Rom'Myr #30 The Black Cyst

Rom'Myr the Dying Earth - Currently in Averoigne.

Latest video at Vanishing Tower Press studios is up. Uncut version of session #25 of the High Fantasy epic which is grudgingly being dragged out of our bleak sword and sandal word of Rom' Myr and has spent most of the campaign time in Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne. It is has been a long and turning path and the linkages between the two realms is little understood. Fortunately the PCs are of a single minded purpose of meting out justice against their enemies. If they could only come to grips with them!

 

DFD Hits the Table

The virtual table, all my gaming these days is virtual. Online, video hangouts. And it has worked well, extremely well over (fuck me) 8 years now. I got hooked up on line with gaming again in 2012. And one of the most talked about adventure modules at the time was Death Frost Doom by James Raggi V. I passed on buying it at the time. I thought, what's the use? Everybody and their grandmother is playing it right now. Then some time later a new edition was released in some kind of package deal. I got Monolith, NSFW, Tower of the Stargazer(?) and the much talked about Death Frost Doom. Good adventure, I thought, for what it does. Evocative as all get out, and the possibility of world-ending events being triggered... Definitely good material in here to be used. But I haven't got a place to use it right now. In my current campaign. Some point I will, but it isn't today.

And there it has sat until this morning. My dowdy band of murderhobos got themselves into a scrape with a large horde of werewolves. The mercenaries had been overrun or had fled for their lives. The forest was well on its way to being engulfed in wind-driven flames and more werewolves were closing in. Murderhobos doing what murderhobos do, they fled. Not blindly. They had passed a boarded up hunting lodge before the terrible confrontation which had just shattered their armed troop. It looked sturdy enough. If they could just make it there, urge their wild-eyed horses on one last directed gallop, before the living fears of myth overtake them all.

The lodge is safely reached. It is not the cabin in the module. Here is a look at it;

Much bigger. 

Stocked with bear traps, hunting weapons like spears and bows. It is indeed a good spot to defend from. The rooms are quickly tossed and a trap door is found in the floor of the Great Room. There is also a thick book. It is pages on pages of names. They change over time, in fact the sweep of names covers thousands of years! The earliest names are in a language unknown. Not till the end of the book, representing the last two hundred years or so, are they comprehensible. These contemporary names continue until the last three pages where there are no signatures. Only row upon row of a bloody fingerprint. The blood now long dried these last few pages appear as some gory stamp book.

Heated discussions break out between the mercenary captain, the Marquee and Father Piedmont. The Marquee is adamant he will not quit the field until he has routed or captured the evil cultists behind rash of kidnappings. He seems in a complete state of denial over being attacked by werewolves. "Nothing but bandits in wolf skins!" I tell you, we go back there in daylight. You'll see."

Father Piedmont worriedly looks out one the Great Room's windows again and again. It is agreed the first thing to do is undue the padlock on the floor hatch and see what lies underneath. It is a 50' shaft down. Straight down into DFD! Fuck it, I'm using it. I'll figure out how to tie in the OSR cultists cum werewolves and their WolfMother petty-god later. If there is a later. 

To be fair, several players identified the location just in the first hall approaching the first door into the dungeon. But none of the players had actually played in it. Good, I'm getting to drag fresh souls through one of the most reviewed OSR modules to date.

And that is where we left it. They did get in to the first two rooms which has them in the large, evil encased chapel. And we did leave with some disagreement within the party on what the next move should be, but it is Mq. Chabentaeu's resolve to have revenge against these fiends (cultists) which seals the deal. No murderhobo is going to appear as a coward. Especially in front of an NPC!

So I'm pretty satisfied with this cold open for DFD. Plenty of detail within the book to tie the death cult's religion from the module to the leading adversaries currently running amok in the campaign world. I can work out these "pantheonic" loose ends. The Cleric and Paladin are feeling obliged to uncover the nature of the evil lurking here while the jewels and gems just found are keeping the thief and the assassin in the game. Oh, yes, we even have a 1st level character along. The player of tragic La Batard returned today with his gentleman thief and rake. An Averoigne fop who is good with his rapier. The cleric is 3rd level (damn that Bless spell would be useful to have) while the rest are 4-5 level dudes. Not fragile, but the groups magical firepower is currently found only in the paladin.

