CJ's Warlord School - The Gauntlet

Candle Jakk's Mercenary Adventuring Company hosts a Warlord's School. Contrary to the name, which may very well change in the future, it is a school for learning and honing the finer points of 4e tactical combat, character optimization, and teamwork. The school idea grew out of the suggestion on OYT for running 4e games of Capture the Flag or other scrimmages to acclimate people to the combat mechanics and 4e's emphasis on tactics.

The Gauntlet arose from the adventure CORE1-6 in LFR. There is a room in the adventure with nigh on 20 minions. They all but fill the available space (at least until the DM figured out half of them were in another part of the room). CJMAC's Gauntlet is a 10x20 or 10x30 square room filled with minions. They occupy every square except for the opening 1 or 2 rows that serve as the characters' starting location. The goal is to arrive at the other end of the room.

The weak variant of the Gauntlet entails normal minion rules. The minions may or may not move to advance on the PCs as their fellows die.

The intermediate variant of the Gauntlet sees minions respawn on their initiative each turn. This allows the PCs to use area powers to open holes for the party to advance before the minions close in on them again. Unlike the weak variant, however, the minions do not fill in the holes with their standing number (thus opening holes elsewhere) but respawn within the vacant squares.

The hard variant of the Gauntlet entails minions respawning each turn. Each PC is responsible for opening his own path. Readied actions may or may not help; if the purpose of the exercise is to explore teamwork and coordinated actions through the ready action, then it should be a valid tactic; otherwise, the Gauntlet is testing individual ability with a secondary emphasis on teamwork and positioning (it is still better to end your turn adjacent to an ally because that is one less minion attacking you; you want to be able to reach a close burst 5 from the healer; etc).


Further variants are possible, such as mixing in actual monsters or trapped squares, but the Gauntlet itself is defined by a room entirely full of monsters (even though I now regret using that term for this particular type of scenario).

Best Man Speech

This is the speech I gave as the best man in my best friend's wedding:


Excuse me everyone, if I could have your attention for a moment. I'm Chuck's best man and his best friend. I'd like to take a few moments to say a few words. I promise to keep it brief because some of you have heard that I'm smart like Chuck and the longer I talk the less likely you are to believe it.

I'd like to thank Sarah's mom, Jennifer, for opening her home to us on this special occasion and for arranging such a beautiful scene for Chuck and Sarah's wedding. Everything is just gorgeous.

I'd also like to thank Chuck's mom and dad, Barbara and Eric, for the wonderful dinner last night and especially for taking on the lost cause of keeping me up to date on times, dates, and places. I even bummed a ride over with them.

Charles, how am I going to explain our friendship without revealing just how nerdy we are? I met Chuck in 8th grade at a National Academic League Match … which is like sports for nerds … due to a passing reference to Dungeons & Dragons … that I made … and he corrected me on.

Since that day, I have had the honor of Chuck's close friendship. A man who possesses an unending sense of wonder with the world. A man with an endless depth and breadth of knowledge who has never failed to open new worlds to those near him. I mean, who ever heard of quantitative psychology before meeting Chuck?

Over the years I have seen Chuck mature and set his life on a path. After high school, every time I spoke with him he had a new major and a new dream job. That changed when he decided to join the Air Force. I remember driving down the road near my house and seeing Chuck running on the sidewalk. I asked if he wanted a ride and he said no, he needed to get in shape for basic training. Keep in mind he lived about 10 miles away. That was dedication.

I see the same dedication whenever I see Chuck with Sarah. I knew something was different when Chuck came home to visit and all he wanted to do was show me pictures of cats. The next time I saw him, he couldn't stop talking about Sarah. This man was smitten. Before I ever met her I knew Sarah was someone special. She had won the heart of my best friend and changed him, not into someone different, but into someone better.

And as I look at all the friends and family gathered here today, I know that Sarah and Charles have touched many lives. These are two very special people who have come together today as bride and groom to leave today as husband and wife.

So I raise a toast to the bride and groom and I know you all share the sentiment:

My greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years your love for each other will so deepen and grow, that you will look back on this day, your wedding day, as the day you loved each other the least.

Carrion/Dung Spider

I had an idea for a new kind of spider. Maybe these already exist after some fashion.

