Random Campaign Setting

Over at Monsters and Manuals, noisms threw out the challenge to take 2d6 random monsters from your bestiary of choice and build a setting around them as the intelligent races of the campaign world.

I decided to roll randomly to choose between the three main monster books from AD&D and go from there. I rolled the Fiend Folio and then randomly picked the following monsters:

Dark Creeper, Drow Elf, Flind, Githzerai, Sheet Ghoul, and Thoqqua.

All of them are normally intelligent except the Thoqqua, which is also my only non-humanoid. It's pretty easy to build a setting around these then.

The majority of the surface world is overrun with sheet ghouls. These are the remnants of a great civilization that fell into decadence and consumed itself. Being undead, the sheet ghouls do not normally die. They maintain a mockery of life, performing all manner of depraved and sadistic acts, seeking to find some meaning and pleasure in their endless existence.

The githzerai have a civilization almost as old as the ghoul kingdom. They maintain strong fortresses on the surface from which they wage war against the ghouls, along with vast subterranean gardens in which the majority of their people live. In their gardens, they work to perfect their psionic abilities and maintain their ancient ways. They are constantly wary of beings from other planes, fearing the arrival of their ancient enemies.

Primitive flind bands go to the surface to raid and perform their rites of passage. They otherwise live in caves and caverns between the surface and the deep reaches. They have a rigid, militaristic warrior culture that emphasizes strength and honor above all else.

The other races inhabit the deep reaches, an endless network of tunnels underground. These tunnels are the neverending work of the thoqqua. The rock worms move constantly between the other races, serving as messengers and mediators. They also study the other races, and they have records of their history that go back thousands of years. These records are completely indecipherable to other races, being recorded in the folds and striations of rock in the thoqqua tunnels.

The drow and dark creepers are regularly at war with one another over the scant resources underground. They are both masters of stealth and ambush and use this to their advantage against each other. Occasionally, a large war party of one race will attack a settlement of the other, but most of the fighting between them is confined to opportunistic raids.

This is obviously just a quick sketch, but it actually might be fun to play a session or two there.

Not so friendly local game stores

I haven't written anything here for a while. There are several reasons for that including starting a new job, starting classes again, and trying to finish quite a few other projects. I've also been spending quite a bit of time actually playing and preparing games. All that has meant significantly less time left to write posts here. That said, I've got a few things in the works that I should be posting here soon. In the meantime, though, I want to talk about game stores.

Yesterday, I stopped by Saltire Games, one of the local stores in Indianapolis, hoping to pick up some paint for a painting project I've been working on. When I went in the store, their electronic notification system dutifully announced that I entered through the front door. There were two people working in the shop. Neither of them greeted me or otherwise acknowledged my presence. I found the paint I wanted and decided to check out the used games. One of the employees was straightening them at the time. I said, "Excuse me," and waited for her to move aside so I could check the shelves. I tried saying it again when she didn't respond. Finally, I gave up and went to the counter to check out. I waited for about three minutes before anyone came to check me out. They asked if I had a loyalty card for the shop. I do, but I didn't have the card with me. They found me in their computer, but they had my old address. I was a little surprised by this, as I had given them the updated address the last time I was in the shop. They asked me to give it to them again. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to wait around anymore, so I asked if I could just do it next time. They said they couldn't do anything until I updated my address, so I decided to just leave.

Later, I went to Gamerz to see if they had the paint I needed. Turns out, they went to the same school of customer service. The person working there also did not bother to acknowledge that I was in their store until I had already walked through the entire sales area and then specifically asked if they had the paint I wanted. Instead of answering the question, he pointed me to the paint they had, which was only sold in themed boxed sets and was not even from the same company as what I asked for. I know this store used to carry what I was after, but the total lack of engagement and service caused me to leave there as well.

Finally, I went to Game Preserve. They actually had the paint I was looking for. I had to interrupt the game the employee was playing to ask him where it was, but they had it. They were also able to find my info for their loyalty program. Unfortunately, they still have it listed under a phone number I used over ten years ago, and they have no way to update it.

