Troll Lord Games

Just got home from Gary Con and thought a short report was in order. What a blast! As usual I played C&C mostly. Thursday morning I had a 3rd edition D&D game with Skip Williams, then I played in The Mysterious Tower CK'd by Derek White and loved it. Friday morning I sat in Derek Jones' C&C game titled To Silence A Dwarf. Later in the day was Mine! Mine! MINE!!! run by Gerry Buldak. On Saturday my first game of C&C was with John Wright in The Death Knight Rises. Later that night I was able to jump into Tyler Morrison's game of C&C called A Pot Of Broken Bones and Halfling Broth. As The convention was winding down on Sunday, I decided to get into my only 5th edition D&D game of the weekend. It was the Season 4 Launch Adventure Special. If I was asked what was my favorite game and I could only pick one, I would say The Death Knight Rises with the caveat that all of the games were fantastic! Thank you to all of the CK's. It was fun to see everyone there.

Very cool! Big crowd? I'm hoping to make it next year and wrap up a trip to see the family in Chicago along with it.

Thursday

0800-1200 Fog on the Oakmoors by Skip Williams
The Baron of a town hosts a party and allows his daughter to invite friends. The daughter invites a new friend who is very beautiful. The next day both girls are missing along with other wealthy patrons children. After investigating around town, we set out for an old ruined tower on a hill in the oakmoors. Upon arrival there are young men and women attending a garden. They proclam to be children of the earth and allow us to pass into the tower to speak with their leader. After being shown to the dining room we are attacked by human looking creatures that can be turned. I can't remember if the were wraiths or wights. Then we find out their leader is the evil cleric brother of the barrons daughters friend. They turn out to be formiddable foes that meet their demise.

1200-1800 The Mysterious Tower by Derek White
The heroes come across a ruined castle keep with an ancient wizards tower. The tower has a force field mere inches from the wall preventing us from entering. We venture down a cavern in the ground after defeating some giant fire beetles. At the bottom of the cavern is a corridor with three force feild walls that create chambers in the corridor. Each chamber has a lever on the wall. After navigating the corridor and getting sprayed with acid we arrive at another force field wall with yet another puzzle to solve. There are holes in the ground that are an ancient dwarven locking mechanism. The wizards knock spell can only unlock two of the three mechanisms. The dwarf needed to wade through the acid pool two more times to go back and retrive some magical mithrel rods that stack together. At last the party is smarter than the ancient wizard. There are many, many cooridors to navigate with lots of traps. One such trap manages to get the better of we heroes. There were two pit traps back to back! Only truly evil CK's would do that. We arrive at the entrance of the tower. There is a lever on the wall near a force field. Apparently when the wizard built the force field around the tower he put the lever on the wrong side of it. He was trapped inside for eternity. Once inside we find a library with stairs going up and a door floating in the air. The door goes nowhere, so we go upstairs. The next floor is a labratory with two beautiful women stuck inside seperate force field chambers and a door in a third force field chamber. Along the wall is a panel with three buttons. The party easily figures out which button to press to turn off the force field around the door while keeping the two women locked up. Through the door and up the stairs we go. The next floor has 5 interdimensional doors scattered around the room. One of the doors is a one way trip into the library. While making my way back upstairs I inadvertly press the wrong button to release one of the women. So why not release the other and see what happens? The room is engulfed in total darkness and as I call upon my god to illuminate the room one girl kills the other and creates her own interdimensional door and says Too bad, it could have been amazing! Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Before we ever got to the library, one of the party members fell into a pit trap and almost died. He decided to dring a black potion of unknown origin which we found earlier. Well lets just say we now have a barbarian wizard hopped up on steroids who feels as if nothing can destroy him. Once we figure out the puzzle od five doors we are on the next floor above. There is a genie that protects the wizards treasure. After we conclude that the genie won't succumb to our reasoning, one of us nocks an arrow and shoots at the genie. As I see this happen, I immediatly go for the exit. The rest of the party gets shredded by a whirlwind of gold coins and treasure. This was a great adventure that I will always remember. If anyone knows where I can find the pdf please let me know.