Carrion spiders come in two varieties - the scavenger and the hunter. Both utilize the same method of capturing prey - they set up their webs or stalk their prey around a dead body that attracts insects and other scavengers.

Scavenger carrion spiders are the stalkers. They wander around the forest (or other environment) seeking dead fruit, plants, and animals and prey on the other insects that come to feed on the carrion. They are especially attracted to the smell of rotting flesh and so are sometimes fooled by carrion plants (indeed, the sight of dead scavenger carrion spiders is a good indication that the source of that terrible smell is a carrion plant).

Hunter carrion spiders are the trap setters. They do not seek out existing carrion but purposefully kill other creatures and leave them to rot in order to attract more food. Since they choose the where and the when of the carrion lure, they are able to set up webs to trap their prey rather than stalking and subduing it like their scavenger cousins.

The fun comes from the giant carrion spiders. Scavenger spiders set ambushes around dead bodies that fell to traps or combat and attack looting adventurers. Giant hunter spiders are deferential to shiny creatures as bait. A fat merchant with a dozen rings makes for a very enticing lure, both for looting adventurers as well as less intelligent beings. It is rumored that some hunter spiders are possessed of a malign intelligence and they use piles of treasure as bait.


Dung spiders are carrion spiders that hang around dung rather than kills. They are more numerous and better off from an evolutionary stand-point as dung is much more readily available.

Life and Death

An American Dad episode I watched yesterday was about how Agent Smith had never actually killed anyone. His family thought he was cool for being a stone-cold killer and so he kept up appearances.

The part that got me, however, was that his wife was turned on by the idea of him killing someone. She told him not to wash his hands off after the killing and enticed him to their bedroom. I saw in this a curious duality. I pondered this.

A husband and wife are typically fecund in their relationship. But what if the woman desired that the man with whom she would create life should come having ended one? Why? I figured that she saw some mystic connection in the act - her man would end the life of another and thus bring that life force to her in the marital act so that they could together create a new life. Rather than a fact of alternate biology ("I can only conceive if you bring the soul energy"/"there can only be 1 billion people so any pregnancy must be preceded by a death"), I saw it as a certain arrogance ("that life energy is wasted on others; only our offspring deserve to have it").

This, of course, grew into a fantastic relationship that at the extreme consisted of an alien entity (more fey creature or far realms entity than extraterrestrial) that gathered soul energy for a living black hole (a 1-3 foot orb of darkness rather than a singularity). The creature would venture forth to kill people with the requisite energy type to then feed to its beloved mistress. The creature's entire world would be the safety and propagation of this black hole. The mysterious black hole, on the other hand, would show no signs of sentience/consciousness/volition while still seeming malevolent. The whole idea gives a sense that neither the humans investigating the creature and its mistress nor the creature itself truly understand the origin, nature, and aims of the singularity. It is beyond their ken, much as the Cthulhu mythos draws its horror from the mystery of things the human mind is incapable of comprehending. A silent, brooding, incomprehensible black hole with a tinge of malevolence despite a complete lack of activity.

How they met Candle Jakk

This post will explain how each of my other three warlords met Candle Jakk and came to be candlekeepers in CJMAC:

Wick - Wick saw Candle Jakk in Cormyr right before Jakk explored the Haunted Halls in search of the Princess. Their meeting was brief and not at all intimate, as Jakk was proselytizing a sizeable group of young adventurers as Wick's carriage passed by, but his message and his passion for the cause lit a fire in Paelias Melianome's soul. He unsuccessfully argued with his father to be allowed to leave Myth Drannor and join Candle Jakk in Cormyr. He snuck away later that night but was unable to locate Candle Jakk as the latter had been transported to the Elemental Chaos in the portal chamber of the dungeon. Wick set out across Faerun to track down the genasi warlord, along the way picking up bits and pieces of his exploits. It was then that Wick took the name Wick in homage to Candle Jakk. Wick has never met with Candle Jakk since that first glimpse but he has constructed an elaborate persona within his mind. Whenever he fails to live up to what he feels is Candle Jakk's standard, he cuts himself as punishment. He became a Candlekeeper by popular decision. Candles in the area thought he actually knew Candle Jakk and they attributed to him an intimacy and authority he lacks in actuality.

