One-shot games (or “What to do when players aren’t free?”)

Long gone are the days when my gaming group played some sort of game multiple times a week. Work, partners and/or family, and life in general means my group now averages a gaming day/night twice a month. My main D&D game has six players, and I generally don’t feel like running it if two people can’t make it. The Pathfinder game I play in came about in part for this reason – so that we could still role-play when the two busier people in our larger group weren’t free.

Sometimes a player can drop out at last minute, or you may have a few people who still want to get together. Occasionally, we’ll still play and one player runs two PC’s. We have also ended up playing board games (like Dungeon Quest, Talisman, Minion Hunter), card games (Munchkin, Flux, Unexploded Cow) or I’ve run a one session RPG. In the past we have played two Call of Cthulhu games (I’ve got “Blood Brothers” – designed with this in mind) and last year we did three separate one-shot (/playtest) Gamma World games. I’ve still got another CoC adventure ready to run if required.

Earlier this year, one of the blogs I read – Dungeon Fantastic – detailed two sessions where he ran S2 “White Plume Mountain” (AD&D) as a change from his normal GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. It sounded like a lot of fun, both as an alternative from normal gaming and a chance to play a few adventures from early D&D versions without converting them to d20/PF (which is what I mostly do now) and/or having to make changes to suit my player’s character levels. It inspired me to look at the rule books on my gaming shelves and produce a couple of single-session adventures to have ready for one of those days when someone can’t make a game or we just feel like something different.

Over the last two months I started working on two One-Shot adventures – one for Star Wars and another for Middle Earth. This gave me a theme – Movie/TV – that I’ve been expanding to nearly every RPG I own. Generally I’m taking a part of a movie (or the general idea from the film/TV program) and building something for 4-5 players. I enjoy coming up with adventure ideas and I love making characters, so two ideas have grown into six – so far!

Here’s the adventures I’m working on; titles are subject to change.

Star Wars (d6 W.E.G.) – “The Pit of Carkoon”

Middle Earth Role Playing – “Dol Guldar: The Necromancer”

Gamma World (d20 Pathfinder) – “We’re not in Kansas anymore”

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay – “Inconceivable!” (Or “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya…”)

Shadowrun (3rd Edition) – “Asgard has fallen.”

Oriental Adventures (D&D 3.5) – “Gandhara/Journey to the West”

Now, it’s possible that the titles don’t mean anything to you, or only sound a little familiar. If so, here’s some more detail:

1. The “Pit of Carkoon” is the resting place of the Sarlaac from “Return of the Jedi”. Six minutes in the movie makes a great set-up for a major combat on two skiffs and Jabba’s Sail Barge. For five PC’s, with an optional sixth being Boba Fett, fighting against the rest of the players. The session could be expanded with something in Mos Eisley where the players have to get back to the Millennium Falcon.
2. Dol Guldar is a fortress in southern Mirkwood forest, where the White Council drive out Sauron – “the Necromancer”. There’s a scene that interprets the events from “The Lord of the Rings” in the movie “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”. The LotR book lists the “White Council” as being “the Wizards, Elrond, Cirdan, Galadriel, and other lords of the Eldar” so I’ve made nine characters that can be chosen from by Players, and I’ll modify Dol Guldar from the MERP sourcebook “Mirkwood”.
3. The classic movie “The Wizard of Oz” converted to Gamma World. Five PC’s (including Toto) are sent by the “Tech Wizard from Oz” to remove the threat of the “Wicked Witch” (an Esper) and her flying monkeys.
4. Another classic movie – “The Princess Bride”. Westley, Buttercup, Inigo Montoya, Fezzik and Miracle Max have to defeat Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen and maybe Vizzini. This adventure will draw on the characters more than the actual story in the movie.
5. I’ve done little work on this so far. The idea is to have a Shadowrun session where the PC’s are all off-duty military/security named after characters (or actors?) from the “Olympus has fallen” movies who have to rescue the President and his son from terrorists. My big change is to relocate this to Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Downloading basic maps/floor-plans was easy. I mostly need to make-up the PC’s and NPC’s.
6. The novel “Journey to the West” is the fictional story of an actual Chinese monk who traveled to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures. Most people are more familiar with the 1978 Japanese TV series “Monkey”. The five main characters (including Horse) recreated in d20 and doing something similar to an episode of the series.

For most of these I’ve completed the PC’s and thought about NPC’s and creatures. Specific adventure detail comes next. Once finished, I’ll probably add the adventures to the blog.

 

Phantasm Chasm – Upgrading an old AD&D adventure

Phantasm Chasm is a 1^st edition AD&D adventure released in Dungeon #14 back in November 1988. I bought a fair number of issues between 1988 and 1993 and have used quite a number of the adventures over the years since. (It’s also become easy to track down digital copies to fill the gaps in my collection.) Even now, I can go back and find something I haven’t run before that can easily be updated to 3.5 or Pathfinder.

This adventure and the next one (for a later blog post) are both set in mountainous terrain and involve bandits and ambushes – just the sort of gaming set-up I wanted. I devised some mini adventures to lead into the two main ones and thought the mostly single session parts would be a welcome change from the sprawling adventure my group has spent the last five years completing. (What happened to those days when we might play four times a week?) Off-topic: I’ve updated my 3.5 Campaign page to cover the recent D&D sessions we have played, including this one.

The introduction: The characters discover the body of a man at the edge of the road. Apparently a mountain hunter or trapper, he has been stripped on anything of value and an orcish sword is still stuck in the corpse. Tracks lead to four more human corpses and a dead orc. All weapons and other valuables have been taken. At least a dozen humanoids of medium size have moved around the bodies and headed into the hills.

The background: Two illusionists (6^th and 8^th level) have almost taken over a tribe of 30 bugbears and convinced them that attacking adventurers can be more profitable than waylaying travellers, merchants or attacking villages. They have raided a tribe of orcs and captured some mountain hunters – using them to set up fake ambush sites along the main trails and roads through a mountain pass. Within a box canyon, they have what appears to be a small orcish camp. If the bugbears placed to watch the trails sight anyone approaching, one of the illusionists flies over them (invisibly) to see if they are worthwhile targets. A dozen orcs sit or stand around a fire near some ramshackle huts, while the illusionists and bugbears use the huts, massmorph and invisibility 10’ radius to hide in ambush.