Found it. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/126 ... res-BUNDLE

Friday

1000-1400 To silence a Dwarf by Derek Jones
Fifty years ago, the druid Thurk left our clan's mountain hall to become caretaker of Redforest. Last night a legendary dwarven hero appeared in our dreams with a message from the great dwarven god. Thurk has strayed. He now cohorts with lycanthropes and is turning dark. He is teaching secret dwarven language and words of power to a human. Thurk must be silenced. After arriving to the village of Ember we are greeted as saviors who will restore the natural order of the Redforrest. The town and its mine in the Redforest is being attacked frequently by beasts. The party sets out to find Thurk and a human monk in the Redforest. The heroes easily find the druids hut and find an extremely foul smelling ghastly remains inside. The remains of someone appears to be ripped apart by a bear. There is also an ancient dwarven rune inscribed on one of the rafters. After investigating the rune for some time it is read as saying to get the F__K out! in the most insulting form of the meaning. It is determined that we must burn down the hut and spend the night until daybreak. During the night we are attacked by something (can't remember). The rest of the party hides to spring an ambush upont the beasts whilst I charge down the trail and lure them into the trap. Success!! We decimated the attack party and resume our rest. Upon morning we disembark for the dwarven mine. Upon arrival of the mine we see a fifteen foot hedgerow maze around the mine with a fortified ballista atop the mine shaft. We also see flying monkey beasts in the air circling above the mine. The expert climber in the group climbs upon the hedgerow to get a better view and is knocked down by the ballista. Soon after we bolster our comrade and he climbs the hedgerow once again and returns to us with the layout of the maze. These saviors then make their way to the mine and ignore whomever is manning the ballista, to enter the shaft. Upon entering we see the evil dwarven druid Thurk and his minions of flying monkeys that shoot arrows. The heroes spread out and surround Thurk. Before we can get into position, the human monk jumps down onto us but misses badly and falls down. This human monk with hands of bear claws shreds one of us to peices. Our very own dwarven monk manages to stun Thurk long enough for the rest of us to Silence him forever. Alas the human monk is still bearing down on us (pun intended). The dwarven monk manages to stun the human monk. Monk vs. Monk, who would win? Duh, the Dwarven Monk. The dwarven saviors are victorius!! Hooray, Hooray, applause, applause!!!!

1400-1800 Mine! Mine! MINE!!! by Gerry Buldak

I'm not sure if I should narrate this one. We put our names on a list to possibly win prizes for this event. He might be running this at other Con's, so if anyone knows wether or not I can reveal this adventure let me know.

Saturday

1200-1600 The Death Knight Rises by John Wright
Atamost Kann, a warrior of valor was seduced by the betrothed of his lord. Driven by desire he turned to the darkness and is now twisted and bitter against all. The duke of the of the realm has called upon us to end this tyrrany. A paladin, wizard, monk, ranger, fighter, and druid have hearlded this call to arms. The heroes are led to the base of an orc encampment surrounding the keep at the edge of a mountain. We cautiously flank the fortified orcs to find a more viable entrance to the keep. On one side is a creek eminating from the base of the mountain with a cave naturally carved in the side. Alas! There is a wolf like beast drinking water from the creek. Is it a wolf? Nay. Is it a man? Nay. It must be a Lycanthrope! A what you say. Oh, yes, a werewolf. This formiddable monster is very badly injured by us, but wait. A new lycanthrope appears and it has a chain around its neck. Well, the giant holding the leash lets go so his pet can attack. The fighter with a ring of shimmering nearly takes a sonic blast to the chest from the giant, but narrowly blinks in and out of existance around the sonic boom. Once the talisman around the giants neck is cut free, the fighter slays the beast. Whew, that was a close one. Wait, we still need to destroy Atamost Kann. Into the depths of the mountain we go. We come out of the cave onto a ledge above the keep. As we talk amongst ourselves on how to get to this keep, I hear a voice in my head. Paladin, if you join me immortality is yours. I wain upon this for mere moments. Yes, no. My alingment is Chaotic Good. Yes, yes , yes. I will join you Lord Kann. Suddenly we are transported to the top of the keep. Without a word battle ensues. I hear the voice again, Kill Them! Yes my Lord. I turn aroun and immediatly slay the cleric. As I'm about to attack the wizard he opens a transdimensional door to the top of the mountain. Instead I turn my attention to the druid and miss. The druid immediatly melds himself into the stone of the keep. Little does he know that this place is so evil that he is trapped forever in the floor of the keep. Where did the monk go? Ah, yes he used the ring of invisiblity he forgot he had this whole time. As the fighter gets pummeled by Atamost Kann time runs out. Its the rest of the party against me and the CK. They have a %25 chance of winning on a d100 roll. TYRANNY IS DESTROYED!!!!!!