Two weeks until next session. I already have a good idea to tie this site location in with the already established big bads. Otherwise I just need to pour over the pages of this black masterpiece all over again. Weep for me not....

Perhaps a session report on the eve of a Feast of Blood

I am all pumped up for tomorrow's game so I will spend some of this nervous energy on a session report. 

The girl did pay, after all. Violet was handed over to her parents, the Marquee and Marquees de Chabentaeu, in a catatonic state, but at least in one piece. That's better than Liam Neelson did in A Walk Among The Tombstones. This netted the group 2,000 gp, a windfall they haven't seen since first session over a year ago! The Marquee, impressed with their gritty and grim bearing, offers them employment. His town is beset by kidnappings, missing persons and murder out among the farms. Merchants are leaving town. He needs to bring an end to these mysterious threats or he will lose his position of Warder of Le Frenaie. They have returned his daughter from these seemingly unknown kidnappers. Of course the Marquee has many questions for the PCs. It comes out the Marquee is a proud man, and set upon revenge against any who slight himself and his family name. They must lead him against the kidnappers. He will gather the militia. Piedmont has a mercenary troop the Golden Ray camped nearby. They shall provide the additional troops needed.  

The PCs say sure, they haven't much else in mind at this point, and arrange for rooms at The Crossed Swords. The local rat catcher is in the common room on a three-day bender. He is spending his "life" saving because the end of days is upon them. 

With the better part of the day and evening in front of them the group decides to pursue avenues of espionage. The local priest of Zotar deserves a visit. This Father Piedmont is obviously agitating for a vote of no confidence in the Warder. Perhaps they can weasel into his good graces as well. They are carrying a writ of authority they found, from the ArchBishop of Vyonnes himself! They show this purloined writ to the local Zotarian and let Piedmont know they expect his assistance if called upon. The mustering of the militia tomorrow is discussed and Piedmont decides he will join the hunt!

Lumin catches a street urchin for some errand duty. The poor, dirty wretch is writing some graffiti on a barn wall. It says "She's not my mommy!"

"Here boy, take this missive to the Marquee." The one-handed cleric gives the boy the note and some silver to run the message over to Mq. Chabenteau. He thinks it is a good idea to let the Mq. know Father Piedmont will be on this upcoming expedition into the local wood, known around here as the Tanglewood.  Varidell is a suspicious sort so decides to shadow the urchin and make sure the boy does as he is told. 

Toth and Lumin want to visit the local Drune Fortune Teller. She promised a free reading, she sensed the hand of the fates laying upon them. The Blue Moon Curio Shoppe is easily found and the gypsy-like crone sees them to her reading room. Toth lingers in the front room, listening to the reading while the crone pours over Lumin's outstretched hand.

But it is a ruse! Black treachery! The Drune grabs hold of Lumin's arm and holds it fast while an assassin springs out from behind the beaded curtains which concealed the room beyond. Garrote in hand the assassin quickly begins to choke out the cleric. Toth is set upon as well. Another assassin comes out from the kitchen baring a the would-be assailant is clueless on Toth's terrible martial reputation. Jyfrith, the Hammer of Justice, flicks out instantly and swings like lightning in Toth's hands. The assailant is crushed like a beetle, gout of blood pouring forth from open mouth and crushed sternum. 

Lumin continues to struggle with both the Drune crone and the cutthroat. He grabs for his Blood Knife, but not until Toth delivers a roundhouse with his hammer to the Drune's face can Lumin find the leverage to bury his eldritch knife deep into the unknown thug's eye. Before they both could say, "What the hell was that about?" Varidell's whistle can be heard outside. This is usually a sign the group's lead slinker was in dire straights.

The two holy warriors race out into the rapidly darkening evening and close in on the sound. They find Varidell rolling in the dust of an alley, three werewolves closing in for the kill. Blood pours from his savaged shoulder. Magical and silver weapons in hand, one werewolf is slain and the other two driven off.

