Guilds of Alnwich: The Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star

The Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star

Hermetic Cabal

Rank: Conspiracy Rank 0-8.

In Charge: Demonologists, scholars, and wizards.

In the Ranks: Agents, cultists, demonologists, necromancers, sages, scholars, and wizards.

On the Payroll: Assassins, brutes, burglars, cutpurses, guards, killers, knights, scouts, skirmishers, swashbucklers, and thieves.

Influencing the AR: Intimidation.

The Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star is a secretive organization that is newly arrived in Alnwich. Little is known of their purpose or numbers, but they seem to have some magical inclinations, and the Collegium Arcana seems to be perturbed by their presence. They appear to admit both men and women, despite their name, and have a number of convoluted ways of recognizing each other. These include secret handshakes and code phrases, but probably extend far further than anyone realizes.

The Brotherhood’s most distinguishing feature are the hats they wear during ceremonies: a tall, purple conical affair topped with a pentacle inscribed with an eye. The edge of the hat is fringed with eight black strands as hair, and a pair of long sidelocks. These hats are not worn publically, and are only known only because a few individuals have been caught committing crimes with them on their person.

The Counsel of Aldermen is growing concerned with these newcomers, but the Earl hasn’t seen reason to do anything about them. The Town Guard remains vigilant, but the machinations of the Brotherhood are yet to be revealed.

What the Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star Wants

At their core, the Brotherhood want power. Complete and ultimate power. This underlies all ostensible and even some clandestine motives. It drove their first members into the worship of demonic entities so horrific that most would be maddened at the mere speaking of their names. Some would suggest they, too, were driven from sanity by the path they chose to walk. After all, power corrupts . . . or maybe it just attracts the corruptible.

While their quest for power ultimately motivates everything the Brotherhood does, on a more practical level, they seek to bring Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God, and his court into the world in exchange for unfathomable ascendency. Knowing society will never accept this willingly, they work in utmost secrecy, use hired go-betweens, and worm their way into positions predisposed to influencing the levers of power.

What they want in Alnwich is of much more recent development. A confluence of dream-portents have suggested that a powerful artifact rests somewhere beneath Seidrborg, and the stars will soon align to make it accessible again. They have been preparing an expedition to the dungeon and nearby Thanras for the purposes of claiming the artifact for themselves. They are interesting in anyone who can aid them in their cause, preferably inadvertently.

What the Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star Can Provide

The Brotherhood of the All-Seeing Star can provide training in Astronomy (IQ/H), Dreaming (IQ/A), Fortune-Telling (Astrology and Oneiromancy) (IQ/A), Hazardous Materials (Magical) (IQ/A), Hidden Lore (Elder Things, Magic Items, or Magic Writings) (IQ/A), History (Elder Things) (IQ/H), Occultism (IQ/A), Philosophy (All-Seeing Star) (IQ/H), Psychology (Demons (IQ/H), Ritual Magic (IQ/VH), and Theology (All-Seeing Star) (IQ/H) with a successful AR and also give professional discounts on tomes of quaint and curious forgotten lore.

They also provide:

• Artifacts. These are usually cursed, evil, demonic, or all three.
• Augury. The Brotherhood specializes in astrology and oneiromancy. +2 to ARs.
• Hideout. The Brotherhood has a number of safe houses, basements, and tunnels for getting in and out of town unnoticed. +3 to ARs.
• Immunity. The Brotherhood has already infiltrated the Town Guard and the earl’s court.
• Lore. The Brotherhood can provide information via Hidden Lore (Elder Things, Magic Items, or Magic Writings), History (Elder Things), Philosophy (All-Seeing Star), and Theology (All-Seeing Star). +4 to ARs.
• Translation. The Brotherhood can translate strange writings on a successful Linguistics roll. Treat this as Lore, but failure results in gibberish and critical failure gives an incorrect translation. +4 to ARs.
• Map. The Brotherhood has collected many maps of the ancient city on the southern shore they call Thanras, and claim to have maps of parts of the dungeons beneath Hogwarts, too.
• Special Orders. The Brotherhood can

Other ARs are at -3 or worse, and backup is at -10.

