Dungeons and Digressions

Miniature Modeling and 3D Printing With Minecraft and Mineways

2012-01-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

Minecraft players! Have you ever thought to yourself how cool it would be if you could export your creations into a 3d physical model to share with your pencil and paper rpg players? For visualization purposes, wouldn't it be great to hand them a small model of the dungeon, castle, or valley?

Meet Mineways, a free program that allows you to "interactively select a model from a Minecraft world map and render it, or send it to a 3D printer or 3D printing service such as Shapeways." Looks like a lot of potential here... Minecraft modeling is very intuitive - you could easily create your own miniatures. Even cutaway views are possible.

Medieval d6 Found

2012-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Recently found at the bottom of a well, at the Caherduggan Castle dig in Ireland - full story at Rubicon Heritage blog.

Minecraft and D&D

2012-01-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been outed as a fan of Minecraft. Yet another barrier to regular blogging, it would seem... It took just a few minutes of playing to begin thinking about recreating TSR modules. I knew I wasn't the only one - check out the above, a recreation of the castle from B2's Keep on the Borderlands. Is that gorgeous or what? Then there's this guy's recreation of Tomb of Horrors. Anyone else addicted to this game (or recovering)? Yikes.

Have a Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

Beynac Castle Walkthrough

2011-12-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the text from a handout given to those taking a self guided tour of Chateau Beynac in the Dordogne - it isn't copyrighted and was probably created by the Ministry of Culture. I've been on the lookout for an actual blueprint or plan of the place for some time but it's proven very elusive. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the castle is privately owned - the owner still lives there and doesn't wish to see it turned into too much of a tourist attraction.

I saved my copy of the handout as a memento and scanned it for a fellow blogger who's also been searching for a layout. Maybe it will be of interest to someone else out there as well...

Please pass through the door in the second line of walls, dating from the 12th century. You are now entering in the lower courtyard of the castle. On your left stands the 12th century keep with the master’s chambers on the top floor and his family’s lodging on the lower floors.

On your right, the ramp leads to the upper courtyard and you are passing along the 17th century stable, the building date of which is engraved in the keystone (1650). This stable will be roofed again in the next few years.

When arriving on the upper courtyard, on the WEST side, you’ll see the extension of the 12th century wall, which fell down in the 19th century and is part of the restoration programme initiated in 1980 to last until 1995. On the SOUTH side the former manorial chapel, built in the 13th century with some additions in the 17th century. It is covered with a flat stones roof (local name : lauzes). This chapel, even though it is located on the estate, is presently the parish church and is open for Services every Sunday. One has access to it from the outside of the castle.

Lower donw flows the Dordogne river which has been the border between the French and the English possesions in the 13th century. On the opposite side at the foot of the hill, the castle of FAYRAC, on the shoulder of the second hill : CASTELNAUD. On the same bank as Beynac, on your left another castle : it is MARQUEYSSAC.

Now, please enter the castle through the door of the 14th century machicolated keep, probably built by the English. As a matter of fact, the castle had been taken by Richard lst of England (the Lionheart) in 1189 and was kept by him until he was killed during the siege of Chalus (next to Limoges) in 1199. The castle then retumed into the hands of the French until the signature of the treaty of Bretigny in 1360, when it was occupied by the English until the French victory of Castillon-la-Bataille which brought the 100 years war to its end.

Here you are in the guards room. In the left comer of the back wall, the narrow and steep 13th century staircase used to connect all the different levels of the castle (do not use it, it is blocked by works under process in the upper levels). Just next to this staircase, in the lower room of the keep, were kept the battle horses. Moving back to the large window (it will shortly be replaced by the original 13th century slit) three steps and a door on your right will lead you to the l4th century section of the castle. Full restoration of this section has just been completed. The floor of the first room is a beautiful “pisé” (paving made of toothlike shaped stones which are nailed vertically into a bedding of clay and lime). In the second triangular room, 13th century latrines may be seen.

Please climb up the wooden staircase to the second floor where you’ll see a beautiful spiral staircase recently rebuilt in solid oak, according to the rules of the art of the time : one man, one tool (the adze). This staircase leads to another floor where restorations are under process, not yet open to the public.

Leaving this 14th century section, please proceed to the large mediaeval state hall, remodelled in the 17th century (large windows were opened and a fireplace built) to become the meeting room of the States General of Perigord. This is the place where the nobility of the four baronies of Perigord used to meet : BEYNAC and BIRON who controled the South, BOURDEILLES and MAREUIL the North. Their flags may be seen on both
sides ot the fireplace.

Opposite the fireplace a small oratory has been opened in the 14th century tower and frescoes painted at the same period. These frescoes are presently under restoration by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

On the back wall a large crucifixion dating from the end of the l8th century. On its left, the flag of the BEAUMONT-BEYNAC who owned the castle until 1961. On its right the English banner of CASTELNAUD, direct rival of Beynac for over two centuries. Facing this back wall, on your right, walk up the 16th century staircase (totally rebuilt in 1902), to the top levels of the castle : keeps and terraces. Walk carefully along the curtain (WATCH YOUR CHILDREN) and step in the l4th century keep (PLEASE DUCK, THE DOOR IS VERY LOW). Go through the little guards room and step out on the southern terrace. Lean over the wall at the extreme end of the terrace : you are 450 feet above. the river and facing one of the most beautiful panoramas in Perigord.

Moving back to the large staircase. Half-way down, through one of the windows, you’ll notice a charming Florentine Renaissance staircase built in the 17th century in the center courtyard. It leads to various 17th century rooms, presently occupied by the owner (these will be opened later to the public).

All the way down, you’ll step in the center courtyard : the heart of the castle. Here all the rain water falling from the roofs and terraces was collected, filling large underground tanks, still in function, which were the only source of drinking water in the feudal times.

Originally the center courtyard had only one door and one opening. The door is next to the stone water basin and opened to the guards room and to the only staircase serving the various levels. The opening, presently under the Renaissance staircase, was much larger and allowed to ride to the center courtyard without dismounting, thanks to a ramp which climbs through the 12th century kitchens.

All constructions posterior to the 12th century has been dismolished in this large room and all the levels and floors will be reestablished as they were originally. The exit will be enlarged back to its original size, which may be seen from the inside and the draw-bridge will be rebuilt. This large door and the draw-bridge were the one and only entrance in the castle in the 13th century.

Looking up, we see two hoardings projecting out on corbels, where archers and crossbowmen were stationed to defend the ramp (the only entry to the fortress). Left of the iron-shod door by which we have left the barbican, we notice openings through which boulders and quicklime were thrown on enemies forcing their way through.

You have just read a few explanations about the feudal fortress of Beynac. We have tried to make clear the goal of both the owner and the Ministry of Culture and Communication : reestablish the three main periods of the life of Beynac : 12-13th centuries, 14th and 17th.

The inside restorations and the rebuilding of the outside line of walls will extend to the end of the present century. The historical reconstitution of the lower and upper yards will take place in the early part of the 21st century.

Old School (Arcade) Games on the Local Rebound?

2011-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

I've only recently heard about the Vintage Arcade Museum in the Whitaker neighborhood here in Eugene, OR. I hope to get down there and take some video before too long - this old school pencil & paper gamer's heart is warmed to hear that someone wants to keep these old arcade machines alive!

The nearness of the Ninkasi Brewery and Izakaya Meiji (whom I've previously posted about here) is convenient - some brief liquid encouragement and its off to the arcade! Oh yeah. Right down the street from some excellent soul food, I should add...

Thursday Update: KVAL (local TV station) picked up this story for their 5 and 6pm news broadcast. They have some pictures up on their website, including this one - looks like they've applied for a liquor license. Nice.

I'm All Out of Bubble Gum

2011-12-11T23:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, it’s been nearly two weeks since my last post… Not a lot of excuses really - a little more work than usual, the same bug that everyone’s had recently… watching way too much DS9 (see previous post) which still feels a bit silly. Things are starting to pick up in season 3 for sure - Jem’Hadar and all. Oh, and I actually bought Duke Nukem Forever, which so far is pretty terrible. I had no idea that Duke’s line “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum” was taken from John Carpenter’s “They Live”… Or was it the other way around? Stumbled on the below clip recently…

In other news, we finally managed to play a short session of S&W where I was able to introduce Sir Froig. The PbP game also continues at its glacial pace, which I've come to enjoy on its own terms; it's a very different style of game and I appreciate the additional time to really think about descriptions and the various possibilities between exchanges.

Avoiding Monsters in OD&D

2011-11-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

At the risk of going over some well trod territory, I thought I’d share some notes I’d jotted down as something worthy of investigation - The section entitled Avoiding Monsters in the Underworld and Wilderness Adventures book (volume 3 of the original D&D booklets). The rules laid out there are very specific - some of them I’ve used and some of them I haven’t (probably since I originally started playing with Moldvay’s rules). Now that I play S&W: Whitebox, it’s interesting to more closely examine the beige books’ idiosyncracies.

One item of note is that monsters in OD&D will automatically attack and/or pursue unless their adversaries are obviously stronger and the monsters would know better. This is versus Moldvay, where some monsters always act in the same way and attack, but the reactions of most vary: “The DM can always choose the monster’s reaction to fit the dungeon, but if he decides not to do this, a DM may use the reaction table…”

So basically, Moldvay says “Use your best judgement” whereas OD&D says “Monsters are monsters - their raison d’être is to attack you. If it was otherwise, they’d be potentially dangerous animals or perhaps intelligent beast-men. We’re not on a zoological expedition kids, we’re monster hunting.

Also, Moldvay has a Reaction Table but OD&D has a Random Actions by Monsters table. In Moldvay, the monster might even become your friend! In OD&D, the monster might respond positively to something, but we can still assume that it wants to kill us. This seems contradicted by the inclusion of neutral and lawfully aligned creatures listed in Monsters and Treasure (volume 2). Maybe those should just have been listed separately as “Other, Non-human Beings."

One might conclude at least a couple of things from this reading: First, that OD&D as written is decidedly more hack and slash. Second, that there isn’t as much moral ambiguity in OD&D as there is in later editions. Maybe it was the fact that the game was becoming popular with kids and criticisms were being raised at the time that led to these particular rules being revised. Nobody wants to be accused of teaching children that there are intelligent beings not worthy of moral consideration precisely because they don’t consider you worthy of moral consideration (they just want to kill you). But…that’s just what monsters are - that’s what they do.

Maybe all subsequent hand wringing about goblin baby killing could have been very easily avoided if the term "monster" had simply been better defined. Or maybe it’s not that easy... just easier to let the dice be the judge.

The Illustrious Josh Kirby

2011-11-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

Some scanned artwork by the late Josh Kirby - I love the old school feel of these black and white illustrations from the '86 T&T paperback.

Here's a couple more. Kirby did the covers to the whole set of paperback T&T releases, you can see them here.

Season of the Witch - Paper Mini

2011-11-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

The small town of Belves is host to a coven of witches which meets there at least four times a year. There are currently eleven members, led by the redheaded enchantress Lucienne.

The coven is divided into four groups of three members, each group corresponding to one of the four seasons. Each of these has a member aligned with one of the forces of law, chaos, or neutrality - though the members frequently argue and scheme against one another, they also see the wisdom of periodically coming together to pool their individual magical powers and support the current season’s three members.

Every year they elect a leader whom they then gift potions and various abilities. In this way, though they’re considered an equal, their leader is also more powerful and better able to resolve any serious disagreements.

Several years ago though, a dispute within the coven led to a leader being exiled. Known as Hecatha, she was eventually overtaken and cast out by the others when she refused to relinquish the power with which they'd entrusted her… To this day, the Great Druid still searches for a cure to her self-inflicted curse, which manifests in both physical deformity and madness.

With the witches’ number and power now diminished by the loss of a member, Lucienne seeks someone to fill Hecatha’s shoes. She fears what might happen if Hecatha was somehow able to regain her mind and former power… and Hecatha’s season approaches.

click the thumbnail image above for a closer look or to download the 4x6" (index card formatted) paper mini PDF

see also: Hecatha and Witch and Watchers minis

The Sorceress Lucienne

2011-11-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

Ludwig Hohlwein paints a pretty hot sorceress.

Deep Space Nine and Thieves

2011-11-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve been watching a lot of Deep Space Nine on Netflix over the last month. Back when it premiered, sitting through the CGI intro wasn’t so bad - after all, it was only on screen for a few minutes once a week. Now though, when watching an episode every other day or back to back, having to wait for the music and opening credits to finish is painful. Or rather, it’s painfully obvious that the whole sequence is ridiculously overdramatic. The wormhole’s depiction begins to seem less like a triumph of computer special effects and more like a giant bowel movement, opening up as it does to drop a spaceship deuce from time to time. Consider that the Bajorans' prophets live inside the wormhole - apparently talking out of their ass.

How much edgier it could be with the proper soundtrack...

Aside from that initial unpleasantness, it’s sometimes fun to take a short nostalgic trip back and watch this show. DS9 is less of a hex-crawl, if you will, than the other Star Trek series. Supposedly it was more critically acclaimed than those other series too - I wonder how much this has to do with the ability to create more complex and interwoven plots due to the stationary setting. I keep making mental notes to use this or that element in a Traveller game I'll never actually play. One of my favorite episodes is when a priestess from a fundamentalist branch of the Bajorans’ religion has a fit because they’re teaching kids on the space station that the wormhole is host to aliens (rather than “prophets”). Then someone blows up the school with hilarious consequences.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that the Ferengi “Rules of Acquisition” could be converted fairly easily into a Thieves Guild’s (or a god of thieves’) Rules of Wisdom. Just change “latinum” to gold and “sale” to “theft” and you're halfway there...

Corrno’s Lesser Rules of Wisdom

1. Never allow family to stand in the way of theft.
2. A man is only worth the sum of his possessions.
3. Keep your ears open.
4. Greed is eternal.
5. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
6. A deal is a deal - until a better one comes along.
7. Nothing is more important than your health - except for your money.
8. There’s nothing more dangerous than an honest thief.
9. She can touch the family jewels, but never your gold.
10. Theft is its own reward.
11. Never trust a man wearing better clothes than you.
12. The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.
13. Never ask when you can take.
14. A good set of tools is as good as gold.
15. Keep your lies consistent.
16. Home is where the heart is, but the road is made of gold.
17. Enough is never enough.
18. Nature decays, but gold lasts forever.
19. There is no honor in poverty.
20. Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.
21. Even a blind man can see the glow of gold.
22. There’s nothing wrong with charity, as long as it winds up in your pocket.
23. Let others keep their reputation - you keep their money.
24. Underlings are rungs on the ladder of success - do not hesitate to step on them.
25. Always know what you are stealing.
26. Gold lasts longer than lust.
27. More is good… All is better.
28. A wealthy man can afford anything but a conscience.
29. Never allow doubt to tarnish your love of gold.
30. When in doubt, lie.