These were three of the five different game stores in Indianapolis on a Saturday afternoon. None had what I would call even passable customer service. If you want to know why friendly local game stores are declining, I'll hold this up as the perfect example of one of the primary reasons. The friendly local game store isn't friendly at all. They don't care if you're there. They don't care if they have or could order what you want. They don't care if what they do while you are in the store does anything to make you want to come back. Most of them don't even care if what they know about you is accurate and up to date.

In the past I was a strong proponent of supporting local game shops. Now I feel the need to qualify that. Support your local game shops, as long as they are willing to support their local gamers. Otherwise, go to an online shop that does. At least then you can get some decent prices while you're being ignored. I'll be taking my business online from now on.

Hex Crawl Locations

These are some hex crawl locations I threw together for the Hexographer Hex-Crawl Contest. I already have full licenses for Hexographer and Dungeonographer and a set of the DungeonMorph Cards, so I'm hoping to earn a set of the DungeonMorph Dice or the Coat of Arms Design Studio. Each of these locations is something that you could easily drop into a hex to give some flavor and difference to the wilderness. With a bit of creativity, they could also be expanded into full adventures for a night or more of play.

If you use them in your game, drop me a line and let me know how it goes.


1. The Dragon’s Bowl
Mountains

A narrow path descends steeply into a natural bowl of rock with a deep, clear pool at the bottom. The water is ice cold, but clean and potable. There are several small shelves of rock around the pool, each shelf shaded from weather by a low overhang. The whole place seems like a perfect place to rest and recover.

The bowl is protected by the spirit of an ancient dragon spirit. Any being that sleeps overnight on one of the shelves will recover the maximum possible hit points and be healed an additional 1d4 hit points by the spirit. They will also dream that they are having a conversation with the spirit. The dragon will answer 1-3 questions posed by the character. Each answer has an equal chance of being answered truthfully or with a half-truth.



2. Little Dragon in the Woods
Forest

A huge dragon skull is sunk into the ground along the side of the road or path on which the characters are traveling. Exploring around the skull reveals other bones that are obviously the remains of a powerful dragon that died here at least a decade ago. Further exploration turns up a camouflaged door where the front of the ribcage would be. The door leads into a small sod house that is poorly but comfortably appointed.

The house is the residence of a wisenend, dirty hermit. He claims that he was once a great warrior that gave up the sword after defeating his arch-nemesis, the very dragon in which he has made his home. He claims that he buried his magical equipment in the woods nearby. If only he could remember where...



3. The Terrible Temple of Arn
Swamp

An ancient shrine is submerged in about three feet of brackish water. The shrine is topped with the menacing figure of a demonic frog-like being. Its mouth is partially opened and the tip of its tongue is visible between a pair of sharpened ridges of teeth. Its skin is covered with warts and knobs, several of which have malevolent, opened eyes. Beneath the demon-frog, seated on a simple stone throne between a pair of fluted columns is a short, bearded human with a broad face, short beard, and some kind of brimmed cap. He appears to be smiling mischievously. In front of the statue is a small altar inlaid with a gridded pattern and strange sigils. Scattered across the top of the altar are a variety of crystals and gems (each worth 10-50 gp). The gems are carved and decorated with ancients number symbols.

If the characters take the gems, they will be immediately attacked by lizard men or frog men that emerge from surrounding swamp. If they escape the guardians, they will be cursed and hunted by the temple's guardians until they return the gems to the altar. If they roll the gems across the top of the altar, the statue will seem to animate and wink at them. They will discover a minor magic item appropriate to the character the next time that they rest.



4. Goodberry Inn
Hills/Forest/Grassland/Farmland

A small travelers’ inn sits next to a remote crossroads. The inn has passable food and comfortable accommodations. What it is mostly noted for is a completely unique type of wine.

Goodberry wine is mostly white with a slight bluish tint. It is light, sweet, and remarkably refreshing and restores 1 hp to anyone that drinks a glass. For anyone drinking a glass, it also imposes a -1 penalty to all saving throws against sleep or charm effects for a full 12 hours. The owner of the inn will not reveal the recipe or the source of the fruit from which the wine is made.

