Long time, no update.

Okay, so I haven't updated this in, like, a year and a fair bit has happened since then.  The game kept going through the summer, sporadically, and a couple of cast members changed.  Jordan took Muscles and Logan Farr, David, the alcoholic fighter, became the favorite character to pass around, and after the LEGO Robotics season, Aidan's brother Jaren started coming as well.  Since then we've added Nolan as a regular player, his keenness for LEGO is unbounded.

As for challenges, a lot of stories got wrapped up.

I'll let the gang some of the story in (one of the best parts of this is seeing how they retell the story) but the Nolah (from 100 Bushels of Rye fame) was defeated after nearly eating Gabriel (Liam's alt) and the Dwarven Battlesword blade was retrieved and now has a smart new hilt thanks to Brail.  Socrates, now played by Jaren felt the call of Envir and became a Cleric who was instrumental in the party's survival, but just when the party thought they could take a break they found that their village had been attacked and occupied by a group of cattle-rustling bandits.  Led by a one-eyed scoundrel named Philip (I can't wait until these guys are old enough to read or watch TWD and get all the references) the rustlers fought tooth and nail to defeat the party but Gryphon and Brail's combat puissance helped them overcome the ne-er-do-wells. They rescued FX, the Lanian Cleric, from his closet captivity and reacquainted themselves with Dhon Ydew (Honeydew) the dwarf, who had been duped into believing Philip's gang were allied with the group.  Showing mercy on two of the rogues the party took Philip, Garez and Abell into custody and escorted them into Olokand with some difficulty.

Meanwhile the quest to rescue Sir Hector continued.  After defeating a Gojanni patrol the group was accosted by bow-armed rebels based out of the forest and forced to give up some of their loot.  They did continue into Kiban directly and turned over the 'Eye of Ilme,' half of  a magical item that the Lord of Eastmarch had previously bound much of his power, something he'd given up at the end of the Dragon War. The race is now on to find the other half.

Most of the party, sans Legolot, caught wind of a manhunt for the renegade murderer and left town to collect Muscles, the horses and return to the woods to join Bald Boromir and his rag-tag group of misfit insurgents.

Jordan and Tanner competed to get the xp bonus for the ensuing session:  Here's Jordan's:

Time Line of What Happened to the Mismatched Party

The Group brought half of the magical ring to the Lord of Eastmarsh which saved Sir Hector. Meanwhile, Muscles feasted on rabbits and scares away Gypsies while Legolot foolishly tried to gain atonement by cutting off his hair and attempting to steal the donation box. The group could have used several different strategies to save Sir. Hector including Ysam’s messaging bird which could have evolved into the stealthy members of the group entering the castle from the river. However, we have saved Sir. Hector left the city without Legolot, and messaged him to exit.

Returning to the Rebel camp they found that their horses were moaning for some feed. Muscles, Domelan, and Garth were energized and willing to retrieve food for the group so they left the pack in search of a promising field two to three leagues away. After reaching the field, two of the king’s archers immediately spotted them. The first Ranger raised his arm and the second drew his bow. Shivers of fear ran down the characters backs. Peaceful diplomacy failed.

The Rangers ordered the group to drop all their weapons. Muscles and the Priest did as asked while Domelan attempted to conceal a weapon. The Guards did not fall for the trick and the weapon fell.    The fear of ultimate and untimely death to set in on the group. The Rangers ordered Garth to tie the hands of Muscles and Domelan. Quick thinking by Muscles caused him to seek out the prejudice in one of the guards, testing the guard’s honour by requesting a hand to hand combat battle. Courage is the only thing driving these characters now. The Conniving Domelan understood the plan completely and readied his sling while the other ranger readied his bow. As the priest looked around he saw the horses causally feeding on the bush. Muscles was given three rounds to break free of the bonds. He first tries to untie the knots, fails. He tries to jump over his hands, fails. The priest took a gamble and deposited a knife into Muscles' belt which was rejected before because of fear. In his third and final attempt Muscles attempted to cut the rope, missed and failed miserably. The plot realized, the bowman fired but before he could get a shot off Domelan used his one shot sling to stun the bowman. Muscles managed to get the second Ranger to the ground and grappled him, pulling one arm around the neck of the ranger in an attempt to subdue him. The first ranger shot blindly and hit the priest. Domelan attempted to use  as a makeshift bow and cut himself. All the while the horses were still grazing as if laughing at the folly around them. Reversing the choke, the ranger under Muscles got out of the hold and pushed Muscles to the ground. Domelan charges the bowman and eventually defeats him while Muscles begins to rage. Hack and slash. After triple-teaming the last enemy he is defeated. “Muscles sleep now” is heard throughout the valley. We tie them up and that is where the Mismatch Group ends there journey until another day. 

This could have been all avoided if the group had stuck together and focused without trying to micromanage the situation to play around the chatter at the table. However, all is well and the horses can graze while their mysterious intellect baffles the observant.

Good news and bad news.

