After six sessions, and the seventh coming up tomorrow, I though it might be a good idea to start fleshing out the world beyond the Vats of Mazarin. There are a few things I knew about the world from the starts. 1) the Lycenian Empire once conquored great stretched of land. 2) Perithian and the Vats were in the jungle near the boarder of the known world.

The world that I drew up turned out to be much larger than I had expected. Originally, I had conceived that Lycenia would be a month's journey to the North of the Vats. Now, not only is it about a month to the north, but two months to the East by sea over the Orinthian Ocean.

The are only two major settlements near the Lycenian colony. One is an overseas Viking settlement to the Northwest, currently unnamed, and the kingdom of Kenet to the to East. For the most part the land to the south is inhabited by scattered tribes, archeological teams, and would-be foreign princes, none of which have any real, lasting influence on the colonists besides the constant threat of invasion and the ability to trade native for foreign goods (typically steel weapons for various vanity items).

There is also a group of islands to the North East known as Telepthos, which are inhabited by pirates, natives, and enormous building-sized lizards.

As of now, here is the basic map I've created (click to enlarge):

Playing with Hexographer: A New Map and a Brief Key

I was playing around with Hexographer yesterday and created this new map. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, so I'll go ahead and post it here.

Brief Map Key:


Glyndwr: A walled city and kingdom of 3,000.

Cayr Pavill: A fortified castle and kingdom of 2,700.

Cayr Efflur: A small kingdom of 2,400 centralized in a fortified castle.

Camelot: A small forest village of 300, generally forgotten by the three major kingdoms.

Sulis: A farming village of 500, in constant contest between Glyndwr and Cayr Pavill.




Ruined Monastery: The ruins of a Monastery dedicated St. Gaxyg the Grey. (See FO! issue 1 for the adventure by James Maliszewski)

Tower of the Drowned Jinx: The ancient tower, once the estate of the suicidal queen of Mandragora.

Malchester Keep: Once part of the Kingdom of Efflur, no controlled by a band of ogres.

Tower of a Thousand Faces: A many faced tower located in the center of the deadlands.



Darking Wood: The eery forest separating the world of Men from the faerie realm.

Midmere Forest: The northern, less creepily-inhabited forest.

Mardrake Marsh: Once the mighty kingdom of Mandragora, now writhing, goblin-infested swamp. (pretty much stoled from this blog)

Wintertops: The domain of a small kingdom of frost giants. (name stolen from the Dwimmermount campaign map)

Monster-Based Campaign Design: Characters!

After many, many hours of thinking. I've come to a few major decisions about my monster-based campaign setting. One of those is the available character types and what they represent. Another is that the character's home Kingdom, a Grecian island kingdom known Kull, has no more than bronze-age technology. But more on those later: this post is about characters.

Fighter

A Fighter is a proud and haughty noble, veteran hoplite, or expert wrestler of Kull. Due to their extensive training and coordination, two or more Fighters fighting in close proximity may form a shield wall, improving their AC by 2, but always act last in the initiative order unless all members of the group are wielding spears, in which case they always act first. If any member of the shield wall breaks or is killed, it requires a full round to reform the wall.

Cleric

A Cleric is a priest or priestess of the Olympian gods. A Cleric worships the entire Greek pantheon while also serving a patron god or goddess. Some choices include: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Area, Aphrodite, or Demeter.

Clerics have no restrictions on weapon use or Turning ability, and there is no need for a cleric to meditate, pray daily, or study to use spells. Instead, there is a cumulative 5% per day since the cleric’s last sacrifice that the cleric’s request will not be heard or simply ignored. The sacrifice must be worth at least 100 gold pieces per cleric level to be accepted, otherwise, the offering is taken as an insult.

Magic-User

A magic-User is a philosopher who studies the ancient, magical lore of Babylon, Egypt, or Atlantis. They have no restrictions on usable weapons and may wear armor, but there is a 50% chance their spells will merely fizzle and fail (no matter the type of armor worn).

Thief

A thief is a miscreant of ill repute or a criminal exiled from Kull. A Thief may wear copper scale or plate armor, but while wearing such physically taxing armor the thief’s skills are halved. In additional to its more conventional uses, the Hear Noise skill can be used to fight in darkness or against invisible creatures.