Another Mapping Tip - Rooftops

I'm a strong believer that the entire megadungeon doesn't need to be subterranean. I am mapping four separate above-ground "levels" for my megadungeon, each of which is a unique entrance to the dungeon proper. This is in addition to other, more generic entrances like caves, wells, tavern basements, sewers, etc. In mapping out these above-ground entrance complexes/levels, I have come on what I think is a worthwhile piece of advice. Of course, like any unsolicited advice, your mileage may vary.

The Advice: Map Your Rooftops!

Why do I say to map your rooftops? Well, it's because your players have seen a lot of movies with crazy rooftop fight scenes. They've also played a lot of crazy video games where fights happen high up on rooftops. The earliest example of this that I can remember is playing the shareware version of Star Wars: Dark Forces (yes, I'm old), and one of the cooler levels in that had you force-leaping from rooftop to rooftop while shooting storm troopers. Of course, plenty more exist!

And let's not kid ourselves. There is something exciting about fighting giant gargoyles on the rooftop of an ancient cathedral or leaping from building to building in pursuit of some Big Bad. So when you're mapping your dungeon (or city or whatever), don't forget to map the rooftops!

A fun corollary is that rooftops don't need to be pleasantly flat and offer good traction. Having spent a fair amount of time on my own rooftop as a child, I can assure you that they are neither flat nor offer good traction. Pitches are must steeper where snow and ice naturally occur, and any sort of shingle roof will have loose gravel on it. Slate or other rooftops may also accumulate ice and snow in the winter. Make note of this! It makes those rooftop battles all the more memorable!

This last bit touches on something I need to write a proper essay on: Your players' PCs are defined by the challenges you give them. Coddle them, and they will be lame. Push them and they will be awesome. And those who perish will be remembered. But all of that is for another blog entry.

3D Modeling and Mapping the Dungeon

As you probably know if you have followed this blog lately, I am mapping a dungeon again. Today, I'm going to talk about different approaches I've used to making 3-D maps and representations. But first, there are a few ways to produce these. I'll talk a little bit about them below.

CAD Software

Computer Aided Design Software is software used to create thee dimensional models of things in a computer. There are a great many of these, but the ones I am personally familiar with are SolidWorks and Pro-E. I have a passing acquaintance with SketchUp and access to YouTube, so I'll go out on a limb and claim to be able to use that, too.

The benefits of such software is that you can make a 3-D model of every room in your dungeon down to nails and brackets, if you want. The level of detail is up to you. And then you get move it around, hide walls, take screenshots, etc. SketchUp lets you do walk-throughs. Engineering software lets you do things you will never ever ever need to do like model the voticity of blood flowing through your dungeon. Well. Maybe that might be useful for some...

The drawback to using CAD software is twofold - there can be a rather steep learning curve to such software and it takes a while to produce a good model.

SketchUp

This probably falls under "CAD Software", but I'm going to break it out because it is cheaper, more popular, and doesn't seem to be nearly as sophisticated as the professional CAD programs I'm use to working with. Also, it was originally geared toward architectural applications, and not engineering ones.

SketchUp lets you build 3-D models of just about anything, but it was originally targeting architectural designs - buildings, landscaping, etc. This focus potentially makes for some excellent end products, complete with lighting, shadows, and everything. That can be really cool, if you go ham with it, but doing so takes time. I don't profess to be a SketchUp expert, so I doubt I'm any form of fast, but I can see where you can quickly bang out an important room or locale to get a nice visual for players. Just as with the CAD software mentioned above, I still think it's too cumbersome to use for an entire dungeon, at least unless you just love doing that sort of thing. Then good on ya!

Isometric Maps

These maps offer an isometric view (think Diablo and its clones) of the dungeon. They are fantastic for showing relative heights of rooms, but they require special graph paper - or more talent than I will ever have - to draw really well by hand. I haven't found a computer map-drawing tool that makes these, either, though I am probably just missing it.

The benefits of isometric maps is that they are simple to read if drawn well, display height differences well, and are far faster to make than using CAD software. Drawbacks are that you won't get the degree of detail and versatility as with CAD software, and it takes talent to make these look good. Moreover, some 3-D dungeon designs may not read well, no matter how good you are (try to imagine a 3D maze in isometric perspective).

Is It Worth It?

In my experience, isometric maps just look cool. They can also help give a sense of elevation, which for very vertical maps can be essential to understanding the flow. My only issue with using these is that I suck at drawing them. So I tend to gravitate to a computer-based approach.

