Merry Christmas!

 

Maztica Campaign Interlude - The Five Flagons Tavern

In Which the Adventurers Recruit Some Hirelings...

(What Has Gone Before) 

The Five Flagons Tavern is a favourite amongst the city guardsmen, mercenaries, and adventurers of Athkatlos, and so is normally a sedate location for a drink or two before retiring for the evening.  

Not so this evening, however.

As Esparelda the Cranky Gnome and João Afonso, the Ranger approached, the sound of laughter and raucous song greeted them.

"Humans..." said Esparelda, "...always drunk."

"They don't sound drunk..." said João Afonso. "That's sounds like a hymn they're singing."

Surely enough, upon entering, the pair of adventurers saw a clutch of guards and mercenaries, banging their tankards in reverent unison. In the center of the guards, half-ascended upon a bar-stool, Osondria was leading a chorus of the Song of Helm "And we shall rise up in the morning, before his guiding liiiiight!"

Seeing Gnome and Ranger staring, open mouthed, at her revival, Osondria told the singer on her right "Take over, brother..." and alighted from her perch to greet her new partners. The guard immediately took up the strain "O Helm, our Strength in Ages Past."

"Just spreading the Faith." Osondria said to the puzzled looks with a smile. She had three brimming tankards in hand.

"We're not here to drink." said Esparelda, a little crossly. "We're here to recruit some muscle for the drains."

"I've got that covered." said Osondria. "There's mostly loners here tonight, except those two..." She indicated an alcove where two mercs were nursing their tankards. "They've been pacing themselves pretty well - I'd guess they're short of money.

"That's a touchy topic, here." said João Afonso. "No-one likes to admit they're short..." Esparelda shot him a look. "...of cash." he finished.

"Perhaps I can save us some time." said Osondria, placing a coin on the bar and gathering up a half dozen tankards. She walked slowly towards the alcove, with a more-than-slightly exaggerated sway to her hips.

"Is she actually strutting her stuff? asked Esparelda.

"I would say so...yes." replied Joao Afonse.

The gnome and ranger watched while the cleric, bending low from the hip, placed the tankards on the mercs' table and greeted them with what sounded like "Hello, boys".

"Did you see that? She flashed them some cleavage!" said Esparelda.

"That's not easy when you're wearing maille, either." said João Afonso. 

After a minute or two in conversation, Osondria shot them a smile and a "thumbs up". The pair approached the alcove to work out the hiring details.

(Editor's note: In Real Life, the gnome works in corporate contracts, and the ranger is a lawyer. I'll leave it to the dear reader's imagination what the hiring details were, save that there were death and dismemberment clauses; compensation for widows, heirs and next of kin, and the standard rate of pay. The results were placed into a ledger that was shortly thereafter mis-laid, to the betterment of all concerned.) 

Diego Garzia and Ferdinando Poe

As the newly formed (and probably incorporated) party prepared to leave, including the now rather tipsy man-at-arms Diego Garzia and his crossbowman associate Ferdinando Poe, Esparelda confronted Osondria.

"Hey! Where does a cleric learn how to navigate a tavern that well?" asked the gnome.

"Not to mention practically seducing those guys into service." added the ranger.

"Well..." said Osondria, with a smile. "I'm a cleric...not a monk." 

And she winked at the both of them...

To Be Continued...

The Maztica Campaign Interlude - That Stinking Sewer...

In which the Player Characters Negotiate for More Money...
 
(What Has Gone Before...)

The Adventuring Party, having disengaged from their bloody investigation of the storm sewers beneath the Gem District of Athkatlos, received rest, healing and recuperation at the Temple of Tymora, Goddess of Luck and Fortune. In addition, they have formed a short-term partnership with a cleric of Helm Hammerhand, the Lawful Good/Lawful Neutral protector deity of Faerûn, who apparently had something of a Divine Fling with Tymora - so, at least someone got lucky.

After consulting with their patron, Voil Guldi - Dwarven Gem Master, they sought to negotiate a 50% increase on their retainer...

Heer Güldi

"What?!" thundered Guldi. "Has the sewer beneath these streets, since first I hired you, grown by half again?" 

"No" said Esparelda the Cranky Gnome. "But your problem has. There's definitely a blockage, and now we know it's caused by kobolds."

"A lot of kobolds..." added João Afonso, the Ranger. "Nasty ones..."

"Very nasty kobolds, indeed..." said Esparelda. "Organised, too."

"If you leave it, this sort of trouble only gets worse...." said João Afonso.

"They're probably sneaking up to the streets at night...stealing..." said Esparelda, ''...valuables."

"...and spreading disease..." said João Afonso. To Esparelda: "Say, do you think kobolds can spread Typhoid?"

"Wouldn't be surprised..." said Esparelda. "Last night, my arm was itching like an iron golem on a rust-monster, before the priestess cured me..."

"All right, All Right, ALL RIGHT!" stormed Guldi. "I know when I'm being wrung through the wine-press." He sighed.  "But you're probably right - the ink on this deal's getting redder as we speak." 