Alterations: Originally designed for a party of about 6^th level, I wanted to convert it to 3.5 D&D and make it interesting for a 12^th level party. I changed the NPC’s to a 8^th Sorcerer and a 9^th Wizard (Illusionist) and the standard Bugbear warriors to 1^st Fighter/1^st Rogues. The two bugbear leaders and chief got a few extra Fighter levels. A wand of invisibility and a couple of castings of Invisibility Sphere meant I had hidden bugbears that weren’t likely to be noticed before they attacked.

I wasn’t expecting the 28 bugbear warriors to be particularly challenging after their initial surprise attack. With only a +7 morningstar attack they were only going to hit most of the party with very good rolls, but 35 hit points meant they weren’t going to be knocked down by a single blow from a PC. Essentially the adventure starts out with a few surprises for the party, but you could say the ambushers learn they have “bitten off more than they could chew”. Both casters were meant to be more effective, with defensive magic like blur, mirror image and shield (plus stoneskin for the wizard) combined with offensive spells (blast of force, darkbolt, confusion, friend to foe, shadow binding, etc). [In the original, the casters had little more than chromatic orb, colour spray and hypnotic pattern.]

The sprawling canyon on table-top

In first and second edition D&D I doubt that many people thought about the scale of maps in the adventures they were using. For third edition, with miniatures playing a big part, the size of the canyon map in Dungeon came as a shock when I started to look at actually presenting it as a battle-map. It’s approx 140 feet across and 260 feet long. The final product (1” = 5 feet) is composed of 20 sheets of A4 paper – thankfully we were playing on a large table!

The D&D Session: Thankfully my players started off by doing exactly what I wanted of them – they investigated the bodies and followed the trail. They moved up to the trees at the edge of the canyon and made a few minor preparations. Their wizard (invisible and flying) looked into the canyon, noted the orcs and even looked at the huts – spoting figures inside them. The group decided they might be captives and so the wizard put a maximised fireball into the middle of the orcs, aiming to not to hit the huts. He was quite surprised when all the orcs were vaporised. (5 hp doesn’t go very far.) Most of the other players moved in and the bugbears in the huts came out. This is when the cleric realised how big the area was and found she couldn’t cast beneficial spells on the spread out party all at once. Then the invisible bugbears started to pop-up around the party members away from the central melee, flanking in most cases. The two enemy casters begin to throw spells, and unluckily (for me) one failed a save vs a disintegrate spell and was gone. The other, like most of the bugbears lasted a few rounds more.

In Summary: It was a fun session – more interesting than a straight out fight. The players had to think a bit more than normal, more movement (not a 5’ step to another opponent each round) and certainly not the situation they had expected. If I was to do it again, I go with one of two options: 1. Less bugbears with more fighter levels to give them a better chance of hitting, or 2. Use a different humanoid with more HD, like Harpies or Minotaurs.

Back to the Blog

It’s been nearly three months since I posted anything! I’ve been busy on an assortment of things but just haven’t got around to posting any details. Here’s a summary of what’s kept me busy in my spare time and I’ll follow this up with more detailed posts on each subject.

1. My custom-made d20 Gamma World got a play-test session that went very well. I then spent probably two weeks adding the d20 Modern Classes in, and expanding my feats and class abilities. I’d previously adapted two of the Modern classes to fill gaps that my four base classes (from WotC/Sword & Sorcerys d20 version) didn’t cover, but I’ve now scrapped those two in favour of the whole six base modern classes. This also meant reworking the original four. That’s all pretty much done now. I’m impatient to move on to mutations.
2. My 3.5 D&D campaign has moved on following the dramatic conclusion to the Giants – Demonweb saga. I’d picked out two adventures from old Dungeon magazines and reworked them to suit the current party level. This also gave me the idea for two short adventures to start the party off in the right direction. We’ve played four session now I think and they are halfway through the main Dungeon adventure.  The aftermath of the giant invasion of Sterich has meant that most of the patrols and troops around Keoland are reduced in size and frequency and this has led to greater numbers of thieves and bandits preying on merchants and travellers. The party has been travelling around the southern border of Keoland trying to draw attacks, as well as escorting a fake merchant caravan.
3. Zombicide – Black Plague: I received my Knights Pledge and Wulfsburg packs at the beginning of July. After six months of irregular games with only six survivors it was fantastic to suddenly have fifty to choose from. I have close to 200 figures now! My wife has been really enjoying this and in the last three weeks we have gone through the second half of the original quests and most of the Wulfsburg ones. I really want to finish painting the figures on my desk and get onto painting necromancers and abominations!
4. Miniature painting: I’ve had ten figures on my desk since February. I’ve now completed four and done more with the rest.

I’ve been reading a lot, watched a few movies and played some of my usual online games. The ‘Legion’ invasion prelude for World of Warcraft got a bit of attention over the last month, but now that Legion has launched I don’t see myself doing much on WoW until Christmas. I’m always at least one release behind and I only play seriously (paying for a months subscription) once or twice a year. Most of what I was busy with last time was Cataclysm/Pandaria related.

Here’s my most recently completed miniatures. These are all Citadel figures, collected when I was playing Warhammer Quest. The Orc was very overdue to be finished – he was originally undercoated and had his armour mostly done 18 months ago! I should do a little bit more with the Elf – ink on the cloak brought out the edges, but should be cleaned up slightly.

Citadel Black Orc and Halfling Thief

 

Orc and Halfling – Rear View

 

Elf and Barbarian – Front

 

Elf and Barbarian – Rear

D&D Resources – Condition and Spell Cards

I’m involved in two high level D&D campaigns. In the one where I’m a player it’s not unusual to be in the middle of an major battle and have all of the party (5 Players and 3 NPC’s) affected by our Bard’s Inspire Courage, Haste, Bless, Prayer, etc. If someone fails a save and is dazzled/shaken/sickened, etc – how do you keep track of all the bonuses and penalties that apply to a character? What bonuses stack with each other?

I looked around at “Condition” cards available and wasn’t satisfied with what was available. I found that, regardless of price or quality, it seemed that either not all the conditions or buffs that most players would want were part of the set, or you only got one of each card. In the end I made my own – then I did a second set that covered the main spells that were being cast in our campaigns.