I have used both SketchUp and SolidWorks to produce models of dungeon elements, rooms, etc. I am far more familiar with the likes of SolidWorks and Pro-E, so I tend to get faster and better results from those than SketchUp, but I can see where someone versed in the latter-most might be more productive than me.

What I find works well for me is breaking out CAD software to produce images like the one below. I created this to get a sense of scale between the towers, wall, and enclosed courtyard. I now have the dimensions of all of these elements in a way that makes visual sense to me and can begin drawing a map of the keep. I also have a spiffy visual for the players.

This took about 2 hours because I kept fiddling with dimensions to get the sizing just right.

Another Set Piece for the Dungeon

I just finished mapping up another set piece for the dungeon, and I think most players will like how I mixed a pair of RPG and myth tropes to get something a little different and potentially terrifying. This set piece is all about ambiance, but that foreboding atmosphere will be backed up with one heck of a level boss.

This time around, I'm trying to make heavy use of the environment, which direction doors open, locked versus unlocked doors, and a general degree of creepiness to keep the players on edge, catch them off guard, and ultimately hit them hard with a single monster that will use the environment to its full advantage.

Granted, a typical GURPS party is horribly deadly when facing a single opponent, but that's where the environment comes in. The players will have their mobility noticeably limited, with any mistake in movement resulting in the sort of debilitating condition that can ravage defenses and leave a PC helpless at a critical moment. I'm piling on top of this doors that open in specific directions and locked doors to make running away more difficult, unless they specifically prepare a path of retreat as they advance.

My hope is that these two things will combine to make for the sort of encounter my players will talk about with horror and gratification (once they get past it!) for years to come.

What sort of things have you done in your games to make a single monster actually effective against a well-prepared party?

A Monster a Day Part II

I've been trying to keep up this pace, but I've slowed down. I honestly don't know how Enraged Eggplant does it over at Generic Universal Eggplant. Making a monsters, crosschecking rules, checking sources, and fitting them to the setting has proven more time consuming than originally anticipated, but still, I have produced about twenty new monsters since I started. I'm hoping to maintain that pace for another month or so, or at least until I have a few areas mapped out.

On the upside, I have statted up 14 mephits and a variety of demons and undead, so there is that. I need to work on some not-so-supernatural baddies, too. I have some ideas for the inhabitants of the local forests and their link to the Abbey, so I'm guessing they'll be next.

Random Mapping Tip

I have come across something that is pretty obvious and I should have been doing this entire time, but hey, we aren't all perfect. So in case you're not perfect either, I thought I'd share this tip with you:

If you are mapping an area and think of what a room or group of rooms should be, WRITE IT DOWN!

Right now, at least half of you are probably shaking your heads thinking, "Man, this guy didn't do that before?" and I don't blame you. But I cannot explain how much faster mapping this abbey has been because I laid out all the rooms as I drew them. I know it won't always be this easy, and as I leave the more systematically-designed regions behind, it'll get harder, but that's all the more reason to follow this tip!

And I'm going to extend it to more than just what a room is. If I think of what goes somewhere, it get noted. If I think something needs an object or treasure or trick or trap, it gets noted. No more going back and sorting rooms later. My later pass will be to fill in the gaps and then check that everything makes sense.

I hope this helps someone out there!

Mapping around the Abbey

Today I worked on an overland map for the 60-mile area surrounding the abbey, largely to see how it connects to the outside world. Now I can definitively say that the abbey sits on a forested hill at the end of what would be generous to called a wooded road. Even trail might be generous. The nearest village is a day's hike away, and the trail ever got used to bring the monastics at the abbey food and supplies.

The Mephit to My Madness

I like mephits. I don't know why, but I just do. They're impish little elementals with a nasty disposition who, if used effectively, can either be a real nuisance or downright deadly in a mixed group. Also, they're elementals, and I like elementals. So it probably comes as little surprise that I am writing up and planning to include the little buggers in my dungeons.

Now, I could post my write-ups, and I may just do that at some point, but today, I'm going to take a different tack. Today, I'm going to explain how mephits fit into my vision of the world.

Mephits are small, weak-minded, dimwitted elementals that faun over their masters in an attempt to ingratiate themselves to the most powerful entity in the room. This is their form of social climbing, since a big, powerful master means a big, powerful protector - not that any mephit would admit to needing protection!

