Attronarch's Athenaeum

Campaign journals, reviews of TTRPG stuff, and musings on D&D.

#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Destiny
Question How
Mood Proud
Subject Lesson

Prompt interpretation:

How does one learn about their destiny whilst retaining their pride?

One must pay the price of foresight; nothing in Barbarian Altanis is given for free. Strange folk of Queans Waste yell in reverence of the Great Prophet of P'than; Onsiler of the Temple of Azure Dreams is said to be a marvellous diviner; Minarax of Barath has thus foretold all dangers and led orcs to dominance of sulphur mines; Zantrin of the Grove of Serenity is haunted by a strange prophecy. And lest it be forgotten—adventurers create their own destiny.

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Adventurers

Character Race Class Description
Dalkanarion Human Fighter level 5 A youthful specimen in full strength, full of purpose, bluster, and eagerness to prove himself.
Nandos Dwarf Fighter level 1 Grew weary of clan politics and doing low level hired muscle work, so decided to become an adventurer instead.
Ambros Human Cleric level 6 Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Sted Jalen Human Assassin level 1 A mass of burnt scar tissue hidden by layers and layers of actors' slap. Rather taciturn.
Tikatu Human Druid level 1 A dirty little ma with dark and dirty skin, wearing loincloth with no back. “What will be, will be” is his favourite aphorism.
Tobias Lindflags Hobbit Thief level 1 A sixth-born son standing to gain nothing from inheritance, so he set out to make his own fortune in the world.

Sweetrain 6th, Airday

“Lay down your weapons, and you shall be spared!” Dalkanarion thundered as he barreled into the chamber. Awe-struck brigands threw down their weapons. They spent two days barricaded in the improvised sleeping chambers. They reeked of vinegar and urine.

Quick interrogation revealed these four brigands fled during the initial onslaught and then locked themselves into the chamber just south of the sleeping quarters. This room was used by two brigand leaders, as well as the fugitive wizard himself. Three of them were escorted upstairs.

Sted took aside the remaining prisoner, knife to his ribs, and forced him to open the footlocker by one of the bedrolls. He acted upon previous intelligence suggesting that one of the lockers is trapped. Lady Fortune smiled upon the bandit, and he opened the untrapped one. Dalkanarion smashed the other locker with the pommel of his sword. Both contained a fine assortment of coins.

Ambros was fascinated by the desk on the south-east side of the room. It was large wooden desk, very out of place and obviously dragged in. Shelves next to it were empty. There was but a single rectangular wooden box resting on the desk.

Nandos investigated the construction of the chamber. He played with sconces, since that brought him great fame just a day or so ago. Alas, nothing now. No secret doors, no secret passageways. Just plain old sconces.

Dalkanarion and Ambros took turns inspecting the wooden box. Nothing. Finally, they picked it up. Lightweight. Clanking sound, like something is inside. Once Ambros had the box in hand he could clearly see a thin groove running around the circumference of the box, just by it's right end. He popped it open. A scroll was inside.

“That's a trap.” Sted warned.

Ambros took out the scroll. Sted Jalen fell back to the doors, keeping the prisoner in front of him. He waved Nandos to come closer too, just in case. Dalkanarion stood right next to Ambros, ready for any danger that might arise.

High Priest slowly unfurled the scroll. Text on it was written in overly elaborate cursive script, with very flowery and ornamental details. Ambros concentrated. It was Common, albeit in a difficult to read script.

“Can you” he struggled with the first line, “greedy bastards” second was even more difficult to read, “even read” but third was much easier.

The last thing Sted Jalen saw in his life were Ambros and Dalkanarion engulfed in a ball of flame. He crouched behind the brigand prisoner, but man in front of him melted, and so did Sted. Blast wave broke his charred bones, reducing him to nothing but a pile of ashes. Only the shield remained.

