The Battle of the Compass Rose Inn – The Naming of Two Wills

Welcome, to the blog. I can also be found on MeWe in addition to Blogger. Back in 2015, I created a quick battle for a D&D game and ended up writing a relatively useless background piece on the scenario. Since that time, many of the details have been re-concocted for my D&D campaign and I had no idea what to do with this series of posts.

Today, I was invited in a MeWe Group called Vault of Imaginings and now I have a target audience for these three posts.

Please enjoy! 

When Willy the Scribe and William of Northmost were 12 and 16, a horrible disaster struck the Inn. A herd of boar piglets ran through the yard behind the Inn. Moments later, they were followed by a massive boar sow and a wolf, riding the sow’s back.

As the animals disappeared down the hill, the guests and family stood on the porch, shocked. The sow was cut off by a pack of wolves and ran back up the hill towards the Inn. Guests and family members took cover as best the could. Willy, Edwyna and Elma locked themselves in the barn. William dove for cover in an empty Lodge room. The rest took cover in the greatroom of the Inn.

Soon, wolves converged every point of the compass. They tore down the sow and her piglets in short order. Then they took a horse and pony. The pigs in the pen didn’t stand a chance. As the day wore on, the wolves picked the corpses clean and circled the Inn seeking more prey. Fighting among the different packs cause confusion. 

By afternoon, the children trapped in the barn grew thirsty. In the early evening, Willy decided to make a break for the Inn. The family and guests were trapped in the greatroom and couldn’t warn Willy and the girls that the wolves had penetrated the kitchen, the closest door to the barn.

When Willy and the girls opened the kitchen door, the wolves sprang. Willy shoved Edwyna out of the way and pulled Elma to safety. William of Northmost heard the ruckus and charged to their rescue with a spear and axe. The four of them fought their way to the Lodge steps and were forced up the stairs. William of Northmost was savaged at the foot of the stairs, he was left for dead in the scrub-like bushes in front of the Inn.

Willy managed to get the girls to the top of stairs where huntsmen knocked the wolves back long enough for the children to escape. Willy used his own body to protect Elma and Edwyna from serious harm. His backside and legs were horribly bitten.

By morning, the wolves were gone and William of Northmost was discovered in the shrubs. The hunters nicknamed him “Scrubs”, a name he detests as it sounded rough, rude and cowardly in his ears.

Willy was more seriously wounded and had a long period of convalescence. He spent most of his time writing. As he ran out of stories to put to paper, he took to etching stones from the garden.

In the place that Scrubs fell are three stones inscribed with the words: “Hope”, “Courage”, and “Strength”. This scratching of words on stones gain one William the nickname of “Scribs”.

If Scrubs could read, he would not be so sour about his nickname. There is a rubbing of these stones in Scrub's bedroom. It was placed there by the maid, Delia.

Navigation in order:
Post one, first meeting of these characters. (You are here.) Post two, William Scrubs. Post three, William Scribs.

Grace

Morning -
Gracious giver of all good,
Thee we thank for rest and food,
Grant that all we do or say,
In thy service be this day. Amen

Noon -
Father for this noonday meal,
We wish to speak the thanks we feel,
Health and strength we have from thee,
Help us lord to faithful be. Amen

Evening -
Tireless guardian on our way,
Thou has kept us well this day,
While we thank thee we request,
Care continue, pardon, rest. Amen

Gotta love a sale! Rules Cyclopedia on DriveThru

Rules Cyclopedia is on sale at DriveThruRPG. This game was published back in 1991, long after I had abandoned my Basic D&D campaign. This set of rules brought me back to Basic.

Being a player from way back, perhaps 1977 or so, the concept of "edition" was not real clear. I had started with D&D and moved on to AD&D as it seemed like the expected direction. Transitioning from D&D to AD&D seemed expected, but felt unnatural. When second Edition appeared, I had little concept of what it was. It didn't feel like AD&D that I knew, so I did my best to ignore it.

I had difficulties ignoring 2.0 as Unearthed Arcana seemed to be the first indication that a new edition was coming. Back in the 1990s, it was possible to see all of the various sets, in pieces, on a store shelf and it was very unclear as to what was happening.

My campaign had evolved from D&D to AD&D without regard to the change in setting. Our band of adventurers absorbed new materials and tossed others aside. While I said I was playing in Greyhawk, our shared world was a mishmash of Blackmoor, Greyhawk, Mystara and Hollow World, with Mystara taking the lead place.

When I found Cyclopedia on the shelves of my local Waldenbooks, I was entranced. It expanded on classes and levels while adding a few new spells and most importantly, weapon mastery and character skills. It was exactly what I was looking for. Gone was the one paragraph explanation of skills.