Of course, this also means that larger foes may well have these winged nuisances on hand when adventures encounter them. This does not bode well for adventurers. In combat, mephits are masters of the hit-and-run. They make good use of their flight to stay out of range and use their elemental powers to inconvenience, if not incapacitate, adventurers. On their own, this is annoying, but when a big honkin' demon is trying to make macrame place settings from your entrails, things can go south really quickly.

And speaking of demons, I'm starting to flesh out four of their lords. They don't have scary-sounding, difficult-to-pronounce names yet, just epithets as working names. But these guys don't just use other demons as pawns. They command undead, elementals, and some mortal abominations, too. So is it any surprise that they have mephits in their employ? It shouldn't be!

Now if there is one thing most people know about mephits, it's that their variety is staggering. Elementals came in four (maybe five, if you prefer Chinese- or Vedic-inspired fantasy) flavors - Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. There are around a dozen published mephit types. I am maintaining that tradition by including the following list of mephits: Air, Ash, Dust, Earth, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Magma, Mist, Salt, Slime, Steam, and Water. And since that picture was labeled "Shadow Mephit", I think I'll add that in, too. That's a lot of mephit variety, but it suits these guys. And with their association with demons, I think variety is completely appropriate.

What have you done with mephits in your games?

A Monster a Day...

Mapping this abbey has made me realize how few demons I have statted up at present. To that end, I have done a little work on developing a couple of demon lords and am working on the kinds of demons, spirits, and undead they command. So far, I've already beefed up my list a little and am trying to maintain a pace of one to two monsters a day until I feel comfortable stocking a dungeon thematically.

A nice side benefit is that I'm accruing some Hidden Lore (Demons) and Hidden Lore (Undead) information that players might discover depending on what they investigate. Of course, even if they don't look into such things, it will provide a structure that should provide that much-needed cohesion amidst gobs of otherwise desperate monsters. I know funhouse dungeons are a staple in the genre, but I prefer there to be more internal logic. It helps maintain an ambiance.

What sort of background do you use to help seat your monsters in the worlds you create? Do they just exist on a whim or do they have deeper origins?

Mapping an Abbey

[1]

While it may not look it from my posts as of late, I have been trying to split my time between making progress on a science fiction setting and doing some mapping and worldbuilding for dungeon crawls. To will be a post on the latter.

So lately, I've been mapping up a small abbey to serve as the first level of a larger dungeon. Naturally, it is dominated by its cathedral that has two towers and a central dome. Unlike traditional catholic cathedrals, I decided the bells would go in this dome, and the entry-way towers would be spires. This just felt good when I was making the map.

The outlying buildings are a two-story affair with the usual rooms associated with a monastery - refectories, calefactories, scriptoriums, and lots of other churchy-sounding names. And like any good dungeon entrance, this abbey has a cellars and an underground burial catacomb so the monks and nuns that live there never need leave the walls of their sanctum.

So that's a quick rundown on the abbey, but how does it sit within the region? Well, for starters, it is an ancient complex perched upon a forested hill about a day's ride from what remains of the village that once supported it. Both are now abandoned, but the abbey has fared far better than the village. Many legends and superstitions attribute the abbey's well-preserved condition to any number of supernatural causes - none of them particularly holy or good.

This is what I'm currently working off of. I'm sure it will grow deeper as time progresses, just as Alnwich did when I worked on it. For now, though, I can definitively say that there is an abbey - with a map! - that definitely qualifies as a Bad Place, and under it is some sort of dungeon. How mega it will be is up in the air.

Monster Lists & Mapping

As everyone who has read this blog for any time knows, my system of choice is GURPS, mostly out of laziness. Yes laziness. GURPS can handle any play style and genre pretty well, even if specialized systems might potentially outshine it on a case-by-case scenario. So what that means for me is that, while I might not get optimal performance for each genre I enjoy, I only need to know one system. That is valuable to me. It doesn't hurt that GURPS handles my two favorite genres pretty well, too!

This post isn't a plug for GURPS, though, so I'll get to the point. I use GURPS. I am lazy. These are sometimes at odds. GURPS does not have a dedicated bestiary in the way that Dungeons & Dragons does. There's no single book I can open and get my hands on hundreds of premade monsters. Sure, Dungeon Fantasy has four books of monsters, now, and I use them, but two are toolkits for making specific types of monsters - oozes and dragons, and the other two have 60 monsters combined, at most. My point here is that as a GM, if I want monsters, I very regularly have to make them myself.