Of possibly related interest.

The Yogi: A New Class for Swords & Wizardry

2011-11-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

For a while now I've tossed around the idea of a PC class that is explicitly non-violent or that derives experience from things that aren't related to combat or treasure. I'm not wholly convinced that such a class can work in the game, but I think offering it as an option to players might be an interesting experiment and a way to coax perhaps otherwise reluctant players to join. Uncomfortable with bashing in skulls? Try the Yogi class! I can see some serious humor potential there. Also, since writing up the Yellow Order of Freyse, I've been thinking about how a player might actually want to join it and how that would work.

So, I submit here the Yogi class - nothing too complicated, but certainly very different from every other D&D class. Some qualifiers - the "yogi" as cultural phenomenon is open to many interpretations. Why should the one here be so ascetically oriented? What about the karma yogis, or bhakti yogis - not to mention such "chaotic" yogis like Milarepa? Well, I had to limit the scope of possibilities to keep it simple and in line with the lightness of the OD&D/SW:WB rules. Creating a number of subclasses of the Yogi sounds tempting though...

The Yogi Class for S&W Whitebox

The yogi (or female yogini) is concerned with three things: overcoming the illusionary and temporary nature of normally perceived reality, freedom from desires and attachment which lead to suffering, and reconnecting and merging with the source of all creation.

While most yogis respect and observe devotional practices associated with one or more deities, some worship none - or else just ambiguously refer to an omnipotent and omniscient God, Creator, or Spirit. What distinguishes yogis from clerics is their belief in the practice of ahimsa, or nonviolence, and also that their salvation depends primarily upon their own willpower and mental focus rather than faith in supernatural beings.

Yogi Advancement TableCharacter Class Abilities and Restrictions:

Yogis must begin as lawful in alignment and remain so or else lose the special powers given to them.

Possessions: Yogis are severely limited in the amount of possessions they may have - they may never possess more than what they can carry on their person, they avoid contact with gold or jewelry, and may not carry more than the equivalent of 1 gp worth of other types of treasure. They may not use magic items.

Weapon and armor restrictions: Yogis practice nonviolence - they are forbidden from using any weapons. They shun the use of armor or shields, believing that these encourage the use of weapons and threat of violence. The DM will have to be creative in awarding the yogi PC experience points - deeds which produce “good karma” for the character or party are suggested as an alternative to experience gained in combat or through treasure. Another option might be experience granted after successfully carrying out missions under a guru's direction.

Spell casting: A Yogi gains siddhis, or mental powers which correspond to some cleric and magic user spells. In order to obtain these, the yogi must spend one hour in meditation per spell, per day.

The following siddhis may be chosen:

• All cleric spells except spells against Law and the following: Hold Person, Sticks to Snakes, Insect Plague, Quest, and Raise Dead.
• Magic user spells: Read Languages, Detect Invisibility, Knock, ESP, Levitate, Darkvision, Fly, Protection from Normal Missiles, Water Breathing, Wizard Eye, Contact Other Plane, Passwall, Telekinesis, Teleport, and Anti-Magic Shell.

In addition, at 3rd level the Yogi may Simulate Death, lowering his heart beat and body temperature, and appearing not to breathe. This state can be maintained for d6 turns per level, once per day.

Saving Throw: Yogis receive a +3 bonus on saving throws vs. poison and paralysis.

Banishing Undead: Yogis can use their holiness to “Turn” the undead, causing them to flee. They do not require the use of a holy symbol for this purpose.

Charisma Bonus: At 2nd level and every level thereafter, Yogis add 1 point to their charisma score, up to a maximum score of 19.

Obtain devotees: At ninth level, the Yogi will attract a large number of loyal followers who will swear fealty to the character and wish to do good deeds in his or her name.

Experience Bonus for Wisdom and Intelligence: Wisdom and Intelligence are the prime attributes for Yogis. However, due to the Yogi’s restrictions against combat and treasure, these will only be used to calculate experience bonuses if the DM decides to codify specific examples of activities that generate good karma and to use these for experience point calculation. In that case, Yogis with both Wisdom and Intelligence scores of 15 or higher receive a 10% bonus to experience.

Post-historic Graffiti

2011-11-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

H.G. Wells' "Little Wars"

2011-11-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

A video posted over at Mutants and Magic shows Peter Cushing playing with his toy soldiers "according to the rules laid down by H.G. Wells in his famous book Little Wars." How's that again? While probably very old news to serious wargamers, I didn't know about this... I've only just perused it but already see two great things going for it - it's rules light and in the public domain. You can download it from archive.org or Project Gutenberg. There's a short companion text too.

Have any readers actually played this? It seems like it might be a great introduction to the hobby for kids.

Of possibly related interest.

In the Spirit of Shields and Hirelings Will Be Splintered...

2011-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Yellow Order of Freyse

A short distance from Veyrines in the southern Dordogne lies the monastery of the Yellow Order of Freyse. Its few members are easily recognized by their yellow robes and well known for preaching the doctrine of “Sahima” - a spiritual practice which values nonviolence, abandonment of material possessions, and belief in the supremacy of mind over matter.

The order’s size would leave it largely unknown in the valley were it not for an unusual initiate requirement. True faith in Freyse is said to be best proven by demonstrating a willingness to sacrifice one’s life for another. By itself, this seems an honorable and commonly held belief. For the order’s members though, self-sacrifice isn’t something to be done only when the opportunity spontaneously arises. Rather, such opportunities are actively sought out by younger monks with the encouragement of their elders. Indeed, monks cannot progress to higher levels of authority within the order without having demonstrated their faith in this manner; senior monks bear their scars and broken bodies as symbols of their deep faith and status.

The Yellow Order came into existence in response to the Long War between the Ocks and Ogleds. At the time, the only way to avoid conscription was to enter the monastic life. It became obvious to both the king and the priests of Freyse that something had to be done to stem the loss of potential soldiers and the rise in deceitful applications for priesthood. An agreement was struck, and the Yellow Order created - any that applied for membership in the priesthood during times of war were relegated to the order, where they were required to sacrifice themselves as human shields in defense of the kingdom.

These days, the origins of the order seem forgotten - or perhaps conveniently ignored by the senior monks and head. Peace has reigned for over forty years and the order’s numbers (difficult to maintain even in times of war) are dwindling. New applicants are accepted without hesitation - be they mentally defective, debtors hoping to escape prison, or the rare but actually faithful. However, the stipulation that nonviolence be followed and self-sacrifice sought out are still seriously enforced. The only exception to the practice of nonviolence that’s allowed by the order is in the punishment of monks who refuse to obey their seniors - and renunciation of membership entails a death sentence.

Young yellow-clad monks can occasionally be found looking for “work” and it’s rare for locals to take advantage of them since most also count themselves as one of Freyse’s Flock. For adventurers new to the valley though, the presence of these monks is a positive boon... diminished only by the fact that they refuse to carry treasure.

Image from Holmes

2011-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Not that Holmes - the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I won't go and see it (haven't been to a movie theater in years) but this still from the official preview caught my eye. Nice looking fortress... Must be a bitch to shovel out though. I especially like the utterly useless battlements facing out over the valley. Or maybe they're there for protection against archers on griffins or pegasuses?

The Parade of Ghosts

2011-10-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

An annual parade held in the town of Beynac is both a celebration of the changing of seasons and a macabre spectacle of local justice being meted out. “The Parade of Ghosts” begins at nightfall on the same Autumn day every year. Prisoners from the dungeons of Lord Aubry are bound in shackles and covered in white sheets, then marched up and down the avenues for an hour or so at sword point until finally ending up at the central square and gallows tree.

All landowning citizens are required to enter a lottery, the winner of which must point at a “ghost” of his or her choosing. The unlucky prisoner is then drowned in a barrel, hanged with the sheet still covering them, and left to swing until morning when they are brought down and their identity revealed.

Serious criminals are not the only ones subject to this fate - anyone currently imprisoned at the time of the parade is forced to participate. It’s thought to be an effective deterrent, coming at a time when the poorest residents become increasingly likely to take desperate measures due to the approach of colder weather.

The only downside that the Constable and other authorities have noted is the amount of superstitions being spread associated with the ancient oak tree where the criminals meet their end. While most residents worship the goddess Suthak, Lord Aubry still follows the older druidic ways and will not tolerate discussion of the tree’s removal. In addition to this, though the tradition of the Parade is enjoyed by most townsfolk, some lottery winners claim to be haunted by their pick - with at least one having committed suicide as a result.

Eddnic's 3d and 2.5d Paper Minis

2011-10-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Eddnic's fantasy paper miniatures are amazing! They're free too.

Hungry Ghosts

2011-10-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Baseball, Board Games, and D&D

2011-10-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Right around the same time I was getting into role playing games, my older cousin was getting into Strat-O-Matic. Basically, you roll d6’s and consult player cards for the result of the at-bat. There are rules variants depending on how complex you want it to be, and of course you can play solitaire. To get a sense of it, you can try out a flash version of an at-bat here (just click the green circle to get started quickly).

I haven’t really played the game in decades - I’d like to, but don’t have a copy - probably it's only something hardcore fans would be interested in playing… or maybe gamblers. The prediction accuracy is excellent, allegedly having a batting average variance of only .015% (.007% for homerun average). Of course, that would be for last season, so its value for the current one is arguable.

Strat-O-Matic has its competitors, the most popular of which might be APBA. Avalon Hill also produced baseball board games. Way back in ’62 they came out with Baseball Strategy. It uses “Fast Action” cards instead of dice to randomly determine outcomes. I recently picked up a much later version that AH released in 1980. Here are some scans if anyone's curious.

I’ve been been tossing around some of my own ideas for a baseball board game - admittedly much less simulation and much more gonzo. It’s a mash up of D&D and basic baseball rules, something I call Goblinball. I first began thinking about it when I attempted to improvise a game during one of our regular S&W sessions. That didn’t quite go the way I’d expected when the party brazenly attacked the hitter and catcher and all hell broke loose from both bullpens. I'd expected that to eventually happen, but hoped there’d be some bets and baseball drama first (bad calls, taunting, hit by pitches, etc.)

What’s interesting to me about the process of trying to hack them together is realizing how much they already remind me of one another. There’s the battle between pitcher and hitter, with each side “rolling” to see if they succeed against the other. There’s the saving throw of the defensive players who must catch the ball or tag the runner out, or perhaps dexterity checks on either side to accomplish their aims (or skills if you must).

The flow of a baseball game reminds me of D&D. A typical game can last hours, and occasionally goes longer than anyone expected (without a set end time). The storytelling is something like each person briefly becoming a radio broadcaster and relaying the game action. The DM is both pitcher and umpire, throwing the group various curveballs. I like how everyone has their own moment to shine when at bat; each individual describes his character’s action and makes a combat or other type of roll. When the party is in the field, they’re shouting defensive information and advice.

Describing and simulating actions in baseball and D&D also seem similar because of the limits of the field of play itself. In baseball, you can’t stray from the running lane and must move through the bases to score. It’s exactly this structure that makes the game easier to simulate. We don’t need to explain how the player goes to first, the player just indicates what his move is and we both make assumptions. He doesn’t have to describe every step - we both understand that there’s only one place to go and that the critical move was made a moment ago. The pitch and bat swing is analogous to the “What does your character do?” and “I do this.” exchange. In other words, it’s a linear, storytelling game.

Compare this for example to soccer (another game I enjoy)… Imagine describing the action in detail here. Sure it can be done, but it's painful: number 14 receives the ball, she dribbles 10 feet west, turns 30 degrees and moves a few feet forward, now back 4 feet, etc. The playing field is literally a field, whereas the baseball field is a field of probability and a track.

Hmmm, maybe I’m not describing that quite right. How about this: the randomness and uncertainty of a soccer ball or player’s location at any given moment is much higher than what can similarly be found in baseball. It’s this greater certainty principle in baseball that allows us to better design tools to simulate and measure the actions that happen there. D&D is a more linear game, based on the nature of back and forth discourse that moves the action forward. We aren’t all moving forward together in that field, we’re generally waiting for one described action to inform the next.

Just some pre-beer/game thoughts - in closing: Go Tigers!
Update: Facepalm.

Pigeon Towers

2011-10-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

I thought of these today when I was reading through Matt Finch’s new book, the Tome of Adventure Design. There’s a great table entitled “The Bill of Fare” and I got to drooling over some of the menu items listed. Pigeon Pie…mmm. (If you’ve never had squab you’re missing out on some really good stuff, but if you ever try it and it’s not practically bleeding on the plate, send it back!)

It’s funny, but that table inspired adventure design ideas that have nothing to do with tavern fare. Pigeon towers? What about stirge towers? Here’s a bunch more… Maybe all those cubicles had haunted urns in them...

Below is a modern pigeon tower in England, built in 1910. I like the idea of rooms above the pigeon chambers… obviously where the wizard works.

And of course, pigeonniers in France…

One in Toulouse.
One blasted apart by magic.

A tower for those on a budget...

So the next time you map out that town or village, don’t forget to drop a pigeon tower or two in there.

This Trampier piece always seems washed out in print and online...

2011-10-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

I bet the original version was something more like this:Just saying. I mean, it seems like the internet record of it should better reflect the original artwork than most untouched scans of the 1977 book. No? (A more typical representation for example. Eesh!) Just a pet peeve I guess.

Fiery Dragon Makes a Fine Tunnels & Trolls Box

2011-10-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

I’d been wanting to buy a copy of Tunnels and Trolls to replace my battered, second hand store one, so last month I visited Flying Buffalo’s website to see what I could find. Being a total T&T newb, I found the T&T product page a bit confusing. Apparently I have version 5, there never was an official version 6, there was a version 7, and there’s a version 7.5 which I think is just a re-box of 7.

I ended up getting the Fiery Dragon produced 7.5 box. I’ve heard that a few oddities in the 5th edition rules were cleaned up and that it’s fundamentally the same game (unlike say the changes between D&D 2e and 3.5). For what it's worth, about 80% of poll respondents here indicated that they preferred or played 5 vs. 7.5.

The boxes were on back order and I was lucky to get mine for $35+$3 for shipping. The price has since gone up to $50 but I’m amazed at the quality of what you get even at that new price.

