Pathfinder Game 01 - 09/13/2023 - Born to be Wild!
Written by David Green
Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 players playing are typically late arrivers so we got to a slow start. Brian had placed a lot of information on the message of the day about the system and the setting but I don’t think many had a chance to read it. We dove into building characters. Everyone seemed to have used the online character builder to project out their intentions into the higher levels so it was a matter of transferring that into FGU. FGU provided a template for character building which worked okay. It was still a struggle and a couple had to start over because there were some things you could not undo. But we managed to get 3 characters made. Brian started the background/town tie in discussion when Dave arrived so we waited for him to catch up. Here are the characters, as I can remember them.
Dan has a gnome Sorcerer named Clarissa. I think she’s a dragon blood. Her magic manifested in an uncontrollable manner at a young age. So much so that she and her mother were “asked” to leave. The only relative (distant cousin) they knew of with magic experience was the Druid that lives just outside of Otari but she couldn’t do much for a Sorcerer. However, the Wizard that operates a book shop in town offered to help. So, they live in a tiny shack near the docks and her mom cleans the shop. Clarissa sometimes helps, gets some training and as long as she doesn’t burn anything down, can read all the books she wants.
Paul has a full Orc Fighter named Tar Somethingornother with the intent of picking up the Marshal archetype at 2nd and the Bard multiclass at 8th. 18 STR and plenty of Fighter skills and 16 CHR and plenty of Bard skills. It took some negotiation between Brian and Paul to find a character history with more hooks into the town beyond his original wayward orphan. So, he was “saved” as a baby after his tribe had been eliminated in retaliation for raids on the town lumber interests. The baby was given over to the only orc in town, a former gladiator half Orc who works as a guard at the Menhemes lumber mill. Tar sometimes helps out and in general tries to be an upstanding citizen despite the inevitable prejudices against him.
Dave ended up with a Halfling Leaf Druid named Brisco Bramblemire after Dave Green vacated it. He started with a Leafy familiar and talked of picking up a second Druid subclass (Wild shape) at 2nd. His background also took some work. He is the son of the owners of the local herbalist shop. He had a skill with herbs and would go out to gather raw materials. When he started manifesting Druid powers, he was sent to the Gnome Druid that lives just outside of town for training. How a Druid, especially a Leaf one, works in a lumber town is a little dicey. It was suggested he was a re-forester but he could also end up an ecoterrorist.
Dave Green ended up with a half Elf STR based Monk with a Bo Staff named Oakwood. He is the middle child of Mayor Menhemes however when he came out as a half Elf, there was quite the scandal. Evidently a handsome Elf came through town. The wife claims she was magically charmed but the husband is not so sure. But that was 17 years ago. However Osgood is a bit of a sore spot in the family. As a bastard and smaller than the average human, he took a lot of abuse as a child. So, he began training with an Oaken staff (thus the nickname Oakwood) to toughen up. He maintains that training discipline. He goes out with the work crews as a “foreman” in training but prefers to scout for new groves.
With that taken care of, we started an encounter. The Menhemes Fishery turns into the teen hang out after hours. Some of the popular teens challenged our misfit teens to a battle of capture the flag. The losers would lose Fishery rights for two weeks. Brian came up with a bunch of rules but it didn’t quite work out as he’d hoped. It was 4 on 4 in a designated area. No damaging each other and no TK to grab a flag. The goal was to get both flags, ours and theirs onto ours. But without damage, it became a skill challenge with Athletics based maneuvers like Shove, Grapple, Trip and Disarm being at a premium. There was some success with some CHR based Intimidation “attacks” but they didn’t have much of an impact. We started with doing the DC’s wrong. For example, Trip is a Reflex DC so we were rolling Athletics and Brian was rolling a Reflex save. But we eventually realized the Reflex DC was a flat 10 plus their save. I think that’s tougher. Historically if you’re fighting a tough dragon, you cast a bunch of spells and hope it rolls a 1 at some point. With a flat 10, there is no chance of a 1.
What happened was that Carissa grabbed our flag and Oakwood’s older sister grabbed theirs. (There was a brief opportunity where Oakwood managed to get near enough to his sister to attempt to trip her off the tower (cheating?) before she got it but got a critical failure.) Generally, Brian rolled well and the players rolled not so good. And two of them were superior to us so our target DCs were tough. However, it came down to the Disarm rules. You needed a critical success (i.e. more than 10 over) to get someone to drop something. With a Reflex DC of 10+10 flat+10 over, you needed a 30 to succeed over their flag holder. Clarissia wasn’t that good but she had players with her doing CHR skills to impede them. A normal success gave a +2 until their next round so in theory, with an army of attempts, those +2 might add up to make it possible but still not likely. It was a stalemate. I went to bed. I assume it ended in a draw?
Character Histories:
Clarisa (Dan)-Clarisa is a young female gnome. When she was barely a toddler the magic in her blood flared uncontrollably. Her mother, unable to deal with the havoc chaotic flashes of magic brought on, sought help from her estranged cousin Worliwynn. They mostly settled their difference but there wasn't much the druid could do for a budding sorcerer except suggesting meditation. Lots of meditation. As much as she wanted to help, the grove isn't a place to raise a child. A druid can live in wilds quite comfortably but a family with a child can't live in a tent forever. So, while Clarisa attempted to calm her blood, her mother found a job sweeping the floor of the Dawnflower Library and rented a tiny house on the edge of town, just where the path winds down into the cove. Once they settled in she split her time bothering her aunt and her apprentice (Dave) and trying to stay out of the way of her mother's work at the Library. Fortunately, Vandy Banderdash doesn't mind her presence and allows her to read the books as long as she wears gloves and puts them away afterword. When her friends are busy and she's feeling curious she'll either be here or "Odd Stories"
There isn't much to do in a small town for children except cause trouble and the Clarissa and her druid apprentice friend, along with several other village children like Oakwood and Tar with time on their hands and parents that weren't too strict, caused their share of trouble. Nothing malicious but children will be children. They have had their share of trouble with Lardus Longsaddle and behind his back he has naturally earned the title "Lard Ass". But only when he isn't there. There have been a few times they have been "scared straight", spending the night in the jail before her mother or comes to pick them up. It's not common but once Vandy actually had to intercede. Lard Ass does earn his name. They haven't stopped causing trouble but as they get older they certainly have gotten better about not getting caught.
Ravenloft Game 68 - 08/18/2023 - Final Victory!
