Beneath the Screen

RPG Solitaire Challenge: Newsquest & The Librarian

2011-01-05T16:04:00.004-05:00

*Blows the dust off of the blog*

My word, that's better.

Hello there, my lovely readers. Long time, no talk. Where to begin.

Point the first: I have been off the RPG blogging radar for over a year for quite a few reasons, but the primary one is that Beneath the Screen is, sometime in the next few months (if all goes according to plan) going to undergo a complete and total overhaul. A new name, a new look, a new host, and all sorts of wonderful things like that. It's very exciting and I have a lot of new ideas that will be cropping up. So keep an eye out if you've liked my blogging in the past, and you will undoubtedly see more in the future.

Point the second: What brings me back on this new year is a little something called the RPG Solitaire Challenge. Though I don't write all too often and am only involved in the RPG blogging community in a small sense these days, I do still keep up to date on some of the more exciting things going on. This grabbed my attention RIGHT away because I love designing games. I love it, love it, love it. So, over the next week I will be refining TWO games - yes that's right, I'm crazy - for submission into this fine contest. The basic summaries and teasers are below, with more refined rules to come. Let the advice and suggestions start fellow competitors! I'd love to hear what anyone and everyone thinks.

Newsquest

(Evan's "The Stuff In Your Domicile" Challenge)

Newsquest is simple enough. It's a solitary roleplaying game played with two items (at least to begin): a pencil, and the morning paper. Players pick an article and pick out words that will become their Allies and Challenges. The length of words defines their strength, and if all the Challenges can be overcome, the player gains a certain amount of Script (functions like experience points) which can be spent to create new words they have in their arsenal, such as weapons or spells. Reading the news has never been so fun! Just a warning however. With all the markings, colors, drawings, and nonsensical doodling this game will inspire all over your newspaper, I highly suggest you let your family read the paper first.

The Librarian

(Working Title. Robert's "Unlonely Your Fun" and Epidah's "The Sharing" Challenges)

The Library is massive. Impossibly massive. But it's yours. The dungeon's been crawled, and the monsters defeated. The scroll is yours. The scroll is... somewhere. In this library. This impossibly massive library.

Crap.

That's where The Librarian comes in. A quirky young construct with an old brass key, or perhaps a flitting magical beetle with tiny runes carved upon it. Whatever guise your Librarian takes, he has one purpose, and one alone. To serve the researchers.

The Librarian is a simple enough game that can tie in beautifully to any fantasy roleplaying game. What it introduces is a semi-intelligent NPC of sorts in your game who is able to take research requests from your party, and seek out the knowledge they seek. But the research takes time (since you'll be the one writing it), so you have until next session to prepare. In that time between sessions, as the Librarian scurries away to the great Library, he will have many challenges to overcome in it's bookshelf-lined walls. This game carries the mechanics for you to run a short solitary RPG for this lovable young robot as he scurries about to fulfill his master's wishes. How the game falls out will directly influence what kind of handouts or information you prepare for your players. This game is intended to introduce a fun NPC into your games, make the preparation of creating write-ups for your players new and exciting, and to create products that can stand alone as pieces of fiction, poetry, or cartography. This game is best suited for storytellers who enjoy writing, drawing, or creating handouts for their players, but like to have a little fun on the side.

More details to come, stay tuned!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #2

2009-09-23T22:27:00.001-04:00

Alright. Long story short - I love RPGs and Cartoons. Let's get right to the countdown. So far here's what we've got:

5. Avatar the Last Airbender
4. Danny Phantom
3. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

Onwards we go...

#2 - Recess

"This film takes place at an adventurous elementary school. Among the elementary school faculty is the sleazy principal (Prickly), the tough playground guard (Finster), and the nice 4th grade teacher (Grotkey). The six main cast members are T.J.,the leader and schemer of the group; Spinelli, the girl who is a bully with a heart of gold; Vince, the playground jock; Gretchen, the science whiz and smartest girl in school; Mikey, the poetic drama king; and Gus, the wimp with a military family. Then there are plenty of other typical elementary school kids, like the spy Randall, the 4 Ashley snobs, the diggers, the kindergardeners, etc., and including the older kids like King Bob. Everyday the group hangs out at recess dealing with different problems they must work together to overcome."
- Anonymous

What Makes It Awesome?

I know, I know, another school based game. Blah, blah. But seriously, the world that Recess provides is awesome, and totally worthy of immortalization in RPG form. Lets break it down.

If you've seen the show, the main characters basically fill out a balanced adventuring party. You've got the leader, the nerd, the punk, the romantic, the jock and so on... And yet, they come together despite their diverse backgrounds to overcome challenges and be best friends. Sound a little like your gaming group's last session?

The big reason this game would work so well is it's parallels to D&D games already. In addition to the "classes" your character could fill, based in their role in the school yard - statistics like popularity, intelligence, athleticism and charm play a big part of this series and could easily be translated into a tabletop game's rules system.

The general basis of this show is to get the most out of every recess, whether it's participating in the various strange rituals of the playground, to battling older students for authority, to simply trying to cause trouble without getting caught. Players could be presented with a variety of tasks to complete, and much like in the Mouse Guard vein, they could be presented with a series of challenges opposing them. Depending on how they respond to the challenges they may either succeed or fail, presenting new challenges as a result.

The greatest part of Recess however, is simply this. The world of the playground is much more expansive than you might think, with a fleshed out culture, several factions, ancient rituals and traditions, and a government of it's own to boot!

A Snapshot: The World

The playground is a massive collection of varying factions and a self-sustaining government with customs and traditions that kids of the playground are expected to know. As such, the playground is populated with people who can aid with a variety of tasks, or who should be avoided at all costs. Here are some examples:

The King of the Playground (King Bob) - The playground exists as a monarchy, with the King attended by his personal aides, wielding the power to create or destroy traditions or decrees within the playground which then become law. The King is also a judge in all disciplinary issues or matters between two students who need a judge. In the show, King Bob is the ruler of the Third Street playground and the former prankster prince, whose throne sits atop the jungle gym. He is one of the school's older students (he is in the sixth grade). Bob is regularly depicted with a number "8" hockey jersey, and carries a hockey stick as a scepter. He is the individual with the most power on the playground and all bow to his commands.

The Ashleys - The prissiest members of the playground are the collection of all the girls named Ashley, a name which by some right sets them on a higher pedestal then the rest of the playground. As such, they also hold a bit of power, in addition to their own private clubhouse. They are fountains of gossip and generally good targets to go to for information.

The Kindergartners - Making up their own unique group among the students, the kindergartners live as uncivilized, and even dangerous, little urchins that wear face paint, carry tribal weapons, and harass the older children. They are uncontrollable and do not abide by the laws of the playground - sectioned off in their own private area with their own King. When they get loose however... dangerous things can happen.

And it doesn't end there. There are dozens of personalities on the playground. Each known for their specialties:

Randall C. Weems - Randall is the resident snitch of the playground. He is at the beck and call of the assistant teacher, who rewards him with various confiscated items and cookies.

Theresa "Cornchip Girl" LaMaise - Cornchip Girl is a sweet and loving girl who always thinks of other people and also gives people lots of useful advice.

Sam and Dave the Diggers - Two boys who enjoy digging holes.

Swinger Girl - A girl (voiced by Francesca Smith) who likes to play on the swings every recess. She wears her trademark pilot's outfit.

Upside Down Girl - A girl who hangs upside down on the monkey bars every recess. As a result, her pigtails always stand up.

The Hustler Kid - Francis, the Hustler Kid, is a kid that offers the children of the playground trivial toys and food, often discreetly.

Guru Kid - A boy who offers Buddha-like wisdom to kids who seek his advice. He wears a pair of striped shorts and his shirt on his head as a turban.

And my favorite...

Knarf - The nerd who usually hangs out in the school basement during recess with his three nerdy friends playing RPG games, reading comic books, and collecting trading cards.

Why Number 2?

Recess is already well on it's way towards being an RPG. There is enough just in the cartoon series to easily craft rules, a class system, and a full map of the playground and school. It would be a fun game for a couple reasons.

First, you get to be a kid again and use kid logic to solve problems. Second, the big problem is how can I get the most out of recess? Is there a nobler task? This game, as would most of these cartoon RPGs, would function best for one-shotish sessions, rather then ongoing campaigns, but I feel like it would be a blast.

This cartoon comes it at number 3 because I can already imagine playing this game, and it's not all that big a task to undertake to write up a small rulebook to make playing it a possibility. Plus, I loved recess when I was a kid - both the cartoon and the actual thing. I wish my playground was like this series!

Watch the opening below, and you can get a good idea for everything I've talked about here. If you get a chance, go watch an episode!

Stick around for #1 on the horizon!

Classy D&D Beverages (and stormtroopers)

2009-09-17T23:59:00.004-04:00

I don't usually just like to give a shout out towards a funny link or video that I've found, but this is too good to be true. Want to show up all your fellow gamers at your next D&D session? Show up and throw some of these in the fridge. Maybe your DM will give you an XP bonus if you give him one, you never know!

http://www.myjones.com/code/limited.php?campaign=wizards

Has anyone tried these? Tasty? Horrible? Let me know!

Also, an extra video for your viewing pleasure...

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #3

2009-09-16T21:38:00.003-04:00

As discussed a little while back, I have an unhealthy addiction to both cartoons and RPGS. Blending my two passions, I have produced a fun little countdown for Beneath the Screen as I list the top 5 cartoons that I think could be turned into fun RPGs!

First I discussed Avatar: The Last Airbender, ranking it lowest primarily because of it's likeness to some other games out there, and it being an obvious choice. Next I discussed Danny Phantom, a fun ghost-based game where young surly teenagers go ghost hunting and interact with a variety of strange villains.

Onwards we go...

#3 - Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

"The plots revolved around three roommates/students that just happened to be monsters. You had Ickis, a monster struggling to be half the legend his father was, Krumm, a smelly and hairy little guy that carried around his own eyeballs, and my personal favorite, Oblina. She was the nerd and over-achiever of the group. The monsters studying at the observatory had to remain hidden to humans unless completing their homework by scaring them. They then reported their actions to the Gromble (the teacher of the school, and the first cross-dressing cartoon character I have ever seen) and were graded on how they assessed the situation.

Unfortunately, Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm were always suffering some sort of mishap."

- sjbursich

What Makes It Awesome?

Calling for unique challenges, widely diverse characters, strange powers, and intense creativity, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters rolls in at number three in the countdown.

I mean... think about it.

You get to play a monster. Normally you fight monster. Here, you get to PLAY the bad guy! Everyone always wants to try their hand at being eeeeeevil, but now you have a reason, homework!

This show circles around a "scare" school, where homework assignments include scaring various humans in specific ways (Think Monsters Inc). Along the way, the students run into a large number of problems, usually stemming from the fact that they're not supposed to be seen by humans unless they're actually scaring. Tie that with all of the fun monster school drama, and you have the makings of some pretty awesome game sessions.

A Snapshot: Plot Hook

The dull sound of tired conversation and silverware on ceramic filled the small diner as the roar of the midnight train rolled by on the nearby tracks. A ding from the kitchen sent Bernice into a one-eighty spin as she shuffled back to pick up the order. As she picked up the plate of pie, the angelic ringing of the door's trio of bells indicated a new customer entering, to which Bernice turned with a smile. "Welcome to Be-" The woman stopped, as no one new seemed to enter at all. Someone must have left, she thought - shrugging it off looking for the now empty table.

As she laid the pie down, a blood-curdling scream rang out from the kitchen. Turning on her heels Bernice ran into the kitchen as the lights flickers. That's when she saw it, and the entire diner erupted into utter terrifying chaos.

A group of particularly nasty monsters unaffiliated with the school have been making a series of scares in a nearby neighborhood with no regard for how many humans see them, and in many cases actually harming those they attack. In this adventure, our monsters must locate the rogue monsters and keep their activities quiet, while trying to scare some sense into them.

Why Number 3?

I love Aaahh!!! Real Monsters because it can be played in a few ways. One of which being a sort of light-hearted, childish manner. One of which being a more Hunter fashion where setting up and executing scares is all about forward planning, staking out your foe, and executing everything flawlessly. And the final of which being in a World of Darkness horror genre type setting, where you are the things that go bump in the night, but there are other dangerous things out there as well.

This game gives the players a chance to combat enemy monsters, plan and puzzle out complex scare assaults, and try to achieve a large number of goals all at once. It is far from typical and has the makings of a great game.

Stick around for #2 next week!

Altered Posting Schedule

2009-09-15T18:09:00.002-04:00

Some of your may have noticed a slow in my posting schedule as of late. To tackle this issue, I am introducing a temporarily shortened posting schedule. For a little while, Beneath the Screen will be posting on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This is for a few reasons.

1. Job Hunting - Most of my time is spent these days just trying to find a job. I'm trying to move down to Boston but it's still a terrible job market, even in such a big city. Similarly, I'm also trying to wrangle myself an apartment. All of this searching is eating up a lot of time, as it should because it's important that I find employment.