Nandos did not fare much better. Dwarves might be sturdy, but this dwarf was not sturdy enough to take fire ball to his face. His beard singed, his armour melted and fused with his flesh and bones, and his remains were strewn about by the blast wave. Crooked great helm was all that was left.

Ambros and Dalkanarion on the other hand did manage to survive fire ball to their face. Both were left completely hairless, and butt naked. Golden Gavel resisted the impact and remained intact. Oathkeeper too. All the treasure and other valuables in the chamber were gone.

Illustration by Brulligrum.

Cleric and Fighter coughed, apologised to the corpses of dead adventurers, squared their shoulders, corrected their posture, and walked out. It was important not to lose face in front of their holy army. Marlon looked upon them in horror.

The duo was escorted outside. Dalkanarion donned his old plate mail, while Ambros was given chain mail, and mace by one of his followers. Five captured brigands accepted the offer to join Dalk's Devils “or else.” Adventurers rested overnight, preparing to descend into Racoba's Redoubt next morning.

Sweetrain 7th, Waterday

Four adventurers—Ambros, Dalkanarion, Tikatu, and Tobias Lindflags—backed by Marlon and two squads of heavy footmen, descended into the underground complex. Tikatu was a dirty, little man, whom was attracted by the campfire. He was happy to join for an adventure. Tobias Lindflags on the other hand was a well dressed and well spoken hobbit, interested in wealth creating exercises. Little did he know what fate had suffered adventurers associating with the might Dalkanarion and pious Ambros.

Judging the antechamber to be cleared, they commanded Marlon to guard the chamber just south of it. Flies buzzed in numbers as nearly two dozen corpses rotted away. Marlon and ten heavy footmen dispersed through the chamber, taking key positions, ensuring that whatever comes from beyond the Black Obelisk gets obliterated.

Adventurers and a squad of heavy footmen proceeded into the chamber with four statues. From there they investigated the north exit. They passed a dead-end corridor and a small empty chamber. The corridor eventually turned left, into a web-infested chamber. Approaching it resulted with three ugly, giant spiders charging out of the web. They assaulted Ambros and Dalkanarion with fury.

The duo took many bites and scratches. Ambros slumped after every bite, but somehow managed to resist the poison injected into his bloodstream. Must be the Divine Intervention itself. Tikatu, a wise man of the nature, backed off. Tobias crawled back, whistled for reinforcements, and then waved them in the right direction.

The fight was brutal. Spiders bit and bit and bit. They were not so hard to hit, but their carapace was tough and thick. Ambros hit here and there, but his mace did not do much damage. Dalkanarion missed several times, but whenever he hit, he did do much damage. Tobias, eager to prove himself to these new folk, cooked up a plan. He would climb the wall, hang from the ceiling, and then drop down on one of the spiders. That would surely surprise it, and he would deliver a might backstab that would instantly kill it.

Hobbit turned to the wall, but immediately fell down. “Ugh, slippery hands” he laughed nervously. He did succeed on his next attempt. He went up, then sideways, and then on top the spider. He dropped on the monster, failed to penetrate its carapace, and then rolled right off it. The spider rewarded his courage with a string bite. Tobias survived the bite. He crawled away, protected by the feet of heavy footmen.

Dalkanarion took out two giant spiders, while heavy footmen took out one. The party investigated the webbed chamber closely. They had no interest in being surprised from behind by more spiders. They found little more than several desiccated corpses wrapped in webs. Several hundred coins and a gems were rewards for their effort.

Judging they had enough, the party returned to the surface. Ambros and Dalkanarion ordered retreat back to the Cedarwade Keep. The force was mobilised and they reached it by the end of Sweetrain 8th.

Will they have time to rest?

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Sign
Question What
Mood Envious
Subject Rule

Prompt interpretation:

What is a sign that rule was made in envy?

If a rule exists only to curb a player or character that has been successful, in game terms, whilst playing by the rules fairly and candidly, then that is a pretty good signal that the rule might have been formulated in spite.