Of course, I've been doing this for a while and have my own repository of monsters at this point. I've even posted some of them on this blog. So that helps, but that doesn't mean I always have the monsters I need on hand when I start placing them on maps. So this is what I do.

As I map, I jot down notes of what goes where and keep a running list of every monster I've placed. This includes different flavors - e.g., Goblin Archer, Goblin Mook, Goblin Priest, Goblin Fighter, Goblin Kamikaze (don't ask), etc. I also jot down monsters with affix combinations - e.g., Possessed Berserk Killer Minotaur of the Juggernaut and such. Some of these will eventually turn into monsters in and of themselves. Lastly, I jot down any monsters that might be traps or traps that might be monsters. Sometimes there are gray areas.

This list becomes my To Do List for monster creation. Anything that doesn't come in flavors or with affixes are just base monsters. Those that have flavors get a base monster and then flavors built on those base monsters. The same goes for monsters with affixes. Finally, those that blur the lines with traps get a final sorting at this stage, and those that make the monster cut get statted. Usually, inspiration or tangents grab me during this process and spawn a few other monsters for the ever-growing folder of That-Which-Paper-Men-Were-Not-Meant-to-Survive.

So if you're mapping and have an idea for a monster, jot it down on a list. Keep that list handy. It's nice to know what's in your dungeon or wilderness area. It's also nice to have a ready-made list of stuff to do when you find some down time.

Guilds of Alnwich: The Pantheon of Alnwich

The Pantheon of Alnwich

Rank: Religious Rank 0 to 2.

In Charge: Thyra Hakondottr (Cleric).

In the Ranks: Clerics and Initiates.

On the Payroll: Anyone, but mostly servants and laborers.

Influencing the AR: Any social skill; see below.

The Pantheon is the local temple to the gods. As is common among the religions of the North, there is no centralized governing body for the faith, and members meet rarely. Instead, each temple is a bastion unto its own and operates without support or interaction with the greater religion.

The Pantheon of Alnwich is run by the High Priestess Thyra Hakondottr with the assistance of her priests and initiates. The temple is supported by contributions from the community and employs some servants and laborers to maintain the grounds and building. Should these not suffice to keep the temple in good order, Earl Borg has been known to make contributions of men and supplies to keep the house of the gods in good repair.

People tend to interact with the individual priests of the Pantheon personally rather than with the organization as a whole. To influence ARs, roll a Quick Contest between any suitable social skill and the individual member’s Will. The AR modifier is half the margin of victory (minimum +1) or loss (minimum -1).

The Pantheon doesn’t have official ranks; still a few terms tend to apply. Those new to the order are of Rank 0 and called Acolytes, Initiates, Neophytes, or Brother or Sister, and once an initiate completes his initiation, he gains Rank 1 and the title of Priest. The priest in charge of running a temple is usually called the High Priest or Priestess.

Guilds of Alnwich: The Dahlgaard Clan

The Dahlgaard Clan

Rank: Family Rank 0 to 3.

In Charge: Carstan (Scout) and his wife Lisbet (Agent).

In the Ranks: Agents, apprentices, archers, brutes, cutpurses, initiates, native guides, and non-adventuring people.

On the Payroll: Laborers, servants, and non-adventuring people.

Influencing the AR: Merchant.

The Dahlgaards are a new family of furriers in Alnwich who moved up from the Arafon to capitalize on the booming fur trade. Devious, determined, and unafraid to play dirty, the clan is actively absorbing smaller fur companies in an attempt to gain enough market share to challenge the Holts and Eklunds while working with the RMS to undermine those families business, reputation, political power, and social standing anywhere possible.

The clan is headed by Carstan, who personally leads the trapping operation while his wife, Lisbet, runs the business side of the operation. With the help of all but one of their children, they oversea the family business directly. Unlike the other families, they also maintain a tannery on the outskirts of Alnwich where they prepare many of their furs in house to reduce costs.

The black sheep of the family is Thora, the redheaded daughter of Carstan and Lisbet. Upon her first blood, she discovered a natural talent for the magical arts and sought out Hella Winter’s Coven, where she now studies under the tutelage of Hella, herself. While not ostracized from the family, she still remains a disappointment to the clan for not following in the family trade.

