Greetings, gents! It is I, the Sacrificial Lamb again....and I'm starting another one of those campaign journals. I believe we'll be starting a new campaign tonight, with MeatLips/Senor Kramer taking over my duties as DM.



I'll just say it. I was experiencing total DM burnout. D&D 3.5 has a shitload of material to keep track of, and I was experiencing a colossal amount of irritation dealing with it. The game began to feel like work, and not a fun type of work. I would really prefer to DM a slightly more streamlined system than the one that we've been playing. Therefore, I have relegated myself to the role of player for our D&D 3.5 campaign (for now), and that's just fine with me.

That said, I still have some material to relay, in order to make things easier for our nouveau DM.....so let's begin, shall we?

First, we'll begin with the admittedly huge cast of characters...

THE COLORFUL CAST OF PLAYER CHARACTERS

* Reven Tyge (Mutt): Reven is an 11th-level Dragon Shaman. His appearance is that of as a large, imposing, burly human wielding a well-crafted bastard sword. He's a skilled swordsman, but the true source of his strength lies in the wide array of bizarre, magical powers at his disposal, such as breathing fire, healing, breathing under water, and more. If something is flammable, he likes to burn it, if it wears a skirt, he likes to bang it, and if something is valuable, he likes to take it. That sure sounds like a Dragon to me...

* Horatio Tortolla (imurrx): Horatio is a 12th-level Human Artificer, also non-descript in appearance. He is calm, focused, and usually resorts to diplomacy when matters become stressed. His magical abilities are infusions, rather than spells, and thus, are usually useful when placed on Constructs or inanimate objects. Horatio continues to act as the party's magical engineer and primary source of non-magical artillery. He also remains our primary source of magical identification.

* Kratos (imurrx): Kratos is a Warforged, which is an artificial golem-like being transported from the Eberron campaign setting. He's classed as a 7th-level Fighter/5th-level Warforged Juggernaut, and could be classified as a walking, talking tank. Basically, he's renouncing his organic side, and becoming more truly a mechanical construct. As a (mostly) non-organic, he is perhaps the most unusual member of the group.

* Hrothgar (me): Hrothgar is an 11th-level Hierophant Battle Sorceror, appearing as an athletic Human armed with multiple weapons, though his primary weapon is an enchanted maul (large hammer), which he uses to crush his enemies. He's basically a variant Druid, with some arcane abilities (similar to a Sorceror), and he possesses a wide array of spells, such as artillery magic (Magic Missile, Flaming Sphere, Call Lightning), shaping spells (Wood Shape, Stone Shape), and healing magic (various Cure spells).

* Banjo (me): Banjo is an intelligent, wisecracking raven....acting as Hrothgar's familiar (companion familiar), and occasional comic relief. He still can't fight for shit, and is the constant recipient of verbal abuse from the rest of the group (they often threaten to eat him ), yet he remains a valuable member of the party. His speed, night vision, and flying ability all make him an excellent scout, and he's still an excellent conduit for many of Hrothgar's spells....

* Glint (Mutt): Glint is a 6th-level Grey Elven Dark Paladin. Though technically a holy warrior, he doesn't act like "holy" at all, preferring to stab monsters and greedily grasp every last scrap of treasure he can find. He has unusual powers...such as resistance to fire, Charm-based magic, and necromacy. He also has a limited form of regeneration, though these are not the full extent of his abilities. To the best of his knowledge, he derives his powers not from a god, but from some other unknown source of energy. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that he currently suffers from a limited form of amnesia, completely ignorant of his true name and origins, thus nicknaming himself "Glint" for the sake of basic conversation.

* Dante (imurrx): Dante is an 8th-level Human Psychic Warrior. He is Lucy's twin brother, and is almost rabidly protective of her. Dante is a skilled unarmed combatant, with a wide array martial art skills at his disposal. More impressive about him, however, are his psionic powers, which enable him to read objects and see auras...

* Lucy (MeatLips): Lucy is a 6th-level female Human Swordmaster. She is Dante's twin sister, and the first thing you'll notice about her is her almost unearthly beauty. The second thing you'll notice is that she's dumb as a fucking brick. Despite this, she has a kind nature, and is friendly and approachable. After all this, nobody meeting her would realize that she's an absolute hellcat with a sword, as many monsters and bloodthirsty thugs have learned, much to their sorrow....

