RPG Bloggers

Some of them could actually be people. from The Spirits of Eden » RPG

We’ll open with a simple question. In your campaign, is a goblin a person or a monster? What about other intelligent, upright-walking human-like things? Running the Spirits of Eden campaign setting as I usually do, I often find myself having a lot of creatures which I think of as people being treated as monsters. These are [...]

Two Scoops from Critical Hits » RPG

In the immortal words of Muse, from the book of Cydonia: "Don't waste your time or time will waste you."

Fighting A monster versus fighting THE monster II: Removing the need for the monster manual from Unofficial Games

This post I'm going to deal with a GM pet peeve of mine, and how I solved it. Monster Stats and prep time. When I am GMing a game, I don't like to need to either pick a monster from a catalog, nor need to devise some arcane formulae to work out experience point costs accurately. I like unique monsters, as pointed out here . If Theseus had just slain A minotaur, and a couple dozen more were still marauding the outlying towns, it would have been no big deal.

I toyed with building a monster generation system , the idea was to use a similar mechanical solution to weapon generation. That system worked brilliantly for weapons (and now armour) to remove the 14 pages of pole-arms and generate quick fun with all the same tactical depth.

It worked, but not really. Oh sure I could generate weapon tags, but it still didn't work as I wanted, it still had too much consideration and fiddly math for no reason other than to do fiddly math.

So I had an epiphany, I'd re-purpose another successful mechanic, the exploration XP mechanic.

And it works smashingly.

Basically monsters are separated into named monsters (THE Minotaur) and nameless monsters (A minotaur). If you defeat a nameless monster, such as a random troll you found under a bridge, calculate its experience point value by adding up a handful of numbers and running it by a multiplier. All in all about 30 seconds of AFTER THE FACT math. This means you can 'wing' monsters fairly easily.

Named monsters are worth a little more. In terms of "Named", this does not have to be a proper name; a title such as ‘The serpent of widows peak’ works just fine. Hell even no title if the creature is unique. Alien featured THE monster, Aliens featured a pile of "a monster"s. This is the difference between fighting a minotaur that just happens to be roaming about and fighting THE Minotaur, love child of Crete’s queen and entombed in the labyrinth. A named monster is worth the experience points of a nameless monster or the following experience (whichever is more).

The monster is:
500xp Local legend
1000xp Regional threat
5000xp National threat
10000xp Cultural icon
50000xp Fabled monster
10000xp Mythological being

A local legend would include a giant one eyed grizzly bear rumoured to live in the local hills. A regional threat might include a hill giant that is terrorizing the outlying farms. A national threat would be a small dragon that is cutting a swathe of destruction throughout the kingdom. A cultural icon would be a creature such as the medusa. A fabled monster might include an ancient dragon said to be sleeping in the caves deep below the foundations of the royal castle. A Mythological being would be a creature such as Typhon.

Why is this good? A GM can generate a monster as he sees fit and worry about experience points as a secondary matter. In addition to drastically reducing prep time, this makes monster hunting a player-driven event and perfect for sandbox play. Some people climb mountains because they are there, others slay dragons to prove they can.

Why is this bad? If you like balance, this turfs it right out the window.

The Way from Greyhawk Grognard

"Novices to the Way, I see," the little gnome squeaked. "Well, your worships have certainly come to the right place!" he added with enthusiasm. "Unlike some of our competitors, the Pavilion serves the main parallels -- and a few of the trunk lines, of ...

Inq. of the Week: Gotta Mutate ‘Em All from Critical Hits » RPG

While reports leaked out ahead of time, it was the D&D Experience convention where a full announcement was made about a new edition of the Gamma World RPG, based on the 4e D&D rules. During the announcement came one major surprise: they would make random "booster packs" available to supplement the mutations that happen in the radiation soaked Gamma World and the ancient technology that waits to be discovered.

Your Go-To Non-RPG Reference Book For DM’s For Design/Inspiration/Reference? from Joethelawyer's Wondrous Imaginings

What book or set of non-rpg books do you find you use between sessions for adventure or design ideas and reference for the next session more than any other?Specifically, I mean book. As in "made of paper." Not looking for answers like Google or Wikiped...

Chapter 15, Part 3 "Slaves and Treasure" from PLANET ALGOL

Part I Here, Part II Here.

The next morning the party takes leave of the dome ruins and Cactoids, traveling first north to Adomaz on the edge of the Red Sands and then up a canyon through the escarpment of the Iridium Plateau up to Fortress Scarlet.

Buzz presents the red metal ring in the form of a nude female shape given to him by the Scarlet Lady and explains that he has intelligence for the Scarlet Lady. The party is told to wait in an unoccupied barrack, aside from Mookla who is sequestered in a giant slug stable. The stable is dark and moist and the mutant of the Slime Lands is enthused as he admires the giant slug.

The rest of the party finds themselves in servicable quarters but find that their door is locked or barred. After much knocking a guard opens a small grate and glares at them. Buzz demands an explanation and is told that the Scarlet Lady is unavailable but that a slave is coming to take the Earth Man's report.

Shortly the door opens revealing a pale, nude Nire Witch clad only in a slave collar. She explains that she will be taking Buzz for a debriefing and leads him away. While the door is open the party sizes up their guards. Two of the perfumed fancy guards of Fortress Scarlet clad in rich silks and ornamental armor are glaring at the party...and one of them is the crested green Vlesh Man that the Earth youth Radar O'Reiley had beat up in a fistfight during the party's previous stay at Fortress Scarlet.

