Mutumbo Detki-Muletuki, Nubian Warrior

The weekly write-ups of the Burning Trogs is taking short term hiatus, as we compile and rewrite a few future entries.  For now, enjoy the basic mediocrity of everyone's favorite Nubian, Mutumbo!

The namesake for the Journey of Mutumbo portion of the campaign, and while certainly not the best, Mutumob demonstrated he was one of the toughest and most resilient warriors in not only our Hackmaster game, but any campaign I've run in any system!

Two fun facts about Mutumbo.  #1:  I don't believe he ever formerly trained to level, so he did not earn any of the added benefits (i.e. skill increases) that my revised rules called for and #2:  He got hit at least three times by level draining undead. 

Mutumbo Detki-Muletuki, Nubian Warrior, 5th Level Fighter
Homeland: Meroe
Black hair, 5'9", 172 lbs, Right Handed. 
Birthday:  8 HepDec 1112
Birth Rank:  2  # Sibling: 2

Quirks and Flaws:  Misguided, Strange Body Odor, Near Sighted, Obnoxious, Loud Boor, Superstition:  Pixie Fairies are Lucky (make them bless you), HACKFRENZY,  Hatred towards berserkers.

Abilities:
STR:  16/77                XP: 
DEX:  10/25               Next Level:
CON:  9/56
INT:  14/55
WIS:  6/42
CHA:  9/44
COM:  15/18
HON: 32
HP:  53
AC:  2   (Chain Mail, Open Faced Helm, Cursed Tower Shield -1 (+3)

Weapon Proficiencies:
Spear (specialized), sling, knife

Endurance

Skills: Slaughter Animal 26%, Angawa Battle Cry 17%, Fire Building 24%, Juggling 16%, Jump 20%, Mapless Travel 21%, Tracking 15%, Swimming Dog Paddle 24%, Shaving Grooming, Shield Repair, Animal Handling 12%, Cricket in a Pea Pod 14%.

Languages:  Meroe Tribal (100%), Trade Khemmet (10%), Trade Prythax (15%)

Weapons:
1)  Spear +1 
2)  Sling
3)  Knife
4)  Footman's Mace

Scars:
Facial Scars

Animals
Camel, gold chain collar.
Approved by Eric Jacobson PA-1-00689-02

My Two Pieces of GM Advice

The Dungeon Masters Guide for 5th Edition was recently released admit great acclaim.   Apparently, the most glowing praise is that it is "chock full of DM advice and random charts."

Okay, its the AD&D 1st DMG reincarnated.  Big whoop.

Everywhere I look, I've seen people demanding a rulebook contain a section on how to be a better DM/GM/Keeper/Referee/Storyteller/Dude Behind the Screen.   But when push comes to shove, the people who need that section the most (newbie or poor GM)  is going to gloss over things and do what they want to do.

And let's be honest, even the Call of Cthulhu d20 rulebook, which is universally applauded for their How to Run a Game/Be a Keeper section, did not provide any deep dark secrets.

The two "duh" rules of running a game

#2 Be prepared with the material

#1 Be organized

and of course, Rule #0  If everyone has fun, throw just about everything else out the window.

That all is good and fine, and it gets you to the table, but there's got to be something else if you want long term playability in a game.  So for this guidance, I look to... myself.

For all my years of GMing, I've consistently received two compliments:

A) I can step up to anything any player can throw at me in any system.  I have an answer to just about anything without cracking open a book or substantially delaying the game AND my on-the- fly decisions aren't detrimental to game play.  Even in the most railroaded scenario, where you are the engineer, starting forward, you need to at least know where the side tracks and spurs could take everyone, even if it derails the train.  And in the most extreme situation, you need to know subtle things like, what colors are the leaves beside the tracks.  Details that are consistent with game-logic should be created on the fly, not just to keep the with campaign coherence, but more importantly, to maintain GM control.  Even the friendliest players can smell blood, and even though (most) games aren't a competition, it can devolve into that quickly. 

A lot of this can be applied to the practical corrolary of Rule #0:  Never say no to your players, but the price of yes might be too high.

B) I can also take a step back, observe what's going one and formulate the ramifications of significant actions, on screen and off.   I have an uncanny knack of keeping the campaign world connected.  Not every beggar child the PCs push around becomes an evil overlord seeking vengeance, but PC actions (or inactions) may logically affect anything in the world, from allowing evil centers of power to regroup/disappear, to simply affecting the price of wheat in the region.   I pre-ordain some NPCs inherently good, while others are rotten to the core, regardless of any but the most extreme measures the PCs take.    I also try to maintain full command of the campaign setting.  My Georic fantasy games have an every expanding future timeline which progresses largely regardless of player actions.  The PCs may have affected the price of wheat in Khemmet, but that just added fuel to the fire of the civil unrests that local opposition had planned months before.    Likewise, power vaccuums are to be abhorred.  Someone, or something needs to fill that void, even if it's temporary. 

During the Journey of Mutumbo, two of the party members got kidnapped by cultists and the party was unable to rescue them, barely escaping with their own lives.   Unlike some who chalked them up as lost forever, I played out the actions of the captured PCs and NPCs around them behind the scenes.  While I let the dice fall as they may to determine who broke their charm first and used their background and previous history to determine what would happen. 

Luckily, Dalmar Sworin was the first to break the charm, smart enough to realize that playing along was the best option, and once other broke the charm and could aid him, everyone could escape and he had significant influence over these new people, even more so that the PC's party.  From there, he decided the best option was to travel the opposite direction the party had been going, and settled in the town of Saltmarsh.    The rest is documented history.

