Random Thought Table

Looking at RC Pinnell's extentions to the Against the Giants I was struck by the idea that the Giants modules would be great for a real world campaign set just west of the Urals. If we take generic D&D as set in a world like Western Europe roughly 1400-1600 in terms of culture the backdrop could be Ivan the Terrible's wars. Are the giants actually agents of Ivan against Novgorod or something else?

Holmes Resources?

I'm hoping my readership can help me here. I'd like to add a page to the site here specifically of supplementary material to The Blue Book of Holmes the Physician. So, I'm looking for any and all resources designed specifically to be expansions to Holmes D&D. I know of Meepo's companion as well as Patrick's and Robert Pinnell's (although is that still available...did he incorporate the contents into Holmes77?). Active and alternative links for those as well as anything else would be greatly appreciated.

A Personal OSR Milestone

Yesterday I had a notice that there was a package in my complex office for me.  Actually, there were two.  One from Lulu and one from DriveThruRPG.  The contained hard copies of Hard Light and Darkness Visible.  Along with my purchase of the Mongoose edition of Stars Without Number this becomes the first OSR game line with more than one print product where I own all of them.

Sine Nomine Publishing is also the first OSR publisher whose entire print output I own because of that although I'm hoping for a print version of Red Tides.

Neutral good and wizard I'll buy, but cleric

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard/Cleric (3rd/3rd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-13
Intelligence-17
Wisdom-12
Charisma-14

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

The only classes with positive scores were the two I got and fighter. Rouge and sorcerer were zero and the rest were negative. Good beat the living snot out of neutral and evil (more than those combined). Gnome and halfing were the racial runner ups.

I'm not even edgy...

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

One comic book feature I want to see in D&D more

When you enter a wizard's chamber he's levitating about 2 feet off the floor in Lotus position.

Monday Pointers, DragonCon 2011 Edition

D4: The breadth of inspiration
Rob Knutz's recollection of where many items in his and Gary's early campaign drew inspiration.  If you think that because you're playing a fantasy game means Iron Man comics and the products of Campbell's Golden Age are off limits you really need to read this.  He explains much better (by showing, not telling) the idea I was after with the big list.

D6: Opening Pandora's Box again
Timeshadows is right.  I've played T&T since 1979 and it's my go to game for one-shots and convention games.  Which is why I'm running it at Consticon.

D8: A Far Northern Land
Thanks to Lin Carter's anthology Lost Worlds, specifically his two "collaborations" with Clark Ashton Smith I got interested in the idea of a Greenland that was tropical and temperate instead of covered in an ice sheet. Wikipedia identifies Smith's Hyperborea with Greenland although I'm not sure why (anyone got some pointers on that). Regardless, Wikipedia also provides us a map of Greenland sans glaciers with an awesome inland sea.

D10: Infinite Stars
Stars Without Number now has its own fanzine.  While you're grooving in post-Scream space check out the game's blog (just click on its title) for a bunch of clippings: little editions including some previews of  a Terra Post Dust supplement and the merchant version of Skyward Steel as well as adding wizards from your favorite old school game to SWN.  You could also use SWN's psi class as an alternative to supplement three psionics.

I'm going to Consticon

Event: The Stone Roses 

System: Tunnels & Trolls (5.5/7.5 Mash-up) See below if you don't own T&T

When: 

• Atlanta, GA:Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 12:00:00 Noon 
• Midnight between Saturday, September 3, 2011 and Sunday, September 4, 2011 
• Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 8:30:00 PM 
• Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 16:00:00 

Players: Room for 4

What to bring: 1st level character, human/elf/dwarf/hobbit. If you don't own T&T get the basics of 5th edition here. There are only three more things you need to know:

1. Roll a wizardry stat 3d6 (all kindreds have an x1 multiplier). This powers spells instead of strength.
2. Warriors add their level to their combat adds 
3. Pick one talent (acrobatics, slight of hand, herbalism, musical insturments) and set it's initial value to an appropriate attribute + 1d6. When it fits you'll use it instead of a stat for a saving roll.

Contact info: herb (dot) nowell at webmail of that big search engine which does G+ or here.

Inspired to run EPT

If you live in greater Atlanta, I will be running Empire of the Petal Throne at the D&D meetup on September 10th after being inspired by Victor's thread at Original D&D Discussion.

Twenty Questions about The World After, Part II

The first eight questions

Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

Three societies of mages are openly known. The White Order of Vijerra is known for spells of protection and divination.  Membership in the White Order is perhaps the best protection against Hierarchy harassment although it also involves swearing off many practices including most offensive spells. 

Many adventuring mages owe allegiance to Società del Spinosi Rose which places emphasis on the dangers of magic and how that danger leads to its thrill.  Members of the Società are the most free in exchanging knowledge.  As you might guess their relationship with the Hierarchy is opposite that of the White Order.

Finally, rural mages who mostly work with practical magics are members of a fairly informal group known as The Brotherhood of the Hedge.  While they do share solutions to common problems the biggest purpose of the Brotherhood is to provide lodging and board for mages as they travel to attend to issues or gather components.

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

Most experts can be hired in Quavveniec although you'd have better luck finding an alchemist in Quatruscaj.

Where can I hire mercenaries?

Normal human mercenaries are found in Quavveniec as well as the city of Ypubina in the east where warriors gather to be hired to fend off the Hetokipp.

Human and monstrous mercenaries are found plying their trade in Quatruscaj.

Finally, all the Astrinoff princelings hire mercenaries in Vijerra to the north.

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?

While magic isn't outlawed it's chaotic nature will lead to hassles for using it in Hierarchy controlled cities, especially Quavveniec. Every usage will be scrutinized and officials of the Hierarchy will use even the appearance of disrupting order with magic as a reason to assert any practitioner and his associates as an agent of chaos. This is doubly true of Elves.

Which way to the nearest tavern?  

Coyppored has two taverns and one inn.  The Il Flagon Ultimo is the rougher of the two taverns.  It customers tend to be guards for travelers leaving to the north and crossing the mostly open lands between Coyppored and the land of the Urgah Emperors and the Astrinoff Princelings they nominally rule.

The more gentile tavern, often frequented by those whose guards are drinking at Il Flagon, is The Adorable Fork.  Owned by a famed priest of Saint Rachel the Cook it often gets visitors from Quavveniec for his cooking.

Finally, the Inn of the Two Geese, is a comfortable and rather large inn.  While it has a common room with acceptable road fare the occupants of it's three opulent rooms in its side annex tend to dine at The Adorable Fork.  In fact, the owner built the annex specifically to accommodate travelers from Quavveniec and other places heading to Coyppored specifically for said meals.  In its main building are several multi-person rooms on the second floor.

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

To the east the Soypvensu are bracing for a new campaign of conquest by the Hetokipp Warlords.

To the northeast the Urgah are preparing to try to unify the Astrinoff princelings under their rule. At the same time the Astrinoffs continue their on-again/off-again war with the Dukes of Dybrug and Apris (wars which supposedly date to before The Harrowing).

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

The Grand Arena of Quatruscaj is legendary for grand battles between heroes and monsters as well as the wealth winners can gain.

Did you know Castles and Crusades is on Sale?

Well, it is.  You can get the player's book and the monster and treasure book for a mere $20 in hardback.

I was actually an early adopter of C&C.  In fact, that is probably what I should credit my return to TSR D&D. 

Twenty Questions about The World After, Part I

Specifically, they concern the Coyppored region.

