Well, had an interesting game last night. The players dutifully set about exploring the lost city. Although I gave them the pep talk about how not everything wants to kill them, they quickly settled on a policy of attack first, talk when you have prisoners.
They chased a group of Cynidiceans down to the second tier, completely bypassing any of the Brotherhood of Gorm, their first real encounter being with some hobgoblins and then a party of Warrior Maidens of Madarua. They settled on killing most of them, taking one alive, and considering what to do. It was eventually agreed that they would go meet Pandora and convince them of their resolve to aid them in overthrowing Zargon.
This was tough for me as GM. On the one hand, the party had killed four of the warrior maidens, but, then again, I figured Pandora could use the extra muscle in the fights against everyone else. To move the game along and give some opportunity to the players to engage, I decided that Pandora would give them a mission before they could become 'friends' of the warrior maidens. A quick scan of the map, and I decided to send them to kill the Draco in room 13. That's going to be for next session, but, provided the players pull it off, I think Pandora is going to manipulate them into weakening the other factions as her deniable shock troops, then sick them on Zargon.
The game went well, I had prepared by making some 1PDs of each tier, and reading through some play reports. I think I should have had some more thought put into the random encounters, so I was ready to play it out when they turned up, and some more thought into each of the factions (though I hadn't presumed the players would get this far...). I've got some more work to do before the next fortnight, but it should be good.
The players definitely seemed to appreciate the openness of B/X, and the simplicity with which it ran. For the sake of survival, I gave each player a henchman. The first was killed by friendly fire, the other by a warrior maiden, leaving only the three party members and one surviving henchman. The 'shields shall be splintered' rule has definitely demonstrated to them just how deadly this game can be at first level...
Friday, March 15, 2019
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The Lost City
Well, after far too long, I've finally remembered I had a blog... Turns out I've missed much drama, some good ideas, and interesting developments in the old OSR space.
For my part, I've had intermittent gaming, got bored with a project of converting 1/72 miniatures into my own sci fi setting for wargaming with FAD, and now wondering whether I can afford Star Wars Legion.
But, the most pressing part, is that I am finally starting a new campaign this week: B4 the Lost City, except I've taken a leaf from that one blog whose name I forget, so now everyone are Vikings looting the city.
I've done my prep of converting the levels into 1PD, and reading Philotomy's old play reports to consider what I can change and what may happen in the game. Decided that the basic premise will be that the players are doing their summer raiding and looting. The thane decided a great idea would be to serve as mercenaries in a war brewing in the desert kingdoms (that may or may not be the Emirates of Ylaurum, or else my own setting. For now, vague enough...). Unfortunately, said war has cooled down, leaving a bunch of Vikings in their own temporary settlement looking for cash. The players, being enterprising fellows, have hired a guide who claims to know the location of a lost city and, after being stuck in a sandstorm and deserted by said guide, who took their food and water to boot, have finally arrived. Cue manipulating weird factions, freaking out drugged Cynidiceans, and running off to civilisation.
The basic rules are B/X. I'm open to players' wants, but will probably end up throwing in skills and weapon mastery from the RC, giving everyone max hp at 1st level, and definitely using the classic shields shall be splintered rule. I haven't decided yet, but I'm highly tempted to use this wonderful death and dismemberment table. Mostly out of hope that the players will roll something in the 20s...
Everyone also starts with a buddy, a normal man retainer. I rolled up all their equipment, traits, &c using Kellri's wonderful Encounters reference. Plus, for my own entertainment, using this gem of a 1PD in the hopes I get a TPK.
In general, though, I must say I'm impressed with the design of B4, having only bought it last week thanks to RPGNow's sale. It's simple, maybe not logical, but well designed in slowly introducing new players into the factions, non-deadly traps at the start, the dead hobgoblin to get them thinking about traps, and so on. I'm modifying as I go (i.e. no more random stirges in a sealed room...), but I'm looking forward to it. Nothing sounds more entertaining than three slightly odd factions, coupled with the varied possibilities from encountering the Cynidiceans. I'm ruling that it's a five-day journey back to the viking settlement, so players can get more supplies and do other things if they get bored of a dungeon. I'll also adopt the burial rules from here. Someone modified it by saying a new character starts with 25% of their predecessor's xp; 50% if they get a proper burial (sadly I forget the blog). This seems appropriately viking to me, so will be gleefully chucked into my hodge-podge D&D game.
Oddly enough, for most of the players, this is their first introduction to D&D. One has played 5e, so this will be a bit of a shock... Anyway, I'm hoping for some good old, OSR, sword and sorcery manipulating, chopping, running away, and negotiating with strange people. Let's see if I keep up with the blog!
For my part, I've had intermittent gaming, got bored with a project of converting 1/72 miniatures into my own sci fi setting for wargaming with FAD, and now wondering whether I can afford Star Wars Legion.
But, the most pressing part, is that I am finally starting a new campaign this week: B4 the Lost City, except I've taken a leaf from that one blog whose name I forget, so now everyone are Vikings looting the city.
