Dungeons & Dragons on IRC?!
/server -m au.austnet.org -jn #d&d
Why the hell not? This website is for the use of AustNet's Dungeons and Dragons IRC channel. Our regulars come from all over Australia, though mostly the east coast. We play any tabletop roleplaying game (mostly D&D v3.5, currently) via IRC and utilise a custom program called Combat Assistant created by Ballig to map combat.
Come along and speak to the regulars to get an idea of how D&D works through an IRC channel. Sit in on a game, play a test session, or just roll up a character if you are confident enough. If you have an IRC client installed, this link should connect you with us. Otherwise, if you use mIRC type the command above to connect to the network and join our channel. If you use any other IRC client, use the above information with the equivalent command. If you do not have an IRC client you can connect directly to the channel here. If no one is about and you do not want to idle and wait, leave us some contact information (an e-mail address or messenger ID) and we will message you.
We are always looking for new people to join us in our campaigns. If you want to DM, feel free to come along and see if there are enough interested people for your proposed campaign. Novices and experienced players welcome.
Mrivan's Reminiscence by Mekkis
Player's Perspective #10 (Legacy of the Savage Kings) - 09 April 2010
They say that in dire, life-threatening situations, your life flashes before your eyes.Looking back, to that moment, I knew that was the case. From my early days, struggling with cantrips, I remember hearing songs sung about heroes who vanished without a trace. Strange, really. I suppose some of the deserve to be remembered.
In my early days, I found Lupton. She lacked the quarms I had, and we were a nice team: I would help her deal with troublemakers, she would share with me the proceeds. We had culture, relative wealth, adventure, and pursuit of knowledge. Life was good.
But all things must change, as they say. It started with the village of Willow Ridge near a godforsaken swamp. Some disease was there, and it was infecting the surrounding areas. I remember our early investigations - how the dead orcs lead us to an encounter with old Stygoth. It's a pity he wasn't in the mood for talking, and sheer luck he was unable to use his acidic breath. Although from that episode, we escaped more or less intact, it was a prelude for what was to come.
Lupton left shortly afterwards, and my poor riding dog died suddenly to an unpredictably lucky hit from a wounded goblin. Still, we uncovered more material surrounding the blight.
After a few more of us fell to the Shadows they really should have known better about (when your weapons are ineffective, often the best course of action should be to run), we encountered more people. At the time, I wondered what was attracting them.
Earlier today, we planned on returning to Willow Ridge to see how the druid's investigation was going. Then, after examining a treasure trove, Stygoth attacked.
Alomar was first to fall to Stygoth's claws. After that, Kendall and Orric. It became clear that we all weren't going to make it.
The corridor we were in was barely big enough for the dragon to walk. For him to spread his wings and reach us here seemed impossible (a large black dragon requires at least an 18' wingspan to achieve flight, and a dragon cannot manage vertical ascension at the best of times). However, he somehow managed to get in.
So, now, sitting here in this extradimensional space, yelling at my companions to get clear, with a dragon so close I can smell the taint of this disease on him, I reminisce. Whatever happens to me from now on is out of my hands. I only hope that someone appreciates what I am doing.
Time for action.
Willing myself out of the hole, still gripping the rope, my mother's words echoing in my head, "The multiverse was not designed for overlapping dimensions". The powdered corn, as fine as talc, slides over the rope, and the parchment bursts in a flash as I recite the well-rehearsed words. As the spell is released, I will myself as far away as possible.
I am falling.
I see a flash of light.
As I am drawn towards the vortex of my own creation, one final thought crosses through my mind:
The dark shadow of death. by Avatar
DM Feature #6 (Legacy of the Savage Kings) - 04 March 2010
It was 6 versus 2, although as it turned out, the shadows (literally) had an advantage on the party.
It wasn't that one of the party had just mindlessly swam away - probably to his death, and it wasn't that one of the party was near-completely unfamiliar with the mission.
It was that the party simply didn't understand what they were up against.
To begin with, all they knew was that their attacks couldn't hurt the shadows. Solution? Retreat into the unknown, hoping for an answer. It wasn't that far-fetched - entire parties have been saved with the "Nothing working? Change Everything" fix.
They retreated further ahead, into what seemed to be a dead end. Their only clue, some kind of gate ahead against the far wall. Solution? Look for a way to open it.