 

My cards are 55 x 85mm, just a little smaller than standard card size. I print them out on an A4 sheet, laminate them and cut them out. I’ve also used different colour paper to distinguish the two sets.
I generally have two of each of the conditions and about four each of anything that could affect all the party. Not everyone needs to have their own card – but each player should be able to see them. [Note: The cards in the image above are from an early set and bonuses to “Attack” now read “Attack rolls” to be clearer.]

I’m making them available to anyone else who wants to use them, in two formats. The PDF’s are great to print as is; the Word files are good if you want to print extra copies of individual cards, or want to use mine as a template to create your own cards. These work with both 3.5 and Pathfinder – if there is a difference in rules, then there’s a separate card for each system.

The “Condition” set contains one each of: Ability Damaged, Ability Drained, Baleful Polymorph, Blinded, Confused, Cowering, Dazed, Dazzled, Deafened, Disabled, Dying, Energy Drained, Enlarged, Entangled, Exhausted, Fascinated, Fatigued, Frightened, Grappled, Helpless, Incorporeal, Invisible, Nauseated, Panicked, Paralysed, Prone, Reduced, Shaken, Sickened, Slowed, Staggered, & Stunned.
The “Spell” set contains one each of: Aid, Bless, Detect Evil, Detect Magic, Divine Favour, Divine Protection, Fireshield, Good Hope, Hasted, Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Prayer, Righteous Wrath, Shield, & Shield of Faith (+2 to +4). It also includes Bard performances: Inspire Courage (+1 to +4), Inspire Greatness, Countersong, Dirge of Doom, Fascinate, Frightening Tune, & Soothing Performance. Not all of these spells have “bonuses” to a character, but they are handy reminders that you have that spell active and what it does.

Download them from my RPG Resources page!

A new project: Greyhawk, Pathfinder and HeroLab

Over the past week I’ve spent a few hours each day/evening on a new project. Since I started playing Dungeons & Dragons, the World of Greyhawk has been my setting of choice – originally it was the ONLY setting! I’ve got a considerable set of resources on my RPG bookshelf and a great assortment of files on my PC. There was a thread on the HeroLab (Pathfinder) Forum recently that had been dormant for three years – had anyone done anything in HeroLab for Pathfinder based on the world of Greyhawk? A new post grabbed my attention, and a new group on Facebook went from two to forty members in a few days.

I’d done a little bit of work adding some extra Greyhawk stuff into my 3.5 HeroLab files, and rather more for Pathfinder – since I use Greyhawk with Pathfinder, not their own world of Golarion. (Why spend extra money on a new world when I have a heap of stuff here already?) I was able to offer my work and merge it with the work the groups leader had put together. While we have a lot of Greyhawk enthusiasts and Pathfinder players/GMs, there seem to be very few who have done much work with the HL editor.

This is all for a game and setting I love, and stuff that I will use myself, so in itself that’s great. I also really enjoy researching and writing (I do it for writing RPG adventures, and story/novel writing), so add some data-entry and a little bit of coding – I could do this all day. The only way it would get better would be if I got paid for it! (If I got paid for it, I would do it all day!)

So what does our data-file have so far?

5 Human ethnicities (Baklunish, Flan, Oeridian, Olman, & Suel)

3 Elvish sub-races (High, Gray & Wood)

22 Greyhawk specific languages

110 Deities (mostly Human, but also Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Orc) with mostly detailed descriptions

I’m still filling out data for the Deity background/description, and then I need to finalise the Cleric Domains from 3.5 that don’t exist in Pathfinder. There’s been 2nd edition D&D/Greyhawk spells and magical items suggested, and Greyhawk Regional Feats… all work for the future.

I do have some figures ready for painting – a few of them were undercoated a year ago.  I might take a break from HL this weekend and do something more to them.

I’m also oh so tempted to insert a “railgun” as one Deities favored weapon, just to see if anyone notices!

 

UPDATE: (Apr 2018) My ‘RPG Resources” page has details on adding a Secondary URL to Hero Lab so that people can download the Greyhawk file through Hero Lab.

The setting now includes:

Player Races: High Elf, Gray Elf, Wood Elf
6 Human Ethnicities: Baklunish, Flan, Oeridian, Olman, Rhennee, Suloise

NPC Races: Valley Elf, Wild Elf
Creatures: Aspis (Cow, Drone, Larva), Beastman, Booka, Camprat, Crystalmist, Dire Raven, Giant Raven, Horgar, Hook Horror, Ingundi, Mist Wolf, Needleman, Norker, Slow Shadow (lesser, greater), Son of Kyuss, Soul Beckoner, Swordwraith (template), Tyrg, Vampire Cactus, Vampiric Mist, Xvart.

27 Greyhawk Languages

114 Deities: 7 Baklunish, 10 Flan, 21 Oeridian, 18 Suloise, 17 General, 8 Dwarven, 11 Elven, 6 Gnomish, 6 Halfling, 6 Humanoid, 5 Orcish.

24 Cleric Domains: Celerity, City, Cold, Competition, Courage, Creation, Destiny, Domination, Dream, Force, Greed, Hunger, Inquisition, Mind, Mysticism, Oracle, Pact, Pestilence, Purification, Sky, Summer, Summoner, Tyranny, Winter.

11 Spells from “Iuz the Evil”: Blackhand, Blood Gloat, Bonechain, Chain Madness, Claw Cloud, Death Touch, Lifebane, Stone Curse, Summon Varrangoin, Turnbane, Venomed Claws.

D&D Finale – Expedition to the DemonWeb Pits

Over the last few months of 2015, my 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons group was able to get together for three sessions to enjoy the tremendous climax to the adventure “Expedition to the DemonWeb Pits“. It’s taken us a year and a half of irregular gaming to play through the adventure. Four actual years (or half a Greyhawk year game time) has passed since we began the whole Giants – Demonweb series. I’m not entirely sure where things will go with the group now – I expect we will continue playing, but I’ll aim to run single session adventures, and if a player can’t attend then his character will not be a part of the party.

The Grand Council Chamber:

The book notes that players have a number of options open to them once they reach this point – stealth, diplomacy, golden council pass (obtainable within the adventure), combat, or a combination of these. It gives some details and suggestions for how these can be done and has a passage titled “The Battle Royale” for those who fail at other options or for the party that “might decide to fight the Demon Council. All of it.”