I've done my prep of converting the levels into 1PD, and reading Philotomy's old play reports to consider what I can change and what may happen in the game. Decided that the basic premise will be that the players are doing their summer raiding and looting. The thane decided a great idea would be to serve as mercenaries in a war brewing in the desert kingdoms (that may or may not be the Emirates of Ylaurum, or else my own setting. For now, vague enough...). Unfortunately, said war has cooled down, leaving a bunch of Vikings in their own temporary settlement looking for cash. The players, being enterprising fellows, have hired a guide who claims to know the location of a lost city and, after being stuck in a sandstorm and deserted by said guide, who took their food and water to boot, have finally arrived. Cue manipulating weird factions, freaking out drugged Cynidiceans, and running off to civilisation.
The basic rules are B/X. I'm open to players' wants, but will probably end up throwing in skills and weapon mastery from the RC, giving everyone max hp at 1st level, and definitely using the classic shields shall be splintered rule. I haven't decided yet, but I'm highly tempted to use this wonderful death and dismemberment table. Mostly out of hope that the players will roll something in the 20s...
Everyone also starts with a buddy, a normal man retainer. I rolled up all their equipment, traits, &c using Kellri's wonderful Encounters reference. Plus, for my own entertainment, using this gem of a 1PD in the hopes I get a TPK.
In general, though, I must say I'm impressed with the design of B4, having only bought it last week thanks to RPGNow's sale. It's simple, maybe not logical, but well designed in slowly introducing new players into the factions, non-deadly traps at the start, the dead hobgoblin to get them thinking about traps, and so on. I'm modifying as I go (i.e. no more random stirges in a sealed room...), but I'm looking forward to it. Nothing sounds more entertaining than three slightly odd factions, coupled with the varied possibilities from encountering the Cynidiceans. I'm ruling that it's a five-day journey back to the viking settlement, so players can get more supplies and do other things if they get bored of a dungeon. I'll also adopt the burial rules from here. Someone modified it by saying a new character starts with 25% of their predecessor's xp; 50% if they get a proper burial (sadly I forget the blog). This seems appropriately viking to me, so will be gleefully chucked into my hodge-podge D&D game.
Oddly enough, for most of the players, this is their first introduction to D&D. One has played 5e, so this will be a bit of a shock... Anyway, I'm hoping for some good old, OSR, sword and sorcery manipulating, chopping, running away, and negotiating with strange people. Let's see if I keep up with the blog!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Maelstrom
I don't whether many of you have heard of the game Maelstrom. It's a wonderful gem of British roleplaying from the eighties, but has now been republished by Arion Games. Some might groan at the reprint of a thirty or so year old roleplaying game, but I must say that this is a reason for celebration, not tears.
Maelstrom, or so I read somewhere or other, was even an influence on the Warhammer roleplaying game, and it shows. The game plays like some wonderful Warhammer Light, but more in the spirit of OD&D than anything else. Skills? Well, each class basically says "well, you're good at this and this and this", with the exception of a few special abilities for mercenaries, wizards, and priests, etc.
Now, I'll be the first to admit, this game does have some flaws and lacks some information. For example, it has numerous different types of swords listed with both their price and their damage. Yet it fails to say what swords they are; the period it is set in was rife with guns, yet no mention is ever made of them. The Maelstrom Companion does fix this up, not that I own it, but so I have been informed. Despite these little flaws here and there, this is nothing one cannot fix with some fairly logical rulings, or maybe even a dip into wfrp, if you're already so inclined to that game.
In short, this is definitely one of my favourite games, right up there with Dungeons & Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls, and Traveller. After all, what other game ends a quick fight with a zombie biting off a character's finger, while the wizard attempts to crush the skull of another villain?
Maelstrom, or so I read somewhere or other, was even an influence on the Warhammer roleplaying game, and it shows. The game plays like some wonderful Warhammer Light, but more in the spirit of OD&D than anything else. Skills? Well, each class basically says "well, you're good at this and this and this", with the exception of a few special abilities for mercenaries, wizards, and priests, etc.
Now, I'll be the first to admit, this game does have some flaws and lacks some information. For example, it has numerous different types of swords listed with both their price and their damage. Yet it fails to say what swords they are; the period it is set in was rife with guns, yet no mention is ever made of them. The Maelstrom Companion does fix this up, not that I own it, but so I have been informed. Despite these little flaws here and there, this is nothing one cannot fix with some fairly logical rulings, or maybe even a dip into wfrp, if you're already so inclined to that game.
In short, this is definitely one of my favourite games, right up there with Dungeons & Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls, and Traveller. After all, what other game ends a quick fight with a zombie biting off a character's finger, while the wizard attempts to crush the skull of another villain?
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Catching Up
If you saw the date between yesterday's post and the one before that, you would quickly realise that I've been out of the loop for rather a long time. So I have some questions that need answering:
(i) shocked about Grognardia. Totally did not see that coming. Does anyone know what happened to Maliszewski?