My memory is fuzzy on this, but somehow the PCs became aware of Jankula Ansulex living in Le Frenaie. This stranger is responsible for at least Cree and Varidell finding themselves in Averoigne through unknown magics. The odd scholar provides Varidell with a potion "Guaranteed to cure the disease of lycanthropy."

Tea is brewed and the group shares secrets and information with Jankula. He is convinced gates from other worlds have been opened into Averoigne and alien beings mean to pass through and conquer all! "The ruined palace must be the source of the dimensional portals. You must return there. You must close these magical gates or the world as we know it will be destroyed," insists Jankula. 

"Leave the Negamancer's globe with me," he requests. "Perhaps I may be able to make it serve our ends. I will return it to you in the morning before you all depart."

More Images from the VTP House Game

Toth and Lumin are beset by OSR cultists in the Blue Moon Curio Shoppe. 

To the right we can see Toth

under the mind control powers

of the vampire Clitus Dorvitte. 

The vile undead leader had the pious 

Paladin smash the skull of his alley - La Batard!

Jankula Ansulex postulates on the possible dooms which will befall Averoigne. He also forgot that when in deep thought he absent-mindedly masturbates in public. 

The rat-catcher of Le Frenaie on his last debauch before the end of days.

Varidell executes the magically held soldiers of the Marque.

This is a witch know as "The Three-Who-Are-One" preparing to create another Changeling from the corpse of a child.

The Paladin Toth and the Cleric Lumin battle the apparition Aladonie and her animated marble snake.

Varidell is ambushed in an alley of Le Frenaie by three werewolves.

Death in Rom'Myr

The last session was a continuation of coming to grips with the denizens of the Pale Knight's Palace. They had indeed returned to the Aticorn with the 8 threads from the vampire lord’s cloak, and the creature of Faerie did release the party from the peculiar geas laid upon them. But they had left the young Violet behind in the nightmarish palace. None of the warriors could look each other in the eye if they left their potential meal-ticket lost and uncashed. So instead of pushing on to the realative safety of Le Freniae, the party turned around and marched back to the ruined structure which just last night held an alien conclave and was racked by terrible explosions. The daylight did little to relieve the gloom saturating the steep, forest hollow. Once inside they wasted little time plowing to the room of dragon eggs and the broken throne room. The 3 eggs which were left behind last night appear now to be gone. The throne room was appropriately barren, but the unbelievable events which overtook the group last in this room left behind signs of the awful reality which had transpired. 

Clues wrapped in a dropped communique hinted at deep conspiracy on now a cosmic scale. But nothing yet seen prepared them for the colossal marble snake coiled in the center of it’s room of rampage. Not a hallucinatory dream after all. Stone it was made and still it breathed and slumbered. Above the beast, as if suspended like an acrobat, the silvery beauty, the alien and powerful Aladonia floated like a billowing cloud over the rubble. Her advisory, the grotesque talking hair-skin thing, was no where in sight. An unoccupied alchemy lab provided insight on the child-snatching which they were bearing witness to. Their bowels turned to water as a closing, suffocating trap threatened a TPK and still no sign of the lovely Violet. Questions dogged their every step; what with the stealing of children? What was the significance of multiple dimensions filled with strange beings? And how was all this going to pay? 

My Rom'Myr Campaign

is my online game and I have been enjoying the taping and recording of these sessions. But with the crash of G+ and YouTube I cannot seem to get a reliable audio (or video) recording of these sessions. These recording issues have forced my hand once again to write in review of the games held in Rom’Myr Dying Earth Campaign. This current blog post is a quick summation of Sunday’s game...

The party is of 5, not all from the same world. Traveling the Averoigne wilderness they encounter the mule-thing Farthingnay. This enchanted beast of fairei compels the PCs to collect 8 threads from the Pale Knight’s cloak.

