Schrodinger's Dungeon as Sandbox Planning Tool

When I’m on the interwebs, I read about GMs and DMs that are constantly planning “story arcs” for their games.  They have this group of “important heroes” and then these heroes go out and do “important things” and that’s the big important story!  

If you like playing that way, that’s cool.  I’m not going to bash it.  I used to play that way -- but I’ve stopped.  

I’ve stopped for a few of reasons --

1. The prep was KILLING ME!  The amount of time it takes to put a “story” together is daunting.  I am an adult with a full time job now.  I want to spend my gaming time playing, crafting or painting minis.  I don’t want to plot out a story.  Personal preference.
2. If one of the players bails, you have a hole in your story that you have to fix.  The more important that PC, the bigger the hole.  The harder it is to plug.  This leads to massive re-writes of the plot and that goes back to #1 above.  HUGE TIME SUCK!  No thank you.
3. The railroad tracks must be strong and narrow.  If the PCs get off the path, the story suffers.  You have to make changes, re-writes, modifications, etc.  In one campaign, to keep “the story” on track, I had to resort to time travel for the PCs to wrap some things up…  Ack.  Too many ret-cons, to much re-writing.  Nope.

So that leaves sandbox play.  

If you run a sandbox, you have to be good at improvising.  Random tables are your friend.  You have to be good at tying disparate elements together on the fly or after the fact.  You have to weave some kind of world together from the bits you put out there.  You need to keep some good notes so that the random bits from three months ago mean something -- after all, that thing you made up about the blue fairy queen might just be the thing the adventurers want to follow up on!

So I had this initial idea -- why not create a set/series of random tables -- in advance -- that define the parameters of the sandbox?  These tables are all the prep you’ll need.  You keep going back to them, time and again, to determine what is going on in your game.

Yes, yes.  I know, there are literally an infinite number of random things out there (Abulafia, Wizardawn, Chaotic Shiny to name a few) plus all the dead-tree and/or PDF versions you can find (Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets, Dungeon Alphabet, Wilderness Alphabet, Toolbox, Ultimate Toolbox, etc.)

I’m talking about something else.  A template or structure that you fill in to represent the structure of your world (or parts of your world.)  The template -- how you roll against it -- sets the dynamics of what appears, when it appears, where it appears.  

You could approximate this by using the resources available -- random wandering monster charts, random treasure tables, etc.  That might work out just fine.  How you apply those random rolls to your world would determine the flavor and structure of the place.  If your whole world looks and feels the same, you could keep using the same tables everywhere.

Of course, if the City of Ghouls is different than the Ankaar, city of Thieves, you might need some different tables.

If The Tomb of Sarkos is different than the Crypt of Worms, you might need some different tables.

Of course, of course you could just randomly roll up some more tables.  Fine.  That’ll work.  

What I’m proposing instead is a fixed structure, that always “works” the same, that you fill in with bits and bobs to make each place different.  You’d fill this out initially, you can add to it and/or modify it as you go.  Make changes.  Deletions.  Additions.  But the “structure” for a given site is fixed at the beginning.

This leads me to another part of my idea, what I’m calling a Schrodinger’s Dungeon.  Nothing is fixed until it is observed.  Everything is in flux, until you roll for it.  

This is different than the Quantum Ogre principle, which states it doesn’t matter which way you go -- you’ll always encounter the ogre.  That messes up player agency.

In a Schrodinger’s Dungeon, you don’t know what’s there until you roll for it.  James Maz came up with this idea too, way back in 2009.  Perhaps it’s been rattling around my head all this time?  Who knows.  I’m still planning to “build it” which I don’t think has been done yet!

Now that I’ve Googled it, The Angry DM has an article about it too.  His idea looks like too much work for me (too many stat blocks) so I’m citing it here out of fairness, but I’ll likely not read much more of it.  :)

“Go left?  Go right?  OK, right it is (dice rattle, DM notes what is there) What do you do now?”

As new information becomes available, “You smell the strong odor of brimstone…” the players are free to act on that -- “OK, so you’d prefer to go left?  OK, (rattle, rattle)...”