(ii) is Fight On! still a thing?
(iii) did that Fight On! random tables book ever get published?
(i) shocked about Grognardia. Totally did not see that coming. Does anyone know what happened to Maliszewski?
(ii) is Fight On! still a thing?
(iii) did that Fight On! random tables book ever get published?
Gilgamesh and the End-Game
Much has been said elsewhere, and more times than I can count, about the end game of Dungeons & Dragons. Yet, not much is said of how the characters are to be, well... still characters even as they run around destroying countless kingdoms with their hordes of level 0 pawns, minions, or whatever you want to call them.
This seems a bit bizarre, and I should probably elaborate; after all, no one likes a writer who keeps the reader in the dark through lack of explanation. As part of my uni work, I've been rereading The Epic of Gilgamesh. If you don't know it, essentially an Assyrian poem about a king who kills some demons, loses his best friend, and then attempts to achieve immortality. All fairy standard fare for an ancient heroic poem. Yet here is something which seems to stand out when you think of Gilgamesh in the roleplaying paradigm (if I may be excused for being a hip person, but I can't seem to find any other word): Gilgamesh isn't just a character who was a mighty warrior or what-have-you when he was young, who then became king and retired to a life of city-burning with hordes of soldiers. Rather, with the epic, this is where Gilgamesh's story begins.
The poem opens with the people of Uruk (the city over which Gilgamesh rules) lamenting to the gods, because Gilgamesh spends his time being a Bad King, picking fights with the men and sleeping with all the women: rather standard behaviour for any adventurer, I'm sure we'll all agree. Isn't this exactly the kingdom of a player character? A mighty warrior, for sure, and one who has probably had much success and performed many great and heroic deeds in past years, which is why he is now king. But just because one is a hero does not mean one is a Good King. And so the gods create a man to be his rival, to distract him from oppressing the poor people of Uruk, and the pair become firm friends and decide to kill a mighty demon, as any normal person does when confronted with the thoughts of their meagre mortality.
From here, the epic really gets going: they slay the demon, Humbaba, and so Ishtar (goddess of love, sex, and war. They are vaguely related in the ancient Mesopotamian mind) attempts to seduce Gilgamesh, who spurns her (again, what player wouldn't spurn a goddess for a laugh, or at the very least attempt to manipulate her into giving them stuff?), and so she summons down the Bull of Heaven (i.e. the star constellation), which Gilgamesh and his friend kill. The gods being rather unfair, they decide this was a Bad Thing, and so they kill Enkidu, Gilgamesh's friend. Awkward.
Gilgamesh, being rather upset when confronted with the fact that all of his mighty deeds will simply end in his being a rotting corpse, runs away from the city to try and find immortality, and almost gets it, but not quite. If you really want to know all the details, go and read it for yourself; if a German poet can appreciate it, so can anyone!
This is what got me thinking. Too much emphasis is placed on how the players get to be kings in the grand end game, and then from there on how the players run around feeling rather awkward, because it seems as there is not too much to do when you're a level twenty something with +10 vorpal blade of absolute death, who also happens to be ruler over the Empire of Generic Yet Foreboding Fantasy Name. In short, they end up as Gilgamesh: great heroes, far above the common, mortal men, who just do not know how to rule. Where do they go from here?
This is the main trouble I have always had with the end game. How do you keep the players interested in playing their mighty demi-gods without being bored out of their minds? Personally, I plan on taking a leaf out of the four thousand or so year old Mesopotamian's book, and shoving the mortality of their characters into the players' faces. The gods don't care that you've destroyed Zot the Archwarlock, you're still going to die, and your subjects? They'll remember you as the violent hero who just couldn't cut it as a king. Threaten the kingdom with more than just invaders, challenge them to do something great for their kingdom, for all humanity even. Tempt them with the immortality, either true immortality or the immortality of being a Good King.
At least, that's all I can think of the subject. Has anyone else an inkling on how else to run these end games?
This seems a bit bizarre, and I should probably elaborate; after all, no one likes a writer who keeps the reader in the dark through lack of explanation. As part of my uni work, I've been rereading The Epic of Gilgamesh. If you don't know it, essentially an Assyrian poem about a king who kills some demons, loses his best friend, and then attempts to achieve immortality. All fairy standard fare for an ancient heroic poem. Yet here is something which seems to stand out when you think of Gilgamesh in the roleplaying paradigm (if I may be excused for being a hip person, but I can't seem to find any other word): Gilgamesh isn't just a character who was a mighty warrior or what-have-you when he was young, who then became king and retired to a life of city-burning with hordes of soldiers. Rather, with the epic, this is where Gilgamesh's story begins.
