D&D RC Campaign Summerbreak Summary Part 2: The Art of Boredom

Hello, everyone! I'm still alive and I got lots of writing to do, just not for the blog. Have a great little home campaign cooking and people seem to enjoy it enough to put some more energy into it, I started writing some more fiction, which will get published through other outlets (if you want a taste, check out my little cyberpunk story here) and I still aim to publish a couple of projects I started the last couple of months ... it's been busy. Anyway, so much for the update. I this post I'll talk a bit more about our D&D campaign and share some of the world building we've been doing. Enjoy!

Here's Part 1, for those interested in the whole bit.

Where we left

I need to write this down or I'll forget it ... Alright, the characters arrived in Deverrin, a nice town in a nice valley with a nice apple festival going. They got involved in a heist of some very expensive apple cider, or at least everyone thinks they are involved and the party of adventurers becomes a party of interest for at least 3 factions involved.

In best noir-tradition, they go with the flow and see where they can benefit form the situation. First in line was a priestess of the Goddess of Boredom and after some unfortunate business about unpaid bills in a tavern, the characters are on their way to the temple for room and board (or should I say "bored" ...).

This is where we get back into the story.

The Temple of Boredom

The challenge here was to present the players with something that obviously bored their characters, but still was entertaining to behold. Not an easy task, beyond the obvious jokes that come to mind immediately: highly bureaucratic, boring architecture, boring people ... and yet, you'd have burned your way through that pretty fast and they came to stay, so it'll need a little bit more than that.

I started out lucky, as the Narrative Generator suggested that the characters encounter some rivals. Having the group encounter another adventuring group is something I do very rarely in my D&D games and this gave me a great little opportunity to change that. So as they enter the temple, looking forward to some free food and a bed, and they see a group of eccentric strangers that could only be adventurers: a pixie, a veteran, some shady looking guy and a halfling.

Obviously the Forum Romanum, but it'll serve as temple district ... [source]

 

The group's very own shady looking character sneaked in and heard that their jig was threatened (is that how you say it?): those guys offered their services for finding the missing bottle of Goldspritz and their offer was good. The players wouldn't have it. However, instead of confronting their competition, they "sleep-spelled" them (which totally should be a word ...).

It was a gamble, of course, as they had no idea how tough those NPCs were and plan B seemed to be of the bloody variant, with the thief hoping he got a surprise attack if the wizard failed ... Well knowing that if he failed, they wouldn't get out of this alive (at least it would get bloody).

Anyway, the spell dropped 3 of the four, leaving the Pixie awake and they managed to handle that one. Took a little bit of intimidation and pointing out that cutting some throats would be the easiest solution right now, and the competition was no more. They sure made an enemy that day, though.

Having their place secured, they claimed the offer they got. The next problem seemed to be that they couldn't agree how to pair for the rooms they got, so they had to share a room with some (very boring) strangers.

Here's the thing: there is beauty in boredom. If you are bored, nothing dangerous is happening, and that's a good thing. That's why the Goddess of Boredom has a strong following and people come from all over the place to experience true boredom at the temple. Mostly office types, probably. But there is nothing wrong with embracing a boring life. Or so they told the characters.

Of course they tested the limits of that by trying to disturb the divine boredom of the place. It's just that the reaction was never as spectacular as they thought it'd be. Hence, that first night in the temple was quite unspectacular.

Breakfast was when the characters realized that this place might not be healthy. They'd been led to a room without windows, with two rows of tables where the seating always faced a blank wall. The food was gray porridge. Nourishing, for sure, but not very appealing. To make things worse, they had a little machine in there that made a constant ticking sound, like you'd know from a loud clock.

It was too much for the characters and they'd have to make a save versus death rays to avoid the boredom affecting them (which two characters failed, of course). Still, a free meal it has been. They gathered some more information in the temple, then they went back into town to gather some more ...

Deverrin with details (or rather, that's what I use) [source]

Rumors and the Redcape Militia

Another rainy day in the city. But still, the festival was in full swing and apple-themed gimmicks and pastries where all over the place. The (fat) wizard and the (fat) cat woman where happy to explore a variety of apple extravaganzas, while the rest of the group headed to the next guard post.

The city guard is a militia called the "redcapes", obviously for their choice in clothing. From what the characters know, they are mainly financed by powerful political entities in the area and thus, let's say, a bit biased towards certain cash cows. The baron keeps out of town, mostly, so the city guard is who's having the say. And who controls them, controls what's happening.

Chief among those powerful is the Godmother of apple cider in town, Gertrude Oldinges. Now, guess who was target of that heist ... Right. So the city guard had a vested interest in solving that particular case.

In come the characters. It's a busy little guard station, right in the center of town. No obvious leaders, but the characters wanted to mingle first anyway. The barbarian offered an arm wrestling competition and those redcapes just hanging around happily accepted the challenge. Anything to get some entertainment, right?

So the barbarian fails, which is good for morale, then the pretty boy of the group (our very own Prince Charming) joins the fray and devastates the strongest guy the guard could offer. Now people started paying attention. The thief made some good winnings on the side (which he had to share, because people with axes persisted).

Our prince charming wished he looked like that, but it's close enough ... [source]

Having played the crowd like that, the group starts asking questions, especially asking who's in charge. Turns out, the guy in charge is called Irmin and he's quite the hero material, all muscles and charm.

He's open to exchange information, but wants the group to do him a favor first (again the narrative generator throwing a curve ball): his young cousin has fallen in with a bad crowd. A band of misfits that hang out in the slums that grew outside the walls of Deverrin. Irmin wants the group to go in there and get the boy back to his family. If they manage to do that, they get the information they want.