The smallness of the box and books themselves is not for everyone - personally, I love it. The main books are all spiral bound and lay flat, with the rules being slightly smaller (4.75 x 7”) than the monster and spells books (5 x 7.75” each). With these are included three booklets - two adventures and a monster/magic expansion. There's also monster and PC cardboard tokens which are sturdy and use very professional art. The dice are small (I’ve already lost one) and four PC record sheets were included.

Flying Buffalo’s website is very Web 1.0 and DIY, looking pretty much like it did when it first went online about 15 years ago. It has a certain old school charm, but there’s a lot of stuff there and it could really use a make over to show off some of their products better. Below are some photos of the T&T 7.5 box I received in case anyone goes there and wants a better idea of what they might be ordering…

Box Back • Rules Book (next to MM for scale) • Map • Spells Book • Monster Book • Monster & Magic Expansion • Dice (next to a Gamescience d6 for scale) • Tokens • PC Sheets • Solo Adventure • GM Adventure (forgot to take a pic!)

The Return of the Giant Hogweed

2011-10-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

The half-animal/half-plant creature known as the hogweed resembles a large ornamental shrub that’s been trimmed to look something like the farm animal from which it gets its name. What makes the creature even more remarkable is that it uproots itself when physically disturbed or closely approached during the daytime. When this happens, the hogweed will blindly run about in circles for ten minutes or so before settling down again and re-rooting itself, usually bumping into and setting off the others around it in the process.

The hogweed’s leaves and flowers produce a poisonous oil whose effects are activated by natural light and which can last for several years, causing severe burns to the skin of those who come into contact with it, as well as blindness if transferred to the eyes. Those exposed at night often don't know they’ve come into contact with the oil until sunrise, when the light activated oils begin to burn.

In the Dordogne river valley, the creatures grow in densely packed groups of up to a hundred or so, where collectively they appear as normal shrubbery. About once every seven years though, a Giant Hogweed will grow from the seeds of its smaller relatives. These larger specimens can reach heights of up to fifteen feet tall, are far more sensitive to nearby disturbance, and have a rudimentary intelligence and sense of direction.

Hogweeds are not native to the region and have been eradicated from the populated areas of the valley, but still crop up from time to time in more rural places. Foreign travelers hoping to avoid bridge tolls along the Dordogne often encounter hogweeds by seeking out their own crossing points. Petitions to nobles on both sides of the river to stamp them out are not infrequent, yet never seem to result in full extermination. Rumor has it that the ongoing enmity between the north and south is in some way to blame; there’s no doubt that the existence of hogweeds along the border are a useful (if minor) deterrent against enemy incursion.


Hogweed: No. Appearing: d100, HD <1, AC 8[11]; Atk 1 trample (0-1 hp + Special); Move 15; Save 18; CL/XP B/10

Giant Hogweed: No. Appearing: Up to 1 (% chance = number of hogweeds appearing), HD 5; AC 6[13]; Atk 1 trample (2d6 + Special); Move 12; Save 12; CL/XP 5/240

Special: Both giant and normal sized hogweeds attack by attempting to trample their victims and transferring their contact poison. Smaller hogweeds are easily fled from, but giant hogweeds will pursue targets as far as a hundred yards from their smaller hogweed companions. Fire attacks against them are at +4 to hit and +1 damage but if they’re set ablaze, attackers within 20’ (60’ for giant hogweeds) must save vs. poison (gas) or suffer d6 damage per day until cured.

Poison: Contact causes d6 hp of damage per day in a victim if the body part(s) affected is exposed to natural light (roll to see what part of the body was hit - the oil also will penetrate clothing in one day if not washed). Cure disease will remove this affliction. Head or face contact may require a saving roll against blindness.

Sites where hogweeds are disturbed are prone to large population blooms due to their seeds being shed and distributed in the process of their running about. When safely handled they can fetch a good price on the black-market.

The real Giant Hogweed. ••• Of possible related interest.

Just How Fat is the Tome of Horrors Complete?

2011-09-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

That fat. I was really on the fence about it when it was first announced but I've no regrets now. Slick.

Still Breathin'

2011-09-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

I'm still here. Just taking a break and catching my breath...

Goolomps - Paper Minis

2011-09-13T15:37:00.001-07:00

Here's the paper mini follow up to the goolomps post of last week. 4x6" PDF

Update: the source image:

Two for the Kids - Puzzle Post

2011-09-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

A couple more word search puzzles for the kids - Find the cleric's spells... Click the preview image above to download them or for a closer look.

Among the Many Jobs I've Had

2011-09-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

For a time I worked at a blood bank. I was a blood components tech - the guy who takes your blood donation, spins it down in a centrifuge, and turns it into different blood “products” - red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. It was occasionally unpleasant, but the pay was decent and I could walk to work.

On the morning of 9/11, I was preparing to enjoy my day off. I received a phone call just after turning on the TV and seeing news of the attacks. My boss wanted me to come in because there was a line of donors out the door and into the parking lot of the blood bank.

So I spent most of that day processing their blood. A call to the media had been made that there was an urgent need for blood for victims of the attacks. Many people felt powerless and wanted to do something, anything, to help. All over the country, people were doing the same thing in their towns - racing to blood banks to give their blood for their fellow countrymen. The young were especially called upon, since their blood was likely to be more pure.

Of course, in the end, most of those donations were never used for anything. There was a glut of blood in the banks on that day and in the weeks that followed - and no survivors who could benefit. So it was poured down the drain, so to speak. Autoclaved, really. The chronic shortage of available blood for hospital use was alleviated, for a short time - some blood was shipped from small towns to the cities where it was needed more. In the end, there was nothing to do about it; blood has a shelf life of a month and a half or less.

By early 2003, I’d burned out on that job and moved on. For some reason though, I occasionally still think about all that wasted blood.

Living Bridges

2011-09-10T15:18:00.001-07:00

Via the Daily Mail.

Goolomps

2011-09-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

The clumsy and nearly blind Goolomps occasionally teleport to our world in small groups. Their appearance here is accidental, caused by a planar coordinates typo found in a widely distributed vacation brochure. The unwitting Goolomps believe they’re zapping over for a quick dip in the Mud Baths of Porpadomp - only to discover themselves deep underground with nothing but a towel.

Goolomps are very suspicious of anyone they encounter and will immediately use their innate ESP ability to uncover a party’s motivations. They can communicate telepathically and psychically attack an adversary if need be. Desperate for a way home, they’re eager to converse and trade with anyone capable of interdimensional travel. Their own method involves the use of teleporting machines - hence their predicament. Goolomps* are not above the use of violence and the theft of magic items if they believe it will aid their quest. They are averse to collaborating with humans and elves (whom they regard as stupid and ugly).

Goolomp: HD 2; AC 8 [11]; Atk 1 claw or bite for 1 hp damage or preferably Special; Move 9; Save 13; CL/XP 3/300; Special: ESP, Telepathy, Ego Whip per combat round for d6 damage (Save allowed, target goes to sleep with nightmares of inferiority for d6 turns if HP reduced to zero or less; thereafter HP returns to normal). In addition to Ego Whip, they can emit a Psychic Screech once per day causing Confusion (per the spell).

* My wife chose the name Goolomp here after I showed her the above artwork and asked for a suggestion. She swears she's never heard of the Castlevania monster of the same name.

Text of this post licensed under the OGL; “Goolomp” art above is public domain - tidied up with the GIMP a bit. Original source image from a forgotten Golden Age comic from the '50s.

Interactive Maps with the GIMP

2011-09-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Using the GNU Image Manipulation Program, you can easily create interactive maps for use in your game - just for your records, for the players' use in an online video conference game, or maybe as a solitaire dungeon where the player advances on the map and clicks on numbered areas as they proceed.

To start, open an existing image with the GIMP - perhaps a wilderness or dungeon map. For this example, I'm going to recycle an old side view "dungeon" I posted here last year. Then choose Filters - Web - Image Map.

That's going to bring up the image mapping editor.

From the mapping menu in this new window, choose your selection shape. I use the rectangle (it seems less wonky). Use it to select parts of your image, just as you would with the toolbox's rectangle select tool. As you make selections, new layers will appear in the sidebar on the right. You can edit the information in these entries as you go along or come back to edit them later by double clicking them in the sidebar.

In the above example, I've selected the number 3 on my map and now am choosing what will happen when the 3 is clicked on in the image - in this case it will take the user to a new web page with a description. If the link is relative, it means that the destination web page is located in the same directory as the original image. The "ALT text" area will display hovering text on mouse over if Internet Explorer is used (other web browsers will not use it).

Once the image is mapped, in the image map window, choose save - GIMP should append a .map to the end of the file name. Change it to .html now or after saving. The image mapping editor will disappear and you're back to your original image.

To test, put the image file in the same directory and double click your newly saved .html file to open it in your browser. Quick and dirty image mapping! Click the numbers on my lazy example to see it in action.

X-Plorer Paper Minis and Pre-Gen Cards

2011-08-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

A little while back (and with Brave Halfling's blessing), I put together a set of paper minis and pre-generated character cards from the artwork and PCs listed in the back of the X-Plorers rules. It seems like the box sets should be arriving any day now so I thought I'd post it up here in case anyone can use them. Formatted for 4x6" index cards - they should scale to Letter size pretty well if you don't want or need minis but can still use the character records.

Click the thumbnail image above for a closer look or to download.

Mouthies

2011-08-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Always on the lookout for new and especially low level monsters, I spotted these creeps in an old comic book from the '50s. Scanned and cleaned up a bit, there's one on the right. They should serve nicely as an occasional generic stand-in for goblins etc...

A lonesome wizard’s experiment gone very wrong, mouthies have managed to reproduce and can now be found in many dark and desolate places. The creatures have a ravenous appetite for human flesh and are difficult to outrun. Fortunately they’re quite stupid and lack grasping appendages - vertical escape is often the best course of action.

Mouthy: HD 1; AC 8 [11]; Atk 1 Bite d4, Move 13; Save 18; CL/XP B/10

Text of this post is licensed under the OGL; Artwork is public domain.

Feeds and Followers - Blogger Weirdness

2011-08-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've been having some problems with the feed widget over there on the right, so I finally just deleted every single google cookie from Firefox. Now I notice that every site I go to where I was formerly a follower (sorry, "member" is blogger's new term), I'm asked to rejoin. Then after doing so, I have to be sure to choose site settings next to my own icon and choose to follow using a web profile - then choose blogger if I want to show up as ze bulette again.

Anyhow, it appears as though somehow this may have unsubscribed me from some other bloggers. So if you see a follower drop or a long time follower suddenly un-follow and re-follow, maybe that's what happening. On the plus side my feeds are working again correctly so far. Oh yeah, and the little scarlet "G" on the ze bulette icon has finally been banished.

Probably just a speed bump on the way to Google reconciling its G+ accounts with its blogger users' desire for anonymity.

Correction: Crap, the RSS feed widget is still broken. The one thing that does seem to fix it is editing the widget's settings, removing one or more of the items that it shows and re-saving. Then if you go back in and edit again putting the original items back (such as post snippet, time of update, etc.) and save, it will work again for a bit. Anyone else having that problem? Emptying the cache and clearing cookies doesn't help and apparently might cause its own set of problems.

Planet Comics Covers from the Golden Age

2011-08-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

Bourbon Schmourbon

2011-08-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

I don’t know precisely how one goes about acquiring a sore throat in the dog days of summer, but I seem to have managed it. I blame the rug rats at the local ball game I attended the other day.

It seems an appropriate time to discuss my preferred method of treatment: the frequent application of whiskey. This evening I’ve managed to do a fair amount of damage to two different bottles of bourbon - one “Buck”, a small batch 90 proof which bills itself as a Kentucky whiskey but is bottled in San Jose. The other is George Dickel’s No.8, an 80 proof distilled in Tennessee and bottled in Connecticut.

Both of these I picked up for between $25-$30 each from the same shelf, which makes sense since they aren’t far off from one another in quality. The Buck at 90 proof is a bit paler than the Dickel No. 8, and predictably has a smaller nose. Its bottle is sexier at first glance, which should always make one slightly suspicious. In terms of medicinal value, the award would have to go to Buck, but I definitely prefer the Dickel No. 8. It just has a lot more going for it, although I wouldn’t say it’s terribly sophisticated - it just knows its way around. The Buck bills itself as the drink of cowboys and blah blah blah. The No. 8 didn’t feel the need to explain itself with a small card attached to its neck by elastic band.

I suspect a lot of bourbon is shuttled around and mixed by bottlers from the same half dozen distilleries. At some point, there’s not much point in reviewing the stuff unless it’s a very small batch. Bulleit is a good example. It's one I've thought about reviewing, but the difference between it and these other two I find pretty marginal. I suppose it might be good for a GIMPing and rebranding as “Bulette” though. I really need to get back to single malts.

Linocut Stamps and Maps

2011-08-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been looking through an old book of German expressionist woodcuts lately and it inspired me to dig out my linoleum block printing kit. The strong lines in the works of Trampier and other early TSR artists have often reminded me of medieval wood block prints - maybe they'd unconsciously encouraged me to try my own hand at such prints in the first place.

Castles, cathedrals, mazes and goblins were favorite subjects long ago...

Once I had my carving tools out again, I started thinking about how I might be able to use them to create something for use in the game. One idea was that I could make maps on the spot, using small stamps. I cut out a one inch hex, got an ink pad, and proceeded to stamp away. It looks a little funky, but it might work. Next, I thought I could carve small symbols into similar hex pieces - castles, mountains, forest, etc. Linoleum is pretty cheap stuff though, it might be difficult to get the level of detail I’d like.

Stamp experiments, small linocuts glued onto corks.

What’s the point of this versus just using a pre-printed sheet of paper or battlemat? I’m not sure. Aside from the quick and simple pleasure of stamping out a crawl as it progressed, I suppose one could stamp a map on different surfaces. For instance, I have some strips of suede backed faux alligator skin. It might work well as a wilderness/ treasure map made out of a monster’s hide - a game prop I could give to players.

In addition to experimenting with making map stamps out of linoleum blocks, I’m going to try to make my own “Deceased” stamp to ceremonially mark dead PC cards. It could be fun to slam one down at a game table. Bam! Officially dead. It seems like there might be other game uses for DIY stamps like these though.

Musical Intermission

2011-08-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Got bored and put this together. Joy!

Undead Pinniped

2011-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Telecanter's visiting for a few days so I took him out to the coast to show him the Sea Lion Caves. Stellar sea lions have a great sounding growl, very different from the California variety. Barely managed to escape this guy.

S&W Sessions Journal: Pub Life and Missing Men-at-Arms

2011-08-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Our short game over the weekend consisted of a lot of paper work. But between character card updating and role playing mundanities at the local tavern it was really a pretty fun time assisted by a number of whisky shots and beer. I’d done a little more than my usual amount of preparation and was ready for the second level of the dungeon to be explored. That never happened, but I was more than happy for the reprieve and a chance to flesh it out a bit more. A quick trip up, out, and back to the usual tavern HQ was decided upon.