Trust me when I say that if someone else had broken their charm before the mage, the Duchy of Sworin in any form would not have existed and the power of the Kingdom of Crosedes would not be challenged as it has been since.

And pray for the entire southwestern corner of Crosedes if Thundarr the half-orgre barbarian had somehow made his save first.  

Thundarr, in his Hulk cosplay

 

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #12 The Forest Oracle

24 Hexdec 1132

After a week of hiding in an inn outside of town, the group finally put their heads together and compiled a plan.  Cecelia Darkspruce (half-elf sorority girl cleric of Sif), needed to check out her family's ancestral manor in the Agenmoor Forest.  This traditional land of the high elves was recently blighted  and many drow were caught cavorting through the woods.  There were rumors on the drow moving on, however, and a chance to see what was left and perhaps establish a base of operations for the group was way tempting.

Our Cast:
Mutumbo - Nubian Warrior

Kalin Sworin - Human Cleric of Akana

Dmitri - Gnome Cleric

Markoos - Wild Elf Cleric
The Drow with No Name - Drow Fighter with "fabulous" social skills.

and a female rogue with a major infatuation with Mutumbo.  Mutumbo got that a lot!

They set off to the east toward Agenmoor.  Not even a day passed when a trio of winged female warriors descended from the heavens and encountered the group!  Valkyries of Sif had arrive to take their devoted follower Cecelia with them.  Mentions of Ragnarok worried some of the other party members, but Cecelia pleaded with them to continue the mission and make sure the family estate was safe.  With a wave, the Valkyries picked her up and flew up towards the sun.

(GM Note:  While we were known to change the day of the week to accommodate each other, Cecelia's player, Nate, needed to take a night class to graduate college his free days didn't match the rest of the group.  Fear not, True Believers of Hack, her story is not quite done, but it is for the sake of this entry.)

Most of Eastern Crosedes was farmland, so the travel was quick and safe, with a good field of vision to detect predators or brigands.  Soon, though, as they entered a small valley the mid-summer crops began to look stunted and wilted, even the signs of animal life seemed to disappear. 

By late afternoon they had arrived at a small village in this valley.  The locals were exited to see them, and pleaded for their help.  It seemed that some version of the Drow Blight that affected the Agenmoor had reached this fertile valley called the Downs, and may have ruined all the crops.   Only the help of the Golden Druid, in exile along the far Agenmoor border might solve their problem.  Since it was only a minor diversion, the group agreed.

The group was a bit pushy with supplies, even though they offered double for what little animal grain the village had left and they moved on.  They're strange caravan did have a few tentative moments when a large red dragon appeared to be circling them, but it flew off and they pushed into a small mountain pass. 

The pass actually turned into a large tunnel.  They attempted, with limited success to maneuver the animals through the mountain cave.  Not only did the animals create a great deal of noise, but they also attracted a small tribe of orcs.   Every time they encountered a group of orcs, it only took a small show of force to make them retreat back into the side passages, but when they emerged out of the other end, they were ambushed by over 20 of them!

Vastly outnumbered, the group pushed forward, slaying the orcs blocking their immediate path, while taking significant damage from the rest.  Mutumbo was nearly struck down as a spear pierced his hip and nearly broke bone.   Through pluck and guile, the group distanced them from the ambush, and the orcs broke off pursuit.

A bit further, they encountered a raging river, and a three rope bridge as it's only crossing.  Realizing that the animals could not cross, they gave the injured Mutumbo the job of taking the animals downstream to find a safe place to ford across, while the rest whole cross at the bridge.  At worst, the main group could reach the druid faster and possibly meet up with Mutumbo as he found a crossing and work back upriver.

The Drow, Dmitri, and the rogue successfully crossed the bridge, only to be ambushed by dire wolves!  Kalin who was still on the bridge, fell into the river and Markoos (also on the bridge) dove in after him.  Both could not swim in the rapids (and horribly failed their rolls) and disappeared under the water.  The remaining trio were pushed back by the wolves and decided to take their chances on the river.  All succumbed to the power of the water.

Downriver, Mutumbo noticed the bodies of his fallen comrades floating in the river.  Despite the river calming down significantly, he decided to make no attempt to save them (Alignment infraction!  Lose a level) The others had the directions to the Golden Druid and the Darkspruce Estate, so it was time for Mutumbo to wander off with his menagerie of animals and find even more adventure....

Despite N2 being a horribly written module, I figured it was the perfect side trek before they arrived at the Darkspruce Family Estate and figured out a new direction for the group.  I did not anticipate a near-TPK, although the haste of getting to the Golden Druid and then the estate, blinded the group's logic of just following the river to a fordable area.

Herein ends the Tale of the Journey of Mutumbo, travelling across strange and distant lands to deliver a cursed artifact off the edge of the world.  The Nubian would continue his travels, but our focus moves across the continent of Talaishia to the Kingdom of Marakeikos, where although the King holds ultimate power, the Burning Trogs Rule.

To be continued....

(Hackmaster) The Collected Journey of Mutumbo

The one advantage I have with now being labelled "management" at work, even without the appropriate pay grade is unfettered internet access, so when I'm stuck on "sales support" (i.e. doing triage with a random overflow call), I can finally do much needed blog maintainence instead of twiddling my thumbs.

One of the low-priority tasks on this blog from the beginning was writing up the actual play from my Hackmaster campaign that ran from 2001-2004.  I always required someone to keep the party journal in-character, so it presented some interesteing, if biased, views of the party's actions.