The map itself can be randomly generated on the fly or just the contents.  The DM can randomly determine in advance or at the table.  I’d probably do a bit of both…

So what does this structure look like?  How does the prep go?  What’s next?

Well, I’m not quite sure.  I have some ideas, but, well, that’s another post.  :)

[Hulks & Horrors] Energy Packs

Here's an idea that will work equally well for Fantasy as for Sci-Fi, albeit for arrows or charges or whatever...

In my Hulks and Horrors game, the spacefarers need energy packs and/or clips of ammo for their blasters, lasers, phasers, etc.

I decided that in the H&H universe, much like our own, there are different types of batteries --

Red - weapons
Blue - heavy tools like laser cutters, sonic welders, etc.
Green - science equipment like tricorders, portable medi-bots, etc.
Yellow - toys like audio track players, GameDudes, etc.

Further, the types are all the same size, so they can be exchanged, but there are tradeoffs.  They all have 20 charges of their "color" and they cannot be recharged normally.  When they are used up, they must be replaced.

Cell Color used	in Red device	in Blue device	in Green device	in Yellow device
Red	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†	Burns device out; smoke, flames, nasty smells!  Depends upon number of charges in cell	Device explodes violently after brief delay! Depends upon number of charges in cell
Blue	Uses 2 charges	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†	Device whines with awful sounds,  growing more and more painful with every round until the device self-destructs! Depends upon number of charges in cell
Depends upon number of charges in cellGreen	Uses 10 charges	Uses 5 charges	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†
Yellow	Uses 20 charges	Uses 10 charges	Uses 5 charges	Uses 1 charge

Created with the HTML Table Generator

† If, when using the device, a critical failure is rolled, the device will be damaged in some way.

I hand out cards to the players when energy packs are found.  To facilitate the production of these cards, one of my players DB, made me a stamp.  It's great, but it isn't working well with the gel stamp pad I bought.  It doesn't seem to pick up the ink well.  I'm going to buy a more standard "inky" stamp pad -- that may work better.

In the interim, I had some small bits of cork lying around, so I made a quick 9x9 stamp of my own.  The idea is that once all 9 boxes are filled in, you cross off the whole "Hollywood Squares" thing for the 10th charge.  :)

Here's a pic.  DB's stamp is the larger one.  The blue cards are "blue" energy clips, the pink are "red."  I have other colors too...

Megadungeon Idea - Scripted Changes

This idea is in its infancy.  I haven't playtested it at all.  Hell, I'm just making up the example now.  I had this thought last week on vacation (sitting by the pool has its perks...) but I'm just getting around to writing it up.

The idea is based on the premise that megadungeons should change over time.  The players enter a room, maybe they kill a monster there, take its stuff, etc.  Something should be different the next time.

Coming up with those "differents" is sometimes very hard.  The idea that I had was a kind of flow chart or checklist that DMs could use as the room evolves through the exploration of the megadungeon.  When a "state" is used, you check it off  (maybe date it) and move to the next state next time.

Here's an example (very crude)

[ ] Room has 2 orcs (AC 6, HD 1, HPs 5,4, AT: 1 club, 1d6)  The orcs have 21 sp between them.  There is a crude table, two piles of straw for beds, 2 dirty blankets.
[ ] The room is strangely empty and very, very clean.  Not even any dust.  No furniture.  Nothing.
[ ] A pentagram has been scribed on the floor in pink chalk.  Stubs of red and black candles remain at each point.
[ ] There is a bloody pentagram on the floor of the room.  Deep gouges have been made in the stone.  A single elvish shoe (dainty and expensive) badly torn and bloody lies on the floor.
[ ]...

So, the GM immediately has a narrative in the room.  Things can change.  Of course, not every room would have a "timeline" or narrative.  Just enough to keep the megadungeon "alive" in the minds of the players.

Additionally, if the players impact the development of the events, the DM will need to improvise.  In the example above, perhaps the PCs damage the pentagram deliberately during their 3rd visit to the room.  If so, then the 4th visit makes total sense.  If they completely obliterate the pentagram, maybe the wizard does a poor job re-doing it.  If they just scratch a line, well that makes sense too.

Anyway, I can see myself writing up some "narratives" for certain rooms if I ever get around to making my megadungeon.