The wine is actually made from a mix of common white grapes and berries from the realm of faerie. It is brewed in a secret room in a hollow hill behind the inn by a pair of faeries. The faeries were bound to a hundred years and a day of servitude. They can be freed by pronouncing their names backwards three times and removing the bracelet of child’s hair bound around each of their wrists. They cannot reveal the method of their release directly to anyone.



5. The Face of Fate
Jungle/Forest

The characters find a limestone cliff covered in vines. A stern face with an ornate headdress is carved into the face of the cliff. The mouth of the face is opened wide enough that a character could easily slip a hand inside. The half-rotten remains of fruit, native totems, and other offerings can be seen inside the mouth. If the characters look straight into the mouth, they will also see a glint of light reflected from something inside. Characters reaching into the mouth have an equal chance of finding a small totem made of gold and gems (10-20 gp value), a large uncut gem (50-200 gp value uncut, 500-1000 gp cut and polished), an aggressive venomous snake, or 1-3 giant centipedes.



6. The River of Plenty
Underdark

The characters see an underground river ahead of them flowing across the passage. The river is suspended perfectly in the middle of the passage, passing smoothly between two five foot-wide holes in the walls of the passage. Blind cave fish can be seen swimming in the water of the river.

None of the water will ever splash the walls, floor, or ceiling here. Characters can easily pass over, under or through the water with no ill effects. The water is clean and potable, and the fish are edible and nutritious.
Creatures in the area are completely aware of the water and food available here. Characters that linger here have triple the normal chance of a random encounter here.



7. The Moaning Tower
Grassland, Farmland, Forest, Hills, or Jungle

The characters find the tumbled remains of an ancient tower. The stumps of the walls are overgrown with vines, trees, and dense shrubs. There is a passable opening in the wall and the overgrowth where the door of the tower once was. As the party approaches the tower, they can hear a low moaning sound coming from inside.

The tower is inhabited by a small hive of giant bees. The moaning sound is the resonance of the buzz of the bees through the foliage and rubble inside the ruin. The bees have completely filled the larder and dungeons below the ruins with their hive, tunneling deeper into the hillside for the queen’s chamber. They will not bother anyone who approaches the tower unless they are attacked or someone attempts to enter or disturb the hive.



8. Dust to Dust
Badlands or Desert

The characters see a huge number of dust devils on the horizon. The mini-whirlwinds are all concentrated in an area a couple dozen yards across and appear to be weaving in and out of each other. Nothing about the scene appears natural or normal.

The whirlwinds are actually the spirits of a tribe of bandits and a unit of caravan guards that fought and died here centuries ago. Their spirits are trapped in the sand here and forced to relive their final moments over and over for eternity.

Anyone who waits for 1d30+30 minutes will see the dust devils disappear one by one until the area is completely calm. 30 minutes later, all of the spirits will rise again and resume their dance.
A character that approaches within twenty feet of the spirit battle will take 1d6 damage per round from the whirling sand in the area. A character that actually enters the battle while the spirits are active will take 3d6 damage per round. Animals will try to avoid the area completely, possibly bolting if their riders try to force them too close to the battleground.

Friday Five-Minute Map

Somebody over on Google+ started a challenge where people take five minutes on Friday to draw a map and then post them for the world to see. This is my first map for it. Like I said in my post on G+, if I had about five more minutes, I would have added a bit of furniture and some more trees.

In a similar vein, I have been sketching quite a few small maps of late. I keep a small notebook (3.75 x 6 in) and some pencils and Sharpie pens on my bedside table. Whenever I need to empty my head or distract myself for a bit before sleeping, I sketch a little map or make some notes for the Borderlands game.

Eventually I'll be posting a lot of that material here. Unfortunately, that has to wait until the players are done exploring it.

