The Elementals of Vond

Please indulge me while I repost an article on the Mana-Punk.com website, a pen-and-paper roleplaying game for which I have just released a new dungeon adventure:

While things here on the website have been extremely quiet over the course of the last month (and we apologize for that), we have been toiling over the latest addition to the Mana Punk system, and the world of Zethyria in which it takes place. The final result for all of this work is a dreadfully delightful crawl through a working dwarven mine that has been taken over by hostile forces. I would proudly like to introduce everyone to “The Elementals of Vond”, as well as its author (and new member to Team Mana Punk), Patrick M. Tully!

The Elementals of Vond springs from the imagination of our newest team member, Patrick M. Tully, someone who seems to have a bit of a soft spot for old school dungeon crawls. Set in the darkest depths of the Smoking Crown, the very center of the dwarven empire, you and your fellow adventurers immediately get called into service by the Adventurer’s Guild in order to render aid to a dwarven mine. The secretive location known only as “Vond” has been taken over by hostile forces capable of taking the mine’s very metals and ores, twisting and transforming them into elemental monstrosities that will strike even the bravest of heroes with fear and trepidation.

About The Author

Patrick M. Tully is the latest addition to our evil corporate brain trust. Duel status as an avid reader and experienced role-playing gamer gives Patrick a deep well of knowledge and ideas from which he can draw; a volatile combination of talents that resulted in his coming to us with the conjured menace and machinations that have become The Elementals of Vond. While this is Patrick’s first foray into adventure module writing we feel that the end result is more than fantastic, forcing us to admit that we are definitely looking forward to his next crazy idea.

About The Adventure

The Elementals of Vond is set in the heart of the dwarven territories called “The Smoking Crown”.  This highly volcanic and extremely volatile area of the map is labelled as hazardous for a number of reasons beyond the lava and ash. Between the heated internal politics of the dwarven Kroal Empire and the border disputes that constantly occur with their desert dwelling A’Bondi to the north, things in the Smoking Crown can be dangerous for even the most savvy of adventurers. One of the most critical and secretive locations within this region of the map is a mining operation whose location goes unmarked and generally unknown; a location known simply as “Vond”. Seemingly overnight this mine, which normally a dwarven government secret due to the rare “Float Stone” mineral that it produces, has been taken over by hostile outside forces. As the mine’s location is kept a government secret, someone within the ranks of the Kroal would need to have leaked the location of Vond to outsiders. Once this accusation gets made, the resulting political fallout forces the Kroal government to seek the help of outsiders in quelling the captured mines. If operations are not restored to the Vond mining site soon, economic chaos could soon follow for the dwarven people.

“The gratitude of a Kingdom is always welcome, but do you dare go where even dwarves fear to tread in order to gain that favor?”

This adventure module marks the second adventure to make use of our unique Easy Read Formatting layout system. Combining easy to spot formatting and simple layout this module is set up so even a beginning Game Master make sense of it and get their group of adventurers to the action (and fun) even faster.  The Elementals of Vond is perfect for any group of 3 to 8 players from beginner to expert experience levels as it has been designed with adjustable difficulty in mind. Do you want to take it easy on your heroes and keep things at Easy or do you dare crank the difficulty all the way up to Hardcore?

The Elementals of Vond is available now in paperback through our webstore here in addition to Amazon, and will be available in PDF later today on DriveThruRPG.com. Keep your eyes peeled!

Blowing off the Dust

I thought I would try to breathe a little life into my long-dormant blog, but where to begin - there are so many things worthy of my attention.

I have finished the bulk of the text for what should soon be my first published work, an adventure module for my brother Jeremy and his wife Jenn's pen-and-paper role playing game Mana Punk. It will be entitled The Elementals of Vond and will be set in a Dwarven Mine that has been infiltrated by a group of radical Elven environmentalist-types.  I look forward to the play-testing phase - it should be fun!

