Virtual Gary Con stories

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DJ LaBoss
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Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by DJ LaBoss »

Okay Crew, I want to hear your VGG stories!

What did you run?

What did you play?

What amazing things did you see have happen?

Cutest cat wandering around somebody's office in the background?

SHARE ALL!
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Pesky
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by Pesky »

The VGC session of Crash of the Sky People (event 471) was fantastic and dramatic! The party killed the boss and (most of them) escaped the ship. And then they TPKd right at the 4-hour mark of the session. Wait, what? Read on…

SPOILER ALERT!

The warriors Bardolf and Orin Wardigger, the cleric Randy Walker, the thief Flit, the elf Stephenor, and the wizard Scrib Death, were in between towns when they saw a huge copper ship crash land and project a green column of light into the sky! Of course, they investigated.

After conquering red and gold metallic humanoids with rocket fists, the party found a way to enter the wreckage. Scrib Death managed to summon an Ogre to accompany him for two hours.

The party encountered Ybmug engineers (4' tall green stick men with one arm and shiny amulets). Randy Walker tried to detect evil and fumbled his spell check, gaining the disapproval of his god Nike (who saves all soles…or is it souls?), and provoking the Ybmugs. The party was perturbed to discover that killing one Ybmug transferred energy from its amulet to the amulet of another, who grew larger and sprouted an additional arm. Things were beginning to get out of hand (ahem, I'm here all week folks) with an 8' tall 3-armed Ybmug being formed, but Scrib Death critted a sleep spell sending all of them to dreamland for over 1 day. When the party had first entered, they noticed the Ybmugs celebrating after they pulled a lever down. Subsequent investigation revealed that when the lever was down, a humming golden glow surrounded a pulsing black sphere (seen in another chamber). When the lever was up, the humming golden glow disappeared, leaving the pulsing black sphere alone. The party decided to put the lever in the up position, opposite to what the Ybmugs had done (this would be their undoing…).

By mighty-deeding and spider-climbing past a hallway-blocking ogre, the party defeated more automatons that had blinding rays and cup-shaped hands (the party never discovered the reason for the shape). They progressed further and opened large bay doors to the outside, just to discover an army of winged sky-pirates! (They'd been summoned by the aforementioned green column of light.) The party had two choices: Fight army to party… or skyjoust champion to champion for rights to loot the ship. This is sky-pirate law. Duh!

Orin Wardigger mounted a telepathically-controlled sky cycle, took up a laser lance, and faced the sky-pirate champion, Nedra; she was the leader's daughter, and would earn her own wings if she won. It looked grim for Orin as Nedra pulled off a mighty deed and damaged Orin's accelerator leg. On the subsequent pass, the two warriors struck each other simultaneously. Orin had just 8 hp left… but Orin critted! As he slayed Nedra he took 6 damage from her lance. With just 2 hp left, the battered but victorious warrior flew back down to the party. The sky-pirate leader rewarded Orin for his valor by giving him the metallic wings that Nedra would have won. As the leader left, he warned Orin, "Careful, attaching those can be painful."

Orin, thinking he was tough enough, bared his back to the metallic wings as they bored into his backside. He withstood the pain of the hole they cut in his flesh, but he couldn't take the binding to his bones. He started bleeding out! Randy Walker managed to heal him back, but he wanted nothing to do with those wings. The thief Flit happily took them off his hands. She bared her back to them and they began attaching. She almost gave in to the pain of their entry, but with luck she survived. She almost gave in to the pain of the bone binding, but with luck she survived! Finally, she almost succumbed to the nerve melding, but burning her luck down to 1pt she survived! She gained permanent metallic wings!

