Grimoires of the Pact Insidious

Upon discovery, these will appear to be a very handsome set of blank Spellbooks, of the sort Magic-Users use to permanently record spells and research. Also known as The Key to Darkest Destiny, the set will number from 9 to 19, and vary in size and appearance. Each will have a locking clasp on the side, and they will come with a matching key. If Detect Magic is utilized, the books and key will radiate Alteration, Divination, Conjuration, and Summoning. If Identified, the caster may discover that the books are 90% resistant to Fire, Electricity, Cold, and Acid. Also, the key, which is attached to a gold chain, will grant a +1 bonus to all saves when worn around the neck, provided at least one spell has been entered into the books. The DM may rule that as a Cursed item, nothing else may be discovered. If preferred, more of the item’s properties may be discovered by making a Saving Throw vs. Magic, or, an ego check vs. a lvl 16 MU with the same stats as the character, but, adjusted for age at the DM’s discretion.

If the character opts to use the spellbooks, the following will occur. If the character is evil, there will be no further effect, there being no way for the item’s other properties to activate. If the MU is good or neutral, then, when next the MU gains a level, any unused slots in his Maximum Number of Spells bank will be filled and recorded in the book, up to and including those gained by his level increase. It will not be necessary to check his Chance to Know these spells, it will be as if the character already made the check (he did.) Furthermore, as long as he is using the book, he will always be able to Know the maximum number of spells possible. The spells which appear in the book (to be chosen by the DM) will contain some of the usual, popular choices, as well as some utility spells and one or two (more if many slots are available) of a dark, or evil nature. This phenomenon will occur whenever the MU gains a level. Furthermore, entries will begin appearing in the books, written in the Character’s hand, detailing and discussing various things related to magical research, including some of the darker aspects of the art.

At any time, the MU may rid himself of the books, by availing himself of Remove Curse and similar methods. If he does so, the spells known slots which were filled will be emptied, save for in any cases where the MU memorized the spell. All other phenomenon associated with the books will cease. Otherwise…
The second time the MU gains a level with the books in his possession, in addition to the other phenomenon, he will experience the following:

1. A higher percentage of evil spells will begin appearing. Necromancy, conjuration/summoning spells, bindings, etc. The research and notes appearing will take an even darker turn.

2. A strange Augury like experience will assail him up to once a day, wherein the MU will know the result of an action he could take. This will only be in cases where such an action would be advantageous.

3. The MU will begin sensing the presence of another consciousness when using the book. Once per week the MU may Commune with this other consciousness, per the spell. It will have the knowledge and experience of a 16th to 18th lvl MU. The other awareness will not answer any questions regarding its origin, identity, or the books. It will promise a great destiny, wealth and power, and give useful advice to this end. There is a 1% cumulative chance that instead of the normal Commune, the MU will suddenly be assailed by a feeling of dread, and a desire to destroy the Spellbooks; this feeling will seem to come from both himself and the other awareness, and the MU may make an Ego check vs. his own stats and level, with a 5% bonus added for each time the dreadful experience has previously occurred. If successful, the MU will instantly know the nature of the books and the awareness he has been communicating with.

After a third level has been gained, if the MU still has not rid himself of the item and has not changed his alignment to evil, he will find himself assailed by situation after situation, where acting in an evil fashion will produce very personally beneficial results. (He is being influenced at other than conscious levels and that it what is leading him into such situations.) If he is still trying to hold onto a good alignment, the situations will tend to be ones where “the ends justify the means,” could easily come into play. Images and Dreams of attaining great wealth and power will assail him constantly. Furthermore, the following will occur:

1. The new spells appearing will be of the sort a truly evil magician would prefer and choose. The notes will begin giving formulae for Lichdom, true names of demons, and similar details.

2. The Augury sensation will continue, but it will only suggest and show forth results of decidedly evil actions, unless the MU has become evil, in which case, the augury will function as above.

If the MU still retains the books, this phenomenon will continue until he reaches 12th level. At this point, he is stuck with the spells known, regardless of what he does with the books. He will also gain enough experience with magic-use, and the other awareness, to realize what has happened. The other awareness is an evil variant of himself, a consciousness whose origin lies in a parallel dimension, one possible version of the MU amongst many. He has slowly been becoming this version of himself (if he still has the books at this point, he’s going to be doing some nasty things with the spells in his head.) The auguries will still be useful, the commune less so, as he now has much of the knowledge and experience his future self was sharing. The process will continue until the MU reaches 16th level, at which point it will cease, as he has attained his destiny and become that evil manifestation of himself. He will learn spells as normal; the spellbooks will still retain their resistance and the key will still provide the +1 bonus to saves.

Character Creation II – By the Book

It’s been a long time since I looked at the character creation rules in the AD&D DMG. There are, therein, 4 methods given for rolling ability scores. UA gave us method V, for human characters only; once again, demi-humans get shafted. The UA method is designed to let you play any character you want, and will produce uber characters. I’m not offering what follows as any truly scientific investigation, it is, rather, meant to be merely suggestive.

Method 1 – 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange to order.

1) 13, 11, 13, 11, 12, 13.   2) 12, 15, 13, 14, 16, 12.   3) 13, 12, 14, 14, 17, 13.

4) 11, 17, 15, 12, 12, 15.   5) 10, 12, 8, 10, 12, 11.   6) 13, 15, 17, 10, 16, 12.

9 out of 36 rolls produced a bonus. No penalty generating scores.

Method II – Roll 3d6 12 times, take the best 6 and arrange as desired.

1) 8, 14, 13, 10, 11,13, 10, 9, 11, 9, 14, 6. Best: 14, 14, 13, 13, 11, 11.

2) 11, 11, 9, 11, 17, 14, 7, 9, 13, 8, 12, 6. Best: 17, 13, 14, 12, 11, 11.

3) 10, 9, 12, 9, 14, 13, 11, 6, 7, 10, 11, 8.  Best: 14, 13, 12, 11, 11, 10.

4) 10, 10, 15, 15, 13, 11, 9, 14, 12, 13, 14, 14. Best.: 15, 15, 14, 14, 14, 13.

Two of the four received some kind of Ability score bonus. Most abilities turned out to be high average, but, only 3 rolls out of 48 were high enough to qualify for a bonus (3 out of 24 of the “chosen” rolls.) None of the chosen rolls from Method II was deleterious.

Method III – Rolls are recorded in order, but, roll 3d6 6 times for each ability. Hmm.

