User blogs

Tonight on Inspired Unreality join Ari and Caper in their quest for mushrooms and tea. At least that's what we did last week when Ari's cat, Tude, found a book, Ari and the witch deciphered a tea blend from one of the pages in the book, Caper went to the woods to hunt for mushrooms, the witch brewed the tea, and when Ari and the witch drank the tea they became far sighted and could see Caper leaving the woods several miles away as if they were looking through a powerful telescope. What will happen next? Nobody knows. Because we're winging it.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4113

Inspired Unreality open game chat is held every Monday night in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you haven't been to Tenkar's Tavern we have an invitation for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Those who are Related To Geeks finally reconvened in person after over a year of getting together in Zoom and on Gather. At our Saturday family game we fought the giant ants that invaded Fair Day. On Sunday we restored a wizard who had been turned to stone. We also ate a lot and talked a lot and I played piano. Great weekend, especially that last part.

Follow Me And Die posted a new podcast, Episode 197 - Down the Rabbit Hole of UAPs/UFOs. "With the recent buzz over the release of some videos of various sensor data of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, the new term for UFO, I decided to explore "What if...." and apply it to the realm of RPGs." He also posted a companion blog post.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4114

Saturday afternoon I had my family participate on my twitch stream. I set up on the front porch using all battery operated equipment, piano, PA, tablet, laptop, and a hotspot on my phone. There were some problems. The battery died on the laptop and I had to plug it in. Webcams are not good in daylight. I am working on these issues and will discuss them in a blog post, Setting Up A Twitch Studio - Going Portable after I figure them out.

You are invited to join Ari and Caper tonight on Inspired Unreality. Please update us on your games and projects. My contact info is below or better yet post to Gamer+.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Tonight! Like every Monday night, Inspired Unreality starts at 9:00 Central. Opening topic tonight is Family Game. Do you play D&D with your family? We love our three generation D&D games. Viv and I playing with our kids and grandkids. Our family game tradition predates grandkids. And that was a while back.

As always Inspired Unreality is in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you've never been to Tenkar's Tavern we have an invitation for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Follow Me And Die started a post about Solo RPGs and the discussion continues. I've never played solo but I listened to his podcast and I can see how it can help get the creative juices flowing. ZDL recommended the Mythic rules for solo play.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4081

Also we have a group for Solo Tabletop Games.

https://gamerplus.org/groups/7

Megan and I discussed our twitch streams last week on Inspired Unreality and let me tell you, it doesn't get more unreal than twitch. I continued to improve my HairyLarryLand twitch studio and I commented on it here.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/4080

If you like to spend hundreds on the hope of making tens twitch is for you. Good thing I'm retired. Actually my twitch stream serves two purposes. Structured practice and video production. I now have two videos posted that are excerpted from my stream.

https://peertube.hairylarry.rocks/video-channels/twitch/videos

So do you have a twitch stream? One of the things Megan and I discussed was RPGs on twitch. How does that work? Do you have a regular or occasional family game? My contact info is below. Better yet post your thoughts on Gamer+.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Session notes for December 19, 2020

After we finished at the Archive Of The White Mage the blacksmith and his sons take the road back to town, their cart heavy laden with the metal they had salvaged from the animated statue of Moloch. We take off through the forest worried about goblins trapping animals. We were all well horsed and the raccoon and bear dog ran alongside.

Although we see no new tracks we do find the old tracks fairly well preserved and endeavor to follow them. We see a large pit some ways ahead and the tracks seem to lead right to it. We approach cautiously and smell a terrible scent.

We see some unhealthy trees around the pit in fact the whole area looks nothing like the vibrant forest we just left. One of the trees, about 20 feet from the pit, looks like it has a door in it. Caper says, "Let's check out that tree with a door." Leaf and Caper approach the tree.

The tree has a lot of knotholes and what appears to be an inset door, fit tight with no handle. Caper tries opening the door by twisting and pushing on the knots. No luck. The door remains stuck fast. Leaf reaches up and tries the knots above the door. Still no luck.