The party made it to the final room and faced a metal monstrosity with 10' arms ending in saws and needle guns…the INTERROGATOR BOT! As the bot activated, the ship's computer began a countdown to self destruct. The computer also warned them that some containment field needed to be activated. The party and bot went toe-to-saw and luckily for the party, Judge Terry was rolling like a baby treats a diaper. Orin was thinking about that containment field warning and began trying to "run" (in half plate) all the way back to the Ybmug chamber where that lever was with the humming glow. The countdown was almost over, things were tense! Orin decided to turn around (NO!) and return to the party because there was another console in the room with the bot and time was running out. With 5 minutes (of real time!) left, Scrib Death spellburned 20 points and burnt luck down to summon a Fire Giant (the ogre's duration had expired during the joust). A FIRE GIANT! The room was 30' tall, luckily. Well, said giant made short work of the bot (smashed it with two attacks in one round). However, folks were already leaving the ship. Flit had tried to get them to flee sooner but she had been outvoted.

At countdown's end, all had escaped the ship but Bardolf and the fire giant. The ship began imploding but was stopped by the compression of a pulsing black sphere (you know the one) which was ignited by the pressure of the implosion and caused a nuclear blast TPK'ing the entire region! If Orin hadn't have turned back he would have flipped the lever back to where the Ybmugs set it (which would have stopped the sphere from ignition). He might not have made it out, but he'd have been the savior of those who did (not to mention the region). Oh well. All in a day's dice-slinging!

===

Those interested in running this adventure can find it within the second printing of DCC72 Beyond the Black Gate
https://goodman-games.com/store/product ... -printing/
Last edited by Pesky on Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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GnomeBoy
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by GnomeBoy »

Now THAT’S some epic gaming...!
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

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Vort
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by Vort »

(Great write-up, Terry! Sounds like it was a blast.)

Didn't run anything but played 7 games over 4 days. 5 games were some flavour of DCC.

Highlights:

Playing in Shadow of the Demon Lord with Danny Grimes. Not DCC but a fantastic GM (especially his giant snail voice) and a great group who might get together to continue the game.

Trying an old school dungeon crawl. It had been a long time. Fun, but it's definitely not DCC...

DCC XCrawl with the masterful DJ LaBoss himself. Awesome team, The Virtual Khans! Got to play as The Rock with some fantastic players, and everyone survived. Absolutely loved the premise and can't wait to run it for the home crew.

Again with the Chief, DCC Fist Full of Spellburn, and almost wiping out the party because I had misread the spell effects. A sword through the back was my fitting reward. Seriously creative adventure, though.

DCC Lankhmar with the stellar Harley Stroh: utter fun impersonating guards, leaping balconies, and acting nonchalant, with everyone escaping separate ways (with the loot!). Seriously fun adventure.

Playing a Gray Alien disc jockey (as in, he rode a flying disc) from Umerica in DCC Carcosa with the entertaining Julian Bernick. Chaotic, bizarre, and absolute fun. Getting sent home didn't end well. The Hot Dog Suit was played to perfection.

Capping it off playing DCC Dying Earth with Judge Julian and some very talented players. Super fun but don't ask 'cause I won't tell.

No technical issues in any of my games, gamed with some fantastic people (and it's fun learning who some of the players were after you had played with them), the food and accommodation were top notch, and you couldn't beat the commute. Overall an outstanding way to make the most of current conditions. (and yes, saw a few cats on camera)

Thanks to all who organized and ran games!
Trevor / Road Crew (Calgary)
---
Shaky, Gambler, N, AC 10, hp 1, S12 A9 S5-2 P9 I9 L9, r+0, f-2, w+0, club +0 (1d4)
Shifty, Smuggler, C, AC 11, hp 1, S9 A15+1 S5-2 P13+1 I8-1 L8-1, r+1, f-2, w+1, init+1, attack rolls -1, sling +0 (1d4)
The Illuminating Anhk, Elven Artisan, L, AC 10, hp 3, S11 A9 S9 P13+1 I10 L15+1, r+0, f+0, w+1, fumbles +1, staff +0 (1d4)
KIA Bailey Bramford, Beadle, L, AC 11, hp 1, S13+1 A13+1 S12 P5-2 I13+1 L11, r+1, f+0, w-2, init +1, staff +1 (1d4+1)
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by GnomeBoy »

I gotta know more about how the Hot Dog Suit worked out!
(I created that Class for the GFA.)