The party finds and penetrates the Pale Knight’s ruined palace. It is a crumbling pile haunted by dark obscenities. Feasting on the dead appears the main form of sustenance for the palace’s denziens. In the lower level dining room the party crosses blades and hammers with the Order of the Maggot, a martial order of ghouls. They claimed to be the personal guard and escort of his grace the Lord Bishop of the Pale. It appears the Pale Knight is holding audience!

An artifact of ancient evil was uncovered, a black cauldron. Toth, with his mighty hammer Jyfryth, sunder the cauldron in twain. The two thieves of Valla’Tair lead the way into darkness. It is not long before the palace responds to the party’s intrusion. Red and Silver Dragon soldiers, terror gnomes of in-between, clash with the PCs in a large chamber deep in the dungeon. Knives and axes snicker-snap in orange torchlight. The fight is sharp and swift. 8 of these creatures lay dead on the floor, for no race of man were these terror gnomes, while the party suffered wounds to the paladin Toth and Lumin of the Hidden Hand. The terror gnomes wielded short side swords in battle and capable of wicked wounds. It took much faith and bandages to restore their health. Vari’dell and Cree, the thieves of Valla’Tair, are only covered in gore from the soldier they slew. La Batard was equally unscathed.

The palace had more to throw at the brave party, the palace walls itself! Mere doors turned into mystic portals, dividing the party and leavining others truly lost. Cree, a monster-hunter by trade, is left stranded in an unknown cavern, vast and dank. He must move swift and silent, he must brave the terrors of the living dead and eventually return to the radius of the party’s torch. Erstwhile, the two warriors of faith, Lumin and Toth, scout and thief, all of them slay the petty-lych Skeelos, and restore Aladona to life.

How will the temporary alliance with the lady called Aladona and the PCs last? What awaits them in the throne room? Only the next game session can reveal!

The Rom'Myr Drawing pad

I've picked up the pen in an attempt to draw my way out of VTP paying for game art. Matter of fact my soon to be released first ever OSR module is stacked with my drawings. These are not them. Drawing practice consists of sketches from my online OSR Dying Earth Campaign. Here is a mix of PCs and NPCs, very few pictured worked so far considering the amount of NPC interaction the group has had in ten sessions.

OSR Race Rules

I took a shot at cobbling together race rules for my BFRPG Dying Earth campaign by hacking apart AH's Circus Maximus chariot game and today they were put to use. 

All four entries forgo attacks on each other and blazed down the track, speeding through the turn and burned it to the finish. Imagine that, the PCs long shot (actually one of the PCs was the long shot) came in first for the win!

At the same time this was going on the rest of the PCs were in the city getting ready to go with their heist they joined at the last minute. Split party doing major game stuff at the same time.  I've gotten at ease with running a split party over time and I think it is an exciting dynamic when it emerges out of play. Yes it is more "efficient" to have the party together to maximize some PC to Play ratio, buut there is fun to be had switching from scene to scene at cliffhanger moments. 

As far as the race rules they did an admiral job. I need to edit them for a set of rules which don't contradict themselves or make illogical play mechanics, but the concept and ease of use did come through to me. I think I'm on the right track.

And a good concept trumps all I think. This race track episode showed that yes you need rules which work, but having a straight play-balanced tactical challenge isn't necessary for a role-playing game. Good guidelines and like a race, just move it along fast. Same with the heist. Every good heist flick has the "unforeseen complications" which spring up mid-operation. Just like the race, keep the action going. PCs shouldn't have time to debate the next move. Guards are coming, goods aren't were they where supposed to be, someone arriving who should have been long gone. Change the weather, make someone go missing and not show. Pile on the complications until it turns into a flight through the city doing your best to recreate that scene from Heat but with daggers and arrows. 

The brief street scenes did give some brief moments for the PCs to catch their breath and figure out how to make all the chaos pay. I don't think I'm going to give them a breather :)

Stupid, Simple Way to assign Milestone XP's in OSR games

Besides experience point awards for monsters defeated completing “other challenges” is the only other way to earn xp RAW with the Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game. What the xp awards are for monsters defeated is easy to calculate for like most OSR rules systems there is a chart outlining these awards. But not so these other challenges. Here all is subject to DM/GM whim. If you are interested in reining in randomness which may occur in the flurry of events, and begin to set PC’s teeth on edge, may I recommend a simple xp calculator.