The questions come from Jeff's Gameblog:

What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

You cleric is either a member of the Hierarchy or one of the Cults of the Thousand Saints.

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

The closest place to get supplies is the town of Coyppored in the shadows of Mount Pabnaff.

Where can we get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

The City of Quatruscaj is the best bet. Of course, Quatruscaj is in the center of a blasted waste and mere travel there is to risk death from Demons or the Curse of the Watery Blood.

You could get it done in Quavveniec which is much closer. It is about a day's travel to it as opposed to nearly a week's travel for Quatruscaj. Still, Quavveniec is the seat of the Hierarchy and having a monster with you could cause trouble.

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

Parkin of the Still Pastures. He lives in his tower to the far north among the Astrinoff.

Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

Ag Ribapid, whose mercenary band has never lost a battle.  He is currently serving to the east against the Hetokipp Warlords.

Who is the richest person in the land?

The great spice merchant Am Rroc Ypopo in the city of Quavveniec.

Where can we go to get some magical healing?

In Coyppored is a shrine to Holmes the Physician, one of the Thousand Saints whose priests are well versed in healing.

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

Minor diseases, poisons, and curses can be curred at the shire to Holmes by the local priest. Cures for more serious diseases, poison, and curses, as well as other serious offenses against the laws of nature are to be found in Quavveniec by priests of Holmes and the Hierarchy.

A cure for death is known to be possible but is considered an offense against the natural order and rare is the cleric of any order who is willing to undertake it. However, there are tales of witch doctors among the Hetokipp who are willing to traverse the spirit realm to restore the soul to the body.

Monday Pointers, August 22, 2011

D4: We are more metal than you, period
Just go listen...it's all about the lyrics.

D6: Taking a bite out of the dungeon
While this class might seem odd or useless I think it's classic golden age D&D where anything is possible.

D8: Sexy wood nymphs no more
Over on The Barbaric Frontier M.P. provides us with a horrific take on the dryad.

D10: The only thing we have to fear
An interesting alternative rule for "save for flee" horror effects.

D12: Don't use rules to be lazy
Although the author focused on 4th edition you could argue the trend started with AD&D or maybe even Greyhawk itself.  So when you read it don't get hung up on the title or the specific game mentioned.  Grok the idea.

Dead Sea Inspiration

Did you know one of the Dead Sea Scrolls was copper instead of being papyrus or parchment?

Oh, it's also a treasure map.

Well, it's more a description of over sixty locations all but one of which are caches of gold or silver. The logical candidate for the source of them is the Second Temple but others exist. However, before you go get your shovel and metal detector consider these sample locations:

In the salt pit that is under the steps: forty-one talents of silver.

In the cave of the old washer's chamber, on the third terrace: sixty-five ingots of gold.

I think this is a great item to use to kick off a campaign. Give your party of adventures descriptions of a large number of treasures that are obscure references. Make sure the list is also valuable to some other group and let competition and investigation get the sandbox rolling.

For example, imagine instead of trying to write your own Temple of Elemental Evil or using T1-4 that in the moat house in Hommlet the party finds a copper plate describing obscure places across the Flanaess where agents of the Temple stashed it's treasure after the Battle of Emridy Meadows.

Now, instead of heading in the ruins of the temple they're encourage to race agents of the Temple to regain the treasure. Perhaps this could include parts of the artifact needed to stop the Elder Elemental Evil. Certainly, it will trip up people familiar with the "plot".

More details can be found on Wikipedia.

Mash-up Campaign Idea

A while I wrote about trying to actually build a campaign out of this great description of D&D from Jeff Reints:

You play Conan, I play Gandalf.  We team up to fight Dracula.

Last time I tried to translate it somehow but this weekend I had an insight that lead me to want to take it literally: Gandalf doesn't have to mean Lord of the Rings.  It can just mean The Hobbit.  If you limit the influence of the Gandalf source to just that book you can have a VERY different setting.  With that revelation I think you could actually build a setting where Gandalf and Conan are actual NPCs or will be at some point.

Using Jeff's old alchemical formula to limit my fluff sources I would use:

1. The Hobbit
2. Conan stories are harder because the logical choice for one book would be one of the current volumes from Del Ray. The problem is they include fragments, critical commentary, and worst of all the essay The Hyborian Age.  However, Project Gutenberg Australia comes to the rescue.  Howard's stories have fallen into the public domain down under and are all available. Because we're supposed to have one book's worth let's create our own volume, Conan: The First Year, containing stories published from December 1932 to November 1933.  That gives us the first six stories.
3. Finally, we want something that isn't obviously a fantasy book.  We still need Dracula.  For that I look into D&D's history and grab Hammer Films's Horror of Dracula. After all, Peter Cushing's van Helsing is the origin of the cleric.  An interesting alternative would be the first volume of Marvel's Tomb of Dracula (using one of the Essential or Omnibus editions).

Given I'm stealing Jeff's ideas left and right I should probably grab one in the gripping hand as well.  Taking the idea he suggested based on Oriental Adventures and that Matt showed can be done in Pars Fortuna.  Use the classic rules of D&D but not the races, classes, spells, and monsters.  While I wouldn't reject all spells, monsters, or magic items certainly new classes would go a long way towards changing the nature of the game.  If we use non-AD&D TSR D&D as our base race is class as well.

Off the top of my head (I haven't read The Hobbit this millennium) I'd having the following classes (with the iconic character they represent):

• Hobbit burglar - Bilbo
• Barbarian - Conan
• Wizard - Gandalf (Wizard, not magic-user...much more closely aligned to the specific character)
• Dwarf - Thorin Oakenshield and his band
• Bowman - Bard the Bowman although you might generalize this to weapon master.
• Vampire Hunter - van Helsing
• Wood Elf - The Wood Elf King (Elf fighters with woodland abilities)
• Sage Elf - Elrond (Elves with magical abilities more related to healing and helping to match the idea of the Last Homely House)

Monday Pointers, August 15, 2011

D4: If this is half-baked I wish I baked half as well as Tim
So, Tim over on The Other Side has a great idea on how to run a campaign using, in succession, every version of D&D treating all non-advanced or numbered editions as one (which is reasonable).  My biggest question is would I portray the core NPC as Bob Newhart or Noah Wyle.

D6: Evolution of the Rust Monster
If only Darwin knew the possibilities he had discovered.

D8: The List
Want an original, clone, or riff on TSR D&D here's a great starting point.

D10: You have to have your local nitro play it though
Over at Mule Abides a series of posts have been going through book 2 of the LBB, Monsters & Treasures.  It expects a lot of intelligent magic swords and they could have big effects on the world.

One Hard Part of DMing

When your group falls apart it's hard not to take it personally.

You Should Always Be Rolling

One of the differences between Empire of the Petal Throne and most versions of D&D is in EPT you have to re-roll your hit points each time your hit dice change.  The wording in the LBB certainly allows for this as a possibility.  This rule has caught on in the OSR and is an optional rule in the current S&W White Box (in earlier printings it was the standard rule).

One by-product of this rule is you can build tables without the fixed hit points at any stage of a character's advancement.  This is especially true if constructing a white box style class that always uses d6 for hit points.