Qhaeless - Fought beside Candle Jakk in Tymanther against a young dragon that was driving bands of goblins and kobolds out of the ruins and wilderness and into the towns. During the fight, Candle Jakk noticed that Qhaeless was trying to do everything himself. He showed no trust in his companions and nearly died after being surrounded because no one was watching his back. Jakk taught him to complement his allies' fighting styles and how to turn his pride and bravado into a weapon rather than a hindrance. Qhaeless took big risks and left himself open to attack. But with cooperation and trust, he could turn his risks into openings for his allies. Candle Jakk gladly takes risks to benefit his friends but such risks must always be tempered with wisdom and caution. Giving a fighter an opening at the cost of your life is not a good trade. Candle Jakk's parting words as he left Tymanther behind him were, "Your's is a light that will pierce the darkness." The Candles he left behind in Tymanther heard this and began to look up to Qhaeless.

Unnamed Tiefling (Shiqoheleth?) -

Candle Jakk's Mercenary Adventuring Company

Candle Jakk's Mercenary Adventuring Company (CJMAC for short; also known as the Candle Corps) is an organization of do-gooders established by my Living Forgotten Realms character, Candle Jakk.

They began as a meta-organization designed to make fun of the administrative quirks of playing a Living campaign in the RPGA. At the beginning of modules, PCs are typically given their objectives and an offer of treasure/payment as an incentive. LFR modules always offer the same amount of gold, so no matter where Candle Jakk might be in Faerun and no matter what his task, he can always count on getting 75gp for his troubles at levels 1-4. The running joke, then, was that 75gp was the standard rate for hiring that region's branch of Candle Jakk's Mercenary Adventuring Company (which, in turn, always consisted of Candle Jakk and the other characters at his table).

In time, however, the joke grew on myself and the other players at our RPGA meetings. I sat down to tables with players I had never played with before and they would recognize Candle Jakk (having heard stories from other players who had shared a table with me). With a bit of popular recognition, and dare I say support, I decided to make CJMAC official. The RPGA allows for players to create meta-organizations. The rules have not yet been released for these organizations but the clues so far point to them granting a minor benefit (such as a bonus to a skill) when two or more characters at the table are members of the organization. With several months of established presence, I think CJMAC could gain a substantial foothold in our RPGA group simply because you will likely always sit down with someone who is also a member.

Before I found out about granting actual in-game benefits, I worked a little on the group's founding and purpose. In keeping with the metagaming joke that is its origin, Candle Jakk described each member of CJMAC as "a point of light in a world of darkness" (a play off of 4e's default points-of-light setting). Candle Jakk does not expect to solve all the world's problems with CJMAC. He recognizes the need for more localized groups like, presumably, the other meta-orgs will be. However, he also recognizes that a multitude of local organizations just leads back to points of light. The Purple Dragon Knights may patrol Cormyr and the Flaming Fists may patrol Baldur's Gate but who patrols the area in-between?

So Candle Jakk's grand scheme is an entirely de-localized organization. Each Candle (as members are called) of CJMAC is responsible for himself and his immediate area. All Candles are encouraged to wander across Faerun, heading to areas of trouble like moths to a flame (but with less dying). Candles thus form diverse, dispersed points of light that banish the darkness in between the local groups. Where the Purple Dragon Knights do not go, CJMAC will light the way.

Now for some disconnected facts:

1- Each region of Faerun has its own "chapter" of CJMAC. Any member in that region is a member of that chapter until he passes into a different region. No Candle is tied to one place.

2- Candlekeepers are the internal affairs officers of CJMAC. They are senior members who, in addition to doing good deeds and fighting against evil and injustice, investigate the actions of other Candles. Those who claim membership in CJMAC are held to a loose but definite code of conduct - they must work towards the common good, refuse to directly aid evil, and uphold the good name of CJMAC. It is these last two points that Candlekeepers investigate. Rumors of a Candle besmirching the reputation of CJMAC through bad behavior or aiding evil invites a visit from a Candlekeeper. They determine if the flame needs guidance and protection or if it should be snuffed out.

