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Posted by Hawke at September 24. 2014 Drake's Oriental Adventures weekly Thursday group, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. In the Whitworth / North Five Mile area. Currently has 4-5 participants. Running 1st Edition AD&D; OA. Potentially open to 1-2 more players. Has been running weekly since Spring 2014.

Drake's Oriental Adventures Group - Weekly Wed/Thur Posted by Hawke at July 25. 2014 This is a weekly group playing Oriental Adventures in north Spokane. We play every week, either on Wednesday or Thursday depending on the work schedule of some of the players, from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Original player started at 1st level, all characters now around 3rd to 4th level. Currently using 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Posted by Hawke at January 14. 2015 Meeting on the First and Third Mondays of each month from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I bought the various A Song of Ice and Fire Role-Playing aka Game of Thrones RPG material as it was released. I have read all the books (and followed the variances in the HBO series as well). To pardon the play on words, I am particularly intrigued by the GoT RPG intrigue system. Unfortunately I have yet to run anyone through this system/setting yet. If anyone has experience running it, would you be interested in running a group? If no one is available to GM, I am willing to dig in and learn the system initially, but we will all be learning the system together as we play through it for the first time. And please be understanding as I try to ramp up on the system. Once we get a few people interested, even just 2-3 players would be fine for starting out. If we get anyone signed up, we can then work out the schedule and location.

Posted by Hawke at January 20. 2015 Preparation for first session information. As per questions from participants: Player's Handbook (5th edition) It is preferred that you bring your own copy, but if you do not have one, it is not required, the DM has spare books that can be borrowed during the game sessions.   Dice You are encouraged to bring your own polyhedral dice, but if you do not have dice of your own, the DM has plenty of spare sets he can loan to players during the sessions. A typical minimum set includes 1x 4-sided, 4x 6-sided, 1x 8-sided, 2x 10-sided/percentile, 1x 12-sided, 1x 20-sided.   Character Sheets We will create new characters at our first gathering (that usually takes up most of the session). All character sheets will remain with the DM between sessions.We will use custom-modified character sheets that include additional information and the Comeliness attribute.   Miniatures Miniatures are used to help keep track of locations in combat situations, but are not stressed. Remember I focus on ROLE-playing over ROLL-playing, but maps and minis can be helpful to reduce confusion about "who was where" when it matters. You are welcome to bring your own miniatures if you wish, however the DM does have of his own miniatures (mostly old-school 1980s lead-based) so you do not need to bring minis unless you wish to.   I will also provide scratch paper, pencils, and other documents.   Campaign/Adventure Preparation Overview As far as the beginning of the adventure... You will each have been sent, or arrived, at the location for individual reasons, with an over-arching common cause. You will be meeting initially in a typical cliché tavern setting, this will begin the actual role-play part. After the characters and their backgrounds are created, we will start out the initial adventure in a land that is set in a quasi-Aurthurian (as in King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur, Mordred, etc.) setting. You will all begin in the port city Balcoth on the southern end of Regnum Sapientium . This area is very unfriendly to non-humans, so you will want to be sure to have at least a hooded cloak or disguise skill/kit/item/magic if you are playing a character that is a non-human race. You won't be strung-up or run out of town, but most human folk won't have anything to do with non-humans, and are especially fearful of the haughty Elves. However, any Drow and similar "Dark folk" will trigger physical hostility and likely bring the law in to try to capture immediately. Once you have all gathered (bit by bit) at Numien's Inn & Tavern, here the actual story will begin to unfold. An unseasonable heavy fog, and lack of winds has been worsening for days without breaking, all but stopping the shipping lines. Boats without oars (or other means of propulsion) have been rescued in recent days by other ships. The docks are packed full, with many ships wanting to leave, but waiting for the weather to improve. Everyone is talking about a threatening armada with forces building from Mordred across the seas. At points you will likely travel through lands that are quite the opposite of this human-dominant area. and will then rapidly transition through a variety of areas (and likely more friendly to elves but inversely unfriendly to humans). If all goes well, you will also end up in locations reminiscent of the ancient Middle-east, ancient Grecian and Roman cultures, and potentially fully Oriental/Eastern Asian areas. Those are all in more "local" areas. During your travels you will very likely cross into other planes of existance with whole other worlds, where the laws of the physical and magical behave in unexpected ways. You will begin in a sea-port setting, then likely travel cross-country. Your party will likely rapidly experience many terrain types; plains, high mountains, vast deserts, dense jungles, underground depths, underwater, and many other environments. This means everyone will have opportunities to shine in different ways. There are some specific issues depending on your backgrounds, so each of you may have come to the port for different reasons, while others may be there for similar reasons. I will meet with each of you privately for a few minutes to go over the more private aspects of your backgrounds. Remember, every character should have something in their background that they would nearly rather die than have others discover. These issues likely drive the character(s) in specific situations to react certain ways that the other characters may find surprising.

