Big Ships Go Boom: Experimental D&D4E Air Combat

For the semester finale of the D&D4E campaign I'm currently co-DMing, I decided I wanted to do something a little bit different from normal. Drawing inspiration from equal parts the Avatar: TLA finale, the airborne sections of Gears of War 3, and tabletop Warhammer 40k, I gave my players each an airborne warship, set them adrift amongst roughly 40 or so enemy warships, and let them wreck havoc.

Overall, I thought it went surprisingly well. Because every character was "identical" and the possible actions were limited to about 3, combat went smoothly and quickly. In addition, because the die rolls were always standardized and no math was involved (only checking a small chart) people caught on very quickly and nobody ever flagged. I think it was a much-needed breath of fresh air in terms of how combat normally went, and a really cool new thing for my players that also gave them a chance to wreck serious havoc (their final kill-count was 24 ships at 32 people per ship). I figured I'd share the rules I came up with, in case anyone has feedback or wishes to adapt them for their own use. Enjoy!

The Crafting of Worlds: The Free Cities of Bann, Pt. 1

[As some of you may know, I am currently working with Matt on creating the world on which our fall D&D4e campaign will occur. We're still roughly in the initial stages, but making excellent progress, and I would naturally like feedback when possible. However, given the semi-public nature of this blog, I can only post things that would be potentially be ok if the PCs saw. Hopefully you will enjoy what I do post though, and I'd love any kind of feedback you can give. 

The world is a tidal-locked, low magic world, more in the style of GRRM than Tolkien. There are 3 major countries, and 3 major religions (those three sets don't necessarily map onto one another). 

The following is two of the 5 major cities on the continent-state of Bann, known collectively as the Free Cities. As usual, any feedback is most welcome!]

The Crafting of Worlds: The Shinto-esque Religion

I should be busy in the wilderness playing Ultimate, far away from the internet. However, I made a promise to myself about posting, so if all goes well the scheduler should be posting this at noon on Sunday, and hopefully it works


[As some of you may know, I am currently working with Matt on creating the world on which our fall D&D4e campaign will occur. We're still roughly in the initial stages, but making excellent progress, and I would naturally like feedback when possible. However, given the semi-public nature of this blog, I can only post things that would be potentially be ok if the PCs saw. Hopefully you will enjoy what I do post though, and I'd love any kind of feedback you can give. 


The world is a tidal-locked, low magic world, more in the style of GRRM than Tolkien. There are 3 major countries, and 3 major religions (those three sets don't necessarily map onto one another). 


The following is one of the three religions, the one modeled roughly after Shinto, with some various other elements thrown in. As before, feel free to respond in any way!]

The Crafting of Worlds: The Neo-Pagan Religion

First off, Happy Birthday to my Blog! You've come a long way, and picked up a name. But now on to Serious Business™.


[As some of you may know, I am currently working with Matt on creating the world on which our fall D&D4e campaign will occur. We're still roughly in the initial stages, but making excellent progress, and I would naturally like feedback when possible. However, given the semi-public nature of this blog, I can only post things that would be potentially be ok if the PCs saw. Hopefully you will enjoy what I do post though, and I'd love any kind of feedback you can give. 


The world is a tidal-locked, low magic world, more in the style of GRRM than Tolkien. There are 3 major countries, and 3 major religions (those three sets don't necessarily map onto one another). 


The following is one of the three religions, the one modeled roughly after neo-paganism, with a decently strong Greek influence. The others are a Shinto-like nature focused religion, and a monotheistic one in the style of Old Testament brimstone and fire.]

Campaign Endings: Another Perspective

I remember.

I remember the swirl of the cosmos as they formed, flaming and freezing. I remember the initial thrill of excitement and fear as my brothers and I formed, the initial few seconds of discovery and the quick development of our society.

I remember as we quickly learned the rules of this existence, how to twist and turn the strands of space-time to bend to our will. We learned about unlimited power, but we also quickly learned about its elasticity, and we were quickly ejected for our tampering.