I was expecting my group to fight, and it initially looked like they were going to try and take on everyone at once. Since all the (chaotic evil) demon lords (or their ambassadors) distrust or even hate each other, a group can get away with fighting “individuals” to a point. Also, two items that the party carried, each triggered an attack by an ambassador/demon as the group moved into the hall. I expected the players to over-estimate their opponents (they did), since the demon lords as presented are only avatars/aspects (not full powered) and they did very well until the very end of things when the council hall became a free-for-all. I was impressed that they first pulled-back and planned instead of charging in.

SESSION 1: The party continued along a web tunnel until reaching a secret door. This led into a large hemispherical hall with four other exits and an ornate mosaic floor. Khufu determined there was another secret door across the hall and Levallious realised that the “abstract” mosaic actually portrayed a current map of the demonweb and was able to determine general layout and the party’s current position. A female Drow strode out of the darkness into the hall, followed by five male warriors. She seemed amused to find “mortals wandering the Spider Goddesses web” but was quite surprised when Figjam produced the council pass and stated they were Orcus’ ambassadors to the Council Meeting. She teleported the group to the Black Gate using a “key” and floor inlays and then left saying their were other ambassadors that hadn’t shown up yet.

A huge demon glared at them and demanded they open the Gate. Pyro cast “Dread Word” on the Gate, opening it. Two male drow on the other side pointed towards one of two tunnels. Ignoring a side branching that wasn’t on the map, they followed the curving tunnel to a chamber where they were attacked by three large harpoon spiders. Past this they came to a second side branch, which was investigated. A chamber with alcoves and statues brought attack from a drow assassin and a phase spider. The drow attacked Khufu (who saved against a death attack and poison) then failed a save against Myste’s curse and stabbed himself with his weapon – the poison on the blade knocked him unconscious and he was coup de grace’d in the next round. The spider bit Levallious and flung him across the chamber, phasing out and leaving. Avoiding a petrification traps, they took a secret door which proved to be a short cut along the main spiraling tunnel bringing them almost directly to the council foyer. This very large room had huge mirrors and a spider shaped stone golem blocking the archway into the main council chamber. Figjam held up the council pass and the golem shifted its legs to allow entrance.

First look into Council Hall

Laying out my hand-drawn gaming map and putting figures on it had everyone on their feet to watch: Approx 200’ long, 110’ wide, 50’ high ceiling, dimly-lit and containing three Vrocks (vulture demons), a Frost Giant, an Occulus Demon, three 1/2-Fiend Minotaurs, two 1/2-Fiend Gnolls, four Giant Hyenas, a trio of Succubi, five Drow, a Bebelith (Demon Spider), six Demon Lord aspects (Yeenoghu, Baphomet, Demogorgon, Obox-Ob, Malcanthet, Pale Night), and an empty throne.

The Vrocks close to the entrance appeared to have just killed two male drow. The party immediately pulled back to the side of the foyer and discussed tactics while casting protective and enhancement spells – Bless, Mass Aid, Mass Fire Shield, Divine Protection, and Mass Resist Fire. Myste summoned a Spider and 2 Large Beetles. While this occurred, the Vrocks performed a dance of ruin causing huge explosion of energy. Thankfully, the party were sheltered from the effect.

The “plan” (I tried not to pay attention while everyone discussed this) was to sneak some of the group in and set off powerful area-effect items/spells amid the lesser monsters and hope to pass-the-blame to another group. This fell apart within the first round or two, when Khufu (try to sneak across one side of the room) and Myste (flying invisibly) realised they were being tracked by the Occulus Demon. The main party moving around the Vrocks on the other side also ran into trouble when the Frost Giant ambassador saw Figjam carrying a Demon-Slayer sword (stolen from Frost Giants), called him a thief and threw a rock at him. During this combat, the Occulus demon saw Levallious using Thaas (Weapon of Legacy, demon-bane bow) and attacked him. This was all made more interesting when Pyro fumbled a touch spell and created a 20’ radius Stinking Cloud around the Frost Giant, himself, Figjam and Brolith.

Fighting the Frost Giant ambassador of Kostchtchie

The giant died quickly. The Occulus demon lasted about two rounds (with Levallious hit three times each round by negative energy eye rays, and miraculously making saves against sickness, panic and unconsciousness) and Obox-Ob moved to the remains. It demanded they declare fealty to it, and was of course attacked in return. As it took damage, it released demon-wasp swarms, which Myste blew (Gust of wind) across near the minotaurs. The rest of the group had started on the Vrocks. After seven rounds of combat all of these foes had been defeated. Most of the party had minor damage. Baphomet  (who had previous been impressed by the upstart mortals dealing with the giant & Occulus) weren’t looking so happy. Demogorgon was returning from an audience with Lolth upstairs. The drow all look concerned.

You notice that the beautiful demon Lady of the Succubi (Malcanthet) is now leaning over the balcony. She addresses the Council. “Listen to me, O Aspects of Our Greatness!” But something’s wrong; it’s not the Lady of the Succubi after all. Her voice and her shape suddenly change; the figure in front of you is male, not female, a black-skinned demon with fine features, rich black robes, and six-fingered hands. (Grazz’t) He continues speaking, his voice echoing through the council hall. “These mortals are servants of Orcus, brought here among us to turn us against one another. Lolth says we must not fight each other—but surely that does not mean we cannot destroy a few worthless mortals.” A murmur goes up around you.

A few of the demon lords hesitate, perhaps considering whether it is worse to annoy Lolth or to annoy Graz’zt, the Dark Prince. For a moment it seems like the whole room is against you, and then another voice answers him with a sneer.

“If these mortals are as ‘worthless’ as you say, surely you can deal with them yourself.” Demogorgon looks as pleased as a demon lord possibly can . . . an immensely disturbing expression.

The demon lords await…

SESSION 2: Grazzt moved towards the top of the stairs. Khufu strode across the floor challenging Grazzt. Levallious discovered Grazzt has an Aura of Sanctuary (Will save or you can’t attack). Myste cast dispel to remove the aura. The three Succubi launched into flight across the room – but they didn’t last very long – Levallious could target them! Grazzt reinstated his aura and Brolith and Khufu began to engage him in combat. Figjam had also moved forward, and not being able to reach Grazzt decided to attack the male Drow Commander. This triggered the remaining drow to act against the party. The two warriors began to move forward around the other Demon Lords, while the Drow Priestess started casting spells and the female warrior vanished. Both Grazzt and the Drow commander were defeated fairly quickly and the invisible drow female attacked Levallious. She was in turn attacked by Pyro.