Thank you John. This was the most memorable event for me this year.

Saturday

1800-2200 A Pot of Broken Bones and Halfling Stew by Tyler Morrison
This game was a bit slower paced as there was ten of us participating. We start out arriving in a village boasting of our recent successful adventure. This halfling hamlet is a might too small for some of my companions, but it bothers me none as I am my usual dwarven fighter you see. The leader of this town hires us to rescue some 30 something villagers that were captured by the trolls. Alive or dead, they know not. It is for us to find out. Halfling brother Specklebrow will lead us to the troll hill. After traveling a day, the party is aroused by a bear in the middle of the night. Now let me just say that this was no ordinary brown bear. This magnificient lumbering beast was the most worthy opponent 10 adventurers have ever seen. After a lengthy battle, brother Specklebrow delivered the death blow, and we now have bear skin ale coozies. A few days later we arrive at the trolls lair. Entering the lair was no problem for us. We are seasoned adventurers of the 4th level after all. We meticously search the lair not wanting to leave any treasure behind. We even search through what one would call their lavatory and lose our lunch so to speak. Ah yes, it always tastes better going down. It was mostly liquid for me. I am a dwarf after all. Back to our tale. We come upon a locked wooden door with iron bars. After pounding on the door, some frantic halfling wails come from behind. I then spring into action a break down the door. There are a dozen starving and dehydrated halflings inside. Feeling sympathetic for them, I offer up my own food and drink. There are two more cells nearby that each contain a dozen halflings. As we are liberating these halflings two trolls attempt to surprise us. Those stupid trolls are to loud to fool us. We work together to block them into a singlefile line so only one could attack us. During the midst of the fight brother Specklebrow suffers serious wounds and must retire from battle. He better serves us to protect his halfling brothers. After these trolls are burnt to a crisp, we celebrate over a keg of ale inside the lair.