The poem opens with the people of Uruk (the city over which Gilgamesh rules) lamenting to the gods, because Gilgamesh spends his time being a Bad King, picking fights with the men and sleeping with all the women: rather standard behaviour for any adventurer, I'm sure we'll all agree. Isn't this exactly the kingdom of a player character? A mighty warrior, for sure, and one who has probably had much success and performed many great and heroic deeds in past years, which is why he is now king. But just because one is a hero does not mean one is a Good King. And so the gods create a man to be his rival, to distract him from oppressing the poor people of Uruk, and the pair become firm friends and decide to kill a mighty demon, as any normal person does when confronted with the thoughts of their meagre mortality.
From here, the epic really gets going: they slay the demon, Humbaba, and so Ishtar (goddess of love, sex, and war. They are vaguely related in the ancient Mesopotamian mind) attempts to seduce Gilgamesh, who spurns her (again, what player wouldn't spurn a goddess for a laugh, or at the very least attempt to manipulate her into giving them stuff?), and so she summons down the Bull of Heaven (i.e. the star constellation), which Gilgamesh and his friend kill. The gods being rather unfair, they decide this was a Bad Thing, and so they kill Enkidu, Gilgamesh's friend. Awkward.
Gilgamesh, being rather upset when confronted with the fact that all of his mighty deeds will simply end in his being a rotting corpse, runs away from the city to try and find immortality, and almost gets it, but not quite. If you really want to know all the details, go and read it for yourself; if a German poet can appreciate it, so can anyone!
This is what got me thinking. Too much emphasis is placed on how the players get to be kings in the grand end game, and then from there on how the players run around feeling rather awkward, because it seems as there is not too much to do when you're a level twenty something with +10 vorpal blade of absolute death, who also happens to be ruler over the Empire of Generic Yet Foreboding Fantasy Name. In short, they end up as Gilgamesh: great heroes, far above the common, mortal men, who just do not know how to rule. Where do they go from here?
This is the main trouble I have always had with the end game. How do you keep the players interested in playing their mighty demi-gods without being bored out of their minds? Personally, I plan on taking a leaf out of the four thousand or so year old Mesopotamian's book, and shoving the mortality of their characters into the players' faces. The gods don't care that you've destroyed Zot the Archwarlock, you're still going to die, and your subjects? They'll remember you as the violent hero who just couldn't cut it as a king. Threaten the kingdom with more than just invaders, challenge them to do something great for their kingdom, for all humanity even. Tempt them with the immortality, either true immortality or the immortality of being a Good King.
At least, that's all I can think of the subject. Has anyone else an inkling on how else to run these end games?
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Roleplaying and History
Someone just commented on my post on arms and armour in Mesopotamia, saying how they had used it for extra research for a school project, which made me realise how much role playing has influenced my life, and, I think I would be justified in saying, all of our lives.
Role playing really started my love for history, researching into various periods to add an extra level of detail to my role playing, before it became an interest of its own. Before long, I had taken to history just because I loved it, and started to learn both Akkaddian and Koine Greek as extensions of my interest.
Because of this little bit of research I once did for Dungeons & Dragons, I studied several units of history, and am looking to get a B. A., probably majoring in history. Because of this one thing, I got far more involved in literature, reading the ancient epics. I am not ashamed to say that I only read Spenser's The Fairie Queene because of Scott's blog (the current one's name escapes me at this moment), and his mention of it as canon for his campaign setting.
It was, quite simply, mainly from the Fairie Queene that I took to reading more poetry, above the little I was forced to read for schoolwork, and actually found myself loving the literature.
In short, role playing games formed me. They shaped me into the man I am today. Where will they lead me? I don't know, but that is life. This, I believe, could be said of all of us.
Role playing really started my love for history, researching into various periods to add an extra level of detail to my role playing, before it became an interest of its own. Before long, I had taken to history just because I loved it, and started to learn both Akkaddian and Koine Greek as extensions of my interest.
Because of this little bit of research I once did for Dungeons & Dragons, I studied several units of history, and am looking to get a B. A., probably majoring in history. Because of this one thing, I got far more involved in literature, reading the ancient epics. I am not ashamed to say that I only read Spenser's The Fairie Queene because of Scott's blog (the current one's name escapes me at this moment), and his mention of it as canon for his campaign setting.
It was, quite simply, mainly from the Fairie Queene that I took to reading more poetry, above the little I was forced to read for schoolwork, and actually found myself loving the literature.
In short, role playing games formed me. They shaped me into the man I am today. Where will they lead me? I don't know, but that is life. This, I believe, could be said of all of us.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Apology and Note of Interest
First off, I must apologise for the lack of posts, and also mention that they are highly unlikely to pick up anytime soon, due to uni work and other stuff happening in my life, so sorry about that. I'll try to post something, but it probably won't happen...
Also: James Hutchings. Don't know if you remember him, but he's the guy behind Age of Fable, Teleleli, as well as the author of The New Death and Other Stories. Well, he's writing an online serial, which is pulp superhero detective. It's called 'The Case of the Syphiliptic Sister', and you can read the first chapter online here.
It seems quite interesting, as well as fairy amusing, and I am definitely looking forward to the other chapters of his novel!