Another 20 Questions

This is a good idea. I'm interested to see what different options people present. I've already answered some of these in my house rules document, but here goes:

1. Ability scores generation method?
Roll 4d6 and total the top three dice six times. Arrange these scores as desired. You must meet all minimum ability scores before adjustments to choose a particular class. For example, you must have rolled a 17 and assigned it to Charisma to be a paladin. Ability score adjustments are allowed as described on LL p. 7 and AEC p. 6. Ignore the different ability limitations based on gender.

2. How are death and dying handled?
Characters reduced to 0 or fewer hit points have a chance to avoid death. Make a saving throw versus Death. If you succeed, the character has 1 hit point but is incapacitated. The character may have scars or other repercussions from their brush with mortality.

3. What about raising the dead?
It is possible to raise the dead. If you have an NPC cast a raise dead or resurrection, it's expensive.

4. How are replacement PCs handled?
Create the character as normal. Any new character joining the party will start at first level or one level below the level of the lowest-level current party member.

5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
At the beginning of each combat round, each player will roll initiative using 1d10 plus their character's DEX modifier for initiative. High rolls will act first.

6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
There are no critical fumbles. On a successful to hit roll of 20, you have the chance of scoring a critical hit. If a second to hit roll (including all bonuses to hit) is successful, you have scored a critical hit and automatically cause maximum damage with that attack.

7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
The combat option rules for helmets, parrying, subdual damage, and two-weapon fighting will be used as written on AEC p. 142.

8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
Yes. Any shots fired into melee that miss have a chance of hitting an ally.

9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
Run. Run fast.

10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Yes.

11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Yes.

12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
I don't keep close track, but you're not climbing through the Crystalmists with a wagonload of gear in your backpack.

13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
Gain the xp and gain the level. For things like new spells, you need to go somewhere that makes sense to get them - a mentor, library, guild, etc. Clerics and druids may need to learn new prayers at an appropriate temple.

14. What do I get experience for?
Defeating or overcoming monsters, acquiring treasure, carousing, good roleplaying, solving puzzles or problems, and achieving or advancing plot points.

15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
If you describe something that would locate a trap, your character finds it. If you don't describe things in detail, it goes with the dice.

16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
You can have retainers if you like. Base morale is according to their employer's Charisma. Check morale as indicated in the LL rulebook, p. 56 or when appropriate.

17. How do I identify magic items?
Try to use it, hire a sage or alchemist, or use an identify or legend lore spell. If you have the appropriate command word, you can use most charged items without knowing specifically what they are. You can try to identify potions by tasting a bit of them. Magic-user scrolls must be read with read magic. Clerics and druids can read clerical scrolls. Anyone can read general use or cursed scrolls.

18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
Sure, but they're going to be expensive and only available from a few people in the largest cities.

19. Can I create magic items? When and how?
Sure. Do some research, gather the right components, have the components and materials crafted, then enchant them. Expect to spend a fair amount of money and time to do it.

20. What about splitting the party?
Go ahead, but expect to only get to do about half as much during a session. If the party splits into two or more groups for more than a session, I will probably run them as completely separate groups until they meet or rejoin to keep people from being bored and me from being crazy.

I like D&D Next

I like D&D Next. I'm not really talking about the game, because I haven't seen it yet. But I like the name.

I started thinking about this a while ago, when the kerfluffle started over the announcement of the next edition. It was also inspired by the various timeline graphics posted over at Roleplay-Geek and the musings over at Grognardia.

I laid out some of my thoughts about the problem of editions and the evolution of the game when I kicked the hornets' nest the other day and suggested everyone wait until we had seen the game to comment on it. In that post I laid out the various editions of the game, as I see it, but I didn't give them numbers. If I had to, here's how I would lay it out (in order of publication):

