Gorefest Gazette Volume 1, Issue 3 Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 Hate to do so, but I'm going to cut the recap a little short this time around. I'm sick with the flu and can't concentrate, so this isn't going to be one of my better ones. I reversed my earlier statement that neither reward nor death in the dungeon was permanent for two reasons: it seemed to me players wanted advancement (and treasure), and it's clear that we'll be spending a fair amount of real-time in this "simple" dungeon, especially since there are more monsters yet to enter the stage, several more—orcs, goblins, and at least one other type of undead. That's not to mention the exploration and puzzle-ish aspect of the dungeon, so its pretty far from finished. End of the second session (right-click, "Open in new tab" for full-size) Second Session Recap "Tanglefoot!" With that arcane word and wave of her hand, the high elf Wizard Merideth, played by Naryar, sent the black-robed Spellwight tumbling to the floor. To add insult to injury, she then cast Apportation, lifting the evil undead wizard's dropped ebony staff and levitating it precariously across the moat of irradiant sludge. Without the staff, the skeletal sorcerer's power is greatly diminished, and if Merideth manages to hover it over the acid fosse, its enchantments will be hers. Will it make it across, or will it fall into the glowing ooze? Gorefest Dungeon characters and their respective players include: Archie playing Elmer F. Rhubarb the half-elf Scout, 251 points; Chris playing Legitimate Hobbes the human Holy Warrior, 251 points, and his 251-point ally, Culain; Luke playing Zeth the human Swashbuckler, 251 points; Naryar playing Merideth the high elf Wizard, 251 points; Allen playing Razine D'Tor the human cleric, 251 points. Before the Spellwight lost his footing, he conjured a two-hex circle of fire, on which he promptly cast Fast Fire, stoking its heat up to 3d-3. On the other side of the moat, the rest of the party maintained a defensive position behind the pillars with the fire on one side of them and the slide trap Zeth the Swashbuckler, played by Luke, sprang last session. Speaking of Zeth, he continued his mad dash toward the other side of the octagon, dodging repeated blasts from the fire-breathing gargodemons. All of the monsters in this dungeon have been play tested before, but none so much as the gargodemons. However, In the two years leading to this session, I'd always played that the modifiers for combat options happened before the skill cap—and I think that's both a more balanced and tactical method—but Martial Arts , p. 107 forbids Deceptive Attacks with Move and Attack unless taken with a Heroic Charge. So, their balance is off kilter and as such, the monsters have yet to score a single hit in two full sessions. In my own design theory, I don't want to give them unlimited fireballs, so I built them so that each blast costs 1 FP—but to utilize Heroic Charge would mean each attack costs 2, and that's too much. Instead of removing my self-imposed winged flight disadvantage— something that no other winged DF monster has, which is asinine—I've instead decided to give the gargodemons the Running Attack technique from DF11: Power-Ups, p. 12 to allow them to "make a full-skill attack with a Move and Attack maneuver, instead of being at -4 and having your skill capped at 9." This can only be used with their flame breath, not a swooping claw or any other attack. I'll reinstate their 1 FP tariff for each use. That puts them back to the way they were for the last two years before we noticed that ridiculous sentence in MA. Culain, Hobbes the Holy Warrior's four-legged ally, joined Zeth across the slide trap and the two made their way toward the south end of the dungeon. Along the way, Zeth paused to call inside the jail cell doors and got a reply at each. The first was a famine voice that Culain's nose later determined was a catfolk woman. She pleaded to be released, but Zeth was too busy dodging fireballs at the time, and saw no way to open the ponderous ironbound door. The second was a hollow, deathly whisper asking for help. Culain could smell only death inside that chamber. It was about then Merideth floored the Spellwight, and though the gargodemons were still unharmed, things were starting to look up for our murder hobos. That's when a Wall Master, a giant stone golem with Permeation (Stone) and Penetrating Vision (Stone), suddenly jumped out of the wall swinging its two-handed maul at the unsuspecting Cleric Razine, played by Allen. Thankfully, it was on Razine's shield side and she managed to block the devastating 7d+1 crushing blow. What we didn't figure, however, is the knockback from that blow as Allen rolled a 13 for a defense score of 15 with a DB +2 medium shield, so it did strike his shield square. We'll do that first thing next session— Sunday, Jan. 29, at noon Central . Hope to see everyone there!