1) S: 15 I: 15 W: 16 D: 16 C: 14 Ch: 15

2) S: 11 I: 14 W: 17 D: 13 C: 13 Ch: 17

3) S: 13 I: 14 W: 18 D: 16  C: 17 Ch: 15

4) S: 14 I: 13 W: 13 D: 14 C: 14 Ch:12

Looks like this method can produce some very nice stats indeed! 10 out of 24 stat rolls produced a bonus.  No penalties. Sweet!

Method IV – 3d6 in order for 12 characters. Take the best one.

1) 9, 7, 9, 13, 8, 15.     2) 9, 9, 14, 9, 16, 16.    3) 9, 11, 5, 12, 7, 6.

4) 14, 15, 13, 12, 18, 10.   5) 12, 15, 13, 8, 15, 15.   6) 7, 13, 13, 6, 14, 11.

7) 11, 13, 12, 6, 9, 15.   8)  13, 7, 11, 11, 12, 6.   9) 8, 15, 12, 10, 12, 12.

10) 13, 18, 16, 15, 14, 11.   11) 9, 12, 8, 4, 7, 6.  12) 11, 8, 9, 11, 10, 14.

Set Taken: S: 13  I: 18  W: 16  D: 15 C: 14  Ch: 11

Hmm. I was only going to do this method once, but, the results were interesting enough that I’m going to make one more set.

1) 10, 16, 10, 16, 10,  15.   2) 7, 9, 5, 11, 11, 16.  3) 14, 10, 11, 12, 8, 12.

4) 9, 14, 11, 9, 12, 9.   5) 10, 15, 14, 16, 10, 10.  6) 11, 14, 14, 8, 14, 10.

7) 12, 10, 13, 12, 13, 11.   8) 7, 12, 9, 11, 13, 9.  9) 10, 8, 8, 5, 6, 9.

10) 13, 15, 10, 10, 7, 10.   11) 14, 11, 8, 9, 13, 13.   12) 13, 13, 10, 10, 14, 9.

Set Taken: S: 10  I: 16, W: 10 D: 16  C: 10  Ch: 15

With this method, only 20 out of 144 individual rolls qualified for a bonus, but, 6 of the 12 scores chosen for use were high enough to give the character a bonus. Again, no penalties. A slightly higher potential for bonuses than Method III, but the non-bonus producing stats tended to be lower. All in all, this method produced better stats than I expected.

Just for the sake of completeness, I’ll roll 1 Fighter using Method V from the UA.

S: 16 I: 17 W: 13 D: 13 C: 15 Ch: 16

The Strength roll here was unlucky, 9d6 will usually generate a 17 or 18. 3d6 for Int., but again, we have another atypical result.

I think we can see why Method I is so popular. No uber characters, usually a bonus or two, not much chance for a penalty producing roll. (None of the “Final Stat” sets had a penalty, in any of these methods.) Also, you can arrange your rolls so as to be able to play any of the basic classes you want. Method III will probably allow you to do the same thing, simply because stats tend toward high average or better; you also stand a good chance of qualifying for one of the “special” classes.

Method IV would be good if you wanted to produce some very strong characters who still had about half their stats in the average range. The method explored in yesterday's post produced a set of stats that approached Method IV results, but weren’t as high. Both methods have the disadvantage that the player’s options are limited. If the player being able to choose what class he wants to play is a consideration at all, then Methods I or III would be the way to go.

Character Creation - Let's Crunch Some Numbers

4d6, dropped the lowest, arranged in the order rolled. The player may re-roll one stat, keeping whichever result is wanted.

Let's do ten of these (I was only going to do five, but I was having fun and decided half way through that further research was a good idea.) Not enough for a truly scientific study of the method, but, it might serve to give us a general idea of how it might go. We'll also have the results of the initial "arranged to order" rolls, and can play with 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange to taste, if we so wish. I'll be observing and commenting on the results based upon the AD&D PH, leaving UA info alone for now.

(My original gaming group had a long-standing superstition that you should only use d6's with pips for character creation. Never use a die with actual numbers. I've perpetuated this superstition over the years, because it amuses me to do so. We really did notice some very bad results using all numbered dice, but, I place no scientific reliance upon those observations. For the record, I am using three dice with pips, and one with numbers.)

1)  S:  9  I: 16  W: 8  D: 11  C: 18  Ch: 14        
Some nice initial stats, all in all. With both strength and wisdom low, there's no chance for a Monk, or Ranger. MU or elven F/MU looks pretty good. Let's Re-roll strength. S: Re-roll - 16.

2)  S:  14  I: 13  W: 10  D: 14  C: 13 Ch: 14
Hm. No bonuses, here. Decent stats, though. It's rolls like this that drive players to play demi-humans. Let's re-roll wisdom, just to see what happens. W: Re-roll -  12.

3)  S:  11  I: 11 W: 14  D: 11 C: 12 Ch: 12              
(It has just become necessary to make a ruling on the fate of dropped dice. For the purposes of this experiment, dice dropped on the floor will be re-rolled.)
So far, this method seems to make things harder on our poor players, when compared to 4d6, drop the lowest, and arranged to plan. Let's re-roll Intelligence. I: Re-roll - 13.

4)  S: 7   I: 15  W: 16  D: 14 C: 9  Ch: 16
Let's see, we qualify for Druid. Let's re-roll Strength. S: Re-roll - 9.

5)  S: 13   I: 16  W: 15  D: 10  C: 17  Ch: 16                  
Very nice! We qualify for one of the PH "Special" classes, the Ranger. Hm.. Dex or Strength? S: Re-roll - 12.

6)  S: 15  I: 17  W: 12  D: 8  C: 15  Ch: 8                    
MU or F/MU. Let's roll Dex over. D: Re-roll - 9.

7)  S: 11   I: 9  W: 13  D: 17  C: 11  Ch: 11                    
We might as well issue him some Leather Armor and write "I Steal Shit," at the top of the character sheet.
S: Re-roll - 8.

8)  S:  12  I: 15  W: 13  D: 14  C: 15  Ch: 13                        
 Ooh, we qualify for Assassin! S: Re-roll - 13.
                        
9)  S:  12  I: 8  W: 14  D: 12  C: 9  Ch: 12
What to do with this guy? W: Re-roll - 16. Cleric, it is.

10)  S:  14  I: 16  W: 14  D: 12  C: 12  Ch: 13                            
Let's re-roll Charisma. We might qualify for Paladin or Druid. These are some  nice stats, regardless; there are several good possibilities, here. Ch: Re-roll - 15. Hey, we can be a Druid!