3- An individual member is a Candle; Candles join with other adventuring companions to do good deeds and light up the dark areas of Faerun where men fear to tread. A group of members is a Torch; Torches come together when several Candles get the bright idea that a group of like-minded individuals is better focused that a single Candle amongst others. A group of Torches is a Bonfire/Brazier; these groups are exceedingly rare and typically come together to accomplish some great task, often at the behest of Candlekeeper or Candle Jakk himself. A full gathering of the entire CJMAC is called a Conflagration. It is rumored that Candle Jakk with convene a Conflagration when the company's reputation has spread to each corner of Faerun and its numbers swell beyond counting. They will then sweep across the earth like a wildfire and consume the darkness whole cloth. This is the belief of the young, the idealistic, and the sensational.

4- "No man or woman has ever served under my command. I do not lead by order, be decree, by intimidation, or by right. I try to lead by example. And I proudly choose to stand beside any man or woman who wishes to serve the people of Faerun by ridding the world of evil, as I hope they will stand by me."

5- Candle Jakk plans to construct several regional towers to act as waystations and garrisons for CJMAC. The home fortress will be Candle Keep in Akanul.



Right now, before the official release of the rules for meta-orgs and, thus, CJMAC, the candlekeepers are solely my own characters:

Candle Jakk, founder, proprietor, and chief warlord
Wick (Paelias Melianome)
Qhaeless, son of Morath
Unnamed Tiefling

Relevant L5R Names, Dates, Etc

This is a growing list of names I will need for the Scales of War adventure path in Rokugan. It will cover places and people and the occasional historical fact as necessary. Perhaps it will evolve into the general conversion document. Who knows?


Kawa sano Saigo no Kamae (River of the Last Stand): This is the river at which Kuni Osaku cast her legendary Cresting Wave spell and held the Shadowland's horde back for 73 days while the Kaiu Wall was constructed on its far bank. During the battle, Hida Banuken swore he would not take another step back and the Shadowlands have never pushed further than River of the Last Stand.

Haikyo sano Kappa (Ruins of the Kappa): Once a strong fortress of the Crab Clan, the Kappa palace fell long ago to the Shadowlands. Now, it houses a great goblin city, shabbily rebuilt in a mockery of its original style. Dozens of tribes gather here to meet, haggle, debate, and fight in a hideous mockery of human society. Haikyo sano Kappa seems like a good location for Umbraforge.

Kuni Areno (Kuni Wastes): The reclaimed homelands of the Kuni family, this area is a flat plain of cracked mud and blowing dust where no living thing will grow. The only humans who live here are the Kuni who live alone in ramshackle huts. The odd Shadowlands creature wanders about, looking for lone travelers to prey upon. The Kuni Wastes are a possible location for Castle Rivenroar.

The Black Finger River and the River of the Dark Moon: Just north of Crab lands, the Kawa sano Saigo no Kamae forks. The eastern fork is the River of the Last Stand. The western fork splits once more into the above-named rivers. The Black Finger River is the furthest any Rokugani has traveled into the Shadowlands.

Yugure Yama (Twilight Mountains): The tough and rocky range in southwestern Crab lands that forms the border with the Shadowlands. The passes in the Yugure are garrisoned or booby-trapped and any wise traveler announces his intentions to the Crab and enters the mountains via the Kaiu Pass. The northern Yugure support a large number of tea plantations which grow much of Rokugan's tea supply.

Kaiu Roka (Carpenter Pass): The Kaiu Pass is the largest passageway through the Twilight Mountains. Many merchants, peddlers, and hucksters frequent the road leading to the pass, plying their wares to any who pass by. Anyone who wishes to sell along the road pays a tithe to the Yasuki and, in fact, many of the merchants are Yasuki themselves. It is the only reason the Crab tolerate their presence. Kaiu Roka is an obvious choice for Bordrin's Watch.

Midaki sano Mura (High Tree Village): A mining town abutting the Kuni Wastes. It is supposedly haunted by Shakoki Dogu, the spirit of the Twilight Mountains created when the entire Boar Clan was sacrificed to forge the Anvil of Despair. The villagers are scared to walk through their own village at night, let alone enter the mines. This could serve as Rivenroar but probably not.

Koten: The ancestral shrine of the Crab Clan. It was meant to outshine the Lion Clan's ancestral shrine but very few Crab samurai leave enough remains to be cremated and interred. Koten has been moved further north so that it is closer to Shiro Kuni and Kaiu Pass. It is the temple in Siege of Bordrin's Watch.