2. LARP Season - As many of you know, I'm an avid LARPer. I am in the middle of LARP season right now, and will be until Halloween. This means that I'm gone from Friday night to Sunday afternoon every weekend. Typically, I need a good portion of Friday (and sometimes Thursday) to prepare for the weekend, and all of Monday to recover.

3. NO GAMES! - I'm not actually RPing right now. My summer tabletop group broke off to go back to college, and my online groups are running slowly. Normally, after a tabletop or IM game I have lots of things to write about, prompted by the session. Not having any games to play has made coming up with ideas a little harder so I've found I don't have as much to write about.

So, stick with me, and swing by Tuesdays to Thursdays each week. Also, if you happen to have an IM/Chat game I can join, or a job in your company I can apply for, please let me know!

Keeping Secrets at the Table

2009-08-31T13:00:00.007-04:00

The Dungeon Master's jaw rested very comfortably on the floor as he stared down at his notes - eyes wide. "The... the dragon... dies?"

Cheers erupted from the table.

"Success!"
"Huzzah!"
"For the Mountain Dew!"

The Dungeon Master however, was not impressed. Sifting through his stack of papers he found the photocopies of our character sheets and made some quick references. "Wait a second. How did you beat the dragon's grapple checks? That's impossible with your modifier!"

We all looked to the victorious warrior who leaned back, a slick grin on his victorious face.

"Remember the minor Shadow Ring artifact we found in the Citadel of Midnight? You said it had the ability to change into any one magical ring. Well, I changed it into a Ring of Freedom of Movement before the battle. Pretty smart huh? See, I wrote it on my sheet!"

"Smart?" Wisps of steam rose from the pink-faced Dungeon Master's ears. "You didn't tell me you had Freedom of Movement cast! You just said you beat his grapple checks!"

"Well, the dragon wouldn't have known about the ring or it's effects on me. I knew if it couldn't grapple me the first time it would get frustrated and - not being able to take defeat well - would keep trying and waste all of it's rounds."

"I can deal with what the dragon knows. As the Dungeon Master though, I need to know what your character has for abilities and items! That's why I made copies of your sheets! How can I run a fun and challenging game for you all without knowing what will actually challenge your characters?"

"If you run your challenges based on what we can do, then what benefit is there for getting more powerful and coming up with unique strategies? You'll have an answer for every attack!"

*Cue fight music*

- - -

Secrets at the table. Good idea? Bad idea?

You Can Never Know Everything

Any good DM knows that even if they know the ins and outs of their player's character sheets, they could never know everything about a character. Some players assume that when a DM has a copy of their sheet, they lose all chances to do something which surprises the DM, but they must realize that a DM can never account for imagination and creativity.

Players, you still hold the power! So, if your DM wants copies of your sheets, try not to worry TOO much.

DMs, please remember that you can't control what the players do. Just because you have their stats doesn't mean you know everything they're going to throw at you. Even if you think you can predict your player's movements to a T, don't rely on it, lest your carefully planned campaign de-rails a little and you find yourself uttering those words no DM should ever utter.

How Much Fun Is "Challenging"?

Challenging is an interesting word. I don't think anyone, player or DM would say that they wanted a simple, non-challenging campaign. An easy campaign is just no fun. Sure, having the occasional encounter where the heroes simply stomp the enemies can be fun, but overall a campaign should be challenging.

But how do you make a campaign or encounter challenging?

Is it simply by sending boatloads of monsters at your PCs, or launching something several levels higher than them onto the grid?

One of the best ways to make an encounter challenging is to tailor a monster specifically to battle the group. If the group is seriously lacking in aerial attack power, throw something with wings at them. Take down your party's pyromancer with a monster immune to fire! Yes, this is challenging... but is it fun?

One of the big reasons DMs may keep careful tabs on their players is to tailor encounters to be "challenging" for them, but TREAD SOFTLY DMs! If you take away all of their favorite toys, your players may close down and stop having fun. As soon as a player feels "useless" in a battle, you've hit a major problem.

Tip: If you want to keep a challenging battle fun, rather than make your character's abilities useless, force them to come up with new and creative ways to use their abilities. Puzzle bosses are a great example of how you might incorporate this idea.

An Unfortunate Reality

One benefit of transparency is that it takes a big stab at cheating. Players can't change their skill points, or their prepared spells, or their eye-color mid-campaign. The other edge of this sword is that a call for transparency unfortunately does imply at least in some small way that a DM wants to keep tabs on their players.

Is that so bad?

Well, it can put pressure on the DM/Player relationship, even though it does help to keep everyone at the table honest.

Obviously this aspect of transparency at the table should be addressed in an individual group-to-group manner. Only you know what will work best for your group, and how trustworthy your players are to not fudge their sheets. In an ideal world, no D&D player would ever cheat, and in many groups it never happens.

Every so often though, there are players who make an attentive DM raise their eyebrows. I've sadly seen this more often than I'd like in my time as a DM.

Final Verdict?

The question of whether or not players should be able to keep secrets from their DMs is one I've dealt with in many of my gaming groups and really should be solved on a case-by-case basis. What will work best for your group? What will maintain levels of fun and a healthy degree of challenge?

A DM's expectations of transparency should be laid out at the beginning of a campaign (don't hold your players to high expectations that you've never explained), and players should work with their DM rather than against them.

In the end, it's up to you! It's true that "secrets, secrets are no fun", but sometimes they're the best things ever.

Anthology of RPG Blogs: PDF now available!

2009-08-28T22:36:00.007-04:00

I never talked about Open Game Table - The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1, and I'm not really sure why. For those of you who don't know, it's a collection of some of the finest RPG blog articles of 2008, from a variety of both prominent and lesser-known RPG bloggers out there. From ChattyDM, to Unclebear, to yours truly!

I actually got two of my articles from last year published. Even though none of the writers were paid it was the first time I've ever gotten an RPG article published... so that's pretty awesome.

There are tons of articles in there! The hardcopy is really nice, which you can purchase from Amazon, but if you want a digital copy with easily printable articles and a searchable PDF format, go pick up your copy today from RPGNOW!

Lessons from LARPing: Delaying Death

2009-08-26T22:45:00.001-04:00

Every so often, LARPing teaches me a little something that I can bring right to the table (if you don't know what LARPing is, read this post!). This little lesson deals with killing off characters - a topic I discussed not too long ago.

So, a character dies. Always an icky business. You're looking down behind your DM screen and see the natural 20. You glance at your notes - they have twenty hit points left. You look at the stat block of the goblin - x4 multiplier. You roll again... another 20. The time has come (the walrus said) to make a decision.

Do you fudge the roll?

Do you go ahead and kill off a character?

But, this is a GOBLIN! A random encounter gone horribly wrong!

What if you just gave this critical... a raincheck?

Sometimes, the random encounters can get out of hand. Even the planned ones can! PC's can die at the worst possible moments, when it would completely disrupt the flow of the game, at the hands of a minor and nameless foe, or in any one of another one hundred inconvenient ways.

Fudging the dice to make your PCs invincible can be lame, and can remove the fear of death from your campaign which can make things hard on all fronts.

So, fudge the dice for now, but that PC has died, and sooner rather then later (Final Destination style) that character's going to die - though in a much more epic way. Add in extra damage when the PC faces the next boss, or add a deadly trap to an important plot hook around the next corner.

You can postpone death to a point when the other players (and you) will be able to give the death the attention it deserves, and feel like the PC didn't die for no reason. If you're playing a game where there's no coming back from death, this could be especially effective.

Delaying a death hinges on one big thing though - not telling your players. It can cheapen the initial battle, and make them angry about the second death, even if you were doing it for them.

Keep it to yourself, and don't forget about it! Writing yourself a little "I.O.U. One Death" post-it to remind you later doesn't hurt!

Here we go a'LARPing!

2009-08-21T17:35:00.002-04:00

Don't wait up!

See you Monday!

The Bloggin' Mood

2009-08-19T22:50:00.003-04:00

Not in the bloggin' mood today. So, for your amusement, if any of you don't read Penny Arcade out there, the most recent strip they put up reminded me humorously of some of the more angry looks I've gotten from players whose characters I've killed in the past. Check it out!

If you're looking for a fun gaming web-comic, Penny Arcade is worth checking out!

As a side note, this particular strip is a follow-up to a rather ridiculous, but unfortunate article from a few days ago. Apparently, attitudes went sour when D&D gamers were fighting over a girl, or something like that... I didn't read far because it must be fake. I mean seriously, gamers with girlfriends? Preposterous! (I'm joking of course, but I am a single gamer so I'm allowed to make such jokes!)

Anyways, if you want to read the whole article, it's here!

Contests, Contests, Contests!

2009-08-13T20:55:00.005-04:00

I'm off to LARP for the weekend, but in the meantime make sure to check out all the contests going on around the blogosphere:

Chatty DM: Yes! Please tell me about your PC... on Twitter

Roleplaying Pro: Game Fuel Contest – Win Free Stuff!

Mikes Mind: Win DM's Tracker for the iPhone

So, while I'm gone, go win stuff!

Double Post Day!

2009-08-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

As much as I hate to take a break from my fun Cartoon Countdown that's begun this week, I did want to take a day out of my normal posts because I don't think I could handle three posts in one day.

Today (interestingly enough, the one year anniversary of my first ever guest post on the blogosphere - Extreme Makeover: Tavern Edition - over at Musings of the Chatty DM), I am proud to be authoring both a guest post over at Chatty DM's blog and my most recent work over at Nevermet Press.

ChattyDM - Adventurers Anonymous: My post over at Musings of the ChattyDM today deals with what it means to be an Adventurer, both in general, and in the grand scheme of your campaign world. It approaches a handful of potential prejudices the commoners of your village/town/setting/world may hold towards members of the adventuring profession, and is an altogether hilarious article so GO CHECK IT OUT!

Nevermet Press - Bastion of the Hidden Kingdom: My post over at NMP is continuing their series with the villain Brother Ptolemy. I've outlined the villain's big spooky sanctum and even drew up the map for the post as well. I actually did some research into French Victorian Manor Houses for the design, and think it turned out quite well. So you can go and check that out too!

Alright, so this is indeed kind of a cop-out in terms of a post, but I hope my other two posts will keep you all entertained until we hit #3 of the Countdown!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #4

2009-08-11T11:00:00.007-04:00

As discussed in yesterday's post, I have an unhealthy addiction to both cartoons and RPGS. Blending my two passions, I have produced a fun little countdown for Beneath the Screen as I list the top 5 cartoons that I think could be turned into fun RPGs!

Yesterday I discussed Avatar: The Last Airbender, ranking it lowest primarily because of it's likeness to some other games out there, and it being an obvious choice. I hope these remaining four choices will catch you all a little off-guard!

So, without further ado...

#4 - Danny Phantom

"Action-packed adventures of Danny Fenton, who straddles two worlds as a shy freshman at Casper High and a heroic phantom-fighter with ghostly superpowers. With his best friends, techno-geek Tucker and free-thinking Goth girl Sam, he thwarts the misdeeds of menacing ghosts; and stumbles through daily social hurdles."

- Anonymous

What Makes It Awesome?

Danny Phantom is great because it's a superhero game with a unique (ghost, specifically) twist. Since Ghostwalk came out and the idea of playing a ghost actually became a possibility it got me pumped.

One of the best parts of Danny Phantom is the awesome villains you have the potential for. You've got full ghosts, half-ghosts, and ghost hunters, each of which can come in all shapes and sizes.

The main reason I love the potential of Danny Phantom as an RPG is because of the hilarious grouping of ghosts you can throw at your players. There are runty little ghosts that basic combat can take care of, puzzle ghosts who can be destroyed by figuring out what makes them tick and dealing with it, and then of course really powerful villains who never quite can be destroyed.

Another great thing Danny Phantom has going for it is the wide spectrum of character concepts. It would be played in a modern setting, and players could take the roles of half-ghosts, full ghosts, ghost hunters, computer whizzes, or any other variation of average joe who takes up the mantle of battling evil ghosts.

There are many options for unique adventures and challenges in this game, from ghost hunting, to protecting innocents, to evading the public eye. Obviously a party with ghost-members has a lot to worry about in terms of staying hidden amongst the normal populace, which can create some interesting plots and challenges.

From entire towns being hypnotized by ghostly music, to neighborhoods vanishing one by one as they join a ghostly pirate crew, to a massive underground scientific organization opening a ghost portal and using ghosts for their own gains, there are hundreds of potential adventures that your heroes could embark on.

Similarly, this game would include pretty awesome opportunities for playing evil ghosts - sneaking onto the mortal plane and causing chaos while avoiding ghost hunters and do-gooding ghost folk.

Lots of fun opportunities.

A Snapshot: Villains

Here are some of my favorite villains taken from the TV series, to give some ideas of villains that are possible in this system.

Ember McLain: Ember McLain is a hard rocking ghost girl who feeds off the idol worship in teenagers. Ember's appearance, song, and character in general, portrays her as a ghostly embodiment of teenage rebellion and disobedience to authority figures.

Skulker: Skulker is the predator ghost hunter who hunts down rare and unique things, and sets his sights on half-ghosts, unique humans or creatures, and rare artifacts. Skulker is actually a small ghost blob who wears a large battle suit.