The intensive labor of the translating the entries into a readable narrative (with the ten year old memories of the GM added to boot), means I've only gotten as far as the session #11 (November 2001).  As I've done for my Call of Cthulhu campaign, I've set up a new "Journey of Mutumbo" page on the top header of the blog for easy access to all the entries thus far.  You can also use the tag of the same name to look them up as well.    As the campaign takes a dour turn with part twelve, I'll probably start up the next chapter of the campaign under a different page and tag.  Once I get around to it, of course.

Suggestions are always appreciated of course.

While we're on a Hackmaster-related note, do remember that I'm still taking votes on my "What to run at Mepacon XXV Poll."  The poll engine seems to be broken (I've set it up twice and it barely records three votes before resetting to zero) so I'm taking additional votes via the comments section of the post describing the options here, as well as email, Facebook, and any message platform that you can find me.  Polling closes Memorial Day weekend, which still won't give me enough time to get my Historicon event finished, much less start working on the next event.

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #11: Finally Hydincall!

It's been a long time since I posted an Actual Play report from my old Hackmaster group, but I found the next one 3/4 written in my email.

The previous entries can be found here.  I may set up a page for this and Cthulhu for a more enjoyable reading experience... or something like that.

Mutumbo: Nubian warrior who completed a quest for his tribe.  Now wandering in search of adventure.
Cecelia Darkspruce: half elf cleric/sorority girl of Sif. 
Lord Ralphus:  Pixie Fairy who thinks he's king of the world
Kalin Sworin:  Human cleric of Akana.  Looking for his brother Dalmar (former PC, now deceased).
The Drow with No Name:  very "mysterious" Drow fighter.

The group continued on to the Crosedean capital of Hydincall.  Outside of the village of Shrewsdale, they rescued a small boy from quicksand and spent a second night there as small heroes.

The next night the pixie fairy was acting strange at the encampment, mumbling, picking fights, and trying to set the donkey on fire. The next morning some of the party's equipment was gone, as well as the Lord Ralphus and the donkey.

When the group arrived at the gates of the massive captial, they asked
around, and yes, people did remember seeing the pixie fairy and the donkey. In fact, the donkey was just a few feet away from them, completely stripped of supplies!

Angered, Cecelia leaves the group to hit a small shrine to Sif and begins a hopeless mission of finding their stuff and bringing the thieves to justice. Disenbowling a certain pixie fairy would just be a fun hobby.

Back at the inn, Mutumbo finally came clean with Kalin, admitting that he knew Dalmar was missing since there visit to the village of Orlane.  He told another white lie that Dalmar had scheduled a rendevouz point in Hydincall if they ever got separated.  Kalin seemed fine with the situation, so long as he could eventually see his brother.

The Drow with no Name left with the inn with a man named Game and dwarf named Steve, and partied.
The other mopey PCs met Markus the elf, and he volunteered to help find Dalmar.

The serving boy announced that there was a dead gnome in the outhouse.  Kalin performed last rites and contacted the guard for burial. When Kalin returned, the inn was aflame, but all their remaining supplies were saved by Cecelia. The serving boy Dimitri offered his place (roommates with Game and Steve) and the group crashed.
As the group emerged from the party home of Game and Steve, they staggered into a carnival atmosphere.  It was the Hydincall (world) Gladiator Championships!  Pit fighters from all over the world descended onto Crosedes and their 30,000 seat arena to show off their prowess.  Markus and Mutumbo went to arena to inquire about fighting, while Kalin volunteered his healing services for the games as a penitence for his sins.  All were accepted. 

After an opening extravaganza worthy of a magical Olympics, the low level fighting began, as did the rain.  The rain came down in buckets and flooded the arena floor into a muddy mess, but not not one person left the stands, instead they screamed for more.  The matches themeselves turned into mud wrestling matches with weapons, and since most bouts were fought until one fighter simply submitted, the crowd became agitated. 

Finally it was time for Markus and Mutumbo to fight a quick bout before a larger bout involving multiple combatants and monsters was to commence.  The duo saluted the King in the stands, saluted each other....

and then the King stopped the fight.  The downpour turned into something more akin to a tropical storm than a lazy day of rain.  For the sake of the spectators and gladiators, the rest of the program for that day was cancelled.  They were more than welcome to return the following day for more excitement... and the early rounds of the "pro" tournament. 

The crowd grew angry, even to the point at hurling objects at the king's magically protected box.  Fearing some sort of riot, Markus and Mutumbo, looked at each other, nodded, and charged in combat.

Try as they would like, the pair attempted at staging an elaborate combat was futile.  The mud slowed them down too much.  However, when they decided to change the tempo of the fight from periods of furious combat, then allowing each other a moment of recovery, the crowd was reined back.  The two were still mud covered, but upright giving it everything they had, followed by some grandstanding by one as the other recovered. 

As the roar of the crowd grew, so did the accuracy of and damage dealt by the blows.  Kalin was forbidden to use magic and the combatants were getting worn down fast.  Finally, in a moment of martial prowess, Markus hit Mutumbo with tremendous force and the Nubian fell to the ground.  Kalin dashed out onto the arena floor, and Cecelia jumped from her seat to help her friend.  Only their combined efforts brought back Mutumbo from certain death. 

(Markus rolled a nat 20 on his combat roll.  The subsequent critical hit roll brought Mutumbo to -8.  The combined healing of the clerics was just enough to get him back to 2.)

The crowd loved every minute of it.

Of course, no one else wanted to go out and fight that day, forcing thousands of angry fans to riot through the city.   Markus and Mutumbo's fight is credited with keeping the disturbance at a minimum, although the torrential downpours that kept fires from burning out of the control and spreading probably helped too.
(Dalcin, the Pixie Fairy player was tiring of the ineffectiveness and general insanity of the player and decided he would officially go crazy and steal the party's stuff.  This would make the party appreciate the new character's generosity and accept him into the group.  Ironically, Markoos was the name of another elf back in my College AD&D game during the mid-90s.  That character was far more annoying and needed to be knocked down a few pegs before becoming one of the champions of equal rights for the elves in a humancentric world. 