What do you think?

Boggle Adventure Hook Generator

I went to Goodwill the other day and I found this game for $1.99.  I'm always on the lookout for games that have funky dice or some other interesting feature --

It's called "Quip Qubes" and it's like Scrabble, but with words instead of letters.  I don't know if it is playable.  There is a score pad in with the game.  One sheet has been used (it's still attached.)  I don't know if that means that the owners just gave up or that they never played again for some other reason.

So, I went through the dice and I picked out 16 of the best "words" to suggest action and/or adventure. There are other dice that are suitable too -- this is just one possible set.

I put them in the Boggle case I have and I gave them a shake.  Here's the result --

So, taking a look and trying to make connections --

Somewhere in town, lives a smart dog.  Not your average smart dog, a REALLY smart dog.  Maybe a former familiar or perhaps a fey dog.  It has seen a devil.  A small, one-foot-tall devil that is part duck (or at least it looks that way.)  The devil knows about the dog and it hates it.  It knows that the dog will be trying to find a way to destroy it, if it can find a way.  It's only a matter of time... 

Not bad.  I could work with that.

These dice might do better if I refine the set and include a few Rory's Story Cubes to help flesh them out.  I'll try that sometime.

[40k] My Banecorp Chapter Colors

Found this cool tool that lets you design your Space Marine Chapter colors.

Here it is.  And here.  (there are probably more I haven't found yet...)  Here's a post on another blog with a good list...

Here's a pic of my Banecorp Chapter.  I've been playing these guys since 1986.

Bilious green on grey

Campaign Planning - Old Book Images

My grandson and his friends would like to play some Old School D&D this summer (probably Swords & Wizardry) and I started planning yesterday.

Young people are more visual than us grognards, so I thought I'd start by identifying all the imagery that would play a role in the campaign.

I went to the OBI Scrapbook Blog and dug through their archive.  I also went to Wikimedia Commons.  The idea was to use ONLY Public Domain images.  Old stuff (mostly) and re-purpose them into the foundation of the campaign.

Many of the images were good "as is," but some were not.  I used GIMP to remove elements that I didn't need or want.  :)

I created a PDF file of all the images and I will be working to "stat up" all the different stuff as the campaign progresses.  I'll be using a "just in time" approach -- planning only what is needed and being creative on the fly when necessary.

I used an old book cover picture to create sections within the pictures.  I think I have over 150 different images.

Here are a few screenshots of the work so far.

The interesting thing that I find happening is that I'm making choices about what IS and what ISN'T included in the world.  If I can't find a picture, I can't use it.  The "picture book" is a constraint but it is also serves to focus my ideas.  

I'm liking the way this is going so far.  I thought I'd like to share.

Here's the file of all the pics if you are interested.

Midkemia Press Cities - Sampler Pages 3

TAVERNS

So, what kind of tavern is it?  Generate a name here.

Roll 2d6, one for the Lodging and one for the Food Quality.   You can then cross-reference the costs on IIb.

Enjoy!  You can get the Sampler here.

Midkemia Press Cities - Sampler Pages 2

OPEN MARKET/BAZAAR

Here's a great table --

I'd begin by rolling d% and I'd read across the "Number of Buildings" row.  

• If I rolled below 3, I'd say there's 1 tent that sells a lot of different stuff and keep rolling. 
• If I roll above 70, I'd roll in the 51-70 column and add 1d10 to the result.

You can modify/tweak the occupations in Table 1d by assigning some lower chances for more specialized types of occupations.

• For example in the Tinker/Coppersmith row --  If you roll 10-20, include a Silversmith in addition to a Tinker and Coppersmith.  01-05, include a Goldsmith and the other types.
• For example in the Horse Trader row -- If you roll 10-20, include exotic animals like llamas and camels in the stable.  If you roll 01-02, maybe he has a gryphon or pegasi.
• For Sharpener -- if you roll 10-20, there's also a Blacksmith, 01-05 add a Weaponsmith to the mix; 06-10 include an Armorer.
• etc.  You get the idea...

You can get the sampler here.

Midkemia Cities - Sampler Pages

Years ago, Midkemia Press sold an awesome product called "Cities."  You can still get it as a PDF if you are so inclined.