Radar blushes furiously and attempts to nonchalantly hide his face and appear inconspicuous. The door is shut and barred while Buzz is lead away. Once he and the slave are around a corner and away from the guards in a deserted red stone corridor the Nire Witch slave burst into tears and throws her slender ivory arms around his neck.

"Oh please help me! Take me away from this horrible place! I have fallen in love with you! They are so cruel here I need to escape!" she sobs into his chest. Buzz consoles her and, finding her compliant, takes full advantage of the unexpected situation. Afterwards she regains her composure, instructs Buzz that they must behave as if nothing has occured, and takes him to an office with a few bureaucrat slaves and a bored looking fancily garbed guard who begins glaring at Buzz.

The two sit at a desk and the slave readies a pen and wax tablet before questioning Buzz about his intelligence for the Scarlet Lady. Buzz questions the slave, why is he not giving his report directly to the Scarlet Lady as she gave him her token? The slave replies that the Scarlet Lady is currently away from Foretress Scarley on affairs of state. Buzz notices the glaring Vlesh Man guard from their room enter the room and talk to the already present guard, before the two of them leave, both glaring at Buzz. The slave seems unimpressed with the completed report, and she takes him back to his quarters.

On the way, while they are alone, the slave embraces Buzz briefly before asking him what his plan is for her escape. Buzz replies that he considers the Scarlet Lady to be his friends and that he would certainly not betray her by helping one of her slaves escape. The slave seems dejected and Buzz is reunited with his companions in the barrack.

The party is provided with drink and fare and have a restful night on their bunks. Meanwhile Mookla the Reeking Mutant is enjoying the companionship of the giant slug in the stable. The next morning all are roused by the guards and led to the fortress' western exit. On the way Buzz takes an officer aside and explains how the Nire Witch slave was trying to get him tohelp her escape. The guard raises his manicured eyebrows in surprise before thanking Buzz and informing him that the disloyal slave will be impaled.

One out of the fortress and on their Ornith steeds in the dunes of the Rust Desert the adventurers discuss where to next proceed and a decision is made to try and find the abandoned monastery with the treasure in the basement.

The party travels northward into the southern face of the Bornite Mountain range and does indeed find a ruined monastery where they make camp. The next morning they find a narrow staircase descending into a massive underground vault, one side buried in tons of rubble, filled with pallets of corroded, collapsed, decayed matter.

The party wanders the huge underground chamber, prodding at the piles of ancient garbage, for around an hour before one spots an intact metal barrel which is quickly pulled out of the palled of worthless decay.

The barrel seems somewhat heavy and makes jingling sounds when shaken. It is sealed with a gummy black substance. Jedediah pulls out his bowie knife but Rodan shots for him to stops, visions of toxic substances in his mind, but Jedediah pays no heed and begins hacking away at the gummy matter before pulling off the lid revealing a small fortune in gold and silver coins as well as both a shield and a suit of armor composed of an unknown light, tough, opalescent, chitinous material, which both detect as magic when one of the Sorcerers utters the appropriate rune.

The party harvests their loot and makes their way south to the road to Jakay. When they are but a few miles away from Jakay they see a band of fourteen grinning Gnoles waiting alongside the road ahead. Dickie Dee immediately takes one of the robotic calcium bombs out of his pouch, instructs it in computer, and the tiny silver sphere disappears...

Chapter 15, Part 1 "Ayzold Birds of The Ahoggya Intoxicant Merchant" from PLANET ALGOL

The Adventurers:
Buzz Brazelhach - Womanizing Australian Fightin' Bloke
Corporal Radar O'Reiley - Naive Earth Boy Rocket Soldier
Dickie Dee - Bone Man Sorcerer Junkie
Jedediah - 1850s Hayseed Southerner Fightin' Man
Jek-Mor - Creepy Hyperborean Sorcerer
Mookla - Reeking, Deformed (yet very intelligent!) Mutant of the Slime Lands
Rodan the Scrounger - Zermish Green Man Fighting Scavenger

Part II Here, Part III Here.

The party continues down the canyon to the Red Sands. The settlement of Adomaz is visible and roughly 5 miles away. Off to one side of the canyon's mouth stands a huge, ancient cistern. Bright orange, cracked with pools of water at it's base. Rodan presses the party to refill their canteens and waterskins but Buzz points out that Adomaz is only a short ride away and will have assuredly potable water available.

Soon enough they ride up to the western gate of Adomaz, a town of baroque, flowing tall green mansions surrounded by a circular glassy wall with an irregular jagged top...the remains of a destroyed dome? The Lhovhami Red Man guards are wearing black armor, carry firelances and are talkative and helpful. When an inquiry is made regarding the orange cistern the party passed they are informed that those who drink it's water usually sicken and die. They get directions to reputable lodging, the Frenzied Stegosaur Caravan House and are soon sitting at a table ordering gin and supper, aside from Mookla the reeking mutant who finds a secluded alleyway.

Dickie Dee and Jek more inquire about intoxicants and are rebuffed as "this is a respectable establishment." Next Buzz inquires about companionship and is informed about The House of Masculine Relaxation, but is also warned that it is a fancy establishment where certain standards regarding dress and grooming are enforced.

Buzz immediately calls for a bath and a barber, and soon he and Rhodan and sitting in steaming basins while a barber slave shaves, perfumes and grooms them. The two end up with pomaded pompadours and Buzz inquires about getting a new sheath and handle for his foul-smelling willowy whip sword of the reeking Shunned Ones. The barber slaves asks for ten gold credits and takes the weapon, claiming that he will return on the morrow. The two go to the brothel where Optmar the Optimal, a man clad in a silver bodysuit and mask, scrutinizes and interrogates the two before discussing their arrangements. A sum of several hundred gold credits is arrived at before Jedediah bursts into the room. He is broke but the two take pity on Jedediah and frugal arrangements are made for him.