The little hobbit Pikmit (the blind magic user’s guide) was hauled out of the dungeon slung over the shoulder of Wagstaff the Thief and slammed onto the bar. Stebbins (their employer) was sent for, as was usual whore of Henri (their newly one armed men-at-arm). An earlier sample of their now large haul of strange mushrooms had been analyzed by Stebbins' superior and deemed Magic Mushrooms of Underwater Breathing. At least, Stebbins said his employer was pretty sure that’s what they were. We all had a good laugh at the thought of how this might play out later in the game (as the party decided to keep a handful), but a fat sack of 100 gold was handed over to Wagstaff as leader to distribute as he saw fit.

Stebbins was usually in the habit of taking only Wagstaff through the kitchen and into the place where livestock were butchered in order to discuss business. This time, Gulch the assassin was also invited to join them. Stebbins introduced himself and mentioned that he knew of several associates of his at the guild in Haldane far to the West. It seems his services could very well be required of Stebbins’ employers and so he was glad to have made his acquaintance.

Wagstaff relayed how a dwarven friend of his, Aleger, had recently rejoined their party only to be killed by goblins recently in the dungeons of the abandoned chateau. Stebbins offered another sack of gold in compensation for this loss (later discovered to be 50gp), and encouraged the group to acquire more men-at-arms if they could as future expeditions would likely prove ever more perilous for some time.

Inquiries were made as to whether there were any treatment options for their blind magic user. Stebbins told them them that there was a strange man-like creature to the northeast across the river who called himself Sir Froig. He was said to be highly knowledgable of healing herbs and magic. A low hanging dark cloud which never moved in the sky hung continually over the place where they might find this creature. He said that there was also an alchemist in Sarlat some distance further away who might also be of assistance, and that he could send a courier there (for their smaller sack of gold he’d just paid them) if they wished more information from there.

Leaving Stebbins, the night soon faded into a spinning fog of forgetfulness until the next morning when the group regathered on the ground floor to plan their next move over breakfast. It was decided that the still near dead and recuperating halfling would be left to rest at the Turnapeak for awhile, while the rest of the party headed northeast in search of Sir Froig. At this point, everyone demanded to be paid their share of loot and reward - Wagstaff ripped off everyone including even Gulch who’d seen exactly how large the sacks of gold had been. Wagstaff privately conveyed that Gulch should not worry as his extra share would be coming shortly as long as he didn't betray Wagstaff’s confidence.

The two local hired men-at-arms, Gerard and Henri seemed a bit miffed but asked if there was time for them to nip off to the village near Castelnaud to repair or upgrade their armor and weaponry and otherwise re-equip. The rest of the group waited at the tavern, but after the appointed time of a couple of hours, the two had not returned. The party waited another hour, and then another again, but there was no sign of the two. Finally, it was decided that the group would head to the village itself to see if they could be found.

Late to the Party, Brought My Dice

2011-08-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Above are the dice I currently use. The white Gamescience dice I proudly inked and use the most - simple and clean, like my favorite rpg rules. On the left is a home made paper d8. There's also a "die" that came out of a Magic Eight Ball, and of course the Gamescience d30. I obviously don't need this many for regular use but I like to have one everywhere I look when one is needed.

Below are some d10's in the collection which never get used but were fun to design, make, and test. (If you want to try your hand at it yourself, a while back I put up a bunch of PDFs here.)

Below are dice that never get used but that I bought for some reason or acquired when I bought a guy's whole game collection. There's another huge bag of assorted weirdness around here somewhere but I'm too lazy to look for it right now and never use them since they were someone else's to begin with... Can't risk the vibes. I think that bag of different colored dice came out of the Brave Halfling box set.

The Rings of Velav

2011-08-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

The distrust between the Ogleds and Ocks has spanned several centuries. The river Dordogne that separates the two ethnic groups from one another along with its guarded bridges and frequent inspections has been a major source of irritation to the non-aligned segments of the valley’s residents as well as its smugglers. As a result, numerous means to traverse the border have been devised and used, including tunnels, zip lines, and makeshift watercraft.

During times of war, several of the accomplished magic users of the region developed more advanced methods to make the crossing - devices which they would loan or rent to those deemed reliable enough to return them. Among these are the creations known as the Rings of Velav.

It’s unknown how many of these rings the wizard Velav has crafted, but their magical value is the same. The rings are made of an unknown heavy metal, and come in two colors - each with a matching rune. When removed from the finger and thrown, they will expand after landing to some three feet in diameter. At this point, their center will appear to contain bright lights and fog, corresponding to its original hue. Any item or individual that enters one of these hoops will exit from the other.

The value of Velav’s Rings is diminished by their range - they need to be thrown by an ungloved hand in order to function properly.

The Rings of Velav



The rings come in one of two colors: green or red, with matching runes. When thrown by hand, if landing on a flat and large enough surface, they will adhere to it and expand to a 3’ diameter hoop. Items or individuals entering one hoop will exit the other hoop at the same velocity and with the same inertia as when entering it. For example: A green ring is thrown onto a surface 60’ below, and a red one onto the ground some 10’ away at the same level as the thrower. If the green ring is then jumped into, the jumper will exit the red ring at the original angle of entrance and at the speed of someone falling 60’ (with possible resultant injury).

The thrown and enlarged rings will lose their adhesion and revert to normal size after d6 turns. They cannot be picked up or moved beforehand once enlarged.

A thrown ring cannot be entered until its counterpart has been thrown, its center remaining solid until then.


The rings do not like the timid - those tempted to test the enlarged opening with a toe, stick, etc. will find that the object will protrude from the opposite ring, but after one minute of being penetrated in this manner, both rings will close, perfectly severing anything that was inside.

Clever players or NPCs may discover it’s possible to throw one ring onto a surface and another directly above it at some distance, creating a trap where an individual who falls into the first hoop exits from the second and falls back again into the first, continually falling in this way until the rings once again revert to normal size.

A ring can be thrown into its enlarged opposite. If this is done, both rings will instantly disappear, returning to the laboratory of Velav where he recharges them. The rings will similarly disappear once their last charge has been used -

they typically have 3d6 charges when found.

Two for the Kids - Puzzle Post

2011-08-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

In the interest of encouraging kids to take up pen and paper games, here's a couple of word search puzzles - find the B/X monsters (some will be reversed). Maybe this could come in handy for those long vacation car rides or flights? Click the thumbnail image to download them or for a closer look.

Last week's crossword post has been updated with the answers.

Bavarian Gnome Tunnels

2011-07-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

"There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the subterranean vaults to unravel their secrets."

Photos and more at Spiegel.de

Alternatives to Capitalism in Our Games

2011-07-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

The rules of D&D operate under the assumption that the economy of the game setting is more or less like the real world’s - that the PCs’ culture values money, and in fact really revolves around it. Acquiring it is one of the primary character motivations, and it’s directly connected to gaining experience and leveling up. But what would D&D look like if we stripped this component out of it and replaced it with something else?

I started thinking about this last year when considering an island hopping campaign with the PCs being fairly “primitive” natives, rather than typical D&D characters from a medieval and European background. I was reminded of it later when I thought about running D&D in a prehistoric or ice age setting, and then again more recently when I thought about what it would be like to play solely as Native Americans or some kind of equivalent, in a world where Europeans never show up and technological innovation is glacial.

What would we use to replace the monetary system that we’re so familiar with in our games? Is D&D even the same game if we remove that, or are we playing something else with certain D&D mechanics?

Barter isn't unknown to those other cultures, and there would definitely be items with greater value due to relative scarcity. Take for example a good horse. Also, things tend to wear down quickly - so new furs need to be acquired and successful hunting takes time and isn’t guaranteed.

Rarer and more valuable still would be those things that have a symbolic value and are dangerous to obtain. The scalp of an enemy, for example. Or perhaps something similar to an eagle feather, instead derived from a monster. I’ve explored this just a bit in my current games, with monsters themselves being the treasure (see Claude de Sarlat, monster eater) - though in that case they’re commodified by being turned into gold pieces when sold to Claude’s chef. A better example might be the Makemanu, undead parrots whose feathers of different colors might easily fill in for gold, silver, and copper.

One issue with using these kinds of replacements is that they likely aren’t anything that can be hoarded, or rather, nobody in those cultures would want to do such a thing. In a hunter/gatherer or early agrarian society, what does one need to amass wealth for? Food to last a winter or in case of crop failure maybe, but not excess wealth - of what use is too many sheep? They’re just more difficult to guard and one can only eat so much mutton. But if there’s no giant treasure hoard, how am I to build a castle or establish a guild? My end game is buggered.

In these pre-capitalist societies, probably what’s more important is your status within the tribe - how high up on the totem pole you are. There may be beads and trinkets traded, especially with outsiders, but it seems like people of stone age cultures would be much more aware of the transitory nature of life and possessions (and place a greater value on relationships accordingly). Defending family and tribal honor, earning a good reputation amongst the tribe, or spiritual interests might all stand in as game incentives. Maybe the end game is helping the tribe find the perfect, peaceful, and fertile valley - maybe level progression involves achieving certain tasks and overcoming enemies that prove one’s bravery and honor without the need for shiny metals.

Looking back now, when I started playing D&D as a kid, I had all the time in the world. Marathon late night sessions could easily happen with friends staying over. I think a part of the game’s appeal was in the adult-like aspect of our characters having responsibilities and jobs (albeit as monster killers), as well as our ability to manage sums of their imaginary money - to spend as we saw fit without any parental supervision. Now that I’m older, I wonder if my interest in playing in a D&D world where money doesn’t figure so prominently hinges on the real life pressure of having to earn and manage it. Playing a caveman protecting the clan from cave bears and not worrying about paying for medical insurance or taxes on a castle would occasionally be a pleasant diversion.

Sunday Crossword (Late Edition): Expedition to...

2011-07-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here's this week's very tardy crossword (click to enlarge). I suspect I'm not very good at constructing these things and have a new respect for professional puzzle makers! Feel free to drop me a note with ideas for next week's puzzle.

Update: Answers here.

Google+ Users: Some Words of Caution

2011-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

There’s evidence that Google is deleting or at least suspending accounts of people who aren’t using their real name with Google+, meaning that they lose their associated email, blogs, docs, and other information. I was reluctant to make this post not knowing if there’s enough information to warrant it or to what extent it's happening. In the interest of preventing another rpg blog from disappearing though, or helping someone avoid some serious frustration, here’s some further reading that might be of interest:

•Google Profiles and Names Guidelines
•Horror Story
•ZDNet: Google Plus Deleting Accounts En Masse: No Clear Answers
•William Shatner punted from Google+
(not for a name violation apparently but included here just to show how zealous they've been in their TOS enforcement)

In Google’s defense, I can see why they would want to prevent duplicate accounts, considering that they’re offering many services for free or nearly so (how many Google Voice numbers does one person need anyhow?)… Hopefully they’ll work out a decent system to address complaints and restore accounts in a timely way.

A Painful Traveller Character Generation Experience

2011-07-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve been taking a break from the blog, watching tons of baseball instead of posting here, but we have still been playing our S&W and OSRIC games. Nothing terribly post-worthy has happened in those games, so I’ve refrained from writing up any detailed session journals here. In our S&W game, Aleger the dwarf rejoined the group - turns out his brother was killed by kobolds a while back when the two had sought to investigate a mine they’d inherited. Aleger had been frequenting prominent taverns in the Dordogne before finally stumbling upon Wagstaff and his mostly newer, local companions.

Tonight Nick and I got together online via Skype to follow up on the idea of our Traveller game via email. Character generation turned out to be a real drag, as Nick’s dice throws continually ended up killing his PCs before they could muster out of service and actually become playable. None of them got into their 3rd term. He tried first with the Merchants, then the Army, and then “Other.” I haven't gotten around to picking up Citizens of the Imperium anywhere - I’m reluctant to invest any money on this Traveller experiment before we find out whether we can have any fun with it. Using “Other” though, we decided that one character was a famous musician/band member. He survived his first term (age 26?), learning the Electronic and Jack-of-all-Trades skills, before once again failing his survival throw. So we decided he’d overdosed and tried again. What the hell!

On his next attempt, he finally mustered out alive (albeit after only one term of service) but still managed to reap a 50,000 CR cash allowance as a Scout, along with an automatic pistol. Nick didn’t like any of this, being totally unfamiliar with classic Traveller. He seemed really unimpressed so far, but still agreed to do a one or two-shot. I tend to think that if we'd tried to roll up several more characters it might not have been so bad, but to be safe I just suggested that we use some pre-gens.

At that point I decided to describe X-P to him in some detail and how it was very similar to OD&D’s simplicity and he seemed more open to that. What he really wanted to play, turns out, was a post-apocalyptic game. Soooo, I got out the Mutant Future rules and we quickly rolled up two characters there. I became a little worried when he rolled on the mutations table and one character got Weak Will and the other Pain Sensitivity, but at least they’ll see gameplay.

Sunday Crossword Puzzle: Palace of...

2011-07-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

Introducing a regular new series of posts, possibly appearing every Sunday or Monday morning, containing a crossword puzzle based on some aspect or publication of our favorite game. Bear with me while I get the hang of this, I don't have a ton of experience with crossword puzzles... I still thought this might be fun though. I'll start out with a small and easy one:And here's the answer key.

Our Games - Guest Starring Each Other

2011-07-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me the other day that since we now have the technical ability to (more or less) teleport into each others homes via Skype, Google+, iChat, etc. we also have a greater ability to host or play in pick-up games. I’ve seen proposals for this on Google+ and probably on forums elsewhere in the past. What I haven’t seen suggested is the possibility that someone join a regular game as the only video chat participant, just to play the part of an NPC.

As a DM, playing the part of every NPC encountered in the game can be challenging, and once your players have heard your full repertoire of accents, your voices can begin to sound alike. Imagine their surprise when you turn your laptop around to reveal a video chat session with a member of the blogging community, standing in briefly as a NPC. Picture ___ (fill in a blogger’s name you follow) playing the part of a high pitched goblin, or of a noble or clergyman sending you on some quest. Here’s an idea: since your guest star is basically just a talking head on the table, maybe they’d be great as a re-animated head that your players find in a treasure chest?

