Gaming again

Well, I is back from visiting my family for the holidays, and last night we finally all got together to play DnD again. Woot. We were in the middle of a rescue mission to save a druid named Enta, who is an NPC who's dating one of the PC's. She was trapped in the fortress of one of our enemies (who was also a former ally of hers, which is why he kidnapped her - guess he was angry that she switched teams). Anyway, this guy is very, very twisted, so we had to fight a lot of nasty things to get to her. I was sure we were going to die, or at least not all of us were going to make it out of there alive. But we survived thanks to a longshot spell from our Aeromancer (mage), and a really bad fortitude save from the big bad, so yay! I think he used "Finger of Death" or something. The part where we actually had to go into the room and get her was pretty anticlimactic, but thank goodness, because we couldn't have handled another big fight. Anyway, we're safe for now back in the city of Solace, and each doing our own thing. Wheeee. I need to remember to have Zoey start sleeping on the ship, since Tharf is staying there now and not at her Guildhouse (Zoey doesn't go there anymore, but that's another story). And I want to have her seek Soriah out and offer to put her up in an Inn somewhere, since Zoey's sure Stormraven is neglecting her. Then I have to figure out what she's going to do for the 5 or so more days until we leave there. She'd see if we could leave sooner, since rescuing Enta didn't take as long as she thought it was going to, but Shino has scheduled a group meeting sorta on the day before we leave, so I guess I'll have her wait it out. Maybe she'll do some fighting tournaments and work on plans for her and Tharf's wedding. Yay for engaged characters :) Anyway, I should go since I'm at work right now, I just wanted to start blogging again before I go home tonight and celebrate New Year's with my llovely llama llove. Sooo yeah. Monkeys and pie.

Rage - not just for my Barbarian

I just found out something regarding one of the other players in my game that makes me FURIOUS. Backstory - he is playing a mage, who has a fighter-type-class bonded to him as his bodyguard. This bodyguard is a woman, and basically his slave and property (though she willed it), and they're in love. She's also pregnant, and he's the father. Now, apparently he didn't tell anyone in his family about this, because they arranged a marriage for him and now he's married to some other chick. My character is angry because she considers his bodyguard a sister, and my girlfriend's character is pissed too, for the same reason. They are not just going to sit back and watch her be hurt by this. My character is also not the most...rational of people, so she doesn't understand that its not his fault. But he also hasn't stood up and said anything about it, so both my character and my girlfriend's character have been acting very standoffish and angry at his character.

And he has been taking it personally, has threatened to kill our characters, and is all angry that we're "butting in," as my DM told me.

What a stupid FUCK!!!!!!!!!!! What does he expect us to do, just sit there with our heads in the sand? D&D is about ROLEPLAYING! THAT IS WHAT WE"RE DOING!!!! Our characters would be upset by this, so we're going to play them as upset. Just because HE doesn't know how to roleplay doesn't mean that we should all refrain from doing so. Expecting us to play our characters incorrectly because HE'S uncomfortable with the situation is bullshit. And he's angry enough about this to warrant my DM telling me. What a shithead. Oh, and I'm sure he's going to turn into even more of a whiny bitch because when my character finds out that he actually fucked this new wife of his, and hasn't talked to his girlfriend/the future mother of his child at all about the situation, she is going to FLIP SHIT. I had this planned before, so I bet its going to look to him like I'm just taking out my out-of-game rage on him, BUT THAT IS WHAT MY CHARACTER WOULD DO!!!!!

And now I really need to go to bed so I can get through work and driving 6-8 hours to my mother's tomorrow. Ugh. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Xmastime break

There's no D&D this week, as two of our party members are off visiting family for the holidays (one of them my girlfriend *pout*). So yeah. I'm leaving tomorrow as well, and dunno how much I'll be able to post while I'm at my mom's, so if anyone actually reads this, no updateyness for a few days probably. Eh ^^;

Now off to watch teh Shrek movies with some friends. Hopefully that will cheer me up from the fact that one of my fav webcomics just got cancelled. Then home, and sleep, and work tomorrow morning, then leaving for mom's right after work. Fun fun.

And Blessed Yule, everybody!!!

