Diary of a Gamer: 8/31/2009

For the last two weeks our characters have been stranded in a small keep besieged by a band of 100 Orcs. Our characters, being heroes for the most part, did our best to prepare the keeps defenses and command the small garrison of troops.

The orcs had a catapult they were using to damage the keep's defenses so we rode out with Tojamo the mage who used his magic to destroy the siege engine while we fought the orcs. After our surprise attack we rode back the keep and recommenced hiding and hoping the orcs would go away. Instead they blew their warhorns and summoned reinforcements. We sent out a running to sneak though their defenses hoping to summon some reinforcements of our own.

But the reinforments did not have time to arrive before the orcs attempted to storm the keep from all sides. It looked as if we would be able to keep them at bay at first, but our lack of many power meant some sections of the wall had to be manned by women and children. Their lack of skill in warefare (and low HP totals) meant that they were completly unable to hold the wall against the orcs. In addition, the orcs had an ogre ally who battered down one of the gates enough for two orcs at a time to get through.

In short, all hell broke lose.

I was fighting on the section of wall with the women and was quickly swarmed by orc after orc. I almost died in a battle with the leader. Fortunetly I was dealing enough damage to knock back the enemies, sending them tumbling back over the wall. Even more fortunate was the fact that our reinforcements finally showed up and tipped the scale of battle in our favor.

We finished off the last of the enemies, healed up, and collected our reward before moving on. Personally I couldn't wait to be well away from that place.

Cartographer's Corner: Two Towns

I created two more town maps for use in my upcoming Caliburn basic campaign. The first is a nearby town protected by a lesser Baron, Samuel Balan. It is the largest town in the northern part of the region known as the North Valley. It is has shops, an inn, blacksmiths, and a large town square where merchents from the area come to sell and trade. Here is the map...


The second town map I did was for the small village of Ashvale, the town where the PCs begin. The town itself spang up in the shadow of a small keep that was built long ago to protect the valley from northern raiders. It is a small village that doesn't boast a single shop, inn, or trading area. Most of the people that live there are farmers or hunters who make their living in the forest northwest of the village. The castle is owned by Sir William Kegan, a sworn Knight of the Baron Balan of Lakecrest. Here is the map...


Finally, I made a regional map to show where all these places were in relation to one another. I did it in photoshop rather than in Campaign Cartographer, though I may do a CC version and compare the two to see which is better. For now I like this one, and it only took about 15 minutes to make.


So I'm done with maps for now, and I don't even hate them... which is new for me.

Hero Machine

I've always wanted to do character portraits, both as a player and a GM, but as you all know I am artistically challenged (to put it politely). For a long time I would make do without pictures or else make do with other people's art that I found online. But before my most recent game I found Heromachine, and it solved a lot of my problems.

Heromachine is an online application that allows you to create portraits of all kinds of characters. Male, Female, Dwarf, Ogre, Monster, Angel, Sci Fi portraits, or Fantasy portraits, Heromachine can do it all. It is simple and straightforward, but its wealth of options more than make up for its simplicity. I used the program to design all the villains from my Legacy of New Lago campaign, here is an example of a collage of several of them.


Anyone can use Heromachine and it doesn't take long. Head on over and check it out!

Clever Gnomes

Those of you who frequent the blog know one of my favorite Gaming Blogs is Gnome Stew. Recently one of their writers, Martin Ralya, had a great post about the Myth of the Never Ending Game. It is a really great piece, and a topic my group has been discussing a lot as of late. Obviously I agree with the writer and feel that games should have a memorable ending that provide closure.

While you are over at the Stew checking that out check out DNAPhil's Gen Con recap. He has his initial reactions to Hackmaster Basic and a way to follow his progress though the book in preparation for his full review. Enjoy!

Cartographer's Corner: World Map Test

Here is another map I made using that Pasis photoshop syle I mentioned before. I used the same template for this map as the previous one, so it took very little time (under an hour). This was kind of a world map test for me. I wanted to do a rough draft of what the world map would look like for my upcoming campaign. It didn't come out terribly given the fast pace at which I did it, but I think I'm really going to have to make a lot of changes before I get to the finished version. I'm going to have to take a long look at things like climate and weather patterns. Anyway here is the map.

Catrographer's Corner: Stanford Crossing

At the request of one of our readers I took a break from using Campaign Cartographer to make maps and gave Photoshop a try. I've seen maps that some people can do with Photoshop and it has always amazed me, but using the program to make quality maps isn't easy. Here is my first attempt using the Pasis style. You can view an amazing map of Westeros that someone did using the same style over at the Cartographers Guild.

I really like this style, and I plan on using it again. As for the map itself, it is shows the town of Stanford Crossing which lies in the shadow of Angor Mountain. Don't judge too harshly, it's my first attempt!

ENnie Award Results

The ENnie Award Results are in! And the winners are...