Meanwhile the cat and the wizard eat and drink their way through the festival and gather some more rumors while they are at it: something about an explosion in the north-east of town that seemed somehow drug related and there is some underground fighting somewhere in the sewers.

The group unites and head towards the residence where Irmin's aunt lives to gain some more knowledge on the boy.

A tragic story?

Irmin's extended family lives in the artisan quarter of town. Houses with several stories, where the business is on the ground level and the living quarters are above. Usually several generations lived in those houses, as well as the apprentices and the helps. The characters are met with suspicion first, but as soon as they explained that Irmin sent them and what their quest is, the family warms up to them and they are allowed inside.

The family seems to prepare for supper as the characters arrive. Women and children in the kitchen, the mother of the boy in trouble among them. She sends the rest of the family outside and tells the characters the story as far as she knows it. Her son, Tlaus, had a childhood sweetheart called Yvi. They'd do everything together, but it was a strange and silent girl most of the time and they'd soon find out why.

She was the daughter of a famous artisan living close by. Seemed to be a perfectly happy family, too, but something went on there that wasn't supposed to be public. A secret, until the day the family residence burned down and revealed some ugly truths. Or at least some rumors about went on when no one was looking.

Not many of the family survived that fire, but among the dead had been Yvi's father and the surviving family members where unanimous that Yvi had set that fire in a fit of rage about something her father did to her. Most of it was left to the imagination, but Yvi definitely went into hiding after the fire and was searched for as the culprit behind the fire.

Tlaus had secretly kept in touch with her, very much aware that it wouldn't find approval with his family to help the firestarter (the reasons didn't matter that much). It was a situation that had to escalate at some point, and it did. When his family found out that he'd helped Yvi, they tried to intervene and (of course) he ran away because of it.

Last thing they heard was that they started a gang and mugged unwary johns in the outskirts of town. Their main residence seemed to be (as far as the family knew) an establishment called "The Burning Kobold" They'd love to welcome Tlaus back to the family.

Meanwhile the cat made some friends aḿong the children living there and in the end the group got offered some stew in the kitchen. However, the had to be gone before supper started.

The weather had cleared up a bit when they headed towards the wooden shacks that grew like a tumor between Deverrin and the river Wolter. It was an impressive sight, mostly because of its height, and it looked like a proper labyrinth. However, there'd be enough freelancers at the entrances offering their services as guides into the filthy underbelly of town.

That's pretty close to what I described ... [source]

They threw a little boy some copper to get them there and then headed towards the Burning Kobold. What happened there, will be told in Part 3.

Still no fights ...

The group was very careful to avoid conflicts so far. That might be because they realized that all kinds of NPCs with varying power levels populate the area (as should obviously be the case in a D&D sandbox game, right?) or they wanted to avoid forcing their hand with the very brutal and unforgiving combat system we where testing for the game.

Hard to say, but they seemed to have fun nonetheless and that's all I need to know (I really wanted to test that combat system, though).

Still super happy with the Narrative Generator (the only part of Lost Songs that sees some testing right now, I'm afraid). It forces me to develop the narrative in directions I wouldn't have thought about. That's a good thing.

It also helps to imagine this to be an anime story. D&D is great for this kind of game (as I keep saying). All the tropes are either in there or easily implemented. Not really serious gaming, but lots of fun to play.

All the other house rules we agreed upon work as they should, although no character had been challenged really hard at that point. They still get xp for good roleplaying and ideas (as you'd get when playing the D&D RC), so people will level up eventually.

I know many people will tell you that you need to have some sort of mini-dungeon or similar challenge for a low level group to get them some treasure and monster xp, but I found it is very much worthwhile to take the time and built a strong narrative instead. I mean, who's to know, it's a sandbox game and anything goes. I sure enough gave them the hints for some proper dungeon crawling.

However, this is where the game went and it worked just as well, if not better.

Next time we'll learn how things went down with Tlaus and Yvi and what the guard had to tell about that heist. Stay tuned.

Review: Expanded Petty Gods

This is due, folks. And I really haven't seen many people praise this book beyond "It's out! Get it!". So let me talk a bit about the Expanded Petty Gods Tome of Awesome (EPG) and why it's something every fantasy DM should at least check out. If you think this is going to be a positive review, you won't be surprised that much ...

Disclaimer: I did three pieces for EPG. Two of them without any hope to see them published other than on the blog and the third one happening because there was some more room for the Shroom and the Ranger obliged ... Of course I'm happy to see my name in this thing, but I would have to be very desperate to make this about my small contribution to this HUGE book. Anyway, read it with a grain of salt, as they say, and I'll try to write it with the proper distance.

Honestly, I love that cover.

Hard Birth of the Mighty Expanded Petty Gods

I won't bore you with the details, but this book has seen several hands before it manifested the way it did there in the end. Let's say someone started this idea of a collection of Petty Gods and many others liked it, but the sheer scope of the project (and other factors, I'm sure) hindered it from happening until it just didn't happen. Lots of gods already written and drawn, lots of enthusiasm for naught.

Or so it seemed. But then someone else revived it and it got even more attention than it did the first time. Now there were even more gods with more art and great ideas, Michael Moorcock was to write a piece and ... maybe it was just too much? I mean, this got huge, with lots of interest and even more work done up front. But when all was said and done, it remained to be a hobby effort. By lots of creative and capable people, of course, but done in their free time nonetheless. And there are limits to such a thing. Anyway, it wasn't to be. Again.

Imagine, this idea started around November 2010 and it took until November 2014 before the project got its final push and ended up being published a few months later. It took over four years! Well, the cynics among you might mumble something right now about certain kickstarters taking that much time (or more) and still end up nowhere ... But I digress.