Written by David Green
We started, short one Paladin. That had an impact without his save bonuses. The Monk and the Rogue were also late in arriving, however, turns are so slow at these levels, they arrived before their turn came up. Of note, the Warlock who was once standing next to the Paladin, now was in the middle of the room all alone, stuck in a Web, surrounded by enemies. He was concerned. We did add a Barbarian who rolled high on initiative. But Vampira went first. She tried to cast a spell and Patrina tried to counter it but missed the Int check. She did not know what it was but when she was told her target was for a 9th level spell, Kharn offered up an inspiration and she made that one. It was a 'Time Stop', as if 3 actions a round wasn’t enough. She did cast another one of the Fog Mist spells that temporarily blinded each of us. But more significantly, Esmeralda and Kharn(?) missed the save and took a level of exhaustion which hurts in a skill challenge. She also did a whip attack and pulled Kharn into the center of the room. Not that he wasn’t heading that way anyway.
Patrina went next and elected not to further the ritual, figuring it was someone else’s turn. On the lair action, 6 Spiders descended from the ceiling. They got 3 attacks a round and the bite could poison on a failed save. (Another disadvantage on skill rolls.) We still had one Wight and several Vampira Spawn on the board so it was very crowded. Kharn attempted to fortify the Air round of the ritual. Using his new Eagle Spirit power, he would Athletically fly around the circumference of the seal. However, that gave Vampira and a Spawn an attack of opportunity as he took flight. The damage was not an issue however, she hit with a whip and Kharn was Paralyzed. But it was pointed out that the Spawn attack should have come first. It hit and did a free Grab. So, he was grabbed, not paralyzed but could not further the ritual. Esmerelda cast True Polymorph on Kaladin and turned him into an Adult Copper Dragon, armed with breath weapons and legendary actions. Talk about crowded. On a Legendary action, Vampira absorbed a Spawn and transformed into her true form. A big blob of blood and flesh. And she got to go again, in the same round, since she was a new form. Protest! Denied!
Ambrus bravely charged her, doing some sneak attack damage but it was a drop in the bucket. It did get her attention, for better or worse. On Loki’s turn, no one had moved the ritual along. He was hesitant to do so since he did it last time. It should have been King Q with his Gust of Wind but if he failed, there was only Kaladin left. He was unwilling to take the risk. His plan was to take a page out of Kharn’s book to run around the perimeter (40+40’) Acrobatically after disengaging. That was iffy however Paul pointed out that Loki could now change into CR ¼ beasts at will. So, he changed into a Giant Owl and flew around (60+60) Acrobatically. He made his roll however he ended next to Vampira. She lashed out with an attack, knocked the meager owl hit points out of him and he crashed to the floor in the middle of the enemies and Web. But, a success. King Q fought and Kaladin did a legendary Wing Attack, knocking down friends and foes. And an acid line breath weapon.
The next round, things got more dire. We were okay on hit points (although that changed fast) but the conditions were adding up. As were the number of foes. A Silence Field fell across the room. The lair dropped 6 more Blood Blobs that looked like cherry Jello molds. When Patrina went, she decided to dispense with politeness and augment the Fire seal. Her first thought was to use Fire Bolt and best skill, Arcana, however DS pointed out that the last stage required Arcana and since Brian didn’t want the same skill used twice, he might want to save it. So, she used Calligraphy to enhance the runes with her Fire Bolt fire and succeeded. At this point, we were hopeless outnumbered and it became a matter of keeping Patrina or Esmerelda up until the next round. Ambrus was knocked out as was Loki. Kharn poured a healing potion into Ambrus who did the same to Loki. Loki decided to just dodge and try to keep the number of targets up. King Q tried a Mental Prison against a Jello next to Partina but it could not be charmed and therefore only took damage. And was knocked out for his troubles. Esmeralda and Patrina did those Steel Wind Strikes which, as pseudo AOEs with no friend fire, were the only effective attacks. Esmeralda got a Potion from Loki’s prone body that cured her exhaustion levels.
On to the last round. Patrina was ready but needed to be in the middle of the room. Rather than delay one slot for Kharn to move out of the only friendly square next to the center point, she moved into a square with a Jello. She took 21 points of damage but only had 20 left. Tragedy. But then pulled out a power that allowed her to transfer the damage from one attack to her Manifest Mind which blinked out of existence. She rolled an Arcana powered by generic spell energy and completed the ritual. All the foes were pulled into the center and all the friendlies were gently pushed out. The amber column was reformed without any cracks and we successfully kicked her out of Barovia. Victory!
Brian gave us the choice of storyboarding what happens to our characters from this point or having another session and using the Fiasco rule system to sort of play it out at a concept level. We chose to finish this night. Jon said the Ambrus was going to repopulate the Shadow Elves, one baby at a time. But it was pointed out that Patrina was the only female Elf in this land. New plan. He was going to leave with Esmerelda and try to recruit Elves to move here. Kharn wanted to become the leader of the Vistani. Brian said that Madame Eva was moving on and would give him her blessing. Given their expertise in moving about the area, they’d become the guides for people moving into this realm now that the borders were open. And raise his daughter. Patrina wanted to go with Ambrus and Esmerelda but first, she had an idea. Since Stradanya was once her friend and once a Paladin who was led astray by dark powers, she’d use a Limited Wish to bring her back. As a non-vampire. Kharn was okay with that and would keep an eye on her. It was pointed out that there was no Limited Wish in 5.0 so she’d have to wait until 17th to do it. So, it’ll be a while.
Brian asked if King Q would be moving into Castle Ravenloft. Even though some of it was good, lots of it was evil. Dave said he’d build a new keep nearby, using the old for parts. When asked if he would be a benevolent ruler, he said that the people of Barovia had been through enough and there was no point in kicking them when they were down. And then started talking about killing people he felt needed killing. So, benevolence TBD. Loki planned to move in with the Wine Wizards and use their network of spies to clear the land of all the monsters that were still roaming about despite the change in rulership. I mean he couldn’t go back to eating crawfish by a stream. And perhaps he could find the compound where he was made since it was in the area. Brian said that despite his rejection of the Arch Druidship, the Ladies 3 would still be in touch when something needed to be done. Kaladin’s first plan was to talk Ezra into taking over the Silver Dragon Paladin order. It just didn’t fit for a Monk. And commence wandering again. His history was basically a guy who ran away from home to see and do and go. Thus far, he’s spent 4 weeks in this bleak realm. Unfortunately, Andy could not attend so Ezra’s plans are unknown although leader of the Silver Knights sounded reasonable enough. He might want to stick around and keep an eye on things.