So the good news is that the teacher's strike will be over by Thursday so we will meet at the regular time. The bad news is that Cherry Bomb Toys can't host us during business hours so that avenue of potential meeting is closed for the time being. I will field suggestions in the case that we want to meet over spring break, when I get back from out of town.

I think our last session was a bit of good news and bad news too. The good news was that they got their iron ore vein working and some trees cleared to start on the first permanent structure of the new estate. The bad news was that the bickering and arguing made it quite frustrating for some and not a lot got done overall. Also, it seemed some of the bad news came in the form of good old DM illustration by example wherein the under-prepared were shocked with how hard outdoor living can be if one doesn't make the necessary arrangements. I think next time the attention to shelter will be far better cared for. I'm looking forward to the next session. I love seeing what this gang comes up with. It's always awesome.

Very Exciting

I got to pass on some very exciting news with my group today and they shared some awesome stuff with me. First off, the 'guys' were really quite good for a two-hour session in the computer lab. We got through the election of the village council, the selection of their liege lord and most of them completed their conversion from generic to standard classes. For the most part I gave them more skill points than they would have had in standard 3.x as I strongly feel that characters tend to under-perform at lower level and since this will be a lower power more medieval themed campaign it suits just fine. This group is not suited to grinding for levels because honestly the effort of fielding the swathes of generic baddies does not thrill me nor does it suit the ethos of the campaign or the grander idea of Lego d20. The purpose has and hopefully always will be to build team play, cooperation (or coopertition as FLL would have us say), creativity, strategy and community. Sort of why their big reward from the coopertition heavy battle was a group managed property which they are responsible for building and creating with their fertile minds. Since they did select the 'easiest' (they think...) liege lord, the estate will be less rich than the other two I had offered but it will offer the easiest access to other villages, and the favor of King Oleg.

Oh, but the first bit of good news. Well lets put this first: I'm now a member of VicLUG, the Victoria Lego Users Group, a very awesome and active bunch of adult Lego enthusiasts who have basically adopted me into their fold since they witnessed the awesome (or just bizarre) spectacle that was my first convention demo. One of the best advantages (and my timing was just right) is that they are just about to put together a bulk order from Denmark. Now those baseplates and trees and ugly rock bricks and castle window pieces aren't going to be such a chore to track down.

Second bit of news: I'm going to try to put this together as a book. I'm thinking Brick d20. I don't claim to be the first person to play D&D with Lego, not at all, I just seem to be systematizing it effectively for jr. play, something my background in education and gaming brings to the table. Having a degree in writing won't hurt either.

I also broke out my new pantheon. Lan, Envir, Gojan, and Olea. Ha ha. But it really worked well. You have the Lawful Lion Lan (think Aslan) as the primary deity (at least in Olegia) you have the trickster, Envir, often aspected as a raven, like Raven. You have Gojan, the dragon, and the destroyer, because in a Lego world there is always a destroyer. Sometimes your little sister whether you want her to or not (apologies to all the good little sisters out there who never smashed a new lego build), and then there's Olea. Olea is perhaps the most complex in that she is a nurturing bear or a tree or a crone. But in all ways she provides the female balance to the primary four. I really thought of this as a wolf pack of gods, with Lan as the Alpha, Envir as the Beta, Gojan as the Omega, and Olea as 'top cow' as a prof of mine used to put it. Although come to think of it, Gojan doesn't have to be male, not all the time at least. I think there is definitely room for more wisdom, order and other gods, but Lan's shoulders are big enough.

I almost forgot to share the awesome news they found for me. Images of the Lord of the Rings sets and minifigs to be released this year. As I said, VERY EXCITING.

In the next post I hope to share a number of the teams' backstories, if they don't want them to be secret as I am sure S. M. would prefer.

Cherry Bomb Toys and Minifigs.

Cherry Bomb Toys has a build-your-own minifig setup in their store on Broad St. It has been of the best things I found for getting the little weapons to equip and re-equip all the little minifigs I have collected over the years (especially from '82-'86 when I got the bulk of my space and classic castle stuff, although I must approve of some of the selections made by my brother as his pirate, forest keep, and colonial ship sets have really put some flavour to the collection). I have probably spent $30+ on minifig accessories alone at $1 a pop (way high, I know, but when you need bows and axes, you've got to get bows and axes).

Also, both London Drugs and Toys 'R Us have the Minifig Series 6 in stock for $3.50 each. I have found the decoding site at blog.betterthantomorrow.com that has the 'braille' bump codes and have confirmed that they work (got a fig I wanted that was an easy pick, not saying which one, might spoil some campaign surprises), although I really want to dig through and get several of the Roman Soldiers and the Highland Battlers... I mean really, Celts vs. Romans? Why Not!