Youngblood: Youngblood is portrayed as a child who plays Dress-Up as a game. He has an assistant, a skeleton-like shapeshifter who takes the form of animals who go along with these characters (when Youngblood is a pirate his shapeshifter is a parrot, or a horse when Youngblood is a cowboy)

Vortex: Vortex is a century-old ghost with the power to control the weather. He finds the earth to be a meaningless planet, and has wrought havoc on the earth throughout the ages. Vortex is a ghost of large stature. He wears metallic armor on his torso and, rather than having legs, his lower half mimics a tornado. A lightning-shaped "V" crosses his right shoulder and comes to a point at his chest. His most notable detail is his constant, mid-sentence wheezing.

Pariah Dark: Pariah Dark is the King of all Ghosts, with control of the powerful Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. While wearing both of these items, Pariah Dark has near limitless power. He commands the Fright Knight as well as an army of Skeletal ghosts. Very powerful foe, but more interested in becoming king than defeating his enemies.

And my favorite...

Box Ghost: The Box Ghost has the standard ghost powers of intangibility, invisibility, and flight. Most importantly, he has the ability to control boxes, and to empty the items inside. Later versions in the series of Box Ghost also have the ability to control bubble wrap and the power to create energy cubes out of thin air. Box Ghost's goal is to find Pandora's Box, with which he temporarily gains unlimited evil power, rendering him unstoppable.

(Villain info taken from the Danny Phantom Wiki)

Why Number 4?

The idea of fighting ghosts has always appealed to me (one of the reasons I'm the only one in my White Wolf group who actually really wants to play a Hunter game).

One of the big reasons that Danny Phantom is great though, as I've said, is the wide expanse of villains, challenges, and encounters you can have. On top of ghosts invading the mortal realm, the Ghost Realm itself holds an entirely new world to explore.

The greatness of a Danny Phantom game really comes forth in the fact that the sky is the limit in terms of encounters. The downside is that most of the action comes in the form of combat encounters, and will pretty much always be fighting ghosts - regardless of how unique each individual enemy may be.

A much more unique setting in terms of RPGs then Avatar, Danny Phantom's game play could wind up being somewhat limited or repetitive in terms of encounters and abilities (unless you have a really creative GM). The sheer potential for creativity is huge, but not quite as huge as the cartoon which falls in at #3.

Stay tuned, the final three may surprise you!

Top 5 Cartoons That Should Be RPGs - #5

2009-08-10T09:05:00.008-04:00

It's Saturday morning. You crawl out of bed at ten without an alarm clock and take a breath of that fresh weekend air. Time to put on your favorite Cthulu slippers, grab a bowl of Sugar Frosted Sugar Lumps cereal, and sink into your couch in front of your favorite
Saturday morning ~~cartoons~~ RPG!

Inspired by some of the great "someone turn this into an RPG please!" posts I've seen over at the RPG Blogger's Network I thought I'd throw some of my own RPG dreams out there, building a huge past time of mine - cartoons.

Not sure why I'm such a huge fan of cartoons, but twenty two years young and I'm still hooked on my Saturday morning sugar cereal and animated antics. Combined with my love of RPGs I threw together this little list I'll be delving into for the next week or so.

So, here we go. Five cartoons that should be made into RPGs.

Starting with...

#5 - Avatar the Last Airbender

"When the hostile Fire Nation threatens to enslave the Water, Earth, and Air Nations, a reluctant and irresponsible boy must face his destiny as the Avatar, the Chosen One who can restore the world order. This new animated series centers on twelve-year-old Aang, who must forgo his selfish wandering to learn to master his latent powers over the four elements. Only then can he conquer the Firebenders, the evil magi who threaten the world."

- Sara Stern Levin, Nickelodeon

What Makes It Awesome?

Avatar: The Last Airbender has a lot of good things going for it.

Firstly, Avatar is set in a well developed world, with lore and culture all it's own. Comets and stars, as well as the changing seasons and the yearly solstices, all have a significant impact on the world. The world believes in spirits (with powerful beings being able to travel into the spirit realm) and sometimes even see spirits made flesh. And the world is rich with secret organizations such as the White Lotus, and unique games such as Pai Sho.

Secondly, the potential build of characters could be very interesting. Benders must gain training to increase in their skills, encouraging them to travel all around the world to learn from masters. The world itself is full of strange creatures and unique challenges the players could match themselves against - using not only bending powers, but creativity, physical skill, and philosophical minds.

Thirdly, the setting is fantastic. A world divided, locked in a neverending war. And ever since Oriental Adventures was released for D&D, I've loved Oriental settings, which I think Avatar alludes nicely to with it's roots in martial arts.

A Snapshot: Character Classes

Airbender: Harnessing the power of air; quick movement, and even flight are at your disposal. Airbenders are spiritual, often pacifistic, nomads. Their skills are used for defense, dexterity, and unique movement on the battlefield - as well as disarming and inconveniencing their opponents.

Earthbender: Earthbenders are proud, strong, and sometimes stubborn people. Earthbenders are decisive and sure footed. Though they may be the slowest among the benders, they pack more strength behind each individual attack then any other bender. Great architects and builders, Earthbenders are as long-lasting and stalwart as the structures and cities they have raised in their kingdom.

Waterbender: With the powers of water and healing at their side, Waterbenders are powerful enemies and even more hardy friends. Flowing and graceful in their art, Waterbenders are at one with the spirit of the moon and the ebb and flow of the world around them. Talented at both defense and offense, tied with their ability for healing, Waterbenders are balanced and kind characters.

Firebender: The power of fire is harsh and quick. Firebenders are quick, deadly, and confident - not allowing any defense to stand in their way. Fast to act, Firebenders draw their power from the sun and - while they can utilize some defensive maneuvers, are best trained for their deadly offensive skills.

Scholar: While not everyone's a Bender, the knowledge Scholars possess of the world, the stars, and the many myths that circle the four kingdoms speak their own power. Seeking ancient ruins, forgotten libraries, and the shadowy history of the world, a scholar can be a fast companion - inquisitive and trained in many unique skills, including the use of ancient relics and scrolls.

Inventor: Some are content to study the past, but Inventors look to the future. Masters of creation, Inventors aren't Benders, but seek to emulate their abilities with everything from flying machines to grenades to firearms and much, much more. Some inventors are always traveling, looking for inspiration and studying the strange creations of distant nations while developing their own machines. An Inventor is a grab bag of usefulness, often coming up with the perfect tool when you need it the most.

Soldier: Whether a trained Fire Nation soldier, an Earth Tribe warrior, or a Water Nation barbarian, Soldiers may lack the skill for Bending but are skilled in the art of battle and war. There are many groups of trained warriors and mercenaries all across the four nations, each with their own unique style of combat. A talented warrior can be the greatest benefit to any group of travelers. Where Bending may fail, swords are always a good Plan B.

Why Number 5?

I partially ranked Avatar at the bottom of the list because it's so obvious! Anyone who's seen this show has probably thought of how much fun it would be to take on the role of an Earthbender or Firebender. The rest of the list consists of much more unexpected choices, which ranks them a little higher in my book simply because of how unique they are and how fresh the game would be.

In the end, Avatar - while it would be a unique take on a fantasy-like setting - winds up being not too different from some other games out there. Also, the choices for characters seem like they could be fairly limited (since everyone would obviously want to play a Bender).

Altogether though, Avatar would fit well into a tabletop game and I'd love to see it. From the deep culture and lore that's already been written for the series, to the clearly defined character concepts, to the oriental setting which always makes me smile.

Dibs on being the Earthbender!

To learn more about Avatar, check out the Avatar Wiki!

Real Life Headlines - Big Brother Plot Hook

2009-08-07T02:16:00.006-04:00

An Orson Wells dream come to life, the UK is coming forth with privacy invasion that you only though possible in science fiction. Here's some inspiration for you next modern or sci-fi campaign!

"The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren’t reading a passage from George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called “Family Intervention Projects” which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular “home checks” to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract."

Check out the full article here.

Small Blogging Hiatus

2009-08-03T11:59:00.002-04:00

My first LARPing event of the season is just a week and a half away. As exciting as this is, it also means a lot of prep time, as this is the LARP I work as a staff lead for! So, in preparation for that, and given my upcoming post for Nevermet Press and another guest post for Chatty DM, I will be not be able to throw up a blog post here - just for the next couple days. I hope to pick right back up on Thursday or Friday though once I'm all caught up.

In the meantime, ALL HAIL GARY!

Also, if you like steampunk: check it.

Personal Plot at the Table

2009-08-02T23:53:00.001-04:00

If your group enjoys writing detailed backstories for their characters, well... your a lucky, lucky dungeon master. Don't take it for granted! Use those backstories! Personal Plot, aka character-specific plot, can lead games in interesting directions, give individual players the spotlight for certain scenes, and develop connections between your characters and the overarching plotline.

Choosing to incorporate personal plot in your game has both pros and cons, so your should make the decision about whether or not you use it based on your group and what you think they would enjoy!

Personal Plot Pros

Delving into a characters backstories can add a lot of things to your game. First and foremost it will make the player of the character in question happy that you took the time to work their backstory into the campaign, and will craft encounters of particular enjoyment to that player since their character gets to shine in the spotlight.

Personal plot, if used well, can provide plot hooks for characters based on their past, or NPCs from their past, encouraging them to continue on their quest. Such plot can also be used to develop plot twists, and to connect PCs in strange, sometimes unexpected ways to the overarching plot.

Dungeon Masters should remember that most character backstories hold the reason why PCs began adventuring in the first place. Ensuring that their adventures continue to fulfill these reasons, you can usually keep your party entertained.

Personal Plot Cons

The main reason personal plot can go badly is the very reason that makes it great - it singles out a player. While this can be great for the player, whenever you give one character the spotlight you make every other player take a backseat in the action.

This can be fine, when used in doses. If however you've got a game with six players, and you give one player a significant, extensive, and tons-o'-fun personal plot encounter, your other players will expect that they'll be receiving the same treatment - as it's only fair.

Essentially, you should make sure you think ahead to the amount of time you might be committing to personal plot. If you wind up having a few session's worth strictly of personal plot that don't really do much to advance the story, players can become bored and feel detached from the game.

A good way to avoid that downside is to ensure that even personal plot involves the entire party in some way. Another good technique is to have individual sessions for players to swing by and have a one-on-one game with you for an hour or so to play out some personal plot.

Ensuring that each player gets a chance to shine equally in the spot light during your campaign is important, but just make sure you don't overdo things and have your entire campaign be spotlights. The whole party taking the spotlight together should make up the majority of every campaign, or your players may become competitive with each other - something you want to avoid, trust me. The more plot where the party works together and relies on each other, the better.

Short Fiction: A Day With Mr. Ambrose

2009-08-01T14:43:00.001-04:00

My short fiction work, A Day With Mr. Ambrose, was published yesterday over at Nevermet Press. The story is finishing their most recent cycle of publications following the idea of using faustian bargains in-game, and presenting the villain Immeril Lithos for use in any campaign. The story is about a pair of devils discussing the finer points of bargaining for souls. Here's a preview...

The overstuffed leather office chair protested loudly on its wheels beneath Laok’s weight. In their natural form, imps were rather light creatures – most being under three feet tall and composed primarily of hot gas and loosely concentrated nightmares – but it was no secret that Laok was immoderately obsessed with his "bargaining form," Mr. Ambrose.

"Besides," Laok had argued on several occasions, "to sit in a chair properly, one must shed unnecessary shoulder baggage. Wings make the entire experience of relaxing substantially more difficult."

Therefore, Mr. Ambrose was the form Laok favoured more often then not, insofar as comfort was concerned, and the same form whose weight the chair now protested against.

If you want to read more, go check it out!

The Polls Are Closed!

2009-07-31T23:58:00.001-04:00

The votes are in!

For those just tuning in, two weeks ago I started taking suggestions for how to best spend a $10 Amazon Gift Card I won from Exfanding Your Horizons (who were also nice enough to send some link love my way today). A week ago, I gathered the suggestions and opened a poll with the five options which received over 60 votes.

The voting was heated, and three different products took the lead at one point or another. When the last day of voting hit, Pathfinder RPG and Mouse Guard RPG were tied at 20 votes! As the day ended the winner, by one vote became clear.

Pathfinder RPG!

So, following my promise, I've thrown in a pre-order for Pathfinder RPG and will post a detailed review once the product is released as I've had a chance to play it. As a side note, due to the large amount of interest also in Mouse Guard RPG, I will try to purchase this product as soon as I have the disposable income to throw at it, so hopefully somewhere down the line I'll be able to review this product as well. In the mean time, Gnome Stew has a really great review of Mouse Guard over at their blog.

Anyways, not much today in terms of a post, but if you haven't read my post from yesterday about "saying Yes" in your game, you should go check it out. (I'm proud of it!)

Learn To Say "Yes"

2009-07-30T21:20:00.004-04:00

"Yes" can be a powerful word. In improvisational theater, actors are taught to always "say yes", because it opens doors for the scene to continue. "Saying Yes" does not always imply actually saying the word "Yes" of course, rather, it means accepting what the other actor is saying as possibility and not turning down ideas or potential directions the scene can go in.