A campaign successfully concluded. Congrats to all. It’s not easy to do. Many thanks were passed out to Brian for running for 3 years and by my count, 67 games. Before jumping into another long campaign using Pathfinder 2.0, he said he’d run a couple of one-shot games to give himself time to reset and gird himself for another round of character creation.
We started with leveling up to 14th. There were new spells to pick and daily spells to memorize. We also divvied up the potion found last time. Everyone got a health potion in case of being poisoned and a healing potion of various strengths. Of the good ones, Patrina and Ambrus got the Speed, Loki and Kaladin got the Heroism. Ezra got the Fire Giant and I think the Invulnerability although I don’t think he used it. By the way, Brian was not using the potion-mixing danger rules which were optional anyway. We got a long rest and reloaded guns, etc., and then were teleported into the library at the Amber temple. Some long-term spells were cast like Ambrus’s See Invisible. Esmerelda sent her Arcane Eye down the stairs. In there were 3 pillars of amber, the southern one looked to be somewhat damaged. And 6 innocent yet ominous-looking crates. We headed down with Ambrus sneaking in the lead. We rolled initiative to get things moving. He snuck across the room and could see a half-woman half-spider in there. And then two vampire spawn popped out of the crates. One was in his Sun sword sunlight and attacked him. The other was not and avoided it. She used her climb on walls to get behind us on the stairway and attacked Patrina in the back. Ezra charged in to help Ambrus as well as Esmerlda. 5 more spawn came out and 4 avoided the sunlight and attacked those on the stairs. It got very tight there. Loki got stuck between a couple and was the only one to take any serious damage. King Q showed up in the back in the middle of the fight. Once the two in the room were out, those characters came to help as well. But with the sunlights, it only took a round or two.
Patrina started the ritual while Loki took a short rest. Just before she was done with the 10 minutes, we took our potions and cast our spells. Vampira appeared in the center of the room and went first. She got 3 actions a round in addition to her legendary actions and lair action. She tried to dominate Patrina but she had advantage on Arcana rolls now at 14th and Counterspelled it. But Dave pointed out that Counterspell used a straight Int check so she failed. But she used a luck point, rerolled, and succeeded after all. She also attacked with a web whip that missed and then jumped onto the ceiling. Ambrus Misty Stepped up, hung there on his immovable rod, attacked, and then dropped to the floor. Patrina did the first skill roll of the second ritual. Something with water. Brian tried a straight skill roll but the GM wanted some sort of spell or power as well. Ezra pointed out that she had a wineskin of plentiful wine. And wine was mostly water? The GM was iffy on it but then Patrina said that water and wine was a religious thing so she should get a Religion roll. It was allowed and she succeeded.
Soon after, the lair created 6 Wights from Vampira’s blood splatterings on the floor. They instantly went, charged, and got an attack. And then went again on their regular initiative. Their to hit was low as was their AC but they drained hit points. They did get disadvantage while in the sunlight which helped. Mainly they had hit points to grind through and added chaos. The villain did a variety of things that did damage but people saved against the worst of it with Paladin bonuses, help from spells, and inspirations. Esmerelda dispelled a Web and thankful Patrina dispelled a Darkness that overpowered our sunlights. At the end of round one, a couple of Wights were down, she had taken some damage but most importantly, we had one success on the ritual.
The next round, she put each player in a mist cloud which blinded them. (Except Loki who had Blindfight.) That gave the Wights and the new lair action vampire spawn advantage. That hurt. Those spawn were tougher with 100+ hit points. Free grapples and bites that drained. For the mist, on your turn, you got a save for half damage and if you missed it, you got a level of exhaustion. That would be significant since it gave disad on skill rolls. But again, I think everyone saved. She did another Web which was mostly an inconvenience both to us and them. In the middle of all that, it was Loki’s “turn” to push the ritual along. It was an earth and plant stage. But first he had to save against the mist and against the Web. Thankfully he was near Ezra. DG wanted to use his Goodberry to augment the plants with some goodly Druid magic. That was met with general approval but Brian wanted more than Goodberry. But Loki only had two since the rest were distributed amongst the big party. Partina suggested just recasting it but that would remove everyone’s Goodberry since they can’t stack. Brian allowed it to not and gave Loki a survival roll with advantage for his good idea.
The round continued and more damage was dealt. However, at the end of round two, there was still 1 very damaged Wight and 5 mostly undamaged vampire spawn. If the lair was going to add a half dozen of increasingly tough minions a round, we were falling behind quickly. Next was Air so the obvious answer is KQ’s Gust of Wind. However, he’s near the bottom of the order so if he fails, there were only a couple of characters after him to pick him up. It’s a risk. After Air is Fire and then after that is some sort of Arcana, I think. So, we’re doing good. Two successes and no failures with 3 more needed. No one is seriously hurt or incapacitated. And since it’s only been 2 rounds, we have plenty of powers left. However, between the characters, minions, webs, and zones, it is very crowded in here. And likely more curves to come.
While we waited for a 4th player to show up, people leveled up to 13th. Jon and Andy worked on choosing their first 3rd and 4th level spells, respectively. Eventually, Dan showed up and we started. Esmerelda could see into the Etheral Plane with her Gem of Seeing and saw the vampire in the center of the room astride her Nightmare. She seemed to be casting a spell. The T Rexes were along the edges of the room due to spacing. She appeared in a 15-foot Sphere of Antimagic. No magic would work in there including our polymorph. She moved out and attacked T Loki. AShe hit and knocked him prone. And a bit but at least he made that save. The horse went next and came out of the sphere, attacked someone, went ethereal, and went back into the sphere. She went on a legendary action. And then the lair went twice. It summoned a swarm of bats and the floor collapsed under T Loki, grabbing and restraining him. Dave showed up about then. It was not a good start for our heroes but at least she didn’t get back into the sphere as we feared.
T Loki went next. Rather than use his action to save against the restrain, he attacked her at disadvantage and hit. That did damage but also grabbed and restrained her without a save. T Ezra went next and did the same. There was some debate if two T Rexes could grab one medium vampire at the same time but we figured the head and the legs. The bats attacked T Ezra. T Esmerelda went next. She grabbed the Javelin of Lighting that was on the floor with a modest Dex roll, ran across the room, avoiding the antimagic and threw it with her tiny arms. Luckily, Stradanya was restrained and she hit. And did lightning damage to her, the two T. Rexes and the swarm. On T Kaladin’s turn, T Loki let go so that he could attack her. T Q attacked the swarm. T. Ambrus got left out due to lack of space. He couldn’t get through the T Rexes and avoid the antimagic. But maybe we had her on the ropes. She certainly wasn’t happy.