-1: Chainmail and house rules for individual adventures
0: The three little brown books published in 1974.
0.5: The LBBs plus supplement(s) (Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Eldritch Wizardry; Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes; and/or Swords & Spells)
1b: Holmes (may include rules from 0/0.5 editions)
1a: Advanced D&D (Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, Deities & Demigods, Fiend Folio)
2b: Moldvay/Cook/Marsh Basic and Expert Rules (B/X)
2.5b: Mentzer Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortals (BECMI)
1.5a: AD&D plus Unearthed Arcana (UA) and Monster Manual II (MM2)
1.75a: AD&D plus UA, MM2, Oriental Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures, Dungeoneers Survival Guide, Wilderness Survival Guide, Manual of the Planes, and/or Greyhawk Adventures
2a: AD&D, 2nd Edition
2.6b: D&D Rules Cyclopedia (RC)
2.75b: RC plus Wrath of the Immortals
2.5a: AD&D, 2nd Edition plus Players Options and/or DM Options
3: D&D 3.0 (Wizards of the Coast)
3.5: D&D 3.5
4: D&D 4E
4.5: D&D 4E, Essentials
5: D&D Next

And here it is by line:

Precursor:

-1: Chainmail and house rules for individual adventures


0E:

0: The three little brown books published in 1974.
0.5: The LBBs plus supplement(s) (Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Eldritch Wizardry; Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes; and/or Swords & Spells)


AD&D:
1a: Advanced D&D (Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, Deities & Demigods, Fiend Folio)
1.5a: AD&D plus Unearthed Arcana (UA) and Monster Manual II (MM2)
1.75a: AD&D plus UA, MM2, Oriental Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures, Dungeoneers Survival Guide, Wilderness Survival Guide, Manual of the Planes, and/or Greyhawk Adventures
2a: AD&D, 2nd Edition

2.5a: AD&D, 2nd Edition plus Players Options and/or DM Options


Basic:
1b: Holmes (may include rules from 0/0.5 editions)
2b: Moldvay/Cook/Marsh Basic and Expert Rules (B/X)
2.5b: Mentzer Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortals (BECMI)
2.6b: D&D Rules Cyclopedia (RC)
2.75b: RC plus Wrath of the Immortals

WotC:
3: D&D 3.0 (Wizards of the Coast)
3.5: D&D 3.5
4: D&D 4E
4.5: D&D 4E, Essentials
5: D&D Next

Using this nomenclature, I can easily justify why WotC called their first version 3rd edition. Whether they were deriving that number from the Advanced D&D line or from the Basic D&D line, it makes sense in some ways. And carrying on from there it made sense to call the next version 4E. Whatever they call it, though, 4E isn't the fourth edition of the game.

If you only count the whole editions as I lay them out here, there's 0 (the LBBs), 1b (Holmes), 1a (AD&D), 2b (B/X and BECMI), 2a (AD&D 2E), 3, and 4. That puts 4E as the 7th edition of the game at least. Since most people consider B/X and BECMI to be separate editions, that could push 4E to 8th. If you consider all of the intermittent reformulations listed above, 4E could be as late as 15th or 16th edition, depending on whether you're talking about the original 4E or 4E Essentials and whether or not you agree with the distinctions I've made. Regardless, there's no clear designation by number we can use for what edition we're currently playing or talking about. Even if we're playing with just the three little brown books published in 1974, we would need to decide whether to call it the zero/null edition or first edition.

This all may seem like a spurious argument, but here's the point. The gaming community continues to argue over what exactly constitutes a new edition of D&D and where to draw the lines. That disagreement causes no end of discussion and argument over which D&D camp we're playing in. The reason for that is very clear - Dungeons & Dragons has evolved and changed continuously throughout its entire publication history. It has never been a static set of rules, and it never will be.

The designers at WotC are working on the next iteration of the rules and trying to be as descriptive as possible about the new edition without encouraging the divisions that currently plague the community. So they got rid of the numbers and called it what it is - D&D Next. I like it.

Your next stop...

For the past couple months I have been watching the original Twilight Zone episodes through Netflix. They have all of the available episodes there, except season 4 for some reason. Even without those, there  are a grand total of 138 episodes or about 58 hours worth of classic TZ!

Watching these shows takes me back to when I first saw them on syndicated TV, about the same time I started  playing RPGs. In the 80s a couple of local stations in Indianapolis would show these old shows either on weekend days or late at night to fill time outside of the prime time. I remember catching TZ, lots of old westerns, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Dragnet fairly regularly. Seeing them again now brings back a lot of fond memories, but also makes me think about some of the hallmarks of my early gaming style.