Enchanted

So, er, this is not DnD related....well I guess it could relate by a loose definition of genre. But yeah. I'm posting about this anyway.

I finally saw Enchanted tonight, and holy balls is is awesome *love!* If you are a fairy tale/fantasy fan and you haven't seen it, go see it NOW!!!!!

Okay, my macaroni is done, so off I go. I just wanted to share.

Backstory - Gazit's father

In case anyone was wondering how Gazit's father came to be such an evil biznatch (and because I like posting every day).

Hadrian of the Dark rock
Father of Gazit Treebend

Race: Gnome
Age: 148
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Class: Cleric 13, Ranger 1
Deity: Nerull
Domains: Death, Trickery
Also known as: Elgan Riddlewick

Hadrian was born to a poor Gnomish family in Brynn. His father was a rather untalented rogue, and his mother a common beggar, who started a relationship and accidentally had a child. They got married out of necessity and soon had two more children, the youngest of which was Hadrian. They all struggled through life, each day getting harder. His father turned to alcohol to distract himself, and his mother fell into depression. Their luck changed a bit when Hadrian was in his early teens; his father entered the black market and started making money illegally. Though this improved the status of the family, his mother did not approve, and the two parents would often get into fights over it. Finally, one night, in a state of misery she had not yet experienced, Hadrian’s mother took her life and left the children with their father.

Their father discovered his wife’s body after returning home that night from drinking, and flew into a rage. He blamed the children, not himself, for her suicide, and in his anger attacked them. He killed the oldest child right off, and attacked Hadrian and the other, both of whom were almost killed. Hadrian somehow managed to distract him, letting his remaining sibling escape, and in the end killed his father. He ran off then and left any semblance of his family behind.

For a while, Hadrian scraped by as a beggar, traveling the world to escape what had happened. He began to starve, and during one hallucination brought on by his hunger, saw a skeletal being, cloaked and holding a scythe, coming towards him and preaching evil and trickery as the only ways he would survive. When the vision ended, he knew it was the god Nerull, and he must find his worship in order to live. Thus he made his way to the human city Kelwen, where an Order dedicated to Nerull was rumored to exist. By sheer luck he stumbled upon their stronghold, and was tested and taken in, immediately being trained as a cleric.

By the time he had attained fourth level, and was 105 years old, he was assigned a mission by the leader of the Order. He was to travel back to Brynn, trick the High Priestess of Ehlonna there into believing he was good, and impregnate her. Nerull wanted this done in order to insult Ehlonna herself. In order to do this, he had to learn a different trade, and learn how to pass it off as good. So he trained with the best masters of disguise they had, and their one ranger, to pass himself as a good ranger who just happened to be passing through the city. He also used his newfound disguise skills to make himself look younger, so being a level 1 ranger would not surprise anyone. After taking months to prepare himself, he left Kelwen and traveled northeast, heading once again to his home town. He survived as a ranger mostly, crossing into civilization when he needed to, but always taking great care not to let slip who he really was. To anyone who asked, he was Elgan Riddlewick, a gnome youth returning home after traveling to understand the forests better. He arrived in Brynn in good time and with little trouble, and immediately set to wooing the High Priestess.

The High Priestess was Jera Treebend, newly instated after her mother’s death. She was barely an adult. Still a bit naïve and new to her role and to otherworldly things, she fell for his act, and he won her over easily. It was not too long until she was pregnant. Once Hadrian knew that she was, and was sure the child was not going to die, he slipped away, abandoned his disguise, and quickly traveled back to Kelwen.

Once back in the city, he reported his success to his superiors, and was told that his job now was to wait and see what happened. Nerull did not want to claim the child straight off; he was more interested in how it would affect Ehlonna and her followers that he was able to do this. Other clerics were instructed to watch the progress of Jera’s pregnancy, taking note of how she reacted to everything, and how soon she discovered who her child’s father really was. She did not discover this until the child, Gazit, was born; her eyes were quite different and eerie looking, so they used magic to find out why, and found out the truth. Jera was devastated and insulted, but decided not to let anyone know, especially Gazit. Seeing this, the higher-ups of the Order decided to leave them alone for now, waiting until the girl was older to strike again.