Also: James Hutchings. Don't know if you remember him, but he's the guy behind Age of Fable, Teleleli, as well as the author of The New Death and Other Stories. Well, he's writing an online serial, which is pulp superhero detective. It's called 'The Case of the Syphiliptic Sister', and you can read the first chapter online here.
It seems quite interesting, as well as fairy amusing, and I am definitely looking forward to the other chapters of his novel!
Friday, June 22, 2012
How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love Gunpowder
Or, why I feel sorry for our gm.
So, we're playing WFRP, and had just started the Shadows Over Bogenhafen, and had the whole bit with the secret temple. Our plan? Buy/steal as much gunpowder as possible, and then blow up the temple as we ride away...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Wow.
The post I did on Mesopotamian weapons and armour is getting a lot of hits........
Anyway, does anyone know what happened to that Fight On! book of random tables thing?
Anyway, does anyone know what happened to that Fight On! book of random tables thing?
Saturday, March 17, 2012
New Death Again
Just quickly. I realized what the New Death reminded me of: the writings of Lord Dunsany.
Just thought I should put it up so I could remember.....
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Magic?
Just a quick thought...
I've recently been playing the video game Powerslave, which is just an awesome 90s shooter. But it has one thing which has sort of stuck in my mind: When you pick up items, they have one use of each, though you can have several of them. However, using an item uses a certain amount of magic (yes, you have a limited amount) depending on the item. For instance, Full Health uses roughly half, Increased Weapon Power about a quarter, and Invincibility all of it.
So, I was thinking of introducing magic points into my rpgs, with items using a certain amount. Players could roll something like 3d6. If you wanted, this could lead to magic points instead of fire-and-forget, but I probably would not do that.
You could have, as well, items which have multiple, or even infinite, uses, but use a lot of magic. Which could be fun. Especially if you made them only useable by one PC.....
So, yeah, anyone got any thoughts on this?
I've recently been playing the video game Powerslave, which is just an awesome 90s shooter. But it has one thing which has sort of stuck in my mind: When you pick up items, they have one use of each, though you can have several of them. However, using an item uses a certain amount of magic (yes, you have a limited amount) depending on the item. For instance, Full Health uses roughly half, Increased Weapon Power about a quarter, and Invincibility all of it.
So, I was thinking of introducing magic points into my rpgs, with items using a certain amount. Players could roll something like 3d6. If you wanted, this could lead to magic points instead of fire-and-forget, but I probably would not do that.
You could have, as well, items which have multiple, or even infinite, uses, but use a lot of magic. Which could be fun. Especially if you made them only useable by one PC.....
So, yeah, anyone got any thoughts on this?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Art & Rolemaster
Just a quick thing, but I've always preferred the art in Rolemaster to D&D. I mean, yeah, D&D, T&T, and WFRP all have cool art, and I find them all to be inspiring. But the illustrations in MERP and RM!
I mean, just look at the cover for Rolemaster in the 90s:
I mean, to me, that just yells for me to roll up some characters and go adventuring. It has danger, non-combat awesomeness, the citadel in the distance, the griffon/hippogriff/I can't remember the difference flying in the background.
Man, I think I should change my new setting to Rolemaster.... Does anyone know a good character generator? That's always been my big problem with the game...
I mean, just look at the cover for Rolemaster in the 90s:
I mean, to me, that just yells for me to roll up some characters and go adventuring. It has danger, non-combat awesomeness, the citadel in the distance, the griffon/hippogriff/I can't remember the difference flying in the background.Man, I think I should change my new setting to Rolemaster.... Does anyone know a good character generator? That's always been my big problem with the game...
Friday, February 17, 2012
The King in Yellow: The Great Joke of Ur-Nannu
Centuries ago, when a great war was waged between Law and Chaos, the Sorcerer Ur-Nannu, renowned for his power, went with his armies to fight the King in Yellow. After many victorious battles, Ur-Nannu's forces were finally overrun in the Skaldian Pass. Ur-Nannu was taken to the King in Yellow's fortress, were he was tortured for many years for the devastation he had unleashed upon Chaos.
Ur-Nannu eventually escaped, and swore that, in revenge for his torture, he would make a mockery of the King.
And so it was that he wrote the play, The King in Yellow, which drove all who read the second act to insanity and despair, and placed them under the power of the King in Yellow. It is considered the greatest of the King's tools.
Yet the King despises it, for it mocks him. It is a work of art, admittedly, despite it's evil, and it is a work of culture and civilisation. For this, the King in Yellow hates it.
For this, though few realise, Ur-Nannu has his revenge. Through this, he has made a mockery of the King.
Ur-Nannu eventually escaped, and swore that, in revenge for his torture, he would make a mockery of the King.
And so it was that he wrote the play, The King in Yellow, which drove all who read the second act to insanity and despair, and placed them under the power of the King in Yellow. It is considered the greatest of the King's tools.
Yet the King despises it, for it mocks him. It is a work of art, admittedly, despite it's evil, and it is a work of culture and civilisation. For this, the King in Yellow hates it.
