Vague Countries

It had been 13 weeks since the previous session. Sometimes life just gets in the way of D&D. But that’s fine, we eventually find our way back to the table every time. The players were chomping at the bit, and Xull’s player’s presence made it mandatory to have another go at defeating the boogiemen. This one challenged by refereeing chops. I had to balance accurately simulating the response of a 150+ encampment of monsters with playability and pace at the table. I think it went okay, although to be honest, I think this type of D&D kind of breaks down once we get beyond a certain number. At this scale, I feel like I’d rather be chucking a bunch of d6s, Chainmail-style.

Planet Karus session 34, in which the party finally moves against the boogieman threat, Ploikal rains sleep spells from above while invisible and airborne, Xull’s cursed claw reveals its terrible power as Cista’s spirit tears free to join the slaughter, an alien ray gun proves devastatingly effective against brutes, Sergeant Uzildar falls in battle, and Tribe Glavrac is wiped from the face of the Iron Slopes—earning our heroes a promised statue in their honor.

Read on over at planetkar.us.

This play report is from a game that happened two weeks ago. It’s a rare occasion that I actually manage to get the party to run for their lives. It took an iron statue to make that happen, which is saying a lot.

Planet Karus session 33, in which the party attempts to infiltrate an ancient mech in the Yellow Flats but finds their way blocked by Gonazir, a massive iron statue who serves the god of war, pivots to plunder the guild hall’s underground chambers instead, and discovers that Ploikal has been holding back on his lightning bolt capabilities this entire time.

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I am behind on posting play reports. This one is from session we had in August.

Planet Karus session 32, in which Pholgon and Ploikal sneak through boogieman lines to reach Khodang Town to liquidate treasure, Ploikal narrowly avoids arrest as a wanted criminal for his past magical merchant manipulations, quantum serpents kill Pholgon’s orux on the return journey, and the duo infiltrates the farmers’ guild hall to discover ancient cave systems beneath containing alien god murals and magical artifacts including Vasith’s Ring of Coercion and the Spear of Ssyrinthian.

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“Let’s return to that farmers’ guild hall, bullshit our way in, and continue to explore that dungeon underneath it” said my players at the start of this session. A brief debate was had about whether it would really be that easy to get back inside without trouble. They were only two players after all, and even though they were running a level six magic-user and a thief level five/fighter level 2, things might get hairy… “Nah” they concluded, “it will be fine” and went at it.

Things quickly devolved, and they found themselves swarmed by cultists. If it wasn’t for some grade-A maneuvering, judicous use of some powerful items, and an ever so slight bit of luck, this would have been a TPK. We ended the session with both characters at exactly one hit point! So close!

Also, this probably marks the single longest running battle we ever played through in our D&D careers to date. That may sound boring, but it certainly wasn’t thanks to all the cool tactics and stunts involved.

In which our heroes infiltrate the corrupted farmers’ guild hall and discover the cult of Gelathrax has taken hold, leading to a deadly battle with the slime-soaked high priest Morival and his tentacle-worshipping followers.

Read on over at planetkar.us.

Over a year after breaking into the original farmers’ guild hall and possibly causing its collapse and almost half a year after funding its reconstruction and learning about a mysterious hatch inside, the players returned to break in, pilfer, and explore again.

We only had two players, but they run high-level characters (a sixth-level magic user and a thief level 5 / fighter level 2), so we had ourselves a fun little spec ops-style session.

I also got a kick out of pulling out some stuff that I must have started preparing over a year ago and had filed away for whenever the players would finally go and explore in that direction. A fully homebrewed campaign is starting to take off as the pace of prep exceeds the pace of play, and a very rich and varied sandbox with many directions for players to explore has formed.

In which Ploikal and Gorakal break into the farmers’ guild hall under cover of invisibility, dodge an ectoplasmic attack, witness a mysterious meeting, discover a wizard-locked trapdoor beneath the statue of Yiggub, and venture into an underground cave system filled with serpent-toothed skeletons and lizard-men—all while narrowly avoiding detection by the cult leader Morival and his followers.

Read on over at planetkar.us.

Six players, seven hours, almost 10k XP, zero player-characters killed (darn it)—our annual marathon session was a complete blast. This time around, the party opted to go to a new dungeon I’d been developing for some time: a serpent man citadel submerged in desert sands.

I had so much fun building this one and applying some lessons learned from previous efforts. It is also the first dungeon for which I used the map generation approach described in Matt Finch’s Tome of Adventure Design. The joys of running 100% homebrewed content and just reskinning OD&D stuff to fit my sword and planet predilections with abandon keep growing and growing.

In which our adventurers brave the Yellow Flats desert to explore the sand-buried serpent man citadel, fighting a massive desert constrictor, mummified serpent cultists, and giant spiders before striking an unlikely alliance with Vushk, a sand serpent who guides them through ancient chambers guarded by strange sentinels and mechanical bulls, all while seeking forbidden knowledge and ancient treasures beneath the dying sun.

Read on over at planetkar.us.

Our monthly session took place last Friday. Players returned to The Balok, the campaign’s tentpole dungeon, for some wholesome dungeon crawling. They covered quite a bit of ground and fully explored several sections of the second level. They also struggled a bit with getting their maps lined up, which, as far as I am concerned, is part of the core fun of classic D&D.

In which our heroes brave ancient plumbing facilities, face off against unfriendly cavemen and corrosive creatures, and follow pig tracks to a hidden treasure, all while pondering who has been closing their carefully spiked doors.

Read on over at planetkar.us.

It’s the first session of 2025. We had four players at the table, a rare treat these days. They decided to finally try and get rid of a major threat looming over their home base ever since the start of the campaign. The results were… less than spectacular. We had lots of fun with this.

In which the party attempts to subvert a boogieman camp through magical infiltration. Ploikal, cloaked in invisibility, tries and fails to psychically manipulate the chief Movog, while outside the camp, the spirit of fallen comrade Cista speaks through Xull’s possessed claw, demanding vengeance. After several failed schemes involving mind-controlled brutes and sleep spells, the party retreats empty-handed.

Read on over at planetkar.us.