The Hydincall Gladiator Championships was another development from that campaign, and whenever some city adventuring gets more investigative that combat-driven, I let the warriors in the party blow off some steam.

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #10: Onward to Hydincall

Part Ten: Onward to Hydincall!

After the immediate slaughter of the new PCs, he remaining members of the group (Mutumbo, Cecelia, and Lord Ralphus) trudged through three more days of rain until they came to a monastery. The monks who answered the door and helped the group appeared to have taken a vow of silence. The group was given a meager meal and very modest accomodations.

In the middle of the night the monks attacked, being giant ants! After killing the ants and finding an underground network of tunnels, the PCs high-tailed it out of there, back into the rain. After another day rain, the group finally arrived in Pojunct Lock, one of the far reaches of the Crosedean Canal System. There, the pixie convinced a group of half-orcs to go to the monastery to take care of the remaining ant problem.
After a rowdy day of drinking and fighting in the tavern, the town guard corraled all the patrons and put them on a prison boat. A strange cleric caused a distraction and rescues the party with a drow tagging along. The group grabbed their animals and made a break for it out of town, the cleric dude following along ON a pack goat , and the drow (badly) riding a stolen bull. The cleric introduces himself as Kalin Sworin (human cleric), brother of Dalmar. The drow would not give his name, and was henceforth called The Drow With No Name (Drow Ranger). Kalin was willing to tag along with the group while they got their business in order so long as they started the search for his brother afterwards. The drow agreed to accompany the group so long as it kept him off the prison ship.

Before arriving in the village of Shrewsdale, the party encountered a very large bright yellow hydra. (Hoo-ray Random Encounters again!) For the second time in a game session the party tried another poor evasion. They managed to keep just enough distance away from the monsters attacks, however the woods themselves proved a bigger challenge. The drow ran headfirst into a tree (as stolen bulls are not loyal steeds) and Mutumbo was knocked off his camel by a low branch. The party was more than ready for some civilization that did not involve rain, bar fights, strange towns, and random encounters.

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #9: Dechie

Part Nine: Dechie (or The Best Intentions are Sometimes Short-Lived)

Our remaining players:
Cecilia: Half-elf Sorority girl/Fighter/Cleric of Sif
Mutumbo: Brave Nubian Warrior with nothing to do after completing his quest
Lord Ralphus: Pixie Fairy Magic-User who thinks he's king of the world

The remaining party continued their journey, stopping earlier and earlier each night, hoping that Dalmar & Co would catch up , but to no avail. The trio trudged along a rural road through the swamp and brush.They spent a few days being chased by lizardmen, a group of deluded psychotic dwarves who thought they were knights (a plot line I never returned to) , and otherwise being miserable before entering Dechie. In Dechie they stayed at the Green Griffon Inn and participated in the civilized activities like eating cooked food, consuming alcoholic beverages, and participating in bar room brawls.

GM Note: Dechie was the evolution of the village of Eding, laid out exactly like Hommlet, and the starting point of every other campaign I've run since 1992. My last AD&D campaign had a ended with little Timmy D'Echellon as Baron of the region. Timmy was the adopted son of a beloved retainer of Echellon the Cleric, who ascended into godhood. Baron "Timoth's" reign was so successful that the village slowly turned into Dechellon, or as the locals nicknamed it, Dechie.
(see Death of Echellon for more info.)

Cecelia bought a mule, which the pixie fairy rode through town, and also acquainted themselves with Merlyn (human magic-user) and Korick (smelly human beserker).

Less than a day out, the sky darkens as a dozen pterodactyls descend onto the party (Hoo-ray Random Encounters!). Merlyn was instantly impaled by a beak, and the rest of the group scattered. Lord Ralphus took to the air to fight them, Korick stood his ground in the middle of the field, and Mutumbo scurried into the treeline with the animals. Korick went into a Beserker rage and begins slaughtering anything within reach. He single-handedly slew a most of the beasts, with Mutumbo slowly advancing into field to fight the remainder As the last creatures were slain/flew off Korick barely managed to suppress his Beserker urges, to keep from hurting his new companions, but Mutumbo had seen enough.

Quote from Mutumbo's journal entry “He’s a basarker, bad thoughts come to me. I must, I have too, I charge. I think of my Family, what they did to them those basterds!”

Mutumbo charged Korick with full force (and complete surprise) and rolled a 20!!!!Sometimes those class aversion/hatred quirks and flaws bite some players in the ass (or impale them on a pointy stick). So much for new characters And Mutumbo's PC kill extravaganza continues....

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #8: Orlane

Part 8: Orlane
The group wandered into Orlane, which according to Dalmar was, “the dullest (village) we’ve been in yet.” Thundar decided to wander off into the woods to avoid paying for a room, but the next morning the half-ogre didn’t show up for breakfast. Mutumbo and Cecelia went to the constable, who seemed bored with the missing persons report. Dalmar worked the small bars in town for information, but the he too failed to show up the following morning.

Following some info that Dalmar had been able to give the group before his disappearance, Cecelia and Mutumbo investigate the local temple of Akana, God of Law and Order, Goodness and Light. The only thing they met were ninjas, pain, and fire. Going into the inner rooms of the temple they encountered strangely dressed monks who jumped around and attacked the pair with strange weapons. Literally a full out sprint of a running battle ensues and parts of the temple are set ablaze. Cecelia and Mutumbo escaped out a back door with little info, grab Lord Ralphus at the inn and dash off towards Hydincall.