Tea Adventures

I got some wonderful  new loose leaf tea from my brothers for  my birthday, specifically black dragon pearls, some Darjeeling, and jasmine dragon pearls.  The black dragon pearls have proven to provide a very nice strong brew that is at the same time very smooth with no hint of bitterness. The Darjeeling is  not quite as strong, but has a very nice rich flavor with lots of character. The one that has been the biggest revelation for me has been the jasmine dragon pearls. It's a type I have not tried before, and is exceedingly light, fragrant, and refreshing while also standing up well to multiple infusions without losing flavor. I usually drink European blend black teas (with the exception of Earl Grey) with milk and sweetener, but the two new black teas I have taken black with just a little sweetener to get the most out of the great flavor and complexity.

Music

I had the opportunity to see a wonderful presentation of the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah at Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church on I-10 Thursday evening.  This church has for the last 8 or 9 years been presenting the Messiah free of charge as a gift to the community, and they do a great job.  The soloists are well worth hearing, with my favorite being the bass (shock, I know) who has a lot of depth and character to his voice.  I did feel a bit sorry for the tenor who was the first soloist to sing, but due to the selection of numbers, we never heard from again after that.  The soprano and mezzo blended beautifully for "He shall feed his flock", and the choir and orchestra were outstanding and I sincerely hope these folks can keep this tradition alive. If you have never heard the Hallelujah Chorus performed live, it is an experience you will never forget.

On a completely different note, I am anticipating seeing Brian Setzer live in concert with his big band Saturday the 15th at the Arena Theater. I have always wanted to see him live, and have never had the opportunity. Stay tuned to this site for reviews of the show!

Gaming

I am still very much enjoying World of Warcraft's latest expansion "The Mists of Pandaria". I have gotten my tauren druid Kernos to level 90, and and now busy doing daily quests, raising reputation with various factions, and collecting some fascinating new mounts. I have made a pandaren monk, but don't have him very far along - maybe level 15. I have enjoyed the storytelling in this expansion, and the zones are gorgeous.  I am anxious to see where the lore is going because  they are setting things up for an interesting ending. I've always been Horde (Lok'tar Ogar!), and was sad to see Thrall resign as war-chief, the ascension of Garrosh to power, and the betrayal and death of Cairne Bloodhoof.  Garrosh has become much more of a bloodthirsty madman than I think most foresaw, what with the nuking of Theramore and other things. It looks like the tauren and trolls are very much against his new direction, but no one has had the courage to do anything about it just yet.

Well that is enough for one evening, but stay tuned to this channel for more frequent updates!

Manapunk

I would like to recommend to everyone my brother Jeremy and his wife Jenn's new venture. They have created a fresh, new world for pencil-and-paper role playing. I haven't done any pen and paper gaming in a while, but I did cut my teeth on Dungeons and Dragons, and their new project might just make me come out of retirement, as it were. to quote from the website:

Mana Punk is the fantasy role-playing game with a steam-punk twist! Create your own troll warrior with a steam powered mechanical arm to help drive their weapon swings, or be a spell slinging mage capable of commanding the very elements themselves!

This is a project he has been working on for a long time, and it has finally come to fruition. Manapunk is now available from a variety of sources, including lulu.com in either PDF or hardcopy, and will shortly be available from Amazon, and hopefully in your local gaming store. Also, Manapunk can be played with just a six-sided die, so no carrying around a huge bag full of weird dice around like a geek - not that there's anything wrong with that :)

Star Wars: The Old Republic

As I mentioned in my last column, I saw a gameplay trailer for the new Star Wars MMO coming out. It's being done by Bioware in conjunction with LucasArts. If you have played Star Wars games, either single-player, or the existing MMO, then you know this is a good thing. I have played Star Wars Galaxies several times at different phases in it's meandering lifespan. I have revelled in finally reaching 'glowie' status and have ground away at the Jedi path, and have also had my Jedi status handed to me on a silver platter. In short, while I have enjoyed playing SWG in the past, it can be kind of confusing, and if you leave the game and come back, chances are they will have completely changed the mechanics and you will have to learn how to play all over again.