They also have a sampler.  I think there are some good tables in there and I'm planning to do a few posts about them.

ENCOUNTER TABLE - POOR QUARTER

In my campaign, 9 times out of 10, the PCs are probably in the crappy part of town anyway.  Keep this chart handy and roll % based on the time of day.  Most of these categories are self explanatory.  It wouldn't take much work to generate a quick NPC and assign them to one of these categories.  You could easily use my GM Cards to make that happen.  Also my 3 word NPCs.  

If you roll Category 1 (Already Occurring) the Sampler has this table as well.

There is some really good stuff here.  Print this page out too.  Maybe on the back of the first one...

I was digging through some stuff on my computer and I found a link to an old PBWorks site that I was using over 5 YEARS AGO to document my thoughts and ideas about gaming.

It was still active (Wow!) so I logged in and found this article.  I present it as a "blast from the past".  Unedited by my current thoughts and sensibilities.  Let's see how it holds up...

Trust in Gaming

Why?

Two reasons.

One, its the right thing to do. When your friends come over to your house, they want to have fun. They don't want to take part in something that isn't enjoyable. If they wanted to do that, they'd go to work or mow the lawn. A game that doesn't follow these tenets just isn't fun.

Two, I dislike rules heavy games (AD&D 3.5 I'm looking at you!) and so I run my games fast and loose. Right or wrong, I like to think of my RPG sessions as a type of freeform jazz -- we start off in a direction and then we roll with it. I build a lot of randomness and freedom into the game. Anyway, when you play off the cuff, there's a lot of GM fiat. This makes some players nervous because they don't always know what is going to happen next. They don't know exactly how their powers work (Champions! You heard me!) If you try to run your games with these tenets, the players will trust that you'll give them a fair shake. It's a partnership where we are all invested in having fun and telling a compelling story.

I'm not perfect -- no one is -- but I try to run my RPGs according to the following tenets. I think that more times than not, I do a good job and I pull it off. It has taken me years to refine my GMing skills. I offer the following to anyone who is thinking about running a tabletop RPG game.

Tenets

Fairness/Equity/Parity

Try to give all characters equal screen time. This doesn't mean that if one character gets a magic sword, everyone gets a magic sword. It means that if one player gets a goody, the other players can rest assured that their goody will happen eventually. Everyone gets a turn. One player might get a special item, another player might get a sidekick, still a third might gain an enemy. In game terms, these are all equal (strange way of thinking about it, huh?) but they all give each character/player a time and a place to take the spotlight and excel.

Consistency

If the last time you fought orcs, they went down with one swing of your axe, then that had better happen next time. If it doesn't happen next time, as a GM you'd better have a good explanation of why (even if the characters and players aren't privy to it.) If you make a decision on the fly that turns out to be wrong or unbalancing to the game, take the time to discuss it with the players and explain why the rules have change. In advance.

Heroes are the Stars

In order to make a compelling game world, you have to populate it with interesting characters (NPCs). A world filled with nameless shopkeepers, guards, and barkeeps is a boring world. Having said that, no matter how wonderful that villain/anti-hero/druid/mage/etc. is he or she is not the focus of the game. The players are and their heroes are. Period. Not every villain needs to get away, not every sidekick needs the coolest magic item, etc. Let the heroes have the spotlight. If there's a legitimate reason why an NPC should have the spotlight (she's the only one who can pick the lock, he's the one who knows a contact in the city) have them take the lead (briefly) then hand the story back over. Besides, if your NPCs start interacting with each other, isn't that really like talking to yourself?

Be Prepared

This means that when gaming day arrives, don't be clueless about what is going to happen. I've already mentioned that I like to play it fast and loose, so what does "be prepared" mean to me? Well, I typically have a concept map put together showing the relationships between the heroes, villains, places and things. I have a rough flow chart showing the plot as I envision it. I'm open if the characters want to go in a different direction and I'm ready to improvise, but I have some resources to help me roll with it.

Listen

Consider the following: sometimes the ideas that your players come up with are better than your ideas. Steal them. Not only will the players appreciate the better plotline, they'll think that they are really tuned in to the scenario. "I knew it. I saw that coming."