In improv, it doesn't matter what the question is, the answer is always "yes" - and add more detail. For example, in a scene you might be asked, "Do you sell fenceposts?" A tempting response might be, "No - we don't sell anything". That might get a laugh, but it offers no new directions for the scene to go in and gives your partner nothing to work with. So just say "Yes" - and keep going by adding more concrete detail. "Yessiree, I've got a cow-fencepost here that even a 4,000-pound cow was unable to tip over." Now something is happening. That could trigger just about anything in your scene partner's imagination. "Oh, good! I've only got two 2000-pound cows, but they like to team up. Now let's see, I've got them enclosed in half an acre... How many fenceposts am I going to need?" Now, in just two lines, we've gone from nothing to the beginnings of a plot. - The Improv Wiki

Why talk about improvisation on an RPG blog? ~~Because I love the theater! I don't care what those critics say! Broadway, here I come!~~ Because a good Dungeon Master will always say "Yes" too.

Let's put it this way. No matter how amazing a Dungeon Master you are, and no matter how well you've written your campaign, or how excellently you've planned ahead, or how extraordinary the published adventure you're using is, it is impossible to account for player... creativity.

If you think you can predict the actions of four to six creative folk huddled around a table with imaginary swords and lightning bolts with nothing but a tiny bar of text that says "alignment" to guide them, you are in for a treat.

Sometimes, running a game can be stressful. I've seen many a Dungeon Master start sweating bullets as they brainstorm furiously for a plan to keep their campaign intact as they try not to panic while their precious plothooks were burned to the ground along with the tavern they were set within.

So, the players have killed the king's messenger after thinking he was a spy, hired no less then three members of the assassin's guild to kill the king after following a red-herring sidequest where the very same assassin's guild planted rumors that the king was a doppleganger, and have burned down half of the city in a fight they never should have gotten themselves into with the town guard.

Do you get angry?
Do you call the campaign quits?
Do you start hurling dice at your players until they stop?

No. You say "yes".

Players will have crazy ideas, but it's not your place to stop them. "But, but I'm the Dungeon Master! I control worlds! Universes!" A classic mistake that many Dungeon Masters, Storytellers, and Narrators make is thinking that the campaign is a movie, and they are the directors - controlling everything. This is an understandable mistake, but one that all DM's need to be aware is wrong. The only people who control the characters are the players.

I mentioned the hazards of critiquing roleplaying in my recent New DM Mistakes article, and the great rpg blog Gnome Stew actually has a pair of articles that tackle this issue directly, both on DM's not being the director, and how Dungeon Masters should never say that players are doing something "wrong". A player can't play their character "wrong". It's their character - not yours.

So, the issue of why you shouldn't say "no" is covered, but now, how do you say yes? Before getting into how to say Yes correctly, lets cover how to say Yes incorrectly.

Saying Yes, but while kicking and screaming "NOOOOO!"

"Sure, you can tie up the tailor and steal the silk shipment he's asked you to deliver... little did you know he was actually a MIND FLAYER IN DISGUISE! ROLL YOUR WILL SAVES YOU REBELLIOUS BASTARDS!" *evil laughter*

Yes, I know you're upset. Your carefully crafted plothook is being kicked in the face. You overestimated the player's dedication to your railroad plotlines. Put down the gun and no one will get hurt.

An unfortunately common response that Dungeon Masters have to players going off the beaten pass is to make it so difficult and frustrating for them that they will damn sure never want to bother again. This is usually done by making the actual act of "rebellion" incredibly hard to do - by raising DC's up to extraordinary levels, or suddenly making a level 1 commoner into a level 10 wizard half-dragon - or by going overboard on the consequences, making them unnecessarily harsh and/or deadly.

Obviously, there are always consequences for the actions your players take and you should make sure that such consequences occur. You should be careful however, to ensure that the consequences which occur are not unreasonable, unfair, or unlikely.

For example, if a messenger from the King meets the PCs on the road and the PCs then kill the messenger and bury his body somewhere - the King probably won't know. No matter how much you wish it was true, the King probably doesn't keep individual scrying beacons active on all of his messengers at once, and since this is a world filled with monsters and bandits, truth be told his messengers probably don't return intact or alive all that often anyway.

If you allow the PCs to kill the messenger, only to torment them brutally for it afterwards, this isn't "saying yes" correctly. This is punishing your players for their creativity, and your players will recognize what you're doing. Yeah... don't do that.

Saying "Yes", or Going With The Flow

The best Dungeon Masters are pros at going with the flow. If you have plot planned, and the PCs do something you aren't expecting, this shouldn't close any doors - only open new ones.

The hardest part about this is that it makes you have to think on your feet. Speaking as a DM who is not the best improviser out there, this can be hard - especially for new DMs. You have to greatly alter your plots all at once, and quite possibly even completely throw out what you were thinking.

There's two ways to tackle an unexpected event. Either, find some way to twist it, or some new way to approach the PCs to get them eventually back on track to your initial plot, or to indulge their actions and take the story in a new way following what they've done. As long as you allow PCs to be independent and to drive the story forward in interesting ways - rather then you driving the story with them just along for the ride - they'll be happy.

The trick, and the hallmark of a great DM, is to make absolutely everything that happens in a session look like you planned for it.

If the PCs go off the beaten trail, keep your cool, pretend like you expected it, and seamlessly string together what was your scripted plot, and what is now coming off the top of your head.

If you get upset, become overbearing with unnecessary consequences, start tearing your hair out, or generally get all mopey - the players won't have as much fun because in the back of their mind they'll know they're screwing up your plot. Since the PCs are the main characters of this story though, the plot is them, regardless of what you've written, so go with the flow and they'll think it's the best campaign ever.

Take a Breather

Do not feel ashamed if you need a moment to think. Every so often, the players will take the campaign in such an unanticipated direction that you literally have nothing to go off of.

Call a smoke break, or a snack break, and move away from your players. Take a pencil and some paper to start making notes about possible outcomes of your PC's actions. Turn it into a plot. Some of the best advice here actually comes from your players! If your players killed the king's messenger because they were CERTAIN he was an assassin... Well, maybe he was! Maybe these assassins captured the real king's messenger. If the PCs track down the assassins and rescue the true messenger he can give the PCs the same plot hook the original one was going to give, but now you've satisfied the craziness of your group's imagination.

If you don't have much time left in your session, you can also just try to hold out until the end of the session. The easiest way to do this is with a decent sized battle (which may or may not have any purpose) to slow the game down and stall until the session ends. Battles could also be used mid-session if you're good at multi-tasking. As the battle is waged you can scribble notes furiously behind your screen.

Either way, take a breather, and get some notes down - even just the most basic of guidelines. Break out a name generator, and any spare encounters/maps/NPC sheets you have kicking around. Create the side quest as you go, and constantly shuffle some papers around behind your screen to make it sound like you're going for a pre-made character sheet.

Put a smile on your face and offhandedly mention, "I was hoping you guys might do that". The players will think they gained access to a secret sidequest that you put time and energy into and will LOVE IT!

Regardless, learn to say YES! It will take some practice and some trust in both yourself and your players, but it can take a campaign in fantastic directions you'd never imagined. Have fun with it!

One Year Anniversary!

2009-07-29T23:56:00.003-04:00

It's been a great first year here at Beneath the Screen. Even with the regrettable absence while I was finishing up my final year of school, I'm happy to see the blog still running and thriving! For my anniversary post I thought I'd take a look back at my very first post to see how I've been keeping up with my initial goals and also link to some of the favorite posts I've had so far.

When this blog started, I laid out four main topics I wanted to cover with it: Adventure Recaps, Homebrew Stuff, Product Reviews, and Getting Published. In addition, "Everything Else" was one of those initial topics, covering everything from Tips for DMing, to thoughts on the philosophy of roleplaying, and other senseless ramblings. Let's see how I did!

Adventure Recaps: With 13 recaps of various tabletop games, this worked out pretty well. Unfortunately, now that I'm out of school, I'm not running any games and have nothing to recap! All in all though, my players seemed to enjoy reading through the recaps and adding their own comments (earning XP for it of course). Once I have a chance to start up some new games, I hope to continue this!

Homebrew Stuff: Here are some of the homebrew rules I've come up with. I haven't posted anywhere near the number of homebrewed magic items and feats I've created unfortuntely, but I'm hoping though that once Pathfinder RPG is released I'll be releasing a lot more, no doubt about that!

> Robe of Useless Items
> Gunslinger Base Class
> Leadership Feat Rules
> Dealing with PC Death

Product Reviews: I haven't had too many opportunities to do official product reviews beyond my review of Kobold Quarterly #10. I did however do a general review of D&D 4e, and threw out my thoughts on the edition wars. I've talked to Wolfgang Baur about doing a review for Dwarves of the Ironcrags though, so I'm hoping to be doing that sometime soon as well.

Getting Published: I've been published! Two of my posts were published in OPEN GAME TABLE: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1! With my blog only a year old, I was so happy to be recognized in this publication, and am excited to continue being a part of it through future volumes! *fingers crossed*

I am also currently a Content Developer for Nevermet Press, a great site with a lot of system-independent content daily! My first piece with them is going to be published this Friday!

Everything Else: I've had the opportunity to write about tons on this blog, and I have dozens of ideas for fun posts to come. Here are some of my favorite posts so far:

> Alignments: The Good & The Bad
> Roleplaying With Royalty
> Moving Beyond the Backstory
> A DM's Dilemma: Dealing With Powerhouse Parties
> A DM's Dilemma: Dealing With Deadlines
> Top 10 New Dungeon Master Mistakes

Well, there's a recap of this year's high points! I hope to have many more in the year to come!

Words of Thanks (and Link Love!)

2009-07-27T13:59:00.001-04:00

Now, I promised myself if I ever got famous I would remember all the little people and not let it get to my head. That being said, BOW BEFORE YOUR NEW BLOGGING MASTER PEONS! I RULE YOU! BWAHAHAHAHA! *Ahem* Just kidding of course. However, my excitement is no lie!

Since this blog's creation about a year ago, it's had a more or less steady number of daily views floating between the low thirties to - on a good day - the upper fifties. Little did I expect to go onto Google Analytics yesterday, as is my morning ritual, only to find that the blog had received nearly 200 page views!

Pardon me for one moment...

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Now then...

Thanks to everyone who swung by to check out the blog and my Top 10 New Dungeon Master Mistakes post! I'm really happy that I was able to write a post that caught so much attention! I hope people were able to use the advice.

Also, I wanted to send a special thanks to some blogs and bloggers who have linked my way or who have otherwise shown support of my blog recently!

- - -

JohnnFour from Roleplaying Tips linked to the 10 DM Tips article on his twitter! Roleplaying Tips is actually a really great site with TONS of resources for gamemastering. Check it out!

Kobold Quarterly linked back to me following my review on Issue #10 which they seemed to enjoy! Seriously, Issue #10 is a great contribution to any 3.5 or Pathfinder game. Go buy it! KQ was also nominated for an Ennie, so don't forget to vote!

Sean Holland from the Sea Of Stars RPG blog has been a steady reader these past few days so I wanted to send some link love his way too. Now, maybe it's just me, but I think the sling is one of the coolest weapons in D&D - when used appropriately. I mean, what's better then a gnome warrior taking down a giant with a sling! It's practically biblical... well... it is, but yeah... Anyways, Sean's got a great post over at his blog on magical sling bullets not to mention two other recent posts on a pair of cities that you could throw into any campaign if you're looking for scholars or sparkle.

Nicholas from over at Dungeon Mastering was kind enough to mention my DM tips in his most recent Nerd Watching! (SQUEEE!) *Ahem* I wouldn't even know where to begin in describing how awesome Dungeon Mastering is. Nominated for an Ennie, and with good reason, Dungeon Mastering is a site every good nerd should subscribe to!

Questing GM recently did a wrap up of a lot of really great recent RPG blog posts over at his blog. He linked to both my post on dealing with campaign deadlines, and turning PC death into plotline!

I of course have to make my standard "thank you" to Flashman85. In addition to being a dedicated follower he's done a pair of great guest posts for me. If you consider yourself a "fan", regardless of what you might be a fan of, you should check out his blog Exfanding Your Horizons!

If you're looking for more RPG content then you could shake a stick at, regardless of what game you play and what system you use, you can't go wrong with Nevermet Press. Seriously, there is some great stuff over here. I was lucky enough to be welcomed as a Content Developer on the NMP team and have my first piece being published this Friday so get psyched! As a side note, I'm going to go ahead and be the first to say this. NMP has at least one 2010 Ennie award waiting for it.

Bonemaster from RPG Circus has also been a steady reader so I wanted to throw a thank you and a link his way. The RPG circus recently had an interview with Chatty DM which is worth checking out. Also, it conveniently segues into my last thank you...

ChattyDM! In addition to running a fantastic gaming blog, Phil has helped me out over and over again with my blog's development, allowing me to bounce both ideas and questions off of him. All in all though, he's got everything from DM advice, to blogging tips, to entertaining tabletop recaps over at his blog, so make sure to pay Musings of the Chatty DM a visit!