Sunday

0800-1200 Season 4 Launch Adventure Special by D&D Adventurers League DM
Death House. A group of three adventurers are stopped by two young children in the street. A little girl is consoling her younger brother who won't stop crying. They are afraid to go back into their house. They say a monster is in the basement. After questioning the children further, we learn that there are more people living there. Their father and mother along with a nanny and their infant brother is still inside. The three of us agree that this warrants further investigation. We decide to case the joint from the outside. It is an old victorian home with multiple chimneys and the drapes are closed on all of the windows. There is only one entrance in the front. Now its important to note that we are skeptical of the childrens "monster". So we decide to be polite and knock on the door. As I knock, the heavy door gives a little. No answer. I draw my sword and poke the door open further and shout to the parents. Still no answer, so we go in. Once inside it is clear this is a wealthy family. Magnificient woodwork and red marble grand stair case greet us. Everything on this floor looks to be kept in impecible shape. The food in the kitchen is fresh, and a pitcher of ale sitting on the side table is very tasty. So much so I take another stein. Odd. No stairs down to a basement. Up to the second floor we go. There is a hallway lined with six suits of armor and they have helmets in the shape of wolves heads. Naturally we liberate the spears from the armored suits. There is a little dust on this floor. Only noticeable because of the way thay clean downstairs. There is a library on this floor. After investigating the bookshelves we discover one book reveals a secret door. The bookcase swings out to reveal a hidden room. Thare are necromancer tomes that are obviously not real. The poor fool who bought theese got ripped off. There is also a chest in the corner that appears to be slightly ajar. After we back out of the room, our mage uses his magic hand to open the chest. As we examine the chest we can clearly see three fresh darts in the leather breast plate on a skeleton. Clutched in the hand is a sealed letter. The jist of the letter is that this house belongs to someone named Strahd. On to the next floor. We are greeted by a dank and moldy smell on the third level. We find the sleeping quarters of the nanny, but it looks deserted. Our wizard opens the closet and out comes a bone thin female spectre. Since the wizard disturbed this creature, it was fixated on him. I cast bless on my companions and we slay the beast. Inside the closet we find a black crib with a swaddle in it. I immediatly assume it is the remains of the infant boy. It is empty. Nothing! What the fudge is going on here. Ok, lets go upstairs again. There is a lovely black suit of armor at the top of the stairs here. The wizard thinks it wise to check under the helmet. What a fool! Yep, you guessed it. We are now fighting a suit of armor boys and girls. After this round of combat I am out of healing spells. We are only 1st level after all. Nothing of interest on this floor and no more stairs. Did we miss something? Ah, there it is. A secret door that reveals a stairway to the attic. Now were getting somewhere. There is another chest with a skeleton of a woman inside. Probably the nanny. We also find the childrens room. There is an exact replica doll house of the very house we're standing in. Creepy! This floor is also covered with cobwebs. After playing dollhouse for awhile, we discover a secret door on the replica we hav'nt seen before. Lets go check out the real thing. Just as we are about to go, the children materialize out of thin air. What the F__K! So we chit chat with the ghosts for a while and they decide it would be fun to possess my two aquaintences. With no way to cure them, my next best option is to to kill the ghosts possesing them. Alas my friends, I did not survive the attack. However, I was ressurected by the house and now my eyes have been burned out of my skull. I now have blind vision to 60 ft. and have a permanent -1 to persuasion. Oh, did I forget to mention that I also radiatd an evil aura eventhough I am chaotic good. I guess its back to the hall of records for the rest of my life.

maximus wrote:Very cool! Big crowd? I'm hoping to make it next year and wrap up a trip to see the family in Chicago along with it.

Yes there was a lot of people there. Thursday was a little slow to start but Friday and Saturday were booming. The vendor area was bigger than last year. I feel as if I should have stayed out of the vendor room.

It was great playing with you, BK. I look forward to seeing you next year!

Thanks. I will definitely look for you next year.

I will be back next year. Already made reservations.

Treebore wrote:I will be back next year. Already made reservations.

Did you book online? I just tried and the dates were not available...

My home group is debating on staying at the resort or comfort suites. The resort is convient but comfort suites has a free breakfast.

maximus wrote:

Treebore wrote:I will be back next year. Already made reservations.

Did you book online? I just tried and the dates were not available...

You have to call in. The online reservation system won't let you book that far out.

Treebore wrote:I will be back next year. Already made reservations.

Excellent! I was hoping I'd get a chance to meet you this year, but we never seemed to be in the same place at the same time. John Wright kept telling me he had just seen you somewhere else an hour earlier.

Buttmonkey wrote:

Treebore wrote:I will be back next year. Already made reservations.

Excellent! I was hoping I'd get a chance to meet you this year, but we never seemed to be in the same place at the same time. John Wright kept telling me he had just seen you somewhere else an hour earlier.

I was two or three tables over from John's table running C&C tournament games. I did get a copy of your buddy's Gangbusters as well.

Yeah, you have to call in, or do it in person, like I did. Rates are not locked in as of yet, but will be once they are negotiated. Expect them to be around $140 for the suites, which are plenty big enough for 4 gamers to share. If you have really "close" friends to go with, it can sleep 6. Without use of the floors.

I just booked my room for next year. If all goes well, I plan to end my two-year hiatus from GaryCon in 2017. Looking forward to the new digs, and of course all of the old-school gaming I can get my hands on. Party Muchacho is coming to Lake Geneva once again! Sorry Treebore, I know you hate that persona.

~O

Omote wrote:I just booked my room for next year. If all goes well, I plan to end my two-year hiatus from GaryCon in 2017. Looking forward to the new digs, and of course all of the old-school gaming I can get my hands on. Party Muchacho is coming to Lake Geneva once again! Sorry Treebore, I know you hate that persona.