The artifacts left from the Battle of the Cresting Wave would lie in either Shiro Kuni or Kyuden Hida. The Maw's skull hangs from the gates of Kyuden Hida so it makes sense that the artifacts would be there. However, that means Rescue at Rivenroar would require the Shadowlands scouts to attack the Crab capital. Perhaps they sow chaos and destruction in the outlying village to draw the Crab forces while a few lone figures sneak into Kyuden Hida and steal the artifacts.

Update on Current Project

I went to Gamers' Inn to look at the game postings and think about what I should mention in my own game post to find players.

While there, I saw a flyer for A Gathering of Players. They are the RPGA group for Mesa and they run Living Forgotten Realms games every other Saturday. Long story short, I decided to play and judge LFR to gather my data (for the time being). Playing the pick-up style games of LFR allows me to see a wider variety of characters and tactics and presents situations not created and moderated by myself. I still want to run my Crab Clan vs the Shadowlands game to gather further information and to see what happens when the same people play the game week after week. Both sets of information make up the larger whole.

WotC Forum Quotes

Found these in TheBouncyPherret's signature:

I may not be smarter than a 5th grader, but I'm sure I could kick his ass
-Mike Merles, D&D Podcast Ep. 17; ~21:40

As far as I know the roles are pretty ironclad. The leader will make decisions for the party. The defender will speak up if another party member gets insulted in a tavern. The striker will be primarily responsible for scoring goals. And the controller will monitor air traffic conditions. Says so right in the DMG.
-NebtheNever

To me, there's nothing in HP and HP recovery that implies that you are always dodging until the final blow. Sometimes a blow pounds you into the dirt and leaves you looking like burger. Sometimes, you're just too Bruce Willis to care.
-Valdrax

Seriously, though, how much fun would it be to read these boards if everyone behaved reasonably?
-timothyconard

This post was brought to you by the interwebs. Destroying your language since it was invented by Al Gore!
-Calestin Kethal

Common Sense shoots! Rules goes for the block... and misses! Common Sense scores!
-Tipop

That's an easy fix: Your DM politely reminds the player who's running the game, and every time the player starts running his mouth, his character takes d6 + Annoyance modifier damage.
-Cohen95

I'm not used to people asking smart questions in Rules Q&A...
-mccowen

Current Project

So my current project is playing Legend of the Five Rings using 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. The point of this, in part, is to help familiarize myself with 4e and get an experiential handle on the system's balance so I can start work on my Avatar: The Last Airbender bending class.

I am going to use the Scales of War adventure path from Dungeon Magazine because the first two adventures fit my idea for a Crab war party entering the Shadowlands very well. The first adventure features a band of hobgoblins raiding Brindol and absconding with several people as well as some artifacts of the war against the Red Hand of Doom. That sounds like a Shadowlands raid against a border town. The second adventure concerns a gathering orc army outside of Bordrin's Watch and their attempts to bypass that keep through the tunnels that run underneath it through the mountain. This sounds like a gathering army of Shadowlands creatures trying to get past an outpost of the Kaiu Wall by navigating the Kaiu's own tunnels beneath the wall.

Despite what I just said, I am not sure if the campaign will take place before or after the battle with the Maw and the building of the Kaiu Wall. I am going to tentatively say yes because the adventure path presumes a prior invasion by the Red Hand of Doom and it fits right in with the invasion of Crab Lands by the Maw. My final decision will come in another week or two when I see the third Scales of War adventure. While I originally wanted to use 12th level characters for the greater variety and amount of powers, if these adventures keep being so perfectly adaptable I will want to start at 1st level.

I also want to make a cool campaign introduction sheet/advertisement. Remember that this started out as an attempt to get back into a regular game when the rest of my group decided to stop for a while. So I was going to put up an ad in Gamers' Inn to find some players.

4e Crab Patrol

I have picked out the power choices for the two fighters (twin Hida Bushi), rogue (Hiruma Scout), and warlord (Kaiu Bushi taisa). Both fighters and the warlord are dwarves while the rogue is an elf (for the extra movement). Since the warlord does not have a quote to show off his build purpose, let me just say that "he heals people" (although I gave him several other tricks to play with too).