There would be the usual concerns and considerations to make. Obviously, engaging with someone who’s a relative stranger always carries its inherent dangers. As a video guest, it might be best to get assurances in writing and ahead of time that no recordings will be made. Personally, I’d be horrified to find my rendition of a lich up on YouTube. Recordings might be a pretty hard thing to guarantee against. Still, with the right trusted folks, it could be a lot of fun. I know there’s at least a few of you I’d consider approaching if I knew you were open to it.

There would be two approaches with such guest stars which could obviously overlap. One would be to describe to the guest star the history of the current game to some extent and to direct them how to respond to the players in various ways. The other approach would be free-form - just let the guest star do whatever they want with the role you give them. “Play it your way Sam.”

In time, there might be guest star specialists - those who really only want to play such roles, or become well-known for being very good (or bad) at it. There might even be specialists among those specialists: those that only play the role of monsters, those that only play a certain demi-human race… Then there might be those that only play the role of a specific monster or character - one that escapes death and can appear in game after game. Maybe we’d see blog posts like: “Wanted: Person to play a 15-30 minute role of the wizard in Raggi’s “Tower of the Star Gazer.” Eventually there might emerge well-known prima donnas, demanding they play their part their way, or that their prospective DMs tolerate their obvious and complete lack of sobriety.

And the masks - think of the masks! I sure as hell would want to wear one. Or at least a wig.

Tragg and the Sky Gods

2011-07-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a slow and somewhat depressing work week, so I went out to The Shed to see if there was anything exciting there I could rediscover.

I came across a small box of comics my dad sent me once as a surprise. Somehow these had survived my parents divorce and put into storage after I fled the East coast some 20+ years ago. There was a lot of crap in there, a few early New Mutants, some Star Wars even. What stood out were two seriously beaten up comics I'd bought at a drug store or flea market while vacationing in the Thousand Islands. One is DC's "Strange Sports Stories" - really odd, that one. It's like a collection of Twilight Zone stories which all somehow revolve around a sport. For example, the first story is about how aliens steal everyone's faces except for a basketball team, and if they can beat their faceless competitors, it will somehow vanquish the aliens. I did not make that up. Another story is about a golden boxing gloves talisman that a boxer uses to some effect, but which turn his boxing gloves to lead weights sometimes (maybe if he morally backslides?)...

The prize is the other comic in that box that caught my eye. "Tragg and the Sky Gods" from 1976. That would have made me about six years old when I got it, or maybe just a bit older if it'd been collecting dust in a shop somewhere when I found it. It was published by Goldkey/Whitman. I wasn't really interested in superheroes at that age - I distinctly remember picking up a Savage Sword of Conan one year there, and being slightly disappointed in the B&W art. Ignorant child!

My Tragg #4 has been through the ringer. Here's the cover scan:

The first page catches you up on Tragg's universe pretty well...

Alien but human babes. Prehistoric times. Good start...
And a little more background...

Enter the Universal Combiner...

Saber tooth lion + cave man. Sounds like a good idea to me!
Quickly sent to find and kill Tragg of course.

There were less than a dozen Tragg appearances - nine in his own comic, and a few elsewhere. Anyone else ever pick up one of these back in the day?

The Maria LX Series Robot: Price Reduced!

2011-07-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Message from Acme Advertising Dept: For Immediate Release

Recent upgrades to our manufacturing facility have allowed us to dramatically reduce the cost of our “Maria LX” retro-design model from our line of general purpose and servant staff robots. They're not just for nobles any more!

Recalling a simpler time of working class idealism and introspection - the Maria LX’s appearance is inspired by the very first “moving pictures” of early 20th century Terra. Retro is back! Maria utilizes polished stainless steel construction throughout, with advanced gyroscopic stabilization, energy efficient servos and a commercial-grade performance battery. Charges last for weeks - not days, and recharge times are nearly instantaneous. Shock absorbent gel surrounds the LX CPU, providing additional protection for your investment, and our award winning voice recognition software makes engaging with Maria a pleasurable experience - whatever your homeworld.

“Our customers are enthralled by our Marias’ grace and charm, and their antique exterior appearance fits wonderfully with our decor!”
Alfred Abel, Owner
Librari of Eldish Libaxions, New London

The Maria LX series skirts many local prohibitions against a “too human- like” appearance with its quaint, early android design. Its hackability makes it attractive to both smugglers and sexual deviants, creating a back alley industry of meat clothiers and illegal software programmers. Such hacked units have a reputation for malfunctioning spectacularly and without warning - seemingly at the least opportune times.

Here's a 2d6 table of suggestions for when the GM determines a malfunction occurs:

2: Explodes: minor/serious damage to those nearby.
3: Stuck in a loop: repeats numbers while head continually spins around a la The Exorcist.
4. Replays overheard snippets of private conversations - in multiple languages, loudly.
5. A massive belch/fart of flame: sets nearby object(s) on fire.
6. Error in Translation: Conveys insult or otherwise miscommunicates important information.
7. Electrical discharge: short circuits nearby tech.
8. Vents huge amount of steam or smoke, obscuring everything in 5m radius.
9. Acts lasciviously, speaks with a helium affected voice.
10. Electro-magnetic implosion: Attracts all loose, small metal objects to itself within 5m radius.
11. “Pees” itself* and collapses shortly thereafter (oil=slippery!).
12. Eyes pop out: Minor/serious damage to someone at a distance.
* suggested by Carolyn, age 10

Click the thumbnail image above to enlarge or download the 4x6" PDF of the Maria LX series paper miniatures.

Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"

Ulyulengs - Paper Minis from Monsters of Myth

2011-07-07T10:47:00.001-07:00

Here's one I made weeks ago and forgot about... 4x6" PDF, click the thumbnail below to download or for a closer look.

No need to wait for Traveller on the iPhone - Play it right now.

2011-07-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

I’ve seen a few blog posts about the upcoming Traveller AR game for the iPhone. It’s scheduled for a late summer release, but you can play Traveller on your iOS device right now. Ok, technically it’s MegaTraveller. Why the hell would you want to put an ancient DOS version of Traveller on your precious iOS, you ask? Because - like linux on toasters - you can.

“But am I going to have to jailbreak my device?” - Not necessarily. Maybe you snagged the iDOS app when it was briefly sold in the iTunes store. Even those with weak google-fu can probably locate an .ipa download of version 1.0 fairly easily (iDOS 2 was free while still available). If you’ve jailbroken, you’re on your own - look for DOSPAD in Cydia.

Once you have iDOS installed, download and install iPhone Explorer. It’s free and works with both Windows and OS X.

Now let’s grab the abandonware MegaTraveller and its manual. Unpack the MegaTraveller files into a folder with a short name.

Mount your iOS device as a hard drive with iPhone Explorer and navigate to Apps/iDOS/Documents and drag your folder with all the Traveller game files into it.

Disconnect the device and launch iDOS. Click on the C: sticky note icon at the bottom of the screen. You’ll be dropped to a command prompt in DOS. Now touch the top of the keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen to bring up your keyboard. Type “CD X” where X is the name of your Traveller folder. Mine is Trav. Then type “trav” to start the game.

Once you’ve selected the screen and sound drivers (anything should work) you’ll be asked to enter a question using the rules book. An example is “Please refer to page 56 in the manual. How much cargo can a Small Interplanetary craft carry? A. 2 B. 8 C. 20 D. 12” Ah the olden days, before DRM... Just open up the manual you downloaded earlier in a word processor and do a search to find the answer.

Voila, that’s it! You can hide the keyboard again when you need to by clicking on the gear symbol in the middle left of the screen. Does it suck? Of course! Especially on the iPod Touch or an iPhone. Magnified on an iPad though, it’s probably not too bad - certainly playable on a transoceanic flight. There’s always MegaTraveller 2, too.

If you just want to play it in your browser, don't bother reading how to do this on the site where you can download the DOS files - go here instead (this won't work in iOS, but it might on your Android). You’ll still need the manual to start the game though.

Absolutely painful.

Traveller: Enlisting in "Other"

2011-07-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

A friend recently agreed to begin a pbem game of Traveller with me, something I haven’t played in decades. It should be a good way to become reacquainted with the rules, and I’m tempted to buy the buy the newer 0-8 compilation softcover from Far Future since pages are starting to fall out of my little black books.

I started looking through book 1 and realized that I’m unsatisfied with the “Other” option for a chosen enlistment service. “A newly generated character is singularly unequipped to deal with the adventuring world, having neither the expertise nor the experience necessary for the active life. In order to acquire some experience it is possible to enlist in a service.” - Traveller, Book 1 (Characters & Combat), page 5. A player can choose to enlist in one of the six services: Navy, Marines, Army, Scout, Merchants, or Other. “Other” seems a ridiculously broad category, and very ripe for tweaking. Maybe this changed in later editions of Traveller?

The heavy emphasis on military service here is really off-putting to me, and maybe unrealistic or limiting in many ways. Why does a supposedly futuristic vision of interstellar travel seem to rely so heavily on concepts of military service (particularly naval) that harken back to the 17th century or earlier? That is, why is it presumed that you most likely would have served in the armed forces if you’ve made it off planet and gained valuable skills? Why couldn’t I, as a relatively middle-class citizen of relatively moderate means, simply jump into my Vogelsong Saucer, put the top down (figuratively), and cruise around my star system - or even jump to a nearby one where the Grateful Dead are playing (having been re-grown from original DNA and groomed, of course). Maybe I got mad experience from dropping acid and living on a commune, fixing up buses and building stuff. Just sayin’.

Or maybe the Star Wars rpg would be more to my liking. Does it have classes? I’ve never played that one either, and haven’t read my copy of the d6 rules yet (it’s around here somewhere). The baggage of the Star Wars movies bugs me a little, but maybe I could work around that. For what it’s worth, Space Opera might be a little better, in that it has classes where you can be an armsman (soldier), a technician, a scientist, or an astronaut (pilot/all around great guy). It comes off as a little more Star Trekky and progressive, although at least Traveller does offer the catch-all “Other” option.

I’ve also thought about using X-Plorers instead of Traveller, but it does pretty much the same thing as Space Opera: the Scientist, the Soldier, the Scout, the Technician. In a way, X-Plorers is even more irksome to those of us who shudder at the thought of being ruled by a “United Corporate Nations (UCN)” - a global political entity “composed of thousands of powerful corporations.” I get a bad taste in my mouth just thinking of playing the part of a character that works for The Man. To get around that, I could create a new character class, one that’s overtly anti-UCN. “The Hacker” comes to mind, for example, though that could be argued as being just a Scientist with heavy emphasis on the Computers skill. Page 7 offers “The PCs may be more idealistic, working for one of the colonies of the Reaches, or perhaps for a single individual’s interest…” and “..they may simply be mercenaries or smugglers…” That helps warm me to it a bit.

Back to Traveller though, I’m mighty tempted to explore that “Other” service more thoroughly, maybe laying out some specific alternative “services” that one might enlist in… “Career paths” is more descriptive of what I have in mind. The first one I want to write up is a Rock Star path - trying something a little gonzo like that with the oh-so-serious Traveller might be great fun.

Beautiful 19th Century Public Domain Maps of France

2011-06-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the online library of Toulouse when I ran across a number of excellent maps of various regions of France, all from the 19th century. I thought they might be of interest here - what strikes me about them is how much flavor in each region is conveyed with its accompanying art. Considering the Dordogne campaign, I immediately thought of how I could edit these public domain images and load them with my own campaign information to furnish as found or purchased maps to players...

Region du Nord
Region du Nord #2
Region du Nord Est
Region de L’Est
Region du Sud
Region du Sud #2
Region du Sud-Ouest
Region du Sue-Ouest #2
Region de L’Ouest
Region de L'Ouest #2
Region du Nord Ouest

As an example, here's one I cut up as a template...

Video Conference Gaming: Google Plus

2011-06-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

I don't have a Facebook account and giving corporations my personal network information is something I avoid, but I am looking forward to checking out the (free, presumably) video conferencing Google Plus is going to offer. Still in Beta and invitation only... Anyone have an invite to spare?

Witch Doctor Comic

2011-06-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

This looks like it might be fun...

"It’s a sick world - literally! The universe is a living thing and the monsters of legend are its parasites. Humanity has been at war with the supernatural for its entire history. But to fight a disease you don’t need soldiers - you need doctors. Meet Dr. Vincent Morrow, who makes up for what he lacks in bedside manner with black humor and brilliance. Dr. Morrow’s on a quest to understand the supernatural using every tool at his disposal, magical and medical. The apocalypse is a disease - and he’s looking for a vaccine."

Witch Doctor is a four issue limited series coming out soon from Skybound/Image Comics. (Found via io9)

Little League

2011-06-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we finally played a short session of S&W. It’s been over a month since I’ve DM’d - considering all the time I had, I was a little embarrassed at being unprepared. In the end, I pushed the game start back another half hour and rolled some dice on an index card, tracing where they fell as a quick dungeon layout. For this first level, I thought I’d make it very simple and not require a map. There really wasn’t much of a choice in terms of which way to go, but I hoped a couple of interactions I’d planned would distract from this and it could still be fun.

Highlights:

•A lone pugilistic goblin looking for a good bare knuckles fight. Ends up being charged by the entire party one of whom falls badly into a pit trap as the goblin flees. Classic.

•A large goblin cook stirring a pot. Pugilist goblin hides behind him, fists up. Pikmit (the only non-human PC) speaks kitchen goblin, and translates that the cook seems to think that they’re here for the games and that their soup will be ready in a moment. When he’s filled stone bowls for them, the party decides against trying it and leave. They head down a corridor where cheers and jeers have been coming from. The cook is livid and beside himself, and just as the blind PC (last in line) is exiting the chamber, he hurls a stone bowl with soup at him. This nearly brains the poor bastard but the party doesn’t care and continues on.

•They enter a large, clamshell-shaped chamber. There’s some kind of goblin baseball game going on, with six goblins in view ahead. Only one appears armed - with a large femur. A gruff voice in the darkness asks if they’re here to play or to die. The party attacks the hitter and catcher! Mayhem, the sides of the “field” erupt with more goblins appearing from the darkness and the defense comes running to the aid of their catcher who’s been quickly dropped. Even the female goblin cheerleaders join in as they see one of their boys killed. Fortunately for the party, the goblins were badly managed and the PCs did a fine job of dispatching most of their opponents before the rest ran away.

I’d really hoped to have the players put in a little time behind the bat, or femur as it were, before the game descended into chaos due to someone cheating or a bad call or something. No matter though, it was good fun. Wasn't there an article in a Dragon magazine or somewhere about baseball in the dungeon? It seems like one of those old school rites of passage.

B-B-bears?!? Paper Minis

2011-06-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to put this one together for some time, looks like I just missed JB's Bear Week too. Click the thumbnail image below for a closer look or to download the 4x6" PDF.