Exempli gratia: Years ago I kicked off my first campaign with an adventure involving a wyrm (a giant flightless dragon.) The scenario involved a wyrm that was menacing caravans on a well traveled trade route. The heroes were hired as guards for a particularly valuable shipment. My ideas was that the wyrm was just hungry and was attacking the caravans as a ready source of horseflesh. Yummy.

Then I overheard my players discussing how the wyrm must be controlled by a mage. They had seen a pattern in the descriptions of the caravan merchandise that was lost/stolen (one I hadn't intended) and had reasoned that a mage must be responsible.

I quickly sketched a cavern complex, reasoned that the wyrm would have a "magic collar" that would allow the mage to control it, and whipped up a small group of brigands that would help the mage pillage the caravans. Presto. Instant improved adventure.

Award Excellence

When a player comes up with a great idea that moves the story along, when they immerse themselves in their role, or when they take the time to describe a clever combat maneuver. Try to say YES. If there's a good reason why you don't want them to succeed, then say NO, but have a good reason. If you want them to succeed, don't have them roll dice. Just narrate what happens and move on. If you have them roll, no matter how slim their chance of failure, it could happen. Just say YES.

Furthermore, when they do exciting and fun things, give them a payback. Give them a clue, item, contact, complication, etc. Something that says, "well done, here's another chance for you to shine." You can award them with "metagame" things too like experience points or FATE points. The point is, the award is positive feedback that says "keep it up, keep doing that." That's what you want from your players.

No Dirty Tricks/Character Death

Nothing will alienate you players more than a tricky situation that they can't figure out that eventually kills off their character. They invest a lot of time and energy into their in-game persona. Don't treat them carelessly. Don't kill off a character through a bad roll or bad design. Traps that kill unless the heroes spot them are a bad idea unless the heroes know that the place is filled with lethal traps. Kill off a red shirt to show them how deadly. I like FATE and Fudge because they have "taken out" as the final stage in the character damage track. This could mean that the hero is unconscious or otherwise disabled an not able to continue. Not necessarily dead.

Now if the players do something patently stupid. Kill their character. They're asking for it. If you adhere to a player-centric, story based game where the heroes often get out of tough spots by the skin of their teeth, some players will interpret this as weakness on the part of the GM. "I can do anything and he won't kill me." Wrong. If they are stupid, make them pay for their stupidity. They should have seen it coming. Being fair doesn't mean being a pushover. Just make sure that if a character dies it is either dramatically appropriate (my paladin died fighting the demon queen so that everyone else could get away and all the children would be saved from her clutches) or it is the players legitimate fault (you mean I can't jump off of a cliff? Oh, dragons are deadly. I probably shouldn't have doused myself in gasoline and then lit up a smoke.) Give them the chance to act in a rational fashion, if they refuse, it's their funeral.

Challenging RPG Puzzle for Players AND Characters

Here's a picture of the puzzle to pique your curiosity!  I've changed the central picture, but the example still works...

So, there's this board game called "Mansions of Madness."  I don't own it, but I know a little bit about it.  It sounds really cool and if I get the chance, I will probably try to play it sometime.

In the game, there are these puzzles that you must solve to move on.  Maybe from room to room or to get a weapon or to escape.  I don't know exactly, but I do know that the PLAYER must solve the puzzle and the INT of the character she is playing determines HOW MANY MOVES they get to solve it.

I didn't reverse-engineer the puzzles from the game.  I adopted a similar style, but the puzzle pieces and the design of each is mine alone.

So, I thought, what if we did that at the table?  Each round a PLAYER gets a number of moves based upon the stats of her character.  Here's a table that I might use to determine the number of moves --

• ATTRIBUTE < 13 = 1 move
• ATTRIBUTE 13, 14, 15 = 2 moves
• ATTRIBUTE 16, 17 = 3 moves
• ATTRIBUTE 18 = 4 moves
• Specialized skill = +1 move
• Character level = +1 move/5 levels

Right up front, I want to say that I have NOT used this in my game yet.  I have tested the puzzle on actual humans and it does what I want it to do.  YMMV.  :)

Each round the Player gets a number of moves (I'll define those below) based upon the stats of her character?  What stat?  Well, the puzzle is an abstraction.  Maybe its a complicated mechanical lock that requires nimble fingers to manipulate (DEX).  Maybe it's an arcane puzzle made of shifting runes and eldritch energies (INT).  Maybe its a series of tests of will and courage designed to challenge the faith of the believer (WIS).  You can decide based on the situation.  