There were several instances of the re-roll making a minor difference, a few times it was truly helpful. If we had five players, and assigned the first five rolls to them, our party might look like this:

1. S: 16  I: 16 W: 8 D: 12 C: 17 Ch:14          Elven F/MU.

2. S: 14  I: 13 W: 12  D: 15  C: 12  Ch: 14    Elven MU/T  (Yes, we're being a little min/maxy, but "arrange as rolled" IS a bit restrictive.)

3.  S: 11  I: 13  W: 14  D: 11  C: 12  Ch: 12   Human Cleric.

4. S: 9  I: 15 W: 16  D: 14  C: 9  Ch: 16         Human Druid.

5. S: 13  I: 15  W: 16  D: 10  C: 17  Ch: 16   Human Ranger.

Hmm. Two Fighters, two MU's, a Thief, a Cleric and a Druid. The party actually turned out nicely.

On a final note, the numbered die performed no differently than the pip dice; but, it's possible that the "bad luck" would only manifest if all or mostly numbered dice were used.

DM Angst & Munchkinism

For the past couple of years, I’ve been occasionally perusing the Wotc forums. This started right before 4e was announced, so I had the joy of witnessing the written cacophony that was the so called “Edition Wars.” A few months ago, when Wotc started a new social networking site and incorporated their forums therein, I signed back up and became a bit more active, posting in discussions, making some friends and after a month or so, I started a blog on the site. Fortunately, someone pointed out a clause in the Wotc Community Tos which I had overlooked (I probably just glossed over it; when I signed back up, I was only looking for access to the Forums). Said clause gives them pretty much carte blanche to do whatever they damned well please with anything you post to any part of their site. Not only that, it reads like they don’t even have to credit the original author.  So, I promptly removed the blog I had started and opened up shop here on Blogger.

I’m glad I did. I’ve met some nice people here as well and I had no idea that there was this great, creative, treasure-chest of sites, filled with the work and ideas of so many talented people.

While reading and participating in the Wotc forums, I kept noticing an anti-DM sentiment popping up in discussion after discussion. Thread after thread would turn in that direction, to the point that I began asking myself what in the world was going on?

There were constant complaints about bad DM’s, constant bitching about DM fiat, calls to throw “Rule 0” out of the game, and serious discussions about getting rid of DM’s completely. Getting rid of DM’s…

Some of the complaints are legitimate. A lot of DM’s who post their campaign ideas describe Railroads, from beginning, to middle, to end. It’s usually an “Epic” story, with a BBEG, and enough related stuff in the middle to get the Players to the “Final Confrontation.” With game designers from major companies pushing this  approach and setting this kind of example with their products, it’s no surprise that many DM’s use the Railroad as a template for their games.

A recent discussion on the Wotc forums concerning DMPC’s comes to mind. I always thought a DMPC was when a DM ran his own PC with the group, a practice usually frowned upon by experienced gamers. Also, I connect the term with “Pet NPC’s,” pretty much the same idea and used by DM’s who want to control their players or are under the delusion that the PC’s need an uber-powerful authority figure to order them around, rescue them when necessary, and steal the spotlight at every opportunity.

An NPC party member is a completely different animal. They get half xp, never outshine the party, and, in my games, often wear a red shirt, though ,sometimes it’s hidden under their armor. I dislike running them myself, but have on occasion, usually when no one would play a Cleric. Not always a problem, but often enough that I started using the Healer NPC Class published in Dragon Magazine, to send along with PC’s. I’ve never regarded such a NPC as being different from any other NPC the players might run into.

In the discussion I mentioned above, the participants made no distinction between DMPC’s and NPC’s. I tried to make the distinction, and was ignored. They’re ALL DMPC’s they’re ALL bad, they’re ALL DM’s srewing the players. Always! 

My gaming circles have been pretty insular over the decades. Back in the day, we knew what a munchkin was, though we didn’t have a name for them. We did, on occasion, see examples of Railroading in other gaming groups we encountered. No one had to tell us that it was a shitty way to DM. Of course, no one had to tell us how to treat each other with consideration, behave like the friends we were, and not try to “win” the game, either.

So, are there just That Many bad DM’s out there, ruining the game for players who can’t find anyone else to run a game and are so dead set against doing it themselves?

Or, is this some weird, extreme form of Munchkinism? Are some people just mad that the DM is “more powerful,” and do they think they should be able to “beat the DM?”

Starting a New Map; Also, a Few Odds & Ends

I decided to create a new world for my upcoming AD&D campaign. Not sure of much, yet. I doodled out a map outline and decided to see what I would do with the thing.

It turned out kind of strange, but, I  scanned it and loaded it into Gimp. If you haven’t tried your hand at digital mapmaking and are interested in doing so, graphic editing programs are an excellent way to go. You can spend several hundred dollars on Adobe Photoshop, or, download Gimp - Gnu Image Manipulation Program. It’s free and awesome. You might also want to check out The Cartographer's Guild, a forum for fantasy cartography enthusiasts. The people are friendly, helpful and there are several tutorials to get you started. Some of the Guild mapmakers produce work that puts to shame a lot of what you see in professionally done RPG supplements (like the butt-ugly Forgotten Realms 3.0 map.) This is only my second map using Gimp, but, I’ve already learned quite a bit and I’m looking forward to tackling a city map in the near future.

Here’s a low res copy of what I’ve gotten done so far:

I need to play with the water layer a bit more. It’s a little too busy.

Other than that, I’ve added a few more links. Speaking of which, other than the excellent Candlekeep and the Forgotten Realms Wiki, I can’t find any decent Forgotten Realms sites. If you know of any quality FR links, let me know.

Speaking of sites worth visiting, if you haven’t checked out Planet Algol, you’re missing a treat!

Counter Revolution – Part II

So, I decided last week to run AD&D for my next campaign. I was tempted to go really Old School and run Swords & Wizardry, but, if I took that route, it wouldn’t be  so simple. There’s a lot of great material being produced by fans, not to mention the stuff they want $$$ for. Like this, for instance: Thief. This is from Beyond the Black Gate, one of my favorite blogs. Anyway, between what I’ve found on the net and the changes and additions I would make myself, I’m afraid it would end up looking a lot like, well, AD&D.

I could be ruthless and run the White Box version. But that one saving throw thing bothers me. Also, I understand the idea behind the max +1/-1 adjustment, it just doesn’t sit well with my sensibilities. I could get behind a +1 for 13 – 15 / +2 for 16 – 18 mechanic. But, if I go that far, well, I like the Thief, the Druid, and away we go, right back to AD&D. Or, at least, B/X. So, AD&D it is!