But on her turn, she managed to wiggle free thanks to some favorable rulings from Brian. Since T Kaladin didn’t say he grabbed her, Brian said he didn’t. Even though it was supposedly automatic or at least free. He also realized that the T Q. Gust of Wind was still going and ruled it was pointed at the Rexes and the vampire. T Loki begged him to drop it but Dave ruled that it wasn’t powerful enough to blow a vampire out of the huge maw of a T Rex. Unfortunately, Brian was running and ruled otherwise. The rules stated that it ended grapples and she was freed. From there, she used actions and legendary actions to climb on the ceiling and get near the sphere but not in it. And cast a Firewall that hit a bunch of us along the way. But her horse went next and got near enough to put them both into the ethereal plane. The next thing we knew, she was in the sphere smirking and the horse was gone. It seemed like a missed opportunity however maybe we were making progress? We were certainly burning through T Rex hit points.
She popped out and attacked and the horse did the same. Most everyone attacked the swarms (a wolf one was added as well as another bat) since they could and stay a T Rex. T Loki moved near the sphere and held his action in case she or the horse came out. And made a decent T roll to appear like he wasn’t. T Q did the same. When she came out to cast a Fireball, hitting a bunch, they at least got an attack on her. Evidently, she wasn’t that skilled in reading T Rex body language. However, this time she used her “turn to mist” power to get out of the restrain and back to safety. That readied action tactic got Loki an inspiration for good thinking. However, the game changer was T Ambrus. He decided to roll the dice and go into the sphere despite his meager hit points. He turned into an Ambrus with no magic but discovered that his legendary Sun Sword still worked in there. That meant, among other things, full damage against her. He attacked her and then disengaged and backed out. And turned into a T Rex again. That was the winning formula. Inspiration for him to be sure.
T Loki did the same and found his guns also worked. (Although they were only +1 so not as big a deal.) He shot the horse instead, not wanting her to plane shift when she got worried. T Ezra went in and smited her twice for over 100 points. His sword worked too. T Q couldn’t reach her but finished off the horse which Ezra had shield bashed out of the sphere. She was worried now. She came out, grabbed T Esmeralda with her legendary action, and flung a 4-ton T Rex into the sphere. And the polymorph went out for everyone. That got a mixed reaction. It put most at risk due to a lack of real hit points but gave them access to their powers. She decided to stop concentrating on it. Despite his merger hit points, Kaladin decided to stay engaged with her so that Ambrus could get his sneak attack dice. He missed and used an inspiration and missed again. Lord Q gave him another and he hit. And killed her with the fated Sun Sword. Yea!
The swarms sort of wandered off. She turned to mist and went to her coffin. But we had destroyed that last time so she headed south to the portal Ramadan had used last time. Loki, Ambrus, and Kaladin used healing potions. Ezra used his turn undead power to force her away from the portal. Lord Q used a Force Wall to contain her and Esmerelda used a Dust Devil to force her into one of the empty potion bottles. All the while the sunlight AOE kept shining. After a couple of rounds, her body reformed and was burned up by the sunlight. Ding dong, the witch is dead.
The heroes were transported to Turtle Island where they met the 3 ladies. They thanked them on defeating her. The curse was lifted and the sun was shining. They also apologized for the whole “practice run that wasn’t” thing. They wanted to keep the pressure off. But we still had to defeat Vampira at the Amber Temple or the whole thing would start again. We would be allowed to heal up before being sent. We leveled up again to 14th. They also gave everyone the boon of +2 to one stat that can exceed the normal maximums. Lastly, they gave out individual boons with which Brian did his best. Loki was named the High (Druid) Priest of the land. Pretty ridiculous. And was given the ability to wild shape into CR ¼ critters at will. Lord Q was proclaimed King Q. Also ridiculous. He got the ability to turn into a Raven. Ambrus got the ability to turn into objects like the True Polymorph spell. Kharn will be given the ability to turn into a Winter Wolf. Kaladin was turned into a Silver Dragon wyrmling with the ability to turn into a half-dragon monk and whatever the other half was. Human? Petrina was brought back to life and regained her position of Queen of the Dark Elves. I think he said she’d get the powers of a Dark Elf plus the original Undying stuff. They did not have the power to bring back Ezra’s lady love but could bring back her spirit into a couple of choices. He picked a Pegasus which came with the mounted combat feat.
Brian also asked everyone to give some thought on what your character will do after this was all over. Assuming we survive the battle with the God. (I think the Druids and Esmerelda was going to share some tips prior.) With the expectation that we’d narrate our thoughts at the end.
Note from Dan: Game 64 was mostly a fight. Generally, if Dave is out I try to fill in, but since it was all fighting nothing of note happened. We didn't even finish the fight. Ended the night at round 6.
We leveled up to 12th. The wizard and the monk were missing and the warlock was late. However, when the paladin arrived, we began in the middle of the fight. Loki rolled high on initiative and went first. He fired at the most wounded vampire but missed twice. Evidently, she was the one with the highest AC. He then moved to one of the alcoves with a coffin, figuring that might be important. Kharn grabbed that Morning Lord idol which gave many protection from evil. Stradanya avoid that and Ambrus’s sunlight sword and attacked Loki in the shadows. She hit, grabbed, bit, and drained and like that, he went from unharmed to half-dead. Ambrus bravely ran across the room to help him, bringing his sunlight aura with him. However, she used a legendary action to grab him, no to hit or save needed, and flung him across the room. She also summoned her animated armor which didn’t have much of an impact.
Ezra hit a vampire with a radiant smite but she had a magic mask that made her immune from radiant for a round. The Warlock showed up and lit up his Symbol of the Raven Queen which was another sunlight radius that covered half the room. He also brought back his Gust which caused some difficulties for both sides. Loki managed to wiggle free and get over to the daylight and the Paladin. The NPC did her sword dance spell thing and finished off a vampire. We saw the mist go into one of the coffins. Stradanya cast baleful polymorph on Ambrus and turned him into a cat. This at least dropped her Web spell that athletics and acrobatics less DQ was hopelessly stuck in. And then used her extra actions to move through the walls and back over to Loki. Luckily, she missed this time because she was disadvantaged by the protection from evil but then realized she was in the daylight. She took damage on her actual turn and pooched her concentration and like that, Ambrus was not a cat any more.