The defeat of Grazzt disrupted the Council completely. Yeenoghu (Gnoll Demon lord) ordered his group to attack Baphomet (Minotaur Demon lord). Pale Night disappeared (teleporting or plane shifting out, even against Lolth’s restrictions) and Demogorgon looked down from the central stairs at the mayhem. Once the central combatants moved in against each other, Pyro and Myste both cast maximised Cone of Cold across them (144 cold damage) – this killed all four large Dire Hyenas, one of Yeenoghu’s gnoll attendants (the second was invisible and flying away from the melee), the three half-fiend minotaurs and moderately wounded both Demon lords. Figjam was confused by the priestess.

The party moved into the melee. The Drow priestess ran out of worthwhile spells and came down the stairs mace in hand. Demongorgon skirted everyone and exited the Spider golem door. The flying invisible Gnoll warlock fired eldritch blasts at the party while moving slowly towards the exit. The bebelith (demon spider) jumped off the balcony stairs into the fight. The two demon lords were defeated and then it was realized that Lolth’s aspects had left the audience chamber above. A large Giant Spider with female drow head (the Hammer of Lolth) dropped from the ceiling to attack while the Envoy (10’ drow female sorcerer) moved to the top of the stairs and cast Feeblemind on Pyro.

Myste rewound time (going back most of a round) and while most things happened the same way, Pyro wasn’t left with one point of intelligence. The Spider aspect got tripped by the wolf and wasn’t able to regain its feet before being killed. Both the Drow Priestess and the Gnoll Warlock were killed, the Bebelith had been knocked unconscious and was healing but didn’t get much chance to do anything more. The Envoy (high AC, Fly, Mage Armour & Shield active) proved much more difficult than any Demon Lord – it tried to Charm Levallious (failed), Confused Myste, Feebleminded the confused Figjam and then Brolith, before some of its protective spells were cancelled and the active characters were able to kill it.

The group quickly checked fallen opponents, making sure they were dead. Caranthir cast two Heal spells to restore the feebleminded, and the group dispelled (or restrained and waited out) confusion. Many of the group used what healing options they have available. The party then headed up the stairs to the audience chamber. This ellipsoid room (about 100 x 140 ft) had glossy black walls, and a spider-web floor across the middle. There was no sign of any other exit or portal. Caranthir recalls the prophecy that brought them here: “Near the throne a fourth gate – home”.

SESSION 3: The party head back into the main hall and to the throne. Levallious realises that there is a secret door behind the throne. They also note that ten drow – a priestess, two knights and seven warriors are moving quickly across the floor of the hall to attack.

Both Drow Knights issue challenges in an attempt to focus the party’s attention on them, but only Pyro is affected. The drow warriors are killed quickly. The Knight and Priestess last a little longer. Khufu finds the opening mechanism for the secret door on the throne and the group enter a long web tunnel. While they move along Figjam reports odd rustling sounds from behind them. The tunnel ends in a roughly circular cave. A faint light glows from a portal in the centre of the chamber and a figure steps forward to where the rough stone meets webbing. For a moment it looks like a woman, then that image fades and all see a blank-faced creature gazing with hate at them. Most of the group feel a chill, but Khufu’s heart stops and he collapses to the ground – dead! The party does it best to avoid the gaze of the Bodak and strike it down. Caranthir quickly casts Revify – returning Khufu’s spirit to his body, and then healing spells. Pyro examines the portal and learns how to open it. It leads back to Oerth – to what appears to be a large courtyard in a castle or fortress, that Pyro is sure is in the western Flanaess. Most of the group are aware of the rustling, clicking sounds growing louder in the tunnel behind them. When Figjam reports thousands of spiders flooding the tunnel, they quickly activate the portal and hurry through.

The group stand in a huge courtyard. Before them are horses, wagons and training soldiers. Behind them stands a palace. Shouts of alarm and warning are raised all about them. A horn sounds, and Myste and Pyro note both the spark of a fireball shooting down towards them from a tower and a mage to one side casting prismatic spray…

 

There is a burst of bright light around them and time stops: A muscular eight-foot tall human with magnificent feathered wings floats above them. His forearms transform into flaming swords. On either side of the group, a large armoured bear-like humanoid has stepped through a split in the air. While one winks at Figjam, the other closes and seals the portal to the Demonweb. The celestial warrior above the group announces that there will be no hostilities here today – these heroes have confounded a grand plot between the forces of the Abyss and stopped a demonic invasion of the Flanaess.

After escorting the group into the presence of King Skotti of Keoland, the Sword Archon returns to Celestia. (The portal opened into his palace in the capital city of Niol Dra.) The Warden Archons from the Temple of the Eye in Sigil, tell everyone that the Celstial Eye told them to be here following the fulfilment of the prophecy given to these heroes – that they had defeated a plot between Lolth and Grazzt to lead a unified force of demon lords and their armies into Oerth and later against the Upper Planes. King Skotti declares them all “Champions of Keoland”. Each are entitled to use the title Lord (or Lady) and claim hospitality anywhere within Keoland or the lands of its allies. (Geoff, Sterich and the Ulek states) Over the next week they are treated royally – given gifts (clothes and new horses), their equipment repaired or replaced and hosted at many feasts and celebrations.

The group have been away from Oerth for about five weeks. Istvin is being repaired following its devastation, and the armies of Keoland, mercenaries and adventuring groups are hunting remaining giants in Sterich. The people of Sterich are slowing returning to their land. Keoland and the neighboring states will support the country in its rebuilding and resettlement. The King offers a small monetary reward, stating that there is little to spare for even heroes, considering how much is required to be spent to aid Sterich. A final gift from Celestia for the party’s achievements is the granting of a bonus feat.

RPG Players: Listen to your GM !

     “You know,” said Arthur, “it’s at times like this, when I’m trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young.”
      “Why, what did she tell you?”
      “I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”

      — The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

 

Most of the time, as a GM (Game master) the information I give my players is important. The degree of importance varies.

If I tell someone that a Giant is watching them – that’s relevant information. How important it actually is depends on context. If the player is flying rapidly across the sky it’s a lot less important to the player than if their character has just killed a few other giants and is currently looting the giant’s treasure chest. If I say the giant is seventeen feet tall with black skin and a lot of tattoos – that’s interesting. If a player wants to know the Giant’s name and what he had for breakfast, well… that’s up to the player to ask! (If you have players who want lots of detail, then you need to be prepared or able to make a lot of stuff up on the spur of the moment.)