Meanwhile Dickie Dee and Jek-Mor are wandering the streets of Adomaz, seeking an intoxicant lounge. They notice a seedy-looking dive, The Jagged Gut Slicer, that seems to cater to disreputable mercenaries. The two enter and sit down.

The tavern is lit by dim, indirect garish illumination and several skinny, naked slave dancing women stroll show the signs of intoxicant abuse. The bouncer eyes the two sorcerers and stares hard at Dickie Dee's javelin and Jek-Mor's sword before loudly announcing "Well, it looks like we have a real pair of Fighting-Men here tonight!" and guffawing. The whole bar joins in, mockingly laughing at the two. Their gin tastes foul and metallic. Somehow they get directions to The Den of Utmost Relaxation, a subterranean intoxicant vendor in the alleyway.

Dickei Dee and Jek-Mor enter the alley, descend a filthy stair and enter the Den. The room is small and illuminated by a dim blue light. The proprietor is a strange four-armed, legged and faced, squat bristly, carapaced being. It is named Gnasher and Dickie Dee makes arrangements to purchase six Ayzolg Birds, small four-winged, six-legged live fetal birds coated with glowing ulfire mold that are steeped in boiling water to make a stimulant tea.

The two return to the inn where they procure a brazier, kettle and cups. The somewhat innocent youth Radar O'Reiley winces in horror when Dickie immerses two of the glowing Ayzold chicks in boiling water and declines the sickly sweet smelling stimulant tea that the sorcerers offer him.

The next day they visit the Baron's physician who, for a hefty sum, treats Buzz and Radar's acid burns (inflicted by the Black Pudding in the canyon) and sells Radar a small jar of the pink ooze he used to treat their injuries.

The party leaves Adomaz, heading south down the road to Kharhem. After a couple of hours they notice the ruins of a lilac dome off to one side of the road. Investigating for a couple of hours they find nothing but a shard of lilac glassteel inscribed with unintelligible glyphs before they continue their wanderings. The party decides to return with excavating tools in the near future.

Chapter 15, Part 2 "The Bee and Tales of the Dome" from PLANET ALGOL

Part I Here, Part III Here.

The party continues on their way from the ruined lilac glassteel dome to the port city of Kharhem. Mookla is denied entry to the city proper and us directed to the Beggars Gate on the south side of the city walls. The slums are the only area that mutants and nonhumans are ordinarily allowed. The rest take lodging at the Seven Precious Metals Inn located on the bazaar plaza and visit a Kherulhi Sorcerer, Robag Xul, who translates the lilac glassteel fragment from the ruined dome ("Bow Before The Witch-Kings of Ylum Your Now And Eternal Masters!") and sells a copy of a sinister incantation (The Talons of Yrg) to Dickie Dee for sveral thousand gold credits.

Meanwhile Mookla finds a rude camp of mutants, mostly of the wasteland variety, located outside the Beggars Gate. A grizzled Wasteland Mutant warrior befriends Mookla and offers him a place in his warband if any work comes up.

The rest of the part return to their Inn where they start chatting with their host, Cultan. Cultan tells them several tales of the lands about Kharhem such as the narcotic honey produced by the bees of the jungles west of Kharhem; the coven of mummified sorcerers north in the desert; Mount Yrmspir full of positronic crystals and massive blotched worms; the Twin Sky Masters and their slaver allies; the seventy-seven fossilized crystal brains of an extinct race of insect-sorcerers; the treasure forgotten in the basement of a ruined monastery; the slime encrusted winged abominations The Writhing Coils that nest upon the southeast rim of the Iridium Plateau and many other tales.

The present party members begin fiercely debating their next move over flagons of gin. Several want to return to the ruined lilac dome and excavate the sand, so a short trip is made into the bazaar to purchase pickaxes, shovels and the like. The party decides to rest in the inn for the night and set out in search of adventure upon the morn.

The next day the party rouses Mookla from the mutant camp and they all set forth on Ornith-back on a westwards course circling around the northern terminus of the Southern Gash. Soon they come to the thick greenery of the jungles adjacent to the slime lands. They can smell thick sweet perfume and see thick masses of large waxy light-colored blossoms growing in the dense vegetation. Investigating further they see that the jungle foliage is thick with bees as well and they begin searching for beehives.

After about an hour little progress has been made. It is hard to see well with the dense jungle canopy obscuring the sunlight and the thick vegetation hinders exploration and vision. Dickie Dee notices something odd about a bee flying by his head and immediately zaps it with a Magic Missile.

The Bone Man Sorcerers searches the rotting vegetable matter and fallen leaves that carpet the jungle floor and after several minutes finds what appears to be the fragment of a minuscule amber-colored human leg?

The Australian brawler Buzz Brazelhach snatches one of the omnipresent bees out of his hand. The party crowds around him and he holds his hand before his eyes and slowly, cautiously opens his fingers.

A tiny, bee-sized and colored human-like female form lies on his palm, it's bee-like wings crushed and mangled by Buzz's grab. It looks up at Buzz with a tiny plaintive expression and waves its antennae sadly. They try to communicate with the minuscule bee-girl but are unable to accomplish anything.