Around here, Rahadan appeared from the Ethereal Plane and attacked Kharn. He did an auto-crit sneak attack for 74 points. Luckily, Kharn saved against the poison or it could have been more. He got 3 more attacks but those were just 1d8+. In fact, he never did another sneak attack so didn’t impact much after that first strike. He drew a lot of fire and got beat up pretty good. He Misty Stepped into an alcove and disappeared. And then her Nightmare horse appeared. It didn’t have much of an impact either but it got in the way. Same with the rat swarms. As usual, we were spending all our resources on her minions but weren’t doing much of anything to her. But the sunlight was keeping her away so it was just ranged spells. Another vampire fell from the persistent daylight damage. The NPC cast Haste and then unleashed her high-level sunburst on the vampire (and some of us) however Stradanya used a legendary action and absorbed it. Not sure what that did for her but at the very least, it was countered.
On her next action, Esmerelda cast Mass Polymorph from a scroll and turned all the PCs (and herself) into T. Rexes. We were given the chance to save against it but only DQ tried (and failed). Everyone was one hit from out so they took the hit points over the class powers. That was a nightmare in FGs to get that cast but eventually Brian sorted it out. It was crowded to say the least. But it became a matter of rulings. Are polymorphed T Rexes magic attacks? Brian said yes or else it was useless. Paul was worried about his last rage carrying over and initially, Brian said yes. However, that opened a can of worms. Mobility carries over? Sentinel? Blind Fight? Eventually, he declared none of that carried over but the rage counter was put on pause. But most importantly, he said that DQ’s sunlight from his holy symbol did carry over which made some sense. As did the protection from evil from the idol. The sun sword sunlight also carried over which made less sense.
So, with that all sorted out, we got going again. She was attacked but only one at a time due to spacing. Rahadan was found near her. The nightmare was attacked as well. Loki remembered last time when she used it to escape to the Ethereal Plane. The armor and the swarms were attacked but more to use up the tail attacks. Somewhere in there, the last vampire went down and back into the coffin. Rahadan realized that the NPC was the key and came into the room to attack her 4 times. I think he hit every time (T Rex AC is low) but she made every concentration save. He was finally finished off by her. It might have been more satisfying if it was Ambrus that killed him (dark elf slayer) or at least a PC but he was finally dead. T. Loki grabbed a coffin, carried it into the daylight, and crunched it open. That vampire within was reduced to ash. Others followed suit with the others and T. Ezra destroyed her coffin. She ran towards her horse and it ran to her. Once together, she stepped into the Ethereal Plane with it and was gone again.
At this point, it was almost 1 AM. We agreed to storyboard one more round to clear out the remaining minions. Brian stated that Stradanya would be returning shortly. Otherwise, we could spend two more game sessions chasing her around the castle. Or Barovia. This will be her final stand. Whether (or when) we should revert from T Rexes will be discussed. And whether she’ll wait for us to revert. I think most of us are below half or worse and many resources have been spent fighting minions. By design, I suppose. Whether we can beat her, all versus one, with what is left is still debatable. Some of us will go down, that’s for sure. Brian also stated that this is the real deal and not the trial run. Win or lose, no one wants to redo all this. He also bumped us up to 13th we were supposed to be when we fought her for the last time. That’ll get access to a new high-level spell for the casters including the ranger and paladin. Next game in two weeks without Paul.
Ravenloft Game 63 - 06/02/2023 - Caught them, now what?
Written by David Green
We gave some thought to chasing after Gertruda with a Feather Fall spell or some such but since we were off the initiative clock, we decided that encounter was over. The only two characters that took damage were arriving late so we decided to press on. We knew this tower connected to the tower with the heart gem via a bridge a couple of levels down. What we did not realize was that this stairway was an “express” in that it started at the first level and ended at the roof but did not access any levels between. We were so busy chasing the vampire, we did not realize. There was, in fact, another staircase that stopped in between. (What a bad design.) While we discussed that, Stradanya floated up with a broom in her hand. After a bit of witty banter, Ezra invited ourselves to dinner on the first level and she agreed. We started down but decided to continue with our original plan. Evidently, she overheard that but we went on. The NPC cast a telepathic communication spell so that she couldn’t overhear us anymore.
We went down, then across then up to the level we had stayed at once. This was a bit of slow going as we switched from map to map at each level. From there, was another stairway going further up. However, as we crossed over, looking at a trap door that we never got back around to with suspicion, the carpet animated. Ezra was attacked but not engulfed. We fired away. When Patrina went (last?) she cast Dispel Magic (after a suggested Arcana roll) and that stopped it. At least for 10 rounds. But we hacked it up since we’d likely be facing it again on the way back down. We got to the top level and could see the glow of the gem across the way. It was another long spiral staircase going up and down into the darkness. At our level, floating 15 away in the center was the beating gem.
Ambrus went first and bravely Misty Stepped over, used his Immovable Rod to hang from, and attacked it with his dagger. Unfortunately, this caused 10-12 halberds that were not on the map nor in the description, to animate. They flew at him and he was eventually surrounded on all sides. Including up and down. They didn’t hit often or do a lot of damage but it added up. Kaladin flew over, flurried, and started to fly back away. However, it was pointed out that if he stayed, Ambrus would get his sneak attack dice which are considerable these days. And maybe take some heat off him which didn’t seem to work. Since Ambrus was in midair, Kaladin was the only one that could help him. Loki fired away. In the middle of the round, 3-4 vampire spawn came crawling up as well. It got very crowded. Ezra concentrated on the spawn since he did extra damage against the undead. Loki shot at the gem since it wasn’t immune to necrotic. Lady Patrina itched to do a radiant fireball but had the usual friendly fire issues. The NPC unleashed her Steel Wind Strike and did a ton of damage to multiple opponents. After that, Stradanya and Ranadan showed up as well. We weren’t sure if they were there to watch, fight, taunt, or what. About then, Kharn showed up and using his last rage, attacked her.
She had legendary actions and lair actions and her normal actions. She charmed Kharn who only has a +2 Will save and was too far from Ezra. She grabbed the Levitating Lord Q and flung him 60 feet. It was looking dire however then NPC fired a Chain Lighting that finished off the gem and a spawn or two. Stradanya, who regenerated the one attack fully, looked very upset over this. We had been told that gem was responsible for her regeneration. She phased through the bridge and floated below it. Ranadan disappeared again with a +16 stealth roll. We finished off the foes and she simply fled down. Now what? According to the fortunes we were to face her in a hidden room behind a beautiful lady on a tower of treasure. The accountant said the real treasure was in the basement so that’s where we had to go.