- - -

So, there we go. Buckets and barrels full of thank-yous! I know I haven't hit all of my readers, but I tried to thank everyone who's commented recently or thrown a link my way. So, keep reading, and I'll keep trying to post more 200+ visitor-worth posts!

5 Tips for Dealing With PC Death

2009-07-26T07:10:00.003-04:00

It's a dirty dark Dungeon Master secret that we don't actually want to kill PCs. Many Dungeon Masters, especially new ones, when faced with a character on the verge of death will bend reality itself to keep them alive, or grant them a swift resurrection by their God or some other divine force. As an experienced DM will quickly point out though, without a fear of death in the world, a campaign can very quickly go off it's hinges.

Dungeons and Dragons, and many other tabletop games, already call for a certain suspension of belief but if - despite a combat-heavy game - your players know that you'll swoop in and save them every time they near death, things will go... downhill.

Your players may begin taking foolhardy actions, attack without thinking, and generally disregarding planning or tactics. A certain recipe for disaster indeed...

To expand on a point I made in yesterday's post, character deaths should be taken seriously and given weight. Here are some tips to make character deaths a more meaningful part of your story.

1. Talk About It Beforehand

One of the best ways to deal with a character death is to preemptively have talked about the possibilities of death with your players. Explain that characters do die and that it's an essential part of any proper campaign. Also, it's good to explain why death needs to be a factor of the game. Remind them that adventuring is a dangerous profession, and that it wouldn't be fair to them as players if you cheated so that they could survive.

It's also good to lay out the house rules for what will happen if a character should die. Obviously, immediately following the character's death, the player will probably have to sit out for the rest of the battle. Explain ahead of time that this is a possibility and this fact won't weigh you down too much mid-battle.

2. Control the Mood

The moment a character dies, especially if it's the first death in your campaign, the mood of your game (or at least your session) should shift drastically. Your job as the DM probably won't be to create a change of mood, since your players (especially the one who just lost a character) will probably be moody enough as it is, but rather the control the mood.

When a character dies, things you might see include:

> Players becoming uncomfortable
> The player in question getting upset
> Players checking frantically over character sheets
> Players raising up torches and pitchforks.

It's important that you control the sudden tension, depression, and rebellion that's sweeping over all your players at once. The best way you can do this is to immediately take control of the situation. I usually put the game on pause for a moment and speak directly to the player involved, asking "before I play out your death scene, are you sure that you've done all the math correctly?" Everyone at the table typically pours over their character sheets to check for any magical ability or item they have that might have stopped the death - usually there isn't one, but it's good to check before you continue.

Following this - it's good to steer the emotions that the rest of the table is feeling into combat. Players may be frustrated and upset to the point where the best option in your mind might be to take a break. In reality, the emotions caused by a character death can more often then not be filtered into an emotional climax to a battle, causing it to actually be one the characters enjoy.

The first step to doing this is to put the numbers out of your head for a second and to give the character a memorable "death scene". Consider your favorite fantasy movie when a main character dies - think Boromir's death scene in the LOTR movies (go watch it if you haven't seen it). Describe in detail the valiant death of a hero.

If you use a soundtrack for your game (which everyone should), before the campaign even starts you should select a death theme. My death theme is "Beauty Killed the Beast I" from the King Kong Movie Soundtrack (works very well trust me). Something emotional is perfect, especially if it breaks the upbeat fighting songs you've been using for the battle up to this point.

The reason I love Beauty Killed the Beast I is that one minute into the song drums start playing. The feel you're going for here is not unlike the death scene in movies where all the characters are screaming but the actual sound is muted and all you can hear is the music. Once your description of the death scene ends, continue on with the battle.

Now that you have turned the death of a character into a powerful part of the story, the players should have shivers running up their spine because... sh*t just got real.

3. Bolster Their Companions

In fantasy movies, there's no such thing as a TPK. Why? Well, because that would make for a fairly cruddy movie. More importantly though, the heroes are bolstered by the sight of the fallen comrade.

Cries of "I will avenge you!" and "You shall not have died in vain!" echo through the battlefield as the heroes call forth some inner reservoir of gumption previously considered unattainable. Suddenly they are better archers, braver warriors, and able to muster more powerful magics then ever before.

Is it adrenaline? Magic? No one really knows, but it makes for a damn fine action sequence - and who are we to question it. The question is, can we harness this raw power into a tabletop campaign? Of course you can!

How you choose to give the still-standing characters that extra oomph is up to you - whether through bonuses, increased stats, an extra second wind... It's wise to not make the benefit anything too extraordinary, or PCs might start killing each other just for the bonuses! Make it a small bonus that lasts for the remainder of the battle however, and not only will this encourage your players to avenge their fallen comrade, but it will make the fallen PC feel useful and lessen the chances of one of those icky TPKs.

4. Clearly Explain The Options

When a player loses a character and has to sit out of the session for a little bit, it's good to have options for them to consider, so they don't feel up a creek without a paddle when their character kicks the bucket (too many metaphors?).

For example, I usually give my players three options. One, they can do nothing and hold out for resurrection. If a player gets really frustrated this is usually the option they pick because if resurrection isn't an option in the near future they can leave the session early.

Two, they can take up the role of an NPC temporarily while they await resurrection. This gives the party a little more wiggle room in terms of leaving a fellow player hanging, and may be the best option if they're in the middle of a quest far away from resurrection.

Three, the player can make a new character, or take on an NPC permanently. This choice usually cuts off the opportunity for resurrection, and is used if resurrection is unlikely, the player wants to bring in a new character, or for whatever reason the character wouldn't come back even if raised.

Obviously, the options available to your players are up to you. You can explain the options ahead of time to your players, or pull them aside and discuss them following the battle or encounter in which they died. Both of these are probably good ideas. No matter how you disperse the information, make sure your players know that they do have options. You should never have a character death mean a player has to leave the campaign, make sure to plan ahead and ensure that even death won't exclude a player from at least some level of involvement with the game for too long.

5. Sidequest: The Afterlife

In many fantasy tabletop games, like Dungeons and Dragons, the game will actually in some way explain what happens to people after they die - usually dealing with some sort of afterlife, or traveling to another plane of existence to see one's God. If your game allows for it, I strongly suggest utilizing this!

Nothing dulls the pain of having a character shuffle off this mortal coil then a personal side quest, right?

Pull the player aside for a few minutes and throw them a small roleplaying encounter as they meet their deity. If you're feeling generous and they have reason to be in their God's favor, have the deity offer to answer a question of theirs. Even this small personal attention can help a player deal with a character dying because they actually get a small reward.

If an afterlife doesn't exist in your game, there are many ways to still entertain a player. For example, you could offer their character a dream or cutscene revealing something that the rest of the party doesn't know. If you are playing in a campaign where the character has no chance of returning, this step isn't as vital, but in a fantasy campaign a brief meeting with their God before pitching a character for good is still a wise idea.

If you want to take a page from my book, utilize Death Packets! Essentially, what a Death Packet is, is a few pre-written pages tailored to each of the PCs in my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It includes a short story detailing their character's spirit as it travels to their home plane and what they see. I usually end the story with them being beckoned into their deity's chamber to speak with their God or Goddess. I also include in the packet a list of their options now that their character has died.

What the Death Packet allows me to do quite easily is entertain a player after their character died. It gives them something to read over as the battle continues onward, and something to think about. Once the battle ends, I can pull them aside and flesh out the conversation between them and their deity, now that the preliminary story is done with.

Given, the incorporation of Death Packets takes a lot of preparation, but it's worth it. If there's anything players like, it's getting their own personalized handouts that no one else can read - and it certainly dulls the pain of death, even making a character's death exciting in some ways. "Yes! I get to read my death packet now!"

Aside from a player's options, and the short story surrounding their character passing on to the afterlife, there's really no limit to what you can put in a Death Packet. Visions, dreams...

In Kobold Quarterly #10 (which I recently reviewed) they have an article on death feats and flaws for your character (only attainable after being resurrected). I've included information like that in Death Packets as well, giving players some interesting character development or advancement options that are only open to them now that they've died.

Again, giving a player some extra toys to play with and essentially rewarding them for dying can go a long way to cheering them up.

Well, those are my tips for dealing with PC death. As you might imagine I've had to deal with it a lot. Initially, the death of a PC is always a terrifying prospect, but if you are properly prepared to deal with the fallout, the entire scenario can actually be turned into a powerful and memorable moment in your campaign. So, don't fear death - just be prepared for it!

Top 10 New Dungeon Master Mistakes

2009-07-24T22:26:00.010-04:00

And how to avoid them! As a note, even veteran DM's can make some of these errors so don't forget to be careful!

A tabletop can be a crazy place, but to avoid a rebellious player uprising keep these tips in mind.

I think it's also worth mentioning that I know articles like this and boatloads of Dungeon Master advice are all over the blogosphere, so today I'm going to try and approach some problematic areas you may not immediately think of, but in the end always seem to crop up.

As a final note, these are numbered but not in any particular order.

Enjoy!

1. Names Don't Matter.

Why this is wrong: Names are small but important building blocks which maintain the consistency of the world your characters are playing in. Obviously, names of characters, NPCs, and locations add up to a large amount of rather random information, but keeping track of these names and encouraging your players to do the same will keep the reality of the world alive.

Solution: Take notes. This is generally a good idea, but especially useful for names. Have a whole page or two devoted to names that you can refer to. I suggest referring to your players by their character's names, even in combat, and encouraging your players to do the same. Small name-plate note cards can be used initially to help this along, or "Hello. My Name is _____" stickers.

Also, in terms of NPCs, nothing makes NPCs seem more insignificant then the DM having to take five minutes just to create a name for them. Use a name generator or your own creativity to come up with a bank of 10 male and 10 female names that you can have on tap for just such scenarios. If your players have their characters walk into a random shop and you have the shopkeeper ready with a name, your players will suddenly give the encounter much more attention, assuming that it's important. Trust me, it works!

2. Not Making Expectations Clear.

Why this is wrong: Everyone plays tabletop games differently. Different DMs work out different social contracts with their players (refer to the great blog Gnome Stew for some additional information on social contracts) and expect different things from them. When a game starts, both the Dungeon Master and the players are expecting different things out of the game.

As the Dungeon Master you cannot simply expect your player's expectations to match up with yours.

Solution: Communication. Tell your players what you expect out of them and out of the game. This can be anything ranging from out-of-character chatter, to who's bringing the snacks, to house rules, to whether or not drinks go on coasters. You cannot be mad at your players for, as an example, saying "I only have 5 hit points left" unless you've told the group that they shouldn't tell other people that information.

Your players can't follow your expectations unless you actually share them. Communication is key.

3. Downplaying Character Death.

Why this is wrong: Character death in any campaign, regardless of system, is a big deal. Even though your NPCs die by the truckload, when a player character dies, HANDLE WITH CARE. Such moments can be emotional ones for any player, especially if they really enjoyed playing the character. NEVER brush off a character death like is nothing. It should be an important moment in your campaign, so do not neglect to treat it like one.

Solution: There are many ways to deal with a character death appropriately. First and foremost, the best method to handle them is by talking about the possibility of character death before the game even starts. Explain that death is a possibility, and what the options are for players should their character die - such as taking over an NPC, building a new character, waiting for resurrection, etc.

The second step you should take with character death is making a big deal out of it during the game. Whenever a character dies in one of my games, I change the music immediately to my death theme (which starts off sad but then powers up with these crazy drums) and take a good minute to describe dramatically how the character dies. I then carry on the fight, with their allies fueled by the warlike music as they avenge their fallen comrade, giving everyone a small boost (+1 or +2) to rolls for the remainder of the fight.

The third step in facing character death is to NOT make the player sit out. Even if a character isn't available for them to play, give them some personal attention in a side quest - for example in a high fantasy setting as they meet their god or goddess. Give them access to something special because they died - maybe a divine meeting, or a peek into a cut scene that their ghost sees. This will make them feel less like they died in vain.

4. All Good Villains Vanish.

Why this is wrong: One of the most annoying things that can happen in a campaign is having the villain simply vanish or teleport away just when they're nearing death. Now, before I go any further, there are many reasons why you might do this that are completely legitimate. If it is built into this character to have such abilities, it makes sense that they would retreat.

What you want to avoid however is the idea of "Wow, they weren't supposed to do that much damage to him. He's supposed to be a recurring villain. He was supposed to escape. Ummm..." and then make him teleport - even though the enemy had no capability to do so - just so you can hold onto a villain for the future.

Solution: If you throw a villain at the PCs who is "supposed to get away", make sure they have treasure that allows them to do so in their inventory. If they've been rubbing a ring of teleportation for the last seven battles, that ring better damn be on that body when the players finally drop him. Along these lines however, don't throw a ring of teleportation onto a villain without it being accounted for cost-wise. Such items are expensive, and should not just be freely given to annoying CR 2 villains willy nilly.

There are many ways to solve this issue, truth be told. The bottom line is that you should never throw an enemy at your players where it's destruction would ruin your story. When PCs see a foe, they're going to try their hardest to kill it, and may pull out stops you weren't prepared for. Be prepared for the possibility that any enemy you throw at them might die, and don't toss in countermeasures at the last minute because then you weren't really giving your PCs a fair chance to begin with, which trust me - they'll catch on to.