With a pale face and shocked expression Buzz gingerly places the tiny bee-girl upon a large jungle leaf. The little figure makes several pathetic attempts to fly with its mangled wings before dejectedly lying down while the adventurers quietly take their leave of the jungle, avoiding conversation or eye contact with each other.

The party finishes the short trek to the ruins of the lilac glassteel dome protruding from the arid grasslands at the southwestern fringe of the Red Sands. They spend several hours labouring with pickaxes and shovels trying to excavate the sand out of the dome ruins before realizing that with their current tools and resources this attempt would prove fruitless; the sand just runs back into their excavations as quickly as they haul it out. The group discusses the usage of tarpaulins, slaves and the like and resolve to return when better equipped.

One of the adventurers spots a small group of spiny green figures approaching from the north, a small group of nomadic Cactoids. The two parties hail each other and soon both groups are camping within the dome while sharing food, drink and tales.

The party finds out that the Cactoid nomads make a point of camping at the dome ruins during their counterclockwise circumnavigation of the eastern desert lands. Some Cactoids folktales say that the Cactoid people emerged upon Algol from another world at this dome in the distant past; other legends say that a race of powerful sorcerers took many Cactoids away from this world at the dome in eons long ago.

Holy Crap! I Won! from The Underdark Gazette

Back on January 31, I reported on the contest, which Tony Dowler was holding at his blog, Year of the Dungeon. Tony is selling some of his original Dungeon Art and invited everyone to enter a drawing, to win one of his pieces, "Kobold Perfidy.&quo...

Ask The GMs: Systematic Systems Choice from Campaign Mastery

How do you choose the right game system? The Ask the GMs questions here at CM never seem to stop, which is great, because they never fail to inspire new discussion topics. This one’s been sitting on the backburner for a while because we had so many already cued up, so we’re pleased to finally have [...]

Apocalypse Gaming from The Looney DM

If the world ended tomorrow, could you still game? This is a silly meta question that has little to do with the poster today. Specifically this poster is a picture of an abandoned building in Detroit. It's amazing what time can do to a manufactured ...

Once More (Grappling)…With Feeling from The Wheel of Samsara

Why am I still going on about this? Well, as the philosophical Scorpion Man, Sot Sojat, said, if weapons break one roll out of thirty-six, you gotta expect this to come up a lot. At the same time, David responded to my last attempt that if grappling is too attractive an option, you end up with the soldiers all tossing aside their swords to wrastle. So this topic actually needs some careful consideration.

What follows are the proposed grappling rules for Under the Dying Sun, Mark II:

The grapple attempt is made as a Fist attack vs. AC1. The Grappler must drop items held, such as weapons and shield.
If the attack misses, then the target gets free, return attack. If the attack hits, then target gets STR Throw to escape.
If STR Throw fails, target subject to Small Weapon damage (2D, take the lowest) and can take no further action until he escapes.
Grappler can do one of the below on subsequent rounds:

Squeeze for Small Weapon Damage
Trip and throw down
Exceptional STR (10+) to lift whole body and throw (within reasonable limits of relative size etc.)

Explanations: I don't want to go with the opposed DEX rolls idea. Nothing else uses opposed rolls, plus this option favours Thieves in the long run if you construe their class-based modifier to DEX as applying. I want this to be a straight-out combat maneuver, albeit one with unique aspects.

Could the target get a DEX Save instead of STR? Yeah, sure; either could apply. But I don't like like rules of the "take the higher of two stats" variety so I'm picking one and I'm going with the STR.

Unless I change my mind.

Black Festival Received From Printer from Lord of the Green Dragons

Black Festival was received from the printer today and I will be traveling to Noble Knight Games and autographing and numbering these some time this week. This may occur Tuesday or Wednesday. I say "May" because our area of Wisconsin is under a winter storm advisory which would make extended travel (like this 120 mile round trip) dicey. In any case, the likelihood that these will be available some time during the week end or slightly afterwards is very high. I will provide specifics as my fight with Wisconsin weather unfolds. These Chapbooks look really cool, btw. :)

I Can’t Think Straight from Destination Unknown

Speaking of flowcharts, Sam Potts' effort FTW In the heat of the moment, I often freeze up. Mechanics flee my brain and I find myself stammering to recall the rules for grappling, activating special abilities and their effects. Hell, sometimes I ...

Federation-Apocalypse Session 100 – Negotiating the Siege from Emergence Campaign Weblog

In Gethrid, the party had arrived near dawn. While Marty had spent some hours at the local Citadel arranging for the sale of their Corrinum, and Kevin had spent a similar period of time on buying and enthralling twenty-one slaves (fortunately, it had been fairly easy to get word of who had kids they [...]

Starting in the Middle of Combat from Mike's D&D Blog

One of the most popular topics in Role Playing philosophy is the initial encounter of any campaign. The “initial encounter” the event which kicks-off the adventure. Sometimes the heroes are all separate entities in a tavern and stranger comes in attracting their attention. Other times, they’ve all answered an add at the adventurer’s guild. Maybe [...]

interesting EPT mechanics from Jeffs Gameblog

Here are the mechanical gimcracks from Empire of the Petal Throne that I found intriguing.marching order rules - I mentioned these in my session write-up. A snap to use and easily adaptable to D&D.no Read Magic - One of a priests main skills is li...

Spellstorm 2010 Update from Dungeon's Master

Attention Toronto gamers, Spellstorm is less than two weeks away. The event list is up and registration is underway. For those interested in Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) adventures, there are plenty of options for new and experienced players. If you’re new to LFR play or you’re interested in starting a new PC at level 1, [...]