A Slight Difference of Opinion: Roleplaying, or Lack Thereof

A follow-up to Stormshrug's recent fascination of these kind of things, I present the last two characters I made for a D&D and Orpheus campaign, respectively.

Shaima, son of Thaima (fall 2009 Dahmprealm campaign)

(Middle picture credit to Stormshrug)

Dahn Gottesson (Summer 2010 Orpheus campaign)

(DM Rome states that the middle picture should be the same as the last. Oops)

-HTMC

Bonus! Since Stormshrug didn't post it (he made all of it though), here's Jesse's character from the same campaign Shaima appeared in.

Bertram (the Murder Bear)

New Veras Vengeance 3: What, No Goatee?

For reasons that should be apparent to anyone who looks at the opposite page, I'm writing this entry myself instead of letting Ahriman do it. The worst part is he seems to have taken a liking to be my scribe, and is now sulking that I won't let him do it. Perhaps if he improves his attitude I'll reconsider, but as it stands I like knowing what I'm writing won't suddenly be filled with expletives and suggestive comments about my mother.

To return to the subject at hand, however, I must record the last mission the Veil has so kindly given us. It seems we had finally decided to launch a full offensive on a terrorists group to the North, and we were about to be sent along (accompanied by Kaidar, who had returned from... something? He never quite told us) when we were waylaid and told we were being sent on a "special" assignment, namely a noble who had recently received a death threat. We were all a bit perplexed by this, since noble's usually have their own (often highly skilled) bodyguards, but as we were briefed it turned out this particular noble was the local Governor and he had kindly lent his forces to the current Veil operation. Also it seemed he was an old friend of Kaidar, so he in particular felt obliged to help him.

What made it more serious was that the death notice was from the Midnight Sun, a notorious assassin who had never failed to kill a target she had earmarked as deserving justice--in the form of death.

New Veras Vengeance 2: And On My Day Off, Too

Man, Drachon is going to regret having bought this permanent ink... hope he didn't like this poem too much, hehe. Not enough blood mentioned, anyway.

Also, you ђค๔Ŧ คєŦlןเ, I'm sitting on your chest right now writing in your precious notebook because you can't handle the heat. That's right! If you just unbound me I could be helping you out... but since I can't tell you that in person, I, Ahriman, shall detail exactly every fault you made along this road to show you why you are such a tเคl๔ภ๔ןєคl and why you deserve to be unconscious right now, if not worse.

New Veras Vengeance 1: Fire Cleanses All

That's Drachon, if I ever get these sigils of bounding off. Thrice-damned mortal thinks he can control me? I'll prove him wrong, the [weird sigils].

What? Yes, yes I'm writing down what you're saying. Just because you're too lazy to write yourself while walking you think you can-!

What was that? Ya, your mother!!

Just because I have wings doesn't mean it's easier!!

....

....

Just because you can order me doesn't mean I'll like it.

Well yes. 

Fine.

New Veras Vengeance: The Prologue

[Note: The New Veras Vengeance series will be the title and tag for the chronicles associated with the current D&D4e campaign being run, and as such will be the in-character writings of my character. Hopefully they'll be entertaining even if you're not a part of the campaign, but they are mainly meant for those who are a part of it (and the DM's who are now desperate for someone to record the happenings :-P)]

I sometimes wonder why I bother to commit my thoughts to paper, as I now do. I would normally associate diary writing and the sort with people who either lack self-confidence or are too full of it; but seeing as I know my strengths and limits, and I don't believe this will become some prized piece of literature in the future (although one can only hope) obviously this isn't the case.

I think the main point is this scribbling allows me to better consider the events that have taken place, especially during such a turning point as I am experiencing now. Veil employment is far far different than the last few years of my life, to be sure, and that's just from the standpoint of being in training. However, it seems we have finally proven our worth, and today we had our final test of sorts before setting out into the field. I think it's only fitting I recount the occasion.