Now I just have to decide what campaign world to use. My original Kastmaria campaign ran for about five years. This was back when I was in my late teens to early twenties and had a lot more free time, as did my friends. So, for about the first three of those years, we would play two to three times a week, often for six to eight hours at a time; there was  closer to eight years or more worth of actual  playing time. Not only did I get to experience the fun of running a high level AD&D campaign, I also got to see my sandbox flesh out, transforming into a rich world, with history and depth. After that campaign, I ran another Kastmaria game that lasted about a year or so. Then, I shelved the world and went on to other places. Until 3e, and Sorcerers.

At the end of the first campaign, a long term plan set in motion by Ithquaris, the divinity of Magic, came to fruition. The purpose was to increase the capacity for magic-use in the inhabitants of the world, creating beings with inborn magical ability. Sorcerers. When 3e came out, with the Sorcerer Class, I decided it was time to dust of my old notebooks and update the campaign to the new edition. The timeline was set several hundred years after the last campaign ended and The Gift of Ithquaris had a profound effect on the subsequent history of the world. There were still fewer Sorcerers than Wizards, but, their numbers were increasing. As were the number of other creatures who were manifesting spontaneous magical abilities. Then there were the Bards. Here’s the entry from the Kastmaria Encyclopedia – 3e edition:

Bards – Centuries ago, the isle of Aldhuine hosted several Bardic Colleges, which were tightly allied with the Druids of Aldhuine. After The Dragon was transformed, the druids withdrew their support and banished the bards, along with almost all humans and demi-humans who weren’t true druids. Only the Wood Elves were allowed to continue living in their ancestral forests. The bards wandered Kastmaria, occasionally taking apprentices, but without a central college and staff of instructors, the quality of the new bards began to deteriorate. As the bardic lineages were at the point of disappearing, a few of the inheritors of The Gift of Ithquaris began to take an interest in Bardic Lore. They discovered that their talent for sorcery was a perfect medium to express the musical power of the bards and several young sorcerers began seeking out the few remaining bards of old, to learn their music and lore. Today, bards are still relatively rare, but there is a thriving modern tradition, composed of semi-secret brotherhoods of sorcerous musicians who pass their occult lore onto others with the talent and inclination to learn the ways of this ancient tradition reborn.

All tying very neatly into the 3e mechanics.

The whole Gift of Ithquaris thing actually runs so far back into the history of the campaign, that unless I want to create an AD&D Sorcerer class, which I don’t, it’ll be quite a headache. Back in the day, I experimented with creating a spell point system. I’m over that; I like Vancian casting. So, if I don’t want to create an AD&D sorcerer, my options are limited.

I can reboot the whole thing, jettisoning a lot of play and pre-play campaign history. As an aside, I wish that Wotc, if they just had to “fix” the Forgotten Realms, would have done a reboot. A better option than yet another edition changing apocalypse, not to mention offing Mystra and neutering Elminster.

Another option would be psionics. There’s a variant Psionicist class for AD&D that   was published in Dragon Magazine; also, I think the same issue had some ideas on making psionics a variant of magic. There’s a variant  Bard in the Dragon as well. The original campaign didn’t feature psionics, so, using the material from Dragon, and letting any other characters role for psionics, as usual, might allow me to continue with the original history.

If I go the reboot route, it would have to be so far reaching, that I think I would rather just create a new world. Or, run Greyhawk. Never ran Greyhawk.

Follow up to The Sign of the Blue Dragon, with some musings on Megadungeons

I wanted to post some more information concerning yesterday’s post, The Sign of The Blue Dragon: A Drop In Locale For Your D&D Campaign.

If Sascha and Father Lucas had been able to spend some more time deciphering the various writings on the walls of the Tavern, they might, at the DM’s discretion, have discovered some of the following:

1. The Tavern shifts through time, as well as dimensions.

2. The actual number of Prime worlds the Tavern visits is smaller than the chronicler whose words they were reading, thought. This is due to the Tavern visiting some worlds at different points in time. The true number is closer to 50. 

3. They didn’t get to the actual description of the dungeon level which the anonymous wizard explored. It was composed of a buried city, as if the buildings and infrastructure of the city had melded with a very large, crafted dungeon.  It was inhabited by demons, as well as a few other evil, outer planar beings. (The little map which was placed in the illustration is not an actual depiction of the dungeon level; it is an easter egg.)

4. There are a few adventurers who have figured out enough about the route the Tavern travels, that they sometimes brave using it on a regular basis. It is these parties who are responsible for keeping the place stocked with alcohol.

Originally, my idea of the genesis of the Tavern involved a failed attempt at creating a series of gates. I was never quite happy with that conception, but, as no party had ever dared remain inside for any length of time, I never had an impetus to revisit the idea, or develop the Tavern further. After reading Philotomy’s essay, The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld, I had a few other ideas.

The Tavern began its strange journey, when a group of adventurers stopped a Demon Lord from drawing several Prime Worlds into its layer of the Abyss. The Tavern was originally located at a point of entry of Abyssal Energies into one of these worlds. Through the use of Wishes, and similar magics, the heroes created a convergence of these points of entry, using the Tavern to tie them together and create a sort of  inter-dimensional plug, or lock, stopping the transformation process and ending the Demon Lord’s plans. Though they were mostly successful, the only way the heroes could find to bring their plan to fruition, was to sacrifice the world from which the Tavern came. The Tavern was sort of a Trojan Horse in this regard and when the Abyss swallowed that forgotten world, the magics built into the Tavern went into effect. Now, as an unforseen byproduct of the spells used to empower the Tavern, it constantly Plane Shifts to the various nexus points which form the connections between the Abyss and the worlds involved in the original conflict. This includes the world from which the Tavern originated, which is now a part of a vast dungeon inside one of the layers of the Abyss. Or, perhaps, this layer is really just one big Dungeon.

Several days ago, I read a blog post where someone mentioned the idea of The Mythic Underworld Dungeon spreading its tendrils throughout the Prime Material. Not sure who that was, so, if anyone reading knows, please drop me a comment so I can attribute and link.  Could this layer of the Abyss be the Ur-Dungeon? Or, perhaps, the as yet unnamed Abyssal Layer may be just a part of The Dungeon, which runs through all the evil aligned Outer Planes. Perhaps it is a demi-plane, burrowing its way into the various underworlds, as well as the Inner Planes.  If so, what dark god or fell power might be behind such an influential force?

Going back to the Tavern, there is a slightly different version of this locale that I have used in past campaigns. This is The Sign of the Angry Dwarf, which, in addition to the properties of the first version, also confers Protection From Evil upon anyone inside the Tavern.  I’m not sure if the two taverns are the same, but the latter version is sometimes frequented by a Dual-Class Thief 4/MU 2 named Giovanni Casanova, who may know the secret to controlling, or at least guiding, the Tavern’s journey.

