Monster Cards: Gothmonkey
Githyanki to Gothyanki in the Munchkin Monster Manual finally to my own homebrewed Gothmonkeys. I want to save the Gothyanki powers for when I come up with stats for a Grognard.
These critters are often found in jungles or hanging out in markets, arcades and bazaars where they don't really bother anyone, but they just really bring the mood down, you know?
The Cheap DM
The first actual-play session I did with the kids I had a bunch of monsters printed out and glued to foam-board, but I didn't have any images for their characters yet. I needed something I could use in the meantime, so I stopped by the local second-hand shop and ended up with a bag of classic Army Men that I picked up for a dollar. The kids each grabbed a solider in a different colour/pose and used that the first night.
Which got me thinking, why doesn't a game company do something like this? Its easy to find spiders and insects around Halloween, and I've seen people finding packets of skeletons and zombies, so why not packets of cheap, common monsters like goblins, kobolds, spiders, or more authentically D&D creatures like owlbears, umberhulks etc? You could even do 'hero' packs with generic knights, eleves, dwarves, haflings and wizards.
It would be a blessing for cash strapped DMs such as myself who absolutely cannot even begin to afford the absurd cost of building a decent mini collection.
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| The finished party, along with some plastic pieces scrounged from second-hand shops and dollar stores. |
At the same second-hand store I found a board game I'd never heard of (something about making movies) that even had a few small maps. But what I really liked was that it came with a whole bag of plastic bases. The cardstock from Staples isn't thick enough to fit into the bases, but all I have to do to for a fix is glue a few extra strips of the cardstock to the inside of the folded standee.
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| I didn't have to print this guy. I don't even have a place for him in the story yet, but by-gum I dd it anyway. |
The first batch of monsters I did that I'd glued to foam-board isn't holding up so well. With no other way to stand them up, I used small butterfly clips, with works but that crushes the board and/or peels the cardstock off the backing. I'm not too concerned. I'll use them until they fall apart and if I still need them, I'll print them again as standees. Lesson: Foamboard is great for tokens, terrible for stand-ups.
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| My shadows took a beating. |
And last but certainly not least, I was FINALLY able to pick up this little beauty. For almost two months been sitting on the shelf at the local game-shop where I play with the kids, but since the bi-weekly game night is always two days before pay-day I'm usually pretty strapped. This time I deliberately put aside the cash, and was able to pick it up for a very reasonable prince. They shop has a few decent modules and I've already picked up an original Expedition to the Barrier Peaks as well as a copy of TSR's Lankmar.
Sesson III: "That's Our Scruffy!"
Every party has that one guy who charges on ahead, and in our party that guy is our Dragonborn Paladin, Scruffy. After splitting into three groups last session, the rogue and the bard were battling shadows in a darkened room, while in another part of the sewers, the Barbarian, the Fighter and the Half-Elf Paladin squared off against a pack of giant spiders.
Scruffy meanwhile, had wandered off alone and blundered into a room where a ledge surrounded a deep pool. A Gelatinous Cube was there, feeding off the effluent being carried by the sewage. It was suppose to be an encounter for the whole party, not one character and I quickly realized that the GC was going to win any one-on-one fight through sheer hit-points alone. Not how I like to kill PCs. Luckily the Cube fumbled and I used that to have Scruffy notice that the ledge under the Cube was old and crumbling. He took the hint and started hacking at the floor instead until it gave way and dumped the GC into the rushing sewer water. The group immediately began joking that the GC would come back, seeking its revenge.
You all understand that I HAVE to do this now, right?
I went looking for suggestions on-line and the best response was having GC be washed out to sea and becoming a pirate. I'm leaving the next direction of the campaign up to the players, but a pirate/lost island adventure is definitely on the table. If they go in this direction, this has to happen.
If they remain in the city, I might have it become a crime-lord (leader of a gang known as 'The ____ Square'?), or possibly 'lurking monster killing innocents in the streets'. If they continue to explore the dungeons or go into the Borderlands, I might make it a Warlock or a Mage.
No matter what happens, the thing is coming back wearing a giant eyepatch.
The night ended with the Barbarian and Fighter and HE Paladin stumbling over a cave-in trap, cutting themselves off. They then stated messing with a bloated corpse they found with a tattoo of a catfish on its neck. Looting the body is not advised when its full of giant maggots.