Caper looks at the ground and sees several roots. Pulling on the third root opens the door which slides sideways into the tree. We see steep steps going down towards the pit.

Leaf decides to check things out before we head down the stairs. He silently crosses the 20 feet to the edge of the pit and peeks over the edge. The pit is about 90 feet deep. 30 feet down Leaf can see a bridge made of wood and ropes that goes from our side of the pit all the way across to the other side. At the bottom of the pit is a blue shining portal constantly moving and shining as if lit from behind.

Caper calls the rest of the party over and we proceed down the stairs. About 20 feet down we see a large empty chamber. Listening carefully Ari and Leaf can hear music from below. In the corner of the room is a hole going down. Caper listens and looks down at the hole.

Caper recognizes the song called "The Redcaps Caper". Redcaps are evil faeries, not as powerful as some faeries. Their caps are dyed red with human blood and if a Redcap's cap dries out he dies.

We descend the second set of stairs following the music.

At the bottom of the stairs we see a big room with a row of pillars. At the end of the pillars is an open mouth in a monstrous face. The music is coming out through the mouth.



Ari looks through the mouth into the next chamber. Two goblinoid creatures are dancing and tormenting a halfling who is playing the music on his flute.

Nobody can stand for this so we attack the goblins with arrows and thrown daggers. Both arrows hit and one dagger hits. One of the goblins drops. Soon the other joins him, both dead.

We rescue Boffin the halfling who insists we leave immediately. Prudence dictates and we agree to accompany Boffin back to town. On the way back Boffin tells us that the goblinoids had been dropping dead animals into the portal at the bottom of the pit. He has no idea why and he was afraid they were going to drop him off the bridge too so he kept playing his flute while they danced. Fortunately we came along to rescue him before he was too tired to play.

Tonight! At 9:00! Central! Inspired Unreality Open Game Chat.

After having a weekend of family gaming online we are going to discuss playing online as a way of staying in touch with your family. Kind of on the Family Game theme we were going to discuss last week but instead we discussed other stuff.

And that's fine. Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

Inspired Unreality is held every Monday in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you haven't been to Tenkar's Tavern we have an invite for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

We played Virtual Dirty Santa! Here's a post with all of our virtual gifts.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/440

Related To Geeks - Season 2 Episode 12 - D&D as portrayed in other media

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3081https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3060

Sound and I have been going on a bit about Birkenstock. Must be somewhere near Milyagon because we get all the same Player Characters showing up both places.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3060

I like this Hiroshi Yoshida artwork. All Public Domain. Not specifically fantasy but they could be used in oriental fantasy settings.

https://gamerplus.org/photo/useralbum/hairylarry/90

And I dug out my Two Geeks Video. It's a hoot. And less than a minute long. I like the way the play button makes me look like a spaceman.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3085

Spread the word. Share with your friends.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc (on Friendica)
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Inspired Unreality open game chat tonight at 9:00 Central. Our starting topic will be Family Game. Have you played with members of your family? Is this a special thing that your family does? As always bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

We will be in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern on Discord. If you've never been to Tenkar's Tavern we have an invite for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

Follow Me And Die posted a link to Project Northmoor. They want to save Tolkien's home and make it a literary center. I certainly wish them all success. I'm in the middle of my first middle earth reread right now so I've got Tolkien on my mind.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3045

Follow Me And Die also posted about "Simple rules for spell research in AD&D."

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3053

I can't stand the denouement but there are I's to be crossed and T's to be dotted in our tale of the Archive Of The White Mage. Here's a link to the session summary where we go back to the Archive with help from some blacksmiths to do some major deconstruction.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/428

I made one little joke and then ... ZDL and I discuss "Rule 1 - don't whistle on Discord."

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/3014

Join us tonight at 9:00 for Inspired Unreality. Stay in touch.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc (follow me on the fediverse)
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

Session notes for December 1, 2020

We go back to town to see Burt the blacksmith. He's a big strong man with a large moustache and a bald head.