I discovered this while translating the Kyssai race from Matt's Pars Fortuna to Ruins & Ronin..  They have up to 9 d6+1 hit dice (the average is the same as a d8 or the same as the post-Greyhawk fighter) and then a constant +2 at levels 10+.  While it would be easy to write a chart that started at 1+1 and ended at 9+9 at 9th level I decided I wanted to roll the maximum d6 (given we're re-rolling each time) and have the average be within 0.5 hit points.

This leads to the following chart:

Level	Hit Dice
1	1+1
2	2+2
3	3+3
4	5+1
5	6+2
6	7+3
7	9
8	10+1
9	11+2
10	12+3
11	14+1
12	15+2

No, levels 10-12 are not wrong. I concluded given we're re-rolling why not continue re-rolling instead of using just a flat amount. Sure, it means at higher level you'll head even higher in hit points if you roll better and over time (given you can't fall) characters will approach the max hit points (69 max versus 92 at level 15) I don't think this will necessarily break down that badly as the increased randomness also risks you being at 17 instead of 24. Even if you didn't continue after the fixed level the change from narrow range fighter dice (1d6+1 might average the same a d8 fighter but it's on a 2-7 range, not 1-8) provides a more interesting process if you're using the re-roll rule. Then again, the WB fighter is 1 dice per level except at level 1 where he gets a +1. Perhaps the conversion should just be which average matches up to the Core version.

Monday Pointers: August 8, 2011

I've posted non-gaming Monday pointers before but starting today I'm shifting my selection process from mostly interesting gaming stuff I've read lately to stuff that has affected my thinking on gaming recently.  Some of it is as much inspirational links as anything else.

D4: Well, actually there are five elements, not four
I found this link doing research for tomorrow's gaming material post.  I did not realize there were two systems of five elements in Japan, that one might be traceable to Indian influences, or that one of them was an organizing principle of The Book of Five Rings.  If you want some alternative inspiration for spells, classes, adventures, and so on this is a good starting point.

D6: Every hero needs a companion
Given my interest in using S&W for new things, most obviously Rifts Done Right, I'm surprised I hadn't seen this website before I discovered it this weekend while researching a "no core classes" Whitebox S&W game.

D8: Things to do today
Jeff Rients has an interesting series of posts about what is on the to do lists of classic D&D NPCs by race and level.

D10:  A Different Approach to Layout
As I consider combining my notes into a book from my usage and maybe one day publishing (I am in the OSR after all, aren't we all ideologically required to publish :) ) I'm looking to use more traditional layout methods.  If you are working on a lower powered laptop and don't want to use high requirement software you might try troff and company.

A List Revisited...

Just over a year ago I wrote a random list of things for a D&D world.  It was a list of items to use as inspiration for a world designed for discovery through play.  While I'm not one for retrospectives I thought I'd revisit it with thoughts, additions, and subtractions.

I have comments or changes for some originals:

• An 80 page spiral notebook: You're much better off with a loose leaf with tabs.
• Ten random pre-80s comic books: This very much came from the Ken St. Andre quote "my conception of the T&T world was based on The Lord of The Rings as it would have been done by Marvel Comics in 1974 with Conan, Elric, the Gray Mouser and a host of badguys thrown in" combined with some of the reading I'd been doing at the time: Jack Kirby's Demon and Marvel's Weirdworld and Planet of the Apes comics.  These days I'd cut it down to three issues, maybe five.  Also, each issue needs to be from a different series.
• A Horseclans or similar 80s pulp fantasy novel. I pretty much stand by this one.  I think a list of novels that are representative might be a good idea to post at some point.  Although, see below for an alternative.
• One old school rules set from D&D (up to 2e), T&T, the retro-clones, and EPT....the shorter the better. Another one I'd stand by except I'd expand the list to include pre-AH Runequest, Elfquest, and The Palladium Fantasy RPG (any edition).  I'm also not as focused on length, if you want a big volume with lots of spells and stuff, go for it.
• One each of pre-100 The Dragon, Knockspell/Fight On! I'd expand the list to include The Rifter as well as the many old school fanzines beyond our two semi-pro zines.  Pick four or five issues but no more than one from a title with less than fifty issues and no more than three from one with more than that.

All of the rest of the original list I stand by without addition or comment:

• A list of languages
• A list of names, male and female, for two cultures.
• Two levels of a mega-dungeon
• Three unique monsters
• A villain one step ahead of the characters
• A rival party of adventurers (unless I knew I'd have two groups)
• A legend of ancient Rutas or treasure that references forgotten Rutas
• A brief history of the current age 8751 words in length (give or take)

I would like to add a few more items:

• One non-vanilla supplement, something like a Palladium Rifts book or even some of their fantasy line, an Adurin book, The Wyrmship Technical Manual, or even a copy of Oriental Adventures.
• A book of myths and legends that is either broad in sources (like the various Fairy Books compiled by Lang) or, if uni-cultural, does not focus on Greek, Roman, Celtic, or Nordic myths.
• A fantasy fiction anthology.  In fact a pair of anthologies are better than one anthology and one novel in my opinion.  However, make sure they have different settings or themes.  If both are setting centric that's a great source for your name lists.
• One movie or 2-4 episodes of a TV show (2 if it's an hour show, up to 4 if it's a half hour show).  Being able to "show, not tell" always helps explain the world to your players.

The main idea with lists like these is to get you:

• A limited palette.  The more you study creativity the more you realize how limitations drive creativity. When it's 4d6 arrange as you want (or worse yet, point buy) you get the guy who is always Drizzt, the guy who is always Aragorn, always Conan, and so on.  3d6 in order means you have to stretch to be what the dice give you.  This works in creating worlds as well as adventurers.
• Focus.  If you can add anything on your shelf at anytime it gets hard to focus and just build things.
• More non-gaming material.  One of the trends I think the OSR has risen against is gaming inspired by gaming.  The original list had one gaming on it.  The updated one has two.  You build a better game, IMNSHO, if most of your inspiration when away from the table isn't gaming focused.

May Project: Geese Part 1

The third story in Sword and Sorceress VIII is Geese by Laurell K. Hamilton. Yes, it's by that Laurell K. Hamilton. You would think with my love of Harry Dresden, Rachel Carson, and Mercy Thompson that Anita Blake and especially Merry Gentry would be regular reading for me but they aren't. This is the first Hamilton I've read and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

This is the first of two posts bringing elements from the story to the May Project Setting setting.

Perhaps I had been a goose for too long. Perhaps it was time to become human again, but the desire was hazy. I was no longer sure why I wanted to be human. I could not quite remember the reason I had hidden myself among the geese.

Quote from Geese, copyright Laurell K. Hamilton.

The protagonist of the story begins it changed into the form of a goose. She is at the edge of losing her human identity and fully becoming a goose when she is shocked out of the form by an attack on children.  While contemplating as a goose at the beginning she mentions spending summers in the form giving it an apparently unlimited at will duration.  Clearly, though, the longer one stays in the form the more likely one is to never return from it, a common idea in folklore and fantasy stories.

Gelace's Forms of Hiding
Magic-User Level 4
Duration: Unlimited (but see below)
Range: Self

The caster to shifts into the form of a normal animal smaller than herself.  The assumed form cannot have more hit dice than half the caster's level (round up) nor may it have more than half mass than the caster.  The caster gains the physical capabilities and statistics of the new form but initially retains her mental abilities.  Special abilities the caster has, such as spell casting, are not available while in the changed form.  The caster does retain memorized spells while in the animal form despite their inability to cast spells (although, see below).  Any geas or quest spell on the caster becomes inactive while in the animal form but will immediately return in affect upon returning to human form.

