It’s been a very slow hobby week this week and by slow what I really mean is that I haven’t picked up a paint brush at all. I know I was supposed to get my Genestealer cult completed but they are in exactly the same state as they were last week. So no pressure at all for getting them completed for game night on Tuesday. Although I do have a cunning plan to resolve that but I’ll tell you more about that later. The lack of hobby has been two fold this week. The first has been that I’ve been absolutely rushed off my feet at work, we’ve had a lot of people off on holiday and I’ve been covering a lot of other things which has just left me wanting to vedg out at night. The second links to our D&D session on Sunday.
So I had originally planned to have some friends round for a BBQ on Sunday but with the weather being horrible I cancelled that and we had a D&D session instead. Although there was a lot more food and lot more consumed than on a normal school night session. It was somewhat old school with us all sitting on the floor, drinking beer and playing over hand drawn maps. All lots of fun. Or at least that’s how it started out. As the game went on we managed to pick up some interesting items from a tinker, had a night at the inn and then completed our contract with the Hunters Hall. All very good and character building, I’d even arranged for one of party to teach me Dwarvish to pass the time whilst on the road.
Then our resident sorcerer has to go and discover the ruins of another sorcerer’s tower, that has a magically disguised entrance to a hidden cellar, and we absolutely just had to go and investigate it. Having learnt our lessons from previous adventures we were meticulous in checking for traps, of which there were lots and managed to survive for quite a long time with no damage. Then we entered a room with a large square of soil in the centre. We get the warning not to step on the soil but someone and I don’t know who, I may never know who, had to go and step on it. Out fly some tentacles and whilst trying to defend my colleagues I was hit by one of them. Now I’m expecting to take some damage from this, but I take a lot of damage from this and all of a sudden I can’t breathe. I run back outside to get some fresh air but this has no effect and I take more damage. I take a healing potion but his has no effect. I take more damage, I head back to the other to see if they can help but just get blank looks for everyone. I take more damage, but this time it takes me below zero hit points. I did manage to pass the three death saving throws so at this point I’m unconscious but stable. Which is where the game ended. We have another session tonight but I think it’s in the balance as to whether my character is going to survive as I no one knows what is causing the damage. Or more importantly how to stop it.
So with the prospect of having no character I’ve taken the precaution to write up a couple of new ones, just in case, otherwise it will be short night for me. This is where most of my time has been spent this week. The way I’ve done this is to work out why a character would be where he is and what would make him want or need to join the party. I wanted to this and the background first with the idea being that it would drive all the other decisions such as class and race. Rather than trying to do that first and then try to shoe horn him into the party.
What I came up with was a human ranger who has been tracking down leads on a group who killed some of his friends. A bit common but it gives him reason to be on the road and he would be happy to join the part if they are heading in the same direction. A bit of safety in numbers and those that are looking for him wouldn’t necessarily be looking for a party of travellers. The only thing with this character is I don’t know how well the roll play side of things would work as he is a bit of loner with his own mission.
The second is another monk but his time a Drunken Master, human in his late fifties who came to the order a bit later in life after being a smuggler. He would still be able to be the moral compass that my existing character is but with a few cracks here and there that I think would make him lots of fun to play. He is all about tricks and he doesn’t really care who he plays them. I know a lot of people don’t think the Drunken Master is a good build but I think the role play side of things far outweighs any mechanical frailties.
That’s been it for this week. I have the new characters written up and printed out ready to go if needed. We have our game planned for tonight so I will find out my fate in the first few minutes of the game. As for getting my Genestealers completed for game night I have some time off next week so in theory I have a couple of extra days hobby time to crack on with them. So until next week have a good weekend and if you’re interested to see if my Halfling monk survives or not pop back next week to find out.
