Blogs - The Valley of Shrouds

Shay's Birthday, Testing, and Tomorrow

So our dear little healer, Shaylandria, is turning 10 on Monday. This has meant that the weekend has been filled with parties, sleep overs, and cake! Woohoo! ;-) Unfortunately, in preparation, I haven't really been as active as I should be out here with updates. For starters, our Druid is out of the hospital, but it ended up taking until Wednesday. He's on the mend and claims that he's not quite dead yet. We'll see.... We have had a lot of luck testing out the crash bugs this week in FG2 with… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on April 18, 2009 at 1:15pm — No Comments

Good News x2, but Another Week to Wait

Well, I am happy to say that our good druid friend seems to be on the mend and there's hope he will be out of the hospital and home for recovery as early as today. Let's hope he has some healing surges left! ;-) As far as the bugs go, while there seems to be no current fix for it (it is an elusive problem, apparently), there does seem to be a workaround. Unfortunately, the workaround involves me recreating the whole campaign again, afresh, and re-inputting all the data. Ugh. Well, if it cures t… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on April 11, 2009 at 7:51am — 1 Comment

Working out some Bugs.. waiting on some people to get Healthy.

Well, have diligently been attempting to hunt down the token bug that's been crashing FG2. I think we have a grasp on it, but it's going to be impossible to know for sure without more extensive testing. A few of us that play at night are hoping to do just that in the days to come. If all goes well, we should be back on schedule. It should also be noted that our dear druid has landed himself in the hospital with a nasty infection. Here's hoping he'll be out soon and able to change shape f… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on April 8, 2009 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Good Session on Saturday...

Despite being limited to only 90 minutes because of various scheduling conflicts, we managed to have a good session of it. Kobold Ambushers on platforms certainly made things interesting in the first encounter, but everyone managed to make it through (although the Solborn continues to prove to be a punching bag, at least early on in that fight). Then, despite the high number of foes as the group approached a camp of kobolds, the party easily handled the next encounter.

With some time t… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on March 16, 2009 at 8:29pm — No Comments

This Weekend...

With Valleja out of town for business, going to put off playing this weekend... at least playing the main campaign. I'll see if there's any interest in playing a second VoS campaign or a for fun campaign in the interirm.

Also, here's hoping that one of my better on line friends and his girl decide to join us for some of the roleplaying fun! They would both be great additions to the mix and give us more depth in the number of players we'd have available from week to week. :) Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on March 6, 2009 at 5:17am — No Comments

First VoS Campaign Session

Despite having to create one character from scratch (Piggy's Druid) and having to iron out some problems with VoIP, the VoS kick-off went quite well today. A group of 5 young valleyfolk were pressed into action when a group of kobolds aggressively raided into the normally peaceful areas of the valley. Along with the aid of some militia, the young heroes managed to destroy the intruders, but not before learning of a key figure being taken prisoner by the kobolds and the strange tale of the kobold… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on February 28, 2009 at 9:58pm — No Comments

VoS Prologue to Kick off Campaign

So I have written up the prologue as an introduction to the campaign which should be starting soon. It can be read here. It's the first glimpse of things too come. Expect more of the same in the weeks and months to come. Some will reflect what's going on beyond the campaigns, some will be lead-ins or reflections of what's going on within the campaign.

It's my hope that as soon as this coming Saturday, February 28th… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on February 22, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Ready to Roll

Okay, so I have everything set up for a VoS campaign. Weeks worth of material for at least one campaign that will have a chance to progress though tons of material in hopes of learning the truth behind the forces of evil plaguing the world. Here's hoping the Valleyfolk will eventually find a way than do more than minimally survive in one small corner of the world.

All that's left is finding a friendly time for those interested in playing. I'll send out some emails and post trying to g… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on February 16, 2009 at 5:02pm — No Comments

'Ere.. He says he's not dead!

In hopes of not being dragged to the cart at the next call of “Bring out your dead!”, I am attempting an effort to escape a thump on the head and the nine pence it’ll cost to dispose of me (I feel happy! I feel happy!).

So, yes, I am indeed getting better and rejuvenated for a good run at telling the VoS story through and with others. Yeah, I know. You don’t have to tell me… you’ve heard that before, but after a bit of a break and some long consideration, I’ve decided that it’s a tale… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on February 14, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

From the Void...