What I was aiming for here was that the idea alone managed to gain enough traction over 4 years to not only result in a gigantic community effort worth "327 petty gods, 116 minions, knights and servants, 12 cults and dozens of divine items and spells", it also managed to get published! The work all those people put into this at every stage of the project is just breathtakingly a-ma-zing. Seriously.

What it is and what you get

One of the reasons to write this review (or rather, what made me wanna do now what I intended to do anyway ...), was a (how I see it) unfair comment about this book and a mediocre rating for it on rpg.net. It honestly caught me by surprise. I know we live in a culture of "Meh, I don't like it, so it's bad!" (I just wanted to write "... and it must be bad!", but stopped myself, since there's too much reflected introspective even in that), so I really shouldn't be surprised. But then I checked how many reviews are already out there and got ... not that much. Not in the open wild, anyway.

So this is for those out there stumbling across this post because they had been looking for something like this about the book: Expanded Petty Gods is a collection not only of petty (fantasy) gods, a concept one might be familiar with from such works as the late Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, the often overlooked early D&D supplement Unknown Gods by the Judges Guild or from your Latin lessons about the Roman empire, well, it's also brim full with essays like Create a Religion in your Spare Time for Fun and Profit by M.A.R. Barker and many other great advice about handling religion in (fantasy) campaigns. It also got monsters and spells and items and organisations ...

I'm starting to repeat myself here, but imagine hundreds of people, each putting their creative best to the idea of a book about petty gods and what comes with it and this is what you get: almost 400 A4 pages of inspiration, completely illustrated. The pdf of this huge book is also FREE, for those wondering what such a thing might cost and the Lulu prints are at cost, so the hardcover version of this really, really big book comes down to ca. 22 US $.

One might think that this book is all over the place, given the history it has and the multitude of different writers and artists and what-not, so you might be surprised to see what an excellent editing job can do for a project like this. It's tight, the transitions are smooth, it's perfectly indexed and while reading in it, I always got the feeling that it all connects very well. Richard L. LeBlanc, Jr. (of Save vs. Dragon fame, check out his stuff!) took the helm in the final stages of the genesis of this book and he (with all the others that helped him) did an excellent job to make this look very professional. Expanded Petty Gods is a showcase for why you have professionals for work like this (did I mention that it is free?).

Just a random page ...

Enough praise for now

If you weren't convinced by now, more words wouldn't change it, so I'll leave it at that. This is a huge community effort, with lots of great writers and artists involved (famous and/or not) and professional editing to boot. It's also free and the (at cost!) print versions of it are impressive enough to intimidate most other books of any respective rpg collection (my D&D RC was unimpressed, but that almost goes without saying).

It was written for early editions of D&D and variants, but that shouldn't hinder anyone interested. Most of it is system agnostic or translated to other systems easy enough. So if anything I just wrote resonated with you, dear reader, and you check this out to find new writers and/or artists, use it in your games for the gods (like I do, the players love it ...), as a monster compendium for medium to high level campaigns, as inspiration or just to look at pretty pictures, you won't be disappointed with what the Expanded Petty Gods Compendium brings to the table. Enjoy!

An Expanded Petty Gods cult-preview: Way of the Shroom (with some bonus Shroom Wisdom)

I got the chance to write a bit more about King Shroom (link is in the preview), one of my Expanded Petty Gods entries (one of two, to be precise) and thought I'd share the result as a preview (did ask if it's okay, too). For all those unaware of it and reading this (couldn't be many, but anyway): thanks to +Richard LeBlanc the Expanded Petty Gods community project is in its final stages right now and we can expect to see the final product some time next month (March 2015). It will be a massive tome with close to 400 pages full of great ideas and lots of fantastic artwork. I really can't wait to get my hands on it!

 +Greg Gorgonmilk deserves a honorably mention here,
since he initiated the original reboot of the project. Thanks, man!

Please, enter the weird:

Way of the Shroom

The Way of the Shroom is a philosophy associated with cults formed by mushroom eaters all over the known worlds worshiping King Shroom, the Patron of those indulging the mind-expanding qualities of certain shrooms, aka Cannibal Godspawn of Mushrooms and Devourer General of the Lizardwars.

These congregations of like-minded enthusiasts are, due to their diversity and strange behavior, often enough dismissed as random phenomena. But this might as well be intentional and some scholars argue that even a random or accidental consummation of psychedelic mushrooms may somehow be part of King Shroom’s weird schemes to activate a devote following in a specific area for some bizarre reason or another (see King Shroom post for specifics).

True Priesthood

To become a cleric devoted to King Shroom a follower has to forsake his physical body and embrace the world of the shroom. A ceremony to this end involves a deadly overdose of poisonous mushrooms in a remote area prone to mushroom growth. The decomposing body will then feed the fungus network and form, in time, a new body for the follower’s soul to inhabit and with the locale of his initiation as his chapel. This is the only known ritual to fully divine the Way of the Shroom.

In his new form the cleric may move freely among the fungus network of his holy site, dissolving it in one place and spawning it within minutes at another. He’ll also have the ability to camouflage himself as a group of mushrooms, effectively hiding his presence 95% of the time (the change takes 1d6 rounds minus the cleric’s level, but at least 1 round).

He’ll furthermore have the ability to regenerate any damage he sustains at a rate of 1 hp per level per round and may regenerate his whole body within a day if fertile ground is available by releasing spores shortly before his demise. Those spores remain dormant in an infertile environment until the opportunity arises to travel somewhere else, for instance on the clothes of some adventurer or the fur of an animal passing by.

