Enthusiastic Amateur

He couldn’t work at all when he was like this, and in the Hushed Chamber he was like this all the time. Eisen Alon Garvel, Ministry Justicar The Hushed Chamber, Machaevo Primus, Scillaeo Sector, The Kingdom The rafters creaked like an old ship. It was the highest floor of the Chambers, a draughty set of offices on the third floor. Windows, their seals threadbare, rattled like teeth in their frames. Beyond them a city rose, white ghosts with glowing eyes in the snow. It was here that he had been banished to, a temporary arrangement that each day extended. Garvel was head of E-Section, which consisted of himself, one cryptbreaker and one administrator. Their job was to decrypt esoteries, academic texts sometimes passed through the hands of members of hermetic orders and the like. It was dull, labour intensive work and Garvel hated it. Not that he did the labour. That was done by Sesan, the young, eager to please administrator who was studying beneath Rith, her s...

Star Trek: Discovery is a series anticipated with bated breath, the return of Star Trek to its home as a syndicated weekly television series. The question was after a 12 year absence could Discovery bring Star Trek to a new generation of fans and mollify the pensive fan community that have waited so long for a new series? Based on the first episode the answer is almost a complex as that question. Star Trek: Discovery Episode 1: A Vulcan Hello A monologue, intended to sound poignant and quickly introduce the themes of the show is so much of a sci-fi trope at this point you probably knew it was coming before you even loaded the show in your streaming service of choice. In this case monologuist du jour is T’Kuvma (Christopher Obi) and I suppose we should address the elephant in the room: Yes, they’ve changed the Klingons again. I’m more sanguine about this than some other fans of the old shows. Seeing the Klingons turn from racist caricature of the Japanese into, well, a le...

Following on from Tuesday I will say that there’s one time in Dungeons & Dragons you should always include a trap; in an intro adventure. Intro adventures are cool beasts designed for new players to teach them the game mechanics, but also give them a feel for what the game is about. A good generic intro adventure will combine all the elements of Iconic Dungeons & Dragons; a meeting in a tavern, goblins, skeletons, an actual dungeon, at least one Rust Monster or Gelatinous Cube and, of course, a trap. Traps are, despite my distaste for them, a part of the fabric of D&D, and if you want to give your intro party a taster of the D&D the might recognise from TV then you better be prepared to throw one in there. So which one? On Tuesday I talked about traps having a negative impact on my own party’s play experience and the last thing you want to do is have someone’s first experience of D&D be them falling in a pit and struggling to get out. So, what trap...

I’ve been away dealing with real life and as such I’ve had decidedly less time to be Enthusiastic recently (I remain, as ever, unfailingly amateurish). However we’re back with an exciting Tuesday mini-blog, today talking about Traps in Dungeons & Dragons. Traps are an essential component of Dungeons & Dragons. Pit traps, poison darts and leering demonic faces are as core to the experience as Goblins and +1 Swords, that said they’re a component I tend to use infrequently. Why is that? If you’re not familiar with Dungeons & Dragons  let me explain; a trap is most commonly a static feature with a specific trigger that injures or inconveniences the player characters in some way. A pit trap with a covering that falls away when stepped on, for example. The problem with traps is that You either spot the pit and avoid it, or you miss it and fall in. Dungeons & Dragons is based on a simple binary success/failure state but, there’s something about traps that flips...

[This post contains spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse] A chubby hand formed into a fist, shaking, the knuckles swelling. Jolliver panted in the dark and cursed, spitting blood and phlegm. It wasn’t working any more. He had to be in control of it, it wasn’t in control of him. He flopped back on his bed, dropping the bottle to the floor where it failed to make the customary clatter. He frowned and sat. The bottle was on the floor, sat at an angle. The stone around it was warped, discoloured. He looked at the slab it sat on and saw the edge where it met the next disappear. His eyes were wide but it was already too late to scream. Our party are: David Maltman as Reed Tosscobble, Halfling Rogues Swashbuckler David Longbottom as Ulfang Strackhelm, Dwarf Cleric of Helm Amanda Hewitt as Eva Dawnfell, Human Monk Necromancer Amy Tan as Amber Frostbeard, Dwarf Fighter After the attack by the Water Cult the party moved camp and amongst a secluded copse of trees lai...

[This post contains spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse] The wind was high this night, more so than usual, and Savra drew the shutters on her small cell, bound them tightly with the cord and bade goodnight to Hina, the half-elf who told her jokes and shared her fondness for Pasha in the stables. Tonight though she couldn’t help herself. Detachment had come easily enough to her. The dedication to take on something higher than herself, but tonight she thought of family and hissed a curse through her teeth at the Dwarf woman with the seafoam hair that had come at her father’s behest. ‘I am the breath of the heavens.’ She reminded herself with less certainty that on the nights before. ‘I ride the sky itself and raise all with me, by the will of Yan-C-Bin…’ Our party are: David Maltman as Reed Tosscobble, Halfling Rogues Swashbuckler David Longbottom as Ulfang Strackhelm, Dwarf Cleric of Helm Amanda Hewitt as Eva Dawnfell, Human Monk Necromancer Amy Tan as Amber Fros...

[DISCLAIMER: This post contains spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse.] Part I can be found  hither . High in the mountains Feathergale Spire pierced a blue sky straddled by banks of white cloud, wind sighing through the crags. Eyes ringed by feathers considered the travellers as they approached. The smallest in the front, striding with his head up, the stout one behind him, eyes down. The girl looking at the sky and the clouds and last the lean man, out of place with everything. They watched and made note. Our party are: David Maltman as Reed Tosscobble, Halfling Rogues Swashbuckler David Longbottom as Ulfang Strackhelm, Dwarf Cleric of Helm Amanda Hewitt as Eva Dawnfell, Human Monk Necromancer Dak’kon of the unbroken circle of Zerthimon, a Githzerai and NPC Companion. Savra, the guard at the door of Feathergale Spire bade the party enter and they were escorted to the master of this place, the handsome Thurl Merosska. Reed introduced himself by his ...