5. NPCs Can Be The Heroes Too.

Why this is wrong: Well, it's not completely wrong. NPCs can be great heroes. In fact, any fantasy world worth its salt is full of heroes which drive its legends and tales. What is wrong however, is the fact that NPCs could be heroes in your story. In your story, the player characters are the heroes. Sending uber-powerful NPCs in to save the day and your PCs, or having them accompany your players on an adventure only to mercilessly show them up will just leave your players wondering why they're even there.

Solution: If you have NPCs join your heroes - whether as the cavalry or accompaniment on a journey - ensure that they never take the limelight away from the PCs since they are the true heroes of the story. If your PCs feel under appreciated or not needed, it will make them start questioning why they ever went on the adventure in the first place while there were clearly much more able-bodied NPCs just kicking around. Awesome NPCs can exist without overshadowing the true and rightful heroes of the story - your players.

6. Relying On Initial Story Hooks.

Why this is wrong: Every adventure begins with a story hook. Sometimes an individual hook for each character is needed to pull together the party and send them on their way. Sometimes, PCs will decide to stick together and form an adventuring party. When this happens, fantastic. You've lucked out!

However, more often then not, especially in a party with strong-headed characters, it won't be long after the campaign starts (especially after their first quest ends) that your players might start wondering why they're still sticking around with these people.

Solution: Bottom line? You can't rely on the initial story hooks to keep your players together. Obviously your players should understand that a party needs to exist for the game to work, but it's your job to give the characters a reason to stick together.

Give your players a reason to have their characters stick together. There are hundreds of ways to do this, whether through dreams/visions, a bounty on their heads, or any other such method. The trick is to either impress the fact that either it will be in their best interests to stick together, or it would be a particularly bad decision to split apart.

7. Critiquing Player Roleplaying.

Why this is REALLY REALLY wrong: You should never tell a player how to play their character. Why is this? As the Dungeon Master you control pretty much everything, from the world to the NPCs to the storyline and onward. The only real control a player has is over their characters. If you don't like the way a player is playing their character you have to remember that players put a lot of time and energy into developing their character's personality. It can be severely insulting to a player to critique their roleplaying style.

Solution: If a character is severely interrupting gameplay, talk to the player after the game to find out what's driving their character and what their character's goals are. If a player is having their character act in a rebellious way, it may be because they don't feel like they fit in with the rest of the party, or dislike other party members. If this is the case, bring encounters into the game where teamwork is essential, or where you think the players can learn a little bit about where the particular character is coming from. In the end, the key is to make sure that everyone is having fun. If a player is not having fun playing their character in a particular party encourage them to bring in and try out a new character.

8. Speeding Past In-Character Discussion.

Why this is wrong: When going into any session, a DM has an idea about how much they want to accomplish in that session. Ending on a good note is important after all, but sometimes this can go too far. Putting a time-limit on character interaction, or forcing players to come up with a solution or plan quickly can actually condition your players to act quickly without thinking, and to steer clear of roleplaying and character development.

Solution: Despite how quickly you may want to get from point A to point B, you shouldn't stand in the way of character interaction and careful planning. You shouldn't feel any need to push your players along to the next encounter if they're not ready to move forward. Sit back, put your feet up, and wait for your players to be ready. If they feel rushed and then the next encounter goes poorly, rather then learning from their mistakes they'll wind up blaming you. Never rush character interaction. Enjoy it.

9. Bragging To The Players.

Why this is wrong: Often in any tabletop game, your players are faced with choices. Who they trust, who they capture, which door they go through, how they siege the castle, which wire they cut to disarm the bomb... The life of a DM is hard because you never know ahead of time what choice the PCs will make, so you prepare for each outcome, putting thought into each option.

It's important however, to keep such preparation secret. Why? If the PCs pick Door A, and you brag later about all the treasure they would have gotten through Door B, regardless of whether or not they tried to pry the information out of you, if the missed the better option they're going to be upset.

Solution: If you never brag about what the PCs could have or should have done, then they will - for the most part - never really regret the decisions they made. Believe it or not, the actions most parties make - even inane actions from where you're sitting - are reasonable in their minds given the information that they have.

Keep in mind, they can't always see the whole picture like you can, so they're usually making the best guesses possible, and will usually think "With the information we had, that was the best decision we could have made." When you start telling them otherwise, they feel idiotic and get upset.

So, quite simply, don't brag about what could have happened to your players. Keep what was behind Door B a secret, whether good or bad. Your players may hate that they'll never know, but at least they'll think they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and be confident in their decisions.

10. Excluding A Player.

Why this is wrong: Parties split up and go down opposite tunnels. Party members stay in the tavern or hospital to be nursed back to health or to nurse a cold drink. Thieves strike out on nightly adventures. All of this is fairly standard, but a big mistake a Dungeon Master can make is leaving a player out during a session.

Whether a character stays behind because they don't think the party's being intelligent, or stands outside the cave on guard duty, leaving a player high and dry for an entire adventure just because they didn't follow the adventure's plot precisely can lead to players feeling left out and punished by the Dungeon Master.

Recently in a White Wolf campaign, because my character thought the party was being foolish and going off to their deaths, I stayed at the safe house to wait through the night. Because of that decision, I was left out of the game for three hours. I waited tirelessly with a smile on my face and interest in the game for the Storyteller to throw even the smallest bit of attention my way, but wound up just being bored out of my mind.

Solution: Never let a player sit out. Obviously, going back to #7 you shouldn't force a character to come along on a quest, but you should never let a player feel left out. Whether it's a five minute side-quest, letting them control an NPC, or slightly reworking the story hook to encourage them to come along, anything will work really. If a player is ever sitting for 30 minutes with nothing to do however, you're doing something wrong.

Obviously when a player goes against the grain it can be hard for a Dungeon Master to multi-task or to think up an appropriate side-quest on the spot, but attention to every player is necessary. Give everyone at the table a ten minute break if you need to so you can collect your thoughts and plan. Anything's better then sitting out of a game for three hours, trust me.

Choose Your Review: The Polls Are Open!

2009-07-23T22:10:00.002-04:00

As I said last week, I was lucky enough to win a $10.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com recently from the great comic-based blog Exfanding Your Horizons, and I am opening up the decision of what I should buy and review to YOU the readers!

I only received a few responses - most via email - but I think a decent set of options has been provided. Over the next week, please weigh in with your opinions. I will purchase whichever product wins and, after taking some time to playtest/read through it, I'll provide a review of the product itself. So, choose your review!

These are the options up for vote:

1. Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game
2. Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook
3. GameMastery: Combat Pad
4. Pathfinder Chronicles: Harrow Deck
5. The Game Inventor's Guidebook

In other news, this blog will be celebrating it's one-year anniversary next Wednesday, so I hope to provide you all with exciting posts this coming week. Some post topics on the horizon that you can look forward to are...

> Top 10 Mistakes Gamemasters Can Make
> Top 10 Mistakes Players Can Make
> Keeping Secrets At The Table
> A Time and Place for Personal Plot
> Storyteller Innovations: Death Packets

In the meanwhile, if you - my noble readers - have any subjects that interest you, I am always eager to please. A couple days ago I made a post about deadlines in D&D for Mark, one of my readers. I'm both willing and eager to write about what interests you so leave a comment and let me know!

Don't forget to vote!

Review: Kobold Quarterly #10

2009-07-22T23:50:00.006-04:00

When Kobold Quarterly came out initially, I was hesitant. I was a true fan of Dragon Magazine in it's heyday, and was sad to see it switch to 4e - a transition I was less then psyched about. From what I'd heard about KQ, it was designed to sort of pick up where Dragon left off. Truth be told, I've heard some great things about KQ and have been trying to come up with some article topics so I could write something for them, but I simply haven't had the time.

Regardless, I've wanted to sneak a peek at Kobold Quarterly for a while, and lucky me - here comes issue 10, and I've been asked to give a review/preview of it! I've seen a truckload of other bloggers already discuss the magazine so rather then give a breakdown of the whole issue, I'll discuss my thoughts on the parts which stuck out.

4e On The Horizon?

Several of the "letters to the editors" were from concerned readers worried or angered about the encroachment of 4e on the magazine. The response was a respectable one - namely that the magazine would follow what the subscribers were interested in. If subscribers played 4e, they would publish more 4e content, and same for 3.5 D&D.

This is quite sensible of KQ - why wouldn't you print what your subscribers wanted to read? It's nice to see that Kobold Quarterly is a flexible magazine that is both capable of growth, and eager to please.

Admittedly, being a diehard 3.5 fan, were I a subscriber it would be worrisome if KQ wasn't consistent with it's material, knowing that the next issue might only have a handful of articles I had any interest in. Dragon Magazine, for example, simply was 3.5 back in the day. Readers could count on that and it was never an issue - they knew they would get their moneys worth.

Now, this is hardly a soap box moment, but that issue caught my eye since I'd always heard KQ described as the new 3.5 magazine. Flexibility is a good thing, though I can see how some other 3.5 maniacs like myself might be a little put off by it.

Reader Friendly Layout

All in all, the magazine itself is a well-laid out collection of articles. Ads are quite large, but rarely invasive. The artwork is absolutely stunning. And the general type is easy on the eyes, and very readable.

I got a lot of old-school Dragon vibes from the layout and was overall very pleased with what KQ put forward. The magazine was masterfully crafted and a pleasure to read.

Great Article Content

There was a lot of great content throughout the magazine. From prestige classes to magic items to everyone's favorite monster: the gelatinous cube! Very cool.

As mentioned before, there were some 4e content articles which I skimmed over. I don't really know enough about the edition to know if the content was usable, but if the rest of the magazine was any indication, KQ is full of ready-to-use content.

The more I read, the more I was impressed by all of the many topics this issue covered. Spells, artifacts, playable templates, notes on classes, player advice, monster stats, and an entire playable character race! One of my favorite parts of Dragon Magazine was that I could find content on pretty much every page that was usable in my very next gaming session. Kobold Quarterly does not disappoint!

Unique Insights

One of the best parts about Kobold Quarterly was that the authors went above and beyond all the normal RPG topics to develop content dealing with unique and creative aspects of Dungeons & Dragons that I never would have even thought of.

One such article that really grabbed my attention was the introduction of Death feats and flaws - additions that can only be granted to a character after they've been brought back from the dead. Before I'd even finished the first page of the article I was printing it out and adding it to my Dungeon Master's Notebook.

Another article that stuck out to me was a short discussion on Lycanthropy and how to make it still instill fear in your players. Skip Williams offers some really great advice on the subject - the same great level of advice for both players and dungeon masters offered throughout the entire issue.

Informative Reviews

One really great feature that I'm glad to see echoed over from Dragon was a series of reviews for fantasy and RPG books on the market now. I was particularly happy to see a review of Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1 with a handful of the "best" articles in there pointed out.

My articles sadly didn't make the cut, but all of the reviews were well-thought-out and very informative.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, this magazine is great. Issue #10 is KQ's longest issue to date, but if the other issues carry the same density of ready-to-use content, then I am thoroughly impressed. I've heard wonderful things about KQ and this issue went above and beyond anything I could have expected. All the things I loved about Dragon Magazine have carried over beautifully in addition to the unique content KQ's writers have come up with beyond what I would have expected. Bravo.

You can check out Kobold Quarterly, purchase issue 10, and subscribe to their magazine releases at the KQ website: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

A DM's Dilemma: Dealing With Deadlines

2009-07-21T23:58:00.006-04:00

The end of the school year. The end of summer. The end of that amazing institution known as unemployment. What do these things have in common? Potentially, a swift end to your tabletop game. Obviously, every so often an end to a campaign comes suddenly and without warning, but when a Dungeon Masterdoes has time to prepare, or there is a clear dead end to the game in the future, there are some steps any Dungeon Master can take to ensure their game ends on a good note.

1. Tell Your Players

If you're moving away at the end of the summer, there's no reason to keep this from your players. It will keep your players focused (especially towards the end) and hopefully help them try to enjoy each session more, knowing that the campaign will indeed be ending.

2. Stick To Commitments

Canceling sessions, or calling games early - while sometimes unavoidable - may make your players more upset the normal if they know you only have a limited number of sessions left. Plan ahead. If you have to cancel a session, do it a decent deal of time in advance and not last minute.

3. Remove the Excess

Random encounters? Who needs em! Not you! You have plot! Juicy juicy plot! Anyways... If your using a published adventure, look ahead for encounters that are just there to be there. Regardless of what game you are playing, combat generally takes the longest. If you're working on budgeted time, every fight should have a purpose and/or advance the story. If you're using a homebrewed adventure, put that random encounter table away!

Remember, when the campaign finishes, your players won't be thinking back to the more or less senseless battle with the orc bandits. I'm not saying random encounters are bad, but when working with a deadline you should weigh the value of each to your game before throwing them in there.

4. Keep Things Exciting

When you're running a short campaign, it's important to pack a lot of enjoyment into each session. The best way to do this is to find out what your players will enjoy and making sure that they're enjoying your short time together. Keep lines of communication open with your players and get regular feedback from them.