GM Info: Body Count since beginning of the campaign. 1 PvP kill, 2 MIA. The party failed again to follow up on a module I offered (N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God), but I couldn’t blame them. Both Thundar and Dalmar were charmed to join the legions of the Spirit Naga who had this town enslaved.

The Naga had actually assembled a functioning adventuring party and sent them out to acquire more treasure and magic. Dalmar was the first of the group to break the charm, and after realizing the situation, continued to fake it. As others successfully broke the charm, if he could get to them first, he would tell them of the plan to kill the Naga (Those who the Naga, or its staff noticed first would be sacrificed.) When enough firepower was accumulated, they slew the Naga in a tremendous fight. With all the charms broken, Dalmar explained the situation and offered his services as leader of a new adventuring group.

This group was the one who discovered the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and finished the module trilogy with heavy casualties. To make a long story somewhat shorter: The group took over the mansion, and with the weak feudal system of Crosedes managed to form an independent Duchy of Sworin that included Saltmarsh and Orlane. This rogue Duchy survived for 5 years, well past the death of Dalmar in a random pirate attack. The King of Crosedes has installed a true priest of Akana to act as a Military Governor, but it seems like the name of Sworin is sticking to the region. All this was done with the PCs as NPCs under my control.

Hey, a GM has got to have a little fun as well, right?

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #7: Saltmarsh

Our party at the time:
Dalmar Sworin: Wizard of moderate repute, chronic liar, party leader by hook or by crook.
Cecelia Darkspruce: Half-elf fighter/cleric of Sif with sorority girl looks/attitude and a Lucksword
Mutumbo: Naive Nubian warrior from a distant land who has completed his tribe's quest and is now wandering the land with his new found "friends"
Thundar the Barbarian: Incredibly stupid and foolish half-ogre barbarian who job is to pick things up and kill them.

As the party sails to Saltmarsh, the crew tells them of tales of a haunted house, where a man once killed his entire family in cold blood, and then himself. After arriving in port, and some very light shopping in town, they turned in. The next morning, the group finds a sack of coins outside their door, and there is no sign of Mordeln or Brand anywhere. Deciding a haunted house was not their thing, the group decided to ask for directions. Unfortunately, Thundar is first to ask and literally grabbed a villager and began shaking him violently, asking, “Where are we???? Where we go????” Amid shakes, the villager screams for help and before the party can stop the half-ogre, members of the militia appear and Thundar takes them on. A quick Wall of Fog allows for an easy escape of most of the party, and somehow Thundar managed to catch up… a wanted ogre. That night, in Dalmar’s own words: “I tried to explain to Thundar why he shouldn’t kill people in town, but he just didn’t get it.”

The next day Cecelia was awoken by the loud singing of a Pixie Fairy, Lord Ralphus. This strange creature claimed to be the King of the World and boasted of his powers. Within seconds of waking up, Mutumbo had the “King” locked up in a little cage and offered his release only if Lord Ralphus blessed the Nubian Warrior. Ralphus conceded and not only blessed the dark-skinned man, but knighted him as well. Dalmar: “Unfortunately, this moron wants to come with us. He has a spell book so when he gets himself killed I will get it.”

GM Note: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh was offered as possible adventure, but I knew it only had a 50/50 chance of luring the party in. The failure of the party to investigate will lead to a rebellion within Crosedes, as we shall soon find out….

Next: Against... something that keeps stealing our party members.

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #6: Adventure is Missed!

Check out the roster of the party here. Please check out #5 for the fate of Arbeow Geniped.

The next morning Dalmar met up with Cecelia and Mutumbo. It seems they tried (and botched) the prison break AGAIN! Despite their incompetence the half-elf (Mordeln) wanted them to help him look for papers of succession in the Grand Duke’s castle… and oh yeah, Dalmar’s invited to come along.

With the gnomeling gone and Sabu Tablesmasher III wandering off, the party picked up a half-ogre named Thundar the Barbarian. Despite Thundar’s absolute stupidity, he was vital to the party’s success that night in secretly entering the castle by silencing many of the guards… permanently. The party managed to sneak into Prince Cardor’s chambers. They found a family tree which proves Prince Cardor is next in line for the throne and also mention Mordeln as the bastard son of the Prince. His bastard lineage, mixed with the racist beliefs of the area prevents Mordeln from taking the throne. Dalmar did manage to discover that Prince Cardor suffered from Lycanthropy and under its affects, killed Duke Aldriv and fled. With information and a map that may lead to the whereabouts of Cardor, the group heads out…

In the woods the group meets Brand, a friend of Mordeln’s and up until that morning an inhabitant of the local prison. The party encounters a pseudo-dragon who bargains Cardor’s whereabouts for the party cleaning out a tribe of goblins. For their first prolonged foray into dungeon was a five-day affair, full of fumbles, poor planning, an absolute clusterf**k. The most successful tactic was a phantasmal force of an ettin to scare off some of the goblins, but most wised up, and even illusionary ettins have problems with small goblin tunnels… After five days, the party was near death and had lost their mounts (including the camel), but the goblins had been chased out or killed off. Of course, after five days, any information the psuedo-dragon had was very dated and it fled for it’s life.

The group stumbled into the port of Brymstone and with what little money they pooled together that was not on the horses they bought passage on a ship going down the coast (the last bit of the pseudo-dragon’s info that could have been useful pointed to a fishing village down the coast in the Kingdom of Crosedes. A village known as …. Saltmarsh.