Seconded!
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

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Vort
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by Vort »

A tale of DCC Carcosa (Judge Julian Bernick) from Virtual Gary Con XII. Let's see how much I can recall...

-----

Recording begins.

This may be the last testament of Quetzl of Cestus III, left in case someone finds his body out here in the nothingness of space and wonders what it was doing here. Please forgive any inaccuracies: it might've been the strangely coloured fungi, or just that the air in his silver suit is running low, but Quetzl's mind has been wandering and hallucinating and his memory might not be complete. What follows, however, is the truth as far as he can recall...

The People:

Crease, Warrior, Occupation: Guild beggar
Hairballs, Herding Dog, companion of Crease
Fantin, Assassin, Occupation: Scribe, Title: Butcher
Melvin Blotto, Hot Dog Suit, Occupation: College Student, Title: Loser
Pogo, Manimal, primate (chimpanzee), 3' tall, Title: Theta Soldier
Snorii, Dwarven Blacksmith
and self: Quetzl, Gray Alien, Occupation: Peddler

---

Quetzl recalls waking up on a smoking, hot, dismal, foreign world, in the shadow of some gigantic black structure, bodies and debris strewn everywhere and only a few showing signs of life. His last memory was of flying through space in his spaceship. A talking Hot Dog person waving a small device around in the air related that he could last remember standing on a street corner handing out Hawg's Dawgs flyers; he had then said something about "no signal". The others we would come to know had similar memories, vivid but incomplete, with no idea how they had come to be there. Pale, withered figures wandered through the wreckage, poking and prodding, looting goods and bodies alike. Hot Dog said something about tripping, but he was not stumbling. Quetzl was frightened by the scavengers and the wreckage and the not remembering so he got on his flying disc, and floated high above; scary men around knelt and bowed and waved in awe. Crease and Snorii, stout fighters, killed a few scavengers which caused others to hesitate; and so, between Quetzl flying above and those alive fighting below, the frightening ones ran away. Fantin read lines from a book he called 'holy', that we should prevail and that judgement was coming. Or, perhaps, Quetzl had misheard.

The survivors gathered. Heat could be felt pulsating from the large structure making Quetzl think of a ship's stardrive overloading before exploding. Voicing similar worries, the group moved away. Short debate about whether Hairballs the herding dog would attack Hot Dog, but the dog behaved; then, short debate about whether the others would eat Hot Dog, but everyone behaved.

"Hey, man, are you, like, a DJ? A disc jockey?" Hot Dog asked of Quetzl on his floating disc. "What is 'disc jockey'?" Hot Dog then rattled off what sounded like names but made no sense so Quetzl merely shrugged.

An Orange man approached and spoke: he was the "Lean One" of his tribe and was lost and pleaded for help in getting home. The scavengers here were the "bone men", taking (and killing) anything they could. Where is home? That way, over some hills, through some valleys, across the way. "Getting there is ..." and he made a strange fluttering gesture with his hand. Quetzl would like to go home too, he would like to find his spaceship (or another one) and leave. The others wanted to go home as well. Lean One spoke: "I can show you to the Effervescent Snail, a great sorcerer. He knows of the Maw." What is the Maw? "The Maw is the Maw." No further details were learned but an accord was made: help Lean One get home in exchange for meeting the Snail.

The group walked far enough to see the structure from slightly above: it looked like a giant blackened skeleton laying in a large crater. Perhaps that is what had knocked Quetzl from the sky? The others had voiced similar thoughts about the gigantic form. Or perhaps they were curses.

More walking overland. Strange hills, stranger grasses and foliage. Quetzl floated above. Into and through a patch of odd fungi growing tall, in vivid, undescribeable, colours of odd names. Quetzl's memory here is uncertain; perhaps an effect of the fungi. Hot Dog picked some; he may have tasted it. It was a good idea to take some, and so Quetzl took some of each colour, but didn't taste it.