This is especially important when your campaign is coming to an end. If you have to end a campaign early or cut our some extraneous side plots it's key to let players finish the plots they are interested in - not necessarily the ones you are.

If they really want to track down the thieves guild that got in their way during the first couple sessions, even though that plot's all over, make sure they get the chance to do that. Prioritizing what your players are interested in will maximize their enjoyment and ensure that they get what they want out of the campaign.

5. Closure is Key

Even if you can't end a campaign the way you, or the adventure's author, previously imagined, you need to give your players an ending. Obviously, if you're not sure which session will be your last, this is impossible. If you do have the final day planned however, plan as far in advance as you can to make the ending a good one.

If you won't be playing with the group again or for a very long time, try to steer clear of cliffhangers and give your players some proper closure. Let them kill the villains, hand out some titles/prestige, and tie up any loose ends.

Giving them a dragon's horde worth of treasure isn't suggested, and in fact I'd warn against it. Treasure at the very tail end of any campaign is generally a bad idea because your players will be sad they don't get a chance to make use of it. At the end of a shorter campaign it's especially good to avoid since you last session shouldn't be bogged down with treasure identification.

- - -

In the end, if you have enough preparation for the end of a campaign, keep your players in the loop, give forward thought to each session to maximize player, and plan out your ending, even short-lived campaigns can be enjoyable and stress-free!

Check Out This Website!

2009-07-18T19:02:00.005-04:00

If you haven't already heard about Nevermet Press, now's the time to go check it out! Providing more system-independent content then you can shake a d20 at, NMP is an amazing resource for any game you might be running or playing in. Fresh off the ground they run the gamut from organizations to plot hooks to adventures to magic items to short fiction.

"Nevermet Press offers system independent content for use with any tabletop roleplaying game. Our content is community driven and supported. Once you find content you want to use, look for links to blogs participating in our Distributed Workshop program for system specific support of your preferred roleplaying game."
- Nevermet Press Homepage

This website is definitely worth checking out. And yes, it is a bit of a shameless plug since I work as a Content Developer for them. My first piece will be a short fiction coming out at the end of the month. I'll keep you all updated on the publication process of that, but in the meantime GO CHECK NEVERMET PRESS OUT!

Now, I'm off to finish my article. Yay!

Holidays in D&D: Part Seven - The Conclusion!

2009-07-17T11:12:00.002-04:00

So ends my series on the use of holidays and festivals in D&D. I may revisit the topic in the future, but for now I've got a shopping list of potential posting topics that I'm eager to get going on. Here is a recap of my posts in the series so far for ease of navigation.

Part One: The first part of a piece of short fiction detailing the Festival of Adventurers, a totally usable celebration in any campaign.

Part Two: An outline of the good sides and bad sides to holding festivals and celebrating holidays in your D&D campaign.

Part Three: A continuation of the short fiction and a description of four types of holidays, namely traditional holidays, religious celebrations, treating your PC's as guests of honor, and birthday parties (for players and characters).

Part Four: The fiction continues with the opening meeting to the Festival of Adventurers.

Part Five: The second to last part of the fiction, in which our heroes make their way through the streets to the Temple of Pelor to have their first team meeting.

Part Six: A ready-to-use encounter in any 3.5 D&D - the Masquerade Ball. Put your players through a series of skill challenges to see who will be lucky and talented enough to bring someone home after a night of wine and dancing.

Our last part is the final installment of the short fiction I've been accompanying this series with, wherin the adventurers have the rules of the Labyrinth explained to them. I used this fiction as a launching point for an urban campaign I ran a while back, making heavy use of the city of Saltmarsh as laid out in the Dungeon Master's Guide II.

Enjoy!

- - -

As if on cue, there is a light knock on the door, before it opens. You can make out a short figure bowing graciously before Father Balthazar, before striding happily into the room and climbing up on a small foot-stool to see you all over the table. Before you is a short gnome, standing just over three feet. His appearance is almost laughable, as he wears very extravagant purple robes with yellow stars stitched in, and a similarly styled tall pointed wizard’s hat with a wide brim. His mustache curls in an otherworldly fashion, and he walks with a carved walking stick that looks more for show then practical use. The top of the staff looks to be carved in the shape of a toad, but upon closer inspection, the rust colored frog seems to be alive, sitting atop the staff, rather then as a part of it.

The man looks down for a second, the brim of the hat shading his eyes. For a moment there is silence.

"WELCOME!" The man exclaims suddenly in a high, nasally voice, throwing his arms up into the air. Colored lights dance around the room, and the shock is so great that he wakes even his sleeping toad, which jumps off of the staff, landing in the center of the table, croaking loudly at you. "Team Chimera! Welcome, welcome, welcome! May I introduce myself, I am..." he take an overly dramatic pause here, as if making sure he has your absolute attention, "Maekor The Magnificent!" He beams a smile at you, as his frog croaks again. "Yes, yes, I'm sure you've heard of me. Now then, I am Chief Mage of the Adventurers Guild and will be your team's guide for the next three days through the Festival. Lucky you! Now then... the rules..."

He places his hands down on the table, as a shadow falls over the window, darkening the room. His face becomes faintly illuminated as if by some ghostlike candle. His face becomes almost comically spooky, as he lowers his voice as much as possible, to intensify the mood. "You are only a few minutes away from facing our greatest creation... the labyrinth. Heed my words, ye who would enter there. Or perish within..." He pauses. "Well, sort of." He reaches into a side pouch, pulling out a long scroll, spreading it out on the table. You can see written upon it a small list, and in very intricate handwriting "The Rules" is written across the top.

"Now then, listen carefully." He clears his throat and begins to recite from the scroll. "Welcome to the Festival of Adventurers insert team name here! I am insert name here your guide for the festival. Before you stand many challenges, as you have seen on your festival schedule. Sign ups for all such events will take place following the first team event, the Labyrinth, pause for dramatic tension. As to the first event which I’m sure you’re all worried about, first let me say, lay your worries to rest. We will have guild member wizards watching your progression through the labyrinth, and should it look like anything may deal you a lethal blow, you will be swiftly teleported to safety. That out of the way, lets move to the rules. To win the labyrinth, your team must be the first of the four teams competing to reach the flag, and remove it from the pole in the center of the labyrinth. Along the way however you will have four types of challenges to face."

He pauses here, taking a breath, and continues.

"First, there are monsters within the maze. Yes, monsters. These monsters have either been captured by the guild, or are guild member mages in disguise. This will test your physical prowess in battle. Second, there are traps within the maze. Each team has been fitted with at least one trap finder, so use them well. Third, there will be riddle crystals. Should you use a riddle crystal successfully; good fortune of some kind will befall your team. To activate a riddle crystal someone must physically touch it while at least half of the team is within five feet of it. It will give you detailed instructions following it’s activation. Finally, while you do start out in your personal quadrant of the maze, you may have to deal with the three other teams in the maze. You may use any means necessary to overcome these teams, and as stated before, should any blow look like it will kill you, you will be swiftly teleported to safety."

He smiles at you and continues.

"The labyrinth itself has been constructed of spiked briars, so passage through or over the walls is not suggested. The druids of Oak Island have been kind enough to enchant some of the briars with poison, though you will not know which. So again, climb at your own risk. Familiars and Animal Companions are allowed within the maze; however they are not permitted to pull the flag from the pole in the center. Beating monsters, overcoming traps, answering riddles, and getting rid of the other teams is not required to pull the flag, however you will be given points based on everything you overcome, which will rank you not just against the three teams you’re up against but every other team in the tournament. The team that pulls the flag will be given a year’s free membership into the Adventurers Guild and minor prizes, while the team that scores the highest, second highest, and third highest in point totals will be given the grand prizes."

"Stop here and ask for questions."

He wraps the scroll up and looks to all of you, slightly out of breath. "Any questions? None? Wonderful!"

You make your way through the streets, passing by the familiar shops and sights. You make mental notes of all the places you will have to see once you're not being bustled around from one place to another. Maekor the Magnificent notices your interest and falls back a little ways to walk beside you all.

"I know you haven't really had much time to explore yet, but once you're done in the Labyrinth you'll have a lot of free time for the rest of the night. This was our big first day event, and tonight will be filled with celebration. I suggest findin' a nice shady spot to sit after you're done, and checking out everything in your packet. There's a map of the city, some coupons and a schedule of events. Then tomorrow and the day after we'll get into all the smaller events, and things like that. You'll have plenty of time to explore. And a'course I'll find ya tomorrow mornin' to take ya around to whatever you wanna go to, or ta give ya advice on what ta do."

He smiles at you, walking ahead. Every so often you pass by a member of the Adventurer's Guild who will bow or tip their hat to Maekor. You start to get the feeling that he may actually be the Chief Mage or at least hold some position of authority to have so many people recognize him. You also begin to see the large mob of people you saw before, only now the other festival goers are broken up into groups of four, walking down the streets or sitting in a tavern, similarly with a member of the guild, talking them through rules, or pointing out things on the map.

Eventually you cross the bridge back onto Oak Island. It is much more deserted now. A few individuals stand around, most of them being from the adventurers guild, in addition to what seem to be a few teams standing at a distance from you and each other, watching the maze intently and discussing amongst themselves. From within the maze you can hear a ferocious roar, a large pop, and the echo of laughter. A guildmember approaches Maekor and after bowing slightly, addresses him.

"Master Maekor..." Maekor clears his throat. "Err... Master Maekor the Magnificent, is this team Chimera?" The two walk away briefly in quiet discussion before Maekor returns to you.

"Two of the teams are in the final chamber, so you have about ten minutes to do any last preparations." He points over to a series of small tables. "If you desire, you can purchase some basic equipment there. Once you hear the horn blow, you should report to starting gate two. Good luck!" He smiles at you and walks over to join a small group of guildmembers.

Soon, a bell tolls, and you know it is time to begin...

Choose Your Review! What should I buy?

2009-07-16T11:01:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to win a $10.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com recently from the great comic-based blog Exfanding Your Horizons. Many of you may know Flashman85, one of the blog's authors, as a guest writer here on BtS whose written two fantastic posts already (one just a few days ago)

Anyways, I was planning on just running to the site and buying up the Harrow Cards I've been considering getting, but then - glancing down my wish list of RPG books and game aids I've been considering buying - I realized that there was a lot I wanted to buy. Frankly there was a TON I wanted to buy.

Sigh...

SO, I'm leaving the decision up to you, the READERS! I have a small list already brewing in my head of potential things I could purchase, but throw your opinions in the ring! Is there a game, adventure, campaign setting, game aid, map pack, or anything else you've been curious about? Should I grab up the Mouseguard game everyone's talking about, or throw a pre-order in for the Pathfinder RPG? Want a review on a Gamemaster aid, or even The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen?

If you have a product (or several) you'd like to suggest, reply in a comment or send me an email directly at beneaththescreen AT gmail DOT com. I'll take suggestions for the next week and then write a follow-up post, setting up a poll with all of the options. Once I've purchased the product I'll provide a step-by-step recap of my experience with the item and a review of my thoughts on it.

In other news, the jury is in on my new banner.

The verdict? For the most part, folks who were familiar with my old banner enjoyed it more then the new one I had up. While the new banner wasn't BAD (new viewers seem to enjoy it), all in all most people weren't a fan of the new banner.

At the end of the day, I'd love to get a snazzy new banner. I mean, just look at these fancy blogs I'm sharing the stage with! If I ever get my hands on something award-worthy maybe I'll hold a banner-making contest. I may just wait for the inevitable day I switch to wordpress and buy my own domain though... like all them fancy bloggers.

Anyways, we're back to the original banner for now. I look forward to hearing some of your ideas for product reviews. Leave a comment!

Holidays in D&D: Part Six - Party Time!

2009-07-15T04:21:00.002-04:00

In conclusion of my Holidays in D&D series, here's an encounter your whole group can enjoy!

I ran a festival for my 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons group this past year - a holiday based specifically around actions the characters had taken. The celebration consisted of three parts.

The first part of the holiday was a full-town celebration. The characters had been invited back to the town as guests of honor, and throughout the small settlement people cheered them on as they walked through the streets in a pseudo-parade fashion. Stores had special bargains for them, and wherever they went they were welcomed into homes with fresh-baked pies and other small gifts.

The second part of the holiday was a feast in their honor. I took some time to allow the players to mingle and to describe the delicious meal. During the meal, the third part of the holiday was revealed - a masquerade ball to be held the following evening...

The Masquerade Ball CR: NC-17
Every hero needs a break, and what better way to relax then to par-tay. A night of dancing, drinking, and eventually - *gasp* finding someone lucky to go home with. Surely the most difficult challenge your heroes will ever face...

This encounter contains three parts, with the eventual goal of, yes, your noble adventurers getting lucky. No this is not the kind of encounter you think it is! Rather, it's designed to be a light-hearted and comedic encounter, built to give your players a chance to cool down after closing out a big chapter of their campaign. It also is a prime place to seed future plots or drop any number of juicy rumors.

The first part of this encounter entails preparing for the ball - specifically, purchasing costumes. The second part includes the party itself, where the players can take on a variety of party "roles" to increase their chances of getting lucky and determining who exactly they get lucky with.