The spell is unlimited duration in the sense that the caster may remain in the form as long as they desire.  However, prolonged form changes risk the caster's mental abilities shifting from their original form to match that of the animal form.  To shift back to human form the caster must make a successful save versus spell.  A failure means the caster must wait at least a month before making another attempt to shift back.  They may gain a bonus to this saving throw by channeling a memorized spell into it.  They bonus is the spell level divided by 3, rounding to nearest (so at least a 2nd level spell must be sacrificed to gain any bonus).

While in animal Every month the caster spends in animal form she must make a save versus spell.  Every time the caster fails this roll they gain a cumulative -1 to their restoration saving throw.

History: The Ballad of Gelace and Lonan tells that Gelace  said to have spontaneously created this variation on the more common Polymorph Self trying to escape the death of her entire family at the hand of the Baron Madawoc.  After several years in hiding (a period unduplicated since) she returned and killed the Baron, gaining both her family's land and Madawoc's traditional lands for herself.

As per the licensing page the material in this box is available under Open Gaming License or the Creative Commons. While I prefer the Creative Commons because the text is based on OGL material I do not believe it is proper to offer this under the CC.

Monday Pointers, August 1st Edition

D4: G+ Game Tips and FAQ for those going to Constantcon 2011
How big is Constantcon 2011? Big enough that my "I play RPGs as a social activity which means other people in a room not chatting on the Internet" self is going.

I may even try to run a game.

D6: My newly found blogging love
Very interesting ideas and very prolific.

D8: Orientalist Adventures
A very old (April 2008) post but one I read for the first time last week.  It really got me thinking and had me looking to buy a copy of AD&D OA, which I've never owned.  His challenge to use the old rules but just gut the meta-data (classes, spells, etc) has come to fruition at least once with Matt's Pars Fortuna.  It would be interesting to do an Indian Adventures (IA) that was a mismash of everything from the Mahabharata forward.  Instead of cavaliers we'd have bow specialists who ride in chariots while the general fighter would remain the same.  Assassins (or thieves if just doing B/X versions) would be replaced by the thugee. I'm not knowledgeable enough to suggest variations of clerics (lots of options, but how to make them "Indian" in some generic western stereotype sense) or magic-users.

D10: Fantasy India D&D Resources

Someone gathered what they could find in physical books at Amazon though. He does mention the pdf only Sahasra which is for 3.5.  There are several books which are on my wish list.

D12: Need A New TV Series?
One last link on the India theme is this series from the late 80s of the Mahabharata.  I've watched the first episode and enjoyed it although I suspect I'm missing most of it.  Sadly, it is not on Netflix although Michael Woods's The Story of India is (also in book form).  His  In Search of the Dark Ages and In Search of the Trojan War have been useful in the past (the former has no TV series, the later's series is also on Netflix) and I suspect all of his books are a good source for GMs.

Elfquest musings

In researching Alternate Elves  I found out that all of the Elfquest comics are free on the official website.

If you haven't read the series give it a shot.  There is a long out of print rpg by Chaosium using BRP.  It had a boxed set and three supplements (although if I understand correctly a later hardback included the companion supplement's material).  The most interesting supplement, Sea Elves, included the tribe long before they appeared in the comic (I'm not sure if they were invented originally for the RPG or not).

Alternate Elves

One of the biggest complaints about a lot of fantasy (novels and RPGs) is elves and dwarves.  The big complaint is they're straight out of Tolkien.  Actually, they are more straight out of what people think is Tolkien (a huge complaint about AD&D in the Golden Age was the elves weren't Tolkien enough).

In working on The World After I tried to do a different take on elves.  My primary inspiration was Marvel's Weirdworld with Elfquest as a secondary influence.  ElfQuest, especially, is an excellent source for a variety of hot elf chicks.

The World After was also influence by my take on elves from a stillborn AD&D2 campaign. I was cleaning up some computer files and found the notes on those elves.

The Bidden: The Elves. Little is know in the north about how they organize themselves or their history. What is known is 1000 years before the coming of The Tribes and about 500 years before the coming of the Kindreds they departed the world. The reappeared a little over 1000 years ago and almost immediately made war upon the Adeuian Empire, a human dominated state the occupied most of the known world.

The idea behind The Bidden is the Elves had moved and and were sent back to the world to punish and rein in humanity. The Adeuian Empire, as well as other human cultures, was killing off dwarves and gnomes as well has halflings to a lesser degree (because unlike The Kindreds of Stone halfings were among the Tribes of Earth with men). This idea was taken not from fantasy novels but a science fiction story by Ben Bova, "Stars Won't You Hide Me?"   It is anthologized in Escape Plus which Tor offers as a free download).

*Spoilers (go read the story, it's free and it's interesting)*

So, the idea that the last man is running for aliens who had been forcefully returned from somewhere (heaven?) to punish mankind a second time for a crime they committed really struck me. Elves are ancient, mysterious, and powerful. Their peak, however, was in past. Instead of a decaying races leaving this world, a la Tolkien and D&D canon in the Forgotten Realms I decided to run with Bova's aliens. Elves, in this world, are not the long time enemies of dwarves, but their allies and protector against the crimes committed by human. In the end, the campaign world was to have two kinds of elves: Royal elves who decided to reform humanity by ruling them and Vengeful elves who are still human hunters. The Royal elves fill the traditional elf role somewhat. Their royalty would intermarry with the last Emperors and the new empire spreading across the world is ruled by half-elf linages. The rest act aloof and tend to lecture and instruct humans using their superior wisdom. The Vengeful elves fill the "evil" elf role taken by the Drow but are more Lawful Neutral and driven to punish humanity so they may move forward on the cosmic wheel.

I have recently read a short story and a novel that have each inspired other "new takes" on elves. I'll write them up as I get the time. My broader point is that what is in the D&D books is just a starting point. You can make elves (and dwarves, gnomes, and halfings) much more alien while still having some broad outlines that fit the rules and player expectations. Elrond, especially Hugo Weaving's "Mr. Baggins" interpretation, would be right at home as a Royal elf and is only a tweak away from being Vengeful yet both concepts are far from Tolkien.

Spend some money for me...

So, today I found there is a good bundle price for the Runequest II Core pdf bundle. If you had to choose between it and the BRP Big Book which would you opt purchase if the primary goal was fantasy gaming?

Or would you just buy OpenQuest and save the $20?

What came first, the monster or the monster beat...

So, I recently got an Android phone and can listen to net radio again at work (my employer recently blocked Pandora, LastFM, et al).  A co-worker convinced me to give Rhapsody a shot and having found they have things like all of the Conjure One, Covenant, and And One catalogs I'm subscribing.  I am disappointed that they have limited Beborn Beton but I'll live.

One very interesting thing I've noticed is much of the year I've been listening to mostly metal, both in my own music and Pandora stations. At that time I put a lot into OSR, D&D, and Palladium games writing, reading, and trying to sell game ideas. Lately, past 3 weeks or so, I've been on a bit of nWoD and oMage kick with a glance at Mortal Coil. I've also been listening to more EBM, second wave Goth, Synthpop, and Futurepop. These gaming styles and musical interests do have strong correlations over time. I have to wonder: why, does one drive the other, do they switch which drives which, or is an external factor more to blame.

So, how does music relate to gaming for you: certain games equate to certain style, artists, or songs? Does what you hear drive what games are on your mind or vice versa?