Much of what we can and do provide is of interest and some is very important. Of course, I’m not going to tell them what is very important and what isn’t… often figuring that out for themselves is part of the adventure.

Fighting a “spiderleg horror” in the Demonweb (represented by half a Drider)

My 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons group got together on Saturday to continue their “Expedition to the Demonweb Pits”. Since it had been nearly six months since we’d gotten together I gave a general summary of what had happened during the last gaming session:

The party had travelled to the city of Zelatar (capital of the Demon prince Graz’zt) in the Abyss to meet an agent of Orcus who had information for them concerning what Lolth was planning. They had obtained a merchant charter to enter the city safely – as the law of the city states that even mortal merchants are protected from violence while in the city unless they commit a crime such as assault, fraud, etc. I reminded them that they had been taunted a number of times, and stopped by guards, but the charter (and their behaviour) had kept them out of trouble. They had eventually met the agent, gained what they expected and were seeking a way out of the Abyss and back to the city of Sigil (on another plane), so they had paid for an augury (or foretelling) to guide them.

I’d prepared a printed sheet for the players that stated why they’d gone to Zelatar, what they’d obtained and a copy of the augury. I handed these out. They started to talk about the detail of the foretelling and what to do next.

I had also previously decided to start with an unscripted encounter that could be amusing to most of the group and would then link to something planned later. I didn’t get the reaction I’d expected…

I told them that a huge giant was watching them. The giant pointed at the Barbarian in the group and asked if he “could give him a hand”…

Barbarian: “Maybe…”

“I think I’d like the right hand” The giant drew a knife with a blade about five feet long. “Will you cut it off or shall I?”

Barbarian Player: “I rage!”

I called for initiative, and thankfully for the Barbarian (and probably everyone else – one dwarf, three humans and two elves – in a city of 18,000 demons), two of the other players thought quickly and reacted before anything else happened…

“I throw myself at him and try and hold him down!”

“I cast web on him!”

They both beat the Barbarian on initiative and successfully pinned him down and talked sense into him.

Then we had a bit of “didn’t you pay attention?”, “what were you thinking?” from the players and myself.

We got past this, they fought a few creatures and eventually got a ferry on the river Styx that took them back to Sigil. They reported to the different people that they had been dealing with, rested and after a few days of game time, they re-entered Lolth’s demonweb with the aim of disrupting the planned council of demon lords. Overall, we got through quite a bit of the adventure, and we only have one or two more sessions to finish the whole thing.

I need a very large sheet of cardboard now, so I can draw up the floor plan (for miniatures) of one the final encounter chambers!

I updated my “Campaign Diary” on Sunday (which I’ve been meaning to do for months), and updated the one on the blog to bring it completely up to date.

HERO LAB for D&D – Part 3

For years I’ve produced a campaign summary sheet that lists all the characters, and important information such as AC, saves, alignment, height and weight, speed, initiative and some skills. It both saves me from asking players the same questions over and over again, and means I can make a roll, or ask a player to make a roll, without them knowing what save or skill they are rolling for.

Character Summary and an old “combat tracking” sheet (for a different group)

Each time combat starts, I ask all the players for their initiative and list them in order with the monsters initiative values. I list all the monsters HP’s and the combat progresses. Unfortunately, with six players and multiple creatures +/or NPC’s, occasionally someone misses their action. It also becomes easy to forget how many rounds the combat has been going for which may be important for certain spell’s or effects.

The Hero Lab Tactical Console:

The tactical console (TC) assists with all of this. I still refer to my character summary occasionally, but I have access to more info through the laptop. I certainly don’t need the scraps of paper tracking initiative and HP’s. The standard screen has all the detail you could want on a character out of combat. (With a hovering cursor, or click you have access to everything on each character.) Once combat begins, the console sorts everyone participant by initiative and you press a button when they take their action – dropping them to the bottom of the list. You can also apply damage/healing and a activate/deactivate anything that appeared on the “In Play” and “Condition” tabs for each character/creature. It even can cope with people who ready an action, or delay – keeping the Hero “paused” at the top of the screen, but separate from the rest of the group.

Tactical Console with Allies and Enemies

TC1: For this example of how the Tactical Console works, I loaded three opponents into the Portfolio through the Encounter Builder – one Annis (Hag) and two constructs (Graven Guardians). The first screen shows the layout of the TC window – which appears over the standard portfolio display and covers about half the screen. The buttons that appear here have the same functions as those in the standard HL display. Allies appear named in black text with an image on the left. Enemies are named in red text, with an image on the right. As you can see, each creatures name, class, HP, AC, Saves, Speed and a summary of Skills are show. More detailed information is available by pop-up from the side buttons. I have taken photo’s of the miniatures used by players and put those into Hero Lab. “Grolf”, an Animal Companion of the Ranger/Scout has not been assigned an image in HL, so appears with the default “empty” image. At any time here, you can switch screens just by clicking on the screen you want, or the “make active Hero” button.

Beginning a new combat

TC2: having pressed the button “New Combat” the TC rolls initiative for each creature and places them in initiative order. (There’s a dice roller built into HL too!) I tend to let the enemies INIT rolls stand, and replace the assigned INIT for the Players with their actual rolls, then re-sort the list. (A “resort” button appears if you change any of the INIT results.) The little arrow buttons on the far right side of the screen allow moving a creature up or down one place in the Init order, or to the top or bottom of the list. The “End Combat” button discards initiative and takes you back to the non-combat screen. “Next Round” jumps to the next round of combat without going through each creatures actions. The “active” combatant in boxed at the top of the screen. Note that skills have been replaced with equipped weapon details. Flat-footed Ac is bold for those that haven’t yet acted. The hourglass symbol reminds you of those that haven’t yet acted this round – it’s replaced by a tick as they do. As combatants act (marked by pressing the “play” button), they move to the bottom of the list.

Combat in progress & adjustment screen

TC3: Halfway through Round 1. Farstrike has been placed at the top of the list because for his action I chose “delay”. A reminder in green text appears, and he can act any time by clicking on his “play” button. The Graven Guardian #2 currently is taking it’s action and next to the TC screen I’ve opened the tracking screen. This shows where HP damage or healing is assigned, any abilities/resources available to the creature, and the other options normally on the In-Play and Conditions tabs. A box for “Tactical Notes” appears at the bottom – anything entered here is shown in Green text under saving throws on the TC.