Any comments, critiques or ideas furthering this material are most heartily welcome!

The Sign of the Blue Dragon: A Drop-in Locale For Your D&D Campaign.

Adapted from the diary of Sir Alexian Balthafore, Warlord of Triested, Knight of Metrane.
Entry dated the first week of the month of Delgor's Victory, 1357 A.R.

My companions and I were traveling west along the King’s Road, in Eitar; our destination being Tusk Tavern, the famous roadside Inn located three days travel east of the capital.  I had never been this far south before, but The Elf assured me that we were still a little over a day away from the comforts of the Tavern, so, I resigned myself to yet another night of sleeping beneath starry wonder. Balston, growing ever more freakish and inappropriately jovial since the Incident in the lair of the Duergar, was laughing uproariously at something Sascha had said, while The Elf and I were busily engaged in arguing over exactly where The Battle of Tusk Tavern had taken place. (About half a mile south of the actual tavern, or so I’ve been told.) So, it was the always quiet priest, Lucas, who first noticed the strange alehouse.

“Surely, we’re not here already,” he said, pointing to the building and sign-pole which had just become visible, as we rounded a bend in the well kept road which ran through the light woodlands like a quiet stream.

“That is not Tusk Tavern,” The Elf said, a touch of disquietude evident in his voice.

“No matter,” Sascha sighed, wiping some mud from the hem of her wizard’s robes. “As long as it’s warm and dry, we’ll settle for this place, for the nonce.”

No doubt, she and the dwarf would settle just fine. Balston could care less about who we were meeting at Tusk Tavern. Now that he had The Axe, I’m sure he was quite content to let me handle the more mundane tasks, like securing our allies and placing him upon the Dwarven Throne. Still, there was certainly no reason to turn down a little comfort, especially if the place had beds.

As we approached the building, the bend in the road leading us around to the clearing where the tavern squatted, like some great stone toad, I was duly impressed by the size of the place. Sixty to seventy feet in length, at least half that in width, single storied, with an old iron pole, standing out in front, from which hung a wooden placard, dark red in color, sporting an ophidian-like blue dragon with outspread wings. The building looked ancient, like ruins that hadn’t yet realized that they should begin to crumble.

“This place should not be here,” The Elf scolded.

“No, Tillian,” Balston patiently explained, “It should! I need a beer, so it definitely Should be here!”

Sascha laughed at her lover’s joke, and I wondered for the tenth time, whether or not her acceptance of the change in Balston’s behavior was genuine, or a sham, so that her dwarven lover might feel too self conscience to continue upbraiding her for her own dangerous toys.

I had to laugh at myself here. Balston was far too hot-headed to let a little hypocrisy interfere with his futile attempts to keep Sascha’s growing powers in check; also, no doubt, the brilliant wizardess had more effective ways of manipulating her stupid little ...

Gods, I’ve been traveling with these people way, way, too long.

We tethered our mounts, and I walked up the little path to the entrance of the building.

As I opened the grey wooden door which gave entrance to the tavern, my mind was pre-occupied with all these thoughts and more. I heard sounds of movement coming from inside the tavern, but that was hardly surprising. I opened the door, and saw four orcs; two behind the bar, one standing beside the fireplace which was far to the left, the other about twenty feet away, directly in front  of my current position.

“Orcs!”

I was already moving as I warned my companions, but not straight ahead. The orc who was hiding behind the opened door on my right had been betrayed by his smell, not to mention the sound of his obnoxious, tusk-mouthed breathing. I trusted my companions to watch my back as I whirled to the right and drew forth my sword, its dweomer-enhanced brilliance flashing in the darkened room, the sigils etched in the steel burning a yellowish-red; those sigils spat fire as I caught the sword of my attacker on my magically tempered blade, noticing at the same time, that this was the largest orc I had ever seen. I exerted my strength and drove his weapon upward, my prodigious speed and might granting me the time to force him back into the wall and drive my knee into his groin before he could counter. His strength left him and he dropped his weapon in agony and surprise; I sliced open his neck before his sword hit the ground.

Whirling around, I saw Balston, The Axe screaming in his hands, dispatch an orc with a single sideways blow, half slicing, half ripping the humanoid in half. I swear to Metrane, he giggled; I also noticed, for the first time, his eyes turn yellow. Sascha killed the last, using the little blue missiles I first saw her cast years ago, when she was just a young neophyte, new to the business of dealing death. I knew, of course that her serene, focused demeanor was just the action of her magical trance, but, I swear, if I wasn’t immune to fear, I think the sight of her so calmly engaged in the business of slaughter would scare me silly.

“Ha! By Kuekar that was fun! Just what I needed to build my thirst! Now, to slake it!”


“No doubt, the poor proprietor was slain by the orcs,” Sascha reasoned, following Balston to the bar. The dwarven warrior found a keg of something potable and began his quaffing.

“Mmm, not bad. Tastes kinda like that smooth, honey ale the gnomes brew, over in Nagan. Let me find ya a glass babe,” Balston exclaimed, slapping the wizardess’ behind as he moved past her to hunt under the bar for a cup.

It was then, that I and the others began to look around, deciding to pay attention to what the backs of our minds had registered while we were busy dealing with orcs and the rush of battle.

The walls were covered in writing. I mean, covered. In several different languages, using several different alphabets, and written by several different hands. Some of it looked more like math. None of the writing even resembled the languages with which I was familiar. I also noticed the large map, drawn upon a sheet of thin wood, which lay upon the floor of the tavern, near the bar. It was about six feet long, five feet wide, and depicted a dungeon, of all things, neatly painted, with all the familiar symbols and notes.

“Something is very wrong here,” The Elf complained.

“Yes, Tillian” Lucas reasoned, “But exactly what is that something? Other than the fact, that there are no orcs, this far south?”

“Sascha, can you read any of this?” I asked.

“Give me a moment to prepare.”

“Hey,” Balston said, ale dripping from his beard. “What’s with the map?”

While Sascha readied herself, we began looking around. The building was 55’ x 70’. Few items of interest were in the common area, though we did find a Scroll of Dispel Magic, laying amidst an odd assortment of more mundane items. Also a helm, which wasn’t magical, but was exceptionally well made. Inks, pens, an artist’s palette, chalk, and a few more unrecognizable writing utensils were present. The head of a young, Blue Dragon was mounted and hung on the wall. A small kitchen area was in the back, as well as a storage room with a trapdoor, which led to a small basement, containing wine, kegs of ale, a bed, a stack of books, and a small alter to an unknown divinity. We took the books, though we could not yet translate them. The alter was a simple affair of wood and cloth; the holy symbol was a simple geometrical shape, black with a white circle for the background.