The bard and the thief met back up with Scruffy and broke down a door that had been hastily nailed shut, from the outside. Inside the room smelt of iron and rust and no one recognized the large, red lobster like creature chittering in the far corner. It didn't display much interest in the thief, but it got very excited when Scruffy in his full, shining plate and badass sword, walked into the room. Scruffy thought it was cute and let it rub its long, feathery antenna all over his full and shining plate.
This is why I love playing with the kids. Who gets to sick a rust monster on a completely unsuspecting party nowadays? Hands down the most old school encounter I've ever run and I'm freakin' stoked about it. Just goes to show, its not the edition you're playing that matters, its the style.
Line of the Night:
Came from the player who runs Gorg, the Half-Ogre fighter. He doesn't talk a lot and when he does its very slow and methodical. But last night he looked right at Scruffy's player and said, "The guy who runs ahead and breaks into all the rooms...." there was a bit of a longer pause here so Scruffy said, "gets all the treasure?"
When Grog said, "I was going to say, 'dies first'."
Scruffy meanwhile, had wandered off alone and blundered into a room where a ledge surrounded a deep pool. A Gelatinous Cube was there, feeding off the effluent being carried by the sewage. It was suppose to be an encounter for the whole party, not one character and I quickly realized that the GC was going to win any one-on-one fight through sheer hit-points alone. Not how I like to kill PCs. Luckily the Cube fumbled and I used that to have Scruffy notice that the ledge under the Cube was old and crumbling. He took the hint and started hacking at the floor instead until it gave way and dumped the GC into the rushing sewer water. The group immediately began joking that the GC would come back, seeking its revenge.
You all understand that I HAVE to do this now, right?
I went looking for suggestions on-line and the best response was having GC be washed out to sea and becoming a pirate. I'm leaving the next direction of the campaign up to the players, but a pirate/lost island adventure is definitely on the table. If they go in this direction, this has to happen.
If they remain in the city, I might have it become a crime-lord (leader of a gang known as 'The ____ Square'?), or possibly 'lurking monster killing innocents in the streets'. If they continue to explore the dungeons or go into the Borderlands, I might make it a Warlock or a Mage.
No matter what happens, the thing is coming back wearing a giant eyepatch.
The night ended with the Barbarian and Fighter and HE Paladin stumbling over a cave-in trap, cutting themselves off. They then stated messing with a bloated corpse they found with a tattoo of a catfish on its neck. Looting the body is not advised when its full of giant maggots.
This is why I love playing with the kids. Who gets to sick a rust monster on a completely unsuspecting party nowadays? Hands down the most old school encounter I've ever run and I'm freakin' stoked about it. Just goes to show, its not the edition you're playing that matters, its the style.
Line of the Night:
Came from the player who runs Gorg, the Half-Ogre fighter. He doesn't talk a lot and when he does its very slow and methodical. But last night he looked right at Scruffy's player and said, "The guy who runs ahead and breaks into all the rooms...." there was a bit of a longer pause here so Scruffy said, "gets all the treasure?"
When Grog said, "I was going to say, 'dies first'."
Munchkin Monster Cards: Moon Maiden
The average age of my group is 14 so I'd never use one of these, but that's not to say you can't.
My First Monster Card! Potted Plant from the Munchkin Monster Manual
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| Pure hatred in a pot. |
But my favourite, and the one I used most often was the Potted Plant, or as I came to call them, Dire Ficus. No one ever caught on why their rolls sucked whenever there was a tasteful arraignment nearby. So, it made sense to carry them forward, to my new game, in a new town, with a new edition and a batch of first time players.
First Rule of D&D is Don't Split the Party...
... so the first thing they did was split the party, twice! Getting these kids to play as a team is actually one of the main goals here, so I'm going to have to try a little harder at keeping them together. Now I have three groups, each facing different monsters and I figure a quick drubbing might help them realize that staying together is better than trying it on their own.
Some things you have to learn the hard way.
Best Moments
-One of the Dragonborn used his cold breath to make an ice-bridge over an underground stream, unknowingly avoiding the encounter with the Dire Snapping Turtle lurking below.
- the Bard played Thunderwave through his instrument of choice,
Some things you have to learn the hard way.
Best Moments
-One of the Dragonborn used his cold breath to make an ice-bridge over an underground stream, unknowingly avoiding the encounter with the Dire Snapping Turtle lurking below.
- the Bard played Thunderwave through his instrument of choice,
Podcasts, Update
Finally found some decent 5e podcasts
Actual Play
The Pod of Many Casts: An amusing AP that isn't trying so hard or is overly pleased with itself.
Sneak Attack! Another long running and well done series.