Odds and ends...

2011-06-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

My wife decided she wanted a greenhouse last year and built one from a kit, but it blew over and was destroyed in a wind storm. So this year I decided we'd build something a little more sturdy by basically tacking onto the existing awning in our backyard. Here's a picture to show what I mean...That's not going anywhere. The treated 2x4's running lengthwise from the door at about stomach height are fitted into hangers so they can be lifted up and out - they'll have heavy clear plastic stapled to their matching 2x4's which will simply lay on the ground. This way we can just remove half the wall to move things in and out of the space if we like. It's not the prettiest thing but it should work nicely.

Meanwhile I thought it was high time I gave my paper minis a home as they were starting to take up too much space on my desk. I thought they'd be happiest in a box like the old Grenadiers came in, and I'd saved two boxes that reminded me of them. I sprayed one black and then found some black foam inside an old computer box which already fit nearly perfectly. So I stuck that in there and then slit little spaces for the penny bases to go into - halfway in and the paper lays nice and flat. Now I just need to find or make some art to go above the box label.
In other news, after the Giants got blown away by Cincinnati yesterday, I'd had enough. Every time I could watch on a Saturday, it seems like they'd get rained out or just lose. What the hell, they're at the top of their division! Posey's steamrolling and Sanchez's dislocated arm have me a bit depressed. So today I broke down, bought an Apple TV and signed up for mlb.tv. Occasionally there are blackout restrictions, but even then they post the game up about 90 minutes after it ends. Hopefully Christian won't mention any results. Dude! I can watch every Dojers game too! Sick.

Meat Meat Meat and Meat

2011-06-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

This Consolidated track always cracks me up.

Brave Halfling Announces X-Plorers Box Sets

2011-06-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

"This is going to be (IMHO), the quintessential, grab your raygun, put on your bubble helmet, kill the bizarre aliens and take their stuff game!” Fans of X-P will not be disappointed." - John Adams

Full announcement and order info.

I already have a copy of X-P and dig it - but I'm a total sucker for Mullen art and box sets. John has big plans for this baby, including a supporting magazine called "Galactic Troubleshooters."

Waxing Nostalgic: Traveller

2011-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

I admire to varying degrees some OSR forays into the sci-fi genre, namely X-Plorers, Terminal Space, and Stars Without Number.

But damn, classic Traveller rocks. As much as I loved Traveller back in the day though, it always seemed cold, both as GM and player; we never fully wanted to play in someone else’s universe (not being well read enough at the time to know much about anything other than Star Trek or Star Wars) and really just couldn't project a compelling setting of our own. Maybe the sheer vastness of the cosmos and potential imaginary playspace was just too much for our young minds to really work with.

Putting that aside, the lasting appeal of it for me comes back to just a few things: the character generation (pretty quick - speaking to the old school expendability of one’s character), the ubiquitous d6, and the very wide brush with which one could paint one’s own universe. To quote a certain “Ziven of Nine” from rpg.net: ‘... After all this time, I am still in love with original Traveller, dead-during-chargen warts and all. The beauty of the Traveller system was, to me, the same as Dungeons and Dragons. The system got out of the way of the setting, and the setting stepped aside if you wanted to play Star Trek, Star Wars, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, or a homebrew/setting adaptation with minimal fuss.’

Maybe after all these years I have a better vision of the kind of Traveller game I’d want to play - I think I’d go with a Terran based game and the recently invented jump drive, mixing something like Bakula Star Trek with Cthulu.

To be honest, I’ve never really played any other sci-fi rpg that I can remember. I think the closest I’ve come is early Gamma World and Paranoia (edit: I just remembered playing at least a few games of Star Frontiers and owning the box, as well as SPI's Universe, though I don't think I played that one even once). I picked up a copy of d6 Star Wars awhile back because I’d heard some good things. Yesterday I also picked up a box of “Space Opera” at Ancient Wonders in Tualitin - I paid $25, which I think is probably close to being about right considering the condition, or maybe I got a good deal. I’d missed seeing this on earlier visits and am really surprised to see all the FGU support material that was released back in the day, now that I’ve looked into it a bit more - I had no idea.

Lister looks on, somewhat befuddled.

As cool as Space Opera seems (‘The most complete science fiction role playing game ever produced.’ says the side of the box) in a quick perusal, I’ve already found myself once again pining for the wonderfully succinct hexadecimal Universal Personality Profile of Traveller, or the 7 character planet summary stats. Damn, there was something about being an aspiring computer nerd in 1980 that was just so right about that stuff. I see this page of Classic reprints and just drool.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

2011-06-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

That’s my new muse. I’ve had him for about a month now. He hangs out in the office and gives me the stink eye and wiggle every time I come anywhere near him.

For some reason I thought it would be wicked to put Mr. Fishy in Mr. Aykroyd’s vodka bottle. Sans vodka of course - I mean, how cool would that be, a Siamese Fighting Fish swimming around inside a crystal skull? But I’m getting ahead of myself… I’ve already said how I’m a bit of a sucker for cool bottles. Containers of any sort, really, but liquor bottles stoke the rationalizing consumer in me all the more so. I've also said how cool I think crystal skulls are… So enter “Crystal Head Vodka”.

Far be it from me to judge the judges that awarded this a “2011 Double Gold” award, but about my own appraisal, I can only say that either I somehow got a bad batch of the stuff, or those judges are complete suckup toadies, or… well, that’s it actually. Because even the kid who sold me the stuff at the liquor store said it was no good (I didn’t care too much since I mostly just wanted the bottle). Oh yeah, that’s another thing, maybe they just put utter shite in there because they know freaks like me are going to buy the closest thing to a crystal skull that they can. I mean, you can pick one up without an internet connection - right down the street! I beg you though, please don’t buy this with booze inside.

I did. I tried it neat, and I tried to mask the vodka with some tonic. No good. Then I dumped the whole bottle into my water purifier. I’ve got one of those Burkey stainless steel water filter buckets. I emptied the water out and ran the vodka through twice before it got a little better - and then could stomach drinking the stuff with tonic water or juice. It was really that bad. Afterwards I had to run three whole buckets of water through the ceramic filters to get the taste of vodka out of my water.

It wasn’t cheap either; I got the bigger life-sized bottle. The thing is, I can’t bring myself to put the little blue devil into the thing. I’m pretty sure I could funnel him in somehow, but it seems like cleaning it would be a bitch and I’d have to continually siphon/vacuum his pissy poop water out so I wouldn’t have to keep re-funneling him in again.

Watching watcher watches.

So he’s been alternating between a glass stein a buddy of mine ripped off from a local dive, and a glass kim-chee container. I still haven’t given the little guy a name. “Frank” is tempting for obvious reasons, but suggestions are welcome.

Sir Froig

2011-06-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

Sir Froig - the Moonlit Knight

A marshy inlet near Marqueyssac would be unremarkable save for the fact that a small rain cloud continually hangs low in the sky above it - and for the strange little fellow who lives there. In most respects he appears no different from a simple if uncommonly large frog, but what noticeably sets him apart (aside from his obvious intelligence and ability to speak) is his albinism.

The creature calls himself “Sir Froig.” He moves in a human-like fashion, sitting with legs crossed or standing up on his back legs - and he’s quite fond of halfling pipeweed. He’s very sociable and happy to trade his vast knowledge of herbs for his favorite smoke, and is sometimes sought by those of magical training for advice or ingredients. He’s not hard to find: the small cloud above his home is an unmistakeable “airmark” and made use of as a traveling aid for those new to the region.

Though typically friendly, he can be arrogant, and short of temper and patience if a large group of young frogs are preparing to leave the water for the first time. When this happens, he will hop about frantically, shooing away (or worse) any imagined threats to the frogs’ well being.

Sir Froig - HD 7, HP 38, AC 7[12], Mv 9, CL/XP:8/800, Atk: Special: Spits acid (Dmg d6, range 30’). Thrice per day he can croak a noxious cloud (treat as Stinking Cloud). He speaks with plants and animals (per the spells). He is never without a Flower of Protection from Evil and a basket filled with magical herbs and spell components.

In his underwater den, Sir Froig has a small Umbrella of Weather Controlling which he uses to keep a rain cloud permanently hovering over his marsh. He will defend this with his life.

Sir Froig is an ally of the nearby High Druid as well as the Witches of Belves.

~
4x6" PDF with Paper Mini version:
~

Inspiration comes from the strangest of places. I knew that I wanted to stat Tim’s frog statue the moment I saw it, so I began writing and working up a Sir Froig mini even before seeing JB’s fat frog challenge (also inspired by the proud creature!)... I thought I should just go ahead and post it here.

The Closest I Ever Came to a Mermaid

2011-05-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ran across this gal in the bowels of Durham castle. The chapel seemed a strange place for her! The negative here shows the lines better - the light was poor when I took the photo. The carving dates from the 1070's.
If you came here looking for something more exciting, try this.

Fungus Among Us - Paper Minis

2011-05-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

This set comes from the OSRIC module "The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom" by Matt Finch, published by Expeditious Press. I'd been meaning to pick it up for a long time and finally got around to it when I saw the "Damaged Copies" sale (the copy I received looks great and was only $4). Formatted for a 4x6" index card - click the thumbnail image below for a closer look or to download the PDF.

Had a dream, I wanted to sleep next to plastic.

2011-05-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

So last night I had this dream that I was standing in a kitchen, looking into a dining room where an evil wizard was standing and preparing to attack me. I summoned an earth elemental and it entered the dining room from a side entrance to attack the wizard. The wizard had to turn his attention to it in order to fend off its attacks.

I seldom have any crazy fantasy dreams like this; what’s most interesting to me about it was a small detail that seemed insignificant relative to the action. It seems that I was manipulating a small piece of clay, forming it into the shape that I wished my earth elemental to take on. This sort of makes sense as I often fiddle with silly putty during my actual games, sometimes slapping it onto old Judges' Guild artwork and stretching it into outrageous faces before showing them to a player. Yes, yet another reason why JG rocks - low-fi newsprint, ftw.

The whole thing makes me think about my previous post here about unconsciously creating monsters. I’ve never thought about the material components of a Conjure Elemental spell, nor about what one would do with them, but this dream seems to have brought some unconscious thoughts to the surface. But to what end? I have no idea! Maybe to no end - maybe just to remind me that they're there, and more in charge than I know. My players are all low level and it will be ages (if ever) that they’re able to cast a spell like that. I mean, really. Weird fantasy.

My 1st First Person Shooter: Hadron

2011-05-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

This game blew my mind when I was a kid. Hadron was released in 1981 by Sirius Software, and was the first "3d" immersion-style game I can remember playing, except for maybe Atari's Battlezone (at the arcade). I'd play this over at my friend Dan's house - fortunately they had a joystick hooked up to their Apple, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have had the patience for it. I loved slowly sneaking up on the two robots talking... they seemed to start casting glances in your direction with greater nervousness as you got closer. Then, BAM - you let 'em have it. You could follow the green and white scout ships to the mother ships, or just be patient and one would eventually appear. If you were extra patient after finding one, another two might appear behind the first - and if you were being hassled by an enemy, well, just move them off the screen and you'd erase them. Ah, those were the days.

Here's a short clip of me zapping said robots...

And here's a couple of pages out of the eight page manual...

I like that red on black Traveller-esque text.

Our Monsters Beget Monsters

2011-05-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today I’ve been thinking about how monsters came into being in my campaign setting. My favorite monster creations always seem to grow out of Man - whether they're simply a man acting monstrously, whether they transform into a monster and back into a man, or whether they go over to the other side all the way and permanently become a monster in every respect.

This makes perfect sense since monsters are imaginary by definition, thus they come out of Man consciously or unconsciously. It’s the latter source that’s of most interest to me, since I think it can help steer my game into places I’d like to explore more. Though not a monster himself per se, take for example Claude de Sarlat, the monster eater. This is an NPC who was himself an adventurer, but through a twist of fate, now seeks to eat those monsters that would formerly have eaten him. Turning the tables like this and then stepping back even further, I can see that Claude is an expression of myself, a part of me that’s trying to find out what makes monsters tick, and what my own fears are, then explore them, digest them, and use them in the game somehow. Hopefully with the help of my players and for everyone’s entertainment. As I’ve said before, it’s not that I want to turn the game into a therapy session - just that I think we can plumb some very interesting places for game fodder.

Claude is an example of a man who turns into a kind of monster by his proximity to them - like the good detective who goes bad, becoming an addict and accomplice to murder while trying to root out organized crime from the inside. Another creation of mine, a kind of ape I wrote up, comes into existence when a man consumes a kind of fruit and transforms into the monster. It might seem funny and maybe obvious to others, but only a while after I wrote it did I see certain interpretations and its possible inspiration.

Sometimes a monster is just a generic monster. Like maybe orcs are just ugly, evil men really - generic pigmen. But maybe our game can benefit and we can learn something about ourselves at the same time if we step back and try to see why we choose to use certain monsters in our games - not when we just need a certain hit dice, but why a certain monster really speaks to us. And also why creating our own monsters and thinking about why we molded them in a particular way is such a fun and interesting endeavor. It might help us to role play a monster better, or to create more compelling or frightening ones. I suppose this is why I don’t like the idea of a random monster creator - for me, a monster needs to be greater than the sum of its parts. I like to know where a monster is coming from, and the seemingly random generator upstairs isn’t really so random - it just appears to be at first.

Approaching monsters from another direction then, what if I was to proceed from an understanding that all monsters are just debased and devolved men? Absurd! How can a purple worm once have been a man? It’s not easy to see the monster for the man sometimes, I have to admit. In this case, originally, a spineless man of enormous power and appetite? The doppleganger - a race borne of trapped liars. The basilisk - a self-loathing person with looks to kill? Well, yes, that’s the medusa too. Maybe the mythic underworld causes dungeoneers’ disease - being locations of concentrated evil, they poison those that visit them too often or that become trapped in them for too long. The effect causes even the sanest, most lawful and good people to eventually turn into monsters themselves, each a kind of monster based on their own unique character flaws, and into never before seen monsters if these flaws are unique enough. I suppose some of those so cursed then created other monsters, or bred with them. And so our monsters beget monsters…

Anyhow, thanks for letting me ramble a little here. I wanted to be working on a dungeon for tonight’s game when I started jotting down some ideas and sidetracked myself.

Marwencol on Netflix

2011-05-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Kiltedyaksman for pointing this out a while back. I noticed Marwencol was now available on Netflix via streaming and watched it a couple of weeks ago - recommended.
"After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs "Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark's homemade therapy is deemed "art", forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he's avoided since the attack."