Leaf talks to Burt about his armor. He says he will reinforce his armor and design a leaf on it for 20 GP.

I talk to Burt about dismantling the statues. He and his sons, Bart and Barry, are willing to help. They ain't got no truck with evil. We will leave in the morning.

We go to see Longo Shotins the halfling fletcher and bowyer. Leaf purchases a bow and arrows for 45 GP.

The next morning we set off for The Archive taking the long road around the forest. The blacksmiths are in a horse drawn cart with their tools.

When we get there we enter through the front door and check things out. Nothing has changed. Marusan has not returned. The skeletons have not reformed. The glass golem skylight is still in place.

Burt tries to break the stone statues with his big hammer. This doesn't mark them. Leaf detects magic and both stone statues, the large metal statue, and the skylight are all infused with magic. Since Burt can't break the stone statues he takes his sons to dismantle the metal statue.

Leaf uses the Rod Of Pan-Severi on the stone statues. A whirlwind springs from the rod but it doesn't hurt the statues.

Leaf tries the rod again. This time the rod makes Leaf smaller. He is only 2 feet tall, shorter than Caper.

Leaf tries the rod again and nothing happens. The rod is smaller too since Leaf was holding it. Wondering if he wore it out he tries again and 17 gems fly out of the end of the rod and bounce off the statue not hurting it in any way. Since the rest of the party has left the room, wary of the rod, Leaf pockets the 17 gems.

Leaf tries again. Now he's about 2 inches tall. A tiny little Leaf.

Caper comes to check on Leaf and finds him 2 inches tall. Leaf tries the rod again and a poison green gas fills the room. Caper saves with a nat 20.

Caper picks up tiny Leaf to see if he can crawl in the statue's earhole. Nope, the statue is all solid rock.

Tiny Leaf tries the rod again. No luck. Nothing happens.

Ari pours holy water on the neck of the statue and then Burt takes a mighty swing with his big hammer and busts his head off.

Caper thinks there might be a trap door or something hidden by the statues. He ties his rope around the head of the other statue and the blacksmiths pull it over revealing only floor.

Ari pours holy water on the neck of the prone statue and Burt busts it's head off.

The party goes up on the roof and the blacksmiths bust out the skylight with their hammers. A chromatic being forms in the air in front of us. Then the color slowly bleeds out of him into the sky and he disappears.

Ari detects magic and there is no magic left in the archive. The blacksmiths can now bust up the stone statues and we carry the gravel to the creek. The blacksmiths load the metal into the cart to take to Father Abraham to see if this metal is now safe to use.

It's late in the day so we make camp. We eat and sleep setting watches. Nothing happens in the night. In the morning Leaf is back to his normal size. Checking the Archive the skylight is not back and there is still no sign of Marusan.

We take stones from the creek and stuff them in the hole in the wall leading to the jail cell. We break camp and get ready to go back to Birkenstock.

Session notes for November 18, 2020

When we enter the temple Marusan is gone, The skylight has been replaced. Everything looks like it did the first time we saw it.

Leaf shoots the skylight with the rod of Pann-Severi. It emits a bright white light and everyone is blinded.

After a while we recover our sight. Leaf wants to try again. The rest of us leave the room. This time the rod shoots a fireball and explodes the skylight.

We check the statue of Moloch. The rope is gone. Marusan is not in it. The tubes are still cut.

The tombs in the side rooms are open and empty. No undead or weapons lie within.

We check Marusan's study. EVerything is like it was when we left it. The chests are open and empty.

We check the supply room. It's been cleared out. No supplies left in it.

In the secret room behind the temple Caper looks for a trap door and finds a loose flagstone. We lift the stone and find a tunnel with steep stairs leading down.

Leaf pokes his head through the hole in the floor and looks around with his dark vision. He sees a hall with a door at the end and light shining under it from the next room.

