15 June, 2009
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
New Monster
JUN 14, 2009 05:38P.M.
A new monster has been uploaded.
ROGUE FEED
Shoggoth
JUN 14, 2009 05:36P.M.
Shoggoth
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 12
Attacks: Pseudopods (3d8)
Saving Throw: F7
Special: Immunities, Regenerates
Move: 10
Challenge Level: 15/2900 XP
Nightmarish congeries of self-luminous protoplasmic bubbles, forming
temporary eyes and pseudopods as necessary, shoggoths are eons-old
creations of the Eld, using them both as servants and as the raw material
from which they fashioned many other aberrant servitors. Fortunately,
these original shoggoths — true horrors! — are rare, most of them having
been destroyed during the turmoil that ended the Eldritch dominion
over the world. The Thulians in their latter days followed in the footsteps
of the Eld and created their own shoggoths and it’s these creatures this
entry describes. Eldritch shoggoths are vastly more powerful and would
have correspondingly more impressive statistics.
Shoggoths, though amorphous, generally cover a 15-foot diameter circle
and can attack opponents from any direction. Attacks that roll 4 higher
than the needed number (or double the number required to hit) result in
the shoggoth’s enveloping its target and drawing it into its body, where it
will be wholly digested in 12 rounds. Fire and electrical-based attacks do
only half damage to shoggoths, as do all non-magical weapons of any
sort. Shoggoths regenerate 2 hit points per round and this regeneration
stops only with the creature’s death; nothing else will impede it.
1
ROGUE FEED
Instant Adventuring Party: Just
Add Beer
JUN 14, 2009 04:44P.M.
Why is it that every time a new campaign begins it starts off at an inn?
Would you want a bunch of drunks watching your back while you sneak
into the dragon’s lair to rescue the princess? This thought occurred to me
when the Dragonlance campaign I am playing in started up.
Granted, the generated PCs in Dragonlance have a reason to be meeting
at the Inn of the Last Home. The PCs are friends with a shared history
and are coming together for the first in five years after their unsuccessful
searches for the true gods. In the modules, a DM is told that if players
are running their own characters a reasons for their meeting at the inn
must be given. This then forces a DM to come up with logical reasons as
to why the PCs are together. For most of the campaigns I have played in,
the first adventure has the PCs meeting at an inn, star port, or even an
Upper Manhattan Italian restaurant. They are thrown together for no
apparent reason, and no explanation for them working together is ever
explained. It seems as if they stick together solely due to the inertia from
moving from adventure to adventure. I then thought about the
campaigns I ran, and I realized I never fell back on the “You meet at an
inn” cliché. So, as is always the case with my wandering mind, I started
thinking about different ways a GM can begin a new campaign. All of the
following ideas are ones that I have used in my own games, and have had
great success with.
Survivors of a Village Raid
When I started my first D&D campaign, way back in the golden days of
1985, I made hobgoblins the major threat. I wanted the players to work
together, with a single event that would bind them. I came up with the
idea that the PCs were youngsters, ranging in age from 18 to 20, from a
small mountain village. All the PCs started at 1st level and I required
them to work together in fleshing out how they knew each other. To
facilitate this, I had each player look to the player on their right and state
how they knew that character. What this did was force the players to
think of a back story and allowed them to shape the group’s
relationships. I then had the PCs deal with a hobgoblin raid that saw
their entire village destroyed. As the oldest youngsters in the village, it
was the PCs duty to get the rest of the village children to safety.
Over the next two adventures the PCs dealt with not only a hostile
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
environment and difficult children, but with the fallout of their village
being destroyed. Families were slain, friends missing, and a way of life
obliterated. In the end the group had a reason for being together. Once
the younger children were safe, the players decided that they would have
their revenge against the tribe that destroyed their home. Little did they
know that over the next six years of the campaign the players would
learn why their village was destroyed and why the hobgoblins were on
the warpath.
This method worked, because the PCs had a reason to be together. They
shared a common experience, and had a common bond. It did not matter
that two of the PCs did not care for each other, they both knew that they
were one of the few remaining survivors from their village. The group
had motivation, the PCs had a history, and the players became closer
during the game.
Jail Time
Another successful method I have used in starting a campaign, was when
I had the PCs start off in jail. The characters were jailed for crimes they
did not commit, and their motivation was to break out, get to safety, and
clear their names. I used this twice in campaigns, once in a Star Wars
campaign I ran, and once in a D&D campaign. This method threw the
players in a situation were they needed to work together to not only
survive life in prison, but to escape it as well. Having the PCs in jail also
gave them a reason to be together. In the case of the Star Wars campaign
one of the players wanted to play an Imperial Naval Officer who had
become disenchanted with the Empire. I knew I wanted the campaign to
center around the PCs being members of the Rebellion and I needed a
logical reason for an Imperial Officer to be with the group. Prison
worked perfectly.
The PCs managed to escape the prison, and also managed to get a ship.
Once out the PCs had a common bond and they decided to stick together.
In addition they all learned that they were framed by the same
individual, and they all wanted revenge. There may have been rivalries,
but they were still brothers and sisters in arms, bonded not only by a
shard experience, but by a mutual enemy. They lived and survived the
conditions of an Imperial prison planet, worked towards clearing their
names, and had a mutual respect for each other. It was a group decisions
that led them to joining the Rebellion, and it was as a group that they
fought the Hutts and the Empire. In the end it was also as a group that
they buried one of their own.
There are other ways to start a new campaign, but for me the above two
methods worked the best. What they did was provide a basis for the
players to work off of, and gave them a common origin that explained
why they were together. It also put some of the work onto the players,
forcing them to think about their character’s background and come up
with a history. It is one thing for the cleric and thief in the party not
liking each other. It is another thing for Roland to be angry with Justin
over a girl. This early history also provides enough plot hooks to use for
more adventures, and provides a group history to build a campaign on.
Why is it that every time a new campaign begins it starts off at an inn?
2
15 June, 2009
Would you want a bunch of drunks watching your back while you sneak
into the dragon’s lair to rescue the princess? This thought occurred to me
when the Dragonlance campaign I am playing in started up.
Granted, the generated PCs in Dragonlance have a reason to be meeting
at the Inn of the Last Home. The PCs are friends with a shared history
and are coming together for the first in five years after their unsuccessful
searches for the true gods. In the modules, a DM is told that if players
are running their own characters a reasons for their meeting at the inn
must be given. This then forces a DM to come up with logical reasons as
to why the PCs are together. For most of the campaigns I have played in,
the first adventure has the PCs meeting at an inn, star port, or even an
Upper Manhattan Italian restaurant. They are thrown together for no
apparent reason, and no explanation for them working together is ever
explained. It seems as if they stick together solely due to the inertia from
moving from adventure to adventure. I then thought about the
campaigns I ran, and I realized I never fell back on the “You meet at an
inn” cliché. So, as is always the case with my wandering mind, I started
thinking about different ways a GM can begin a new campaign. All of the
following ideas are ones that I have used in my own games, and have had
great success with.
Survivors of a village raid
When I started my first D&D campaign, way back in the golden days of
1985, I made hobgoblins the major threat. I wanted the players to work
together, with a single event that would bind them. I came up with the
idea that the PCs were youngsters, ranging in age from 18 to 20, from a
small mountain village. All the PCs started at 1st level and I required
them to work together in fleshing out how they knew each other. To
facilitate this, I had each player look to the player on their right and state
how they knew that character. What this did was force the players to
think of a back story and allowed them to shape the group’s
relationships. I then had the PCs deal with a hobgoblin raid that saw
their entire village destroyed. As the oldest youngsters in the village, it
was the PCs duty to get the rest of the village children to safety.
Over the next two adventures the PCs dealt with not only a hostile
environment and difficult children, but with the fallout of their village
being destroyed. Families were slain, friends missing, and a way of life
obliterated. In the end the group had a reason for being together. Once
the younger children were safe, the players decided that they would have
their revenge against the tribe that destroyed their home. Little did they
know that over the next six years of the campaign the players would
learn why their village was destroyed and why the hobgoblins were on
the warpath.
This method worked, because the PCs had a reason to be together. They
shared a common experience, and had a common bond. It did not matter
that two of the PCs did not care for each other, they both knew that they
were one of the few remaining survivors from their village. The group
had motivation, the PCs had a history, and the players became closer
during the game.
Jail Time
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 15 June, 2009