 
“Alexian, get up here!”

The Damn Elf, again. We ascended the stairs. The Elf was fretting, and pacing about, while Sascha and Lucas were conferring with each other, discussing the various notes and scribbles which adorned the stone walls of the tavern.

“No, Lucas, see here? The wizard who wrote this was convinced that there was a larger pattern. That’s why he took a chance and left the tavern long enough to explore a level of the dungeon and make that map! It all comes back to the dungeon, somehow.”

“Dungeon? What Dungeon?”

“The map on the floor Balston,” Sascha said, pointing to the map and smiling at me from across the room.”

“Still,” Lucas said, in that stern, serious way of his, “We should probably be leaving right about now.”

“You guys want to explain all this?”

“The tavern travels between worlds, Alexian. It shifts, in some sort of weird pattern. According to the notes those people left behind, there’s at least 80 or 90 different places the tavern shifts to, remaining in any given location for a variable amount of time, usually somewhere between one to two days.”

“But not always, Sascha,” Lucas said. “Sometimes it shifts after only a few hours, sometimes it might remain in a single location for a week or more. None of this information is certain enough to bet on. We should leave, now.”

Sascha was ignoring the cleric, explaining to Balston how the dungeon tied in and that at every fifth stop, like clockwork, the tavern went back to the dungeon.

“Well,” said Balston, a smile upon his lips, “Looks like it’s time for another dungeon adventure!”

“No! We’re leaving now! We’re too damn close to go and throw everything away just because you want to go on an adventure!”

“Lighten up Alexian, we’ve got a little time. We’ll catch up with the Corswedan ambassador later. They need us more than we need them! This’ll be fun. I need a vacation, anyway.”

For about the hundredth time, I wondered at my insanity, for helping this insane little murderer try to usurp the throne of Korocia. The fact was, I needed him. I needed him to succeed. I needed Korocia to unite and enter the war on our side.

“No Balston, we’re going now! We’re going to Tusk Tavern, we’re going to meet the Ambassador from Corswede, we’re going to convince the elves to back us up magically and help us neutralize the Arcanists, and we’re going back to Korocia, so you can show off that Damn Axe, and let Kuekar order all his priests to back you against anyone who actually has a legitimate claim to Korocia’s throne, and we’re damn well doing so right now!”

Balston looked at me, I saw his grip tighten upon The Axe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw The Elf back away, readying a spell. I heard Lucas behind me; he would try to help me, so long as I was still playing ball. If he thought I might actually kill Balston, he would try to immolate me in fire, or Plane Shift me to the Abyss; whatever it took to make sure Balston lived to fulfill Kuekar’s plan. Sascha, well, that was obvious. But, as I saw Balston’s eyes beginning to turn yellow, and his hair begin to turn white (wondering, at the time, what in the hell that could mean,) it was Sascha who came to my aid.

She began stroking the dangerous dwarf, whispering in his ear, caressing his neck and hands. I noticed it was working, he was beginning to calm down. With a motion of her eyes, she told me and the others to leave the tavern. We exited calmly, walking some way down the road, before stopping to wait for the rest of our party.
A few minutes later, Sascha and Balston came out, laughing and playing.

“Come on, Cavalier,” Balston exclaimed, a keg of ale under each arm. “These won’t last long, so let’s high forth and get to your precious Tusk Tavern!”

We left, but as it was getting late, we made camp a few miles down the road.

I couldn’t sleep. I mounted my horse, and rode back toward what I now thought of as The Sign of the Blue Dragon.

Sure enough, it was gone. It was then, that I admitted to myself, that part of me wanted to follow Balston on his mad adventure. Just say to hell with the war, with Triested, with Metrane. Fuck Pharj Mudast, let someone else kill his sorry ass! Let the dwarves fight their little civil war, while Rearkron waxed strong and readied to invade Korocia.

I knew I never would, of course. I was the last Knight of Metrane. I had my duty, my god, and my friends. I didn’t fight through hell and death, just to turn back when things got sticky. But, I understand how Balston must have really felt, that all the politics was sucking the life out of what we did. Whatever happened to those days, when we would find a dungeon to invade, for the wealth, the glory, and the sheer hell of it?

*Tavern Placard made with Gimp. Tavern maps made with Dungeon Crafter III.

With affection, this is dedicated to the original players of the Kastmaria Campaign.

A Dungeon Room Description

I posted this in a Forum earlier, and decided to repost it here for convenience.

The Grand Hall measures 30' x 60'. Ancient, faded murals adorn the walls; tables, couches, and other items of dilapidated furniture are strewn and tumbled carelessly about the floor. A stone alter, 3' x 7' rests in the center of the room. Small trenches are cut into the stone, leading to 6 small, golden cups, attached to the sides. Grime and filth smear the alter; no doubt, some of the stains are from ancient blood. A rotted tapestry at the far end has enough holes to reveal a wooden door.

DM: Make a listen check.

Success: You suddenly hear a loud snatch of laughter, over to your right. You feel a strange, tugging sensation in your mind, like being sucked into a whirlpool.

DM: Make a will save, please.

Failed will save: Make a spot check, please.

Successful Spot: Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a glimpse of a brightly lit room, filled with humans and demonic creatures. You feel the same whirlpool sensation, this time much stronger.
(Successful Character must make another will save.)

Failure: Suddenly, you find yourself surrounded by Succubi, Glabrezu and other demonic beings. They are cavorting (or toying) with several humans in the room, which is now brightly lit by braziers and torches set in sconces on the walls. A fresh corpse lies upon the alter; they do not seem to be aware of your presence. The furniture is, of course, intact and quite serviceable. The strange sensation in your mind is now quite strong.

DM: Make a will save please.

Upon failure, the character has been completely transported back in time, where the Demonic Cultists are holding a revel in their stronghold and are now quite aware of the PC(s).

The process may be stopped if the character leaves the room, though, at what point it is too late is up to the DM. If the character makes a save, the process is halted, but will begin again 1d4 minutes later. If a player who is hearing or seeing these intrusions from the past attempts to describe what he is experiencing to the other characters, or otherwise draw their attention to what is happening, his companions may be given a +2 bonus to their skill checks.

Urth - Or, When Good Campaigns Go Awry.

Several years ago, my group was taking a break from our ongoing campaign and I needed to come up with an interim game to run for a few months. I had always wanted to homebrew an alternate medieval Earth setting, and decided that this was my opportunity to do so. The basic idea was that an inter-dimensional cataclysmic event dumped the contents of the Monster Manual into our corner of the Multiverse, while simultaneously altering the laws of our dimension, etc., etc.; you get the idea.