GM Note: The adventure being run was Aldriv’s Revenge, and the party slowly butchered it. As the party left Brymstone, they would never return to Alois. Just because the party never came back doesn’t mean it isn’t a vibrant part of the campaign. The failure to rescue Prince Cardor forced Alois to accept the Duke’s 18-yr old daughter Wendolin as Duchess and the Minister of Agriculture, Dalcom Minifumes (a Halfling) as regent. A marriage was arranged between Wendolin and Cassius Silvershield, crown prince of Crosedes., making Alois part of Crosedes, and breaking a few trade and military agreements with other neighboring kingdoms. The only good news for Alois is that Duchess/Princess Wendolin is far more sharp than many people believe and holds considerable influence in not only the Duchal court in Yelden, but the Royal court in the Crosedean capital of Hydincall. Meanwhile, Prince Cardor’s illegitimate son, Mordeln Larendin is conducting a guerrilla war with local Grel tribes. Mordeln is assisted by Brand, a ranger of some repute.

Next up: The sinister secrets stay secret

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #5: Rotten Cabbage, Flaming Gnomeling

Check out the roster of the party here.

Finally, the group arrives in Yelden, and Arbeow and Dalmar head to the Drunken Dwarf Inn as the rest of the group finds something to do. They sit at a table along with a racist (humans only) cleric, who begins berating the other races, especially vile half-breeds such as the gnomeling. This tirade goes on for sometime until the gnomeling, who for now had been quietly staring at the cleric, pulls out two daggers and plunges both of them into the cleric’s chest. An all-out bar brawl ensues, Dalmar switches personalities to a little old lady (“blacking out” as he put it). Dalmar came to just outside of the inn, which was engulfed in flames. (as were his robes, as some chap was trying to help him put out the smoldering clothing). He sees the incompetent, now blood-soaked gnomeling staggering out the front door. The flames flare up (doing the 2 points of damage to have him hit 0 and fall unconscious) and Arbeow passes out face-first into a puddle.

Dalmar decided the gnomeling must have had some redeeming qualities as he and this other fellow drag him out of this ignomious death of drowing in three inches of water and rush him to safety before the town guard shows up.

The fire-fighting chap introduces himself as Malven and offers to house as a sanctuary for the night. While all this was going on Mutumbo and Cecelia were distracted by a crowd of townsfolk throwing rotten food at some guy in the town stocks. They were accosted by a half-elf who, after a skin of wine and a few tossed bits of cabbage, managed to convince the pair to participate in the prison escape of his friend Brand, a “political prisoner”.

That night a large black man (fighter) and his blond busty friend (fighter cleric) tried to break into the prison to free Brand. How they didn’t actually end up being thrown into the dungeons amazes me. After a few close calls the pair finally manage to escape the prison first thing in the morning during a guard change, sans Brand and right into Dalmar, who was strolling down the street.

Dalmar had managed to get the low-down from Malven: They were in Yelden, the capital of the Gran Duchy of Alois. Evidently the Grand Duke Aldriv died a few days ago under suspicious circumstances and the rightful heir the throne, the Dukes' brother Prince Cardor, was missing. In the early morning hours, Dalmar transported the unconscious gnomeling from the safety of Malven’s place to the the enormous saddlebags of Mutumbo’s camel (oh yeah, he bought that in Anon-Maxis with his hourglass finder’s fee, along with a large gold chain to put it around his neck... the camel's, not Mutumbo).

Dalmar figured the last place the town guard or whoever would be searching would look was in the saddlebags…. The town guard couldn’t find him, however Mutumbo did. Mutumbo’s player was upstairs making a phone call while Dalmar was hiding the gnomeling. When he came back, he simply stated “Mutumbo is pissed off and I’m going down the stables and turning the camel’s saddlebags into a punching bag.” After a few minutes I tell him, “There’s blood stains forming on the bags… from the inside” Mutumbo quietly took off that portion of the saddlebags and drop it into the camel’s water trough “to wash it out”. Utter silence around the table. Malven was the one to break the news to the party of Arbeow’s demise, by an apparent beating and subsequent drowning. Dalmar quickly took hold of the situation and disposed of the body for the party (i.e. He took the corpse to the town guard so he could pick up the reward money.)

Next up: Duchal court intrigue and half-ogres DON'T mix

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #4: Sitooterie Park

After getting mixed up in a crooked magic exchange and solving a cleric's curse, the group finally got around to heading to Anon-Maxis to return the hourglass (if Arbeow picked the right road.) On the road, they noticed a low-flying sky-ship hover over them, and drop a barrel....on top of the Dalmar! Inside was a dwarf, apparently a stowaway, with one helluva hangover. After introductions (and massive healing efforts for Dalmar) Sabu Tablesmasher staggered along with the group.

In Lansluck, the final village before Anon-Maxis (Arbeow: Honest!!!), as Dalmar was sipping his wine in the tavern, Cecelia was being hit on by the captain of the militia. The captain decided to be fresh and pinch Cecelia...Well, Low Threshold of Pain, Temper Tantrum, and a host of personality quirks kicked in, an Angawa Battle Cry was emitted after a yelp, and the captain was soon on his back, thanks to a lucky knockout punch and subsequent pummeling from Cecelia. She then proceeded to force the other patrons to give directions to the captains home, dragged his unconscious body there, crowd in tow, and had a nice conversation with the captain's wife. Rolling pins do how much damage in Hackmaster???