Hadrian continued in the future to work for the Order, gaining prestige as he grew older. He now works as second-in-charge, orchestrating different adventures and attacks for members based on what Nerull tells him in his visions, though he no longer goes on these missions himself. These missions, however, are not always inspired by Nerull - he is slowly going mad, and sometimes sees visions of things not from his god. Still, he attributes these to Nerull anyway, and no one has thought to challenge his authority yet. He does not think of the past or the daughter he spawned.

Idea - Gazit's Power

My on hiatus NPC-PC Gazit has always had something....weird going on with her, which I haven't really given enough thought to. But apparently a while ago I came up with these specifics for a special power she has because of the circumstances of her birth, and I think I'll post it here just in case I lose it. Anyway, here's some context so this makes sense - Gazit is the only daughter of the Gnomish High Priestess of Ehlonna in the Gnomes' capital city, Brynn. She has no idea who her father is, because the circumstances of her birth were full of angst. He is really a cleric of Nerull, who was ordered by his god to seduce Gazit's mother and impregnate her, with the intent of slighting Ehlonna herself. He posed as a ranger to do this, and succeeded, leaving Gaz's mom as soon as he knew she was preggers. When Gazit was born, her mother was tipped off that something was wrong by her strange eyes. Through divination, the truth was discerned, and her mother resolved never to tell Gazit in fear that it would release something evil within her. Unfortunately, her suspicions are partly correct, as Gazit does have a power within her because Nerull ordered her birth.

And here are some possible specs for that:

Gazit’s extra power, as given by accident from Nerull

- Functions as the spell “Destruction,” except that in her anger she may be able to affect more than one creature.
- Destruction –
Level – Clr 7, Death 7
Components – V,S,F (does not apply here)
Casting time – 1 action
Range- Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./ 2 levels)
Target – One creature (or more, depending on how angry she is, see below)
Duration – Instantaneous (or longer by anger, see below)
Saving throw – Fortitude partial (save = 10d6 damage)
Spell resistance – yes (doesn’t apply here)
“This awful spell instantly slays the subject and consumes the remains utterly in holy (or unholy) fire. If the target’s fortitude saving throw succeeds, it instead takes 10d6 points of damage. The only way to restore life to a character who has failed to save against this spell is to use ‘True Resurrection,’ a carefully worded ‘Wish’ spell followed by ‘Resurrection,’ or ‘Miracle.’”

- Triggered by her anger.
- As such, the power will not attack a random creature; it will affect the focus of her anger.
- If the anger is triggered by the death of someone she loves, and she fails her DC18 check, it lasts for 1d6 more rounds. Also, if she rolls less than a 10, she loses control entirely (as opposed to the normal 5, see below).

-Once in effect, it is almost impossible to control. A successful DC18 check will allow her to control it by will, otherwise, there is no way to stop it except by divine intervention. Over time she may learn to control it and the DC check will go down.
- This check may also be used to control how many creatures are affected. If she makes the check, she can effect up to 4 more creatures as she desires. This number will go up as she learns to control it.
- If she rolls a 5 or less, she will lose control entirely and a DC10 reflex check must be made by other party members to make sure they are not affected. This too will go down as she learns to control it.
- If she fumbles, the spell knocks her unconscious for 1d12 hours.

Oh, the spell stats and quoted information (C) Wizards of the Coast.

And I'm thinking that maybe it shouldn't be too powerful right now, since its only starting to develop. Maybe I'll lessen the number of dice for a successful save, and have it go up once she gets more levels. Dunno.

Zoey's Dream

Although I refer to my character Zoey as a Barbarian, she also has one level in Fighter (for the bonus feat) and a prestige class. This prestige class, called the Mounted Fury, is based off of the Windrider prestige class from Masters of the Wild. I took it because she and her girlfriend, a Centaur Alchemist, decided to combine their efforts in battle (meaning she's going to ride her into combat). Our DM didn't insist on us doing too much roleplay to develop how the "prestige class" comes into being, but it didn't make sense to me that these shiny new abilities that empathically link her to her girlfriend would just pop into existence, so I came up with this. She has this dream the night before the final day of a very important fighting tournament, which out-of-game was when she had just leveled and I took her first level of the prestige class. Oh, and another note - Zoey isn't a typical Barbarian. She was born to normal Gnome people and raised in a normal Gnome community. However, because her father was a Chaos Gnome, that triggered something weird with her genetics (or something, I really dunno how it works) and she has the ability to Rage, thus, she is a Barbarian. That comes up in the dream. Enjoy!