BFRPG has an optional rule for “Ability Rolls” which I am not to keen on and do not use in play. But I see it as a useful method to assign experience “for other challenges as the GM sees fit.”

Use the Target Number as a quick guide to calculate XP awarded for such “milestones” achieved. The scale of difficulty for BFRPG goes from 7 to 17 with a “roll over” needed for success. The DM assigns a milestone, a goal the character (or characters) wishes to achieve with one of these difficulty numbers. When success is achieved multiply the difficulty number by 100. The DM doesn’t even need to tell the PC’s ahead of time what the number assigned is. All they know is they should make 700 to 1,700 xp when successful. This is for each character, not an award to be split. And it doesn’t matter how many characters are involved in pulling whatever it is they are trying to pull off. Three, Four, Nine… just hand them out to the characters which are invested in the outcome.

Of course this shouldn’t be applied to every little thing the character gets up into. You have players that want to win xp for successfully walking across the room and opening the door? Rocks fall all die.

Milestones, goals, achievements; these are not created equal. Saving the world is not the same as saving someone from a burning building. With only a thousand point swing separating the extremes of this goal orientated method of achieving xp we may need more granularity. Especially as PCs reach high levels. Adjust the multiplier. Instead of multiplying by 100 multiply by 1,000, or only by 10 if that makes sense. These awards are all subjective. It is up to the DM to give each task and/or goal, player driven or not, a number.

BFRPG makes gold for experience points as an optional rule interestingly enough, leaving awards “for monsters defeated, and for other challenges as the GM sees fit.” as the players only way of measuring their overall success in the game. I gladly add GP=XP, optional rule or not, into my BFRPG. But I like the players can establish their own path to XP through achievements and goals as well as grabbing loot. Hopefully this use of difficulty target numbers can guide your hand with fair and equitable disbursements.

Running Rom'Myr for Hobbsapalooza

An online weekend of live play, Hobbsapalooza is open to anyone who wants to play or run games online for three days starting this Friday! I will be using this opportunity to see if I can get a Friday night game of BFRPG going to try my own Dying Earth setting of Rom'Myr. Being late evening for the east coast I can easily see this game not getting off the ground, but fingers crossed...

The Google Drive document the Hobbsapalooza link above sends you to is where you write in the games you want to run or play. The administrator will copy your DM submission into the Player sign up page when "approved". This is a small online con, but knowing Hobbs & Friends it will only grow every year. So come on down!

The Bearded Trees and Stone Barrows for your OSR game

Memory eaten away by time leaves who the terrible kings of old buried in the Stone Barrows were and what made their reign so terrible, but what is certain is the promise of unspoilt wealth to be won for those who can win their way into their cold crypts.

Why has the speculative wealth of these ancient kings lain untouched over these long years? Why have those who've braved the silent peaks of the Wadzo Nano-Tassis never returned from their sojourns? Is it true the dead kings jealously guard their old wealth and steal the souls of those who dare climb to their last resting place? 

There are several deadly horrors which make summiting the Wadzo Nano-Tassis perilous for adventurers lured to the Stone Barrows found on top. Any approach through the heavily forested flanks of the range requires travel through the Flenn, a perpetually mist shrouded forest. Beneath this thick sheaf of impenetrable gloom are found the Bearded Trees.

The Bearded Trees of Flenn are attracted to the breath of the living. At night the green mossy growth which clings to the damp dark branches detach and propel themselves to nearby living beings. Seeking the breath of the living the light web of moss fastens onto the source releasing a paralysing toxin. Rapidly growing the green "beard" rapidly expands into the lungs of its host, suffocating the victim. A soft phosphorescent glow throbs regularly while the beard feeds throughout the night. By the time noonday sun filters feebly through the ever present fog the victim has disappeared beneath the newly forming mass of moss. Within a month a new tree will have sprouted. Within six months the new tree will cast drifting beards of its own each damp night under the mist shrouded canopy of Flenn. The DM should mention during daytime travel that there is a complete absence of wildlife within the forest. 