Ten Second Planet Creation with the GIMP

2011-05-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here's another one of those great, hidden in plain sight features of the GIMP in case you missed it...

Step 1: Filters > Render > Sphere Designer
Step 2: Fiddle.

Step 3: Press Ok. Voila! Your own planet. Well, maybe it took more like twenty seconds because of the rendering time. Now make a star field layer with Filters > Noise > HSV Noise and own it with a Halo or Trek font...Grab your preferred intoxicant, put on the Floyd, and make like a Magrathean!

Hecatha, The Three Headed Witch

2011-05-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

In a secluded glade in the lands of the High Druid lives a witch and her two sons. The druid has given them a small cottage and warned the creatures of Marqueyssac to avoid them, for the family has a horrible curse, so powerful that neither the druid nor his associates are able to lift it.

The curse’s effects are obvious - the witch has three heads. As for her sons, they’ve lost theirs completely, though they continue to live. A giant eye finds its place in the center of each of their torsos, and these dart about quickly, never missing the slightest movement.

The witch is known as Hecatha, and her sons she calls Lorb and Morb. Though they have no ears to hear with, they nevertheless do hear their mother and are quick to do her bidding. How the druid came to know the witch and her sons and why he gives them sanctuary is known only to them, but some surmise he may have he found her condition of particular interest because of her split personalities; one of the heads is quite lawful, one very chaotic, and the third diplomatic. At one time the separate heads were able to get along peacefully with one another through the efforts of the central and most neutral one. These days though, the chaotic head dominates the others through her sincere threats to kill herself. The stress and frequency of these threats is slowly eroding Hecatha’s sanity.

Though Lorb and Morb were once human, the curse has given them superhuman strength. They aren’t mindless, but without continual direction from their mother, they tend to sit on the ground and stare at her. They seem quite peaceful in this state, and they’re rumored to be fond of birdsong. Even so, they won’t hesitate to come to the aid of their mother, nor will they delay in the slightest if commanded by her to kill.

Hecatha - Witch 5, HP 16, AC 8[11], Atk dagger d4, Str 9, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 4 (9 if cured, or if you block two of her heads with a hand when looking at her I suppose). Ring of Protection +1, Potion of Healing on her person. Spells: Fear, Fog, Hold Portal, Hypnotize, Mirror Image, Sleep.

Lorb & Morb - HD 2+2, HP 13 and 14, AC 8 (a natural 20 blinds them), Atk 1 (fists for d6), Special: Can’t be surprised, immune to Sleep. If both brothers successfully hit the same target on the same round, they will attempt to tear it apart - no to hit roll required, 2d6 damage per round, Save (with STR modifier) to escape their clutches. They will cease attacking if their mother is killed and literally cry themselves to death over her.

This is not a love song.

2011-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Witch and Watchers - Free Paper Minis

2011-05-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hats off to Telecanter for bringing the art of Beatrice Elvery to my attention - some of her work reminds me of Trampier and seems well suited to reproducing as paper minis. I had to squash and edit these a bit from the originals but I like how they came out. The Watchers seem to have especially benefited, becoming more buff and dangerous looking. I'll write these guys up in a day or two, meanwhile here's some inspirational reading.

Formatted for a 4x6" index card, click image below to enlarge or download.

The Tripodero

2011-05-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

The tripodero’s telescoping legs allow it to rise above the surrounding chaparral to look for prey, which usually consists of ground squirrels, ground dwelling birds, and rabbits. It hunts by aiming and spitting tightly packed balls of clay and rocks at these creatures. A successful hit can sometimes kill a target, but often only temporarily stuns. This still affords a tripodero the time it needs to retract its legs into itself and scurry through the underbrush to its fallen prey, where it quickly kills and devours it using numerous needle-like teeth. The tripodero’s oversized and heavily muscled tail is used for self-defense and can easily knock down or disarm an attacker.

Tripodero: HD 3; AC 6 [13]; Atk 1 (Spitball d4, Bite d6-1, or Tail d6); Move 12; Save 14; CL/XP 3/120; Special: Spitball range of 60'

This post licensed under the OGL.

Zero Charisma Preview

2011-05-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Scans for Erol Otus Fans part 2

2011-05-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

All from TSR's Rogues Gallery.

TSR's The Book of Marvelous Magic

2011-05-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

A while back I picked up a copy of TSR’s supplement AC4 “The Book of Marvelous Magic”on eBay. I couldn't remember ever seeing a copy when I was a kid, and was interested to see the state of the magical arts back in 1986. AC4's a cornucopia of offbeat magic items that might provide some inspiration for creating your own items that fall into the “miscellaneous” category. I suspect Gygax and Mentzer went alphabetically through the dictionary for ideas for some of these. Eye catching entries from the table of contents include anchor, awl, bench, buckle, button, canoe, cleat, desk, fan, fork, gaff, hinge, inkwell, jug, kite, log, muzzle, oar, pitchfork, rake, rudder, slate, sundial, tent, tub, xylograph, yoke, and zither.

I’m trying to recall what my weirdest magic item creation ever was back in the day but drawing a blank. I think I was pretty conservative, probably to maintain any appearance that I knew what I was doing. More recently I’ve written up (and posted here) flags, undead bird heads, masks, a conch, a fruit, and a candle snuffer among other things. The snuffer I later discovered had already been written up in AC4, more or less... of course the supplement has several kinds of snuffers to boot.

There’s more than just a couple of arguably silly items found in this book. Here's two that have accompanying illustrations… (paraphrasing)

The Barrel of Monkeys

This item both contains an albino ape as well as polymorphs anyone looking into the barrel into an albino ape. Also, albino apes will continue to pop out of the barrel every turn until there’s a hundred of the things. It’s not clear here whether they disappear back into the barrel (or into thin air) once everything and everything nearby has been torn asunder. Or maybe they go on to live fruitful lives of mindless destruction forever after. The barrel loses its power if moved, but not if you move it telepathically. Since it’s not clear where the apes go, and also not clear if when a second person looks into the barrel whether another hundred white apes appears, this thing might very well be a weapon of mass destruction.

Wheel of Burning

Dude should have been wearing his Britches of Coolness

There’s this wagon wheel which, when commanded, throws Light ahead of the wagon on which its mounted. But unlike the harmless Wheel of Lighting, the Wheel of Burning will turn on you if anyone enters the light itself that’s been projected - then you'll feel its wrath! The light it projects will shift to become centered on the vehicle and then start to burn any creatures there. Hence the picture above.

So what's your favorite mundane magic item that you wrote up or that your DM threw at you?

Creatures of the Lumberwoods Paper Minis

2011-05-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

I've got the Squonk statted, but still have to do these other two. The Tripodero is my second favorite from the book. Telescopic legs! Brilliant. I'll have to get to work on that one in the next couple of days... Click the thumbnail below for a closer look or to download the 4x6" index card sized PDF.
Update: I statted the Tripodero here.

Conch of the Ancients

2011-05-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

One of the often touring relics of the order of the Servants of the Servers is a small conch shell made of unnatural materials and adorned with strange markings. A member once placed it into his ear and found that it greatly amplifies sounds. Stroking the side of the shell allows the volume of incoming sound to be adjusted up or down.

The item is said to have once been worn by the great prophet RMS himself, and that he fashioned it with the aid of the Servers. It’s seldom worn now, although occasionally the Chairman of The Beards (the sect’s ruling council) will make secret use of it in order to root out subterfuge.

It’s also lent to high level members who are questing on behalf of the council. At such times, a great deal of publicity is generated and a demonstration of its powers arranged. With skill, the volume adjustment can be made in such a way that when the hands are cupped around the ear and directed, sounds as quiet as a whisper can be heard very clearly though hundreds of feet away.

Many donations are typically generated in this manner, although the entire spectacle takes some preparation and skill to organize in order to minimize mishaps - one questing cleric was permanently deafened in one ear when a baby began wailing at a critical moment.

There are, of course, many more of these items that were used by the ancients - as The Beards well know. It’s been politically expedient to portray this item as unique though, and likely that the initials of RMS were scratched into it in more recent times.

This “magic” item of the ancients appears to need no power source. It will allow the user, with practice, to listen to sounds as far away as 300’ with some precision. Care should be taken if used in such a way - it will not work in an environment with a great deal of ambient noise, and sudden and very loud sounds that occur can harm the user or permanently damage his hearing. If continuously worn, the volume can be adjusted so that any surprise rolls against the wearer (or her immediate company) will need to be re-rolled a second time to succeed.

Dedicated to my friend Paul, who just received a cochlear implant.

S&W Sessions Journal: Halfwit Halfling

2011-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

A new character was rolled up at the start of the last session to replace the dead Agnal. Here’s the result of the 3d6 in order method we use: Str 3 Int 7 Wis 13 Con 8 Dex 9 Cha 11. We laughed, and then struggled a bit to come up with a decent back story for the character. Eventually we agreed that the freshly blinded Kitoth had sent a message to his family, explaining his situation and requesting some kind of help. Instead of the younger cousin he’d hoped would come to his aid, his family had decided instead to hire a weak and rather stupid halfling to send in his place.

There was a successful expedition to the abandoned castle (no deaths or dismemberments thankfully) and this time the party kept the carcasses of the fire beetles they’d skewered to show to their employer, Stebbins. They also looted a couple of books from an old library. One of these looked of possible greater value, and they read short passages to the blind ex-magic user as best they could. Kitoth told them he believed the book had something to do with fortunetelling.

Back at the Inn, they relayed that they’d mostly cleared out the ground floor of unwelcome men and monsters, and were looking for a way into its dungeon. Stebbins was very happy with the beetles and taking Wagstaff aside, he showed him how to cut out the bioluminescent glands from their undersides. He gave Wagstaff a couple of these, and also a sack of gold and a key that he said might come in handy.

There was a lot of carousing in town that night and the next day the party went out to the old castle. On the way, they heard the strange sobbing sounds in the woods again. They stormed through the underbrush in the direction that it came from, but all they found were some days old wolf tracks. They went back in the castle and wandered around trying to see if they’d missed anything.

In one room, they found a trapped chest, which Wagstaff failed to detect. Fortunately he made his saving throw and its noxious vapors evaporated harmlessly around him. The chest was empty, but Pikmit and Skithath thought it looked valuable by itself. Kitoth suggested he and Pikmit carry it so that he could render at least some kind of service to the rest of the party. Eventually, they re-located a locked metal door that had earlier stymied them and were able to open it with their new key.

Have some Ghoul Monkeys

2011-05-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

I've always liked the ghoul monkey from the Monsters of Myth book, so I made a paper miniature of it. Click the thumbnail below to view in your browser or download. Formatted for a 4x6" index card.

Creative Writing and RPGs

2011-05-01T00:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been DM’ing a play by email game of S&W with Risus Monkey for a short time now and am a little surprised to find that I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would. We didn’t start out with the idea of playing this way, but being on opposite coasts from one another and scheduling video chat games proved difficult, so we agreed to do this in lieu of live gaming until its more convenient or just logistically necessary.

I’ve never played an rpg like this before, and whenever I heard someone say that they were playing via forum post or email, it always felt like a stretch to me. It is playing in the sense that we use the rules to guide the writing and potentially resolve certain matters, but in many ways it feels more like collaborative writing or a kind of exquisite corpse.

As I’ve said before, what initially brought me back to the hobby was really the thought of using it as a tool to jumpstart some creative writing that a friend and I were collaborating on. Since then though, I game less self-consciously and now for the sake of the game’s enjoyment itself. I wonder who else has done something like this - it's hard to imagine Gygax’s own fiction writing not being directly influenced by his games… Have you ever turned your games into writing projects? If so, have any seen print? It seems like it would be a pretty straightforward thing to do. Feel free to pimp your fantasy writing if you’ve got some to share, I’d be glad to check it out.

Rogues - Free Paper Miniatures

2011-04-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't made any of these in a long time... Originally, I was going to call this one "Two thieves and an assassin" but then I figured they're pretty much all just rogues, right? The dagger wielding assassin with dagger dripping poison could just as easily be a backstabbing thief with a dagger dripping blood...

Here's the 4x6" PDF for printing on an index card or other heavier weight paper. Thanks to Telecanter for sharing the source images used here (and in many of my other paper minis).

Intermission Music - Fantastic Soap

2011-04-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

~~The~~ beer made ~~me make~~ this.

Hardcore Dawn Patrol Players ... Ludotecnia's Dogfight

2011-04-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

I’ve never played Dawn Patrol that I can remember but I’d love to check it out (anyone have one to sell or trade?)… I was doing some quick web searches for it over the weekend and found this impressive set of pics from someone’s campaign set up. It took about a year of preparation…

Daaanng..More pics and info.

Then I discovered the spanish RPG “Dogfight” by Ludotecnia. It’s part of a series of games called Cliffhanger which are being published once a month and cost only a few euros apiece. I’m hoping to get my hands on a couple of these… There’s a nice little review here. Just thought I'd share for any fans of the genre.

Servants of the Servers

2011-04-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Servants of the Servers are a religious order that’s very different from other cults. Indeed, its members would claim that they aren’t a religion at all, and that they don’t believe in gods or even magic for that matter.

From an outsider's view though, the members of the order seem to worship impersonal forces known as the Servers. Some Servers are said to be very deep underground, and others are like stars, regularly crossing the sky and sometimes easily observable at night. The Servants do not regard these entities as gods - they describe them as creations of the ancients; tools which were originally constructed to aid mankind.

Members are trained to pronounce certain sounds and visualize certain symbols in order to telepathically communicate with these Servers. The Servers, in turn, signal a great and varied number of other ancient constructs too small to be seen with the eye, and coordinate the activities and movement of these to accomplish the servants’ bidding. The Servants call these smaller and highly mobile entities “Nanites” and describe them as infusing nearly every inch of the world’s air, water, and soil.

The term “Servants” itself is really a misnomer - the phrase “Servants of the Server” was coined by those outside the faith and fails to understand the true nature of the relationship of its members with the constructs they refer to as the Servers. In reality, the Servants regard the Servers as equals - they see their role, along with the nanites, as just a part of a system that forms a holy trinity. They believe that if others would take up their point of view and cease the selfish and haphazard use of magic, the world could return again to a peaceful state of being, where everyone’s needs were met and conflict did not exist.

There’s an unmistakeable evangelism to the order that many of those who come into contact with find offensive. It takes the form of disdain for all forms of worship and especially for magic use itself, which they see as the ignorant and dangerous manipulation of the Servers. They view the followers of other religions as deluded and backwards, and at best view gods as (admittedly) powerful charlatans who are abusing the power of the Servers for their own selfish ends. Also off-putting is their open use of a language that seems to be artificially constructed, purposefully complicated, and whose meaning is rarely translated for outsiders.