Games I'd Like to Play (not run, play)

Inspired by Matt:

RPGs:

• Mage (old or new)
• ICONS
• Rifts
• Stars without Number
• Anything from the FGU catalog, although for some odd reason today Flashing Blades is ahead of perennial favorites Psi World (which I have owned everything for as released for some reason) and Daredevils

Wargames:

• The first AH Starship Troopers
• Starforce by SPI (source of the name of the band "The Human League")
• War at Sea/Victory in the Pacific: one of the monster combined versions with all the extra navies and stuff...I've seriously considered making my own copy of VITP recently
• Stellar Conquest
• Orge (soon, very soon my precious)

Minis:

• Gorka Morka: The single most enjoyable mini game, and one of the top five gaming nights period, was the last time I played this. Everyone lost and everyone had a blast.
• Horde (hey, Giga-bites, where is my order)
• Hordes of the Things
• Starmada with my homemade minis
• Malifaux: the designers are local and do demons on Thursdays at the above mentioned Giga-bites so maybe I just will tomorrow

The May Project Continues

Well, despite my best intentions I only got about one good week of the May Project due to a combination of NRE and work.

While NRE is still high (it actually started in April) I'm a bit back together and I'm ahead on the time management parts of it.

So, the May Project will also be the June project but with a second, very important purpose: On June 19th the May project becomes a fortnightly campaign on Sunday evenings. I have two players and if you read this and are in the Greater Atlanta Metro area and willing to come into Midtown every other Sunday we can talk.

Random Thoughts

I have several almost finished May Project items in the hopper. Expect to see them in a torrent today and tomorrow.

I'm taking a mulligan on this Monday's Pointers and re-running the full one next week along with the regular ones.

Working on the May Project has me considering importing something for D&D4 into OSR format: D&D4 rituals. My creation from the fourth story in Sword & Sorceress along with the Cages of Joneky along with the various wizard dueling rules in the OSR has me thinking about just what a spell represents.

Work is keeping me really busy as is my Lady (still in that NRE period) which has affected posting some.

The Mad Genius of the OSR pulled a quote from my Vornheim post. The only caveat I'll ad is I wrote the original post based on the PDF and I was wrong. Vornheim in book form is MUCH cooler than I thought.

I have Lady Gaga's Fame Monster on repeat and just ordered a copy of Revised Vampire: the Masquerade on eBay.

Monday Pointers: Music Video Edition

D4:Bad Romance
If you made me run Vampire (either version) using just a core book and one other item this video is that other item.

D6:Roll a D6
Just what it says on the tin and quite nice at that.

May Project: Wings of Fire Part 3

There is one list thing to take from this first tale in Swords and Sorceress VIII. Actually, it's a pair of items.

"As you see," said a new voice, female, with an undertone of petulance, "I plan my prisons well."
--
"For the mages," their captor said, gesturing grandly, "A cage which nullifies magic, with a lock that can only be opened with an ordinary key." She held up the key hanging at her belt."
--
"For the warrior, a prison that only magic can unlock.

Quote from Wings of Fire, copyright Mercedes Lackey

Cages of Joneky
Joneky, the first governor of Frjanci when the Chjinnee founded the city, trafficed in barbarian warriors and strange creatures with unique powers captured to serve as entertainment at the Emperor's Court. Not one to be daunted by difficulties (or shy away from great amounts of coins) he extended his alchemical researches into locks of great ingenuity. His crowning achievement were the Cages of Joneky. The mystical crafts that fuel them require them to be made as a matched pair and they are most effective when joined together.

The Warrior's Cage is locked magically. Once the door is shut to re-open it requires the casting of a magical spell. If the caster is keyed to it (see below) any spell, even a read magic, is sufficient to open it. If the caster is not keyed to it he must making a roll of 20+ on a d20 with the level of spell cast as a positive modifier and the level of diverted magic from it's mate (see below) as a negative one. Spells that are specifically intended to open locks, such as knock give a modifier of twice their level. A caster can accumulate levels by casting spell after spell, but for every round a spell isn't cast the accumulated modifier is halved. Multiple casters cannot combine the utility of their spells.

The Mage's Cage is locked with a simple, but incredibly complex, mechanical lock. Attempts at picking the lock are at a penalty of +1 (d6 skills) or +16% (percentile skills) which doubles with successive retries after each failure. The cage's true power, however, is the fact that it nullifies magic. Items within will not function. Spell casters lose all memorized spells. If the cage is within line of sight of its mate then the power of those spells are diverted to the Warrior Cage with the sum of their levels becoming the negative modifier. This stored power will drain away at the rate of one penalty point per day.

Attunement is accomplished by a spell caster intentionally placing himself inside the Mage's Cage within one turn of locking the Warrior's Cage. The caster must then, within 24 hours, cast spells to unlock the The Warrior's Cage. If 24 hours pass before he successfully opens The Warrior's Cage he must restart the process. If he opens it within 24 hours he will be attuned to The Warrior's Cage and may easily open it. Only the mated Mage's Cage can attune a caster to a given Warrior's Cage.

Bleed Off is required for a Mage's Cage to remain stable. Every time it tries to deactivate magic without it's mate in line of sight it may explode. Role percentile dice and if the result is less than the total of levels being absorbed the cages explodes doing d6 damage per spell level absorbed to those outside the cage and within 20' feet. Individuals within the cage are not harmed but still lose their memorized spells. Magic items do not add to and cannot by themselves cause this explosion nor can inherent spell like powers (although all of those are dampened by the cage.


As per the licensing page the material in this box is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License or the Open Gaming License. Choose the license which best suits your purposes but I prefer the Creative Commons.

May Project: Wings of Fire Part 2

Continuing from yesterday's post of campaign materials inspired by the story Wings of Fire from

"She was born of magically talented parents, and given all she desired," the Hawkbrother continued. "But she came to desire more and more, and her own small talent could not compass her ambition, until she discovered her one true gift-that she could steal spells from any, and use that power to weave those spells at no cost to herself. Thus she enriched herself at the expense of others, and the more power she had, the more she sought."

Quote from Wings of Fire, copyright Mercedes Lackey

So, a mage that only learns spells by stealing them. While the idea of power stealing is common the specific idea of learning spells by stealing is kind of rare. I like it.

Spell Stealer
The spell stealer is a form of magical parasite. Born with the ability to channel magics they lack either the mental ability or determination to actually learn magical formulas. Instead, they steal spell knowledge directly for the minds of other magic users and clerics.

Except as noted below under spell casting, spell learning, and other abilities treat a spell stealer as a cleric for purposes of attacks, weapons and armor, spells per day, and saves. Treat them as a magic-user if, for some reason, you need to know XP to advance a level. Because of their lack of training and knowledge no magical research, item creation, or similar abilities are know by spell stealers.

Spell Casting: Because they are innate magic users and not learned or devoted ones spell stealers don't memorize spells or maintain spell books. All their spells are kept in their head and selected as needed to cast. While this gives them some flexibility relative to magic-users and clerics they are still limited to a certain number of castings per day, reflecting their ability to control the energies coursing through them.

Spell Learning: Due to their inability to learn spells by devoted prayer or academic study spell stealers do just that, they steal spells directly from the mind of other magic users. Because they must hold all their spells in their head they are limited in the number they can know and lack absolute control over what they learn. The total number of spells of a given level a spell stealer can know is half the number that level they can cast per day divided by two.