On Hitting Your Target from Motor City Gamewerks

Sorry today's post is late, kids. Today I had a long lunch at my local rifle range with an antique Russian Mosin-Nagant, the latest addition to my budding WWII milsurp rifle collection. So, while I was sending my fifty year old Bulgarian surplus ammo downrange and giggling like an idiot at the fireballs the Mosin produced, it got me thinking about guns and writing about them. Now, everyone

DriveThruRPG reviews for January 31–February 6 from Icosahedrophilia

During the week of January 31–February 6, 2010, I reviewed the following products for DriveThruRPG: Power Pics Villains 7 – Malign Shapeshifter by Mesozoic Press. If you use printable miniatures for Mutants & Masterminds or another superhero RPG, and you need to represent a villain similar to Clayface or Sandman, this guy will do the job [...]

Review: Softrope from Meta Gamemastery

Version Reviewed: Beta V0.2 Release 52 Website: http://softrope.net/ Price: Free Softrope is yet another sound effects program geared towards use in tabletop roleplaying games. It was first released over seven months ago, but somehow I had not run across it until very recently. When I went to the website, I was impressed by the clean, simple [...]

Dreaming of RPGs from Theo Dudek, Ultimate Game Master

The other night I had a dream that I was playing a tabletop RPG. I was at home and it was nighttime and all my friends were there — Shesh, Mike, Jen, Vartan, Hawwa — and they all wanted to play a game with me. I got out some old 3.0 adventure, a dungeon crawl [...]

Advanced Dungeons for Dimwits, 2nd Edition from hack/ » Games

Character Generation- Pretend to be an Elf. Character Advancement- replace [monster] below with the following depending on your level: 1-3: Orc 4-9: Troll 10+: Demon Adventure- Roll a die. 0,1: You fall in a pit and die. 2: You get killed by a [monster]. 3: Waste time quoting Monty Python. Roll again. 4: Injured. Roll again -1. 5: You survive but don't level up. [...]

Three Versions of the “Spore Room” from Lord of the Green Dragons

As some may know, I get inspired now and then to "play" with Photoshop. In designing a particularly weird encounter for the Castle El Raja Key product release, I was inspired to render these images. I am not giving away the encounter details, but let's say it is a rather unusual encounter.

Great Links: Ben Monroe’s HQ from Age of Ravens

Back to regular blogging tomorrow-- however I followed a link from Robin Laws' site to a really, really interesting session report here. I think that's a brilliant approach to building a one-shot game and really plays into the strengths of HeroQuest as...

Villains for Kids: The Devil Bunny from KORE rpg » rpg

Lurking the highways and byways of the rural regions of the land, The Devil Bunny is a strange manifestation of sheer suicidal energy. Bent with a focus to race directly at the headlights of vehicles as they travel along the deserted thoroughfares late at night. Many a late-night driving tragedy can be attributed to these odd creatures and their [...]

Superheroes, not Superbowl from Tales of the Rambling Bumblers

Lat night we ran another session of Kapow!, my superheroes rpg that we’re playtesting, and I take it as a good sign that despite the fact that before we started a couple of our players expressed interest in watching the Superbowl half-time show, once we got going they forgot all about it. We had our [...]

The Week In Geek (extra portion)… from HeroPress

An extra round-up of geeky news you might have otherwise missed...(1) Gamers Raise $178,900 For Haiti: Through sales of the 'special bundle deal', online pdf outlets DriveThruRPG and RPGNow raised an incredible sum to donate to support the work of Doct...

A Market Solution from My Girlfriend is a DM

Our recurring Eberron campaign, the one mentioned in previous posts by this blog’s titular DM, has generally placed an emphasis on story elements such as prophecy and birth, and high staked action-packed combat. With the characters so actively involved in large scale plot, the unfortunate result is that there has been an oversight in traditional [...]

Monday Pointers from Places to Go, People to Be

D4: The Return of OD&DITIES

One of the great fanzines of the past decade plus is back. While all the issues of OD&DITIES have been available at Dragonsfoot the last one was April 2004. I have a special affection for it as it is the first place I read Erin Smale's Building the Perfect Class.

D6: Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion is out

One of my first posts wasIntermediate Dungeons and Dragons which discussed how I played AD&D back in the day, which was mostly B/X with the character and monster stats replaced with those from the hardbacks. Well, for those playing Labyrinth Lord who want to do the same thing you no longer need the hardbacks. The book is available as a free no art download, a pay PDF, and a hardback.

Just two this week as work plus three grad school classes (one with a final paper due this coming Sunday) has kept me busy. That said, I actually have content in draft form for this week so there will at least be Inspirational Art and Buried Treasures this week.

[Solo GPC] 491: Siege Terrible from The RPG Corner

Moving preparations continue apace, but Des and I took a little time out yesterday to get back into some Pendragon. The year 491 would find the now-Notable Sir Herringdale moving in ever higher circles of power, just in time to see the beginning of the...

Warstories: The imploding campaign from www. Newbie DM .com

I have run the same campaign since the release of 4e. We’ve been able to last together as a unit for this amount of time for a number of reasons, primarily because we all love gaming and as adults nearing the age of 40, playing with kids at the FLGS is not an option. Also, [...]

The Nerfing of the Starship Enterprise: Part V from Whitehall ParaIndustries

1979 also saw the release of the first Star Trek movie. The franchise had came alive, although it was in this case more as a zombie than a Lazarus. The movie was boring, the costumes dull, and the acting even duller. It wouldn't be until the Wrath of K...

