Category: D&D

  • Chimney, Wine Cellar, and Temple

    Keys From The Golden Vault, live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the third heist, Reach for the Stars. The party defeats the haunted closet and heads to the basement.

    Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin played by Adam) is based on Scarecrow
    Deacon Dupree (Rogue played by Rock) is based on Brother Dupree
    Grease in the Greasier (Barbarian played by Oshi) is Man-Bat
    Julie Newman (Ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Snow on the Mountain (Fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face,
    Swallow the River (Cleric played by Brian) is a follower of Zoltec the Crocodile god of death from Chult.
    Top Card (Rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick

  • HUB Cult — planning, dictatorship, and heist

    Keys From The Golden Vault, live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the third heist, Reach for the Stars. A rich man has stolen the Codex and is summoning an eldritch horror–the party is sent to get the book back. This week is the “plan the heist week,” and things do not go smoothly! The party elects a dictator, who they promptly ignore. There is a Talking Tie Hat device used for crowd control — the table is a mess! The heroes gain egress to the mansion and battle a mimic (which they somehow predicted). Our third-level heroes – Deacon Dupree (Rogue), Top Hat (Rogue), Grease the Greasier (Ranger), Swallow the River (Rogue), Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin), and Julie Newmar (Ranger)–have each been awarded a magic item which should make things even more interesting!

    Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin played by Adam) is based on Scarecrow
    Deacon Dupree (Rogue played by Rock) is based on Brother Dupree
    Grease in the Greasier (Barbarian played by Oshi) is Man-Bat
    Julie Newman (Ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Swallow the River (Cleric played by Brian) is a follower of Zoltec the Crocodile god of death from Chult.
    Top Card (Rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick

  • Gamex 2023

    Lisa stocked Cody and I up for an amazing weekend of Con!

    Cody riding the escalator down to the D&D Adventures League area is officially the start of Con for me–registration, shopping, mini painting–these are critical events, but Con begins when we hit the D&D Tables!

    Cody was very interested in playing Video games, MtG EDH, and even some classic Artemis

    I got some amazing Dice Envy dice this convention–very beautiful.

    We played some great games–Numenera was awesome & the D&D adventure we played twice was fantasitc.

    The Hilton gave away our room–it was a nightmare. I am still not entirely sure how to handle the situation–but I feel angry about everything.

    Mickey was at my final table which was Amazing!

  • Hyacinth and the mycelial network

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the Stygian Gambit–a casino heist. This week everything goes to hell (literally) as the heroes battle their way out of the vault and through a portal to Ravnica! Yes, enter the Magic the Gathering metaverse. Our second-level heroes – Deacon Dupree (Rogue), Top Hat (Rogue), Snow in the Mountain (Fighter), Grease the Greasier (Ranger), Swallow the River (Rogue), Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin), and Julie Newmar (Ranger)– rob the vault, make progress on the Bag of Holding, and continue their adventures with the Golden Vault.

    Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin played by Adam) is based on Scarecrow
    Deacon Dupree (Rogue played by Rock) is based on Brother Dupree
    Grease in the Greasier (Barbarian played by Oshi) is Man-Bat
    Julie Newman (Ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Snow on the Mountain (Fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face,
    Swallow the River (Cleric played by Brian) is a follower of Zoltec the Crocodile god of death from Chult.
    Top Card (Rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick

    The players continue a very serous Croc journey.

    The table is large and players have plenty of room.

    Glen’s character is addicted to Cheez-It’s and he is celebrating my hatred of Gum with yet another yard of gum.

    Players have leveled up–and Louis has once again rolled wonderfully!

    A fairly easy week behind the DM screen–I did get a call from my old friend Greg Miller at the shop, which was amazing.

  • Pliny the Elder is recursive

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the Stygian Gambit–a casino heist. This week our second-level heroes – Top Hat (Rogue), Snow in the Mountain (Fighter), Swallow the River (Rogue), Kite in the Sky (Rogue), Missing Fingers (Rogue), and Julie Newmar (Ranger) were joined by new players Grease in the Greasier, Deacon Dupree (Rogue), and Carolus Rex the Eyeless–continue the heist as the casino descends into a lack of fire in Hell!