~ Zoey’s dream ~

The night before the final day of the fighting tournament, as she slept, Zoey fell into fitful visions.

She found herself transported to a strange village in the wilderness. Standing in the center beside a pit of fire, the life of it swirled around her. Members of many races in primitive-looking garb worked together at everyday tasks, doing the base things needed for survival, switching often to train at battle with many different kinds of weapons. As she watched them she realized that she felt a kindred with them, and in an instant she realized exactly who they were: Barbarians, real Barbarians, who earned their skill through birthright and culture rather than the odd circumstances of their birth, like she had.

“Wait,” she called as a young woman passed, but she did not respond. She was laughing, walking quickly past with both hands wrapped around the hilt of a sword.
Frustrated, Zoey reached out to grab at a pelt the woman had slung over her shoulder, but her hand passed right through it. A harsh gasp escaped her lips, and she began to chase after her, now even more confused and wanting desperately to speak with these strangers she felt connected to.

However, as soon as she took one step, she found herself in another place. Before her stretched an open field of yellow grasses, ending in a forest some miles away. She stared forward, trying desperately to realize what was going on, when sudden movement whooshed by her side. An armed centaur had run past her, and before she could even begin to process his presence or call out to him, more centaurs raced past, all armed, both male and female. She found she could not turn around, so as they passed she looked for Tharf, but did not see her form among the large group. Within seconds they were gone, vanished into the forest. None of them had noticed her.

She was about to take another step, to see if she would be transported again, when suddenly another form whizzed past. This final centaur brushed her side as it ran, and the force of its movement sent her spinning. She landed flat on her back, unable to watch or try to recognize it as it, too, disappeared.

“Ugh,” she groaned, and fixed her eyes on the sky. They widened, changing from a confused brownish grey to pale but bright blue as she realized what she was looking at. Above her, giant birds of many species swirled in formation. It took her but a moment to realize that each bird had a rider, and the riders were calling to each other with enthusiasm. She thought suddenly that they might be calling to her, and for some reason, this thought filled her with happiness.

Zoey began to sit up, and as she did, she felt her eyes fly open. She was back in her bed on Eyagod. She blinked a few times to get her bearings, then rolled over, feeling for Tharf’s Bag of Holding behind her own backpack. It was still there, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She rolled over again to look at Tharf, who was also just waking. As she sat up, continuing to watch her girlfriend get ready for the day, she felt something strange between them. It was different than the love they shared, for that was still in its place in her heart, but now there was something else. She couldn’t describe it or really even grasp it at all; all she could do was know that it sat within her, waiting to be understood.

She shook her head, shoving the feeling to the farthest corners of her mind. There were other things to focus on, like doing her best that day. Breathing deeply, she got out of bed, prepared for whatever would happen to her.

Backstory - Gazit Treebend

Because I want to post something every day, here's the backstory for my on-hiatus PC-NPC cleric of Ehlonna. As before, Gnome culture and all belongs to Wizards of the Coast, yadda yadda, but Gazit belongs to me.