Barbarian

A Barbarian is a furious warrior from uncivilized lands. They are treated as B/X dwarves, but do not possess infraredvision nor have any particular familiarity with stonework or weapon restrictions. Instead, they have a 4 in 6 chance of spotting traps, ambushes, etc. in the wilderness. When completely unarmored (other than employing a shield), a Barbarian adds twice his strength adjustment to damage in melee.

Pygmy

A pygmy is miniature savage. They are known for their deadly slings and riding goats into battle against armies of cranes. Pygmies are treated exactly as B/X Halflings.

Monster-Based Campaign Design (part 1)

After coming up with my list of favorite B/X monsters, I'm realizing that hardly any of them are used in the adventures I've been looking at (B1-B4).  I guess I'm just not a big fan of the typically D&D humanoids, goblin, kobolds, and the like. That isn't to say they can't be made to work well; Waysoftheeath's Hinterlands player by post campaign on the ODD74 boards, for example, has been fantastic. But I think I'd like to do something a little more pulpy.

So I'm going to try a little different approach to adventure design. Looking at my list of monsters, I can see that many of them are either typically found in desert (mummies, efreeti, djinni), jungle (frog men, giant lizards, insect swarms), or coastal (buccaneers, sea dragons, water termites) regions. Thus, those will become the basic geography for the campaign.

The only monster that doesn't really work in any of those environments are the Titans from the B/X Companion. Luckily, I had an idea of them already. Titans in my world, are going to be similar to the Olympian gods. In fact, I may just use the Olympian gods--in which case I'll call them Olympians instead of Titans. Regardless, Titans are the most powerful group of creatures that actually play an role in the events of the campaign world, and most of the human population worships them as gods. Most of their priests, however, are normal men, with the higher ranking members as magic-users or fighters.

Clerics have nothing to do with the titans. They are members of a Zoroastrian-like religion, where the forces of Law and Chaos are locked in an unending battle for the universe.

I'm considering steeling the City State of Pelengos from my City State of the Emerald Eye PBP campaign. It is a decadent metropolis that functions are the focal point of the civilized world surrounded by a gibbering wilderness. Here's a short except from the campaign concerning the city's history:

The  "Tyrant" is the coloquial name for the  "Prince of the Emerald Eye", the autocrat that rules over the City State of the Emerald Eye. His grandfather, the first Tyrant, for was foreign conqueror from a civilized land and built Pelengos to rule over the newly captured territory. During the short reign of his son, his control over the surrounding land diminished and is now no more than the land within the walls of the City State.

Another major city is the legendary City of Brass, the city of the Efreeti, which will be located either in the desert region in a low valley or on a distant planet that can be accessed via a portal located in a lost desert ruin. Either is almost impossible to reach due to its distance from any oases, but the city filled with both great danger and great treasure. In my mind, the City of Brass is the pinocle of adventuring sites in terms of difficultly and potential pay off.

Alright, that's what I've got for now. More tomorrow, hopefully.

A Few Thoughts on B1

For the most part, I'm really enjoying readying through B1. It's nice to finally go through all of these modules with a fine tooth comb. I haven't gotten all the way through yet, but I'm going to go ahead and call it a night.

Most of these musing are campaign specific and subject to change, but since I've have broken several all time records for most blog visits these last few days, I'll take it that you guys are enjoying these posts.

- In my campaign Quasqueton hasn't just been abandoned for a few decades, but about two and a half centuries.

- Zelligar and Rogahn were heroes of the Ptolian Empire. Zelligar for creating the orcs (the module mentions orc slaves), which now inhabit the upper level of the cavern and Rogahn for leading the orcish army into battle. They lived before the corruption and fall of their beloved empire--in fact their action were directly related to to its decadence and later destruction.

- Zelligar is dead, but Rogahn yet lives. In his later days, Zelligar experimented much with immortality (the black cats that is seemingly dead and the fire beetles that have survived without substance). Rogahn was one of his only successful trials.

- The orcs that inhabit the Quasqueton are waring to keep control of the caverns with a local group of barbarians and the priests from B2, who are interested in Zelligar's research and information concerning the rise of the Ptolots. If they discover Rogahn lives in an immortal stasis, they'll want him as well.