When I started gaming, I was really young. At the time my friends and I weren't interested in long campaigns or continuous adventures. We were more interested in flashy combats and quick scenes. Even though we played through published adventures, we had very little continuity between sessions. We would forget where we left off or what the characters were doing at the end of the previous session. So we would almost always have to revert to the standard, "Ok, your back at the keep, and it's a new day. List your spells and let's go." Unintentionally, we had adopted a style of play for our games that mirrored the episodic nature of the TV shows we watched. No long, continuous, dramatic plots. Simple hooks that either played out by the end of the episode or faded into the background. A lot of that had to do with our age at the time, but I think just as much had to do with what we (and the designers of the game) were using for entertainment.

A lot has been said about the pulp fiction roots of the hobby. How the serialized and short fiction of the pulp magazines and their derivatives created the literary background for D&D. But I also think their form, and the way that form carried into radio and early television, had as much to do with the development of the hobby. Twilight Zone is a great show, but it is really just a televised version of a weird stories pulp mag. Have Gun Will Travel, The Lone Ranger, and other early westerns are the western mags, and Dragnet is like the procedural crime stories. Just like the radio shows that preceded them, these shows gave us small bites of adventure that either put a spin on our experienced reality or take us out of it for a while.

They are not like modern shows. Most modern shows rely more on continuity and personal and story development. What happens in a particular episode or season has lasting consequences for the characters and the stories. Instead of simply dropping in on a character for a while, we live with them and see them develop and change.

Old serials may have the same characters and continuous story lines, but the changes happen in the environment, not the heroes. In The Phantom, the main character has a past that determines who he is, but who he is doesn't really change much as a consequence of his adventures. The challenge for him is new enemies and situations, not how he interprets events and grows and changes. In The Cape, the main character also has a past that makes him who he is, but he changes with every episode. The challenge here isn't a new villain, but the character's own feelings. Old serial entertainment relies on situational factors, while newer entertainment relies on personal factors.

This brings me back to thinking about gaming styles. In the 80s, we weren't worried about developing our characters' personality as much as we were trying to see what new challenges we could overcome with them. We would approach each session like a new episode of an old TV show. Like an episode of the Twilight Zone, it all looks fairly straightforward in the beginning. Then you either see the hook or the twist or you don't. Either way, by the end of the session, the hook or twist reveals itself, you find out of you were right or totally missed it, and you see if your character survived. If they did, we got ready for the next session. If not, we rolled a new character. Our characters had fairly transparent motivations, because it wasn't about the characters. It was about taming the wilderness, solving the puzzles, and beating the bad guys. It was simple and pulpy.

Over time, things shifted in entertainment, and gaming styles followed. Gamers got interested in stories and characters more than cunning situations. There were a lot more Drizzts than Conans, and Louis took the place of the Lost Boys. Now it wasn't enough to take out the orcs that were infesting the caves. We had to do an anthropological study to figure out which of the orcs were worth integrating so we didn't needlessly slaughter those innocent, ignorant savages. Everything was nuanced, and we had to know how our characters felt about everything instead of what they were doing. Games, like our popular entertainment, had to have emotional depth and development and evoke pathos. And because it takes time for a character to develop depth, we focused on rambling story games with complicated plots that could take months or years to develop and come to fruition.

Old school games tend to be more episodic. Old school games are more closely associated with situational development. The level of crunch and complexity varies, but the focus is mostly on doing rather than being something. New school games tend to be more developmental. They focus on developing character, personality, and relationships. They are as much about being as doing something. I am definitely not going to say that either form of play is better or worse than the other, but they are different.

Different gamers prefer one over the other, just like different people like different TV shows. And we may like both at different times. Sometimes we want to watch Twilight Zone or the original Star Trek. Sometimes we want to watch Lost or Battlestar Galactica. And some people may just want to stick with one or the other.

For now I'm having as great a time watching the old TV shows as I am playing the old games.