Unfortunate also was the level of destitution beset upon the once great Dwarven kingdom—hardly the place for a young hopeful entrepreneur to ply his trade.  He found himself off the coast of Crystal Lake in the seaport of Haregate, running short on funds and shorter still on food.  Applying at all the local Inns and Taverns, it was the Wheat Weevil Public House that at last brought him on as their Thursday night barkeep.  It was not long before a particular Halfling patron, Violet Bywater, stole more than a free drink’s worth of copper pieces…but his heart. (aww!)

Violet Bywater (Cortney)

               Originally a Halfling of Miltonia, Vi (as she prefers to be known) went abroad on a quest for self-discovery, visiting chapels and reliquaries throughout Påmidgard.  It so happened that she was lodging at an abbey in the Kroswain Kingdom when it became annexed by the Albertan Monks.  Fleeing by sea, she made her way through Fraternium to the port of Haregate, intent on returning to Miltonia, where she hoped to drum up support against Prince-Bishop Siegfried and the Albertan Monks.  Finding herself unable to book passage (and likewise unable to stowaway), she set about thieving in a local tavern, the Wheat Weevil. 

               It was there that she caught the eye of the sometimes barkeep, the Dwarf Renbar.  Recognizing a kindred spirit (and a similarly hard-on-luck, poor individual) she set aside her plans of larceny and delayed her travel efforts.  Sharing her plight, she convinced Renbar to get his shift supervisor over and hire her as “private security.”  Puzzled, Brewmaster Dareth questioned how a Halfling would be able to handle a rowdy patron.  Vi demonstrated that it was not so hard to lift a drunken man’s purse amid a drunken brawl, which more often than not paid for what property damage there was and then some.  Needless to say, she was hired on the spot.

Elemenopi Qrst (Eric) & Zarra (Hannah)

               The rise of the Albertan Monks had a greater effect than merely political reorganization.  It also led to the ostracizing of the Brotherhood of Divine Bakers, of which the gnome Elemenopi Qrst was a member.  Using their influence, the Society of the Articulate Lion—the laymen wing of the Albertan Monks—enabled the Baker’s Guild to outlaw the BDB’s products.  Outraged and on a quest to show the world the true heavenly power of baked goods, Elemenopi set out on a trek across Fraternium, gathering the finest flours and confections for use in his esoteric baking.

               Passing by the agrarian community of Fairflax, he chanced upon a human farmgirl Zarra, who bored to tears with the tedium of the yeoman farmer’s life saw her chance to escape her dull fate.  This may or may not have perturbed the gnome, but either way he now had a travelling companion, who he led to the seaport of Haregate.  Knowing the embargo enacted by the Baker’s Guild did not apply to brewer’s yeast, and needing (or was it kneed-ing?) a leavening agent for his current batch of Celestial Sugarloaves, he set about rubbing elbows with the brewers of Haregate, whereupon he met Renbar, who agreed to supply him with yeast…discreetly…among other business arrangements.

Megara Hertee (Julie)

Zarra, having accompanied Elemenopi to the Wheat Weevil regularly, began to notice some of the habits of the regulars, in particular the solitary barstool that had become the favored haunt of one of the few other human female patrons of the bar.  The young lady bounded over, amusing the hooded stranger, and complimented the stranger’s cloak, comparing it to her own.  Striking up conversation, it came to pass that this shadow of a figure, always cloaked and sitting with her back to the wall, was actually a pretty good conversationalist on many subjects—save her past.  Thus, Megara (or Meg as she came to be known) befriended the young farmgirl, looking out for her when other patrons grew unruly. 

Lilabelle Meritink Widgetbauble (Emily)
& Durgash Skullcrusher (Hugh)

Originally a member of the Gnomicorp of Engineers, Lilabelle (Lily) set out from her idyllic homeland of Kinkaidia to voice her concerns over unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly practices in the surrounding realms.  Her love of nature is only surpassed by her love of the Orc fighter Durgash Skullcrusher.  His green skin and height reminding her of her favorite trees, she took an immediate liking to the brute, who to his credit was endeared by this pretty little thing, for whom he would uproot flowers…and occasionally small trees…and present as gifts.  Agreeing to accompany her on her journeys, Durgash looks out for the gnome, guarding her from any perceived harm (however, with an intelligence of 0 though high for an Orc, he sometimes misconstrues the level of danger).

The unlikely pair likewise found their way to Haregate, where Lilabelle confronted the owner of the Wheat Weevil over the wasteful disposal of spent mash and kitchen scraps.  Hearing the argument from inside, Renbar made the acquaintance of the couple, and became intrigued by Lily’s ideas.  Envisioning many potential contraptions that would address the issue at hand, he discussed these at length with Lily and set up the newly minted Wheat Weevil Kitchen Composter (patent pending) within a few hours.  So it came to pass that all seven of the future Påmid-Guardians (LLC) came to unite.

Together

The Wheat Weevil Public House had recently been awarded “best budget beer-hall” of all the Crystal Lake seaports, which was an attractive enough reason to visit its doorstep.  It turns out that it also had a reputation better known by the locals: the brawlingest beer hall of all the Crystal Lake seaports.  On the occasion of Munchking Roland’s Ruby Jubilee, drunken revelry ensued at the Wheat Weevil, which ended with the breaking of much furniture, the spilling of several kegs of beer, and the wearing of the kitchen’s cauldron on the head of Durgash (he had mistaken it for his helmet).

               Though assembled for different reasons, the group found itself united in one purpose: avoiding injury at the hands of other (far more) inebriated patrons.  Noticing the adeptness of the group to handle itself in a scrap…and appreciating that Vi had pickpocketed enough of the brawlers to pay for their damages… Brewmaster Dareth offered them all commission as private security.  He had a particular request in mind...