- Zelligar's diary contains much information concerning the Ptolots and their rise in power.

- The library is not as useful and the module describes. It can be used to conduct magical research, so long as the magic-user possess the spell read magic. Base chance 35% for success plus 5% for ever magic-user level, minus 10% for each level of the spell being researched. Knowing the spell comprehend languages yields an additional 10% to the die roll.

Brainstorming for a New Campaign

With the school year coming to close here at OSU coming, most of my players will be heading off home or will be away at prestigious internships for the summer. Me? I'll be acting.

Rather than continue the current campaign with only half the players, I thought I would try something completely different.

So here's the plan. Public gaming. Sitting in the Memorial Union lounge for a few hours each week playing D&D and welcoming interested passersby to sit down and join. It'll be super relaxed and hopefully attract a large group of fluctuating players.

For rules I'll be using Basic D&D, either the Holmes or Moldvay edited versions. A simple game for casual gameplay. right now I'm leaning towards Moldvay, but I'm not ready to make any commitments till I reread them both.

As for the setting, I'll be taking B1: In Search of the Unknown, B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, B3: Palace of the Silver Princess, and B4: The Lost City and turning them into a mini-sandbox. I plan on adding some hints of inter-connectedness between some of modules, redrawing the wilderness maps to include all three modules, and fleshing out the additional sites included in B2 and B3.

I've actually never played any of these modules, so I'm looking forward to a good time and adding my own spin to them.

OD&D clerics and Zoroastrianism

History classes are great inspiration for roleplaying games. Today in the Ancient Near Easter History class, we talked about Zoroastrianism, the major religion in Persia during and after the reign of Darius the Great.

In OD&D, clerics are split between the forces of Law and Chaos. While for some time a cleric can remain undecided between the two, "Clerics of 7th level and greater are either "Law" or "Chaos", and there is a sharp distinction between them" (M&M p. 7).

While the clerics of OD&D were most likely meant to represent medieval orders of Christian knights (Gary himself was a practicing Christian and often inspired by his faith), I find Zoroastrianism a much better fit.

Zoroastrianism was [is] a dualistic religion, meaning that it was neither mono or polytheistic. There were two gods: Ahriman and Ahura-Mazda. Ahriman was the god of darkness while Ahura-Mazda the god of light. According to Zoroastrianism, these two beings are engaged in an epic cosmic conflict over the universe that is thought to last 12,000 (about 6,000 years from the present day).

Some of the minor, but defining features of Zoroastrianism beliefs are demons that were once gods, the resurrection of Ahura-Mazda, angels (of both Ahriman and Ahura-Mazda), and fire alters and the centers of religious worship, all of which fit quite well into the OD&D framework.

If you had to sum up Zoroastrian ethics with a single line from the Zend-Auestra (the sacred Zoroastrian text), that line would be "good thoughts; good works; good deeps."

What really strikes me is the cosmic battle between light and darkness, or, in OD&D terms, Law and Chaos. I also find that reverse spells fit very will into this paradigm.

The Known Worlds.

The last few days have been busy and hectic. Besides running my hinterlands game on saturday, I've mostly been working on refurbishing the house. While my landlord is chucking some good money my way, it's difficult to explain to him that yes, we do need to take out the entire wall because it's molded all the way through. The house is over 90 years old and still has the original wall paper in places and the bathroom was in desperate need of a fan. Next step: redo all of the kitchen countertops. That's be an interesting experience with 8 of us in the house needing to make dinner. I guess everyone will be eating out for the next couple of days.

When I haven't been wood- and tile-working, I've begun brainstorming a new setting. For now I'm just calling it The Known Worlds. Yes, I'm in desperate need of a better working title. It's definitely like nothing I've seen before on the blogosphere (I could be wrong though), so if you're looking for inspiration on your next weird fantasy or science fantasy setting, you've come to the right place.

The meet of campaign came from the e-mail exchange I had with Nate last week concerning deities. In a sentence, one could describe the known world as what happens when you take the disparity between Law and Chaos a little too far. Here's a brief description of the setting:

The Known Worlds

There are four Known Worlds: the World of Law, the World of Chaos, the World of Men, and the Underworld. In common speak, the World of Men in known as simply the World; the World of Chaos is often referred to the Delusion or the Nightmare; and more often than the World of Law is called the Machine or the Forge. All three worlds are collectively refereed to as the Worlds Above while the Underworld is sometimes called the World Below.

