Crusader Kingdoms of the Unholy Lands

Great campaign updates! Of the various actual play recordings I've read to date, your campaign's fights seem to most resemble my own campaign's -- gruesome and very, very deadly. I physically winced when your zombies ripped out that guy's tongue...

How many players do you have running the various PCs and henchmen?

 

Thanks Alex. The Mortal Wounds table is great for pushing you to get creative with the combat descriptions.

We currently have 5 players:

  • Milnos-Sim Neutral Male Atlantean Tycoon 1 (I haven't posted this class yet. It's Zaharan 1, Thieving 1, Arcane 3, with the thief skills replaced with Venturer mercantile skills.)
    • Sablain-Xee*, Neutral Male Fighter 1. A Cynidicean with 17 STR.
    • Amab-Rah*, Neutral Normal Man 0. A Cynidicean siege engineer.
  • Thjolstoff Darkskull, Lawful Male Barbarian 1. He currently has no henchmen, as his gruesome scarring is putting off potential recruits.
  • Mercedes di Portia, Neutral Female Assassin 1.
    • Eva di Portia, Neutral Female Explorer 1. Mercedes' sister.
  • Aisha Alendi, Neutral Female Atlantean Stormtrooper 1.
    • Lunatha-Sim*, Neutral Female Fighter 1. A Cynidicean with a beastman ancestor.
  • Spinello di Lombabasso, Neutral Male Bard 1.
    • Odgrim Silverbeast, Neutral Male Light Infantry 0. A crusader from the Ygren barbarian tribes who has spent so much time recovering from mortal wounds that he has yet to reach 1st level.
    • Simbra-Nar, Neutral Male Atlantean Swordsmage (basically the Spellsword, but Zarharan instead of Elf). He will be recovering from the zombie ripping out his tongue for a few more weeks.
    • Meldotia-Nar*, Neutral Female Fighter 1. No relation to Simbra, she is a Cynidicean who is quite enamored of her employer.
    • Ablos-Nar*, Neutral Normal Man 0. Middle aged, but extremely confident. Again, no relation to the other Nars.
Henchmen marked with an asterisk were recruited during the last session.

I'm very pleased that you've been able to leverage the Zaharan custom race into your own setting. An Atlantean Swordmage sounds like something I'd dig...

 

Latest play report is up. It was a very bloody day in Cynidicea.

Session 6: In Which the Party Eliminates Three of the Cynidicean Cults, and Alienates the Fourth

Our latest report is up.

Session 7: In Which a Threat Is Discovered and Eliminated

A lot of time was spent fixing things around town and arguing about the next move, so we didn’t get as far as I’d like. Next session should be very interesting…

great :slight_smile:

Great update! 

Your PCs are beginning to look quite beaten up. They need to get to a high-level cleric...

They absolutely should make a trip to a city to get some healing and maybe recruit some more mercs. I keep mentioning that they can totally afford supplies and a pack animal for a trip to the surface or to one of the underground cities they have heard rumors of. Alas, they are very stubborn, and seem determined to cement their hold on the city before they leave. We’ll see how that goes for them.

In other news, Thjolstoff’s player - my brother - got bored at lunch yesterday and set up a Crusader Kingdoms of the Unholy Lands fan page on Facebook. The cover art he put together is pretty awesome.

The latest session report is up. SPOILER ALERT Zargon lives.

Session 8: In Which Zargon Takes Seven Times Seven

Played another session yesterday. The party lost the assassin and her sister, but gained 3 templars, 3 spearmaidens, and a one-armed zargonian. The PCs are calling themselves the Legion of the Gods Above, in reference to their ever-growing ranks.

Session 9: In Which the Legion Holds A Recruiting Drive In the Pyramid of Sabban-Ka

 

Thjolstoff: You know, there’s a lesson here about not interfering with systems you don’t really understand.

Milnos: We are all conservatives now

 

As an avid reader of Hayek and Burke, I found this laugh-out loud funny.

Thought you might appreciate that one.

Econ humor + ACKS = life complete

 

I finally got last month’s session report up. We’ve been doing some between-session stuff via e-mail that I wanted to include.

Session 10: In Which the Legion Loots the Tomb of Sabban-Ka

Yesterday’s session report is up. The Legion has become a ruthlessly efficient dungeon crawling machine. Until they are tempted with a shiny toy.

Session 11: In Which the Legion Spins the Wheel

Great update! 

 

"Thjolstoff says that he will pay for everyone who spins the Wheel and survives to get matching badass Wheel tattoos." - I love it.

In general, I have found that "wheels of fate" and similar items are like crack for players. Addictive and very dangerous!

"Thirleiro has been assigned 10′ pole duty, and so is ordered to try to reach through the field with it and try to snag the staff with the grappling hook tied to the end of the pole. As the hook-and-pole rig penetrates the squishy field, it begins to dissolve. Then the irritated gelatinous cube squeezes through the archway, enveloping the thief, dissolving his genitals, and rendering him unconscious." -> HILARIOUS

 

 

 

The players who were around for the Basic D&D days were kicking themselves for falling for the gelatinous cube. It was great.

I think that putting a classic trick monster like the gelatinous cube, green slime, or rust monster, and a random weirdness generator like the Mystic Stone from B1 In Search of the Unknown in your starting dungeon is almost as essential as stocking it with the standard magic item set (sword/shield/armor, elven cloak and boots, staff of healing, and wand of paralysis). Gotta remind them what game they’re playing.

Yesterday’s session report is up. Hard to believe it’s been a year already.

Session 12: In Which The Legion Finally Conquers Cynidicea

Sunday’s session report is up. Turns out that a barbarian teamed with a wizard with a wand of paralysis makes for a very effective ambush.

Session 13: In Which the Legion Drives the Zargonians From Cynidicea

The latest report is up. Hubris is beginning to take its toll. Milnos was crippled and will be out for a couple of weeks. It is the start of a new game month, which may prove especially inconvenient for the Legion if Zargon shows up to complain about the lack of sacrifices before their main wizard recovers.

Session 14: In Which the Legion Explores the Zargonian Stronghold, the Eye of Zargon, and the Galleries