For this, though few realise, Ur-Nannu has his revenge. Through this, he has made a mockery of the King.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
New Setting
Well, I have decided to create a new setting, loosely based on the Celts, but sort of mixed with the traditional fantasy campaign. I am, however, going to be using my last post as a basis for the setting.
I have yet to create a new map, but I am just going to be doing the initial thinking first.
The initial map will be a medium-sized region, divided between several small kingdoms, with a few more independent barons and counts thrown in for good measure.
The west will be dominated by two or three kingdoms, centred around a cluster of small cities in a large bay, with heavy fighting around one main city-port. The further east you go, the wilder it becomes, being more and more dominated by Chaos.
The Chaos forces will be semi-united under the service of the King in Yellow, who has forced Madness and Insanity to do his bidding.
While Law and Chaos will not be fighting at the time, I think it is a good idea to have that card in reserve, and to make the Civilised Lands a bit less prone to war. Although there will still be fighting, the kingdoms will be trying to organise against the possibilty of war with the King in Yellow.
I have yet to create a new map, but I am just going to be doing the initial thinking first.
The initial map will be a medium-sized region, divided between several small kingdoms, with a few more independent barons and counts thrown in for good measure.
The west will be dominated by two or three kingdoms, centred around a cluster of small cities in a large bay, with heavy fighting around one main city-port. The further east you go, the wilder it becomes, being more and more dominated by Chaos.
The Chaos forces will be semi-united under the service of the King in Yellow, who has forced Madness and Insanity to do his bidding.
While Law and Chaos will not be fighting at the time, I think it is a good idea to have that card in reserve, and to make the Civilised Lands a bit less prone to war. Although there will still be fighting, the kingdoms will be trying to organise against the possibilty of war with the King in Yellow.
Religion, Alignment & Alignment Languages
Ok, just as a warning, this is sort of a stream-of-consciousness post, so I apologise before-hand if it seems a little incoherent or if it just comes off as a ramble.
Right, now that's out of the way, onto the post: I was up thinking about this last night. I had been reading Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which is basically a dialogue in the old Greek style. Now, this is mostly irrelevant, except for this one fact that spawned the whole post: You see, in the book, when Boethius is imprisoned, he is consoled by Philosophy in the form of a woman who discusses life, fortune, etc. with him.
So, this struck me as a sudden thought: What if, instead of worshipping the god of writing, and the goddess of magic, the people in my games worshipped Writing and Magic. I then thought, 'well, what about alignment? Do they all worship the same thing?'
After that, I decided to group the various things into Law and Chaos (you see, I tend to lean more towards B/X than other editions of D&D). But then it occured to me: What if it was the entire structure of the world?
Now, I have a feeling other people have posted about this before, but it only recently struck me.
So, with the alignments, they would be where you stand with regards to civilisation. The Lawful characters are the defenders of culture and learning, while the Chaotic characters believe in the 'beautiful savage' and other such things. This would give more of an over-arching, well, plot to the setting.
The orcs destroy libraries and murder scholars, not just because they are evil, but because they are opposed to all that they stand for. The great soldiers of the kingdom who sell their lives dearly, do so not just because they are fighting for their families, but because they believe they are fighting for something greater than themselves.
You can take this even further. Let's say there are two deities, one representing Law, and the other representing Chaos. Now, the Neutral characters are those who do not understand, know, or care about the war being raged in the heavens, nor do they care that it has spilt into the land. They will only fight the orcs to safegaurd themselves and thier families. The Lawful characters could be the educated, whether they are aristocracy, scholars, or priests, who are aware of the great battle being fought for civilisation as a whole.
The Chaotic creatures then, would just have a burning hatred of civilisation, and would serve the deity of Chaos.
This brings us to alignment languages. With this system, these could actually make sense. The Lawful language would be the equivalent of Latin or Greek, as the Lawful characters would be the educated ones, for the most part, while Chaotic could be something analogous to Celtic, having many dialects, but with someone from the South being just able to get along with someone from the North. Neutral could then just be a sort of 'trade tongue' amongst the various neutral creatures and characters, a sort of pidgin common, with bits and pieces of various languages thrown in. Most people would know enough to get along, but not really enough to carry on a proper conversation.
What do you think of this? And again, I apologise if it seems a but unclear.
Right, now that's out of the way, onto the post: I was up thinking about this last night. I had been reading Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which is basically a dialogue in the old Greek style. Now, this is mostly irrelevant, except for this one fact that spawned the whole post: You see, in the book, when Boethius is imprisoned, he is consoled by Philosophy in the form of a woman who discusses life, fortune, etc. with him.
So, this struck me as a sudden thought: What if, instead of worshipping the god of writing, and the goddess of magic, the people in my games worshipped Writing and Magic. I then thought, 'well, what about alignment? Do they all worship the same thing?'
After that, I decided to group the various things into Law and Chaos (you see, I tend to lean more towards B/X than other editions of D&D). But then it occured to me: What if it was the entire structure of the world?