Progress! A City Takes Shape

I have finally begun making some progress mapping again. Today I started in on the ruins of Thanras. This is the dungeon entrance I really need to get mapped before I get players in the dungeon. There might be some other entrances, but they'll need to find those for themselves. In the meantime, I am attacking what should end up being a fun area.

Thanras isn't small, but it isn't ginormous, either. I blocked out a square of land about a quarter mile on a side to work with. I doubt I will fill the entire square, but I can't say for certain just yet. I started out by plopping down some major buildings and connecting them with roads. This is getting closer to finished, and once it is, I'll drop in some squares where they seem like they belong. Then I'll start throwing down buildings somewhat haphazardly along the existing roads and see what side streets naturally take shape. From there, I'll add in most buildings on those streets and see how it evolves. I'm hoping for something somewhat labyrinthine, as would be natural for most unplanned cities.

Of course, these are the ruins of Thanras, so when I say I'm placing buildings, it's more like I'm placing foundations and whatever might still be standing on them. Most of the city has cracked and collapsed with countless years of freezing and thawing. Still, some of the beefier structures might be partially standing. After all, the Parthenon was stood for 2,119 years until the Ottoman Turks filled it with gunpowder during the Great Turkish War. And even today, it is still largely standing, albeit without a roof.

So Thanras will have a few structures still largely in tact, but mostly they'll be decayed and collapsed. What lives there now I won't hint at, nor will I mention what loot might be hidden beneath the rubble. But not much screams "Adventure!" like the ruins of an ancient city. I just need to make something that Indiana Jones would approve of.

Goblins

Goblin

These man-sized faeries are known for their ugly appearance and brutish behavior. They have dull grey-green, wart-covered flesh, long and misshaped ears, a porcine nose, and sharp pointed teeth, bilious eyes, and are completely devoid of hair. The height of a man, most goblins have extremely bad posture that makes them appear shorter than they actually are.

Goblins are unfortunately common in dark, foreboding places, and prefer to hole up near human settlements. This gives them better access to prey and loot, and the pervasive superstitions surrounding anything fae-touched reduces reciprocity from the locals. In thankfully rare circumstances, massive hordes of goblins have been known to gather before going on grand hunts. These are usually called by nigh deific Sidh kings and queens, but sometimes arise in a manner similar to sharks entering a frenzy.

Individual goblins are not much more dangerous than a typical human warrior, but they are virtually unaffected by darkness and are possessed of a cruel streak. And most people are lucky to encounter an individual goblin, because goblins are every bit as canny as any person. They can and do sneak around, use tactics, evaluate situations, and use every opportunity to their advantage before, during, and after a fight.

Guilds of Alnwich: The Nobility

The Nobility

Rank: Status 0 to 4.

In Charge: Earl Borg (Knight), and sometimes Baron van Freek (Knight).

In the Ranks: Virtually anyone except assassins and thieves.

On the Payroll: Anyone.

Influencing the AR: Diplomacy or Savoir-Faire (High Society).

Alnwich is a subjugated territory of Usk, and as such, falls under the jurisdiction of the Usking king, whose authority flows through Earl Borg. The Earl also governs the entirety of Northmarch, so while his seat of power is in Alnwich, his duties often carry him away to other parts of the realm.

In his absence, the Council of Elders, an assembly of aldermen consisting of the heads of the most powerful families in Alnwich and other prominent interests and chaired by the Baron of Alnwich, Staffan van Freek, attend to the administration and governance of the town. Current members include Hella Winter, Kari Eklund, Morten Ververs – the current RMS adjunct –, Old Man Fisker, Sir Linqvist, Thyra Hakonson – the head priest of the Pantheon –, and Veli Holt among others.

Within this assembly, a great deal of tension exists. While those of Alnwich are growing wealthy off of the new fur trade, the pride of the Skidafolk runs deep, and just as deep runs their resentment of subjugation. This is only exacerbated by the fact thatMorten Ververs and Sir Lindqvist always back Baron van Freek against the locals. This is regularly used as justification to move against the wishes of the locals. As a result, the town council is often considered by those of Alnwich to be at best an empty symbol and at worst a mouthpiece for Usk.

Guilds of Alnwich: The Wardens

The Wardens

Rank: Conspiratorial Rank 0 to 3.