For all other purposes this new body functions and (almost) looks like a normal human body.

Spells are those appropriate for the cleric’s level, but the fungoid nature of his clergy has a way of twisting the effects of said spells. Healing spells, for instance, come with a (rather harmless) fungus infection that goes away after a period of time equal to the natural healing process of the wounds treated. The dead would be animated by mushroom roots replacing the nervous system of a corpse and a blessing might have rather psychedelic side-effects.

Priests of the Shroom have access to all kinds of mushrooms and love beer above everything else. They are by default under the influence of very strong psychedelic mushrooms (being cannibals, of sorts) and their sermon is (at best) opaque for those not seeking the higher enlightenment of the shroom.

Holy Sites of the Shroom

Mushroom groves are places of worship. If a cleric resides in such a grove, its size will be related to the holy man’s level. Although high level clerics are very rare, their cathedrals would be vast mushroom forests, with fungus networks spanning even further underground.

A cleric is aware of everything that happens within such a network.

There is a 10% chance per level (every new level allows a new check) that such a grove attracts 2d4 giant crickets, whose eerie choirs then haunt the site every sunset, praising mighty King Shroom. In times of war a number of [cleric’s level] times d100 Fruggar (see +j garrison's entry for the EPG on his blog) will defend the temple under the clerics command.

Apologizing to a mushroom one stepped on by accident when visiting a shroom temple is totally appropriate.

Symbiotic Priesthood

On rare occasions (chance 1 in 8 in a situation involving mushrooms) King Shroom might “lead” clerics of other faiths to the Way of the Shroom by facilitating an accidental psychedelic experience. The cleric will then in his intoxicated state see the true wisdom of the shroom and act towards the King’s agenda. Not that anyone would understand what’s going on. Even a cleric’s true god would most likely assume that the resulting strange and erratic behavior is just the result of some ill-advised quiche (chance of 1 in 12 to realize what’s going on).

Enlightenment follows (artwork by +Richard LeBlanc)

King Shroom controls how long the cleric will be hooked and will release the cleric as soon as he has fulfilled his purpose. Sometimes he forgets, though (chance of 1 in 20).

Some say the Lizardwars started because the Cannibal Godspawn made a lizard shaman cook an omelet out of some dragon eggs he was supposed to protect, binge-eating them with a smile afterwards. But that is highly disputable. Anyway, the lizard ate the eggs, maybe it started the rumor, too.

Shroom Wisdom

“Never tell a bear who ate the wrong mushrooms about his purple fur, but ask him for relationship advice instead.”

“A rose is but a pimp anyway, although the lizard disagrees, licking its thorns in disgust.”

“Rejoice! You are fermented! Now bicycle that yellow.”

“Cellar door.”

"The Shroom abides." (bonus)

"You don't choose the Shroom, the Shroom chooses you ..." (bonus)

Actual Epées & Sorcellerie Play-Report Pt. 1 (Random Shenanigans! Goblins! Odd Petty Gods!)

E&S is a french retro-clone that works solely by using a solid (and beautiful) 2d6 mechanic. If you've never heard of it, you certainly missed out. It's free and short and brim full of ideas, so just do yourself a favor and check it out already! I also wrote a review about the game back in February, if you need some more convincing ...

The first opportunity to play E&S was this year in April when we went to the girlfriend's family during the Easter holidays. I believe I was a bit shaky with my DMing back then (I hadn't DMed on a regular basis for about a year at that time*), but everyone seemed to have a good time (didn't write a play report, though).

Anyway, when we decided to spend the Christmas holidays there, too, I was asked to DM once more. Now with more players (the people who'd had a good time the first time, had convinced others to join the party), so we ended up being 7 people. Two of them complete newbies and two more that might as well be called newbies, since the only game they'd ever attended was the one we had back in April.

I was better prepared this time (at least I believed to be better prepared, which is just as well) and really felt the urge to DM some fantasy role playing. My game of choice was, again, Epées & Sorcellerie, since most of the people attending already had at least some experience with it.

This is a collection of my memories of what occurred that day. Mostly for future reference, but also to talk a bit about how I DM a game (random and improvisation). Part one will be mostly the set-up and the first encounter. Part two will conclude the session and I'll write a bit about what worked and what not

The chances for everyone from the first session still having their character sheets had been thin to begin with, but still, I wanted to build on the setting and the story that had already been established and hoped that at least one player still had something for me to work with. One was all I needed ...

Recent Events in Barony Schwarzaarlen

The map I used for barony Schwarzaarlen was the one I talked a bit about in November 2014:

The post is here.

Character creation took about 90 minutes. That's not the games fault, though, but due to the fact that 5 new characters needed to get done and I had a lot of explaining to do. When starting a setting new to the players, I usually assume that they had some reason to be in the area. Them all being level 1 made things quite easy, as they all just had finished their training and thus needed to be locals (as travelling would have most likely ended in earning xp ...).