Arcanotrops the Awakened from Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

Arcanotrops is my entry for the Obsidian Portal Giraffelich Stats & Art Contest.

Arcanotrops

This creature may once have been a giraffe, but now its grey fur, peeling flesh, and the arcane fire burning in its eyes say it is something entirely different. Strangely, the thing is made up in gaudy circus makeup, painted like a clown and dressed in sullied, once-vibrant cloth.

Awakened Giraffe Lich CR 15

XP 51,200
NE Huge undead (augmented animal) fighter 1/diviner 5/eldritch knight 7
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +40

Defense

AC 30, touch 17, flat-footed 24 (–2 size, +5 Dex, +7 armor, +6 natural, +3 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 163 (6d8+18 plus 1d10+3 plus 5d6+15 plus 7d10+21 plus 19)
Fort +18, Ref +14, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning and magic; Immune cold, electricity, undead traits

Offense

Speed 40 ft.
Melee touch +19 (1d8+9 negative energy plus paralyzing touch)
Special Attacks paralyzing touch (DC 22)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Tactics Arcanotrops is loath to enter combat without a few defensive spells cast, at the very least shield, but also likely displacement and fire shield; once in combat, he usually casts a few spells to hamper enemy movement, such as black tentacles or acid fog, then wades into combat using Greater Vital Strike, Power Attack, and Arcane Strike to deal a total of 4d8+88 negative energy damage with his touch attack.
Spells Prepared (CL 11th)
6th—acid fog, flesh to stone (DC 24), true seeing
5th—baleful polymorph (DC 23), cloudkill (DC 23), cone of cold (DC 23), prying eyes
4th—black tentacles, detect scrying (already cast), dimension door, fear (DC 22), fire shield, greater invisibility
3rd—arcane sight, displacement, fireball (DC 21) (2), fly, slow (DC 21), vampiric touch
2nd—detect thoughts, mirror image, resist energy*, scorching ray (2), see invisibility
1st—detect secret doors, identify, magic missile (2), shield*, true strike
0—detect magic, ghost sound (DC 18), mage hand, read magic
Opposition Schools abjuration, enchantment (marked with *)

Statistics

Str 20, Dex 20, Con —, Int 26, Wis 18, Cha 16
Base Atk +16; CMB +23; CMD 38
Feats Arcane Armor Mastery, Arcane Armor Training, Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Perception), Spell Penetration, Toughness, Vital Strike
Skills Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (nature) +20, Knowledge (religion) +30, Perception +40, Sense Motive +31, Spellcraft +31, Stealth +27
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ arcane bond (ring), arcane school (divination), diverse training, forewarned

Ecology

Environment any warm
Organization solitary, entourage (Arcanotrops plus 2–4 vampires), horde (Arcanotrops plus 6–36 zombies)
Treasure NPC (+3 chain barding, headband of mental prowess [Intelligence and Charisma] +2, ring of protection +3, belt of Dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +2, amulet of natural armor +1, gear)

Special Abilities

Arcane Bond (Su) Arcanotrops has chosen a bonded object (ring) for his arcane bond, selecting the iron shackle around his leg that remains from his circus days.
Arcane School Arcanotrops has chosen divination as his arcane school. Enchantment and Evocation are his opposition schools.
Fear Aura (Su) Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60-foot radius that look at Arcanotrops must succeed on a Will save (DC 22) or become frightened. Creatures with 5 HD or more must succeed at a Will save (DC 22) or be shaken for 19 rounds. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by Arcanorops's aura for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.
Diverse Training Arcanotrops adds his eldritch knight to his fighter level for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites for feats. He also adds his level to his wizard levels for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites for feats.
Diviner's Fortune (Sp) Arcanotrops can touch any creature as a standard action to give it a +2 insight bonus on all of its attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round. He can use this ability 11/day.
Forewarned (Su) Arcanotrops can always act in the surprise round even if he fails to make a Perception roll to notice a foe, but he is still considered flat-footed until he takes an action. In addition, he receives a +2 bonus on initiative checks.
Paralyzing Touch (Su) Any living creature Arcanotrops hits with his touch attack must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 22) or be permanently paralyzed. Remove paralysis or any spell that can remove a curse can free the victim (see the bestow curse spell description, with a DC 22). The effect cannot be dispelled. Anyone paralyzed by Arcanotrops seems dead, though a DC 20 Perception check or a DC 15 Heal check reveals that the victim is still alive.

Arcanotrops was once a normal giraffe, born free under the harsh sun of the open plains. While still very young, he was captured and sold in a city market to a traveling circus, and spent many years living under harsh, oppressive conditions that his animal mind had even more trouble understanding than he later would. The carnival folk kept him chained at all times and would often paint and dress him as a clown and have him perform for their audiences. However, when the audiences weren't around, he was neglected and rarely fed properly.

While traveling one summer, an evil elven druid by the name of Ferion came across the carnival en route to its next destination, and took advantage of the remote location to slaughter the carnies and take the animals. Most of them he freed, but in Arcanotrops's sleepy eyes he saw something that inspired more. Ferion awakened Arcanotrops, meaning to bestow only a meager intelligence on the creature, but accidentally creating a genius the likes of which humanity rarely sees. This pleased Ferion even more for some time, seeing it as a reflection of his own power.

However, Arcanotrops was not pleased. He didn't like Ferion any better than his old masters, and at least with the carnies he sometimes got to please crowds. Ferion took him deep into the wilderness and usually treated him with just as much neglect as the carnies at their worst. Though Ferion tried to teach Arcanotrops the druidic arts, Arcanotrops refused, not wanting the partake in the same evil he saw in his vile companion. Instead, he learned to fend for himself, becoming violent and somewhat wild.