Finally, the group arrives in Anon-Maxis. Dalmar delivered the hourglass to the Red Mage, and took his 80% cut of the reward, while Sabu took Mutumbo to the docks to learn the multiple uses for the word profit....or was that booty? Even though the group was living high off the hog of their reward and the magic items they sold in town, Cecelia found them a job. They were hired by the Town Guard to investigate some gruesome murders in Sitooterie Park. All sorts of horrible acts (decapitations, severed limbs, etc..) had been committed and the even the town guard was leary of going into the park at night.

The group cleared out the remaining visitors in the park well before dusk and set up a sting operation. Well, Dalmar told them to and proceeded to fall asleep underneath the bushes. The remaining members decided to place someone staring at the stars in a prominently placed gazebo. All went well, before the gazebo attacked! With the gnomeling in the gazebo's clutches, the others attacked. With some speed, and only minor scarring the "killer gazebo" was dead. ...then Dalmar woke up.

The reward they received for stopping the (Dalmar: Dopple-something they called it. The idiots obviously don't know a yellow cephlapod when they see it!) was sufficient for resupplying the group and get them horses. Dalmar offered to pay his "mercenaries, Mutumbo included now" to escort him to Hydincal to live the high life! The group celebrates, Arbeow drinks too much, wanders from the group, and pukes/passes out at the feet of some ornery mercenaries. His unconscious body is used for gnome bowling and the group finds him in an alleyway the next morning.

GM Moral: Never drink heavily, and never drink alone.

The group leaves Anon-Maxis for a 10-15 day trek back to the city of Hydincal, capital of the Kingdom of Crosedes. Arbeow's 7-10 splitting headache helps his guiding, as they successfully make it back through Lansluck, Nobquin's Keep, and Nodhaven. However, the group makes a right instead of a left at a fork in the road, and as the music strikes up, they head into Yelden, capital of the Duchy of Alois. *Group stares at Arbeow*: Where are we now?Arbeow: Let's find out...*Group rides into town*

GM Notes: After going through the Hacklopedias, I was delighted to find out that I could pay homage to the classic KODT strips, but with a little more firepower. Just blame those "news" monitors that some McDonald's have on constant repeat. The word of the day (for a week) was "Sitooterie"(sp) which they claimed was French for "Gazebo" For those of you who figured out the creature type, it was toned down (it was only a small gazebo), but it was immune to missle attacks. As the Journey was completed I didn't know what lay ahead for the group, and after making yet another wrong turn, I broke out the store bought modules, both old and new. Still under the chronic lying machinations of Dalmar Sworin, the group continued as an unofficial adventuring group, and the lack of organization will show in the next steps of The Journey of Mutumbo.

Hackmaster: Journey of Mutumbo #3: The Ettin's Riddle

The Journey continued on to Nobquin's Keep, only encountering an underpowered Grel Raiding Party, and monks from the Cult of Apotheoisis, an apocalyptic cult the gives the PLAYERS the hee-bee geebies everytime I mention them.

They learned a great deal from the cult and scared off the Grel using low-level magicks. GM Note: This cult was a huge part of the finale of my last 2nd Ed AD&D campaign. They were tricked by an evil spider god that he was their "God of Goodness and Light Returned." The few PCs that managed to survive did so thanks soley to the NPC relationships they created over the years.

As they arrived in Nobquin's Keep, they spotted a two-headed giant terrorizing the village. After making some connections (and healing the wounded), the group was hired by the town to hunt the Ettin. Early the next morning, while Cecelia was doing her morning jog GM: Gotta work off those gluttony attacks when you're a hot half-elf valkyrie , she spotted the Ettin, one head asleep, sneaking into town and praying behind the Church of Akana.

The party quickly deduced that the Ettin was once a former cleric who had been cursed, and the writing they noticed behind the church was a riddle the Ettin must solve to get his old life back. They met up with the 'good head' and began helping him, but he was still obstinate in his current state, so it was taking awhile....then the villagers showed up with torches and pitchforks, waking up the "evil head" All Hades broke loose, villager's bodies flew everywhere and the mage blacked out (multiple personality of an old lady). After much carnage, Cecelia prayed to Sif that the curse could be broken * bzzztt...2nd wish off the lucksword* The ettin changed back to Kyrin, the formerly full-of-himself cleric of Akana.

Kyrin eventually helped rebuild the bridge he had destroyed as an ettin and became a productive member of the community. The group got paid, and sent on their way (between Dalmar being the a-hole he is, Cecelia's jiggly morning jogs straining a few marriages, and the Arbeow's drunken tomfoolery at the beer pavillion, the town was happy to see them leave).

This was a conversion of The Ettin's Riddle (duh ), one of the original free adventures WOTC put on the website for 3E. I used this scenario for the only game of 3E I ever GMed. One good player turned a two hour game into an hour, by asking the right questionns and emphatic role-playing with the ettin. Since my group had no members so caring, I upped the stubborness factor of the cleric/ettin and agitated the townsfolk a bit more. The only reason I ran this adventure in the opening of my campaign was that I had finished painting an ettin, a cleric of Akana, and a bunch of Ravenloft Townsfolk minis and wanted to use them

Next Stop: The first part of the Journey of Mutumbo ends in Anon-Maxis, and a tip of the hat towards the genius that is KODT.

(Hackmaster) The Journey of Mutumbo #2 - The Scepter of Amun-Ra

Journey of Mutumbo #2 -- The Scepter of Amun-Ra

The party arrives in Nodhaven and spends the night drinking telling yarns, and teaching Arbeow the difference between right and left. As they drank, a young woman approached them, explaining how a band of men had killed her husband and now were looking for her….

Just then, five men burst through the door and chased her out the the back, but not before one stopped to warn the party to stay of their business. (Dalmar's Journal, “I thought it a good idea, and I did”.) Later that night the different men broke into the party’s room searching for a scepter. (Dalmar: “When I said I didn’t know what they were talking about, they just spouted some religious mumbo-jumbo and attacked.”)