Because of the method for "learning" a spell it is quite possible that a spell stealer may know a lower level spell than the slot might indicate, such as knowing spider climb as a third level spell instead of a first level one. Note, such higher level learning has no effect on the spells power, just how much power they must use to cast it. Finally, because they use the cleric spells per day table they cannot learn eight and ninth level magic user spells at all.

To learn a spell a spell stealer must cease and hold the head of a spell caster who has memorized a spell and lock their eyes. In combat this requires a to hit at -8 and in or out of combat the victim may save against spell to avoid the eye lock affecting the transfer. The transfer takes one round per level of spell being learned and if broke before then the stealer must save versus spell or take spell level d6 of damage. At the end of that time the stealer may select one spell the opponent knows to attempt to steal. Roll d20 + spell stealer's level - spell level. On a roll of 15+ the stealer steals that spell. On a roll 6-14 a random spell memorized by the target is selected from all spells that are the level of the highest open slot of the stealer or lower. In this case regardless of level of the spell it will fill that highest open slot. On a roll of 4- no spell is stolen. Any stolen spell is immediately forgotten. Magic-user and clerical spells may be stolen.

If a spell is stolen the subject of the attack makes a saving throw against magic with a bonus of the spell stealer's level if a specific spell is chosen. If the roll is failed the target suffers a level drain if level 2 or higher but not if level 1. This drain represents the mental damage suffered by having a spells ripped out of your head. The bonus on a specific spell being stolen represents the lessor damage by a controlled removal by an experienced stealer.

As per the licensing page the material in this box is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License or the Open Gaming License. Choose the license which best suits your purposes but I prefer the Creative Commons.

May Project: Wings of Fire Part 1

The second story in Sword and Sorceress VIII is Wings of Fire by Mercedes Lackey. At the risk of trashing what little old school cred I have I have to admit to enjoying a lot of Misty's writing. My favorites were her Diana Tregarde novels of which there were only three due to poor sales although a novella appeared in a 2010 collection. There were two short stories about Diana originally written to be included in Stalking the Night Fantastic.

Wings of Fire is a Tarma and Kethry. While the main characters and broader setting elements aren't easily transferable to the Grjeee setting (although some could fit the Maerr Idnn) I have found a few things I'd like to important at this early stage. The first is a spell.

The bird shrieked in alarm and shot skyward. Tamara cursed; Kethry was too busy trying to breathe.
It's the paralysis spell, she thought even as she struggled to get more air into her lungs. But she couldn't breathe in without first breathing out, and every time she did that the hand closed tighter on her chest. That's-supposed-to-be-
A darkness that had nothing to do with the hour dimmed the moonlight, and her lungs screamed for air.
-lost-
Blackness swooped in like a stooping hawk, and covered her.

Quote from Wings of Fire, copyright Mercedes Lackey.

Okay, you say lost spell and I hear campaign material. What we know is it is called the paralysis spell and it suffocates the victim to unconsciousness but not death. Because it is used to paralyzed both main characters to capture them it seems to follow the Hold Person and Hold Monster spells but it also causes damage but not fatally. It also seems to be general in effect.

Paralyze
Magic-User Level 6
Duration: 1 round/level
Range: 120’
This spell will render any living creature paralyzed. Targets of the spell are aware, but cannot breathe normally or take any actions, including speech. A successful save vs. magic will negate the effect. The spell may be cast at a single monster, which makes its save at -2, or at a group, in which case 1d4 of the creatures in the group may be affected.

The inability to breath will deal 1d6 damage per round but will not take the victim to negative hit points. If the victim reaches 0 hit points due to the spell's damage he will fall unconscious.

A winged creature which is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls (if in flight at the time). A paralyzed swimmer can’t swim and may drown.

If a magic item or spell operates to partially negate the effects of paralysis, failure on the saving throw will have the effect of a Slow spell rather than completely immobilizing the target and will only cause 1d3 per round damage from breathing difficulty.

As per the licensing page the material in this box is available under Open Gaming License or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. I prefer the Creative Commons license.

May Project: Where Am I From

One of the first things you can tell a player is where his character originated. So we'll start our setting by picking some broad cultures/locations.

Looking at our resources we get the following:

• Core Rules: No real setting info beyond some basic assumptions.
• Monsters of Myth and Legend: Presents monsters and gods from six cultures: American Indians, Aborigine, Chinese, Greek, Irish, Norse.
• Mystic China: I think this is obvious.
• Sword & Sorceress VIII: A variety from unnamed cities to Mercedes Lackey's Velgarth
• City In The Glacier: While the entire series detailed several nations of the setting to varying degrees, this volume covers mostly a lost realm and some primitive tribes the two leads adventure through while reaching the eponymous city.
• Gloomcookie: Modern San Francisco through a horror movie/goth scene lens.

Looking at that list I'd say we're leaning to six main cultures derived from the MoMaL list with an emphasis that the core culture is the one derived from Chinese culture. We should have a lost culture now buried in ice which we'll make the ancestors of the Norse and Irish derived cultures. I also want one very creepy but somehow important city at the core of the initial setting area.

Some quick culture names and how they map (names created with Mythmere's Gygax Your Name generator):

Maerr Idnn => American Indians (Amerind was the source word)
Yaborine => Aborigine
Chjinna => China (not a lot of change)
Grjeee => Greece (hey, that 'j' tells me they're related...more about that below)
Rielant => Ireland (the 't' is from change one letter)
Csantinavaire => Norse (Scandinavia was the source word...again, I got change one letter and again moved 'd' to 't' to provide some commonality with the Rielant as they have the same source culture)

We've already decided the Rielant and Csantinavaire are descended from the City In The Glacier and they have the common 'ant' structure in the name (which is cool when you look at the monster on the novel's cover) so the city's name should have that as well.

I also noticed we got that third 'j' in both Chjinna and Grjee. We'd decided our core culture is Chjinna so let's put Grjee as a colony of that culture on the same continent as the Rieland and Csantinavaire. Our City in the Glacier is now a Seven Cities of Gold type draw for Chjinnarie adventurers to the new world. Given we're probably setting our initial campaign area in this colony our creepy city, Frjanci, will be the main port and capital of the colony.

Finally, where would we be without a random character origin table broken down by class (if we add new classes they'll need their own table):

Roll	Fighter Specialist Human NPC	Cleric	Magic User	Dwarf	Elf	Halfling
1	Maerr Idnn	Maerr Idnn	Maerr Idnn	Maerr Idnn	Maerr Idnn	Maerr Idnn
2	Yaborine	Yaborine	Yaborine	Yaborine	Yaborine	Maerr Idnn
3	Chjinna	Chjinna	Chjinna	Chjinna	Chjinna	Maerr Idnn
4	Chjinna	Chjinna	Chjinna	Grjeee	Grjeee	Yaborine
5	Grjeee	Chjinna	Chjinna	Grjeee	Grjeee	Yaborine
6	Grjeee	Grjeee	Grjeee	Rielant	Rielant	Yaborine
7	Grjeee	Grjeee	Grjeee	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Chjinna
8	Grjeee	Grjeee	Grjeee	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Chjinna
9	Rielant	Rielant	Rielant	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Grjeee
10	Rielant	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Grjeee
11	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Csantinavaire	Rielant	Rielant
12	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire	Csantinavaire

If you want to select a human origin before the class just use the NPC chart.