However, Ambrus was battered and needed a short rest. Unfortunately, Kharn needed a long rest to reset his rages but we didn’t think we could wait that long. However, we did have that idol from the chapel. I don’t know if we ever properly identified it because Brian had missed so many games, however, it gave the holder the effects of Protection from Evil after attunement. That would make him immune to charms from evil creatures and best of all, it wasn’t a concentration spell. It had other powers that would only work for a Paladin or a Cleric but immune to charm was just what we needed. Luckily that attunement was a short rest as well. We decided to go up one level to the attic since it would, in theory, only have one entrance. Up there was a bed with restraints, an iron chest, and a ladder to a trap door to the roof. We did nothing and took that short rest. Afterward, Ambrus picked the lock and found an expensive crown. It looked like the one the former lord wore in one of the pictures downstairs. He put it on. Loki went up the ladder and when he opened the trap door, a bunch of Corpse Hands attacked. We stopped there.
Assuming we finish off the Hands with ease, it will be down to the basement. We could go down the stairs but we’d face that stone wall. Unless someone has a spell, it would take hours to bash through it. Or we could try our luck on the elevator which seemed to go down. Or we could follow Gertuda’s path, Feather Fall down from the other tower, and assume/hope it ended up in the basement. That would give us surprise, I’m betting, but would also give us nowhere to run. I.e. we can’t feather fall back up. To be debated next time.
I had a few vacation days free, so what did I decide to do? Upgrade my NAS's operating system! Yay! Or not.
It didn't go smoothly. A while ago I had to downgrade from Maria BD 10 to 5. I had thought it was an issue with symbols being forced to be used as passwords and Joomla not being able to handle it. Maria DB 5 didn't have that issue, so that is what I used. Nevertheless the new operating system for the NAS did not support Maria DB 5 so I buckled down and figured out how to upgrade it and then upgraded the NAS OS. It was educational but there was more documentation on how to get the settings right for operability with Joomla. I am no expert but I am now far more comfortable setting up the database than I was. So, while it was time-consuming, it wasn't too bad.
However, the upgrade of the NAS OS failed. The data wasn't lost but for awhile, I couldn't access it on the local network. Synology has a backdoor that allows it to connect to your NAS and reset or even re-install the operating system. I'm somewhat ambivalent about it but it saved my butt from having to just do a complete wipe and start from ground zero. I did lose all my settings though. So off I went to reconnect to the network, then the ISP/WAN settings. All the settings were wiped, including the SSL certs. This is an incredible PITA. Suddenly your own browser won't allow you to connect your website because it isn't trusted. No one else can get to your website either. Synology has software that will automatically generate a license but it is only for their own backdoor connection, not your alias domain. The method used for general certificates kept failing, stating the ports weren't open. They were.
So I go to another provider and find out that the CNAME method of verifying domain ownership isn't working. They offer email verification, so I dive deep into a rabbit hole to install a mail server, that I can't get to work. I actually know a lot more about mail servers than I ever did before! Apparently not enough to get it working though. The third option is pretty simple... FTP to your site and leave a text file at a specified location. It verifies you have access to the domain's server and you have your license. This was pretty easy and I should have just done this in the first place instead of being dazzled by the possibility of free custom e-mail addresses. Though I will figure it out someday. Yesss, my precious...
So I finally get my license and after some issues with HSTST, my website is declared safe. The world can rest easy. Of course, then I go onto my website and find out that several web pages won't load! Coincidentally it is the same pages that use the module 'Minifrontpage Pro". Tah Duh! It must be that module's fault!. Not so. Apparently, those pages also use a carousel module to display images and it got borked. Maybe from the newer PHP 8. It is an old module from about 15 years ago, so it seems possible. Anyway 'Minifrontpage Pro" isn't the guilty party and that's good! This module can be configured in several ways and one of them is a carousel display. So now it pulling double duty! I didn't reach that realization instantly. At first, I thought the template was having issues. It's old too. Then a filter problem with a zero return crashed it and I had to figure that out. It was a lovely time. You'd think a program that has been around for decades (with updates) would figure out how to gracefully handle errors, especially a simple filter where there are no results. Does Google crash if it can't find what you're looking for? No! It just blushes and looks shamefacedly at the ground!
Anyway, I am done for the moment with my 'tech spa experience' (TM). Everything is up to date... or as up-to-date as Synology will let it get (they are a few years behind the rest of the world. PHP 8 is NOT the newest version, nor is their Maria DB 10 the newest revision). I think the next big thing on the horizon is figuring out how to update to Joomla 4. One of my integral extensions, K2, is not compatible. The very thought of writing my website from scratch makes me nauseous. I dived deep into the rabbit hole that is "Community Builder" and since I haven't used it in years I would have to re-learn all the parts I set up (and then no one ever wanted or used). If I truly had to do that I think I would just leave that out. No one needs my integrated chat, messaging, forums, chat rooms, or all the other things that were cool... but useless. It's the Sunk Cost Fallacy. I spent so much time setting it up I can't bear to give it up even if it's truly useless.
Its definitely on hiatus. It seems the problem with some series is that each subsequent book gets less interest than the previous on. The latest book definitely followed this trend. While the book wasn’t written soley for profit, it does give an indication of the audience size.
I tried to see if an Omnibus would help get more interest but it hasn’t really moved the needle much. I know that there are series that definitely have high interest and traffic but it appears that I am a poor publicist, because this is definitely not one of them.
On the bright side, I tried to leave no immediate cliff hangers. While the overall situation is still pending, such as the ressurection of the demon lord being on the horizen and the possible implications of a full fledged demon city being one of the portal destinations (and the politics of said demons), each book mostly wrapped up the immediate major issues brought up in that book.
I was contacted a couple of months ago by Sheperd: Discover the best books. They wanted to showcase a book I wrote. Naturally I accepted. I have been pretty horrible at marketing my book, so anything that could help was welcome. However, the way they do so is pretty unique.
An author gives them a book to showcase, but that's not the endpoint. The author then lists five books that had an impact on them and gives them a short review and how they were impacted. Ideally, there's a common link between the recommended books to tie them together. It was a cool idea and had me reminiscing over the books that I read when I was growing up and exactly why I liked them and how they affected my writing style.
If you want to see the books I recommended and why, hop over to the website. They have also done this for other authors, so you may just find another writer you like... and the books that impacted them. Sheperd.
All the edits are in. Finally. Books 1-3 have been reviewed again and corrected. The Omnibus is also updated. Sigh. This part is possibly my least favorite part of writing. It's also probably the most important. Few things bump you out of a good reading fugue than spelling and grammar errors.