End of the first combat round

TC4: “Grolf” has been removed from the combat (assuming that having taken damage, he has withdrawn). He could be put back into combat by clicking on the sword button to the right. To continue combat into a second round, it is necessary to click on the “next round” button. If I “end combat” or close the TC, any damage done to creatures and any conditions activated, will remain – and be shown on the relevant part of the HL screen.

Once combat has been completely resolved, it’s necessary to “delete” the enemies from the portfolio regardless of whether or not you keep the TC open. Then you are ready to load another group of creatures for another encounter.

All the images above are from HL Pathfinder. The 3.5 D&D version is identical, except that the background is blue in colour!

The Hero Lab editor:

The editor has a very good manual and set of tutorials. It’s quite easy to follow the steps given to add simple feats, spells and items into Hero Lab – especially if you “copy” an existing item that has the same or similar powers/details and just change a few details. For example: Making a wondrous item (gauntlets) that grant a Strength bonus is really just a case of copying a “Belt of Strength”, renaming it, and changing the body location to hands. Looking at existing things (and how they have been created) really helps when it comes to editing your own stuff. The forums are quite good for advice and assistance – there are lots of people doing editing, and happy to help.

So far I’ve used the editor to add 50 “Greyhawk” Deities and 4 languages, 9 Feats, 1 Skill, 3 Classes (complete with class abilities), and 68 Wondrous Items, 6 Rings, 1 Rod, and 2 Wands to HL Pathfinder.

I’ve mostly been adding monsters to 3.5 D&D, because the “Community Content” available has pretty much given me all the Classes, Feats and Spells that my group uses.

I’m still working out how to implement a few feats/abilities, particularly because I’m transferring 3.5 content to Pathfinder.

Conclusion:

Hero Lab is the best D&D tool I’ve ever seen and used. I’ve been using it now for nearly 3 years and almost every update adds a little bit to make it smoother or add a bit more functionality.

As a player – the standard part of the program makes character creation and maintenance much easier. Every time any of the characters level up (in both the groups I’m part of), I update the Heroes in HL and compare the two. It’s very easy to incorrectly add up bonuses, forget to allocate a skill point, or when improving Ability Scores miss updating a skill. I’d say that every time a group levels, I’ve found an error by checking with Hero Lab that we wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

As a DM – I know that the players have everything on their character sheet correct. Using the tactical console (especially now that I’ve streamlined a laptop just for gaming use) makes combat smoother to run and much less likely that someone will miss taking their turn. Having monster detail available immediately, for EVERY creature in the encounter – without having to flip through multiple rule books – is fantastic. This also means that I can access a description for every feat, spell, class ability and magical item through my main screen too.

I’ve never seen Hero Lab itself make any errors! The only mistake I’ve ever seen was once, in the 3.5 D&D community data set – but that error was reported on the forums and fixed in the next update. User support (through the forums and data files) for the program is fantastic!

The only downside I see to Hero Lab is the output – the printed Character Sheets. I’d like some of the sections on the sheet to be positioned as the player wants them (like weapons and gear), not being broken up over the pages. I know there are some customised outputs available, but they aren’t what I’m looking for, and I think I’d be in the majority of users when I say I’m not familiar with XML and so unable to make my own custom output/sheet.

I give Hero Lab a 9 out of 10. If you play or DM Dungeons and Dragons, give it a try!

HERO LAB for D&D Pathfinder – Part 2

I’m assuming that readers know how Dungeons and Dragon’s works – I won’t be talking about races, classes, skills, etc – only about how Hero Lab handles or shows different aspects of a Hero (Player character, NPC, or monster).

In the examples below, I’m using “Tarmor’s Party” – a saved Portfolio that holds five 9^th level adventurers that are “advanced” characters from an actual party I have. (They are really only 4^th level at this time.) One of the classes (Scout) is not Pathfinder – this is taken from 3.5 D&D (Complete Adventurer), but I’ve entered the class (and some Feats) into Hero Lab for Pathfinder with the editor.

It’s easier to show how things are done than just write about it. My images are actual screenshots from Hero Lab (Pathfinder) – green lines and text are my edits and explanations. The d20 System (3.5 D&D) package is extremely similar – with almost the same tabs – Classes & Abilities are combined to one “Basics” tab (there’s no Conditions tab) – and layout has much the same style and columns.

1. The main screen & Classes.

Hero Lab lays everything out in columns. The left-hand side of the screen has the main panel, which changes according to which tab you select across the top. The Classes tab allows you to add class levels (and templates) and assign HP’s, favoured classes, and ability score increases.

Some tabs (e.g. Class, Spells) are only added if and when you add a level in a relevant class. The other columns give a summary of pretty much everything about your Hero – each can be turned off, or its position rearranged. The “Dashboard” lists every Hero in the portfolio, and is a fast way of changing the active Hero, as well as seeing detail of other Heroes without having to switch.

“Help” on the Menu bar offers a Manual, Tutorial and FAQ for Hero Lab. Clicking on the “?” buttons also gives either more information, or a full rulebook description/definition of the item it’s located next to. In addition, you can hover the cursor on nearly any “item” on screen – AC, Skill, Skill bonus, weapon attack bonus, gear, feat, ability, etc and get a pop-up help that tells you how the final bonus/total was calculated and/or a rulebook description/definition. Any change to a Ability Score, addition of a weapon, magical item, feat, etc results in an immediate recalculation and display of changes. Anything selected or added at any stage or on any tab can be removed/cancelled/deleted.

Nearly every menu from which you can add/select something is displayed in alphabetical order, with a search field, and the choice to display “everything” or only “valid” choices. Hero Lab will let you add/change/select things that it considers to be invalid – but it will give you a message telling you what is “wrong” and why.

Note the “Feats” tab in images: it’s printed in red because HL believes I’ve picked a feat the character doesn’t have the prerequisite for. According to its rules (based on the way I correctly defined the “Improved Skirmish” Feat in the data files) the character doesn’t. The problem is not Hero Lab, it’s just that I haven’t got the “code” correct for another feat which would fix everything up. [If I have the physical rulebook for something that a character has chosen/used, then I also try to add it to the data files that HL accesses.]