Cecelia, warrior-priestess of Sif, chased her attacker out of the inn and into the woods, only to see him struck down by a dwarf and the five fellows she had seen chasing the girl. The dwarf threatened the half-elf to return ‘the artifact’ or else. The party slept uneasy the rest of the night, weapons in hand….

The next morning things finally cleared up for the confused party. The girl showed up at breakfast. She said her name was Katerine and that she and her husband had received a magical scepter by total accident. She was trying to return it to its rightful owner, a Khemmet priest of Thoth named Kamen-Non. The rest of the party pressured Dalmar to help her make the delivery that night.

The exchange was your classic FUBAR combat. Katerine and the party at one edge of the clearing, Kamen-non and his cronies on the other side. Of course, the dwarf and his men appeared on a third side and all hell broke lose….[GM Notes: The combats in the rooms were versus Kamen-Non’s underpowered cronies, who quickly ran away. This was the first extended combat of the campaign. Cecilia, lucksword in hand (which she was unaware of its powers, beyond the saving throw bonus), said something to the effect of “I wish you guys would slow down and think about things…” All NPCs were then slowed for a number of rounds…. *one charge burned* Otherwise the combat was incredibly uneventful. Mutumbo dealing the only critical of the session]

Soon, dwarf and his men had either fled or were killed, Katerine disappeared, but Kamen-Non had possession of the Scepter. He healed the party, and was kind enough to explain the Scepter was a holy relic of Thoth and it had been stolen months before….

[More GM Notes: I had converted “The Sceptre of Amun-Ra” from Journeys #1. Katerine was actually a low-level assassin who had acquired the Scepter and planned on selling it to the highest bidder between the Priest and the Dwarven merchant. She killed her partner “husband” out of greed, and conned the party into being her back-up. I planned on using Kamen-Non as a connection when the party was high enough level to run the Mythus version of Necropolis]

Next stop on the Journey …..Nobquin’s Keep.

(Hackmaster) The Journey of Mutumbo #1 Backstory

I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to put together the Actual Play report for my last Call of Cthulhu game. It's outlined and day one of three is finished, but I'm just having a problem keeping the narrative tone of the session consistent. One day, it will be done, hopefully before the next session, but that's not even on the horizon.

So, for the time being, I'm stealing back my actual play reports of my original '01 Hackmaster game I had posted on rpg.net.

I figured it would be good to recollect the damage the Burning Trogs did to the world. But like every good story it has to deal with a girl, er, scratch that… You have to go years before and hundreds of miles away from the Trog’s first adventure, back to the steaming savannahs of Kufrik, to witness the Journey of Mutumbo. (I'll throw GM notes in green)
Mutumbo was not the finest warrior of the tribe. In fact, he was way closer to the bottom rung than the top rung. A portion of his family being slaughtered by berserkers nurtured his martial enthusiasm. Luckily he was not there when a large portion of the tribe’s warriors were slaughtered while hunting. All that was left of the attacker were strange tracks, a body of someone who looked like a beserker, and a strange object [A large indestructible hour-glass] When the object was brought to the elders, they decided that the object must be thrown off the edge of the world to appease the spirits. Mutumbo was given the quest by default.[Gotta love a player who wants to base his PC off The Gods Must be Crazy]
So Mutumbo traveled north, running like a scared gazelle from the beasts, avoiding the unscrupulous dwarves and feral Halflings , until he met “Prince” Clarence the gnome [NPC] . Clarence was a merchant from the far north. He befriended Mutumbo and invited him to join the caravan north. Upon examining the hourglass he found (a) it was magical and (b) it was property of the Red Mage of Anon-Maxis (it said so on a brass plate on the bottom). Clarence changed his caravan’s focus to far Anon-Maxis…for a supposed substantial reward. On the journey Clarence convinced Mutumbo that Anon-Maxis was the edge of the world (situated on three jagged cliffs above the ocean, it looked the part), while teaching him the Trade Khemmet (desert tongue), and Trade Prythax (imperial tongue).
When they arrived on the southern coast of Crosedes, a tavern brawl erupted and Mutumbo was separated from the group [Clarence & Co were all in jail] Mutumbo then met Dalmar Sworin, Magus Extraordinaire (Human Magic-User), who was even less scrupulous than Clarence. He saw the gullible, misguided bushman as a quick way to incredible wealth, hot chicks, and eventually magical power! Convincing Mutumbo of the same things Clarence did, he assembled a team.
*Dalmar Sworin, chronic lying, misguided, a-hole Human Magic-User.
*Mutumo gullible bushman with spear (and hourglass) Human Fighter
And the “hirelings”
*Arbeow Geniped Gnomeling Thief: hired as the guide through Crosedes and the duchy of Alois to Anon-Maxis. He had no clue about tracking, survival, or even about his own homeland (Alois) needless to say, they got lost often.
*Cecelia Darkspruce: Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric of Sif: hot half-elf chick with an eye patch who acted like a sorority girl! Sif had responded to her prayers when orcs attacked her father’s estate in the elven lands. [One great big boo-boo on my part: The campaign started BEFORE the GMG was released. When he rolled family weapon on the starting wealth chart I gave the player a chance to get a magic weapon on 99-100 percentile. He rolled a 99. I rolled up….a lucksword (using old magic item tables) with three wishes.]

So this is the group upon the first session, September, 2001. Arbeow had gotten the group lost for a week (12 days) before he found a ramshackle no-name town on the main road to Anon-Maxis….

Next:  #2 - The Scepter of Amun-Ra