One of the reasons I did all this now, was that I paid for one month of Grammarly's premium service. Every time I use it, the service gets a bit better. Usually. This year was odd. I am not sure whether it was because of Windows 11 or just a weird interaction but the Grammarly corrections only showed up highlighted in Word for the last 2/3 of the document. You could get to the 1/3 'invisible' corrections but you have to click forward from the start one at a time and it constantly reset so you had to start over. It's hard to explain but trust me, it was tedious. I am not sure I'll be using their services again unless I can verify this bug is fixed.
I doubt anyone actually buys the paperback or the hardback, but I try to make them available anyway. I noticed an oddity with Amazon's services that the maximum paperback size is about 775 pages and the maximum hardback size is about 550 pages. I only noticed this when I tried to finalize the Omnibus and found it couldn't do either one because the manuscript is about 1400 pages. That would have been nice but I guess it can't happen. I suppose I could play with the font size but who wants to buy a book with font size 6? I wouldn't be able to read my own book without a magnifying glass! This is why the Omnibus is only available as a Kindle ebook.
After I published Book 4, I have to admit I got nervous when the first review was a two-star. The comment was the events reflected reality too much. It took me a few minutes to think of what they were talking about since, well frankly I try to make all the events reflect reality or at least as much as I can predict without a crystal ball. Or at least make the events internally consistent so the consequences make sense. There have been a couple times I wrote something and specific real-life events happened a few weeks or months later and I was like "OMG, this almost identical thing happened! What if someone thinks I am mocking it!" The good thing is that it took so darn long the get this book out that I think most of my coincidental events won't evoke immediate finger-pointing and blowouts. Though I was wrong about at least one of them, I guess.
Edit 12/31/21: Something is wonky with Amazon's paperback and hardcover creator. It shows correctly when editing it but under the actual purchasing page, it's messed up. I think everything is good except Book 4. As I mentioned, I don't think anyone actually purchases these but I am trying to tweak it so what it shows is what it actually gets.
The fourth book will be published on Thursday, December 17th. I am experimenting with the Amazon Pre-Order function so it should just automagically be available that day. Or midnight or whatever. Amazon's documentation isn't the clearest. Basically, it's done. It's also been Grammarly checked but I am hoping to give it another read-through before it goes out. There are always more errors to find.
I also updated the first book, using the updated version of Grammarly. I don't know if it's because I used a newer version of Grammarly (the book was published 7 years ago) or because I bought the full subscription but it found a lot more errors. I also added chapter titles and fixed a few minor discontinuities I noticed. I plan to do the same for Book 2 and Book 3 in the next couple of weeks. Then I can update the Omnibus and completely eliminate those embarrassing errors!
Amazon has some interesting new features too. You can publish hardback versions and make paperback versions available for libraries. You don't make any money off of that but it's nice I guess.
One of my readers had some kind advice on marketing. I did go to Shadow Valley Press and looked at the information they had. Shadow Valley Press actually had an entire tutorial and pointed to a matchmaking system for getting agents and through them publishers. I am not actually married to the idea of be an independent writer. I think most such writers do it more from the lack of options. So I was actually excited that there was an an organized forum where I could contact the agents, show them my work and get some support to work with a publisher.
That is, until I read through their guide. It seems that one of the taboos of writing... or at least submitting to an agent... is to have a manuscript that is too long. I think the number they gave was over 100k (it's power level is over 9000!). Apparently the publishers don't want to print anything that long. No profit in it or something like that. That was depressing. All my work is between 110-120k. I aimed it to that length because that is the minimum length I like to read. Any shorter and I tear through it on my bathroom break. So, I guess I stay independent.
In other news, book #4 hit 120k words. You could say it was done except for proof reading... except that it would be ending in a cliffhanger. Pretty good as cliffhangers go, but still a cliffhanger. I know I don't publish as often as I should, so it would be rather cruel to publish a cliffhanger that likely wouldn't be resolved for another two years. So I will try to get to a non-cliffhangery place in the story to wrap up the current events a bit better. Its not like the last two Dresden books where you need another 200k words to finish it. So unless anyone objects to a book about 130-140k words I'll wrap it up there, rather than cut it off.
And yes, I estimated I would be done a few months ago and yet here I am. I apologize.
More...
One of my readers asked a few questions. I responded via e-mail and later through the chat on my website (she was the first to ever use it.... whoot!), however I thought I should update everyone else about what's up.
Her first question was the name. I really delayed answering this because I only have a very tentative title. Right now its "An Exchange of Hostages" but that may change. Then she asked when I was going to release the 4th book (not including the Omnibus).
"Believe it or not, Covid hasn't really been good for my writing. Or the rest of the world, of course. My job is defined (by my employer) as essential so I go to work. It's medical adjacent. Meaning, I evaluate and test medical equipment. My family, including my two seven-year-olds, are at home all the time and while I love them, the screaming, playing and fighting aren't great for writing.
Okay, enough of the excuses. How far am I? About halfway. I slipped during the last release past December. This made me pretty sad since December is a good time for releases. People home from work with nothing to do read books. Considering the issue of diminishing returns with sequels (people buy, read and review the sequels less and less as the series gets longer) this isn't really good. It's not even that I write slowly. The first book was written in a few months once I sat down and did it. See excuse #1 above.
So getting to the point. I want it to be December but unless I get more quiet time, I think early next year is more realistic. Sorry to ramble? ."
By early this year I did not mean January. Or February. We'll see how things go. I am picking up a bit of speed and even finished the cover. Is it odd that the cover is done when its only about 2/3's done? Lets pretend that's normal. My first cover took ages and I had to use one of the cludgiest pieces of garbage editor to splice it together. I think it was a PowerDirector companion app. Now I use Paint.net and its so much easier that its actually fun. It almost inspired me to restart my children's book but I think I came to my senses. I would still have to practice an ungodly amount to make consistent looking characters. I am spread a little too thin as it is. Its still dead and the unfinished pages can be found on my website.
As a side note, while I write this, one of my girls is laying on the bed next to me playing some beeping (literally beeping) video game while talking and singing to herself. Its cute but incredibly distracting.
Well, here we are 'Sheltering In Place". Wow. What a different world. I couldn't imagine this a year ago. I only had to stay at home for about two weeks before my business declared themselves as essential services. We test medical devices so it makes sense, I suppose. So I have a job. Yay! But it's a scary world out there. Boo! Hopefully, everyone is doing their best to stay safe.
As many have likely learned, staying at home with your children doesn't usually mean you're more productive. I'm an introvert, so I like being alone for long stretches. While I love my kids, being alone with them for long stretches strains my sanity... and is NOT being alone. I think the entire world is learning this as well.