Everyone got thirsty and hungry. Can strange fungi be eaten? Only one way to find out, but we needed water too. Raid a village? Lean One led us to village that seemed peaceful, full of Blue people. Fantin, sneaking, and Chimp, invisible, snuck into village and stole two roasted large lizard carcasses which had been spitted over a central fire, plus water and other assorted foodstuffs. Would have been funny to have seen food carried as if by only one person. Everyone ate and was happy.

More walking, foodstuffs dwindling. Something in the sky shone down a bright light: slavers, a very bad thing! "Hide!" Quetzl yelled, having recognized the danger, but there was no place to hide. The group was seen, the ship landed and announced something about "initiating capture". Battle ensued: ship was assaulted by Pogo and Snorii hacking at topside weapon which fired back, Hot Dog threw some paper flyers (no effect), someone threw a cover over sensors to blind the ship, and everyone hacked and smashed until smoke bellowed from within and the ship was killed. Quetzl was slightly embarassed by lousy aim with his laser rifle but hopefully no one had noticed.

More walking. Lean One warned of avoiding the Green people. Getting hungry again we found a village of the Green people. "Living there is ..." and he made that strange gesture with his hand again. "Living in Orange village is better than ...", gesture. We moved on. Everyone was getting hungry and starting to look funny at Hot Dog. We saw a cave entrance, perhaps a shortcut to the Snail? Snorii Dwarf went to investigate but it appeared to end at a chasm. Everyone else went in to look, Snorii thinking the chasm might lead out, but instead a hidden door dropped down, trapping everyone inside. Voices from outside, Green people laughing. A small window opened and one spoke up: "Hand over everything you are carrying and we will let you out." Pogo Chimp changed into a mouse with very large hands, turned invisible, and scurried under the door, climbing up to the lever but lacked the weight or strength to pull it. Quetzl's memory has a gap and doesn't remember how the door was opened, but when it did, Hot Dog threw a batch of flyers at Green people and Quetzl flew out on his floating disc. "Maybe now is the time for your Disc Jockey" Quetzl said as he passed Melvin and proceeded with much waving and wild thrashing of limbs. The others followed in a rush with threatening weapons and Hairballs was barking and the Green people scattered, bewildered and freaked out. Pogo Mouse was a Chimp again and everyone was still hungry. "How about pudding?" Quetzl offered, having looked through his meagre supplies. "You had pudding all this time?" the others demanded, but they were not yet ready for dessert. Instead, using a mix of disc flying to frighten villagers or stealth and invisibility to sneak, we had no trouble stealing food and water along the way.

Eventually Lean One said: "The Effervescent Snail is there. You go. I go that way," and we parted ways. "Your chance of living ...", he said before leaving, and gave that fluttering gesture once more. We entered the tower but were intercepted by something slimy and jelly-like coming oozing out of the hall. Quetzl hovered up and over and dumped all of his gathered fungi onto the slime, hoping for a bad reaction. Hot Dog took out nunchuks and waded into slime but was overcome; Quetzl grabbed Hot Dog and pulled him onto his flying disc, rolling him over and finding he still lived! The slime seemed to be burning away in the centre, in a psychedelic bubbling of dissolving fungus, and the others continued to attack as they could until the slime was all but a floor stain. Trap door in the ceiling: Quetzl took Hot Dog up, opened the door and peered through to find The Effervescent Snail sitting at a large desk, deep in study. Quetzl dumped Hot Dog inside then returned and brought everyone up one-by-one. Pogo Chimp interupted Snail, asking "Are you The Snail?". "Who are you? Why are you here? I must not be disturbed!" was the response. We explained we were looking for a way home. "I don't care, I must not be disturbed!" We explained that we wanted to know where the Maw is. He pointed: "Right over there. Now go away."