Hey guys.. sorry for being a bit delayed in communications.. just trying to reevaluate what I can get out of VoS here. I think I am going to have to shift things about a bit and alter the focus and possibilities to better fit some of the complications I have run into when dealing with a variety of personalities, time zones, and expectations. Originally, the thought was rather simple (and to steal a movie cliché): “Build it, and they will come.” Truth be told, there’s a whole lot more to deal wit… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on November 10, 2008 at 11:04pm — 4 Comments

Living on the Edge, The Plot Thickens, and the Evolution of VoS

So, after a bit of a long break (at least for us), we finally got to playing last night again with the late night campaign (for fun characters). For the forth consecutive session, there was moments where it seemed almost inevitable that one or possibly even all of the characters would finish the night pushing up daisies. A couple more average or worse rolls would certainly have been the end of a few PCs, perhaps even all of them. It’s safe to say that living on the edge of destruction brings a c… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on October 15, 2008 at 2:05pm — No Comments

Back from Vacation, VoS is Ready on My End

Not much really to say here today other than we are back from a wonderful vacation. Plenty of sun, water, fun, relaxation.

As for Vrathia and the Valley of Shrouds, I have enough material already to kick off campaigns... although I am a long way off from having all the material I want to have ready. However, I think we are probably still pretty far away from having ready players. Schedules seem to have been tossed into spin cycle and people are free rarely or at odd times of late. In… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on October 9, 2008 at 1:26pm — 5 Comments

VoS Characters, Some FG2 Updating, and Vacation

Just a quick note that we've been banging away at creating characters for the Valley of Shrouds and I believe that most of the people interested in playing early on, at least, have their characters ready. Should be an interesting mix with some stong RP possibilities.

I have also started to revamp my 4E Monster Manual so that tokens of some quality are assigned to each. This will allow quick, easy additions or impomptu encounters to occur without my having to spend extra time fumbling a… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on October 4, 2008 at 10:31pm — No Comments

Busy week in the Valley of Shrouds, if not elsewhere.

So, a bunch of people have started to make their Vrathia characters in anticipation of the official VoS campaigns to start. For some, it’s the continuation of a story that’s been in the making for 7 years, for others it’s an introduction to a world that often cruel and uncaring, but never boring. Unlike our “for fun” campaigns that are all about just getting together and having a good time while learning the interface and the rules, the VoS campaigns will have depth of character and detail. For… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on October 2, 2008 at 4:05am — No Comments

The Valley of Shrouds Campaign(s)

Well, as FG2 is really going well and most of us have a good grasp of it’s features and use, the time has come to begin the process of creating campaigns for the Valley of Shrouds. I’ll be creating a separate folder for the VoS world and campaign that will be where the new characters and rules will exist. If you log on and see old characters from the “for fun” campaigns in there, the VoS Campaign isn’t loaded so don’t bother making a VoS Character for it – it’ll be a wasted effort.

… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 28, 2008 at 7:30am — No Comments

A New Vic... err.. Friend, More Campaign Fun

So last night, we introduced an old friend (Viking from WoW) to the art of dying. He jumped on last night with the late night crowd and was greeted by a Gelatinous Cube. The big blob has a charming way for welcoming people into his home with a warm embrace. After all, acid does burn and being enveloped has to be about as embracing as it gets! Thorgrim, with a little help from friends, managed to extract himself and survive the night, despite what appeared to be a couple of real close calls. I am… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 24, 2008 at 6:30am — 2 Comments

FUM Hack, Campaign #1, and Warhammer Online

First, I’d like to vent about hackers and doing things just out of senseless cruelty. The good folks at Four Ugly Monsters have given us good RP material and is also the host for the development group that gave us the 4E rules for FG2. Without their efforts, we’d not be playing so regularly on-line. Sadly, some lame hax0rz (or whatever they call themselves) exploited some weakness at their site and took it completely down, erasing everything they had going. Why people delight in bringing misery… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 22, 2008 at 7:58am — No Comments

FG2 Update/Caution.. Emptying the Clip.. and more Good Gaming

Word of caution. Just let me load the Ruleset for FG2 into the host machine. As players, you'll have to DL it anyway, so no need to go through the process yourself. There was a glitch in the latest rules, anyway, where if you loaded the ruleset and joined my server, things were a little messed up. I expect that with the newest version (1.1.1), that's probably fixed..… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 18, 2008 at 2:47pm — 2 Comments

DMing & Player Expectation

First, I want to congratulate our first 3rd level character, Kithanthanalas. Hordes of undead did not thwart thee. There are a few others just on the cusp of reaching that mark as well. Well done!

However, what I want to talk about today is a little more significant and serious that the usual tales of death avoided and evils overcome. Yesterday, over Skype, Marcus and I had a rather in-depth conversation on DMing style and campaign direction. In the end, the most significant conclusion… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 16, 2008 at 8:55am — No Comments

Some Rules Clarification and Sunday Fun

After playing some more this weekend, a few issues surrounding the rules became apparent and I finally did some digging to see if I am handling everything correctly. Turns out, even I am not 100% accurate. Perhaps there's the rare occasion where "No, no, you don't understand, Bret" actually has some validity?!?? No. That can't be right. Let's just say that my correct application of the game is going to change. :P Just because I change my mind doesn't mean I wasn't right before. And… Continue

Added by ShadeRaven on September 15, 2008 at 6:00am — No Comments

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