Now, I have a feeling other people have posted about this before, but it only recently struck me.
So, with the alignments, they would be where you stand with regards to civilisation. The Lawful characters are the defenders of culture and learning, while the Chaotic characters believe in the 'beautiful savage' and other such things. This would give more of an over-arching, well, plot to the setting.
The orcs destroy libraries and murder scholars, not just because they are evil, but because they are opposed to all that they stand for. The great soldiers of the kingdom who sell their lives dearly, do so not just because they are fighting for their families, but because they believe they are fighting for something greater than themselves.
You can take this even further. Let's say there are two deities, one representing Law, and the other representing Chaos. Now, the Neutral characters are those who do not understand, know, or care about the war being raged in the heavens, nor do they care that it has spilt into the land. They will only fight the orcs to safegaurd themselves and thier families. The Lawful characters could be the educated, whether they are aristocracy, scholars, or priests, who are aware of the great battle being fought for civilisation as a whole.
The Chaotic creatures then, would just have a burning hatred of civilisation, and would serve the deity of Chaos.
This brings us to alignment languages. With this system, these could actually make sense. The Lawful language would be the equivalent of Latin or Greek, as the Lawful characters would be the educated ones, for the most part, while Chaotic could be something analogous to Celtic, having many dialects, but with someone from the South being just able to get along with someone from the North. Neutral could then just be a sort of 'trade tongue' amongst the various neutral creatures and characters, a sort of pidgin common, with bits and pieces of various languages thrown in. Most people would know enough to get along, but not really enough to carry on a proper conversation.
What do you think of this? And again, I apologise if it seems a but unclear.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Update, Take 2 or 3
Right, been a long time since I've posted on this blog, so happy new year and all that.
Onto the update: I actually do have some things to post up here eventually, and I have been playing in a WFRP 2nd edition campaign, first as an Agitator who lost his arm, then a slightly insane rat catcher who stuck trophies of everything he killed on his rat catcher's pole. Since then, I have moved onto GMing the campaign, which is quite entertaining. It's been a long time since I've done that.
Not much else to report, just did some changes to my profile (though I'm sure you're all fascinated by this.....), and, on a non-gaming note, some friends and I have just started thinking about starting a hardcore/screamo band, which, if it gets off the ground, should be fun.
I've also started to get back into writing, so this blog should see some more writing whenever I have something to put up.
Hopefully write soon!
Onto the update: I actually do have some things to post up here eventually, and I have been playing in a WFRP 2nd edition campaign, first as an Agitator who lost his arm, then a slightly insane rat catcher who stuck trophies of everything he killed on his rat catcher's pole. Since then, I have moved onto GMing the campaign, which is quite entertaining. It's been a long time since I've done that.
Not much else to report, just did some changes to my profile (though I'm sure you're all fascinated by this.....), and, on a non-gaming note, some friends and I have just started thinking about starting a hardcore/screamo band, which, if it gets off the ground, should be fun.
I've also started to get back into writing, so this blog should see some more writing whenever I have something to put up.
Hopefully write soon!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Review: The New Death and Others
The New Death and Others is a collection of short stories and poems written by James Hutchings of the Teleleli blog and also from the Age of Fable.
The book opens straight to the contents, before jumping right in with the short story 'The God of the Poor', which, though very short, is one of my favourite stories in the book, reminding of the works of Lord Dunsany, and giving me that same sense of wonder that Dunsany's works give me.
After this story, the book goes on with a fairly good pace, containing some very atmospheric stories, such as 'Todd', to ones filled with bad puns and jokes, though, as I am a real fan of puns, I find them quite hilarious. The most humorous story is, in my opinion 'Everlasting Fire', which I actually did laugh out loud when I read it, which is incredibly rare for me.
Others contain very original material, such as 'The Scholar and the Moon', which contains such inspirational work as a city where the temperament of the people change with every full moon, and where the rooftops are not quite connected to the ground floors of the city.
I can definitely see myself stealing such ideas for use in my games, as well as a few others culled from the various stories and poems.
The poems are fairly good, with 'Under the Pyramids', based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name, and 'Charon', based on the story by Lord Dunsany, standing out from the lot, being quite well written, as well as very atmospheric.
The titular story,' The New Death', though amusing, I would not say is the best story in the collection, although the title I find incredibly inspiring, and may think of something to throw at players based on it....
The presentation of the book is fairly good, with all the hyper-links (I think that's what they're called) working very well. The layout on the pdf is good, with the stories and poems seperated from each other by a nice little divider. There are a few minor problems with the layout, such as the title of a story being right at the bottom of the page, and a few stanzas of the poems being broken up by the pages. These, however, are fairly minor problems, and do not really detract from the work as a whole.
I would definitely recommend buying this book if you either:
1. are looking for a some decent fantasy stories and poems, both humorous and otherwise, or are
2. looking for some inspirational work for gaming materials, or
3. if you are a fan of fantasy and horror works, especially the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
For its small price of $1 USD, this book is a steal, and I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Deities and the Underworld
This post will probably be fairly short, but the topic has been on my mind recently. So, first of all: Deities.