    Carolus Rex the Eyeless (Paladin played by Adam) is based on Scarecrow
    Deacon Dupree (Rogue played by Rock) is based on Brother Dupree
    Feather on the River (cleric played by Brain) is Killer Croc. It may have been renamed Swallow on the River.
    Grease in the Greasier (Barbarian played by Oishi) is Man-Bat
    Julie Newmar (ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Kite in the Sky
    Missing Fingers
    Snow on the Mountain
    (fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face,
    Swallow the River (cleric played by Brian) is a follower of Zoltec, the Crocodile god of death from Chult.
    Top Card (rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick

    Weird night of D&D. I am planning to take the characters to Innistrad and the whole Magic the Gathering universe at third level — after this heist is over.

    Table was crowded, but they seem to be having a good time. I am interested is speeding things up a bit.

  • Oh my GOD! That is a LOT of Gum

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the Stygian Gambit–a casino heist. This week our second-level heroes – Top Hat (Rogue), Snow in the Mountain (Fighter), Swallow the River (Rogue), Kite in the Sky (Rogue), Missing Fingers (Rogue), and Julie Newmar (Ranger) –start to rob the Afterlife Casino by killing people and creating complete chaos.

    Top Card (rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick
    Julie Newmar (ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Snow on the Mountain (fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face,
    Feather on the River (cleric played by Brain) is Killer Croc. It may have been renamed Swallow on the River.
    Kite in the Sky
    Missing Fingers
    Swallow the River

    Just started murdering people in the casino. Spine devils emerged from the mural and attacked.

    I am starting to near the end of my Blizzard journal–maybe three more weeks!

  • Snatch and Three Dragon Ante

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, continues this week with the Stygian Gambit–a casino heist. This week our second-level heroes – Top Hat (Rogue), Snow in the Mountain (Fighter), and Julie Newmar (Ranger)–watch a circus, explore the employees-only section, learn to play Three Dragon Ante and prepare to rob the Afterlife Casino.

    Top Card (rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick
    Julie Newmar (ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul
    Snow on the Mountain (fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face

    We did some exploration. I did some gender identification discrimination. We set up for next week.

    I am still very much loving the Blackwing Dice case

    I was not that well prepared and my role play was soft this week–not ideal; but, I think that the players still had some fun.

  • Laxatives in the Spa

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA continues this week with the Stygian Gambit–a casino heist. This week our second level heroes – Swallow in the River (Cleric), Top Hat (Rogue), Snow in the Mountain (Fighter), and Julie Newmar (Ranger)–mostly wander around a casino create chaos. Very few rolls and even fewer attacks for those of you who love role play sessions!

    Top Card (rogue played by Glenn) is Cat Women without the slapstick may be addicted to Chez-Its.
    Julie Newmar (ranger played by Lance) is Ra’s al Ghul dated Anais while in boarding school
    Snow on the Mountain (fighter played by Lewis) is mentored by Two-Face and an export in the Life or Death dice game.
    Swallow on the River (cleric played by Brain) is Killer Croc. It may have been renamed Swallow on the River raised a viper.

    My DM notebook was mostly around the characters again.

    I had the characters draw the trophy at the Afterlife Casino Three-card ante tournament

    Here is the results.

    Brian won and has his piece displayed in the shop!

    Also, I moved my dice from the D&D branded dice bag to the Blackwing Pencil Limited Edition 20 Gaming Pencil box

    The lid can be used as a cup to hold the commonly rolled dice pools.

    Which is rad.

  • Fur Ball Attack in the Afterlife Casino

    Keys From The Golden Vault live from Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA.

    This week our tabaxi heroes flee the complete the museum heist and are sent on the road for their next adventure. They meet with a tabaxi card player and head to a casino to steal a prize trophy and some ill begotten booty.