In Charge: Barbarians – specifically Savage Warriors (DF Denizens – Barbarians, p. 7-8) and Survivors (Barbarians, p. 8-9) –, Knights, and Scouts.

In the Ranks: As above, plus archers, brutes, guards, knights, native guides, skirmishers, and squires.

On the Payroll: Anyone else.

Influencing the AR: Carousing or Leadership.

The Wardens are a local brotherhood of warriors who patrol the local wilderness and try to keep the beast-men and faeries away from civilized lands. They are not officially sanctioned or backed by the governor or city council, but they receive substantial backing from some of the older, wealthier families in Alnwich.

The origins of the Wardens is lost in the fog of antiquity, but all signs suggest it existed before the Starfall in some form. More recent records mention the Wardens performing a variety of wilderness-related services for Alnwich and the surrounding villages, including patrolling the forests for faerie or beast-man incursions, taking the offensive to claim territory for Northwatch, and exploring the wilderlands.

The Wardens are run by a council of veteran wilderness warriors, but major decisions are made by brotherhood-wide vote. While they may fall into a loose military chain of command in combat situations, within the organization, everyone is ostensibly equal. Still, more senior members tend to hold greater influence than acolytes. The proper form of address between members is Brother or Sister, regardless of Rank.

Megadungeon Update

I wish I could report substantial progress on mapping and stocking the megadungeon, but I haven't gotten to work on it very much lately. I have some interesting ideas I plan on including and hope to find the time to work on them soon. Until then, I'm afraid I'll have to leave it as is. It sucks when life rears its head.

A few future plans, however:

• A little more worldbuilding concerning the history of Alnwich and the attitudes of the locals.
• Finishing up main guilds for Alnwich.
• Writing a Mystic template.
• Creating more Mystic power-ups.
• Making MORE MONSTERS!!!! (I like monsters and I like variety)
• Mapping the ruins of Thanras and what lies beneath.

Once I'm done with the player-facing stuff, I'll probably put out a call for some play testers to break the stuff I've made. So if you think you might want in, keep an eye out for when I get around to dropping the Mystic template.

Puzzling Out Puzzles

Today we are going to talk about puzzles. I suck at making them. I always have. I've also rarely enjoyed solving them - in computer games, in roleplaying games, and in real life. Sorry. I just don't care for riddles and tricks and such. So what am I to do when they are such a staple of megadungeon design?

Let us consider what a puzzle is. At its heart, the classic puzzle is a problem. They may be (in my very intractable opinion) annoying tricks, but they don't strictly have to be. I argue that they can simply be a non-monster, non-trap problem to be overcome. And I don't mind problems.

What do I mean by problems? A puzzle might be a switch that does something somewhere, but the players don't know where or what. A puzzle might be a secret door that isn't opened from where they are, even if they know the door exists. A puzzle might be a warning scrawled on a wall about some danger elsewhere in the dungeon. A puzzle, in essence, is anything that presents the players with an unknown.

That obvious stone door with no handles that won't open? How to open it or bypass it is an unknown. And it gives the player something to do that isn't guessing which combination of button pushes opens the door. No. The players need to do something meaningful - research, grab the nearest pickax or sledgehammer, break out some magic, search for a button or lever, etc. In this way, the puzzle goes from a tedious chore the GM assigns because he can to a call to action.

So am I implementing puzzles in the megadungeon? You bet! Are the puzzles obnoxious guessing games or frustrating adventures in code breaking? Not a chance.

Unforeseen Consequences in Dungeon Mapping

I have realized recently that there are some major consequences to some of my early design decisions regarding dungeon entrances. See, I started out thinking, “An ancient castle sitting on top of a dungeon is cool!” so I made that the main entrance. And that sounds all well and good, but that castle is big. But it’s a megadungeon, right? Well…

The thing about players is that they are unpredictable. That’s what makes GMing fun, though; you never know what they’ll do. That’s why I prefer sandboxy games, too. If I wanted to know the outcome of every action in the story, I’d write a book. So how does this interact with Giant Castle for an Entrance?

Consider how a castle looks. It’s a big, tall structure open to the air with walls and windows and ramparts and stuff. And these players are going to show up decked out with burglary gear, ropes, and murderous intent. So yeah, I laid out entrances, and there are ways through all of them, even if some are tougher to penetrate than others. But why should the PCs settle for going in the front door when they can climb in through a 5^th floor window?