I set the campaign several hundred years after the initial transformation of Earth into a D&D world, altered the subsequent history, returned some of the pagan gods, and started the Reformation a few hundred years early. Which brought up an interesting issue.

Would my gamers have a problem with Catholic Priests, Jewish Cabalists, Greek Orthodox Paladins, Honest To God Templars, Satan Worshippers, Witches, and the whole panoply of medieval religious figures and institutions transformed into game terms and rubbing elbows with the contents of the Deities & Demigods Manual? We discussed the issue, and everyone was not only fine with the idea, but seemed excited. My good friend (whom I will here refer to as Sir Fred) Sir Fred wanted to play a Paladin! I couldn't ask for a better reception to my plan. So, a Paladin of Jesus Christ, a Psion, a Half-Orc Barbarian, and a Bard found themselves in the midst of a battlefield in Poland, on July 1, 1300 A.D., and the Urth campaign began (I often like to start campaigns in the middle of a battle. For those who get the reference, no, I didn't start my first campaign in a tavern; I might, one day, start a campaign in the middle of a battle in a tavern.)

For four or five sessions, things went very well. After fighting bugbears, agreeing to aid a dwarven Templar discover the provenance of a strange ring, defeating an ogre bandit and his henchmen, running afoul of a mad nobleman and undergoing a few more trials and tribulations, the party found themselves in Bohemia, attacking the camp of some orc slavers. With the battle won, they set about looting and discovered a statue made of gold, about 2 feet in height, which just happened to look a lot like typical images of Satan. Apparently, the orcs were Satan worshippers and, wouldn’t you know it, the statue tested positive for Magic! And, this is where things blew up!

Sir Fred is a good friend, a good role-player, a great guy to talk to, but, he has a problem. On occasion, Sir Fred gets a little too wrapped up in a game, and behaves like an ass! Any game. Cards, Monopoly, whatever. D&D was no exception. Usually, it’s merely an annoyance; he gets pissed, then, after a few minutes, he’s ok. Normally, I wouldn’t put up with this sort of thing at all, especially at a D&D table, but, like I said, he’s a good friend, and usually it’s not a big deal. This time, it was a big deal.

The half-orc barbarian, Gardak, wanted the statue. Hey, he wasn’t a Christian and was only concerned with the fact that it was golden AND magical. Sir Roland (Sir Fred’s character, a Paladin serving Jesus Christ) wanted to destroy the statue, immediately! They began arguing, and after a half a minute, I realized that Sir Fred was getting angry. Really angry.

I should have called a halt to the game; not sure if it would have helped at that point. Usually, after a few minutes, Sir Fred would calm down. This time, he went ballistic, said some ugly things, and stormed out. He quit playing with us for a while, after that. The episode soured the group on the campaign, so, next session we moved on to something else.

Sir Fred eventually came back to our gaming table; there were no more incidents and we put the whole thing behind us. Still, I had some great ideas for the Urth campaign and would like to run another game there, someday.

Conan, Robert E. Howard, and the Hyborian Age

For the past couple of years I've been focusing on building up my Conan collection. I know, I know, a lot of the Tor Pastiche's suck, but some of them are fun and I've only got about 10 or so more to go to complete the series. I read the de Camp & Carter Conan compilations during my teenage years, but when I picked up the Del Rey Omnibus editions, I was able to enjoy Howard sans editorial interference. 


I remembered little of what I had read in the de Camp series over 25 years ago and was mildly surprised to discover that every time Conan went up against a powerful Sorcerer, he had help. Another Wizard or Priest would take out the evil Magician, while Conan dealt with the more mundane foes, or, they would give Conan some magic item to enable him to prevail (this surely won't please the 4e proponents of Character Class Balance.) 


I love Howard's writing, though I do find the whole "Virtuous Barbarian's Superiority to Decadent Civilized Men" philosophy a bit tiresome at times; the stories move with a speed and violence that match Conan himself and the stories effuse an atmosphere of sheer Swords & Sorcery goodness.


The Hyborian Age is a setting which we all find familiar. By creating a mirror of our own historical civilizations, Howard insured that his readers would already be familiar with the lands through which Conan rode, fought and caroused. Also, it allowed him to tell the kinds of stories he wanted to, indulging his love for writing historical fiction, while at the same time setting the tales in a time and place that never was. 

Creating original cultures for fictional worlds is a subject I've been thinking about of late. The idea of creating truly original societies for D&D campaign worlds is one I think worth exploring, but, when taking player expectation and enjoyment into account, I believe an approach closer to Howard's may be the best option. Not necessarily something as on the nose as his Hyborian Age, but a culture close enough to those we are familiar with, that the players and DM will feel at home. The type of cultural blending that Stephen King used in his Dark Tower series is another avenue worth exploring.

Breathing Life Into Your NPC's

Role-playing NPC's is one of my favorite things. Villains, shopkeepers, allies, cannon fodder, all provide wonderful opportunities to interact with player's and join in the improvisational fun. Over the years, I've pieced together my NPC creation toolkit from a variety of sources. Inspiration, experience, Dragon Magazine, DMG's, etc. Here, I'll create an NPC and share some of my ideas on the process.

Let's say we need a henchman/retainer for a local lordling who's causing some trouble for the party. We'll name our henchman Grueden, make him a fighter and/or rogue of some sort (edition dependent, so take your pick) and if there are no other Needs than a greater or lesser bent toward evil, we can take it from there. Let's start putting together some ideas and associations, modifying and tweaking as we go.

He wears leather armor and wields a longsword and dagger; he also carries a garrote. He's bald, medium build, and at this point, as the various levels of my awareness are working on the problem, I get an image of Arnold Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark; it's a bit over the top, but the sliminess of the character is exactly what I want, so I use my idea of Toht as the basis of my NPC personality profile.

Taking the personality of a character from film or television as the basis for your NPC is a great way to start building the symbol you're going to use when role-playing him (especially when you're running and need to create someone on the spur of the moment,) but you may need to do some more tinkering before he's ready to take the stage. Playing a gate guard, or a King based on Herman Munster is great for laughs, but even if you aren't looking for so much levity, a toned down/altered version may be exactly what you're going for, so you can alter him however you wish. Now, back to Grueden/Toht.

I'm not going to use a German accent or anything; but we'll keep the snaky, whispery voice. Let's see what else my mind cooks up. He licks his lips a lot (his lips are always wet) and he has a disturbing habit of fondling his sort hilt. I think I'll give him a mustache as well.