I immediately incorporated it into my hodgepodge campaign with only a few tweaks to make it fit the AD&D rule set. All abilities were generated as per the AD&D methods while character classes of race could either be played as described in AD&D or per Cyclopedia's rules.

Technically, that combo of classes and races vs classes should have been very broken, but as players, we made it work. The RC Druid was a subclass of Druid from AD&D, Mystics became a subclass of Monk. The Racial Classes became the "default class" of those races, as if someone didn't pick a specific class to play.

And we loved it.

52 Weeks of Magic - Week 21 - Potion of the Lionhearted

The potion of the Lionhearted appears to be some sort of healing potion. While it can heal humans and demi-humans, this is not how it was designed to be used. If quaffed, it will heal 1d6 points of damage, sustain the drinker for 3 days without food or water and provide a +2 to saves vs. extreme (natural) temperatures. A single flask of the stuff holds 21 doses.

Should someone attempt to imbibe the whole thing, they will find that they cannot do so. The power of this fluid is so much that any creature will avoid taking more than a single sip per day. This should be a clue that this is the wrong usage. Any spell caster will realize this at a single sniff. Paladins and rangers may be able to identify the potion at a glance.

The Potion of the Lionhearted is used in times of desperation. The potion is supposed to be diluted in holy water and sprinkled on food and drink. If used correctly, once dose will be enough to cover enough food and drink for 100 men. If anyone takes a single bite or sip of food so treated, they will recover 2 hit points, be sustained for 24 hours without other food or drink and will feel refreshed. Other names for this potion are "Siegebreaker", "Ironheart" and "Hope". 

The potion can only be created by a Paladin and a Ranger working together. While it contains a number of unusual ingredients, the hardest items to obtain and process are 500 pounds of fruits, herbs and vegetables collected by a Ranger. These materials are reduced over a flame for 21 days. The Paladin must pray over this concoction and the prayer must include the words: "care", "pardon" and "rest". Obviously, these potions are prepared well in advance of the need and are often stored for emergencies. The potion never spoils or loses effectiveness.

This item is extraordinarily dangerous if consumed directly from the bottle. If more than 7 sips are taken over 21 days, the person will become addicted to it and refuse all other forms of sustenance. When the potion runs out, the victim must save vs. magic every day, for 21 days in a row. If they fail a roll, they will lose one point of Strength and Constitution. If either score goes below three, the character will fall into a coma lasting 7 days. If either of imbiber's scores falls to zero, they die. Should the person survive the experience, they will regain 1 point per ability every 7 days until they are fully restored. Drinking the potion again during this recovery period will restart the addiction. If the person consumes food or drink doused with the potion, the recover of ability scores stops until the effect wears off in a day.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	25b	Device of Defense	26	Shield of Force	27	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. Also on Drivethru is my custom character sheet for AD&D and Unearthed Arcana.

I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

Camp Scouthaven, Freedom, New York

I have such wonderful memories of Camp Scouthaven. As a child, I didn't stay in Scouts long enough to get into camping. Boy, did I want to and really regret it.

In 2014, my son Nathan and I went camping in Freedom, New York. Scouthaven in a massive campground for Scouts. On this day, we were "up on the hill", a test skill to end a scout's time in Webelos before moving on to Boy Scouts. On the last night at Cub Scout Camp, the oldest scouts go up on the hill for a little archery.

This isn't your typical archery range, it's action archery. Some of the targets move. Some of them are everyday things you aren't allow to shoot at under normal circumstances. Others are just plain fun distance shots.

Nathan loved MOST of it. The one that got him was a series of three lines with bells, a giant truck tire and a regular bulls-eye target behind it all. On his first shot there was a "tink-tink-thunk!" as the arrow struck bells, zipped through the tire and landed in the middle of bulls-eye.

Fifteen minutes later, he was crying. The problem? He couldn't hit 3 bells, thread the tire and hit the target with one shot. The range instructor told him "The bells are set up close, medium and far. You aren't supposed to hit three of the them, just one."

Nathan replied, "Why would do that to kids. I've been hitting two bells at a time and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get all three."

The range instructor asked, "Two bells?"

Nathan fired arrow after arrow into two bells, threaded the tire and hit bulls-eyes, flawlessly. Then he switched hands and repeated the trick. The range instructor was flummoxed. The only reason he could hit two bells was because the wind was blowing them into a line. "Okay, Hawkeye. Go to another station..."

Later, there was a bonfire. There is a whole story that goes with this event. I won't ruin it for you. No spoilers, but it is amazing. If you get the chance, you must see this.

That's enough for now. I'll come back and update with more details on the pictures below.