The gate had two holes, presumably to open the gate. Natsumi, the fighter/monk, used trial and error, placing her hand inside one of the holes. She felt nothing inside, and her hand was crushed, dealing loads of damage (but not breaking her hand).
Thinking she'd simply chosen the wrong hole the first time, she tried the second hole. BAM on her hand - the same thing happened, dealing more damage.
Keep in mind the party is still in combat with the shadows that they cannot seem to hurt, while the experimentation with the gate is happening.
As they began to run out of options, Loria soon realised that she can in fact hurt these shadows, just. It takes a while, with some people-enlarging and time-buying in the form of cleric-bait, but they eventually manage to take down all 3 of the shadows. Yes, it seems that as one of the party members is killed by a shadow, they become a shadow themselves, at least for a while.
With the shadows destroyed, after two of the party is killed and one of them having fled the scene of the crime, the party felt the strain.
What they didn't realise is that almost the entire session could have been made much shorter, much simpler, and with much less death - if only they'd had the knowledge that shadows are Undead, and therefore susceptible to their (now-dead) cleric's Turn Undead ability. Someone actually made a wild guess at this during the session, but it was thought to be a wrong guess, and wasn't acted upon.
Think the little things don't matter? Think again. You wouldn't want to forget the important little facts, such as that only 1 extra shadow appeared, but there were 2 party members that died...
The druid and the dragon. by Avatar
DM Feature #5 (Legacy of the Savage Kings) - 08 January 2010
Those low level adventurers are so cute. They come into Willow Ridge, a forest village, looking for something to do, go waltzing almost with complete boredom into a tavern in the morning for a quick drink and some rumours, and leaving the tavern with still nothing better to do. It didn't take much for a preaching druid in the middle of the place to pick up some attention and to send them off to a swamp which he claims is being haunted by a disease called the Blight. Never mind that it's difficult to cure, that a man died in his care while he tried to treat it. So off they go with the promise of gold in their eyes, to a swamp that reeks of death. They can barely see, they can barely move properly, and after much caution, they dredge on. That is, u... [read more]
One ring to divide them all. by Avatar
Player's Perspective #9 (World's Largest Dungeon) - 20 December 2009
Today, we had probably the most significant game in our campaign. In an effort to save Frairon, the warlock who had been turned to stone, we had to devise an effective plan to get past the formians and their golem who had kept him closely guarded. Having found out last game that fighting them would be largely inconsequential, it seemed fairly simple that even diving into a standard battle would be a fair (albeit rough) solution. At least that's how my character, Reece, saw it. But when Artew, the cleric, suggested that summoning a powerful angel to just go in and get him would do the trick, I don't think anyone could have guessed that it would turn out to be the beginning of the end. The angel demanded Reece's prized item in exchange for the savi... [read more]
Arguments, Amnesia and Arson by Mekkis
Player's Perspective #8 (Off The Chopping Block) - 07 December 2009
Three days ago, I would never have seen this happen. After deciding that a good month or so away from Vithshariatix, getting into an argument with some woman, and then getting transported what appears to be a new world (with some of my memory gone), I suppose I should reflect on what's been going on. Firstly, I was promised a sizable amount of gold by some stuck-up knight to 'help defend the village from the "evil" forces'. Exactly why those forces were "evil" or why the village was worth defending was never really defined, but saying 'no' to the gold didn't seem wise. The fact that the village's defenders - and the knight - didn't seem very cooperative to the defence of said village made me think there was some ulterior motive to their request. Oh, a... [read more]
Betrayal and Intrigue by Ballig
DM Feature #4 (The Sorcerer's Tower) - 28 November 2009
A game of cat and mice. Six mice. And one damned big cat. A dead cat, but don't let that fool you. What would /you/ do with eternity? Well, the lich (he's the cat in the above metaphor, in case this wasn't obvious) my party has recently encountered seems to have a bit of a sick sense of humour. Does he have a vested interest in being such a pain in the ass to them? Probably not, but when you are the closest to immortality you can likely get, what else do you do with your spare time? The following was an out of character exchange that particularly amused me as the DM in this campaign: DM: Felthik gives the adamantine box to the lich. SOLAN: What? No he doesn't. DM: Felthik? FELTHIK: I do, actually. Betrayal! Intrigue! Scrambled eggs! That box, by... [read more]