This refusal angered Ferion over time, and he probable would have killed Arcanotrops off had not a party of adventurers, led by a cousin of one of the carnies, come along and defeated Ferion in combat. The party wizard, a human named Selenia, felled Ferion with a volley of arcane energy, and Arcanotrops immediately desired to learn her power and revealed his intelligence to the adventurers. While they were hesitant at first, Selenia was intrigued and decided to help Arcanotrops learn the arcane arts. It was soon after than Arcanotrops took his name.

For decades Arcanotrops happily learned at Selenia's foot, becoming a powerful mage in his own right, though he was never much respected in scholarly circles except as a subject for examination and study. Unfortunately, when out on an adventure while Arcanotrops was studying some scrolls, Selenia and her party were killed by a dragon seeking the same magical artifact as they.

Crushed by his loss, Arcanotrop's misfortune was compounded when the scholarly mages immediately jumped on the chance to capture the 'genius giraffe' in Selenia's absence. Though powerful, Arcanotrops was no match for the other mages, and was subdued. They examined and experimented on him for some time until all but forgetting about him, locking him away in the deep recesses of their dungeons.

Arcanotrops remained there for some time, scratching arcane formulae on the stone walls of his cell and collecting baubles and arcane residue that leaked from above. Eventually, based mostly on vague tales in scholarly texts he'd read years ago, Arcanotrops constructed a phylactery and transformed into a lich.

Using his new powers, he managed to break free of his prison and escape the mages. He fled to a long-abandoned castle where he still lingers, picking off the occasional traveler or adventurer and growing in hatred for all humanoids with every passing year. His only true goal is to find a way to bring back his only master, Selenia, the only humanoid to treat him as an equal.

Arcanotrops's Spell Book

6th—acid fog, flesh to stone, true seeing
5th—baleful polymorph, cloudkill, cone of cold, polymorph, prying eyes
4th—animate dead, black tentacles, detect scrying, dimension door, fear, fire shield, greater invisibility, locate creature
3rd—arcane sight, displacement, fireball, fly, slow, vampiric touch
2nd—detect thoughts, mirror image, resist energy, scorching ray, see invisibility
1st—comprehend languages, detect secret doors, expeditious retreat, feather fall, grease, identify, mage armor, magic missile, protection from good, shield, true strike
0—all except abjurations and enchantments

Character Death from Alex Schroeder: RecentChanges

Does your group experience a similar pull in different directions?

No More Nation Building? from The Bone Scroll - RPGBlog

This weekend a good friend of mine and I were discussion the lethality of the various editions of D&D. This lead to the discussion of levels, which in turn turned to a discussion of advancement. This finally lead us to the topic of what it use to be like when you reached 9th Level or as it used to be called a Named Level.

Back in the days of AD&D and the Moldvay D&D, it seems in my humble opinion there was an assumption of what players would do around 9th level or so. It seems that the game was suppose to move from a more up close and personal thing to something a bit more political. That's not to say those personal adventuring wouldn't happen, but rather they would no longer be the driving the force in the game.

Most classes were allowed options to start building some sort of stronghold, castle, tower, or church. This of course had the advantage of providing a drain on all the loot the players had amassed on their way to reach the level at which they could build. These new buildings would become campaign fixtures of sorts. Many a DM would likely allow the players to build on the frontier or something similar, in an attempt to provide a ready source of tension in the players lives.

Of course in many cases, these locations would draw followers or students. These followers or students could also provide a ready source of action if used properly. If a player gained students and he ignored them, then a player could gain a reputation that they were bad mentors. Or if they were cruel, they could gain that reputation as well.

It seems like in general we have left the bulk of the geopolitical stuff out of the game. I think we tend to want to just deal with our characters and not mess around with things that can be handled with shear raw power. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

So, what's your opinion on the matter? Have we left this stuff behind? Does it even matter? Have you ever had the switch over to a more geopolitical type of game?

This week: Epic experiment from Steve's Gamer Blog

I'm curious to know how many people have actually tried playing the epic tier. 4e has been out for a year and a half now, and I'm sure some groups have powered through the levels, but I suspect that's the exception to the rule.

Amongst the gamers I know, one group has run an epic delve. It ran one night, and I'm not sure if it went farther than one encounter. Nobody else I know has played epic.

That makes sense; I find the most interesting part of any saga is usually the beginning, when we, the audience/reader/player are meeting the characters for the first time, and the characters are beginning their relationships. There's usually a lot of mystery to this part of the story--the villains are often hidden and powerful. The story could go in any direction at this point; it seems to have limitless potential.

For me, the first season of Lost was much more compelling than the seasons that followed it. The first season of Heroes is, in my opinion, the only one worth watching. Same with the Pirates of the Carribean movies. I love the Lord of the Rings and Battlestar Galactica epics, but my favorite parts of those stories occur closer to first half than the second. Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back are more interesting to me than Return of the Jedi.

I think the same is true with D&D. When characters are starting out, struggling against the larger forces of the world, I think there's more inherent conflict. When almost everything is bigger than you are, your choices are more significant. When you're fighting gods and demon lords, the scale is so much larger. You're not as concerned with the poor widow whose house was burglarized by goblins; you have to go toe to toe with Orcus before his undead legions destroy the world. Character death is, as the Wizards of the Coast design team put it, "a speedbump," at epic tier. While the PLOT stakes are much larger, it seems to me that the emotional stakes are significantly decreased. This is why I'm happy D&D 4e has built an ending into Dungeons and Dragons, with the epic destiny features and level 30.