Fighter/Pit Fighter 12: "A Hida bushi shows no mercy, striking with overwhelming force the instant opportunity presents itself."
At will - Cleave, Reaping Strike
Encounter - Spinning Sweep, Crushing Blow, Reckless Strike, All Bets are Off
Daily - Brute Strike, Crack the Shell, Victorious Surge
Utility - Get Over Here, Battle Awareness, Into the Fray, Deadly Payback

Fighter/Iron Vanguard 12: "Standard Crab withdrawal procedure in the face of an insurmountable foe: one man holds off the advance while his comrades go for reinforcements."
At will - Cleave, Tide of Iron
Encounter - Steel Serpent Strike, Sweeping Blow, Come And Get It, Frontline Surge
Daily - Comeback Strike, Rain of Steel, Thicket of Blades
Utility - Boundless Endurance, Unbreakable, Stalwart Guard, Inexorable Shift

Rogue/Cat Burglar 12: "The Hida stand with the stubbornness of a mountain; the Hiruma skulk with the swiftness of the wind around that mountain."
At Will - Piercing Strike, Deft Strike
Encounter - Torturous Strike, Bait and Switch, Cloud of Steel, Cat Burglar's Gambit
Daily - Easy Target, Deep Cut, Knockout
Utility - Fleeting Ghost, Chameleon, Shadow Stride, Instant Escape

Warlord/Knight Commander 12: "(Insert fancy quote here)."
At Will - Viper's Strike, Wolf Pack Tactics
Encounter - Warlord's Favor, Hold the Line, Surprise Attack, Slash and Press
Daily - Lead the Attack, Stand the Fallen, Knock them Down
Utility - Knight's Move, Stand Tough, Defensive Rally, Break their Nerve


The Kuni Shugenja will take a bit more time because I have to go through both the Warlock and the Wizard powers.

--------

Wizard/Blood Mage 12: "More Kuni have become practitioners of maho, or blood magic, than all the other shugenja families in the Empire combined."
At Will - Ray of Frost, Scorching Burst
Encounter - Icy Terrain, Icy Rays, Winter's Wrath, Blood Pulse
Daily - Freezing Grasp/Sleep, Bigby's Icy Grasp/Web, Ice Storm/Wall of Fire
Utility - Expeditious Retreat/Shield, Disguise Self/Wall of Fog, Blur/Resistance, Soul Burn

---------

Feats and skills are done for everyone but the warlord. I have no idea what to give him for feats; skills are Athletics, Endurance, Diplomacy, Heal.

The Pit Fighter needed to be resilient, powerful, and well protected: Toughness, Fleet-Footed*, Hammer Rhythm, Power Attack, Potent Challenge, Dwarven Weapon Training, Armor Training (Plate), Armor Specialization (Plate).
*Fleet-Footed was to offset the dwarven 5 speed. I may change it if I give him Battlestrider Greaves.
Skills: Athletics, Endurance, Intimidate

The Iron Vanguard needed to be tough, sticky, and deadly: Armor Training (Plate), Armor Specialization (Plate, Toughness, Dwarven Durability, Combat Reflexes, Back to the Wall, Blood Thirst, Dwarven Weapon Training.
Skills: Athletics, Endurance, Heal

The Rogue needed to be stealthy, mobile, and damaging: Alertness, Secret Stride*, Light Step, Defensive Mobility, Running Shot, Sieze the Moment, Backstabber, Elven Precision.
*I need to see if this invalidates Fleeting Ghost.
Skills: Stealth, Thievery, Acrobatics, Athletics, Perception, Nature (switched Nature for Dungeoneering because the Hiruma are above-ground scouts)

The Wizard needed to be a quick, decisive artillery platform: Alertness, Danger Sense, Improved Initiative, Feywild Protection, Burning Blizzard, Wintertouched, Lasting Frost, Spell Focus*.
*Spell Focus pretty much only applies to his non-cold daily spells but it gives the player something for switching them into the line-up.
Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, History, Religion

---------

I still have not chosen the warlord's feats but I know his focus. He will spend two feats on Skill Training (Dungeoneering) and Skill Emphasis/Focus/Whatever (Dungeoneering) to get his Kaiu bearings. The rest of his feats will focus on the bastard sword (proficiency, weapon focus, heavy blade opportunist, etc).

RIP - Hurley

Well, my new memory card is too small to hold a Superstar save file and my old memory card, which worked last night, is now saying it is corrupt again.

So Hurley is pretty much dead.

