Guild Hall

     It had been a harrowing trek through the old wizard's keep. The three novice adventurers had been hoping to find just some gold and maybe a few magic items. The group did find gold, and silver, and jewels. And they found a shiny sword that looked both magical and valuable. However, there was something else in the keep that they found. Trolls. Two of them. And they were intent on having the three companions for dinner. At first a fight broke out, but it quickly turned badly for the group and they fled, barely escaping with their lives.   ...

So this blog post has nothing to do with games, gaming, or anything remotely related. Its a tribute to the career that my brother, Scott, has pursued over the last 15 plus years. You see, after spending an eternity in college(OK, so it was only like 7 years), he graduated with a degree in Conservation Biology and went off to have many real life adventures around the world.

One of the more delicate duties of any Gamemaster would be to find the right balance between turning your game into a maelstrom of death and having your players become bored with how easy dispatching the enemy has become. Whether the focus is on hack and slash, or the game is more role playing oriented, there is always some level of danger for the characters involved. The trick is finding how much danger to keep the adventure interesting without things turning into a George R. R. Martin novel.

It was  a dark and eerie night in dark ages era Europe. Almaric, the vampire, surveyed the town. He needed to feed and was tired of slinking around, hiding his identity. After all, he was more powerful than ten of these mortals combined. Confident, he marched up to a peasant's home and kicked in the door. Walking right in and grabbing the woman, he proceeded to feed while the rest of the family fled in terror. His thirst satisfied, Almaric then left the hovel and saw a crowd of angry townfolk, wielding pitchforks and torches. Though amazed at how quickly...

Years ago I had a blog, that no one read, called “Its Just An Owlbear”(an inspiration for my current name, Owlbear Games), named after an infamous incident in my own little gaming circle involving an owlbear and complete party destruction. With that blog long defunct, I thought I might retell the story of the world’s stupidest adventuring party and how they ultimately disbanded.   The adventurers set out once again on an epic quest, to rid the local town of a mysterious monster hiding somewhere in the western mountain range. This was not their first time questing together, as this...