Texas Hospitality

Small breaks out front of the hotel were common mid-game and a great place to swap stories with some of the players at the other tables too. I learned so much about the old TSR days in front of them La Quinta hotel doors! Tim & Rob had me transfixed with these tales after the gaming was done on that last day. One of the better moments was when they talked about some of the things Gary might say at the table that would tip off your impending doom. After an hour or so of stories it was off to bed for the 4 hours of sleep that remained before Allan Grohe's game!

Oh no! Had the clock on California time still and noticed this just before I entered the game room very late. Damn my lack of proper time keeping! There they all were huddled around the table with alligator grins going through the Castle Greyhawk! Luckily for me, Allan is a compassionate man because he let me join the game nearly two hours late. I heard the game started late anyways but it seemed to be in full stride when I arrived. There was some rough treatment though as I was in a bag being used like a 'cat in the sack' taking nearly half my hit points in damage. Thankfully, Gus from Reaper Miniatures went out on a limb and freed me from the bag after his sojourn to hell to recover his powerful mace that egressed a magical portal. Doug gave us an extra hour of playing time which was a perfect situation for us in Grodog's dungeon as we tried to work our way out before the buzzer. A chunk of cheese and some chalk graffiti later we were near escaping when time ran out.

Philotomy wrote:
I thought it was great that we left some "adventurer graffiti" down there on Level 14. "This door goes to hell." Heh.

The last move we made was to leave a dark room that had some presumed undead monsters lurking about. Seemed everyone wanted to continue the exploration but we didn't want to miss the bbq and when the bus leaves you better be on it!


Part II

Off to Doug's house!



I heard that Doug had maybe an hour's sleep the night before as he manned the grill while hungry gamer's lined up for burgers. How Doug could stand next to that grill in the Texas heat without budging showed that the man has a high constitution, * see superman. A variety of interesting conversations were had at this time while I chowed on sausage's, chicken, and beans!



Getting away from the game tables ended up being a nice change as everyone got to know each other better and exchanged stories. After a couple of hours it was back to the bus!

On the drive home I sat next to Rob and Alex. We had some conversations about writing, the business and American culture. We returned to the La Quinta and it was still smoldering outside so Rob & I went to the only store within walking distance for provisions. The game room was still missing a few players for Rob's impending game so we ran over to the Texas Land & Cattle for a quick pre-game brew. Had I known what was going to happen in the game ahead I would have gotten bombed!

The game started a little later than the others but it didnt matter as our party had issues with staying the course at the start. Rob handles a large unruly group like a pro. If you did not know who Rob was you would still believe that he has played many games of DnD by the way he handles the table. Here's an excerpt written by Invincible Overlord.

Saturday evening I played a 2nd level magic user in Rob Kuntz's game. It was an experience I will never forget, which brings me to my quote of the weekend:

R.K. "...You guys found a secret door that not even Gary Gygax found 37 years ago..."

I.O. (after almost getting our teeth kicked in) "Yeah, there's a reason he didn't find it..."

I was given some grief for using a SOP for searching doors, but guess what we found!

Invincible Overlord continues...

On the other end of the trapdoor (at the other end of the passageway) were 3 drow warriors. Given their tactical advantage (and rendering the mages useless with all their sleep spells...), it was a literally uphill combat.
It's not as much as we weren't cohesive, but some people just panicked and bugged out (even before anyone died yet!!!).

Sissies... fine... we fought on...

We were given a clerical scroll (up to 3rd level) to use, so I picked the 2nd level spell: Hold Person for the cleric to use. It was used to hold 1 of the 3 drow warriors. We were finally catching a break in the combat... Afterwards we had dispatched the other two drow warriors, after the other half of the party fled. All of a sudden, one of the two clerics that retreated from the combat must have taken a break to have his two scoops of self-confidence with his raisin bran to return to the party and climb the passageway up. Just as I had pushed the held drow warrior into the 20' deep passageway below... With the cleric near dead (and the held drow NOT dead), I was relieved of party leadership Laughing At this point Paul Jaquay's character reluctantly took command of the group. It was a very tough fight, where we had NO tactical advantage. I'm sure this disheartened us as a group (and this confusion and lack of cohesiveness in that particular battle), but we did rebound from that reasonably well.

The falling drow nearly killed one of our own hence the demotion. Much laughter ensued around the table. I was the first up the ladder where my halfing was instantly punished and dropped to a lone HP. Other members like Paul J's character charged up the ladder and I could not get down, sandwhiched awaiting death!

Invincible Overlord continues...

Once I got acclimated to his style of DM'ing, I'd have to say that this would be my pick of the con, which brings me to my other quote of the con:

(Chris Finch, playing his halfling rogue) " I listen to the door..."

R.K. "The door whispers nothing but sweet loving words to you... IT'S A DOOR, IT DOESN'T SPEAK!!!" Laughing

(C.F.) "I listen AT the door."

R.K. "Ah, now you're trying to be a rogue eh?"