The Bearded Trees of Flenn for BFRPG
AC: 14/17 for floating beards.
HD: 3 (for the tree itself. Each drifting beard can take 4 hit points of damage before it is rendered inert).
Number of Attacks: special (at night only); 
Damage: special (save vs. paralysis for three rounds in a row); from drifting beards. A failed roll results in paralysis for twelve hours. Must be destroyed within three rounds or the victim will be suffocated by the beards growing inside and shutting down the lungs and infecting the brain with toxins. The drifting beards must make contact with skin to cause damage. Keeping oneself completely clothed will offer protection as any beard which latches onto a live beings face that is protected will turn brown, brittle and slide off within three rounds. 

Once reaching the wind torn heights finding, let alone entering the subterranean tombs of ancient kings, adventurers will have to contend with a lunar cycle which will allow entry. 

For three nights surrounding the arrival of the new moon giant lizards will issue forth from the barrows themselves. Moving the huge blocks of stone which plug the entrance with their ridiculously strong tongues the Rock Lizards seek the dew and moisture which regularly coat the granite peaks. If there happens to be a rain storm when the prehistoric beasts emerge they will appear as in a stupor with their large jaws open and long tongues lax on the ground. After an hour the beasts will come out of their daze and return below, pulling the blocks back into place. Otherwise the lizards will remain on the summit sponging up moisture for at least four hours. In that case the Rock Lizards will be aware of and disturbed by the presence of the adventuring party and will move to attack.

 Rock Lizards of the Stone Barrows
 Number Appearing: 3-6
AC: 15
HD: 7
Number of Attacks: 1 of 3 types
Damage: from bite 2D10, from trample 2d8, and tail 2d6. 

With the lizards dead or dazed in a rainstorm a party of adventurers will find it easy to enter the stone barrows and descend into the unexplored depths. 

Only the Shrouded know of the Rock Lizards habits but for some reason never dare enter the stone barrows. They are an unknown race of beings which can be found only in the mist shrouded forest of Flen. Possibly an alien race which arrived in the world with the bearded trees, they live in symbiosis amongst the horrid woods. Abroad during the day clothed in elaborate suits composed of woven tree fiber the Shrouded harvest moss and bark for their dwellings and food. They nurture moss gardens in ravines carved by burbling streams winding down the slopes of the Wadzo Nano-Tassis. Camouflaged beneath stripped and limbed trees only the sound of flowing water will generally indicate the presence of inhabited structures below. At night these secret dwellings may be spotted by the fluorescent moss which they use for illumination. What moves these alien settlers to treat with interlopers, who knows? There are very few who even know of their existence and they prefer to keep it that way.

The Shrouded
Number Appearing: 3-18 abroad in the forest. Many more live within several "cities" within the forest
AC: 14
HD: 2
Number of Attacks: 1
Damage: from Spears and Stone Axes 1D8, from Paralytic Dart Guns save vs. Paralysis or be paralyzed for four hours.  

Rolling Dice Twice

no, three times. I DM'ed another session of my Mystara campaign and while the PC's where in a decidedly deadly environment I only rolled a d20 for attack in only three instants. Granted one attack was a multiple, but the the PC's (and NPC's) rolled high saving rolls when it mattered.

In between the PC's seemed vexed, confounded, and felt railroaded. But they have patience. The proper response when confronted with the inexplicable and decidedly deadly. I found it a good session because the PC's felt unsure and nervous while I don't think I abused their fantasy sensabilaties. 

I did throw many rolls on them, in the form of saving throws. I like it better than rolling against ability scores because it rewards levels. Maybe the PC's would argue the case, but lifting a portcullis together and then one bolts, roll against Save vs. Paralysis. Didn't make it, ouch. Forget the strange serpent with the pig face snorting through the underbrush where the heck did the dwarf run off to?

The Ease of Basic Fantasy

I challenged myself to tease out of my bookcase the text tools I've accumulated to run a game instantly. What would I grab? Would it work?