Dungeon Master Mentors

Here's an idea spawned from a review of Mythmere's Advanced Adventure Design Deskbook and the recent discussion about the difficulty of sandbox play.

Mentors.

Another group I've involved with runs a year long mentoring program each year for people new to it but serious about it who are interested in the controlling role. A combination of classes, meetings, and one on one mentoring by an experienced member are provided. More commonly, individuals find mentors (it is highly recommended by serious people in the lifestyle) to go to with questions and for support. In this case it's not just the particular role the formal mentoring program covers but everyone is advised to get one or two mentors.

It is often said that a good DM can make any game better and a bad DM should ruin a perfect game. We can identify at least some of the masters both hobby wide and locally.

So, perhaps those of us trying to see the hobby thrive and make sure we have a supply of good DMs and players to play with are trying the wrong thing. It's not the perfect boxed set or licensed game or level of rules complexity we need to provide. We need to take new people, especially new DMs, under our wings. Give them someone to bounce campaign ideas and problems off. Maybe even be their sponsor they can call when their game goes wrong. Sure, it's more like something out of KoDT than our lives as gamers now.

Maybe it shouldn't be that way.

Monday Pointers

D4:What Do You Need for a Sandbox I
D6:What Do You Need for a Sandbox II

With the effort to create a setting to the point to start a campaign having some guideposts is a good idea.

D8:Boons
Yet another great way to build characters not on what they can do but what they're good at doing. The Pars Fortuna rules he published use this system and look like a great supplement to any old school game.

D10:Relationships Sandbox
Hill Cantons looks at what may be the earliest use of a relationships chart to build a campaign with rules from TSR's Top Secret. Later posts are providing a worked example.

D12:A Semi-random Encounter System
I like this one page wilderness system that creates semi-random encounters not from tables but from what you placed on the map. The only long term issue I can see is managing turn-over.

D13:Grognardia Inspired by PtGPtB
Okay, not really, but his latest Pulp Fantasy Library post does cover a novel I wrote about in Silver Age Appendix N a while back so I figured a cheap link to get hits up is a "valid" D13. The post featuring the cover art is my most popular post of all time.

Some of the Other Ideas

Given I'm moving the blog to a project centric style and inspired by Redwald (which you are reading, right?) I thought I'd list some of the other projects I have in the hopper.

Return of Prior Ideas

House of Atreus: A return to the idea I've called space monks.

Demon Haunted World: Equal parts Buffy and Harry mixed in with a touch of eighties rock.

New Ideas

The Gernsback League: Working title for a science fiction superheroes setting in the marvelous future of 2525. The main influences are the other world of The Gernsback Continuum (not the story itself, but the world Parker sees), the visuals of movies like Just Imagine, and, of course, The Legion of Superheroes (which arguably initially was set in just such a future).

Miss Elizabeth's Guides: An Georgian/Regency influenced space setting drawing heavily on British/French rivalry during this period as well as some Jacobite material. It would really constitute the other side of the cluster of my monthly Stars without Number game at the local D&D meetup (which began with the effort to make Lord Byron King of Greece). It is named for a popular series of travel books for young ladies in the setting.

Magical Jane: Which could easily be called the fantasy version of Miss Elizabeth's Guides.

Personal Appendix N: Short Fiction and Why It Matters

In yesterday's discussion of the canon for the May Project I said:

If there is one area the OSR dances around but I've yet to see someone directly address is the importance of short fiction. A large amount of what is considered primary source material for D&D, via Appendix N and other sources, is short fiction. The Dying Earth is an interlinked collection of short stories, for example. The Hour of the Dragon was Howard's only novel about Conan and it comes in at 72,659 words making it short relative to the fantasy novels of today.

This brought two responses. First from Trollsmyth:

I'm very curious about this comment, however. I've always seen the bedrock of the OSR being the short stories of Howard, Lovecraft, CA Smith, Leiber, Vance, etc. Or, at least, the D&D thrust of it. How do you think this has been ignored? How is a foundation based on the short-form significant?

and the second from Scott:

Co-sign. I'd say Gygax was influenced as much or more by the fruits of Argosy and other short fantasy fiction markets than novels. Some of the bedrocks rarely or never worked long, and others such as Dunsany did some of their best work in short form.

which both wonder why I think this is ignored.

First, I did acknowledge, albeit indirectly, that this has been brought up if you read the full quote. However, my indirection is the reverse indirection of what I'm talking about. Many, many people have all discussed the key early sources for D&D but I can count on one hand how often the difference between these sources and most modern fantasy in terms of length is discussed. We've had long discussions on the transition from Conan the free-booter to Tanis Half-elven the Heroic World Saver with the introduction of Dragonlance. What we have not had is a discussion about how we moved from a canon built of a variety of tales whose longest tale is a 72,000 world novel and a canon which is made up of three books averaging 120,000 word each which form a single story.

Why is this distinction important? Because one of the most common way to express what an RPG is "it's like a novel or movie except you're the main character". This idea creates a certain set of expectations. First is the highly detailed overall world. Second is the idea that the campaign forms a single cohesive narrative. Third is it emphasizes the importance of every event in the process to moving towards the common end of the narrative (digressions are possible in a cohesive narrative but it is rare in modern genre writing).

If we emphasized the source material made up of short stories as in "it's like a series of short stories or a television show where you're the main character" we would create different expectations. The most obvious difference is the lack of the larger narrative which everything has to support. Some modern TV shows, especially genre shows, have used narrative arcs of various strengths but even they have plenty of irrelevant to the broader plot episodes. However, it goes beyond that. Nothing detailed in Dragonlance early on existed for anything but its use the story. If this sounds similar to my points in memoir is story it is. Conan's tales read much more like episodes in his own memoir than a novel.

If you don't think what kind of sources we use influences our expectations let's do a thought experiment. Let's say I wanted to set a game primarily based on Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar. Using Jeff's rules I can have two fluff sources.

First, imagine the game setting I'd design if I based it on the Queen's Own trilogy and the The Last Herald-Mage trilogy. It would be a very top level game. Most of the threats would be existential for my central kingdom. The characters would be primary heroes charged with "saving the world". My setting details would high level discussions of rulers, borders, and long reams of history. Why would I have these things? Because much of these stories are centered on these things over smaller local details.

If, instead, my primary sources were Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar and Sun on Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar what would it look like? I would be more likely to have inspiration for a bunch of individual locations whose broader connections would be more nebulous. I would know kingdom B was to the left and duchy C was to the right of my primary setting, but beyond B is good guys and C bad guys I wouldn't have a lot of info on the relationships. Instead of a few big heroes, I'd have details and ideas on a lot of prominent figures who none the less didn't dominate things. I would have a better picture of how characters fit into the setting without saving it.

Another dimension is the kind of campaigns short stories, series novels, and episodic TV inspire over epic novels. It is hard to imagine a sandbox if your only inspiration is The Lord of the Rings, novel or movies. It's much easier to imagine a sandbox or episodic game when you're reading the combined Conan novels or watching Star Trek: TOS. In fact, the linked Grognardia post about Star Trek: TOS is one of the few discussions about short fiction as RPG inspiration and why it works although even then James doesn't discuss that directly.

If you go to the primary sources Gary et al uses this is obvious but that doesn't always help. For one thing, if I'm interested in modern magical games I need a way to distill what makes Conan work better for designing a game than Tolkien. To take it to visual media why Space Seed is better inspiration than Wraith of Khan which is better than Undiscovered Country. Another reason it's worth knowing if I want something more modern in its sensibility it helps to know that it's better to use the short stories in my favorite world than the epic novels as we saw in the Valdemar example.