We go down into the hall and I check the door. We look under it and check through the keyhole. We see skeleton bones.

Caper checks for traps on the door but he can't tell if it's trapped. He tries to open the door wide. But it's locked. He tries the keys from the jailor and one of them opens the door. He opens the door wide. There are 5 skeletons and Marusan at his desk. He looks bad.

Leaf shoots a fireball into the room with the rod. Caper slams the door shut to protect the party.

When we open the door they are all dead in the room. Caper pours some of the jailor's potion on Marusan.

We smash the skeleton bones into small pieces and throw them into a nearby creek. We burn Marusan in a huge fire outside.

Leaf hits the metal statue with a beam from the rod. It gets 50% bigger and now it barely fits in the temple.

We go outside and look through the papers and books in our packs for information about the rod. Back inside we go through Marusan's library. We find nothing about the rod but we do discover that the potion was supposed to be drunk by Marusan before he died. So all we know is that the rod is chaotic and that Marusan is probably coming back.

We decide to camp instead of going back to town.

At midnight we hear scraping from inside the temple. We light torches and go in. The scraping is the skylight glass golem reassembling.

We hear noises from the tomb rooms. The bones are reforming and dropping out of the air onto the floor.

We throw the bones into the tombs putting the heads together, arms together, etc. so there is no complete skeleton in any tomb. We cover the tombs with the lids. Finch the raccoon hears something in Marusan's study. Leaf talks to Finch. The sound is snoring.

Opening the door we see Marusan sleeping on the bed.

Caper sneaks into the room and pours the potion into Marusan's mouth just as he wakes. He chokes on the potion. Leaf chops his head off. Marusan glows green and dissipates into the air. We're pretty sure that this time he is dead.

I mean really dead. (Not mostly dead.)

Session notes for November 11, 2020

Caper buys Ari a horse and a pony for himself for 115 G. Jennifer buys her own horse for 75G. Caper buys tack, a saddlebag and oats and rations for 50G for all horses except Leaf the elf who doesn't need tack. (because elves ride bareback)



We ride north through the woods with the Finch, the raccoon, and Rowan, the dogbear. Leaf carries Finch on his shoulder and Rowan runs beside the horses.

We get back to the Archive quickly and nothing seems changed. Caper checks for traps on the front door but he can't tell anything. Fighter the Cleric opens the door and we move into a round room with doors leading left and right. Leaf looks to the right and sees an large metal box. Caper recognizes it as a safe. He checks for traps but can't tell if the safe is trapped or not.

The safe has buttons numbered 0 - 9 in two rows.



Caper tries 1 2 3 4 5. Doesn't work. You can only depress 4 numbers. Jennifer tries more combinations but doesn't guess right.

Caper looks into the next room. It looks like an office for a guard or a jailor. He reads through some notes and finds some keys.

Caleb - Snuck in the building after dark
Robert - Stole coins from donation
Ezon - Holds all my secrets
Roger - Assaulted scribe

They check the cell. In the office there's a locker with clothes, a backpack, and a sword.

The party discusses the notes as a clues and finally deduces the combination, 8019.

Inside the safe there is a green potion with a note that says the potion is to stop Marusan's life spell. There is also 500 G, 100 each.

The door to the left is locked. Caper couldn't pick it.

Leaf hits the lock with a burst of energy and the door just fades away and disappears.

The circular room to the left has benches around the outside like a waiting room.

In the next room there are two more statues of Moloch made of stone, one to the left and one to the right.

Leaf shoots them with the rod. He sees a real bright light and can't see anything. No one else sees anything. Only Leaf.

After a few minutes Leaf recovers his vision. We continue north into the temple. Marusan is gone! The glass skylight is back! The secret room is empty! In the side rooms the coffins are closed!

eos

Gamer+ News November 2, 2020

Join us for Inspired Unreality open game chat, tonight at 9:00 Central in the gamerplus chatrooms at Tenkar's Tavern. Our opening topic will be on game prep. Not enough, too much, or just right? Bring your own topic. All gaming is on topic.