~O

Well, damn, I may have to try to make it next year too.

R-

Rigon wrote:

Omote wrote:I just booked my room for next year. If all goes well, I plan to end my two-year hiatus from GaryCon in 2017. Looking forward to the new digs, and of course all of the old-school gaming I can get my hands on. Party Muchacho is coming to Lake Geneva once again! Sorry Treebore, I know you hate that persona.

~O

Well, damn, I may have to try to make it next year too.

R-

Thats an awful lot of money to spend just to go someplace and get drunk. You can do it FAR cheaper in your home. Especially since Jaybird is also there every year. (Yes, Jay and Glad were there as well.)

Well dang Rigon, come on down! Shooooooot. HOP IN MY VAN!

Well TB, when you have been all snookered up in your home town quite a bit, the love for it goes away. BUT, if you can get all tangy with your gaming bros in unfamiliar territory, it's the way to be, and worth the price!

Yeah, I've heard a tale of two of JayBirdy and the Jesus-lookin' Glad-Man being up 'round those parts. I'll have to look 'em up when I get up there.

Don't worry, I ALWAYS get at least one game in.

~O

Omote wrote:Well dang Rigon, come on down! Shooooooot. HOP IN MY VAN!

Well TB, when you have been all snookered up in your home town quite a bit, the love for it goes away. BUT, if you can get all tangy with your gaming bros in unfamiliar territory, it's the way to be, and worth the price!

Yeah, I've heard a tale of two of JayBirdy and the Jesus-lookin' Glad-Man being up 'round those parts. I'll have to look 'em up when I get up there.

Don't worry, I ALWAYS get at least one game in.

~O

I'm going to be helping to run C&C tournament games again next year, so I will get plenty of gaming in, thats for sure! Plus my wife plans on coming up with me again, this time bringing our own electric skillets, so she can cook our meals. The food selections around there were rather "typical" or super expensive ($135.00 for one meal for us), so my wife plans on doing a lot of cooking for us next time. She is even planning on feeding me Shrimp and Grits nearly every morning.

$135.00?! Was the entire family in tow?
That's a pretty nice lady to cook meals for you up there. Scrimps and grits sound great.

But, since it's Wisconson I'm going to have to start saving up for cheese curds and spotted cow (I call that the Wisco Delight).

I'll bring a bag of chips or two, but I'm sure Rigon will have eaten all of those before I get to them. Just kiddin' Rigs.

~O

Omote wrote:$135.00?! Was the entire family in tow?
That's a pretty nice lady to cook meals for you up there. Scrimps and grits sound great.

But, since it's Wisconson I'm going to have to start saving up for cheese curds and spotted cow (I call that the Wisco Delight).

I'll bring a bag of chips or two, but I'm sure Rigon will have eaten all of those before I get to them. Just kiddin' Rigs.

~O

Go over to the Mars Cheese Castle. They have over 600 different cheeses, including curds, and its only about 40 minutes from the Convention. Guess what kinds of things I have been eating on the way home? Oh, and their cheesey popcorn is pretty darn good too!

Omote wrote:$135.00?! Was the entire family in tow?
That's a pretty nice lady to cook meals for you up there. Scrimps and grits sound great.

But, since it's Wisconson I'm going to have to start saving up for cheese curds and spotted cow (I call that the Wisco Delight).

I'll bring a bag of chips or two, but I'm sure Rigon will have eaten all of those before I get to them. Just kiddin' Rigs.

~O

I don't eat much chips anymore. Too many carbs.

R-

Next you are going to tell me you don't roll d10s!

~O

Omote wrote:Next you are going to tell me you don't roll d10s!

~O

I only roll 20s, baby.

