Sinking Ship

Last week, the Green Tide at last left the lizard folk liar with a pair of representatives in search of an alliance against the evil Sahaugin. Gentle travels were interrupted by a ship floating aimlessly on the sea.

The brave goblins boarded her in hopes of salvaging the battered Emperor of Seas and when they climbed aboard they found a gastly scene of blood, gore and even a foot in a boot with no pair to match. While pink goblin sought the lonely foot’s mate, the goblins encountered a number of disfigured sea zombies. They battled them bravely and sometimes not-so-bravely but were backed into a corner before slaying the last of them.

But where have these aquatic zombies come from? Are there more aboard the ship? Can the Emperor be salvaged? Find out this week on, adventures of the Green Tide!

DM Notes: Goblins of Salt Marsh

I had not DMed for years in any real way. I missed it. Being the master of a story that the players bring to life is so rewarding for me. While it cuts into my writing time a bit I love creating fantastic worlds for the players to adventure in and engaging conflicts for them to resolve.

In November I took up the Ghosts of Salt Marsh adventure for my group. For any who don’t know, it’s an adventure for dungeons and dragons which is made up of a collection of adventures from earlier editions. It has a bit of a pirate vibe to it and I leaned all the way into that. So did the party!

The group has honestly been creating ever more interesting characters and even working on whole party themes. My favorite to date was a group of unemployed circus performers who went by the name “The Perilous Performers” and had an entire dramatic introduction that we executed for new NPCs we met. It was a blast.

This time the group decided they would all make goblins, except my son who made a gnome. I placed them under the (forced) employ of a small time smuggler and soon enough they found themselves free of his employ and instead working for a councilman with a secret identity. With that the adventure had begun!

The goblin each had a color assigned to them by their former master that was vaguely representative of their class. The enraged barbarian is red goblin. The sorcerer is blue goblin. The monk is pink goblin. Of course, the gnome which they regard as their brother as well, either by choice or ignorance, is white goblin. Not your typical party, to be sure.

The adventures they’ve undertaken so far have been super fun. They don’t fight is quite the same way a more traditional party might and they certainly don’t role play in the same way as a typical party does. They have aspirations of pirating their own ship and I look forward to that dream being fulfilled.

Until then, I look forward to every Monday seeing the “Green Tide” sail the seas.

Perilous Performers Introduction

From our D&D adventures. So much fun…

Good evening ladies gentlemen and creatures of all shapes and sizes, tonight you are in for the entertainment event of your entire existence. The perilous performers bring an exhibition second to none. Known throughout waterdeep and all of the sword coast, we are brewers, brawlers and shot callers.

I am Justin Timberlake the MC for tonight’s extravaganza. I will stimulate your senses with music, song and dance till they drop your pants and wash you in romance. All are satisfied when this show they’ve spied, I guarantee. Without further ado it’s time to meet the crew.

First up, he’s small, he’s quick, he wields a whip. First you see him then you don’t. Catch him if you can? But we all know you won’t. Hold on to your purses and your hearts, he’s Garrett Luckyfoot!

Up next, he’s a little tea pot short and stout, he’ll pray for you then knock you out. He may break shields but never an oath. The only thing he loves more than beer is his beard. He’s Kor the Shieldbreaker!

Next up is our strongman. There is none like him. They say he was born with hair on his chest and I wouldn’t jest. His legs as round as trees, arms hang down to his knees, and his skull as thick as you please, all fall before him as he tears off their limbs. He is Za-thor the Basher!

Last but certainly not least. He is pound for pound the mightiest creature to wander the land. Even if he looks like he’s sitting when he stands. He’ll crush you with stones then reanimate your bones. He has more power in his little finger than in any other wizard. Here he is…

Behold the Gnomecromancer!

(Illusions, lights, sounds, huge, finish….jazz hands)

Playing a Barbarian D&D 5E

Sidharth Chaturvedi - Barbarian.png

I finally broke out of my favorite characters and created a barbarian. I usually tend towards the support characters because the role playing aspect of the game is my favorite and I don’t actually care much for how much damage my character can do or treasure items he finds. I love when my bard “Justin Timberlake” woos a hostile cult member into leaving her fanatical faith to travel and adventure with me though. Or playing a cleric and ever greeting characters in game by asking them if they’ve “heard the good news.” These things bring me great joy. So a barbarian is not in my wheel house, but I found a way.

I need to own my character and the quirky nature he has in order to get fully immersed into the game. So I made a barbarian named “Leny” who loves animals, wants to “live off the fat of the land” and calls everyone “George.” It has been an absolute blast. As you may have guessed if you ever had to read “Of Mice and Men,” Leny is not bright but is exceptionally strong and has a bit of an anger management problem when provoked or scared. He also is pretty good at smashing bad guys, but that’s not why I love him.

I love playing Leny because he is so much fun! He literally spends time trying to pet any animal he comes across. This has worked out very well so far. Upon meeting a super hostile Tressym, he rolled a critical on his animal handling and the pet has not left his side since. Leny managed to teach it a couple of commands and the flying cat lead us to an exceptionally dangerous beast in our last session. Very helpful. And when a hostile group landed near us on giant vultures, Leny again rolled a critical for animal handling and pet the carrion eaters baffling the would be adversaries and eventually they left without conflict.

For any who don’t care about how many pets their character can gather let me explain why else he is amazing. When raging the barbarian only suffers half damage on physical attacks. This is extremely worthwhile because the barbarian tends to get hit. I took the path of the “Totem Warrior” and decided that a bear is Leny’s spirit animal so now he takes half damage for any attack that isn’t psychic. This literally saved Leny’s bacon multiple times. Nearly every encounter in fact and as a result he has an every growing necklace of beast incisors.

Overall a solid class to play and it has been refreshing to be able to dive into the middle of the action while also enjoying the fun role playing aspect.

Cheers, may all your rolls be criticals.

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Minotaur Bard