First experiment is Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game (free pdf) with Richard Leblanc, Jr.'s AX1 D30 DM Companion, AX2 D30 Sandbox Companion, and CC1 Creature Compendium.

I got all four of these products through Lulu as a print on demand product. Granted Basic Fantasy is a completely free product as a pdf, but at less then the price of a pint of vodka delivered to your door I think it is worth spending for a print version.

AX2 has an Adventure Generator so this is the right start. The adventure generation tables have ten categories which require a roll on a d30. It is explicate on the tin, use of the product requires a d30. I don't have one, but online tools are readily available to generate random numbers, so honey badger don't give a shit.

Adventure Generator

Trigger:            Diary

Major Goal:     Defend Location

Obstacle:          Fix “broken” item.

Location:          Tower

Feature:            Library

Phenomena:     Fear

Villain Goal:    Power

Artifact:           Codex/Manual/tome

Theme:             Glory

Key NPC:         Slave              

Trigger:            Transaction

Major Goal:      Stop Impending Devastation

Obstacle:          Acquire Key Parts

Location:          Village

Feature:             Plaza

Phenomena:      Monster Plague

Villain Goal:     Utopia (at all cost)

Artifact:             Horn

Theme:              Wonder

Key NPC:          King

I rolled two times in each category just to see how different random rolls on these tables would perform. Doesn't disappoint. The first adventure generated makes the object of the game session an object, a "McGuffin". The second an exchange between (at least) two disparate parties. As the gods of probability dispatch their judgment you end up with divergent adventures. So far so good. You could go on with this. Adventure hook after adventure hook. But the PC's will make a move, then you will need meat on the hoof. 

Location will most likely be any player groups first move, so don't worry about the details of the goal, the scheming NPC's. price of drink, etc. They will move from point A to point B to achieve the goal. this means you will need to illuminate to your satisfaction the Obstacle which stand in the way of the PC's success. Scenario 1 considers a broken state which needs fixing while scenario 2 postulates the assemblage of particular parts of a greater whole are needed for success. Hand in hand kind of thinking here. Sorry, I didn't write the charts. So I will run to AX1 D30 DM Companion. Why? Because I am making it up as I go, 

So the PC's decide defending a tower containing a valuable book will get them to next level faster than the other (only) adventure opportunity on the table. So the AX1 book gives me table to generate the salient interior features of the "tower" but I can use the AX2 book to create overland challenges; yep, that easy. Not going to bore yo with the details, but it seems with these for books, a bag of dice yo can show up anywhere and get interested parties involved in one f'ed up adventure. Great sport.

RPG in the wilderness...

Up front, I wanted this blog to chronicle how I got a face to face rpg game going in Aspen, CO, and it hasn't happened yet. Mostly because I haven't tried hard enough. Also, like the way I ski, I'm picky. I want blue bird days with fresh pow pow and the less than twenty minute access to the best in bounds, patrolled, extreme skiing available on the planet.

Hangout games have been real plus to. I would have to give up my hangout game if I committed to a live game here in my neighborhood. I'm not ready to do that.

But gaming in the wilderness is still a compelling idea for me. I really got jazzed on the idea when I was on a wonderful fall vacation in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The AMC hut system is a real treat along this eastern mountain chain, and allows those who can pay hotel rates to grab bed and board along this northern section of the Appalachian Trail.

The heart and soul of a hut system is the army of young volunteers which work the hut during the winter and summer. Maintaining the individual huts and servicing the guests, these seasonal kids  are energetic boot campers having a unique wilderness experience which... well, probably another whole post in itself.

Point is, out of all the groups who have spent their time working and living out there, smoking cigs, drinking some wine round the fire, the croo has played games. Cribbage, chess, yahtzee, now Settlers of Catan I've seen played. What a great place to play some table top rpg's, no?

I've gone ahead and put together a quick and dirty Kickstarter project to gather the funds I think I need to distribute dirt cheap copies of Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game, including dice, to the huts.

If you think this is a good idea please kick down. If you think this idea is unmitigated garbage please let me know

Holiday Gaming in the land of Mystara

Something sweet about spending an early afternoon gaming and no need to go to work.