What character class is important can vary as can the types of "specialized skills" that apply.

Some Basic Rules

• To be solved, the symbols on the edges of the moveable square pieces must match the symbols that surround them in the frame.
• Each piece has a number from 1 to 20.  This is to help GMs plan their puzzles.  It is of course totally fine to simply generate a random puzzle by drawing four pieces of the twenty.
• This is NOT a team effort.  One Player and their Character must manipulate the puzzle each round.  If another player and a different character want to try they must take over and manipulate the puzzle during a different round.  No discussion.  (Of course if you want to break this rule, go ahead, but I don't recommend it.)
• It is important to put something at risk.  Each round, what is the price of delay?  Does a new monster appear through a gate?  Does the party take damage?  Is a wandering monster rolled for?    Does the room close in a little bit more?
• When the puzzle pieces are placed on the table, the arrows must point UP at the start.  The puzzle frame must be placed so that the lock is right side up.  

The Moves

• Rotate piece 90° = 1 move.  
• You can rotate the piece clockwise or counter-clockwise, but only 90° per move.  If the piece has a blue arrow, that piece may only be rotated clockwise.  
• In the example puzzle above, you would need to rotate puzzle piece #4 three times to make it fit (3 moves).
• Swap two pieces = 1 move.  
• Choose two pieces and exchange their positions in the frame.  This DOES NOT change their orientation in any way.
• In the example puzzle above, you would want to swap #1 and #5.  You'd have to rotate them both as well to make them fit.  2 rotates each.  (5 total moves).
• Draw a new piece and trade it for an existing piece = 1 move.  
• You may look at the new piece BEFORE you discard the existing piece.  Regardless of the orientation of the existing piece, you must place the new piece in the frame with the arrow pointing up.
• If you've made the moves I've described above, #9 will never work.  Time to swap it out.

Puzzle Theory

There are 20 pieces in the puzzle.  Five groups of four.  Each group was designed to force a minimum and a maximum number of moves regardless of when its placed in the puzzle.  

• Four pieces that require 0 to 1 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 1 to 2 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 2 to 3 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 3 to 4 moves to fit
• Four pieces that will never fit

In Conclusion

Print this out on some cardstock.  Color is best, but I made the symbols very distinctive shapes so that it will work in black and white.  

I hope you can find a use for this puzzle in your game.  I welcome any suggestions you'd like to share and/or any modifications or suggestions you'd like to make.  Look forward to additional puzzles and other crazy ideas as this gets some use in my game.  I've already got some percolating around in my head.  :)

Download the puzzle here.  Enjoy!

Random Wizard Powers 2

Being an inveterate tinkerer, I've devised a new version of the sheet.

Here's a shot with the changes -

Once again, it's based on this post by Zak.  :)

Section A, I've added some calculations and text that appends to spells in the B Section.  This stuff dynamically changes by level, according to my own personal tastes.  YMMV.

You can see in Section C that I've got some seed numbers that I use to drive Section A.

I wasn't happy with Zak's S (Sleep) and X (X-Ray) so I replaced these with some variable powers based on level.  You can see those at D.

Here's a 5th level version of this wizard, you can see how the powers change...

Anyway, download it if you'd like.  It's crude.  It's a beta, but if it works for you -- great!

Random Wizard Powers

Some time ago, Zak created a list of magical powers that your NPC magic users/evil baddies could use based upon the characters in their name.

I thought this was a grand idea, but I never implemented it.  I don't want to remember to memorize spells for my evil spellcasters.  I don't want to remember spell descriptions.  I just want to run the evil wizards/spellcasters as easily as possible.  Even though Zak made the power match the initial, I still had trouble remembering it and/or being consistent.

Today, I knocked out a spreadsheet that does the work of listing those powers for you.  It's crude, but it does the job.