Gazit Treebend
Backstory and Character History

Gazit Treebend was born and raised in Brynn, the biggest gnome settlement in Indemanaria. Her mother, Jera Treebend, is the neutral good High Priestess of Ehlonna in the city. Gazit knows nothing of her father, as she was raised by her mother alone, with help from the other temple priestesses. She has no siblings, but was raised along with other gnome children in the area, so does not think of herself as an only child.
In her childhood, Gazit grew up in her mother’s shadow, being trained as a priestess just like any other child. Her mother, though assuming she would take over as High Priestess eventually, did not believe her daughter should get any special treatment due to her lineage. Despite this, she was a loving and caring mother, teaching Gaz well in the ways of her Goddess. Gazit grew up very sheltered, kept too busy and too protected to wander outside of her hometown. She was loved enough that she never thought to ask about her father, or the strange state of her eyes, which had black irises and a line of white separating them from the cornea. As she grew up in the temple of Ehlonna, and Ehlonna is also worhipped by some elves, she came to understand a bit of elf culture from the few elves who lived in her city.
Into her adolescence, Gazit did not take much interest in boys, or in relationships at all. This is not to say that she wasn’t happy for her friends that fell in love, in fact, she was considered a bit of a romantic, but she just didn’t think about finding a relationship for herself. At this point, her training as a priestess had intensified, so she had little time to think of such things. Regardless of any different feelings she may have been suppressing towards the same sex.
When she reached adulthood, Jera decided to start using Gazit as her personal messenger, allowing her for the first time to leave the city and go on adventures (though these adventures were errands for her mother). Her first was to travel to the city of Hindor, and deliver a message to another Priest there. This lead to her meeting Neeta, and the beginning of the campaign.

....Yeah, I wrote this long before I bothered going through all the "character development" suggestions in Races of Stone. I've done that for her too, but I don't think I have it typed up, so I'll post that at a later date.

Backstory - Zoey Windpebble

Ugh, finals are kicking my ass already. But tonight's a night of unwinding and doing art and drinking a lot ::yay!::

Anyway, since I think its fun to post here, here's the backstory of my currently active character - Gnome Barbarian Zoey Windpebble. Disclaimer - All aspects of, and some names from, Gnome culture belong to Wizards of the Coast. Zoey still belongs to me though. So no touchie. And its really long, so thanks to anyone who reads the whole thing!

Back-story ~ Zoey Windpebble

Zoey Urana Janacalladae Arrumidina Valeda Windpebble was born to her single mother, Vaya Windpebble, in the rural Gnome community of Rock Hollow. Vaya gave her daughter her first two names, not wanting her to feel too different from the other children (who would get one name from each parent). The first, Zoey, means “life,” and the second, Urana, means “guardian.” She grew up living with her mother in the temple of Garl Glittergold, where Vaya served, though Priestesses who had families usually moved into their own homes. Throughout her childhood she was led to believe that her father had left her mother before she was born but was never given a complete story, and all her questions about him were ignored. That, combined with rumors of the god Gelf Darkhearth’s involvement in her conception, confused her and instilled in her the belief that her birth was not so simple. As a result she has always desired to know more.

Growing up, she tried as was expected of her to find an art form that fit her and that she could begin to pursue as a career. Unfortunately, she was never very good at anything she tried, be it music, dance, storytelling, painting, anything. She even tried to learn magic, briefly, but that attempt was even worse than all the others. In each attempt, it would take her and her instructors less than a week to figure out that she was never going to get any better, and she would either quit on her own or be kicked out of the class. She even refused to learn how to read and write, as she didn’t take to it as quickly as she wanted, and it didn’t hold her interest at all. Eventually she gave up altogether and spent the rest of her childhood years alone, doing as she pleased. This often involved getting into fights with the other children, mostly male, and her violent nature led others to consider her part of the Rebel class in her society.

Because of this and the rumors surrounding her birth, she had no friends as she grew up. The closest thing she had to any kind of friendship was her acquaintance with an older boy named Urdarrumbaerel, or just Baer for short. Though he was in his adolescence and she was still a child, he went out of his way to be kind to her out of pity for how others treated her. He was also less traditionally masculine than the other boys of his age. Instead of the art choices that were deemed more appropriate for males, he took up dance, and was very good at it. Zoey saw his gender-difference as a mirror of her own lack of femininity, and thought that was why he was nice to her and that maybe he really wanted to be her friend. As she grew older and he became an adult, however, his efforts to be kind to her began to dwindle. She did not know this at the time, but he had begun courting another young woman of his age, who was training to be a bard. Eventually they married and joined a traveling performing group together, leaving Rock Hollow entirely. After they were gone, Baer’s sister, who is the same age as and hated Zoey, told her the real reason Baer had been so nice to her. Zoey was, and continues to be, furious. She still holds him in contempt above all others as a result.