At the conclusion of this encounter and searching the area we found several clear liquid potions and a few red liquid potions. A ring was found. An ornate dagger with an evil aspect was found and a discussion ensued between the halfling and the fighter over what to do with it. The fighter wanted to investigate it and my halfling did not want the blade pulled from the scabbard in fear that there was a chance the blade was cursed so it would be better to pull it out when we were in an encounter that was over our heads. The fighter (played by John) took both items and discovered they were of similar design but went no further with his investigation. At some point between here and the end, 12 year old Colton playing next to me decided to dip his blade in the red potion. A smart move we found out later but he never had the chance to use it all game!

The party then spent over an hour in real time just exploring and mapping. Somewhere in here we lossed our leader Paul J. too & I tried to fill in. In defense of this time spent I had been part of a conversation with Rob much earlier in the day where he described how he fools players into going the direction he wants by how he sets up his dungeon. As an example, you may have to go the opposite direction to end up in the direction you wished to go. I didn't notice any of this in this game but it may very well have been there and I do not envy the mappers (Flambeaux!)job in an RJK dungeon.

From here on we passed every door we encountered. It was then decided that the next door would be opened. What did we find? We found a room which through investigations led us to a room quite a bit aways from where we were at.

This is one of the all time great module experiences that I have ever seen. The party was psychological goaded into combat by the DM. I couldnt talk anyone into standing down or even thinking about it for a moment. I may not have understood the power RJK was weilding over them though as he seemed to push the right buttons to make them act each time. My character slunk away and was a non factor, unable to even act. This irritated me until all was understood as to what happened and why. I kept trying to get an action in or find a party member to not fall for Rob's trap. When all was done we past this experience where Gary had previously fallen. There was a lot of pride at the table when we heard this information from Rob and I must admit the characters played by John January, the Invincible Overlord and Paul J. seemed to have conquered it. My character had found a secret door and as I circled around to re-enter they had succeded in surviving this test.

I would love to explain this part in detail but it's Rob's to reveal when it is time.
I do say again...I feel it is one of the great moments in any DnD module.

We went through what is a classic rust monster encounter. Run-away, re-think and return. The fighter really wanted to kill it and I thought it was not worth the time but John was right as it was easily dispatched by the party. We then holed up in a room for a few precious hours to get the clerics some spells. This would play out large later.

Our end of the table started to realize that nearly 5 hours had passed and we only searched 3 rooms in that time! It was then decided to open one of these doors or we'd wasted quality table time with RJK just mapping dungeon space!

Flambeaux wrote:
The TPK resulted when (as the result of a wandering monster check) our halfling thief opened a door, gained total surprise on 9 gnolls -- and attacked them with a missile weapon. *sigh* The fighters then massed at the door and got the snot beaten out of them by the gnolls. One gnoll kept rolling 19 To Hit and near max damage with a flail. Spells failed, we couldn't hit, and we were bottle-necked at the door way.

Missile weapon? I used my sword and I promptly rolled a 4! As luck would have it the other front line member also missed which set the tone of the combat to come and at this point it was only 2 gnolls that could be seen. After richly deserving my two trips to hell's door for instigating this combat I had one hp and was forced to cover the rear with the bow. Still, though I was later skewered for charging the gnolls, I still say that gnolls are good odds in a RJK dungeon and if I ever have surprise a second time on gnolls I would do it again! An opening never showed with all the fire and constant work of the clerics reviving everyone.

Classic. Then Rob said something that for me was the funniest comment ever uttered by a DM in a drastic situation. I guess you would have had to have been there though to appreciate it like I did. Rob's gnolls were rolling their attack and Rob stated that this one gnoll would get an extra HD after we already had been in several rounds of combat. (Remember Flambeaux's comment above?) Most of the table went up in arms right away as we had the devil already gnawing on our asses. Rob then explained how this gnoll had 16 hp's and all the other good rolls it had made in combat thus far. "This gnoll is under-rated!"
Too bad you the reader could not have been there for the glee in Rob's face at seeing our collective jaws drop in angst then burst into hideous laughter.

Tim Kask wrote:
It was fun watching old friend Rob forcing his groups to jump through the hoops of his choosing;

My character layed down to rest a few times in this hallway of the damned. Colton had thrown a few oils and we were surrounded in flames at this point and just about everyone in the party had been beat down. Most of us left with 1hp, definitely no more than 5. The game ended with no TPK but Rob was a gracious DM to let it end as it did.

Later, Rob explained some of the goofs I made such as holding the dagger that could have helped me single handidly fight the gnolls. Having purchased Rob's El Raja Key's Arcane Treasury I had visions of having all hell break lose when I pulled that dagger so I planned on waiting for us to be in hell to do it. I had visions of ending up like Gollum looking to backstab my own party members under the dagger's influence. My mistake. Colton on the other hand seemed to have made most the right decisions but we were foolish in having adult party leaders. My mistake again.

I think Rob left everyone shell shocked during most the game. By game's conclusion I doubt anyone could say they did not learn something about DMing. Those were priceless hours that I was lucky to have experienced. Thinking back on it I laugh just thinking about Rob's mocking laughter and smirk as he toyed with us.