Here's how it works --

Section A contains all the entries from Zak's table.  You can edit these however you wish.  The letters at the beginning have no bearing on the lookup -- I was just too lazy to remove them.  The column to the left, a to z, is the lookup column -- Don't change that one.

Section B is where you type the name of the wizard.  Right below it, you can see a crude set of fields that break the name down into its component letters.  It then does a VLOOKUP against the letter and puts the power in the column.

Section C contains the Level of the wizard (in this case 10) and a calculation for D below.  I divide the level by 3 in this case.  If you want fewer tick boxes you can divide by a higher number; if more, divide by a lower number.  Whatever number or calculation appears in the box below the level is the max number of boxes to appear in D below.

Section D contains little "tick boxes" randomly determined between 1 and the calculation in C.  In this case from 1 to 4.  When the evil wizard uses a power, mark it off.

So, just type in the wizard's name -- print out the sheet and put it in your DM binder.

Here's a link to the spreadsheet.  Download a copy if you'd like.

Let me know what you think.

Boggle Character Generation

Now, I'm not going to tell you that 3d6 in order -- or 4d6/best3 -- are difficult methods for generating characters.  They are not.  But occasionally my brain takes me on little side trips and I feel compelled to see where they go.

Sometimes, I like to share these ideas with those of you who are good enough to read this blog.

Here's my idea -- use a Boggle game tray to generate a character in one whack.

Here's a pic --

Take 16d6 and put them in the Boggle tray.  3 of them should be a different color -- in this case green.  Shake liberally then set down.  If the dice don't fit exactly, minor rearrangement may be necessary.  Your character is now generated.

One possible advantage to this method would be when generating NPCs.  You could shake the dice and set them aside.  Maybe you only need to know their STR right now.  Fine.  Read it off the dice.  At the next lull in the game, you can jot down all their other stats into your notes.

If you prefer 3d6 in order, here's the way I'd read the dice --

The stats would be -

STR - 9, INT - 15, WIS - 9, DEX - 9, CON -  8, CHA - 12

If you prefer 4d6/best3, here's the way I'd read the dice -

The stats would be -

STR - 10, INT - 17, WIS - 10, DEX - 13, CON - 12, CHA - 12

In either case, I would give 80 gp to Wizard characters, 100 gp to all others.

What do you think?

Savage Worlds Wizard Tips

My wife played the wizard in the Savage Worlds party.  In order to help her track her "power" or "mana" points, I made a little bead tracker using a pipe cleaner and some pony beads.

I color coded them so she'd know when she was running out and also to prevent the accidental "flipping around" of the tracker to "refresh" the power points.  :)

Also, at the Dollar Store I found these little "spell books" from a CCG called Zatch Bell (?).  They work out REALLY well for a game like SW.  You can print shorthand versions of each spell the caster knows (and they typically don't know that many" and put them in the book.

You can also store magic item cards/scrolls/etc in the book if you'd like.  You can see a Paizo item card peeking out from behind her spells...

Savage Worlds Monster Cards

One thing I remember about Savage Worlds was using a deck of cards for Initiative in combat.  Nice idea and it works well in the game.

I found that as I dealt out cards to each player, I wanted to deal out cards to each group of monsters.  I initially had trouble keeping track of what monster group had what card.

Then I struck upon an idea -- make cards for each monster!

Using godeckyourself.com I made a set of monster cards.  Some monsters have more than one card because they are complicated :( but that's OK.

Here's what it might look like on my side of the table after I deal the cards --

Each player gets a card then I deal these out in order at the end.  Works well and serves as a visual reminder of who has gone and who still needs to act.  The card is removed when the monsters turn comes up.

If you want a copy of my monster cards you can download them below.  Enjoy!

Savage Worlds Monster Set 1

Savage Worlds Monster Set 2

DM Prep Page [7+8 of 9]

Page 7 comprises a randomized list of the Dungeon Dressing Tables from CotMA.

If you see a Dungeon Dressing entry on Page 6, you flip to the next page to see what the Dungeon Dressing is:

Within the Dungeon Dressing lists, you will sometimes find a Special Appendix IV Random Encounter.