I also take the time to tell the players a lot about local politics and rumors (list contains rumors from both sessions):

• The local baron, Welbur ven Stretten, was away on military expedition to get rid of the giant spiders that recently had caused some trouble at farms in the south.
• Rumor has it that the problem with the spiders was because of another military expedition a few months before that, where the baron got rid of some lizard tribes who lived in the southern swamps.
• With the lizards gone, Zaraziell the Weird (mighty wizard and resident of the infamous Flickering Tower (yellow circle with the "C" on the map) decided to travel into the swamps to the Ruins of Takor (an ancient city. hexagon-8 on the map) for some research, something he'd thought to be too much work up until now because the tribes had been somewhat protective about it.
• There were rumors of Ogres living in the east and some goblins living in the north.
• There were stories about The Road Under the Mountain, a series of ancient tunnels with the legend that there might be a shortcut through the mountains. A dangerous endeavor, but sure worth some gold for those who find such a passage.
• With all the Big Players being busy, the town Deverrin (red circle with the "A" on the map) was in desperate need for some local trouble shooters to get things done. One such group (characters of that first session) had been sent to check out why the big cider delivery for some upcoming festivities was late (the town had been preparing for a fair to celebrate the apple harvest at the time).
• As it turned out, that delivery had been late because of a (very) drunken Ogre being on a rampage on Widow Oldinges farm (producer of the famous Cider Goldspritz, biggest farm in the area, people call her godmother, but only behind her back ...). The young heroes had helped killing that beast and ventured on to find out where it had come from and why, as ogres normally don't come that close to the town (end of that first session).
• The second session starts two weeks later with the new characters finding out that the fate of that first group is uncertain, as only one of them had returned (the only surviving character sheet back at the table ...), but injured and with no recollection of what had happened after that first group had left widow Oldinges farm (she'd only remembered some ruins, an entrance leading under the earth, the screams of her dying comrades and the general area where it went down ...).
• Some fairy creatures had been implicated with the ogre rampage, so the elves in the north took an interest in finding out what had went down and sent a young priest of Kalantos, the God of Axe Executions (random result of the Original Petty Gods roster, p. 60) and his bodyguard (two new characters) to find out.
• The survivor of that first group had made a public request for volunteers to join her for a second expedition.

With this knowledge the new group formed (adding another elf, a wizard and a dwarf) and started their journey up north.

Preparing the Randomness

I had the map shown above, the E&S rules, some random encounter tables for the different areas, the names of important personalities living in the valley, the local landmarks (they traveled basically following known landmarks, like the mountains surrounding the valley, etc.), also the fantastic Original Petty Gods pdf (finished and hosted by Gorgonmilk, not to be confused with the connected, but still developing and eagerly awaited Expanded Petty Gods project over at Save vs. Dragon) and a list with random names for every occasion.

I also had with me (but didn't need) the "Dungeon Dressing" Tables from the Ruins of Undermountain and the OSR dungeon crawl Under Xylarthen's Tower by +Jeff Rients of Jeff's Gameblog fame.

That is all. The rest needed to be improvised ...

Tribal goblins and some strange ruins ...

So the group traveled north and the first day of travel didn't bring any random encounters and they managed to venture deep into the forest before they needed a place to spend the night. The night turned out to be a bit more exciting, though, as during the second watch 4 Goblins infiltrated the camp undetected and almost managed to get away with kidnapping one of the characters (set up of their camp allowed for the attempt and the character didn't wake up ...).

A short fight dispatches three goblins, but the fourth got away and weaseled his way back into the forest (being on his home-turf and all). The group decided to break camp in the middle of the night as their position was obviously compromised. And sure enough, 20 minutes later drums started echoing through the forest and wolves answered their call.

A wild chase ensued with the group fleeing through the forest and the howls of their hunters drawing closer and closer (random results: it was a clear night with the moon half full in early spring, so even the only human in group had a good chance of seeing where he ran; the goblins had reacted quite pissed, as per the reaction table, size of the tribe as per E&S, which amounts to around 100 ...).

One character gets the idea that climbing a tree to get some orientation could help them finding somewhere to hide and is lucky enough to discover the tip of what looks like a ruined tower somewhat (3d6 x 10 in m =) 150 Meters away from the groups current position. The enemy is pretty close at that point and 4 characters decide to make a run for that tower, two remain where they are and hide in the trees.

The four who had made a run for the tower, saw it belonged to the ruins of what once must have been a church (a graveyard surrounded it) and three of them (the elves) decided to go for the nearest trees instead (elves are almost invisible when hiding in forest). The dwarf decided to enter the chapel.

With the party effectively split into 3 groups I had to improvise big time to get some tension. I began with describing a group of three dozen goblins, eight of them on mean looking wolves, passing the tree the two left behind characters had hidden in. One of those dire wolves passed a perception check and stayed back and 8 goblins decided to tag along. The rest headed for the ruins ...

Into the weird territory of improvising and using random results

What followed was the utterly strange result of trusting the dice, a smelly but friendly petty god, some strange rituals, a random trap dungeon with a giant frog and the need to improvise a complex puzzle at 1 o'clock in the morning (after 5 hours of play, no less).

So stay tuned for part 2!


* Blogging is a nice exercise to keep it theoretical and explore the hobby and the game further, but it doesn't help when 3 strangers need convincing that role playing games are a worthwhile past time ...

Expanded Petty Gods Art: Call for Help by R. J. LeBlanc, Jr. (Save vs. Dragon)

As those who are interested enough (which should be everyone, really) might know: the Expanded Petty Gods Community Project is under new management. So this is still going to happen and Richard J. LeBlanc is doing a great job (as did Gorgonmilk before him ...). I mean, this is already big and it's beautiful! It's full of great ideas for everyone to use! It got "Old School" written all over it! And all done by the community. So what's not to like? Why not help along the way? Because:

What it needs right now is more art!

I couldn't draw a picture to save my life, so I'm out (right?). But I have seen things around the blog-o-sphere. You guys can do all kinds of cool stuff! You can do this.

And there will be sad kittens if you don't. Did I mention the kittens? They'll be sad. Who'd want that?

Please don't ... [source]

Seriously, if you got the time and the energy, contribute and get your stuff out there. Help realizing this great community project.

Also:

Have a Happy New Year you all! 

Let's get back to the party ...