Seeing the puzzled looks on Esparelda and João Afonso, Guldi explained, in a tone generally reserved for thicker-than-usual, "just looking" tourists,  "This is becoming less of an inconvenience and more of a problem." he said.

The dwarf crossed to his ledger, and made a notation with a nearby quill, then drew a handful of gold coins out of a lockbox. One after another, on a chequered board, he counted the coins into two neat stacks of ten, and a half stack of five, each on its own red square.

"Let it not be said that we do things in a miserly way in Athkatlos..." said Guldi, grandly. "Here is your additional advance, 25 danthers, with a balance of 50 danth...IF...you clear the blockage and get rid of those wretched kobolds." He presented a receipt,  "Sign here, please."

The Ranger and Gnome exchanged satisfied looks, collected the coins, thanked their patron, and headed over to the Five Flagons Tavern, where they arranged to meet their new partner - the cleric Osondria - and see about hiring on some men-at-arms.

To be continued...

Trolls - Old School Dave Sutherland Style

Troll Attack!

Most persons, reading the Lord of the Rings will agree, I suspect, when I say that the creatures proferred as "Trolls" by E.Gary Gygax, are indeed not "Trolls" - at least, not in the Tolkien sense, and therefore not recognisable by anyone who came to Dungeons & Dragons by way of the "LotR" trilogy.

Tolkien's trolls were hulking, scaly brutes, formed from stone, by the first Dark Lord; Morgoth. As creatures made by the uttermost evil, against the intention of the One True God, trolls, much like orcs, are - in Professor Tolkien's words - "utterly irredeemable and damned". 

They are also the Intellectual Property of the Tolkien Estate, and perhaps more importantly, in forma juris, of Elan Merchandising a.k.a. Tolkien Enterprises - a legal Balrog, standing astride the bridge, if ever there was.

So Gary Gygax, who at the time was already in heated waters with any entity that had "Tolkien" in their incorporative documents, over (inter alia) using the term "Hobbit" without a license, made to steer clear of any more legal hurdles, and went with the gangly, green, regenerative creatures we now indulgently call "Trolls" in D&D, and first drawn by David C Sutherland III in the original 1974 boxed set.

(In defense of E.G.G., Tolkien's copyrights in the late 60's and early 70's were an international mess, and becoming entangled was not very difficult....) 

by David C.Sutherland III ©1977 TSR/Wizards of the Coast

This rather long introduction seemed necessary in order for your humble writer to explain why he started running an AD&D game with miniatures, when he had nothing for trolls.  Nothing for "Gygaxian Trolls", that is. Now that some trolls are needed - where to find them with the right look...

Back in 1993, Ral Partha produced the classic Sutherland Troll in 25mm, under license with TSR.

Figure by Ral Partha Miniatures

The Ral Partha troll I recently bought on eBay was a bit pricey - I can't at this time determine whether it's currently out-of-production, as the jumbled mess that Ral Partha calls a website is down for maintenance at the moment. I paid about $30 USD for mine, wanting something for reasons of comparison. I also wanted to find something with which I could build a band of trolls.

Enter Otherworld Miniatures (again!). They do an excellent 28mm version of the Sutherland "thin, rubbery and loathesome" troll that requires fire or acid to kill with finality.

Figure by Otherworld Miniatures

The figure comes in a five-part kit (legs/torso, two arms, two heads, plus a plastic base. The arms are cast with socket-nubbins to help fix their position whilst they are glued on, and the head can be fixed any angle you like.  The feet also have more pin-like nubbins, for attaching to the plastic base.

The model has smooth, clean lines with almost no casting marks - the lumpy pseudo-buboes from the Sutherland illo are also present, along with some pock marks; leading one to believe that trolls are singularly unhealthy creatures.

From these comparison pictures, the reader will be able to see that the Otherworld troll scales well with the older, 25mm, Ral Partha one. Especially where monstrous humanoids are concerned, uniformity of size is less important than an agreement in style.

Otherworld Miniatures vs. Ral Partha size comparison

Animation: 5

Detail: 5

Proportions: 5

Relate-ability: 5

Variety:5

Final Verdict: 5 out of 5. Excellent miniature and more on order...

Campaign Miniatures for the Player Characters

Finding appropriate miniatures for the player characters can prove to be challenging, but what great satisfaction when you succeed.

Derek's character, João Afonso Villalobos, is a chaotic good Ranger, of poor, landed yeoman status. His name is, to quote the player "an unholy combination of Spanish and Portuguese..." 

Figure by Ral Partha Miniatures

João Afonso's miniature is a Ral Partha Forgotten Realms Hero "Tristan" with the bow removed (and with a shield scheduled for addition in the not-too-distant future). The miniature is currently OOP - mine was had from eBay.

His jupon, sewn by his mother, carries his house "colours", since, while not of noble birth, his father, Senior Tinian D'Lanni Villalobos, maintains the family is impoverished nobility, and insists João Afonso wear his colours with pride. In keeping with the spirit of the character, his colours are an unholy combination of the coats of arms of Spain and Portugal.