The World of Law, the World of Chaos, and the World of Men all share the same basic geography, as if each was laid over or superimposed up one another. If there is a hill in the World, that same hill will appear in the Machine and the Delusion. Likewise, where there is a city in the World, there is likely to be a castle or obelisk in the Machine and a hollow mushroom or hallucinogenic village in the Delusion.

In fact all, it can easily be said that the Worlds Above do share the same geography. It really is the exact same hill in the Nightmare, the Forge, and the World; the land itself is entirely separate from the contents of the Worlds Above. It is said that the Delusion, the Machine, and the World and merely separated by the Veil, a thin, supernatural barrier.

The Veil makes travel between the Worlds Above difficult. Only in places where the Veil is exceptionally thin or unstable can creatures move between them without assistance and even then, it is virtually impossible to travel from the Machine or the Nightmare and vice versa. It isn’t uncommon for creatures to accidently stumble into the Forge or the Nightmare with no prior warning—but they sure know it what they arrive.

The safest and more reliable way to move from one world to another is through a portal. A sprawling system of secret portals are scattered throughout the Known World. Many portals require the use of magic spells to activate and others require a keystone or password. No two portals are the same and no two portals lead to the same place. Unlike geography, where there is a portal in the Forge, there may not necessarily be one in the World or the Delusion. It is even said that some of these portals lead to completely alien realms outside of the Known World—although no one really knows for sure.

Below the Nightmare, the Forge, and the World, resides the Underworld. The Underworld is not the land of the dead, but a system of tunnels and caverns—more ancient than the first mine in the Machine and more dangerous and feared than the Nightmare. Few venture into the Underworld and even fewer crawl back out alive. What secrets the underworld may hold await the greedy or desperate hands of unfortunate dungeoneers. The easiest way to enter the Underground is through the ancient portals scattered throughout the Known Worlds, but some caves and tunnels can also lead unsuspecting adventurers into the Underworld.

The Nightmare, The Delusion

Governed by crazed and obsessive emotion, the World of Chaos is filled with hallucination, madness, terror, nostalgia, love, melancholy, innocence, and pure and uncorrupted joy. The Delusion is enough to drive any lucid mind into a spiral of unparalleled insanity.

Sprawling fields of mountainous mushrooms litter the landscape like forests. Swamps and marshes fill the air with hallucinogenic gasses and house some of the strangest and most bizarre creatures imaginable (although that could always be use fumes talking). Leathery skinned amphibians, monstrous insects, furious and sentient trees, all walk the hazy or luminous landscape of the Delusion.

Residing within the Nightmare is a being known only as the Opiate who is said to be as old as the Nightmare itself. Little is know about this mysterious figure except his existence, for he is so entirely insane that it is now impossible for him to expel coherent speech. Many believe that he is the living heart of the Delusion and the cause of its madness. Other says that the Opiate was merely the Nightmare’s first victim.

The Machine, The Forge

Where the Delusion is toppling over with crazed or obsessive emotion, in the Machine there is none. The Forge is heartless, mechanical, and unyielding. There is no art or love, only industry and progress.

Thick smog pollutes the air of the Forge. Only inside smooth metal structures can one truly breathe freely, and even then the air is sterile and void. Citizens of the machine, if they are not mechanical themselves where only armor for clothing and are in a constant state of productivity. No wildlife inhabits the barren wastelands of the Machine; it is world of men and metal and machines.

Heartless as the Machine itself, the Forge is rule by a mechanical man known only as the Overseer. He is the judge, jury, and supreme authority of the realm. Nothing gets done without his stamp of approval and nothing he commands remains incomplete for long. Without the Overseer the Machine would jitter and jam; he is the force that keeps the forge relentlessly active.

Monsters in Midgaurd

A couple of days ago, Blue Maru asked whether there would be monsters and magic in my viking campaign

Yes, there will be both magic and monsters the viking age, but neither will be as prevalent as in a normal D&D campaign. One of the reason I chose to work with Chainmail as the bases for my combat system is to de-D&Dize the mechanics and, hopefully, some of the underlying assumptions of the game. But Anyway, Blue Maru, you asked about monsters and maqgic. Well, I'll cover monsters today and magic in a day or two.