I think the main reason I want to mention this is to underline two things. I am spending my money that I am basically getting as an allowance from my lovely wife to spend on toys for the Lego Robotics kids to play with -- which I am happy to do. The other is to possibly encourage those who are enthusiasts and excited by Lego d20 to go and find these places and pieces and spend their own $5 to MAKE their character. I remember the joy as a kid to have found a lead mini that might have looked sort of like a character I wrote up for my D&D games. I would love for the kids who for the most part seem to be having a blast playing Lego d20 with me, to have the joy of owning their own character fig, which some guys have already done, bringing theirs from home, even adapting Star Wars or other series figs to the fantasy setting.

Oh and I have to give a big shout out to my co-leader who is bravely, and often with bemused looks, doing what she can to help cat herd this crew along in this highly experimental process, and who recently added a beautiful addition to her own Lego collection (ahem - Hogwarts Castle - ahem). Two yellow hands angled directly up for her! I must not forget to mention with extreme gratitude my thanks to the Lego Robotics University sponsor for letting me essentially hijack her Lego Robotics team for this grand experiment, all with encouraging smiles and patience, especially in those madhouse moments, like when 10 boys are all needing help with their character creation and there is only one me.

This brings me to my final topic for this late night post: Book the computer lab so the kids without books can get on the d20 Hypertext SRD so they don't have to try to glean their info from over the shoulders of the few experts.

Gottacon!

So... a friend of mine was in a bit of a pickle this week. For a few moments he was out a couple of tables worth of RPG Mastering for the Gottacon Gaming Convention here in Victoria, and he was asking if I could help out if the guy he'd asked fell through. I said sure, but what do you need me to run? I said I could run Labyrinth Lords Keep on the Borderlands or this Lego d20 thing I have been playtesting. He said they'd both be great. When he got back to me that the guy he was waiting on confirmed, I have to admit I was a little disappointed, but I said, "Hey, if you want me to run one anyway, I'm game." He got back to me today to say that there were a couple of tables free. Now I am excited to be taking this out "TO THE NEXT LEVEL" as a certain friend of mine would say. So sign up for Gottacon. Come, enjoy. Sunday, February 5th, 9am for round 1 -- another grand melee, which will lead to, dun, dun, dun.... I can't tell...

Oh and if you plan to come there's a preregistration thing at their site. Visit : http://www.gottacon.com

Money, money, money.

So one of the big issues with the game so far is bridging the gap between the various rulebooks on item costs and the very real possibility of making the monetary truly physical by having real values for items of Lego based on their material (color) and size. There would have to be a certain differentiation of value based on quality... I mean a longbow only looks like it takes 4 studs of wood, but 4 studs of firewood or palm tree is not the same AT ALL as a longbow. I do know that I want to use my little round black flat 2x2s as Iron ingots but how much is that worth? I think probably one gold stud... but is a gold stud a gold piece? I have some numbered dubloons from my brother's foray into pirate lego so that can help.

The other thing is trying to keep all the kids stuff separate. I found some great 1"x1.5" mini containers at Dollar Giant which is perfect for a minifig and his stuff, so that is a help, and I have tiny ziploc bags... but man, keeping all this straight for my sanity and the enjoyment of 12 year olds is challenging.

An Excellent Start.

"We got through two rounds," said Darren, surprised -- and not in a bad way. Considering when we started up 2 players hadn't made characters, there were rule changes to adapt to, one had left his character at home and had to remake his all over. After swarming me about the rules changes and any other question, we sort of got them focused enough to sit down. We had to stop them from constantly raiding the lego buckets and the premade minifigs I had put together (which came in really handy when someone wanted to play a sword and shield Warrior, had a couple good to go.) The tricky part was getting them to understand that Scholars didn't get to use spears and wear helmets, and to get them to (sort of) uniformly make their class and team identifiable in their minifigs.

We finally got initiative sorted by 4:15. Getting initiative sorted was a bit of a challenge with 16 participants, many of them never having played before, ever. One participant, who doesn't speak much on account of just moving from a totally French speaking area, didn't even get himself into the initiative, and hadn't put a minifig together and on the table. Luckily a lot of my organization let me field his mini in seconds.

Some really interesting tactics. A spectacularly bold move from one of the guys was to, instead of heading to base to protect the flag, jump over the king's banquet table. His move didn't go so well so he ended up pinned by the other team right on the table. Luckily he only took one hit, albeit from a sheathed Greatsword... As silly as it seemed to go, it provided a key distraction for his teams power character to go for his biggest asset -- his horse. We weren't too keen on him trampling everyone so we encouraged the idea of playing fair and using the mount only for movement, dismounting for combat and meeting his opponents (not really enemies, but fellow tournament participants) on foot.

These smart and silly moves aside, my biggest kudos goes to one participant who held her action to 'wait and see' and then declared to help pull her table dancing comrade out if he went down. Turned out when he jumped off the table he critically failed and face planted right on her character, luckily the held action then triggered and she used her turn to get them on their feet. On the ground they could have been pounded into hamburger.

What is interesting is that they are starting to get the idea that LISTENING is to their benefit, that INTERRUPTING detracts from other peoples' turns and stops them from getting to THEIR TURN. Aside from the imagining and creativity and excitement playing games like this generates, it is these simple lessons about manners that stand out for me.