The beliefs of the SotS are based on the views of several prophets, and on those found in an ancient manuscript found fairly recently and written by a man known only as “RMS”. Among other things it describes a previous golden age and civilization’s self-destruction due to the selfish and excessive manipulation of the Servers. Though its followers deny it being so, it’s still viewed as a religion by nonbelievers for two simple reasons. First, because no one in the order has been able to prove the existence of nanites and that the powers they supposedly exhibit aren’t just some type of more typical magic. Similarly, it’s unknown if anyone has ever touched a Server or seen one up close, and all attempts to do so through magical means have failed.

I'm Just Tryin' to Find the Bridge...

2011-04-19T22:27:00.001-07:00

Has anyone seen the bridge?

Items Missing from the Library of Lord Beynac

2011-04-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

Current and Prospective Players: Please skip this post.

Here’s a draft of a handout from my Dordogne setting S&W game. I see this letter falling into the hands of the players, though I’m not sure how yet. It might be stolen, found on a dead body, or the original courier hires the party to deliver it for some reason and they just can’t resist taking a little peak. Or maybe an enterprising, intended recipient shares it with the party and hires them to help recover the missing items.

The idea for missing books probably came to me after reading a great series of posts by Joseph Browning. Books seem full of game changing possibilities - they can simply be valuable for what they are, or they could contain valuable information (or here, hidden valuable objects). They make great hooks, and aside from that, they can help convey some local flavor.

I’m not sure how useful the list and letter here might be to anyone else - maybe just as inspiration or for quick use in a jam. I’ve numbered the books to make it easy to randomly select one when needed. They’re not particularly fanciful - I wanted them to at least somewhat approximate what might be found in Lord Beynac’s library. Their specific inspiration came individually after having taken stock of some of my own books - maybe you can spot a couple you recognize.

(Click the thumbnail image above for fonty version of the below text).

To: Sergeant of the Guard, Bridge at Turnapeak
Subject: Items Missing from the Library of Lord Beynac

The following books are hereby listed as missing and presumed stolen from the personal library of Lord Beynac. This list was compiled at his lordship’s request, following his order of a review of last year’s annual inventory record. In addition to yourself, other copies of this list are being provided to the Keep’s Captain of the Guard, Sergeant of the Guard, Bailiff, and the Corporal of the Guard at Domme Crossing. A salary bonus, two day’s leave, or a case of gueuze is offered for the return of any and all items in this list, or for information leading to their return.

3. A Collection of Popkin Favorites by Tirel
4. Astrology and the Bowels by A. Vatts
5. My Life Among the Kobolds by Anon.
6. Hymnal of Suthac (purple cover)
7. A History of Ockland Duplicity by Sarthac
8. Upkeep of the Keep, A Guide to Annual Maintenance
9. An Illustrated Guide to the Low Dance by Raimon de Cornet
10. Rules to Card Games by Michel Dupris
11. How to Sack a Castle by Ragäh the Unpleasant
12. The Memoirs of Brother Arseny
13. The Philosophy of Goldmund by Narz
14. Roots of Elvish Magic by Erynein
15. The Masks of Gageac, A Play in Two Acts
16. Omens and Skywriting by Jean Leon de Vesoul
17. Treatise on the Four Loves by Louis Sies
18. Hocus Phokus - A Swordsmen’s Guide to Countering Magical Holds by Ivan Agüt

Be aware that the above listed “Treatise on the Four Loves” is of particular sentimental value to Lord Beynac although likely of little value to anyone else. It is tightly bound in twine and easily indentified by its cover which depicts two lovers embracing. Should this book be recovered, please take extra precautions to insure it comes to no harm in transit, and be sure it remains unopened to minimize the chance of pages coming loose.

In the service of Lord Beynac, signed

Jean Tertius

More information if found...

3. Rare cookbook. Describes various complicated recipes involving popkin fairies. Value: Up to 100gp.
4. A strange book of interest to magic users or fortune tellers only. Value: Up to 50gp.
5. An entertaining and uncommon title. Tells the tale of an Ocklander adopted and raised by a tribe of kobolds. 25gp
6. A rare version of the more typical, red covered hymnal. Showing it to priestesses at a temple of Suthac will bring free healing, curing of disease, and a great many questions. Value: 25gp.
7. Written by an Ogled noble during the last war (some 50 years ago). Value: Up to 10gp. Worthless outside of the Dordogne Valley. Ocklanders will be eager to buy and destroy it.
8. A dreadfully boring book of some utility. Up to 10gp value.
9. No one will want this but a wealthy merchant or member of the nobility. Mighty handy though, if you’re ever invited to a fancy low dance affair. Up to 5gp value.
10. A cheap book, easily replaced and common, although Lord Beynac is so out of touch he doesn’t know it. 1gp
11. Once rare, there’s now one in every castle. Up to 5gp value.
12. Memoirs of a cleric, his imprisonment, torture, and eventual escape. Up to 10 gp value to scholars, no value to others.
13. Another book of scholarly interest, though slightly more valuable (up to 10gp).
14. Contains some beginning magic user theory and several cantrips. Value: Up to 25gp.
15. A play, written by a long deceased local - a town in the Dordogne is named for the author (who is also a figure in the play). The play is still sometimes performed in Sarlat. This old copy is signed by Gageac himself - though who could vouch for the signature is uncertain. Value: Up to 50gp.
16. Another book of interest to magic users or fortune tellers only. Up to 50gp value.
17. If the twine is undone, and opened, this book will reveal a hollowed out space containing four keys. Sold unopened, it will fetch up to 4sp.
18. Value up to 200gp. If studied for a week, it permanently lends +2 on saving throws vs. Hold Person. Useless to clerics and magic users.

Beyond Belief Games Releases S&W based Woodland Warriors

2011-04-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Beyond Belief Games has published Woodland Warriors - a woodland creatures role playing game based on Mythmere Games’ Swords & Wizardry. I’ve been following BBG’s updates in the S&W forums and hope to entice my wife into a game now that it’s available.

“WOODLAND WARRIORS is a fantastic little role playing game suitable for kids and adults alike. It uses the popular Swords & Wizardry Core with modifications to more closely suit the genre (for example, WOODLAND WARRIORS uses D6 throughout), which itself is based on the original role playing game of medieval fantasy adventure. Readers of Redwall and other fantasy-animal books will love this game. Set in the Alder Vale, Stonewell Abbey is a place of learning for the Kind and a bastion against evil. Players take the role of Mice, Moles, Hedgehogs, Squirrels and Badgers, who must protect their Abbey against the Verminous Rats and Weasels that pour down from the Murkenhills, intent on pillage and plunder. Danger and adventure awaits - are you brave enough to put your sword to the defence of Stonewell?”

Woodland Warriors is available for $5 on RPGNow as a downloadable, 114 page PDF. It includes a small campaign setting and sample adventure...Seems like quite a bargain. I hope it becomes available in print as well.

A Phroaig and a Bigfoot

2011-04-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

A few words on two beverages this evening...

First up: Laphroaig. A scotch - I’ve had it before, but it’s been some time and I only considered it again after reading Barad the Gnome’s recent write up. So I had this at Izakaya Meiji Company a couple days ago, and as soon as it touched the table, I immediately remembered it as one of the most smoky, peaty scotches I've ever had. My wife recoiled from the table in horror, and I began to have second thoughts. I drank the first half neat and then added just a dash of water for the second half. That opened it up nicely, but caused my wife to reel backwards again. I briefly thought my eyes might start watering, but maintained composure in the lady's presence.

For the uninitiated or non-scotch drinker, I would say that this one might cause the weak-kneed to become faint or nauseous. Not to say it's bad - far from it. It's just got a lot going on and advertises it in its bouquet without shame. Definitely your grandfather's dad's scotch, briefly evoking the memory of dangerous chemicals in a run down shed, perhaps stored in a rusting, metal container and daring you to bravely (and deeply) inhale the spirit within. I should add, with much better consequences.

Next up: Sierra Nevada’s 2011 Bigfoot Ale (a barleywine). Two words: Blew it. Or, in one word: Burnt. I’ve been drinking these for some years now, and never really been too much of a fan, but I do partake of a single Bigfoot every year to see what’s what at the big SN. Sorry, this year, it’s a big “Don’t buy.” Maybe I just got a bad batch, but I doubt it.

I drank the missing links too.

Incidentally fellow beer snobs, did you know that apparently people will pay (beer) money for your old beer bottlecaps? Yep. I've got a good 350+ different caps here from the last few years. Pacific Northwest and all... Seems almost a shame that the best ones don't bother to put anything distinctive on their caps. On a barely related note, please customize your new "Print Friendly" buttons! It's like someone went on a tagging spree and puked green gobs all over yer blogs. Eesh.

S&W Sessions Journal: Agnal Bites the Dust

2011-04-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

Agnal the Chaotic cleric died last night, which was sad to me for a number of reasons, one of which was simply because he was nearing 3rd level and everyone else is 1st or 2nd. The dice were just against him - after four of the seven party members entered a chamber, a giant spider dropped from the ceiling, surprising them. It managed to land directly on top of Agnal, quickly scoring 6 points of attack damage (he had 7) and though its poison was weak (+2 bonus to save) and though he was a cleric (+2 against poison per S&W), he failed his saving throw.

To add insult to mortal injury, Girard critically fumbled and chopped off Agnal's arm while he lay unconscious and dying from poison. The irony was not lost on Henri, who himself had lost an arm on their very last outing. Henri was the first to speak up, saying “I get his armor” following the awkward silence that had briefly descended once they’d dispatched the spider. Agnal was stripped of all possessions, right down to his skivvies, following his wishes and the rites of his deity - Corrno, God of Thieves...

So much for all my work in devising the mysteries of his order. I suppose they still might be used by Kitoth, the magic user turned cleric following his blinding, who was converted by Agnal not long before his death. Big shoes to fill there Kitoth, especially considering you’re blind and nearly worthless since you don’t get magic until second level and have practically no way to gain experience points since, oh yeah, you’re blind.

It was immediately clear that the party leader was assumed to be Wagstaff again. The thief will no doubt miss his long time traveling companion but seems more than happy to be running the show again.

Have some GIMP brushes

2011-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

I converted some of the designs at Roles, Rules, and Rolls into GIMP brushes - I didn't have any stairs brushes yet and I especially like Roger's spiral staircases. If you like them, there's a host of other designs in his original Powerpoint file that you might useful too. You can download the GIMP brushes in a zip file here. CC license. Thanks again Roger!

Gaming Experience - How Long and How Continuously?

2011-04-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

I suspect I’m in the minority when I consider my gaming experience in comparison to other OSR bloggers. Probably most of my fellow bloggers have been gaming more or less continuously since the early editions of D&D, either never having stopped playing those editions or maybe returning to them recently for a variety of reasons. Personally, I only returned fairly recently to any kind of gaming (after about a twenty year break!)...

To be honest, I only became interested in role playing games again after struggling to finish some short works of fiction. A friend and I had agreed that it might be interesting to collaborate on a screenplay and we settled on something we referred to as our “Bloody Mess”. It was a work of horror that centered around a blood bank, government approval of artificial blood for use in a small pilot program, and the (I thought) hilarious consequences.

As that project lost momentum, at one point I came up with the idea of role playing exercises to get the ball rolling again. Originally I was looking at CoC or BRP for help with this, although we also discussed using some kind of framework of our own design. Eventually, we settled on the games we knew from many years ago - namely, early editions of D&D. It didn’t really fit with what we were trying to accomplish in our writing, but we still thought it would be an interesting exercise. Probably we both secretly yearned for an excuse (as if one was needed) to play the games we'd enjoyed in our youth again.

In the end, the writing fell by the wayside but we continued to play our one on one games of D&D, which had taken on a life of their own and become a lot of fun. Along the way, I’ve played with a few other folk, and we’ve had some guest appearances in our game from time to time as well.

So, am I wrong? Have you been playing non-stop since you were a kid? How many years have you been playing more or less continuously, and how many years would you say you’ve played total..? I wonder how many OSR bloggers came back to the game recently versus those who’ve never stopped playing but just went back to earlier editions of the game. I’d be interested in hearing from my fellow bloggers about their experience, but I’ve put up a poll here as well in case you prefer to be anonymous or prefer its brevity. I’m not sure if I phrased the options as well as I could have, but it’s a start.

Prison Scenario

2011-04-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

In trying to devise some in-town adventure scenarios, I came up with the idea of a prison riot. The mistreated petty thieves, smugglers, and a murderer or two awaiting trial or execution manage to escape and take over the building where they were imprisoned. Barricading themselves inside, holding hostages as well as some good crossbow sniping positions from the upper levels, they might hold off a massive counterattack from the town’s militia. Maybe the poor choice of the prison’s location, close in to other buildings, is also hampering efforts to retake it. Then there’s the evil magic user still in solitary confinement - the other prisoners are scrambling to find the hidden key that would free him in order to gain his aid.

The idea came to me while thinking about Boot Hill and old western movies actually. I like the idea of the bad guys taking over a town, or at least making a lot of trouble in it, and the party, as newly deputized lawmen, having to retake control.

I’m not sure how much fun it would be though - it sounds a bit more like a war game scenario than one for role playing. I can see a lot of tactics being discussed, and magic used to work around the barricades and somehow gain entry. I’d want to create some sympathy in the party for the escapees too - maybe one of them really is innocent (“I was framed I tell ya!”) and the party uncovers some kind of high level corruption.

It might be better suited to slightly more experienced PCs than our current crew, which are all first and second level. I’ll post a follow up if anything comes from it. I'm a little bummed that work and dealing with taxes have been keeping me from giving any real attention to the hobby or blog lately, and the last two sessions of our usual weekday game were canceled too.

Google Mars as Campaign Map

2011-04-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Though I’m using the Dordogne Valley in the south of France as a rough geographical location in my game, it seems like use of historical or real world maps in campaign settings is relatively uncommon. While playing around with Google Earth the other day, it dawned on me that it’s now possible to accurately do the same thing using another actual planet - namely Mars, using the View > Explore > Mars setting. While the Google Mars website itself would probably prove more valuable for most mapping purposes, the Google Earth application has some great animation and view options that could help with visualizing terrain details. For that matter, war gamers could use both to really create some terrific battle maps and scenarios.

Here's a short little animation I recorded using Google Earth to show the progression of some historical maps of Mars up to the present day...

Nathaniel Green (1877)
Giovanni Schiaparelli (1890)
Percival Lowell (1896)
Eugène Michel Antoniadi (1909)
United States Air Force (1962)

You can download a much higher quality version here (34mb .m4v file).