Bioware is the outfit that produced the best of all the Star Wars games that I have played, Knights of the Old Republic. It was set about 4000 years before the events in the movies, at the height of the Sith Wars and had a role-playing system based on Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It had great gameplay, and the roleplaying aspect was excellent, driven by a menu system that let you choose your responses to events that you encounter. The new MMO they are developing uses this same system and also the concept of accruing Light side or Dark side points. These points are earned based on choices you make, and have quite a large impact on gameplay down the road, from abilities and equipment available, to how people react to you. This was one of the coolest aspects of KoTOR.

The combat system also looks very promising, with a few features I have not seem before. Combat seems a lot more real-time. In the trailer, a smuggler-class was engaging multiple opponents at the same time, moving to cover and firing from cover. It was impressive. While in combat, the system indicates places in the terrain that will provide cover, and also indicates where others are taking cover

The word used quite a few times in the trailer was 'epic'. The developers want the combat to feel epic - heroic - not routine, but exiting. Based on what I have seen, Star Wars: The Old Republic has a chance to immerse the player in its world like few other games have been able to. The story seems to be very important to the developers - an integral part of the game, not just a construct to build the game around. I love my WoW, but might have to take some time away from Azeroth to jump into the Star Wars world again.

A Veteran of the Wrathgate

Well I have been playing Wrath of the Lich King for a couple of weeks now and have enjoyed it all. Blizzard really did a good job on this one. There are a lot of new types of quests and some very interesting storyline, but most of all, you feel like you are right in the middle of the action - fighting on the frontline for your faction - a real hero for your side, not just another dork killing 8 of this animal or kill those guys until you collect 10 red hats.

The deathknight beginning quest chain is worth the price of admission and should not be missed, even if you don't think you will play the toon later. The quests are fun and original, and make use of phasing. This allows you to have a real impact on the world around you. As you progress through a quest chain and - for example - help to conquer the village, then you will see the village in flames, and it will be desolate the next time you pass thru it - instead of back to normal like you have never been there.

As much fun as the deathnight quests are, for my money, one of the most entertaining and rewarding gameplay experiences I have ever had is easily the Dragonblight quest chain. Dragonblight is on the south side of Northrend in the center, and is the zone a player would naturally progress to after finishing either Borean Tundra or Howling Fjords. There are the standard faction strongholds, but the centerpiece is the Wyrmrest Temple, kind of a dragon U.N. building. All of the dragons have shrines in the zone, and they come together in an uneasy alliance against the aggression of the Azure Dragonflight who are bent on destroying all who use magic.

The quest chain is very long, and involves interaction with most all of the different dragons in the zone, including a really fun quest where you get to command a dragon in battle against the Azure Dragonflight and fight from his back. It's pretty awesome to participate, but just as incredible to watch from the ground as dead dragons rain from the sky.

If you follow this chain to its end, it climaxes in a confrontation with Arthas the Lich King at the Wrathgate - a Gates of Mordor - type affair at the north end of Dragonblight. The cutscene is epic and Blizzard-worthy (a company famous for its cutscenes) I won't give away the plot details, but it is a great scene, and can be re-visited by talking to the right NPC in game.

The events of the Wrathgate episode are followed by a visit to a locked-down, martial law-imposed Orgrimmar where you meet with Thrall, the Orc battlechief and leader of the Horde and witness a confrontation with Jaina Proudmoor, a hero of the Alliance. You then accompany Thrall to the Undercity where your hero gets to fight alongside him and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner to reconquer the Undercity in an epic battle from the front gates all the way to the Royal Quarter. It is truly an incredible experience, and makes you feel like you truly are a Champion of the Horde

I can't give you an Alliance perspective but the Horde experience was excellent and it makes me want to level up an Alliance toon to see the same events from the other side.

Your character not only gets to be on the frontlines for momentous and epic events, but the player is put right in the middle of a lot of key WoW lore and storyline, and is quite a bit more satisfying than just grinding on murlocs. If you are sitting on the fence and cannot decide whether or not to come back, I give Wrath of the Lich King a hearty thumbs up - it is the best work Blizzard has done to date.

Currently Listening to:

The Newsboys - Take Me to Your Leader
The Tossers - Long Dim Road

Last Movie Seen

Hancock