If you've never been to Tenkar's Tavern there's an invite for you here.

https://gamerplus.org/index

New podcast up at Anchor. The Related To Geeks Book Club discusses Neuromancer by William Gibson.

https://gamerplus.org/newsfeed/2935

For those of you keeping up with "The Archive of the White Master" I posted Session 4. Executive summary: Marusan is dead. (for now) We got another pet. (Rowan the bear-dog) We're back at town with pockets full of platinum and magic weapons.

Read all about it here.

https://gamerplus.org/blogs/post/368

And speaking about podcasts and archives I have a new weekly podcast, From The Archives Of Something Blue. Marty at KASU suggested that we start this back up and I'm doing it all at home and sending it in. It is located at Hairy Larry Rocks Funkwhale. Nice and short with talking about a song, the song, and a promo for Something Blue. This weeks episode features blues harmonica great, Bob Corritore playing with my band, Delta Legends, at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas.

https://funkwhale.hairylarry.rocks/channels/fromthearchiveofsomethingblue/

I hope to see you tonight on Inspired Unreality or stop by Gamer+ anytime and let us know what you've been doing.

Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/user/hairylarry
hairylarry@curators.mixremix.cc (on my Friendica)
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com

The Archive Of The White Master - basic D&D - Session 4
Session notes for October 28, 2020

We loot Marusan and find a pouch.

Fighter the Cleric goes through Marusan's room and finds two magic scrolls.

Jennifer pitches rocks at the two chests to check for traps.

Leaf opens a chest from the back. Magic energy seeks Leaf and he's laying on the ground again.

Fighter the Cleric looks in the chest. There is a short sword and a pile of coins. Fighter heals Leaf.

There is one chest remaining. Everyone except Jennifer leaves the room. When she opens the chest the magic missle hits her. We have no more healing but she takes the damage and remains standing.

In the chest she finds a ring, some coins, and a potion. Fighter the Cleric thinks it's a healing potion.

Total coins from the pouch and both chests.

200 copper
200 silver
200 platinum (5gp each)

We cogitate on how to deal with these weapons and Marusan's corpse.

We slice the tubes in the statue and put Marusan's corpse in it tying it shut just in case he comes back to life while we're in town.

Leaf takes the rod, Pann Severi, a 16 inch magic sceptre.

I wrap the swords and the mace in my blanket and tie the bundle up. Jennifer carries the bundle on her back and we head back to town. Leaf calls his raccoon and leads the way.

Finch

We hear another animal in the woods and find another trap. Leaf frees a trapped canine, a dog-bear. We lower him down and he likes us fine. Now we have two wild pets, the raccoon and the dog-bear.

Rowan

I see clawed goblin tracks like before. We decide to go back to Birkenstock and deal with the goblins later.

We split the coins 5 ways. Each of us gets over 200 gold.

Leaf and Ari study the spell book copying the spells to their books. They are Detect Magic, Light, and Ventriloquism. The supplies for doing this cost them their 200 gold each.

The spells on the scrolls are 2nd level Web and 3rd level Fireball.

Caper talks to father Abraham to get more healing balm. He donates a platinum piece. Father Abraham gives him 4 doses of the balm.

Caper goes to the fletcher's and gets 20 fine arrows for another platinum.

Concerned about the cursed weapons Fighter the Cleric and I talk to Father Abraham at the church. He can remove the curses. First he removes the curse from Fighter the Cleric so she no longer desires the cursed mace. While he does this Caper goes for Jennifer and they bring the bundle of weapons. Father Abraham removes the curse on the mace and the long sword. Caper donates 3 platinum and Fighter the Cleric donates 2 platinum.

Fighter the Cleric buys two fine horses for Leaf and herself.

chockoLAT

Salted Caramel

The next day Leaf detects magic auras on the short sword, the long sword, the mace, the ring, and the potion.

We each gain 2000 XP. Caper and Jennifer level up to 2nd level.