2. Background.

This is for Race, Alignment, Deity, racial abilities, and languages. This is the ‘page’ where you would assign a Racial stat bonus if there is one, or something like a ½ Elves Skill Focus. If you are making a monster NPC you would select it by race here, then go back to the Classes tab to add character levels or extra HD to it.

3. Abilities.

Like the previous tab, it’s self-explanatory. Stat’s are all initially set at “10” and you can type in the Stat value, or click on the arrow buttons to raise/lower by a point. All the other attack, defence, saving throws, etc are also displayed here.

4. Classes.

The Class tab is where you choose bonus feats, abilities, spells, etc for a particular class. Animal Companions and Familiars can also be chosen or switched to from here. Like on most tabs – if you haven’t chosen something then there will be a message saying what and how many to choose. If you select too many of something, the text will change to red, and you’ll get a validation message on the bottom line of the screen too.

5. Assorted Items.

I’ve jumped ahead to “Gear”, because the panel can fit in the same image as a Class tab! The Weapons, Armor, Magic and Gear tabs all work the same way. New Heroes are all given 150gp. When you select any item to add to one of these tabs you can pay for it normally, buy it free, chose a custom cost, or “craft” it at half price. I don’t use HL to track funds, so usually just click the “Buy for Free” box. Items can be placed into containers and HL counts the value of every item and it’s weight for encumbrance. If you hover the cursor over the “bag” symbol it will show you the entire contents, and over the “in container” symbol will show you what container that item is in.

There are “house rules” and options that you can choose to configure when making a new Hero (or later), that tell HL to ignore encumbrance, or the weight of coins, etc. You can assign more money in the journal tab.

6. Skills.

Back to skills. Blue text are Class skills, greyed text are “trained” skills that require skill ranks to use. The “shield” symbol means that armour check penalties apply to that skill. A red “hammer” indicates that you have a –2 penalty for not having the required tool(s), a blue hammer means that you have the tools. Craft, Knowledge, Perform and Professions aren’t initially displayed on the skill list and have to be added individually.

Placing the cursor over the “?”, or the total ranks gives you a pop-up like the grey box in the image. I’ve edited this image because the actual help box is much larger (full skill description) and actually appears where you have the cursor. Pressing the “?” button means the box appears and stays there until you click somewhere else.

7. Feats.

Feats are selected here. Any feats gained as Class bonuses are repeated on this list also.

 8. Weapons.

This tab is used to give you Hero weapons, and you can click a box to show what is readied for use, by main and off-hand. For this image, I’ve switched to a fighter who has Two-Weapon Fighting. The checked boxes show that she has a longsword in both main hand and off-hand. HL has already deducted a –2 penalty for wielding two weapons. If I “ticked” both the 1^st and 2^nd box on the same longsword, HL would set the Melee attack bonus back to +19/+14 and increase the damage for fighting 2-handed. (One and a half times STR bonus) This Hero carries a shield which was not “readied”. If I selected the shield as being used (on the Armor tab), without un-marking the second sword, all three items will change to red text as HL complains “can’t have off-hand weapon with shield”.

 9. Other/Personal.

The “Other” tab is used for Mounts and Hirelings. The “Personal” tab records sex, age, height, weight, hair, eyes, skin and background details. You can also include an image here of the Hero – either chosen from Hero Lab’s large set of images or you can include you own. There is an option in config to allow this image to appear on a printed character sheet. An image here will also be used in the Tatical Console. (Next Blog post!) Permanent adjustments to the Hero (refer “Adjust tab”) can be selected here – changes to AC, Ability Scores, HP’s, size, etc… usually relating to effects not covered by something in you data set for HL, or because of something out of the ordinary happened in your campaign. [ Your character speaks an additional language because of his background, a magical fountain made him a Large creature, et al. ]

10. Journal.

The journal tab can assign experience and money to each Hero. You have the option to “title” an event/adventure that gives experience and enter a game date. HL automatically assigns the real world date to the record. A “notes” button opens a window where you can record a few simple notes or a complete adventure summary. Entering negative values removes XP and/or funds.

11. Special.

The special tabs is just a list of all Special Abilities – primarily Class and Feat related – and a summary of what they do. A “?” button can give a complete rulebook definition/explanation. Abilities or powers granted by magical items will also usually appear on this list.

 12. In-Play.

This tab is used for tracking damage inflicted on the Hero, and Healing received. It also allows you to note whether you have used that throwing axe, dose of poison, potion of cure light wounds, or how many charges are left on that wand of magic missiles. Activated abilities give you a box that can be clicked for things like charge, power attack, raging, smite evil, etc and modify all bonuses accordingly.

This is probably only going to be used by someone with their Hero on a tablet or iPad during a game session, but it’s also mirrored by the Tactical Console, where a DM might find it quite useful for the same sorts of things with monsters attacking the party. (Again, more on that in the next blog post.)

13. Adjust.

I touched on adjustments in the Personal tab. This tab covers temporary adjustments, most notably those provided by spells, magical items, class abilities, etc. [ While writing all this tonight I have realised that the language adjustment that my characters have should actually be under the Personal tab! ]

14. Conditions.

This tab should be self-explanatory. All the Pathfinder “conditions” can be selected and any bonus or penalty that relates will be applied to the Hero. A duration can also be entered here for tracking. The “?” button gives more detail on the effects and description/rules of the condition.

That’s about it! The menu bar gives you options to configure/copy a Hero, import or export a Hero from/to a portfolio and save/load portfolios. Heroes (and/or whole portfolios) can be saved or printed as a PDF (if you have a licence). Print/save options can be: standard character sheet, a Ability/Gear description, Journal contents, Spell Summary or Spell full description.

A PDF of my Ranger/Scout follows – a standard character sheet. My only problem with the printed character sheet is that it has particular places it always puts certain “categories” (like Exp on the top right of page 2), and that sometimes breaks another category into two parts. It also places weapons in the same order as they appear on the “Weapons” tab, which can mean that your primary weapon may be on the second page, unless you get sneaky and “rename” your weapons to arrange them in a way you prefer.

Karadas (200kb Download)

Any questions? I’m happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge (or go looking for an answer). I’m also happy to share my self-created portfolio’s (or PDFs of them) and data files for 3.5 D&D and Pathfinder. The next blog post will be concerned mostly with the Tactical Console for DM’s using Hero Lab during a game session. I’ll also touch on the editor.