* Rufus (MeatLips): Rufus is an ambiguously male 7th-level Human Monk afflicted with an odd curse, which transforms him into a female when he is splashed by cold water. The only way to undo the transformation is to be splashed by hot water. He also seems to be an overpowering magnet for the opposite sex, and is often the recipient of unwanted advances. Needless to say, his life is never boring...

Ok, and now here's a list of close allies of the PCs...

CLOSE ALLIES OF THE PLAYER CHARACTERS

* Jocelyn: Jocelyn is a lusty and highly temperamental dark-haired beauty with bright blue eyes. She was one Araith's concubines, and potential "brides-to-be". When Lucy was captured, Jocelyn was unbelievably rude, and seemingly ready to kill Lucy in order to win Araith's affections, though her behavior may have been influenced by a Charm effect placed upon her by Araith. During the PC's rescue attempt, Jocelyn appropriated Dante's intelligent sword, Sentinel, and fled from the melee, laughing like a lunatic. Lucy chased after her, and after a brief confrontation, managed to free Jocelyn from his magical Charm. The end result of this scenario was Jocelyn embracing Lucy in gratitude, and then kissing her passionately, which was something that Lucy seemed to like...very, very much. She currently travels with the PCs.

* Meatlips: Meatlips is an unusual bulldog. He's the recipient of a mutation granting him human intelligence and the ability to speak, though he usually pretends to be an ordinary dog. At one point, he was a former wizard's familiar, and another time acted as a guard dog at Ashlahn Castle. Meatlips is a loyal friend to the PCs, and always looking for a tasty treat.

* Karen: Karen is a woman originally met by a psychic named Rufus, and his friend, Max at Ashlahn Castle. Rufus became enchanted with her, considering the fact that she was the only woman he met who wasn't immediately smitten with him.

Rufus was recently reunited with Karen at the subterranean complex known as Darkhaven, where she was traveling in disguise. She was recently mauled and killed by a deranged Troll, and now Rufus seeks to find a way to revive her...

I'll add more to this journal later, but hey, Kramer-san. If you need some more background material for the campaign, check this out:

http://lambshack.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=threeplus

I have to be at Kramer-san's house within minutes, so I'll just write this quickly. This list provides a brief inventory of the PCs sojourn into Darkhaven....

MONSTERS DEFEATED..............................CHALLENGE RATING

* Wererats (12).........................................................2 (each)
* Dark Naga..............................................................8
* Troll.......................................................................5
* Wererats (...........................................................2 (each)
* Water Elemental......................................................5
* Cogs (2)................................................................3 (each)
* Thug......................................................................5

INVENTORY

ITEM.....................................................................................VALUE

* 10,000 gp
* 10,000 sp
* diamonds (30)...........................................................500 gp each
* Dagger of Venom......................................................8,302 gp
* emeralds (10)...........................................................500 each
* Black Box (magic, but unidentified)
* bags of runestones (2) (unidentified)

If I'm missing anything, please let me know. To be continued...

Ok, well.....last night, Kramer-san took over my DMing duties, but didn't really have anything prepared so he made some random rolls on some Encounter Tables that I designed a while ago.

This time, we only used one character each, or in my case....one-and-a-half...

* Reven Tyge (Mutt)
* Horatio Tortolla (imurrx)
* Hrothgar (me)
* Banjo (me)

First, we spontaneously appeared in the forest, where we encountered a circular cluster of rune-etched stones that we proceeded to search. We then attempted to divine its abilities. While this occurred, a hostile group of four Trolls appeared, and charged us, but we then drove them off with fire and lightning (especially fire).

After this, a very large Green Dragon came out of the woods. It was initially Hostile, but Reven parleyed with the monster, so that it was instead Indifferent. After a brief discussion with the beast, the Green Dragon told us it could travel through its territory unmolested if we wiped out some human bandits about 20 miles north of our position. Then it left.

And that was pretty much the end of the session...