I have plans for a number of monsters appearing in the campaign. The most prominent of those are elves, dwarves, giants, ghosts, faeries, and, of course, dragons. Note that I have added my own additions and subtraction to these creatures, and these representations are not mythologically accurate accounts of Norse mythology.

Elves: The spirits men who have made exceptionally great or terrible achievements in life may rematerialize as elves after their death and endowed magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of men. There are two types of elves, light elves, who where heroes of men and live in Álfheim, and dark elves, who were the bane of men and reside in the cavernous realm of Svartalfheim, deep under the earth--fearful of the sun's rays. Elves retain their past personalities and skills as they pass

Dwarves: Dwarves are skilled craftsmen, and most of their magic involves labour, craftsmanship, and metallurgy. In their underground mountain hall, Nidavellir, dwarves make the treasures of the gods (such as Thor's hammer) and hold a repository of secret wisdom. They live under the earth, away from light, because sunlight causes them to turn to stone. As a people, dwarves are stubborn and easily offended.

Giants: Giants are characterized by their hideous size, superhuman strength, and are often act in opposition to the gods. Although most gaints appear as oversized men, some giants sport claws, fangs, and deformed features, such as having two heads. Unlike the average D&D giant, some are extremely wise and knowledgeable; others are dumber than rocks.

Ghosts: Ghosts of dead people. Some dead people, not content to lie in their grave mounds, live on after death. Usually, these are people who committed an evil deed during their life. The ghosts return to harass the living, causing illness, insanity, and death. The only way to force a ghost to move on to the afterlife, is to fulfill the dreams and desires that they had in life or to strike them with a magical sword.

Faeries: Spirits of nature, faeries reside outside the realm of good and evil; they are tricksters of the purist sort, playing games with mortals that pass into their dominion. Faeries are sometimes attached to particular families or natural landmarks and will use their menacing games to harass the families enemies or intruders of the land.

Dragons: These great, winged lizards make their homes in cavernous lairs where they amass knowledge and treasure stolen from men, elves, dwarves, and giants. It is said that the dragon's fiery breath can slay the mightiest of giants and melt the strongest metals.

Bloody Battles of Northern Barbarians Clashing Swords and Axes with Pious Mainlanders

Over the last six month, my thought of running a viking age campaign have been growing. Stuck in the back of my skull, festering and awaiting the day to be let out and fully realized. That day has not come, but hopefully it is on its way. With the summer coming and a couple members of our group flying off for the holiday, I have been becoming more and more hopeful that an opportunity will present itself. My imagination yearns for raging tempests, bloody battles of northern barbarians clashing swords and axes with pious mainlanders, smoke from feasts after the return of a successful raid.

In my free moments over the last couple days, I've been researching choice bits of information regarding the viking age. Thus far, I've come across two key sources that are both expansive enough to provide enough data to base my endeavor on and are concise enough not to be overwhelming: BBC: The Ancient History of Vikings and Hurstwic, a loosely affiliated group based in New England with an interest in the societies and peoples who lived in Northern Europe during the Viking age.

This doesn't mean I'm going to try and make every detail historically accurate, just that I want to have some idea about what the 8th to 12th century Scandinavian world was like. This is a game not a History Channel special feature.

I've decided to start the campaign in a mid-size viking village ruled over by a young and fervorous king (I reserve the right to make up words on my own blog). The King is demanding taxes to fun a military campaign against the mainlanders with the intention to raid, conquer, and ultimately colonize. The village that the player character live in, however, does not have the funds to pay what the king demands. The village must figure out how to raise the demanded fund (raiding the mainland, making a deal with the dwarves to work their mines), face the wrath and might of the King (fortify the town and hope for the best), or make their way to the mainland and establish a village outside of the King's domain. The decision will ultimately be in the hands of the player characters with a few choice NPCs thrown in to play devil's advocate.

The situation above will only the beginning and will, hopefully, creating a starting point for exploration of a Midguardian sandbox adventure. What do you all think?