Anyway, as I have posted before I have my own non-WP website. It has some cheapo games under the "Rifts and RPG/Games We Play", under "WP &Blogs" it has my site blog, which is not precisely a mirror of here. Under "WP &Blogs/Andy's Game" is a semi-weekly blog of a D&D game I play in along with a description of the setting and gaming stuff. It may be a bit dry unless you're into that kind of thing. Under "Community" you'll find a link to the community page listing all the members and where you can make an see the member pages, publish your own blog or Article page (like a webpage and can be linked to other articles BUT must be approved by the moderator). There's also a brief tutorial on the features available at the top level. Go there if you are bored.
A reader named Sean contacted me a few weeks ago. He pointed out that my contact page was borked and the optional field "webpage" was preventing the submission of... well, contact. It is a bug of course. Sharing your webpage should be a fun addition, not a requirement, so I removed it. Hopefully, the thousands of people that were trying to contact me can now do that. Or maybe not. He also suggested I publish an Omnibus for my previously published books. <Lightning Striking Head> It was a brilliant idea. Obvious in retrospect but then again the best ones are like that. So that's what I did. People reading this likely already have read the series but I thought you should know. Sorry, its not a new book but progress has been made on book 4 despite screaming children.
The other books have hit their own roadblocks. "A Virtual Invasion" which I have been publishing on Royal Roads is mostly on hiatus due to "not enough time to split among projects". I actually have a couple chapters I haven't published. I haven't forgotten it... well not completely but I may have to re-read it to prevent stupid continuity errors. I really wish I had a photographic memory.
My other book, the children's book that I am sure you all remember? No? Um... anyway, it went well. I had the plot, drew the backgrounds with, frankly, more skill than I remembered having when I used to draw, back when I was younger. Then I hit a snag. Well, a couple but only one was critical. Drawing the main character in a cutsie manner AND making them consistent. Apparently, I am capable of drawing things as long as I don't have to make them recognizable in the next frame. Awkward. So this will likely be put on hold until I find a partner to do this with me. I had originally planned to have this as a gift for my kids on their fifth birthday since I used to tell them a variation of this story for fun, however, they barely remember it these days so I guess that ship has sailed. On a side note, if you go to my web site and look at my profile page you can listen to a recording of me reading the original version.
Well, the new year is here and a lot happened... yet so little. First of all before Christmas I was able to knock out a few chapters. I was hoping to keep some momentum going since it is difficult to get going again once you pause. A certain paralysis. Fate intervened and I was able to spend an inordinate amount of time with my family during Christmas. While lovely by itself it did mean that I wasn't able to actually do anything that required concentration. So I haven't been able to put pen to paper much since a bit before the holidays. I can't say exactly when this will change.
This isn't to say I haven't been productive. There have been a ton of miscellaneous activities I have been able to fit in between family. My website underwent a complete makeover, adding content, aesthetics and mobile-friendly content. I love my menu with the popup icons but it looked terrible on a mobile device. The book samples look much better... though whether these are mobile-friendly is up in the air, and I added a lot of images to the pages to make them more interesting. Much like the image here I am trying out. So the webpage blog gained a newsticker and news item summary a separate page for the website blog (in addition to the side module elsewhere).
I also added a forum and a messaging system because... well I always wanted one. I don't expect anyone to use it but it was fun to set up. I also have a friend who started a D&D campaign and I have devoted a page to that. Although Fantasy Grounds (basically an online platform to play with the GM and players) is pretty nice its drawback is that when the DM is offline so are all the campaign notes. This makes it difficult to plan things in between games. So we have some resources, history, notes and a calendar. So far only one other player has even looked their but again, it was fun to set up and I learned more about Joomla. One other player makes a log of all the events that happened each game session and he gave me permission to upload it under his name as a game blog. Again I don't think he's seen his own work yet. Ironic.
Fantasy Grounds... the online RPG platform you love to hate. A bit buggy at times but better than the alternatives. If you have been reading this blog and my website blog you may have realized that my favorite RPG game is Rifts, not D&D. However, Palladium is pretty conservative when backing 3rd parties so there hasn't been a way to play it online. Over the holidays I spent some time working with an Extension for a FG ruleset that should allow people to use FG to play Rifts online. It takes a bit more elbow grease than D&D since Palladium hasn't licensed the content but if the GM is willing to put in the work it should be pretty darn compatible. I even did an online tutorial on how to use the FG Extension and put the Youtube video on my website.
There is also a program that allows you to update the Theme (GMW Campaign Toolkit, it basically modifies the artwork in FG) that I played around with. I re-used some of that work in the website upgrade. I wanted to do another tutorial to explain a few grey areas on the use of the software but I have literally not been alone in the house since the first video tutorial. It's hard to get the quiet needed to do that kind of work and frankly its been so long now that the specifics I had wanted to talk about are not as sharp in my memory. Oh well, it was a nice dream.
And finally, getting back to the book and all that boring writing stuff... when I first published the third book I submitted to many reviewers. More than fifty I think, though I didn't keep exact track. Most of them rejected it due to lack of time, interest or it being the third book in a series. However, two Reviewers actually came through. One back in October "Mrs Y" and "Amy Shannon" just recently. Neither one is really a stellar rating but they are actually the only ones I have gotten in five years of asking... so yay! Also, neither one had read the previous books. I doubt I could tolerate reading a book starting in the middle of the series so it worked out as best as I could expect.
A visitor to my blog had an interesting idea. There is a website called Royal Road. People go there to publish their stories in a chapter by chapter method. They get feedback and in some cases financial support (through Patreon and Paypal). He suggested I publish my "Chained Worlds Chronicles" there. Until he brought it up I hadn't even heard of the website so I didn't know what to think. I am still not completely convinced it is a good idea but I thought I'd give it a try with the other book I am writing. See how it feels. So I am now slowly proofing and publishing "A Virtual Invasion" to Royal Roads and Webnovel.
Personally, I am a little skeptical. Both of these sites don't make it practical to promote yourself or let people know you have other series or even where else you exist on the web. Also, there are truly a ridiculous number of books/chapters being published every minute that new novels are pushed down the list so fast it's a wonder people are aware they exist. Nevertheless, I thought I'd give it a try and see what it's like to do something besides Amazon. Those of you who have read my blog in the past know I tried Barnes and Nobles and Apple with truly pathetic results, but time marches on and I suppose I need to keep up with the alternatives out there, even if I later decide it's not for me. Anyway, look for it here:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25326/a-virtual-invasion
https://www.webnovel.com/book/13992152105836405/A-Virtual-Invasion