R-

The 3 Round Individual Elimination C&C Tournament I authored and coordinated for Gary Con VIII was a success. Low preregistration had me concerned but invoking old-school convention skills (i.e. posting sign up sheets and walking around recruiting players) successfully doubled our numbers to fill 4 opening round tables on Thursday, 4 semi-final round tables on Friday and 2 final round tables on Saturday with a few tables having extra players. We had an award ceremony/pizza party afterwards. Mark Martin and Robert Miller did a truly excellent job GMing for all 3 rounds so please give them a pat on the back. They both got great reviews from the players. And very proud that my 23 year old son Jacob Miller GMed 2 tables for the semi-final - his first convention GMing experience and also received great reviews. Chip off the old block. The 3 adventures and the pre-gen characters I whipped up for it also got great reviews. I scheduled 4 of our games with co-GMs which players liked too. With coordinating and being volunteer staff, I regretfully only had time to GM 3 tables myself (less than half what I normally run so I was dying to run more games).

For Gary Con 9 I'm looking to 1) recruit many more players in advance (we should've had far more for that tournament. 2) bring back my GMs if they can make it while adding more quality GMs, and add new types of C&C events so there's something for each type of C&C player. If GMs are willing, I have the connections to organize other C&C events under one TLG banner which would benefit everyone, including the Troll Lords. How much I can do depends on how much cooperation I can get. C&C has stiff competition. Solo games and playing in each other's games hasn't helped recruit new players. Uniting our efforts at conventions could. As Stephen Chenault put it, we need a solid ground game.

Opinions?

Brian Miller
Gary Con IX C&C tournament coordinator

I think your observations are spot on. I wanted to enter the tournament but I got sidetracked by other games. It just never fit into my schedule, eventhough I got screwed at registration. I simply floated from game to game. It would definetly help if other C&C games were not overlapping the tournament time slot. I'm glad everyone involved had fun. If you need a gm next year I'm available. Although I honestly would rather play in the games because I'm usually the gm at home.

I scheduled the C&C Tournament to run 1 table every slot until 4pm saturday. Conflicting with other C&C games was inevitable. The choice was 1) fewer slots with more tables per slot, or 2) fewer tables per slot with more slots. Fewer tables per slot but more slots needed fewer GMs to pull it off, allowed more time for scoring and gave people 4 chances to be in the 1st round.

I was curious if con-goers would bail out of other events to stay in the tourney. Back in the days when I coordinated RPGA events for Gen Con and Winter Fantasy elimination tournaments were king. People prioritized them over all other events. That changed when Living City, Living Ravenloft and other "use your own character events" became more popular. Now, VIP events are king. I still believe a well written tourney with great GMs can bring people back. And it did. Now we need more C&C tourneys and games in the same area, and to make them highly visible. A C&C Masters tourney for example would pull in a crowd of more experienced gamers.

Anyhow, as far as scheduling table times goes, VIP events are our main competition, not other C&C events. There are enough C&C gamers to fill multiple events. We just need to get their attention so they choose our tables. I'm going to talk with Stephen about some suggestions I have on how to accomplish that.

miller6 wrote:I scheduled the C&C Tournament to run 1 table every slot until 4pm saturday. Conflicting with other C&C games was inevitable. The choice was 1) fewer slots with more tables per slot, or 2) fewer tables per slot with more slots. Fewer tables per slot but more slots needed fewer GMs to pull it off, allowed more time for scoring and gave people 4 chances to be in the 1st round.

I was curious if con-goers would bail out of other events to stay in the tourney. Back in the days when I coordinated RPGA events for Gen Con and Winter Fantasy elimination tournaments were king. People prioritized them over all other events. That changed when Living City, Living Ravenloft and other "use your own character events" became more popular. Now, VIP events are king. I still believe a well written tourney with great GMs can bring people back. And it did. Now we need more C&C tourneys and games in the same area, and to make them highly visible. A C&C Masters tourney for example would pull in a crowd of more experienced gamers.

Anyhow, as far as scheduling table times goes, VIP events are our main competition, not other C&C events. There are enough C&C gamers to fill multiple events. We just need to get their attention so they choose our tables. I'm going to talk with Stephen about some suggestions I have on how to accomplish that.

One thing Steve can do is a run a VIP game Saturday night for the top 6 or 8 scores for the tournament. So if they are new to C&C, not only do they get a great introduction to the strengths of the system, they get to meet the head crazy behind it all. If they are old timers, like most of us, we get to fling poo at Steve in person.