Now, deities in a game should be more than just a bunch of Roman, Greek and Norse gods that have been put straight into the setting, and no more of the cliches, such as the barbaric god of war, and the nice goddess of healing who requires that none of her followers take another life.
Let's look at the Greek god of healing, Apollo. So, he was the god of the sun and of healing. All good so far, a bit disjointed, maybe, but it is all fine. But, despite being the god of healing, he was not a nice god, as such. My older brother, who is a fanatic of Greek and Latin texts, once sent me a Greek poem (I believe), where the poet first praised Apollo for his might, and then talked about how much he feared him, as Apollo actually meant 'the destroyer' in Greek, related to such words as apocalypse. The Greeks saw him as such because, if he had the power to restore life, then he clearly had the power to take it away as well.
Another example of a more fleshed out deity is the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of war and sex. At first, these two domains seem quite unrelated, yet they are: To the Akkadians, it was related in the creation of life through sex, and the violent and quick end through battle. Sort of related. So try to spice up the deities in whatever game you happen to be playing like that.
Now, underworld. I am just going to use the Akkadian underworld as an example for how much better underworlds can be, far more than just another fire-and-brimstone hell, and flowers-and-happiness heaven place.
I would put up a passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Enkidu has a dream and sees the underworld, but I cannot be bothered finding the book, so I shall just give a brief description:
The Akkadians called their underworld the House of Darkness, and, indeed, it was always shrouded in shadow, where the souls of the dead lived, their rank amongst the dead being determined by how many sons they had, with the man with seven sons sitting amongst the demi-gods.
The souls only ate clay and dust, and always thirsted for water, but their is only one well in the centre of the underworld, and they could only ever get small amounts. The ruler of the underworld was the goddess Erishkigal, or something similar, who was constantly mourning the loss of her son, pulling out her hair, tearing her clothes, and raking her flesh with her nails. As she did this, her scribe (whose name escapes me at the moment) was reading out the name of every mortal, where and when they would be born, and how and when they would die.
That is what I call a very thematic underworld (from a game point of view. If that's the afterlife you believed in, I think you would get very depressed). Try to use these to spice up a game a bit more, as it just makes it a whole lot more interesting!
Now, deities in a game should be more than just a bunch of Roman, Greek and Norse gods that have been put straight into the setting, and no more of the cliches, such as the barbaric god of war, and the nice goddess of healing who requires that none of her followers take another life.
Let's look at the Greek god of healing, Apollo. So, he was the god of the sun and of healing. All good so far, a bit disjointed, maybe, but it is all fine. But, despite being the god of healing, he was not a nice god, as such. My older brother, who is a fanatic of Greek and Latin texts, once sent me a Greek poem (I believe), where the poet first praised Apollo for his might, and then talked about how much he feared him, as Apollo actually meant 'the destroyer' in Greek, related to such words as apocalypse. The Greeks saw him as such because, if he had the power to restore life, then he clearly had the power to take it away as well.
Another example of a more fleshed out deity is the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of war and sex. At first, these two domains seem quite unrelated, yet they are: To the Akkadians, it was related in the creation of life through sex, and the violent and quick end through battle. Sort of related. So try to spice up the deities in whatever game you happen to be playing like that.
Now, underworld. I am just going to use the Akkadian underworld as an example for how much better underworlds can be, far more than just another fire-and-brimstone hell, and flowers-and-happiness heaven place.
I would put up a passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Enkidu has a dream and sees the underworld, but I cannot be bothered finding the book, so I shall just give a brief description:
The Akkadians called their underworld the House of Darkness, and, indeed, it was always shrouded in shadow, where the souls of the dead lived, their rank amongst the dead being determined by how many sons they had, with the man with seven sons sitting amongst the demi-gods.
The souls only ate clay and dust, and always thirsted for water, but their is only one well in the centre of the underworld, and they could only ever get small amounts. The ruler of the underworld was the goddess Erishkigal, or something similar, who was constantly mourning the loss of her son, pulling out her hair, tearing her clothes, and raking her flesh with her nails. As she did this, her scribe (whose name escapes me at the moment) was reading out the name of every mortal, where and when they would be born, and how and when they would die.
That is what I call a very thematic underworld (from a game point of view. If that's the afterlife you believed in, I think you would get very depressed). Try to use these to spice up a game a bit more, as it just makes it a whole lot more interesting!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Gaming!
Just a quick update: finally managing to get some gaming in with WFRP 2nd edition. I'm not gming, and (for the first time in any WFRP game I've played) I'm a rat catcher. With trophies from all my kills stuck on my rat catcher pole. Fear Gaston the Man-Slayer (and his aliases, the Black Raven, Georges Guynemere, and Count Louis de Ath. See what I did there?)
So, all good for now!!
So, all good for now!!
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