Days after Baer left, when Zoey was only 22 years old (human age equivalent – roughly 10), she discovered that she has the ability to Rage when she fights. She gained no real benefits from it at the time, but she found that when she elected to do it, she felt all her anger channeled and a confidence she had never known. She asked her mother about it, but Vaya ignored the question as she did with questions about her father. Furious, Zoey decided to run away. She packed her few belongings and left the town, heading into the wilderness instead of taking the established road. She became lost, and in an effort to find shelter, stumbled upon an encampment of Goblins. They took her captive and tortured her a bit for fun, and though they did no lasting physical harm, that is how she got the scar on her nose. She tried to escape many times over the next few days but was unsuccessful. Finally, her mother and some other villagers who owed her mother favors came to her rescue, killing the Goblins and bringing her home. The humiliation of that she was stupid enough to let this happen to her and the feebleness of her escape attempts still lives in her as the hatred she feels today towards all Goblins.

Years passed, and as Zoey hit puberty, she discovered that there was yet another thing about her that was different from the other girls her age. She had no interest in boys whatsoever, despite her likeness in attitude and behavior to them. Though she did not find herself romantically inclined to any of her peers, as they all made her life miserable, she found that she was physically attracted to the girls. She kept this a secret until she was 29 years old (human equivalent – 13), when she came out to her community by accident. The beautiful female cousin of one of her many enemies had come to visit, and during the weekly town market, Zoey tried to strike up a conversation with her. During the conversation, without even thinking about it, she tried to kiss her. This only earned her a hard slap in the face from the girl, and later, an attempted pummeling from the girl’s cousin (though she won the fight with him). Although Gnome culture allows for personal differences of all kinds, this was only another in the pile of qualities that made her “strange,” and she was just as ostracized as before.

After this, she threw herself even more into developing her skill as a fighter, and the benefits of her Rages began to slowly emerge. Realizing that there was no chance that her daughter would be entering a school or apprenticeship (as was traditional for young Gnomes), Vaya still arranged for Zoey to be given a new name as if she was. She convinced the rest of Garl’s clergy to give her this new name, and though they weren’t exactly happy to do it, they chose the name Janacalladae, meaning “Divine Kin.” They intended to emulate the fact that Zoey had lived all her life in the temple with the meaning of the name, but Zoey was not pleased with it. To this day, she rarely uses it.

3 years later, Zoey had a chance to change her fighting style even more. Over the years, Rock Hollow saw its share of traveling merchants and the like, and Zoey of course noticed them as they passed. Around her 31st birthday, however, a male Dwarven merchant passed through carrying an assortment of weapons in his traveling stall. One was a very impressive, yet simple, battleaxe. Zoey knew better than to ask her mother for it, as her mother wasn’t fond of the fact that she fought all the time. So she waited until the Dwarf had gone drinking during his stay, and while he was away from his cart she stole the axe from him. Afraid he would know and search for it, she hid it in the woods and returned home. The next day, he left town without saying anything at all. She kept the axe hidden for another week, just in case, but still nothing happened. At the end of the week she retrieved the axe and started using it in all the battles she fought, mainly duels with her peers. In honor of the new weapon, she chose a new name for herself – Arrumidina, which means “mighty weapon.” For a few weeks she refused to answer to any other name, though that phase did not last long.

As the weeks passed and she used the axe more and more, it turned out that she was so gifted with it that she got even more violent in the duels, eventually to the point that the town Council forbid her from participating in them. One ex-adventurer who had settled in the village, an elderly woman named Addimikkae, took notice of this and of Zoey’s raw talent with the axe. She approached her after she was banned from dueling and told her that when she had been adventuring, as a fighter, she had used a very peculiar weapon akin to her own. It was a double-headed axe that ended in a light mace. She offered to train Zoey in the use of the weapon, and Zoey gladly accepted. Over the next few years, Zoey threw herself into her training and excelled with Addimikkae’s axe, which she called the Labrys. Even after she mastered it, Zoey continued to train with Addimikkae, and the two of them became close friends.