Posted by Hawke at January 20. 2015 Here you will find the information, status updates, adventure logs, and adventure discussions for the gaming group that is meeting each late Tuesday night on The Spartan Show. Hawke Robinson is the Dungeon Master. We will be playing in his multi-verse campaign setting "World of Beru", using the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons core rules, plus Hawke's House Rules. The first game session is schedule for Tuesday, January 27th, 2015, beginning 8:00 pm and running until 12:00 am (midnight). Here is information to watch the broadcast and join the chatroom http://www.twitch.tv/thespartanshow   Here is information about the House Rules Hawke's D&D 5e House Rules   Here are the modified 5th Edition D&D character sheets, Hawke's 5e D&D Character Sheets: Page 1 (front) - D&D 5th Edition Player Character Sheet Page 1 of 3 - Modified - Version 20141007a PDF Page 2 (back) - D&D 5th Edition Player Character Sheet - Page 2 of 3 - Modified Version 20141007a PDF Page 3 (for spell casters) - D&D 5th Edition Player Character Sheet - Page 3 of 3 (Spells) - Modified Version 20141007a PDF   Here is information about what is planned for the first session, with a brief overview of the setting: First Session Plan   Here is more detailed information about the World of Beru campaign settings World of Beru Campaign Setting by Hawke Robinson    

Meeting every-other Friday from 10:00 pm to Midnight (or as late as 2:00 am) Posted by Hawke at June 11. 2014 Greetings, Here is our forum discussion thread for the the late night Merlyn's gaming group. We will be starting first with Original D&D; boxed set, and then as 5th edition becomes available, consider either switching, or adding a 5th edition campaign. Here is information for getting started, with gaming schedule: Initially OD&D; Greyhawk Campaign. Hawke will DM first, then alternate with John Waite DMing the next, and back and forth. We meet every 2 weeks, Sundays at 9:00 pm. Though "officially" 9:00 pm to Midnight, if we're all up for it (like the "good ol' days"), we'll play later. Hawke currently will DM: June 29th, July 27th, August 24th. John will DM: July 13th, August 10th, and September 7th. As 5th Edition becomes available, we will likely start a new 5th Edition campaign as long as group lasts/holds together and schedules continue to permit, and as long as the system is decent. In addition to this forum on spokanerpg.com for this group under Group 5 (Merlyn's Late Night Gaming Group) So on this site we can all find in one location the various logs, maps, etc. that can easily be made available, but without the spaminess of G+ or FB, etc. I have also setup a private email discussion list if everyone is on board with that too: group5@spokanerpg.com though it will not work with anyone using Microsoft-based email addresses (MS is jerky about blocking small traffic servers), but everyone else can use it (gmail, yahoo, everyone but MS-based like Live/bing/msn/outlook/etc). To subscribe, either email me directly and I will add you, or send a blank email to: group5-subscribe@spokanerpg.com , then check for a verification email and reply to it (double check spam folder) you should see it within a few minutes (1 to 15 minutes). To post in the forum, simple go to http://www.spokanerpg.com and register. See you all soon!

Posted by Hawke at October 17. 2014 (blatant Tolkien paraphrase) Regarding healing through skills rather than "magic". No one has to play a dedicated "healer" class if they do not wish. Fighters learn to patch up some of their own wounds (if they wish), druids and rangers use nature's resources when available, etc. Remember that I will be allowing/using a rich resource for herbs and herb lore in this game. No one is required to have any knowledge in this area, you can just rely on the NPC world to help out if needed (when available of course), but if interested in different paths to healing besides the standard spell-casting.... The following skills need to be picked as skill proficiencies, they will not work effectively if not proficient (can't use raw ability score). The Medicine (WIS) skill, includes knowing what herbs to use to heal, but wouldn't know about where they grow best and wouldn't be any better than others at finding them in the wild, they would know what to ask for if at a(n) herbalist's hut/shop/cave. This skill also includes the correct preparation and use of the herbs to the maximal healing benefit of the intended target. The Nature (INT) skill would be best at _knowing_ different types of herbs and where they should be searched for in the wild. But would not be applied to actually find them when searching in the wild. This would also include the correct methods for extraction, storage, and transport to keep the herbs as fresh as possible, and if the herb can be used with little-to-no modification, then what it would be used best for. If requires any kind of significant processing, then would need to rely on the Medicine skill for that knowledge. Perception (WIS) and/or Survival (WIS) could be used to actually find the various desired herbs once the searcher knew what to look for and where. So, if someone wanted to be really strong in herb healing lore and seeking, they would want to pick at least two from Medicine, Nature, and/or Perception or Survival. This encourages the PCs to work together in the different aspects of herb-lore, but also means the whole party _can_ survive without a dedicated healer class if needed. Feedback and suggestions very much welcomed. This is a first draft for 5e, so very much open to adjustment. FYI, I will be using a modified version of the ICE MERP Hands of the Healer for the herb list. Depending on your skill background, you would receive a different version of the list with differing information. If somehow a PC has all 4 skills trained/chosen/developed (Medicine, Nature, Perception, Survival), then that PC could have a copy of the complete list.