Witches, Warlocks, Souls On The Cheap... (Dark Thoughts 1)

Power corrupts. We know that. And there are always those that will feed from those with power. We know that, too. What is always good to remember, though, is how sweet an evil and corrupted soul tastes to a demon. It's something they cultivate like a viniculturist his vine. And it is a delicate art indeed to harvest the tainted soul at it's peak, either at a moment of regret or just the moment before they got too powerful. This first post about the machinations of evil will illustrate how the weak may be corrupted. It's system agnostic and could be used with every system that uses ability scores and xp for level advancement. Be warned, this will give the game a very dark turn*. So: magic users may become witches or warlocks by selling their soul. Her are my thoughts.

The Pitch

A human** magic user may sell his soul, if the opportunity arises. The decision alone will shift a lawful character's alignment towards neutral. If the requirements are fulfilled, they just gain the next level with all the benefits and powers associated with it (hp, spells, etc.). No xp needed. A character may start doing this at level 1 or on higher levels. If he enters later, he'll only have to pay the price needed for the located level. A demon may offer special powers for those prices not yet used up to level 5 (see below), so if a character is already, for instance, level 4, he might buy special powers instead of the levels he already has. If a demon sees a possibility to get away cheap, he will do so, of course.

The Lower Price Ranges

and Special Offers (enter at ANY level!)

Notes: A demon will naturally never talk about the consequences or the fine print. It's always just "I really only need the memory of your first kiss to make this happen! You won't need it anyway and you'll be so much more powerful afterwards...". Always leading a character nicely in the wrong direction to screw him up. And even if a character is only using it to gain a one-time benefit, the demon just won't let him alone and the dark deeds accompanied with it will fall back on the character somehow, someday.

A pleasant memory - shift alignment towards chaotic, if this shifts the alignment beyond chaotic, the player needs to succeed in a save vs. death or he looses control over the character (who is then considered "evil" and going for the next 1d6+2 levels in this list), gain level 2

Special offer: By giving the entity a pleasant memory, a character gains the ability to always float on water instead of drowning. If that isn't enough a demon might add a spell slot more or two. The character will still shift alignment.

A first kiss - loose 1d4 points CON permanently, gain level 3

Special offer: Giving away this memory will make the character immune to the effects of fear. He'll still loose CON.

Ambition - the character has sold his complete soul now and may only gain xp when following the orders of his demon lord, gain level 4

Special offer: The character gets the ability to control undead as a cleric would. Of course he'll only gain xp when doing his demon lords bidding from now on. Now the gloves come off...

--------------------------------

An unholy union - gives birth to a demons child, this is gender indifferent (be creative), gain level 5

A friend - kill someone that trusts you, gain level 6

A virgin - sacrifice a virgin (nothing fancy for the ritual needed), gain level 7

A child - kill it, let it feel the pain, gain level 8

An unborn - get it out of the mother, make the mother realize what happens, kill both, gain level 9

Build unholy shrine - needs the sacrifice of at least 20 hd of some innocents, half of them need to be consumed, the character will have an uncanny appetite for young human flesh after that, gain level 10

The Fine Print

Every level gained like this will have the character loose (1 + half the level gained) points Charisma. If this is reduced to 1 the character is considered hideous (with all the attributes you'd give a witch, nose, warts, cackle and all) and further losses will instead reduce Wisdom by 2 points per further level gained this way. After reducing Wisdom to 1, the character ages 10 years per level gained. They won't die because of old age, though, they'll just look incredibly old, fragile and ugly...

An entity powerful enough to grant this powers won't allow the ones it granted those powers to become more powerful than they are themselves, of course. They'd rather arrange an accident and claim their price. Sometimes the victims get wise, though, and fight back. Best way to do that is killing the demon lord that owns your soul, gaining it's power in the process. Betraying the demon also has a nice ring to it. Someone like this might become a demon himself (it has to start somewhere, I guess). Other, more creative solutions are always possible, too.

Up to gaining level 5 a character sells only parts of his soul. If he gets the complete package including level 5 he has sold his soul complete. Being already level 5 or higher, means he'd have to sell his entire soul to gain the next level. A character level 1 that wants to buy any other level but the next, will have to pay for the levels in between, too.

If a character is able to recover his soul, he will, of course, loose all benefits he gained by selling it. The crimes he did will remain, though, and he is still accountable for them..

Regular Advancement

A DM or player might want to keep a separate tally for regular gained xp. For calculating regular advancement, the xp for the levels gained by selling the soul will count as if gained regular, too, and all other xp are added to this. So if a character has earned 2500 xp and bought 4 levels he have 22.500 xp and he'll need 17.500 xp to get level 6. If he would gain 5.000 xp more and decides nevertheless to buy level 6, his new xp tally would be 47.500 xp (as per the Rules Cyclopedia).

*Clarifications: If a player is foolish enough to sell his soul to a demon or devil, it has to have dire consequences. I'm not proposing this for the players to have fun "being evil", but to make them realize what "being evil" may entail. So this is to produce tension and maybe to see how far they'd go. But it's entirely possible too use this just for NPCs. In the end, it's a DMs choice what and how much of it he is willing to use in his campaign. My stance on this and further thoughts are found here.

**How this is handled for other humanoid races depends on the campaign world. Elves might have no soul to sell and all that.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 6

Today's question: What's my favorite deity?

[A plea for the DIY attitude and a Rules Cyclopedia Oddity...]