For the one-shot epic game experiment I've put together for this week, I first chose a theme, then searched out some creatures that would go well with it. At first I'd intended for it to be a simple delve, but I can rarely run any kind of D&D without some semblance of a story; it's my particular quirk. I considered some of the concepts we discussed while working on the DMG3, and found them to be good guidelines in practice, not just in theory. When running the paragon tier adventures, I first made the mistake of designing harder encounters the way I might have done in any previous edition where the character classes weren't more balanced (wizards always ruined my fun). The grind was a bit tedious. For the epic game, I'm going to be sure to scale things to the PCs' level, while designing some significant choices the characters can make to increase/decrease the difficulty, depending on what they choose to do.

So here's what we've got:
- bigger stakes plot-wise
- balanced encounters
- meaningful choices
- much, much larger scale
- crazy ridiculous feats attempted by the heroes are more than possible
- everything should be larger than life, often to a ridiculous degree

That's what I'm going for.

Dungeon Map from The Labyrinth

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D&D Home Page - What Monster Are You? - D&D Compendium

Modular dry-erase sections for dungeon tiles from Geek Ken

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Picking A Generic RPG System from RPG Blog II

I was hoping to have my review of Rolemaster Rome finished by today, but it isn't quite finished. This weekend, I was looking at generic RPG systems to use with my Middle Isles campaign, and hopefully beyond. The hope of a system-generic ruleset for me has always been that you can use a single system you know well for a variety of various genres. Obviously, it doesn't always work like that.

I'm looking for something that's easy to learn, uses some manner of skills and traits, allows for at least semi-crunchy combat, doesn't have a huge list of situational rules for special events, possibly using a point-buy system, that makes sense when you think about it. Should be easy, eh?

I've put the candidates thus far into various divisions. These are the games (with the exception of the Final Four) that I've decided I won't be using this go-around:

The No Chemistry Division

GURPS 4e—I respect the system, but it's never clicked for me. Probably won't start now.

HERO—See above.

JAGS—Yeah, I get about halfway to the point where I'm going to pick up and run JAGS or JAGS-2 again, then it all falls apart. It's like that ex-girlfriend you keep thinking about getting back with, then you go out together, and you have nothing to say to each other. I love everything about JAGS except....JAGS, apparently. Wait, that's not right. I love the thought of JAGS? There—I have now put more thought into my relationship with a role playing game than that with several exes. Happy?

Cortex—Still reading. Not digging it right now.

The Too Pretentious To Seriously Consider Division

The Window—OK, so it sounds like the author has mellowed over the years. But this is too rules-light anyways, I think. But I can never get past the writing. That's a shame when a product allows that to happen.

The RPGnet Sweetheart Division

Wushu—Automatically eliminated by merit of it being recommended at 114,567 times a year at RPGnet whether it actually meets the criteria for what people want or not. RPGnet Wushu fans, if given a chance, will recommend Wushu to you not only as an RPG, but as a dietary supplement, living will template, breakfast cereal, and a political manifesto for Bolivian Leftists. As an afterthought, I will add it is way too loosey-goosey for what I'm after.

The Crunch-Lites

PDQ/PDQ#--I really, really enjoy the PDQ system. But it's a little light on structure for this go-around. I think I want to run Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies at Gen Con, though!

FUDGE—For me, FUDGE was never quite as solid as FATE. And I've decided I don't like FUDGE dice.

FATE—Even though the 3.0 version of FATE is a little more fleshed out, I think we're going with something a little more traditional this time around.

The Eric Gibson Has Killed It For Me Division

d6—Right now, I'm just so tired of the crap surrounding the on-again, off-again drama of d6, I don't even want to look at d6. It isn't the system's fault, but I'm tired of it right now.

The Just Outside Division

Iridium Lite—I have an on-again, off-again project I've been using Iridium Lite for. I really think I need a break. The system is fun, and makes sense. But not this time.

Savage Worlds—Yeah, it's nothing against one of the hottest rulesets on the market, but I don't think it'd work for my current gaming circle. Another time, perhaps?

The Final Four

GenreDiversion3—How can you not like Precis Intermedia? All they do is make solid, affordable gaming products. In baseball, GD3 would be that guy who reliably hits .275 every year, is decent in the field, and can be counted on for about 16-17 home runs. I've got a few concerns regarding scalability, but let's see how another read goes.

Basic Roleplaying—Basic Roleplaying is fantastic. It's got a Quick Start version—always a plus, and the system has been around so long for a reason. It's easy to add options to, but I'm not totally sure I'm sold on combat or roll-under. And I don't know that I want to put the time in to customize just now.

EABA—This is a system I hadn't messed with in a while, and in reading it again, it really made a lot of sense. I love the Universal Chart, I love the simplicity and scalability, I love the points-buy scheme (I think). Let's see if I remember why I put it aside or not.

Mini Six—Somewhat free of the d6 fallout I mentioned above, Mini Six has a lot of good things going for it: easy to pick up, short, and free. If my current d6 hangover doesn't kill it, this may be it.

So, that's it. I have a lot more reading to do. I've already flipped through a lot of other free systems aside from the ones mentioned above, but unless something new comes across my radar this week, one of those is it.

Review of Blackdirge’s Bargain Bestiaries: Dragon-Blooded by Blackdirge Publishing from NEUROGLYPH Games

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