Posted by Hawke at October 18. 2014 Since folks are rightly asking the current situation of things for the start of the campaign, short of reading through all the wiki pages and getting a more thorough knowledge of things so far, here is a short summary of relevant events most PCs would be aware starting out.... The High Elven Empire is in slow decline though still the greatest in power (a close analog would be the Roman Empire in decline). In the power vacuum of their withdrawal, wars erupted. It was Uther Pendragon years ago that first began the dream of a unified human kingdom instead of many squabbling warlords. But it took his son Arturias (Arthur), with the help of Merlinus to stabilize and hold that dream. Now Camelot is a reality, and the unified kingdom of Regnum Sapientium has steadily ruled in relative peace for decades. However... The illegitimate son of Arturias, Mordred has been building forces in other lands, and over the past several years has been taking entire kingdoms across the seas, and growing his forces ever larger. He has declared publicly he is coming to seize what he feels is his rightful throne from his father... Meanwhile, the summers have been growing shorter, and the winters longer, and the great ice of the north is steadily creeping farther south with each passing year. With this change, the Northrons are becoming bolder and more aggressively testing the northern boundaries of Sapientium. The humans of Sapientium are highly superstitious, mostly ignorant/uneducated/illiterate, and completely untrusting of non-humans of any kind. Any PC that is not human is strongly advised to use either an effective disguise or keep the hood of their cloak over their heads to obscure their ethnicity. Though since Port Balcoth is a major port city, they are less likely to get violent with most races (though elves are the most despised, and the local guards might decide to "detain you for your own safety"), most PCs will find they won't get any regular services beyond the docks, in town if they are not human. And when traveling farther inland, the prejudices are typically worse until getting to the east, west, and north borders of the kingdom. There is a small reward for the body of any cats. Rumors abound that they are servants of Mordred's forces, so in recent years they have been wiped out. While before only a few pence were offered, now one can get several pounds in payment for the body of a rare surviving cat. The black ones are the most valuable. Meanwhile, everyone is complaining that the vermin have been getting worse in recent years, and they blame Mordred, or "Evil spirits" for the infestations of rodents and other critters. Each of the PCs have come to Port Balcoth, the largest of the Sapientium ports (on the southern border). It has been sacked in with impenetrable fog for days now. Ships can't come in or leave safely. The few that have tried have met with unfortunate results. Worse yet, rumors abound that the near southern Islan of Grecos (south of the Thrikeenius) has been attacked by Mordreds fleet, and that they are going to next attack somewhere along the southern shores of Sapientium. The port is packed full of people wishing to flee before the supposedly imminent war. The harbor is overflowing with ships of all kinds, coastal and deeper sea-faring vessels from many lands. The inns are packed to overflowing, and the streets filled with soldiers. There are watches all along the entire southern coast of Sapientium. Combined with the fog, despite the pack of bodies, there is a waiting hush over the port city. Those of you that just arrived have heard rumors that it is no longer the fog keeping all the ships at bay, but that Mordred's Armada has already arrived and has created an impregnable wall of ships so that no one can escape. But so far this sounds like just one of the many rumors floating around in the numbingly cold oppressive fog. For various personal reasons, you have each come to Port Balcoth. You have been asked to wait in the common room of Numien's Inn & Tavern. Your room was already reserved for you by your contact. And you have been told to wait there, keeping as low a profile as you can, until your contact appears in person. Some of you have been here a few days (if came by sea), others have just arrived (if by land)...

Posted by Hawke at January 19. 2015 Sorry to drive you stir crazy. Things will start back up in February. Thank you so much for your patience. Remember to be careful about focusing too much on mechanics, and go with what makes the most sense from a story approach, especially related to your character's background, motivations, etc. Rather than focusing on trying to get the most out fo the mechanics. It will be more rewarding if you base your choices on what fits your character's story  in the long run than a few extra points advantage for maximizing game rules.

Posted by Thurmin at November 27. 2014 Follow Up:   I'm all over the board, at one point I liked the idea of Bard 2/Ranger 1/Cleric 17. Then I was all about Fighter 3/Cleric 17. Again Wizard 3/Cleric 17. Now? I haven't the foggiest. I just know that I like the idea of planning it out and until I get a final answer to all my pesky annoying questions and inquiries I'll probably continue to map out my advancement. Probably end up playing straight Cleric in the long run, due to how the game progression functions (class based advancement, not level based) but I don't know.   I've a thirst for the game and this time off for holidays is driving me stir-crazy.