Iron Kingdoms

Last night we returned to the Iron Kingdoms.  Our characters are in the employ of the Illustrious Brass Anchor Trading Company, where we provide muscle to protect against pirate raids and the like.  Our home port is in the city of Korvis, and we found ourselves investigating a series of mysterious break ins at some of the Illustrious Brass Anchor Trading Company's (IBATC) warehouses.  The curious thing was that nothing was stolen, and all of the crates that had been broken into had been in the warehouses for nearly a 100 years.  So clearly someone was looking for something specific in dead storage.  My Doom Reaver Voldrag did his best Columbo impression, but to little avail.

Voldrag's Character Sheet

Our first stop was to talk to one of the warehouse managers, a tattooed fellow named Relvenik.  Despite his awesome faux goatee tattoo (the faugh-tee), he didn't have much insight into the crimes.  Fortunately the city elf in the party discovered the marks of a grappling hook high up on one of the windows, so a least we knew how they criminals had gotten in.
We decided to try our luck at a bar to see if we could pick up any rumors related to the crimes, but beyond finding an odds sheet for betting on which warehouse would be hit next, we came up empty.  Fortune was with us though, and we were awakened by our old friend from the Korvis City Watch, Sargent Hill, who informed us that another warehouse had just been robbed.  Our party sprung into action and once my Doom Reaver remembered to put on some clothes, we were off to investigate.  This, time, careful searching paid off, and not only were we able to determine that it must have been a rather large group that robbed this particular warehouse, but Voldrag was able to follow some blood drops to a crate in which he discovered a partially naked dead man.  This wasn't just any dead man though, he was a member of the city guard, and his missing uniform meant that one of the guards with us was likely an enemy!  Sure enough one of the guards made a break for the door!

The Scene in the Warehouse

 Our trusty steamjack LOgear managed to harpoon the fleeing man, drag him back and knock him out with a warhammer.  We were quite fortunate that the man didn't die, and when he recovers sufficiently, we intend to question him...

To Be Continued.

Weird Adventure Wednesday

It's weird Adventure Wednesday again!  This week's adventure idea takes place in a labyrinth, with a rather curious looking foe.

On a cloudy night you are confronted by an excited soothsayer on an overgrown footpath.  The soothsayer declares to you that 3 weeks travel to the south, deep beneath the Blasted Wilderness of Tribulation, lies the Crimson Labyrinth of the Blistering Eyes.  It is thought that there is hidden the Throbbing Casket of the Eternity.  But beware, for the soothsayer informs you that it is said the Floating Deathgazer of Skulls slaughters all who dare to enter that place!

Dark Tower Tutorial Video - Vintage Board Game (1981)

As, it's been cold and snowy, I've really felt like breaking out Dark Tower and having a go at claiming the magic scepter.  I've been toying with trying to make a video of an entire game to post.  In the mean time here is my tutorial video from last year.

So I've posted a lot about Avalon Hill's Magic Realm, but now I'm going to talk a a bit about one of the games that I actually played in the early 1980s, Milton bradley's Dark Tower. I played this probably more than any other game between 1981 and 1986 and loved every minute of it. If you aren't familiar with the game, here is a video of the game in actual play. It doesn't show the full game, just the demo for learning how to play, but it gives a decent feel of the game.

I got this game for Christmas in 1981, and at the time I'd never even heard of it, but my parents must have figured that since it had all of the things that I was into (wizards, dragons, etc.), I was bound to like it.  In fact, I loved it.

The goal of the game was to circle the board, searching for the three magical keys and gathering an army so that you could lay siege to the Dark Tower and recover the magical scepter from the Tyrant King.  All the while you had to contend with getting lost in the trackless wastes, fighting marauding brigands, deadly plagues, a capricious warlock, and of course, a fire breathing dragon.

You could visit the bazaar to buy warriors and food.  You could visit ruins and tombs in search of treasure.  You could even visit the sanctuary for assistance if things went wrong for your expedition.   All the while, the tower in the center controlled what happens through the magic of 1980s computer technology.  The game truly did live up to its billing as "A FANTASY ADVENTURE BORN OF ELECTRONIC WIZARDRY".  Here are a few other pictures of the game.

The Dark Tower in all its glory

A closeup of the kingdom of Brynthia

For anyone who is interested, there is an Android version of the game available as well as an online flash version.  Enjoy!

UPDATE:  James Merrill provided a link to another flash version of Dark Tower with very fancy visuals.

Miniatures Monday

Deep in the heart of the forest, a grizzled ranger stoops to check the trail of his quarry.