THe ScrOLl

The Official Newsletter of the Dedicated Oahu Gamers Society
http://higamers.homeip.net/dogs/ March 2001

Editor’s Column

Another Con has come and gone.
A hydra beaten, some comrades eaten.
Attacked a gnoll, failed some rolls.
And called my DM a cretin.
From Ode to Gen Con By Matt Lau

I thought I’d actually send out the March issue of The Scroll in March this time around. Anything to postpone re-typing about fifty stat blocks because RPGA HQ changed their adventure formats for Living City. Feh.

Just wanted to take a moment to reflect on GeoCon this past weekend. Now, as its memory is still fresh in my heart I just wanted to say… I hate you all.

Just kidding. I had fun because I actually had a chance to play in a game for once. Despite some disorganization (which is what the “D” in DOGS should really stand for) the slots did manage to get played. Here are some well-planned and well-thought-out events to look forward to in 2001:

Upcoming Events

March 25: Other Realms Games Day

April 14-15: Weekend in Ravens Bluff - Obviously there will be lots of Living City events.

May 12-13: Ratik Con - Hopefully there will be a few Living Greyhawk events. Barring any major complications at HQ, the next Ratik regional, "Skirmish" will be available for play.

June 16-17: Forgecon, July 14-15: Aloha Con, August 25-26: Ubercon, September 22-23: Wrath of Con, October 13-14: Vetcon, November 3-4: Kennel Con, December 1-2: Santa Con.

3E Quiz Scoreboard

Scott Hantsch: 1
Tyler Dodd: 2

No, the scoreboard hasn’t changed. I’m not including last months quiz results on the scoreboard because of a possible information leak, where people were talking about the answer at Oahu Con, so I’ll just take it as an object lesson to not talk about the quiz before I post the quiz.

I trust that a lot of you are now thoroughly familiar with every single metamagic feat from heighten spell to maximize spell, as you tried desperately to turn a 1d3 ray of frost into a 68-point attack.

Here’s the solution: Matt the Mage is a 1st-level Sorceror, 19th-level Rogue. Since he won initiative, the troll is flat-footed and therefore subject to the extra 10d6 points of sneak attack damage. Assuming Matt has the feat Point Blank Shot, scores a critical hit, and rolls maximum damge, he will inflict
(1d3+1)x2 + (10d6) = 68 points of damage. Simple.

New Quiz

Here’s the scenario for this month. Unfortunately I opened my mouth at Oahu Con and asked a couple people about this one so some of you are going to have to disqualify yourselves from this month’s quiz. Tyler, I’ll already give you credit for figuring out the answer though.

As some of you who were nearly eaten by a kraken in a recent module have witnessed, the really big creatures in 3E are much more powerful than their 2E counterparts. Taking on really powerful beasts requires teamwork.

Here’s an example of teamwork in action.

Dervis the bard and Alhandra the Paladin are getting ready to attack the Troll Prince. Dervis begins preparing his comrade. On round one he sings to inspire courage. On round two he sings to inspire greatness. On round three he casts a maximized cat’s grace on Alhandra. On round four he casts a maximized bull’s strength on her. On round five, he casts haste on her. On round six, he casts mage armor on her. At the beginning of round seven:

  • What is Alhandra’s Melee Attack Bonus?
  • How much damage can Alhandra inflict in melee?
  • What is Alhandra’s AC?
  • What deity does Alhandra worship?
Alhandra, female half-elf paladin 5. Str 11, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16. Chainmail, Large Shield, Battleaxe. Feats: Weapon Focus (longsword), Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw.

 

RPGA Decathlon 2001

I’m going to summarize the events for 2001 so that we can keep an eye out on what’s happening. I already touched on some events last issue, but let’s take a look at all of them from the beginning. Besides, it’ll give me something to fill up all the extra space with.

EVENT 1: ROUNDS JUDGED

For the 2001 calendar year, all rounds judged by members of a Network club will be recorded in HQs database. At the end of the year, the club with the highest ratio of rounds judged to members judging will be the overall winner. What this means, is we need more people to volunteer to judge an event sometime this year. I think we should call one of our cons Boycott Con-where all our regular judges don’t run a single event and we force some new people into the command chair. Come on, just run one…

EVENT 2: ROUNDS PLAYED

At the same time, the database will track the play history of all members of Network clubs. At the end of the year, the club with the highest ratio of 1st place finishes to rounds played will be the overall winner. I’m somewhat perplexed by this one. Since almost all of our events are played by DOGS and won by DOGS, we will almost without question have a 6:1 ratio regardless of who wins the event… I suppose we could artificially inflate this number by running tables of fewer players, which would have the additional benefit of increasing the number of certs per player and making Hawaii more magic-heavy than some other places. Of course our big obstacle to this is a shortage of judges (see EVENT 1).

EVENT 3: PARTICIPATION IN LIVING FORCE™

The club that has the highest percentage of members who have played all 13 scenarios will be declared the overall winner. All I can say about this is, that if you missed one of the Living Force events that has already been run, let one of the officers know so that we can arrange later slots you.

EVENT 4: CREATE A NEW COMMUNITY

Design a community for your favorite RPG game. This is the event that we missed out on already. Here’s what the IM conversation looked like:
Thunderforge says: have you seen the decathlon write up in the new poly?
HNLMattador says: yup, we came in fourth--not good enough for a medal.
Thunderforge says: we’ll do better this year
HNLMattador says: sure will-i’ll get started on event 5.
Thunderforge says: i’ll work on the new community for 4.
Thunderforge says: got some cool ideas
Thunderforge says: will blow away the competition
Thunderforge says: probably win me a Pulitzer
HNLMattador says: hey, the deadline for event 4 was today
Thunderforge says: “@#$%^&!!!”

So, we couldn’t get a community submitted in time because of the two-hour time difference between here and the west coast. I’m going to email Robert Wiese and see if we can get an extension (since our Jan/Feb Polyhedrons didn’t arrive until about 2 weeks before the deadline), but I’m not holding my breath.

EVENT 5: CREATE A COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS

I’m working on this one to get it submitted before the March 31 deadline. The concept I’m going with is like a fantasy age special forces team. Each member has a specialty so that they can perform just about any task or mission. Here’s the line up I’m thinking of:

  • A half-elf Rogue/Bard, a master of disguise and infiltration.
  • A human Rogue/Ranger, a master tracker and hunter.
  • A human Rogue/Fighter, a weapon master.
  • An elf Rogue/Wizard, magical researcher and item-maker.
  • A dwarf Rogue/Fighter, master of traps and underground.
  • A human Rogue/Cleric, storehouse of knowledge and healer.

Why so many rogues? So that they can all travel lightly and quietly without slowing each other down. So that they have a wide variety of skills and can sneak attack opponents virtually at will by winning inititiave and flanking opponents. Anyone who has any suggestions for skills, feats, magic items, or spells, please let me have them.

Well, that’s half of the Decathlon events for this year.

Head Dogs
Rick Ankney, President
Wes Grant, Vice-President
Chris Garrison, Treasurer
John Barnette, Webmaster
Matt Lau, Scribe
DOGS officers' E-mail.