Shortly after Zoey turned 38 (human equivalent – between 16 and 17), her mother came to her with a surprise. She had pulled some strings and called in a few favors to get Zoey admitted to the Academy of Solarus. Until now, Zoey had been entertaining thoughts of becoming a Giant-Killer in that very obscure Gnomish tradition, but had no idea what else to do with her life. She knew that being admitted to the Academy meant even more and better training for her, in the field she wanted. She could become the best fighter her people had ever seen. She also knew that it was a big deal for someone of her economic status to become a student there, which meant the favors her mother called in must have been monumental. She remains eternally grateful to her for that, though she wasn’t sure how to express that gratitude except by agreeing to go.

There were only a few weeks left before the next term at the Academy started, so Zoey began preparing to leave immediately. She said goodbye to the people who had been kind to her, including Addimikkae, who gave her the Labrys as a parting gift. She also gave her the final name she would receive from anyone in Rock Hollow – Valeda, which means “strong.” Zoey also tried her best to resist the urge to go and pummel everyone who had been cruel to her, under the assumption that she would never return to Rock Hollow. This idea of not returning did not, however, link itself in her mind with the idea of never seeing her mother again. She said goodbye to her mother last, on the day she left, promising to stay in touch as much as she could and to try to learn how to read and write, which would make that easier. As she left town and headed for the school, in her mind she left her old life behind her and stepped into a future she could only hope would be brighter than her past.

Moral of story

What I have learned today - creating a blog to talk about D&D is waaaaaaay more fun than doing work for my finals. And that should be all for tonight.

New layout yay!!!

Okay not really, but new colors and header. So it looks shinier. And yes, I did do the image in the background of the header. There's a link to it in my previous post.

Art - Current characters

Here's some art of the three characters I play currently (whether or not they're really being played or on hiatus). Instead of posting the images on here, because of the Terms of Service, I'm posting links.

Gazit - my NPC-PC in the campaign I run:

http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Unbalance-in-Balance-27237510 - an old drawing of her with her parents.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Just-Trying-to-Help-27236522 - another old drawing, depicting a scene from one of our adventures.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Gazit-s-Glasses-61679953 - a more recent picture, showing her new glasses.

Rasurda - a bard I play when my girlfriend and I are bored and want to play DnD but we're the only ones around:

http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Rasurda-Badgerkin-55904266 - first pic of her evar!
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Proving-Them-Wrong-63399670 - her bellydancing.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/100-Themes-Magic-57706374 - some bard magic goodness.

Zoey - the Barbarian I play in the campaign I don't run.

http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Zoey-to-Valeda-63398592 - a picture I drew when I had to redesign her, though now she wears different armor again.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Barbarians-heart-D12s-61242725 - some Barbarian humor.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Cultured-59513859 - in some more traditonal Gnomish attire.

And here's some that include two or more of them:

http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Active-Characters-61243784 - all three!
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/100-Themes-Eyes-65981996 - Zoey and Gazit.
http://comethime.deviantart.com/art/Gnome-Chicks-Rock-50947523 - Zoey and Gazit with two of my previous characters.

....and that's enough of that. I promise I'll stop blogging now.

My DnD history

Its very slow at work today, so here we go again.

My Dungeons & Dragons history, as a player and DM

I started playing several years ago, at some point in high school, though I don't remember how old I was. A former friend of mine convinced me to join the game he was playing in (3rd edition) so he could spend more time with me. I started playing a Gnome, and her class was Psionicist, which was a huge mistake. I picked it because he was playing one and I know nothing at all about DnD. After one session I realized I needed to change classes, and *poof* she was a cleric. I honestly have no idea how we resolved that in-game. Anyway, that game died after a while, and the DM (his mother, who also became a friend of mine) started up a new campaign. I made a new character, another female Gnome cleric of Ehlonna, hoping to improve on playing clerics. I was already addicted to playing Gnomes, so there really was no other option there ^^; That game lasted quite a while, and was very fun. And even when that game died, we started a new one, and I played a female Gnome bard, discovering how much I love that class too. Throughout all the campaigns and one-shot sessions we played, I also played a sorceress, a rogue, and a human fighter who specialized in archery.

