THe ScrOLl

Okay, for the benefit of those of you who are not subscribed to the Dogsmail e-list, the biggest news in DOGS right now is that Rick has stepped down as President of our humble club. All I have to say is that sometimes life gets in the way of gaming. I wish Rick the best and hope he finds his way quickly through troubled times.

And although I feel that DOGS was much more active and enthusiastic with Rick in charge than it has been in previous years, I trust that the club will once again survive through hardships. Uh, just so you know, it’s not like we’re not going to see him ever again-he’s just not going to be the President anymore.

On a side note: remember that we officers are all volunteers, and often end up spending a lot of time trying to run games days, and argue with RPGA HQ online about why we haven’t received our events yet, and often give up playing in events ourselves to run the slot zeroes. Do we do it for the reward, the royalty checks from product endorsements, and the groupie chicks that flock to guys like us? No. We do it because we love the game. And often because no one else will do it.

Here’s something to think about. Ask anyone who’s served a term as DOGS President if they would do it again. Um, actually I think Bruce might be the only one left who’s still around. But at the next Con ask Bruce if he would. Last time we asked, the answer was “no” and that seemed to be a common theme with everyone we asked before the last election. With that kind of attrition rate, you had better believe that the job is a great deal of work with very little reward. Just try to remember that at the next games day. And maybe take a moment to pick up some trash and help fold some tables before vacating Ratik Con.
A parting quote from Rick (in Arnold’s voice):
“You all are great, but I still crush you.”

If anyone has any feedback (and based on the apathy field that’s been generated around this island by the warm weather and lack of trade winds-I can almost guarantee that nobody does) please email me, or post a comment to the dogsmail list at yahoogroups.

May 12th: Ratik Con
June 16-17: Forgecon
July 14-15: Aloha Con
August 25-26: Ubercon

Scott Hantsch: 1
Tyler Dodd: 2
Andreas Cross: 1
Andreas Cross, our Swedish national club member, is the winner of last months quiz. He managed to score 3 out of 4 correct responses and now has earned bragging rights over the rest of you simple-minded dullards who lack enough of a brain stem to get your name up on the scoreboard (no offense). Also, special thanks to Tyler for not submitting an answer this month…

• What is Alhandra’s melee attack bonus?
  +10 (+5 base attack for a 5th level Paladin, +3 Strength bonus, +2 competence bonus from Inspire Greatness). Note: Inspire Courage grants no bonus because it’s effects expire at the end of round 6. Also note, that her Weapon Focus in longsword does not grant a bonus to hit since she is armed with a battleaxe (I caught one person with that one).
• How much damage can Alhandra inflict in melee?
  1d8+3 with a x3 crit rating on the battleaxe. Once again she does not get the +1 damage bonus from inspire courage since it expires before the fight starts (because Dervis is an amateur bard unlike Olias Windthorn of Raven’s Bluff).
• What is Alhandra’s AC?
  23 (10 base, +5 chainmail armor, +2 large shield, +2 Dexterity mod, +4 haste bonus). True, the maximized cat’s grace gives her an 18 Dexterity, which is normally a +4 bonus, but chainmail has a Max Dex bonus to AC of +2. Also note that mage armor does not help one bit since she already has a +5 armor bonus from the chainmail and another +4 armor bonus will not stack. As one test-taker noted, yes she would have a higher AC if she just chucked the armor.
• What deity does Alhandra worship?
  Okay, while there were a lot of good guesses, the answer is right there in the character sketch of Alhandra on page 41 of the PHB. You may all note that the holy symbol of HEIRONEOUS is clearly tattooed on her arm.

Here’s the situation: Krusk the Barbarian (of PHB pg. 25 fame) is in the midst of a brutal fight.

First he begins raging to hack his way through some gnoll warriors. He gets hit with a poisoned dart that inflicts 2 points of Strength damage. He then gets hit by a ray of enfeeblement that drains another 3 points of Strength. Just as his rage ends, the shaman that poisoned and enfeebled him lies helpless at his feet. Although no longer raging, Krusk is still plenty angry and decides to coup de grace the shaman.
What’s the maximum amount of damage that Krusk can inflict?
Krusk, male half-orc Barbarian. Str 18, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 7, Wis 9, Cha 12. Hide armor, Large Shield, Battleaxe. Feats: Power Attack, Toughness.

On 4/8/01 a number of DOGS members got together to play a points game of "Rapid Fire". It was the summer of 1943, Kursk. Although both Russians and Germans suffered heavy losses the "Red Army" squeaked by with a narrow victory by controlling more structures by games end....

May 12, 2001 May Con/Open (for single members or those married members brave enough to game on mothers day weekend).

June 10, 2001, "Rapid Fire" D-Day/Omaha Beach, American beach landing on the Normandy coast. Simply put, will the Americans survive

June 16-17, 2001 June Con/Open

The location of the May 6 game is yet to be determined. The following members are currently on the roster for the May 6 game: Scott, Steve, George, Bruce and Richard. Other interested members please contact Eric Bello 621-0497 eves 6-9pm or at belloemail@aol.com. The D-Day games should be great!

Living Greyhawk Update

Okay there have been some complaints about the processing of regional events for our home region of Ratik. Once again for those of you who missed out on my online announcements, the major problem was that RPGA HQ drastically underestimated the amount of time that would be required in processing something along the lines of 250 plus scenarios per year.

Their solution has been to restructure the submission process. The new way we will be submitting modules (I’m speaking now as Matt the triad member, not Matt the editor), will give the triads greater empowerment over the selection and scheduling of regional events. In return, the Circle will (hopefully) be able to process and give us feedback within a reasonable amount of time. However, as part of the submission process we are required to plan out our schedule of events way in advance-as in 9 months to a year in advance. So even though we’ve still got 6 regional events to process before the end of 2001 (which is the official end of year one in the LG campaign), we’ve already got to start plotting out our modules for the first quarter of 2002.

Wish List for the Scroll I know some of you must be getting tired of my ramblings about various stuff, so please please please send me stuff to include in the Scroll. Here’s some things I would like to see:

• Game reviews (board games, new RPGs, game supplements, whatever…)
• Classifieds (for those of you getting rid of stuff that you would rather see in the hands of another responsible gamer and not some 10-yr-old kid).
• Personal ads (okay, not really and please please please do not send me any).
• Role-playing tips or suggestions (hey, we’ve got a wealth of information amongst us).