Now, let's give him some history, motivations and current preoccupations. Grueden has been a loner most of his life. He was raised motherless by a soldier father and spent his formative years in the follower train of the local army. His off-putting personality gave rise to several beatings at the hands of other children, which encouraged him to learn to fight back both effectively and nastily. He followed in his father's footsteps and came to the attention of the local lord, thanks to his brutal effectiveness. He's risen about as far as he's likely to and is quite happy with his current position; it affords him ample opportunity to exercise his sadistic urges and provides no little amount of protection from any possible repercussions. He doesn't have any friends, just underlings and his boss; we'll make him a functional alcoholic and give him a hobby, say, collecting religious paraphernalia. Other than remaining within the good graces of his Lord, our friend Grueden is building a house (complete with hidden torture chamber) and looking for a copy of a rare, heretical religious text called "The Eye of the Sons of Nessus." He's also seeking a "suitable" candidate to bear his child.

This is good for a beginning, though the above would be tweaked, changed, and informed by ideas arising from the details of the campaign world. As our creepy NPC is being played, all sorts of ideas will arise, modifying and fleshing him out. If he survives for a few sessions, especially if major changes are wrought in his life, the unfolding of events could bring new traits to the surface (he may obsess over one of the PC's, neglecting to fondle his sword in the process,) or, the impact of the adventure may encourage him to Change, in minor or major ways. If the PC's take out the lordling, what old buried ideas may arise as Grueden tries to salvage what's left of his World? He may decide to give up his dream of Home, Hearth, and Torture Chamber to devote himself to hunting down and killing the PC's who destroyed the good thing he had going. Perhaps his sadism was a defensive mechanism he used to hide feelings of emasculation caused by having to obey the dictates of mean-spirited overlords (his father, army commanders, the lordling.)  He may be willing to drop or modify this behavior with his boss out of the way, if he realizes his life is his own and chooses to feel like his own man after the dust settles.

I don't mean to suggest that your NPC's need to have a FBI quality psychological profile, but spending a little time on the ones who have more than a fleeting impact on the campaign is always a good idea. The various creative components of dming have a synergistic effect; enriching any one of them will have an effect on the whole.

Counter Revolution - Part 1

The art of Erol Otus, blue and white dungeon maps, thin adventure modules with unattached covers, the writings of Gary Gygax, The Dragon; these images and writings and the feelings I wrapped around them, move within my psyche and form the basis for my perception of Dungeons & Dragons. 1st Edition AD&D was the first Role-Playing Game I ever played and for 16 years it was the only RPG I played with any regularity. Sure, I tried a few others, back in the day. The 6 month long Call of Cthulhu game I played in was a nice diversion and I had a blast playing, but I never strayed too far from my first love, and saw no reason to do so. 


When Wotc bought TSR and announced they were releasing 3e, I was excited. I never cared for 2nd edition. I hated the whole Blood War thing and the caving in to the paranoid sensibilities of the Satanic Panic nutjobs, didn't like the Monstrous Compendium Binder, disliked the style, artwork, and the whole 2e presentation; I was also really, really, pissed that they got rid of all the cool Conjuration/Summoning spells.  

There were some bright spots. Planescape, Darksun, a few other gems in the endless sea of mediocre accessories, but, by and large, aside from picking up the occasional Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk supplement, I didn't bother with 2e. But when Wotc took over, I felt confident that things would be different, that these people knew what they where doing and would make a worthy successor to the earlier editions of the game. 

All in all, I think they did a good job. 3e was a player's dream, a dm's headache, but an overall fun RPG. Way too rules heavy. A bit problematic in places, said problems being exacerbated on a monthly basis as more and more rules were vomited forth from deep within the lair of Wotc, et al. I loved making monsters like a Half-Dragon Fiendish Vampire Barbarian Minotaur, but dming 3e was such a time consuming task that it didn't always feel worth the hassle. 


When 3.5 came out I ponied up the bucks and upgraded. Then, after I ended my last campaign, I decided to take a hiatus from gaming for health reasons. During my vacation, Wotc announced 4e. "What the Hell?! 4e? Really?" With every press release, things just kept sounding worse, worser, and worst of all. "Oh, and by the way, while they're at it they plan on screwing up the Forgotten Realms too!"  


I've looked over some of the 4e material. I'd like to support the current version of the game, but aside from the awesome artwork, there's not much there I really care for. Meanwhile, there's this little voice in the back of my mind that keeps saying "Screw 4e and the Dragon he road in on. To hell with 3e to. You know what you really want to play."


Meanwhile, while I was mulling all this over, surfing the web and checking out the lay of the land, I discovered the Retro-Clones. While I slept, the Old School Gaming Renaissance was in full swing; it was like a sign from the gaming gods! If I wasn't such a cynical bastard I would take it as such, pick up a retro-clone and plan my game from there. 


Part II coming soon, but speaking of Old School, I've found the Link to AKS Hexmapper; it's in my link section, located on the right, near the bottom of the page.

A Reprint of a post of mine from a heated forum discussion.

Blogged for several reasons.

And just to elucidate, once and for all, my POV on Plan and Purpose, Railroading and Sandboxing...

(The following may come off as a bit strident, but after some of the snide comments made at my daring to assert that my campaign has a Plan and Purpose, I'll have to ask for your indulgence.)


When I run a campaign, my players are free to do whatever they wish. The world is always going on around them, presenting them with several choices, and if they do something utterly unexpected that's fine. I'll DM on the fly, anytime. I won't MAKE them do anything. I may entice them. I might, on occasion, back them into a corner (After the divine intervention mentioned above, could the player or party Really refuse the god if he expected a favor in return?) They make their own plan; I make mine. Every NPC, every event, every tree and every deity are under my purview. That plan evolves. An important NPC may have half a page or more of background, personality, psychological characteristics, etc., but any NPC with any significant screen time at all WILL evolve, in the direction I so choose. The idea that the DM is some kind of neutral observer is absurd, unless your world is some static museum, or one giant Hack & Slash extravaganza. I have a plan for that evolution, and that plan is not static. It is every bit as responsive to the needs and desires of my players as their plan is to mine (and each other.) There is a synergy here, working on several levels. There's your Plan. The Purpose is to manifest that Plan within the imagination of the group; all for fun, creativity, and love (I see a good RPG game as an art form, an therefore DO place it well above Monopoly, etc. ) As for any application of Rule 0 you care to mention, I'll use it if I feel it's in the best interest of that Plan and Purpose. Furthermore, without claiming perfection, I'm utterly confident in my ability to do so wisely.