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Renew
Question What
Mood Proud
Subject Lesson

Prompt interpretation:

What lessons should be renewed with pride?

  1. Players need to be left alone to make their own decisions, be they ruinous or fortuitous.
  2. Judge is not just an arbiter of rules, but facilitator of the game as well.
  3. Tone of the game is set by the Judge and Players in union, but the former is the one who maintains it throughout.

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Overcome
Question Where
Mood Excited
Subject Character

Prompt interpretation:

Where can characters expect to get overcome with excitment?

The vault of notorious dark elf Lesyraen Kilduis is rumoured to hold riches beyond mortal comprehension. Little is known of, or about him, except that he was extreme even by the Woelands standards. He was last spotted in the Wilderlands couple of years ago, searching for something in Hara valley and Eyestone jungle.

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Deceive
Question How
Mood Envious
Subject Adventure

Prompt interpretation:

How does one deceive envious adventurers?

Easy. Be nice to them. Pay them. Give them gifts. Ask for help. Compliment them. Tell them what great heroes they are. Tell them they are fighting for freedom and for good of the people. Offer to run their estate for them while they are away, adventuring. Give them what they are asking for and be grateful for it. Spread rumours to turn local populace against them. Offer your help to “calm the situation down.” Don't challenge them face on, you will surely lose. Instead get them to self-destruct. Hang them the noose and they'll take care of everything else.

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Mystery
Question Who
Mood Proud
Subject Rule

Prompt interpretation:

Who takes pride in mystifying rules?

I... I don't know? I hope that most of the mystifying, perplexing, and obtuse rules stem from incompetence and lack of writerly rigour and discipline, than some perverted source of pride. “Huhu, my rules can only be understood by most dedicated scholars.” There will be no scholars if your game sucks. HackMaster 4E was deliberately written with a very tongue-in-cheek tone, drenched in High Gygaxian, so perhaps that one would qualify as taking pride in deliberate mystification. Oh, what a pity that it isn't readily available any more!

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Darkness
Question Who
Mood Excited
Subject Rule

Prompt interpretation:

Who gets excited by rules relating to darkness?

Surely not players!

Especially when I inform them their elf or dwarf still can't see in the dark because they were gazing straight into torch/lantern/coin with continual light just moments ago.

Now their eyes need time to adjust to pitch black.

How long? Alas, only one way to find out. Will you stand in darkness until you see once again? Or would you prefer to light another torch and see the horrors that await you?

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Goodman Games has put up their whole 3E and 4E catalogue up for sale, with most of the publications going for $1. See my previous “throwback sale” recommendations here. Spend responsibly!

#Sale #GG

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#RPGaDAY2025

Prompt Result
Daily Path
Question Why
Mood Grateful
Subject Person

Prompt interpretation:

Why am I grateful for encountering Robert Conley on my path?

I am grateful for meeting a great deal of people on my gaming path, but today I wish to share more about my encounters with Rob. When I set out to run a new campaign, I was mesmerised by Wilderlands of High Fantasy, one of the original D&D settings.

That was quite recently, in 2022, and I quickly realised I have arrived to the party quite late. Judges Guild was gone, courtesy of ill behaviour from its owner, print copies that were once cheap, were now difficult to get, and digital stuff mostly existed as fan made supplements. But I found Rob was selling his updated maps of the Wilderlands. I bought them all! And then I picked Barbarian Altanis as the campaign starting point.

I quickly realised something was off on the map, and reached out to Rob. He sent quite a thoughtful and exhaustive reply. That's when I started to pay more attention to his work—Blackmarsh, Majestic Fantasy RPG, and Points of Light in particular. Since then Rob published an amazing how-to guide on sandbox campaigns and Majestic Fantasy Realms, a spiritual successor to Wilderlands.

Besides that, I found him to be generous with his time and insight, which is indeed vast after playing and running open-ended sandbox campaigns for over forty years. How could I not be grateful to be able to learn from such a fellow!

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