But anyway, I left that gaming group for the most part once I left town for college. For a while, when I would come home, I would join a session or two, but that's died out for personal reasons. I stopped gaming altogether for a couple of years, because there was no desirable game to join in my college town. I was invited to join a 1st edition game, but I really didn't want to because I loved 3rd so much, and I kinda just forgot about it. Then, eventually, I got the idea of starting my own campaign and teaching my friends to play. I taught my girlfriend and two of our friends first, starting off with a very small group. Because it was small, I made an NPC who functioned/functions as a PC (she's another Gnome cleric of Ehlonna, le gasp). However, I had the brilliant idea of inviting more and more people, even though I wasn't very good at first. The group got to be almost 10 people, and it was way too much. At that point, my girlfriend and I were co-DMing, but I was still really frustrated. Soon after the group got that big, people started dropping out anyway, and soon it was back to just me, my girlfriend, and one other friend of ours. At that point the game went on a hiatus, because even though there were just three of us, we could never get ourselves in one place at one time to play. I needed to do research and learn more anyway, so retrospectively, that worked out okay.

That started another period of not really gaming, and both my girlfriend and I started to go through withdrawal. Then a friend of her's at work invited us to a campaign her husband was running. It was 3.5 edition, so I had to get over my refusal to upgrade, but we joined. I played another Gnome bard. Initially I had issue with the setting because it was a blend of modern/fantasy, with magic coming back to the world, and technology/magic is a very firm divide in my head. But in the end I did have a lot of fun, and we made good friends of the DM and my girlfriend's friend from work. As for my campaign, it was still kinda on hiatus, but I was doing work for it when the mood struck me.

After the campaign we had been playing in ended, our DM started up another, and we joined that one too. It was really awesome to play in a campaign with them from the start, as we had joined the previous one after it had been going for a while. For this game, I chose to play a Gnome barbarian, and came up with this idea of playing through the core classes. I was afraid that if I kept playing the same race and the same class I would end up playing the exact same character over and over. Besides, I thought it would be fun to branch out and see what the other classes had to offer. So I started my plan to play like that, with Barbarian first, and skipping over Bard and Cleric (and possibly Fighter) since I've played them already. Anyway, we're still playing that game, and its been very interesting. I've discovered through playing my Barbarian, no matter how much I love her, I'm not really a melee-class kinda person. Also, after this campaign had started, I ran my campaign a couple of times. For the last 2 sessions our DM from the other campaign joined the game, coming up with a character I really enjoy and can't wait to see interact on certain levels with the PC's. My girlfriend and I have also started a mini-campaign that goes along with the original one, where only she and I play, and I'm playing another Gnome bard in that. Sadly, though, my game has been put on hiatus again because of college, but once I graduate in May I'll be able to work on it again and make it even better. Hopefully all who were playing before will still want to play then.

Plans for teh future: Once the current campaign is over, our usual DM's wife is going to run a game. I had initially planned to play a Forest Gnome Druid, but now I think I'll just play a regular Gnome (but still a Druid since that's next on the list). I've also come up with a plot recently for my own campaign, so its not just a string of random encounters. I have a lot of work to do for it, but once I graduate I plan on getting right to it, and making my campaign a regular occurrence (and hopefully one of awesomeness).

Idea for Zoey

Situation - A member of her party has stolen something VERY important from her father, who has been absent from her life until now. He told her not to attack him, but she still wants to help in whatever way she can. She ran into him by accident, and he mentioned that her father had done something horrible to him, though she didn't respond and only told him that if he ever crossed anyone she loves again, she'd slaughter him.

Idea - To get Scotty (the person who stole) to Nix (her father), she could lure him somewhere under the pretense of finding out what her father did to him. She really doesn't give a shit, but she can get him alone that way, and let Nix know where this is happening. Then Nix can do whatever he wants with him to get the item back. Should wait until after our current mission, or at least this day of it, to do so - as rescuing Enta is still important to her. There will still be emotional conflict, though, as Zoey wants to know what happened even though she doesn't want to see her father in a bad light, and wants to help him. Should be interesting. Mlar.

Beginning

...Yes, I am this much of a dork. I wonder if many other people have Dungeons & Dragons blogs. Huh. Well, this is mine, and it was inspired by my girlfriend's crochet blog.