Demipia - A grimdark game which sounds promising ... from what I can hear. The volume on this one is very low and I have trouble hearing it on the shitty earphones I use when its slow at work.
Rules and General Discussion
Pocket Mimic - which I like because its very much in the vein of Save or Die and Save for Half (which isn't a coincidence as all have involved the Angry DM).
Actual Play
The Pod of Many Casts: An amusing AP that isn't trying so hard or is overly pleased with itself.
Sneak Attack! Another long running and well done series.
Demipia - A grimdark game which sounds promising ... from what I can hear. The volume on this one is very low and I have trouble hearing it on the shitty earphones I use when its slow at work.
Rules and General Discussion
Pocket Mimic - which I like because its very much in the vein of Save or Die and Save for Half (which isn't a coincidence as all have involved the Angry DM).
The Cheap DM: Linkage
Printable Spell Cards!
Pathfinder Monster conversations for 5e.
Weak Magical Item generator
I love Dizman's monster cards!
Simple Dice Gambing Game for 5e
This is how I handling dice-gambling in my games. Its simple, incorporates character skill but also the players to play with the bets.
Depending on the region, this game is called Hafling Toss, Knuckle Toss, or sometimes Pirate Bones.
This game requires 3 or more players (PCs or NPC), and each player requires either 3d6, or a d20.
Roll Initiative to determine the first Bet.
Step 1 -The player who won Initiative determines the Bet for that roll (usually an amount of money).
(Player 1 bets 10gp).
Step 2 - All other players much match the Bet to play.
(Player 2, Player 3 and Player 4 must also bet 10gp to play. There is now 40gp in the pot).
Step 3 - All players roll their 3d6(or d20), adding their Perception Skill*. They may also add +2 if Proficient with Tools: Gambling Dice.
(Player 1 rolls d20 plus Perception Skill for a total of 16.
Player 2 roll d20 plus Perception Skill plus 2 for being proficient in Dice. Total 7
Player 3 rolls d20 plus Perception for a total of 22!
Player 4 rolls d20 plus Perception plus 2 for for being proficient in Dice. Total 12)
Step 4 -The player with the second highest total wins their Bet back. The player with the highest roll takes the rest. In the event of a tie for the highest roll, the money remains in the pot and is added to the next roll. In the event of a tie for the second highest roll, all tied players get their bets back.
(Player 1 wins back their 10gp. Player 3 wins the rest of the 30gp. Players 2 and 4 lose their bets).
Step 5 -The next player (go clockwise) then calls the next Bet, and so on around the table.
(Player 2 calls the Bet for the next roll).
*If the DM allows, players who want to cheat may use Sleight of Hand or Deception, rather than Perception for their roll. However, in the event that player rolls a natural 1(on d20 or 3on 3d6), OR another player rolls a natural 18/20, then they have been caught cheating and the beatings will commence.
Depending on the region, this game is called Hafling Toss, Knuckle Toss, or sometimes Pirate Bones.
This game requires 3 or more players (PCs or NPC), and each player requires either 3d6, or a d20.
Roll Initiative to determine the first Bet.
Step 1 -The player who won Initiative determines the Bet for that roll (usually an amount of money).
(Player 1 bets 10gp).
Step 2 - All other players much match the Bet to play.
(Player 2, Player 3 and Player 4 must also bet 10gp to play. There is now 40gp in the pot).
Step 3 - All players roll their 3d6(or d20), adding their Perception Skill*. They may also add +2 if Proficient with Tools: Gambling Dice.
(Player 1 rolls d20 plus Perception Skill for a total of 16.
Player 2 roll d20 plus Perception Skill plus 2 for being proficient in Dice. Total 7
Player 3 rolls d20 plus Perception for a total of 22!
Player 4 rolls d20 plus Perception plus 2 for for being proficient in Dice. Total 12)
Step 4 -The player with the second highest total wins their Bet back. The player with the highest roll takes the rest. In the event of a tie for the highest roll, the money remains in the pot and is added to the next roll. In the event of a tie for the second highest roll, all tied players get their bets back.
(Player 1 wins back their 10gp. Player 3 wins the rest of the 30gp. Players 2 and 4 lose their bets).
Step 5 -The next player (go clockwise) then calls the next Bet, and so on around the table.
(Player 2 calls the Bet for the next roll).
*If the DM allows, players who want to cheat may use Sleight of Hand or Deception, rather than Perception for their roll. However, in the event that player rolls a natural 1(on d20 or 3on 3d6), OR another player rolls a natural 18/20, then they have been caught cheating and the beatings will commence.
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