When you do, you flip to Page 8.  I won't say much about these other than that they exist and they look a lot like the random tables above.  :)

I think that the best part of random tables like these are the patterns that emerge "from play".  As a DM, I could plan all this stuff deliberately, but where's the surprise (for me) in that?  When you discover these things at the same time as the players, questions start to percolate in your head.  The answers to these questions expand the game and are very exciting to me as a DM.

• What WAS that mist?
• What are all these pipes for?
• Whose voices were those?
• Why is there a pigeon in the dungeon?
• Why are the wall scorched?
• Where's the right boot?
• Who is M.B.?

You get the idea...

In Praise of Thrift

When I was young, much younger than I am now, I didn't have much money.  I was a poor college student.

I needed a way to store my Warhammer 40k army and so my industrious side cast about for resources I could use.  I was a server at a local Perkins restaurant.  They don't exist in AZ anymore.

I collected cheesecake boxes and 5x5 egg crates to use to protect and organize my army.  Recently, in my new job as Director of Technology Services, I have procured some foam padded boxes from HP and Apple batteries.  The egg carton/cheesecake boxes have to go.

This is a fond farewell to the cheap boxes that have kept and protected my Banecorp Space Marine army for so long.  24 years, in fact.  Amazing.

I used my old inkjet printer to create labels and an icon for my army.  :)

All the boxes stacked up before being consigned to the recycle bin.

I glued the egg carton inside the box.  The minis rattled around a bit, but if you were careful, nothing major went wrong.

Thank you Perkins.  You helped put me through college AND you helped keep my 40k Space Marines army alive and in (mostly) one piece.  Kudos!

Generic Counters

I'm planning to build a "Convention Kit" or "Portable DM Kit" or whatever.  Basically a "single box" (this is defined vaguely for a reason) that I can grab and be ready to DM a game in my preferred style.

This idea is larval at this stage, so I don't really have too much to say about it yet.

Anyway, here's a bag of counters that *should* substitute for monsters, NPCs and possibly even PCs when I run a game using my "kit".

Multiple styles, colors, and roughly three sizes.

They all fit in this bag --

More to come!

DM Prep Page [6 of 9]

Page 6 is a page tied exclusively to the random encounter tables in CotMA.

I've cut and pasted and interlocked the encounter tables from within the module.  I've also used my "how long until a random encounter" matrix to fill in the dots on the left.

The characters explore the dungeon.  Each turn, I mark a dot.  When I run out of dots, I cross-reference the row I'm on with the column for the level they are currently exploring.

Presto!  Instant random encounter.

Here's a pic --

Here's a scan of a page with marked off dots -- (PS: this page is before I expanded the page to Level 8, but you'll get the idea...)

Another added benefit to this method is the way it sort of "outlines" the adventure...

For example, looking at the page above, the adventurers began on Level 1 and very quickly (1 turn) they encountered some Grimlocks.

They defeated them and over the course of an hour, the descended to Level 4 where they encountered a glowing bubble.

Shortly thereafter, they were attacked by a Flind warparty.

A couple of Gelatinous Cubes were encountered (something happened with one... maybe it was frozen or something...) but when the party hunkered down to rest in the dungeon, a group of Giant Centipedes skittered by.

Later on, they encountered some Black Puddings, found a room filled with damp pipes, and some more Black Puddings.  (With all these Black Puddings around, this might be the expedition when the Frostbrand of Errol was destroyed... that led to another series of quests...)

On their way out of the dungeon, they happened upon some Carrion Crawlers and then the Grinning Skull Orc Tribe.

Bottom line, this page allows for random encounters to happen automatically without any constraints on the players.  They just explore and as time passes, the random encounters happen.

An additional benefit I've just though of now would be to use what's happening on the unexplored levels as ideas for how the dungeon is evolving over time.

For example, The Grinning Skull Orcs appear once and Troglodytes appear three times during the expedition.  IF I WANTED to explain what might be happening on Level 1 during the time the adventurers were exploring, I might say that the Orcs and the Trogs had a confrontation.  Perhaps, even when the party was leaving the dungeon, the conflict might still have been raging.

Here's another pic:

Just an idea...