Another successful method I have used in starting a campaign, was when

I had the PCs start off in jail. The characters were jailed for crimes they thoughts
did not commit, and their motivation was to break out, get to safety, and
clear their names. I used this twice in campaigns, once in a Star Wars
campaign I ran, and once in a D&D campaign. This method threw the
players in a situation were they needed to work together to not only
survive life in prison, but to escape it as well. Having the PCs in jail also
gave them a reason to be together. In the case of the Star Wars campaign
one of the players wanted to play an Imperial Naval Officer who had
become disenchanted with the Empire. I knew I wanted the campaign to
center around the PCs being members of the Rebellion and I needed a
logical reason for an Imperial Officer to be with the group. Prison
worked perfectly.

The PCs managed to escape the prison, and also managed to get a ship.
Once out the PCs had a common bond and they decided to stick together.
In addition they all learned that they were framed by the same
individual, and they all wanted revenge. There may have been rivalries,
but they were still brothers and sisters in arms, bonded not only by a
shard experience, but by a mutual enemy. They lived and survived the
conditions of an Imperial prison planet, worked towards clearing their
names, and had a mutual respect for each other. It was a group decisions
that led them to joining the Rebellion, and it was as a group that they
fought the Hutts and the Empire. In the end it was also as a group that
they buried one of their own.

There are other ways to start a new campaign, but for me the above two
methods worked the best. What they did was provide a basis for the
players to work off of, and gave them a common origin that explained
why they were together. It also put some of the work onto the players,
forcing them to think about their character’s background and come up
with a history. It is one thing for the cleric and thief in the party not
liking each other. It is another thing for Roland to be angry with Justin
over a girl. This early history also provides enough plot hooks to use for
more adventures, and provides a group history to build a campaign on.

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