I looked for a comprehensive list of D&D gods and was appalled ("sad" a few sentences ahead links to a wiki-list...). So: None. Seriously. They're all crap not that good. It's not their fault. Those poor guys couldn't help it. So many companies invented, reinvented, censored, added, subtracted and changed them, they never were consistent enough to be anything more than an unstable accessory. Not one as iconic as, say, Cthulhu or as mainstream-compatible as Crom or... Ah, it's just sad. Add a Satanic Panic or two and some copyright infringements and you're left with a incoherent clusterfuck of boring ideas, spreading and meandering through the game like cancer.

Or should I just write Lolth...

No. There are better ways to handle this. And I'm not just thinking it would be a very good idea to let Orcus finally ascend to godhood and be done with it. Well, I it is a good idea, but not what I'm aiming for.

Another Rules Cyclopedia Oddity

There are no specific Gods here*, only some general words about what they call the Immortals. Just using the Rules Cyclopedia will force a DM to build his own pantheon. It's a boring and/or difficult task, but a huge step in the right direction. Plus: the problems with this tell us something worth realizing about this iteration of the game.

An Immortal must have walked the earth before he could become one of the mighty few. He had to manage to get to level 36 before he even could start to become a immortal being. We're talking at least ( for the cleric) 2.900.000 xp here! He had to leave a huge footprint in a setting. Even if half of that was gold pieces, he moved in his time 1.450.000 of those. What did he do with all that money? What did he build, etc.? And this is about one who at that point only tries to become a god. What if he failed. How many shaped the world and did fail in the end. And those that made it, are they all still well known? For what?

I could go on, but I won't. I believe the main point is already made: the game has a very huge (if not intimidating) scope. To do this the way it's intended to be done is difficult. It needs plausibility and consistency. The Immortals are the roots of a setting, the power-structure and a DM needs to stay on top of that to make it work. In my opinion, it's worth trying. Or...

About my favorite list of Deities:

If a player wants to play a cleric, he might choose a deity from the Petty Gods supplements or make his own Petty God in the same fashion**. If I need a god or two for a region, I'll just randomly choose 1d4 of them, maybe play a bit with the names. If I have another idea or two for the collection or see something I like, I'll write a short description and add them to the roster. All are Immortals as per the RC.

It makes for a very colorful pantheon where a cleric's profession is more an individual expression of what the player had in mind than some pseudo-spiritual ideas forced upon him. It also fits the idea of a world where civilization struggles after some big apocalyptic event, where small fractions of communities are isolated enough from each other to have a different belief system.


*May be true for all the older editions. I am not that familiar with those. But the D&D Rules Cyclopedia was supposed to be the final Edition of "old" D&D and they didn't even call them "gods" in the end.
** For those not familiar with the Petty Gods Project (are there still people out there in the OSR who aren't?) or those new to my blog (more likely...) are two examples of some Petty Gods here and here.

One Hundred Posts and some Petty Gods Art!

With this one I have 100 posts under my belt and it's time to thank all of you! The OSR is a very pleasant neighborhood for a blogger. Writing and exchanging ideas with the lot of you has been a very nice experience. So a big "Thanks!" to all my followers, those of  you who come by regularly to check what I am up to, those taking the time to write a comment and all those nice bloggers tolerating me on their blogroll!

You're all awesome!

At first I wanted to bore you with a behind the scenes look and blogger stats. I got something better instead. For me it's kind of a big deal that someone took the time to draw a picture of my humble attempt to contribute to a great project. So, not because this is my 100th post, but because Greg of Gorgonmilk fame is such a nice guy, I'm allowed to present some art by Rom Brown for the forthcoming Petty Gods!

Feloren* - Astrayed Patron of the Lost, The Idol of Misdirection

Art by Rom Brown. I love it! That beard especially. Very well done!

I'm all kinds of happy with this one. Greg did an excellent job so far making the Petty Gods one of the biggest things happening in the OSR right now. Without a Kickstarter or some such, just by pure force of will, he managed to bundle the OSR hive mind and he's still putting a lot of hard work into this community project to make it happen. Very inspiring and seriously good stuff. I'm really looking forward to see the final result!

*A description of Feloren may be found here.

Another Petty God: King Shroom - Cannibal Godspawn of Mushrooms, Devourer General of the Lizardwars, Patron of Shroomeaters

So here is another contribution for Gorgonmilk's Petty Gods Revival (now with Michael Moorcock and other famous people getting involved and ALL the contributions from the original project!). Constructive comments will be shown in the Redbeard Edit (here is an example). And now for the Petty God of Mushrooms:

Name: King Shroom
Symbol: Different from cult to cult, mushroom circles being very popular
Alignment: Lawful (Weird)
Movement: Special
Armor Class: 0
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 23 to 184 hp (23 HD, roll anew for every spawn)
Attacks: Special
Damage: Special
Save: M23
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: IV, VII, XXII
XP: 23.000

King Shroom, Cannibal Godspawn of Mushrooms, Devourer General of the Lizardwars and Patron of Shroomeaters is a lesser god of the mushroom kingdom and worshipped by those that seek enlightenment by digesting mushrooms with psychedelic properties. Wherever they grow (1 in 8 chance per region), there will be a cult worshipping him (1,2 in public, 3,4 accepted, but hidden 5,6 hunted by the law 7,8 hunted by a church 9,10 involved in sinister witchcraft; even and uneven numbers being respectively human or non-human communities). There is, of course, a strong and alien connection between fungi and magic, only known by those wizards adept in The Way of the Shroom.