The May Project: Canon Part 2

Yesterday we introduced my May Project for blogging and added the gaming sources I'm use for it. Today, we move on to inspirational fluff.

3) Now you need some fluff to hang all this stuff on. Pick exactly three sources of campaign inspiration. Two of these sources should be recognizable as fantasy material, like selecting your favorite Conan paperback and maybe Jack Vance's Dying Earth. Note that you are picking individual works, not entire bodies of work.

I've divided part three into two parts. The first is the easy part. I need to pick two recognizable pieces of fantasy literature (I guess movies, comics, ect. also count). I have shelves and shelves of material that qualify for this part. Selecting just two is the trick. Given the point of blogging is to highlight things you think are important or useful I'll use that as a filter.

If there is one area the OSR dances around but I've yet to see someone directly address is the importance of short fiction. A large amount of what is considered primary source material for D&D, via Appendix N and other sources, is short fiction. The Dying Earth is an interlinked collection of short stories, for example. The Hour of the Dragon was Howard's only novel about Conan and it comes in at 72,659 words making it short relative to the fantasy novels of today. Today the advice for a new writer is to aim for 100,000-120,000 words. With the complaints that most contemporary fantasy novels are badly redone Tolkien or RPG session reports (complaints I don't agree with, btw...urban fantasy rules the roast with the lesser quest series in second) perhaps we should look to short fiction.

With that in mind I'm select my most recently purchased anthology, Sword and Sorceress VIII, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, the creator of Darkover. Admittedly this anthology is, itself, two decades old this year but the series remains popular. It has survived Bradley's death twelve years ago with Diana Paxon and later Elisabeth Waters editing. Sword And Sorceress XXV was released last year and the next is due in November.

For my second work I'm also going back in time but to the period of Moldvay Basic. Robert Vardeman has written a lot of fantasy and science fiction novels. Although they are generally arranged in a variety of series the are all short and aren't what I'd call world saving quests, although some have that element. I haven't done a word count but looking at my book shelf they are similar in length to The Dying Earth. All are adventure story novels and are fairly quick reads. Vardeman is a work day writer in a prolific and simple style that I consider a direct descendant of the pulp tradition. Much to my surprise I have never seen him cited in any RPG literature although I remember a review of Cenotaph Road in Dragon.

I am going with City In The Glacier, the second book of his War of the Powers series. I haven't read it in a couple of years, but it provides a strong inspiration for a dungeon setting as well as an interesting battle scenario between two primitive tribes that could be an interesting set-piece to add to a hex map. It also avoids one element of the series, a floating city, I'd prefer to avoid adding to the setting. Finally, one of the main characters is a dog sled driver in a grasslands region. The dog sleds are on rollers and I've always thought replacing horses and wagons with these sleds would be a fund twist for a fantasy world.

Your third fluff is meant to be the wild card. Pick something way out in la-la land for this one. Don't even look at fantasy novels. That'd be too pedestrian. You want something like an issue of the Micronauts comic or the movie Krull or the Principia Discordia. Or a book like Barlow's Guide to Extraterrestrials.

So now a wild card. Looking over at the DVD shelf Brotherhood of the Wolf is looking longingly at me, but gunpowder and horses don't look like they'd mix well with some of the already selected fluff. While balancing the tensions is part of this exercise I'm not sure that's one I want to balance.

Instead, let's try comics. Science fiction or superheroes would be too much of an odd direction. However, how about some goths with a traveling show and monsters disguised as people? That could work very well and look, I have that. Gloom Cookie is exactly that and I have the first bound volume on the shelves. I think the crew could be an excellent core group in a city plus all the main characters except Lex could become rumors of evil tidings for the characters to hear. Plus, the Carnival Macabre will not only add a lot of flavor but can be a reoccurring source of information and oddity for the players to encounter.

So there we have it, three sources of fluff to go with my core rules and two supplements. Over May we'll set what kind of sandbox I can build and have ready to go with just those items.

The May Project: Introduction and Canon

So, my project for May is designing the initial adventure and setting for campaign whose canon is selected accord to Jeff Rients' Alchemical Proposal. I'm only aiming to create enough material to run initial characters and adventures. I want to leave enough open that the setting will evolve through play. As a result I suspect much of the source material will remain untouched.

I would like to use only things I have in physical form so I can use a banker's box to hold it. This is an idea picked up from Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit which I'll discuss tomorrow.

1) Start with any ol' D&D-esque ruleset, though a simpler system without alot of fiddly bits probably works better here.

Here I'll be using Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Grindhouse Edition. This is a semi-exception to the physical form rule. I have the Deluxe edition and my Grindhouse is either in shipping or will be shipped this week. For now we'll toss the Deluxe in the box until Grindhouse gets here.

2) Add some supplementary rules material. You're primarily looking for new Gygaxian building blocks (classes, races, spells, monsters, magic items, etc) to drop into the game. In this recipe you want exactly two different sources for this stuff, one of which is easy to put into your game, like adding Mutant Future as a source of monsters and treasures to your Labyrinth Lord game. For the other one choose something that might be a little harder to fit into your system of choice without some work.

I like to call these the near and far supplements. For LotFP I will define a "near" supplement as anything written to be directly compatible with TSR D&D. The only conversion that will really be needed is armor class and perhaps a few other things like magic resistance.

The physical rule has the biggest effect here as my first choice, Monster Manual 2, isn't on the bookshelf. I do want a monster book as this is one area where LotFP is pretty empty. I understand Raggi has done this for philosophical reasons but a collection of monsters is useful for me. One reason I'd like the MM2 is the players are much less likely to be familiar. The other is has the section on mapping rarity to custom encounter tables. In fact, that section is why I first bout the MM2 back in the day.

Lacking the MM2 and not wanting to use the Fiend Folio the next choice on my shelf is Monsters of Myth and Legend from the old Mayfair Games Role Aids line. It contains simple background and monsters from six different real world traditions: American Indian, Australian Aborigine, Chinese, Greek, Irish, and Norse mythologies. That looks like a good fit. It's material can provide a basic outline for six different regions.

Now that we've picked a near supplement let's look for a far supplement. Scanning the shelf I want something far not only in a rules sense but in a genre/setting sense. Instead of another fantasy book I'd like something a little different. I'm not interested into doing something more science fantasy like but maybe something from a horror or modern-mystical setting. Looking at the shelves two choices jump out at me, Mystic China and Through the Glass Darkly. Both books are from Palladium and are for their Ninjas & Superspies and Nightbane games respectively.

Looking through both books they both add several classes and quite a few magic spells. However, I'm going to go with Mystic China for a few reasons. First, while I'm not sure I want to use new character classes early out of the gate if I do at some point Mystic China's are more than just magic user types. Second, while the idea of living magic is very interesting I'm not sure that's a direction I'd like to take. Finally, there is some synergy in my two gaming supplements in that both try to provide some Chinese material. I doubt either is going to provide a real Chinese experience (Mystic China does provide a few pages on quick and dirty feel) but I've never run a campaign with an East Asia filtered through typical American rpg sensibilities campaign. Doing something new is always a good exercise.

Tomorrow we'll move onto step three which is selecting a limited amount of fluff to use as inspiration. Then we'll put it all in a banker's box and post a photo plus discuss the banker's box idea.