The Maw was just across the hallway: a giant, gaping hole of black nothingness. Snorii, student of cryptic runes, studied the workmanship and discovered cryptic runes inscribed along the periphery. Pogo Chimp, eager to get home, says his goodbyes and jumped through The Maw to disappear. Snorii asked The Snail how it worked. "I'm not telling. Now go away!" Quetzl tempted him with pudding. "What flavour is it??" Rainbow. "Give me that. Nom nom nom ths is terrible nom nom disgusting nom nom lick lick revolting! Okay, fine. Come here."

In a dazzling display of quantified instruction he showed Snorii the mysteries of operating the Maw which was, in fact, a portal. "Now leave me alone," and he retreated back to his study. Snorii, having paid utmost attention to detail, asked "Who's first?"

Crease and Hairballs stepped forward and through, returned to their home with wild tales to tell over the fire.

"Goodbye strange Hot Dog Person," said Quetzl, and Melvin Blotto went next, appearing back on his corner at home and wondering at the trip he had just come down from.

Quetzl was next: "Thank you little bearded man"; but, unfortunately something was lost in the translation to where his home was, and Quetzl appeared here -- in the middle of deep space.

And now ... Quetzl waits ... until his air ... runs ... out. And ... he waits ... wondering ... what Hot Dog would've tasted like ...

Recording ends.

---

Back at the tower, only two were left: Snorii Dwarf and Sneaky Fantin. The assassin snuck quietly up behind The Snail and stabbed the creature with a poisoned dagger. Snorii joined in but Fantin finished off the creature. Taking an assortment of books he then said to the dwarf: "Okay, now I'm ready to go home." Snorii set the runes and the assassin stepped through; but, instead of home, Snorii had sent the assassin to the Halls of Law to better contemplate his life choices.

Smiling to himself, Snorii then walked back into the study and declared: "Now I am the Effervescent Snail."

-----

Taking a variety of DCC-derived characters (DCC/MCC/Star Crawl/Umerica) and throwing them together in this world was brilliant fun. I wish I could recall more about the others, the setting, and some of the slightly silly things we did. The colours of the fungi escape me except for one: Jail, I think I heard, but I didn't make note of them. And the memories everyone woke up with: more details that escape me. I don't know if the above did the game justice, but it was a surreal blast of a game with a good ending (even though I ended up in the nowhere of deep space due to a bad roll).

All the players were all on point, Judge Julian ran a great relaxed game, and the setting was bizarre and even had a Dying Earth feel to it with the Orange/Green/Blue people (if I got their colours straight). Overall, a fantastic and inspired game!

@GnomeBoy - sorry, I can't recall much more specifics about Hot Dog Suit. I think I remember more about that character than the others, though, because of its nature and the image it conjures! The guy who played it did a great job of portraying a young college student (Title: Loser) who was picked up as he was trying to make a few bucks and put down in this nightmare land; throwing the flyers was a great image (but suffered from bad rolls), and there were other bits I know I had enjoyed but can't recall (other than the suit providing a varying AC). I *really* wish I could remember what he had used his Pathfinder Core book (2nd edition) for! I think it was to look up a spell he had observed but, sadly, I cannot remember the context.
Trevor / Road Crew (Calgary)
---
Shaky, Gambler, N, AC 10, hp 1, S12 A9 S5-2 P9 I9 L9, r+0, f-2, w+0, club +0 (1d4)
Shifty, Smuggler, C, AC 11, hp 1, S9 A15+1 S5-2 P13+1 I8-1 L8-1, r+1, f-2, w+1, init+1, attack rolls -1, sling +0 (1d4)
The Illuminating Anhk, Elven Artisan, L, AC 10, hp 3, S11 A9 S9 P13+1 I10 L15+1, r+0, f+0, w+1, fumbles +1, staff +0 (1d4)
KIA Bailey Bramford, Beadle, L, AC 11, hp 1, S13+1 A13+1 S12 P5-2 I13+1 L11, r+1, f+0, w-2, init +1, staff +1 (1d4+1)
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Re: Virtual Gary Con stories

Post by GnomeBoy »

Ah, that's great to read -- sounds like the class provided plenty of fodder for the player and amused other players, so that feels like a win!

Thanks for the extensive report!
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

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