Hurley Masterton - NFL Running Back (Madden)

I have always wanted to document my progress through a season of Madden. I fell maddeningly short in trying to keep track of my fantasy draft team but I am going to give it a go with my second Superstar. My first superstar was named after myself. He was a quarterback, signed with the Chargers, displaced Rivers, and grew into an excellent Field General. Having Ladanian Tomlinson in the backfield was always a pleasure as it eased the pressure on my rookie QB in the first season and offered an excellent running game to keep the defense guessing against my field general. This time we have Hurley Masterton. His father was a Pro Bowl halfback who, in today's press, is often called the Larry Johnson of his time. He enjoyed traveling and usually spent the off-season globetrotting with the family. Hurley's mother was a genius, sporting a IQ of 150. She joined the FBI before meeting Hurley's father and, on their frequent summer vacations, steered her husband to destinations with good hiking. Hurley stands 6'1" tall and weighs 228 lbs. He attended his hometown school Texas on a football scholarship and hopes to wear #25 going into the NFL.

The Pikeman's Hallway Trap

Also known as the Forest of Stakes.

This trap requires a delineated walkway and a floor with seams (or other "roughage"). It could work in a dense forest with narrow paths, an interior hallway with hardwood floors, or a tiled walkway through a garden. The example will use a hardwood floor.

For the intended effect, the planks that make up the floor travel lengthwise down the hallway, not across. Through a hidden trigger, the planks swivel at some point along their length to raise 6-10 sharpened stakes into the air. The angle and length of the stakes put all the points in a solid vertical column facing one way or the other down the hall. Since every other plank across the width swivels open, they form an effective wall of sharp points. Because they angle up from the floor, chopping at the points just makes the wall shorter at each swipe.

This trap works well when someone is fleeing around blind corners. Activate the trap and they duck right into a self-made shish kebab. Activating several in a row (three or four such 'walls' in a single hallway) effectively halts any fast progress without necessarily killing the interloper. On the other hand, adding a trip wire (or allowing a few of the boards directly before the trap to raise just a couple inches as a trip aid) would increase the change of a damaging or lethal encounter.

I view the trap as operating via a counterweight mechanism. Usually the weight (suspended by the far end of the plank) is supported, leaving the floor in the normal, flat, down position. Activating the trap releases the weight, causing the floorboards to swivel violently up, trailing the suspended bamboo stakes beneath them. The stakes could be rigidly fixed in their vertical pattern (requiring a lot of room beneath the floor to house them) or they could be collapsible while stowed underneath the floor and locking into place as the floor rises up. I much prefer the latter as it prevents the hollow sounds and space requirements of the former.

Also, as I mentioned above, only every other plank rises. Why? So the remaining planks can have the same trap facing the opposite direction.

L5R -> 4e Integration Ideas

I have already decided that if I do this, it will start with a converted Keep on the Shadowfell. As I have not read further than a few pages into the Keep, all of the following is conjecture:

The Keep is Shiro Hiruma/a fallen Crab outpost/a Shadowlands outpost that the players are sent to investigate. Patrols are a normal duty of those along the wall so even a fresh batch of recruits is expected to take part in the forays.

All of the kobolds and other creatures will be changed to oni and ogres and bakemono. The characters are Crabs and maybe a few samurai from other clans with obvious ties to the Crab. A Hida Bushi (dwarf fighter) is an automatic include no matter what. I could make all the characters Crab with ease, utilizing two Hida Bushi (dwarf fighter and dwarf warlord), a Kaiu Engineer (tactical warlord or artificer), a Hiruma Scout (rogue), and a Kuni Shugenja (wizard with cleric multiclass). Or I can go whole-hog with the clans and use the characters I have already created (Hida Bushi, Mirumoto Bushi, Isawa Shugenja, Togashi Ise Zumi, Shosuro Shinobi, Moto Bushi, Kakita Kenshinzen, etc).


Further adventures call for an encounter with Spider Clan samurai (before they were the Spider Clan). These Lost would call themselves by the name Daigotsu, such as Daigotsu Tsuno. They would be analogous to the Dark Warlords from Ronin Warriors.


Also, all of the armor special attacks from Ronin Warriors can and will be written up as powers. I just need to find something appropriate to model them on (i.e. choose a good level to house the effect).