Today I hosted a BFRPG adventure in a new campaign started a year ago. New because the last session, session #3?, was conducted exactly one year ago to the day. Only one player from that original group attended today, but it was enough to maintain a grasp on the continued plight of Eastern Karameikos and the struggles of its inhabitants.

Brother Benedict, in the service of Taras Sukyskin, was joined by Brand; a poor fighting wretch from the village of Corroc, Harek; a fighting dwarf from the Altan Tepe mountains, and Elkis; a hafling thief from the Dymrak forest. All free peoples of Eastern Karameikos was represented as all the new players were coming from communities wracked by demons, danger, and unnamed threats. Something truly evil moved throughout the land, threatening the peace and prosperity of all.

Brother Benedict easily rallied the adventurers around Taras Sukyskin's cause, to rid the land of the Black Mirror found beneath the temple on the island in the Lake of Lost Dreams. The party disembarked from the tombs on the hill and made the two day journey to the shores of the remote lake. There they found the lake shore and island invested with marauding goblins still intent on bringing their dread gods to life.

It took the aid of curse born pixies to slip past the goblins guarding the island temple and once inside the party destroyed the black mirror only to find themselves transported to an ancient ruin, a once noble palace now desolate and barren but for time eaten stone halls. Where once they were below the ground in the dead of night they now find themselves above ground during daylight.

Before they have much time to ponder their mysterious circumstances they are confronted by a yellow robed man accompanied by two fighting dwarves and a lady armed with a red crystal sword. The yellow robed man says that the party now stands at the very edge of time and that he has brought them here in part thanks to their mighty deeds. He states that the only way any of them return from whence they came is for the PC's to secure the "wand of light" and hand it over to him. The PC's try to wrangle out some more information out of him, but the obtuse stranger only  mocks their ignorance and assures them that they will all perish in the oncoming and inevitable dissolution of the cosmos in mere hours hence unless they aid him in his quest. That they best get moving and search the lower ruins of the ancient palace for the Wand of Light.

The PC's try and call the man's bluff, suggesting if they do nothing that he would be forced to take on this perilous quest himself. The man counters that he must use his considerable powers to maintain the structure of the world around them long enough for them to accomplish their task, and that his fate was tied to the success of their task just as much as theirs.

Rightfully dubious, the PC's reluctantly took up the quest. The yellow robed man's dwarven fighters are ordered to accompany the PC's and to see that they find the wand and bring it back. It is not apparent why the others serve the man, but they appear to obey his wishes without question.

The party breaks out torches, establishes marching order, and begins to penetrate the buried passageways of this once proud castle. After passing through empty halls and unlit chambers they stumble upon a grotesque three headed humanoid foul and terrible. The party throws themselves against the monster, but before they cut it down in howling anguish it delivers a devastating blow to Xyzom the dwarven bodyguard throwing the impatient warrior against the wall. Harek is rend limb from limb as Brother Benedict crushes one of the monster's heads beneath his mace. The many headed, many limbed monstrosity falls lifeless amidst the sudden carnage. After killing another one of the aroused three headed horrors the PC's spy a stairway leading to the lower levels of the palace.

to be continued...

Last RPG Purchase was Basic Fantasy from Lulu

Since TSR's Basic Dungeons & Dragons with the Erol Otus cover in the magenta colored box was my first rpg purchase way back in 1981, it seems fitting my last purchase was the wonderful retro clone Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game.

With all the free material of quality available online, including Basic Fantasy in PDF format, I've forced myself to be real frugal with actual cash expenditure on rpg books. But Basic Fantasy did it right for me. A free PDF led to a Lulu purchase of the perfect bound, publish on demand copy of the game. The cost of the book was, like ridiculously low, and with a shipping discount being offered it was a no brainer.

The game gave me the house ruled tweaks I wish I had thought of while retaining all the flavor of the great game I first came to love.

I have further modified my Basic Fantasy with the best aspects I find from LotFP (also available for free in PDF format), and all those folks making cool character sheets, free adventures, Game Master aids, etc. just make this product one of the best rpg deals going.