No sober intelligence is able to grasp the cryptic reasoning for him appearing, the bizarre interacting with his surroundings or why the mushroom kingdom is at war with all lizards (yes, that includes dragons...). It is rare to encounter him by accident. Given the fact that fungi are nearly everywhere, some scholars concluded that Lord Shroom is very informed and very aware of what's happening in the World (75%), but his interpretation of this knowledge is very distorted at best. Everytime something mushroom-related is part of the game (ingame or at the table, mushrooms mentioned in a module, mushrooms on a pizza, the ranger doing a wilderness survival check, all counts, if it's not deliberate), there is a 1 in 8 chance that King Shroom will be interested enough to get involved. When encountered, he will react like this:

King Shroom Reaction Table (2d8):

2     Altering reality, blessing characters (psychic tranfer of language)
3-5   On a Mission (speaking in a high pitched voice)
6-8   Offering Knowledge (psychic transfer of images)
9-12  Offering an Experience (psychic transfer of feelings)
13-15 Needs something done (speaking in a dark, deep voice)
16    Stoned, blessing turns curse (talking gibberish for all but those
        under the influence of shrooms or his aura)

If a group of adventurers gets his attention, he will keep his distance for a while and observe. Signs of him being around are mushroom circles in the area, rumors of mushroom poisoning or even stoned cultists engaging the group with cryptic messages ("He is seeing you!"). His timing for appearing is always inconvenient, but the surroundings decide if encountering him will be a pleasant or an unpleasant "trip" (with no connection to his intentions, of course). So he will be seen as a humanoid mushroom of sorts, but how he manifests to the observer totally depends on the entire experience. How he communicates may be read from the result of the Reaction Table.

King Shroom has no legs, so he won't walk. But he is able to use Dimension Door at will within a fungus network and Teleport at will in between fungi networks (spawning in a mushroom circle every time). He casts spells like a level 23 magic user, with the spell effects always mirroring fungus behaviour. He emanates a psychedelic aura 30' around him (save vs. spells to avoid the effects of a Feeblemind spell, interaction with King Shroom remains possible under the influence of the aura and wears of after 1d4 turns). He will fight back if threatened, but only using his spells. Lizards he will attack on sight. Only magic weapons may harm him.

Destroying him will release his spores and he will respawn 1d6 days later. It is the way of the mushroom. Killing him is quite difficult, trapping him might be the best way to achieve that. His blessing is a random spell in the mind of the blessed, to use one time at will. His curse is a funguid infection that makes it impossible to process any other food but mushrooms, slimes and molds, transforming the host into a mushroom after (CON) months. King Shroom eats mushrooms for the various effects they might have and he is quite fond of fermented beverages. 

Giant crickets sing his song...

A Petty God: Feloren - Astrayed Patron of the Lost, The Idol of Misdirection

(Approved: my first submission for the revived Petty Gods Community Project)

Name: Feloren
Symbol: A broken compass rose without cardinal directions
Alignment: Determine with 1d6 for every encounter (1, 2 chaotic 3, 4 neutral 5, 6 lawful)
Movement: 120'
Armor Class: -4
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 200 hp (30 hd)
Attacks: With anything he might get his hands on
Damage: 3d6 and special
Save: M30
Morale: 12 (minus the result from the d6 for alignment)
Hoard Class: rare maps, information (see text), 1d3 random minor lost artifacts
XP: 25.000

Feloren, Astrayed Patron of the Lost and The Idol of Misdirection is, ironically, a lost god, only worshipped by a very small congregate of daoist cultists that describe him as The-One-That-Is-Lost-But-Everywhere and apply a twisted logic to explain how he exists because he doesn't (or the other way around). Just like the wrong path one takes still is a path nonetheless. Finding him is, paradoxically, taking a wrong turn. And being lost in a paradox, he is a lonely petty god indeed.

Even so, whenever someone is lost and a Random Encounter occurs, there is a 1 in 6 chance to encounter Feloren instead. He appears as a harmless old hobo, with a huge, wild beard and an adventurous assortment of clothes. He seems lost, too. Depending on his alignment and a Reaction roll, he will react as follows:

Feloren Reaction Table (1d12 + result of alignment roll):

2      Misleading (chaotic)

3-5    Counterproductive (chaotic)

6-8    Spurning (chaotic)

9-12   Aware (neutral)

12-14  Reluctant (lawful)

15-17  Helpless (lawful)

18     Disoriented (lawful)

His erratic behaviour is mostly due to the fact, that he has to keep more than one presence at any given time (the three alignments) in different locations. Only in his aware state, he is able to help the lost he meets (2 to 8 on the Reaction Table mean he is pretending). Giving him presents will alter the Reaction Table towards "Aware". Maps give him a gleeful joy (every wrong detail in a map, like "Here Be Dragons" for example, alters the Reaction Table result by 1), but really anything someone is willing to loose (memories, close relatives, etc.) might help to get him there.

Killing him is possible, but very difficult. The easiest way would be to somehow unite his three alignment embodiments and go for the kill afterwards. Killing only one aspect will change reality for those who get lost (if only a little bit) and reduce his possible reactions accordingly (see Reaction Table). Spells cast at him have a 3 in 6 chance of getting lost, with a 1 meaning the spell vanished out of the magic users spellbook, too. Physical attacks do harm him, but the attacker has to save vs. spells or he will be teleported 1d6 miles in a random direction.

Felaren knows with 90% probability the whereabouts of anyone and anything lost. He might share the information, too. He won't reveal himself as a god (he might not be aware of it...), but depending on how he is treated, he may bless or curse the people he meets anyway. A blessed person knows the next 1d6 times what the right direction is (that is, the DM hints the way). A cursed person, on the other hand, will unknowingly move 1d6 times in the wrong direction (characters saying they move in one directing, will be moved in the opposite direction by the DM).

EDIT 03/23/2013: The Petty God Community Project is still running very, very strong. There's still room for submissions, but not for long! Gorgonmilk is doing an awesome job so far and the OSR is very, very alive...