Finding a miniature for Megan's character, Esperalda Ragosa, the Cranky Gnome, was harder. There's not a lot of demand for Female Rogue Gnomes, and my first purchase, a New School piece of plastic, proved to be an error (more on that, anon).

Figure by Reaper Miniatures

However, a proper metal miniature was found. Reaper Miniatures "Ingrid" which fit the bill nicely. My only wish is that the sculptor made the miniature to look more "Gnome-y" (with a bigger, pointier nose and less "Halfling-y". Still, I'm grateful for the figure.

Finally, there had been plans for a half-elven third player, but scheduling and a reluctance to engage in simple "Dungeon Crawling" (lulz) resulted in them being dropped from the campaign. Instead, a half-elven cleric was inserted as a primary NPC.

Figure by Reaper Miniatures

Once again, I found what I was looking for at Reaper Miniatures**: Christina the Devout. I had to file off the holy symbol, but this cleric obviously means business. The miniature now represents Osondria D'Esserain of Waterdeep, Acolyte of Helm.

**Really, I should learn - check Reaper Miniatures first.

Finally the two Hirelings; Diego Garcia and Ferdinand Po. These are part of the two Outlands Miniatures "Brigands" pack. I thought they fit the "Desperate Hirelings" description pretty well.

Figures by Outlands Miniatures

And so, having hired some muscle, the Party prepares to REenter the sewers beneath Athkatlos...What Excitement Awaits Them?...

Half-Orcs, Rats and Kobolds

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

These Half-Orcs are old Grenadier/Mirliton casts. One of the players in my AD&D 1E game made a joke about skipping out on their contract with the Coin Lords of Athkatlos, I decided to paint these as a potential Brute Squad, to send against them; should they break their bond, these guys will break their legs.

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

There's also a half-orc assassin, also Grenadier/Mirliton, for the subtler approach:

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

The rat packs are from Ral Partha, for their AD&D line. My set has been gathering dust for 20 years, as I originally had intended to use them for a game of Call of Cthulhu, but the opportunity passed. Now that I'm running a table-top RPG/combat game of AD&D, these rats will prove useful again.

25mm Giant Rats from Ral Partha

Finally, some plastic Kobold Characters from Reaper Miniatures (Bones). Let me start off by stating that I don't like painting plastic figures. The detail usually isn't as fine as metal, the medium doesn't accept paint as well (even if primed) and the miniatures bend/break more easily and are more difficult to repair.)

(I will have a longer, more critical post on plastics, the economy of the New School, Corporate Games and other jolly topics, out shortly...)

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

All things considered, these came out halfway decent - except half-decent isn't all-the-way decent. I just noticed I forgot to paint the weight-stones on the back of the spellcaster's cloak (sigh).

Left side is the tribal spellcaster - either a cleric/witch doctor or a magic user/shaman. Usually very helpful to throw the players and their carefully-laid plans into confusion. On the right is the chieftain/leader. I realised after finishing him that he's probably supposed to be wearing a combination of chaine maille and leather, not steel. Oh well...plastics.

There's another 20 common warrior kobolds that are waiting on the paint blocks. Now that I've found some Reaper Kobolds in glorious metal, I don't think I'll be finishing them...

The Maztica Campaign Interlude - Reinforcements

 (What Has Gone Before)

Osondria D'esserain, Cleric of Helm (Elmore)

As suspected, the PCs, after escaping the kobold-infested sewer, realised they needed a cleric. So on to the Temple District (which is now mostly townhouses for the wealthy) and up the Street of Seven Altars to the Temple of Tymora.

The Acolytes were very helpful; wounds were healed, baths made available, and clean robes provided ("In all charity friends, you reek of the midden. The Laundress will surely earn her keep on the morrow...") and a simple-but-hardy stew was served ("We harvest the mussels ourselves, from the mouth of the river!"). 

All for a moderate donation. "All Coin is Good, but Gold is Best. It Guarantees a Blissful Rest..."

The next morning, in the Refectory, over fresh fruit, bread and cheese, the PCs inquired if any of the temple clergy were available for hire.

"Regrettably, no..." they were informed. "Our duties preclude. But if it's a cleric you seek, mayhap the All-Seeing Helm has sent you one, unlooked for? She meditates in our garden."

"I don't think we're hiring out..."

In the garden, which was really a herb garden with some flowers planted here and there, knelt a dark-haired female cleric, in prayerful meditation. After a moment, she concluded her meditations with the sign of Helm (which looks a lot like the Black Power fist, only the hand is reversed. So really, it looks like signing to a trucker to blow his air horn, without the pumping motion.)

The PCs introduced themselves, explained their interests, and the tall cleric responded. "I am Osondria D'esserain of Waterdeep, Acolyte of Helm Hammer-Hand. I too arrived in this city intending to join the new Golden Legion, but I was delayed upon the road and my party slain, and missed my chance to sail. It seems to me that we three are destined to meet this day, so I will join you, until such time as transport to New Amn can be arranged...

...and an equal share of any treasure. For the Church, you know."

"We know." said Ranger and Gnome in unison.

To be continued...