The third part, is of course, the roll to determine who goes home alone, and who parties their way into the arms of another.

Encounter Set-Up: This encounter assumes that the players are familiar - at least on a basic level - with some of the individuals who may be attending this party. It is best held in a city which the characters have spent a lot of time in, or have done a little adventuring in - having already met some key characters. This is because part of the ball will be an opportuity to discover the identity of specific party-goers in order to plan carefully which of the guests the adventures want to use their... charismatic wiles on.

Even a general familiarity with townspeople, such as "Hey, wasn't there a portly baker woman who made us the most amazing pies ever? I bet she'll make me pies for breakfast. Wink wink. Nudge nudge." should work fine.

Feel free to set up your gaming table for this encounter however you'd like. The simplest set-up is to take five note cards and lay them out on your gaming table however you'd like. On the face-up side of each card, write one of the "party roles".

On the face-down side of each card, write the appropriate reward for successfully achieving that role.

Stage One: Dressing the Part
"Thank you all so much for being able to come to the feast. It truly is an honor to have you in our fair little town, especially given all you've done for us." The mayor smiled sweetly. "I trust we'll see you all at the masquerade ball tomorrow night.

Remember to bring a costume!"

Every good masquerade ball attendant needs a costume. The more elegant, extravagant, and inconspicuous the outfit, the better. Encourage your players to shop around town and design costumes that suit their characters best. The amount of money each character spends on a costume grants a bonus to their "The Big Score" roll which will be made at the end of the night. DM's should make a note of the bonuses privately until all players have made their purchases.

Encourage your players to describe their guise as they enter the party, and feel free to ham up the many heads that turn for the more expensive outfits. As a note, the lowest end of costumes probably consist of little more then a half-face masquerade eye mask, while the highest end are full face masks accompanied by extravagantly crafted clothing, platinum jewelery, and fine jewel accents.

Stage Two: Now The Party Can Start
"Why, good sir, I don't know who hides behind that mask but I must say whoever it is knows a thing or two about dancing!" The rogue smiled, "Lady, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"

As the encounter begins, invite your players to take turns (starting with whoever has the best costume and so on) to place their miniatures on the party role of their choice. To begin, only one character may attempt each role, though after each round (regardless if it's a failure or success), they may choose to move to other roles allowed by the role they were previously on (even if it's occupied), or to stay and try to attempt that role again (again, even if they succeeded the first time - the rewards are all cumulative).

For each role, the character will be given a set of potential skill checks. They may choose whichever skill check they wish to make, and must succeed at a DC 15 skill check for that skill. If they succeed, they gain the reward for that party role. This entire stage of the encounter has five rounds (ie. five chances to succeed at skill checks). If you'd like to make the party longer, feel free to make it ten rounds and simply cut the rewards in half.

Lord of the Dance: Leave those ballroom dancers in the dust. When you're the Lord of the Dance, none can stand to your funky moves. Stand back ladies and gentlemen, the Lord has arrived.

Jump - Jump around! Jump! Jump! Jump!
Perform [dance] - Did he just invent that move?
Tumble - They're break dance fighting!
Sleight of Hand - Look at her twirl those sunrods!
Concentration - And step, one two, and step, ball change.

Reward: +2 bonus to a character's Big Score modifier.
Progression: From this role, a party-goer can move to the Smooth Talker, Life of the Party or Master of the Bar roles.

Life of the Party: Now that you're here the party can really start. Sure, you make a fool of yourself, but sometimes standing out can be the best thing. And when you're not falling down, standing out is something you've mastered.

Climb - Get off the curtains!
Perform [sing] - Oh man, I LOVE this song!
Knowledge [local] - How refreshing, social commentary!
Survival - We're out of booze? Don't worry, I can find some.
Search - Marco! Polo!

Reward: +2 bonus to a character's Big Score modifier.
Progression: From this role, a party-goer can move to any party role they choose.

Mysterious Stranger: Tall, dark, and handsome. You cling to the shadows, picking out the perfect moment to make your move. Catching the eyes of a handsome noble, or a fair farmer's daughter from across the ballroom and then vanishing into the crowd leaving them wondering... Yeah, all that and more you sly dog you.

Disguise - I have no idea who she is, but she's amazing...
Move Silently - Oh my, you snuck up on me... *bashful giggle*
Gather Information - I owe the mayor a dance. Seen her?
Spot - There she is!
Hide - I was dancing with this girl, but then... she was gone!

Reward: A character can successfully identify a fellow party-goer.
Progression: From this role, a party-goer can move to the Smooth Talker or Lord of the Dance roles.

Smooth Talker: "If your AC weren't so high, I'd totally hit that..." Oh you, master of the silver tongue and the golden pick-up lines. No one can resist your wily charms, and you know it.

Diplomacy - Excuse me miss, care to dance?
Bluff - You know, we halflings get a pretty versatile size bonus...
Listen - Did someone say they needed some punch?
Sense Motive - She digs me.
Knowledge [architecture & engineering] - Need I say more?

Reward: A character can successfully identify a fellow party-goer.
Progression: From this role, a party-goer can move to the Lord of the Dance, Mysterious Stranger, or Life of the Party roles.

Master of the Bar: Adept at serving up drinks of all shapes and sizes, you can hold your own and keep everyone else riding the buzz all the way home. Pelor bless you spinner of the sauce.

Open Lock - Guess who found the liquor cabinet?
Craft [alchemy] - I call this one Alchemists Fire Water!
Heal - I got the drink what heals ya.
Balance - For when the world starts spinning!
Intimidate - I think you've had enough...

Reward: +2 bonus to a character's Big Score modifier.
Progression: From this role, a party-goer can move to the Life of the Party or Mysterious Stranger roles.

Stage Three: The Big Score
The night is winding down. Your adventurers have spent the night asserting themselves as the true heroes of - not only the town - but the party. Dancing, drinking, and sweet-talking the night away, some of your adventurers know the identity of those they're trying to "seal the deal" with, while to others... it remains a mystery. Regardless, it's time to try for the big score.

All players may now make a DC 25 "Big Score" Check. This, again, is a skill check chosen from a list of potential skills. The characters may add the modifiers gained from their costumes and their achievements throughout the night. If they have identified individuals from the party, they may target a specific individual - otherwise it's up to you who they have the potential to go home with.

Ride - [Censored Explanation]
Escape Artist - [Censored Explanation]
Use Rope - [Censored Explanation]
Handle Animal - [Censored Explanation]
Decipher Script - And you thought that skill was useless.

At the end of the night, a round of light applause for the victors (and perhaps a private roll to see if any kids will be knocking on their doors a few years from now) should be in order. What comes of these one night romances is up to your group, but all in all it should be a fun break from their typical adventures to take on a real challenge.

What waits for them the next morning, besides the true identities of their bedmates and a hangover is up to you!

If you're really looking for a fun awakening, take a page from my book and make it the very morning that an army of stone giants come streaming over the hilltops with a red dragon in tow and their eyes set on taking the town by force.

DM: Belthez, you are awakened by three things. The smell of sizzling bacon in the next room, a splitting headache, and the distant sound of war drums just outside the cities walls.

Belthez: Wait a minute. Did you say bacon?

Have a delightful party, and remember:

Friends don't let friends scry-n-die drunk!

Campaign Continuity: Ever get that nagging feeling you forgot something?

2009-07-12T21:38:00.008-04:00

Posts don't write themselves while you're LARPing (or recovering from LARPing), so Flashman85 is here to fill in with a guest post.

Enjoy!

It's bound to happen: Whether you're writing book sequels, making a TV series, or running a tabletop RPG, eventually you're going to run into continuity issues. Maybe you mention in passing that the king has a throne made of gold, and when the heroes meet with the king, he's actually got a silver throne. Maybe a character's brother perished before his eyes in a terrible accident, yet the brother makes a live cameo later on, defying all logic. Maybe the absolute top speed of that zeppelin is 75 km/hr, yet the heroes go cruising off at an even 100 km/hr without any modifications or magic.

Sometimes, things just don't match up. Sometimes these things go unnoticed; sometimes you look really stupid. Tabletop RPGs run a higher risk of continuity errors than most other creative endeavors. No matter how much planning and preparation go into a session, when you're giving your players (or your GM) information on the fly, it's all too easy to forget minor details and say things that you'll later wish didn't become canon as soon as you said them.

If you're a player, continuity isn't such a big problem most of the time: flesh out your backstory in advance and write down anything you make up as you go. Easy peasy. If you're the GM, however, you're keeping track of far more than just one character and her cookie-cutter tragic childhood. If one tiny piece of your universe falls out of place, it might just mean your universe has one tiny little piece out of place... or it could mean that the stability and continuity of your universe are in jeopardy.

As a GM, you have 3 major options for addressing a continuity error:

(1) Just ignore the error. Hope no one notices, write it off as inconsequential, or accuse the players of being liars and blame them for pretending there's a continuity error. But if that won't work...

(2) Come up with a plausible in-game excuse, no matter how dubious it may be. Twist the game universe until continuity is restored. But if that won't work...

(3) Admit you've made a mistake and go with whichever version of the truth best suits the situation, even if that means completely erasing or revising something you've already told the players. Alternately, you can just kill off the whole party and start over from scratch.

Options 1 and 3 work best for covering up tiny mistakes, but if EVERYONE says there can only be two Sith--one master and one apprentice--running around the galaxy at any one time, you had better have a darn good explanation for why there are now FIVE Sith currently attacking the party.

Manufacturing a plausible in-game excuse, especially in the middle of a session, isn't always easy, but there are many ways you can get yourself out of a jam.

What I present here is by no means an exhaustive list of remedies, but hopefully these ideas will put you on the right track when you encounter the inevitable continuity catastrophe:

Bad information: NPCs lie. People have bad memories. Spoken words are misheard. Characters misjudge time, distance, weight, etc. Wise men don't always know everything. Maps are inaccurate. Ancient scrolls are mistranslated. Musty tomes contain typos. It's not necessarily a continuity error if the in-game source of information isn't entirely trustworthy for one reason or another.

Simple omissions: Why did it take seven days to reach the castle when last time it only took six? Oh, well, I forgot to mention that you were moving a little slower because of the weather, and you had to take a minor detour because one of the roads was closed. How did that bounty hunter suddenly get her hands on a disruptor pistol when you said she was totally unarmed and wearing a jumpsuit with absolutely no place to hide a weapon? Oh, well, you didn't look at her back to see if she had a pistol strapped to it. Remember, even if you're picturing a clear path to the castle or a bounty hunter with no hidden weapons, the only facts are the things you've told the players.

There's more than meets the eye: How did those rival archaeologists beat us to the excavation site if whe had them locked up in prison when we left town? Well, perhaps a mysterious benefactor sprang them out and arranged for faster transportation, or maybe those people you see before you are impersonators. How is it possible that the villain is really a vampire, yet he attacked us in broad daylight yesterday... while eating garlic!? Well, maybe vampires in this universe aren't the same as the ones you're used to, or it could be that he knows of some way to defend against normal vampiric weaknesses.

Without conclusive proof that something is completely impossible, there's always a scenario to explain the inexplicable.

Supernatural intervention: The ocean used to be twenty miles away from town... until the god of the sea got angry and pushed the coast inward about ten miles. Sure, the villain's hair used to be brown, but that Super Soldier Serum she injected into her arm last week seems to have a side effect that occasionally changes her hair color. When all else fails, blame it on magic--it's powerful stuff that can alter almost anything. Or, chalk it up to time travel. I mean, I've done it.

Remember, you don't always need to resolve continuity errors immediately; "That is an interesting question," and "Well, what do you think?" are perfectly valid responses to a player's suspicion or accusation that there's a problem with your story's continuity. Just be sure to think up an answer before an answer is absolutely required.

Do keep in mind that fixing one continuity error can lead to worse continuity errors, so if your players question the villain's ability to jump unnaturally high, don't place the blame on gravity elves if there's nothing supernatural or elfy about your campaign. Keep your fixes as simple as possible, and don't tell your players how you've resolved the problem unless it's brilliant or unless your players really need an answer--a single hiccup in continuity is often better than a convoluted solution.

Of course, proper preparation and self-monitoring really help to prevent continuity errors in the first place. Map out those crazy plot twists as far in advance as you can. Come up with very solid explanations for why anything will be different than it used to be. Have one of your players keep a log of all the major events in a session and all the key details you give. Jot down quick notes for yourself whenever you spontaneously come up with names or character backstories during a session. Go over relevant information from previous sessions if the players will be returning to familiar locations and meeting with familiar characters. That kind of thing.

Know your campaign universe inside and out, plan as thoroughly as possible, pretend that the easily fixed problems were part of the plan the whole time, and flex some creative muscle when everything falls apart. There's no continuity error you can't handle.

But if there is, you really can just kill off all your players to spite them.

Gone LARPing!

2009-07-09T18:11:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm off to battle evil and such. Have a great weekend everyone, I will be back on Monday! In the meantime, please enjoy some steampunked Nerf guns! Happy blogging!

Holidays in D&D: Part Five

2009-07-08T18:11:00.001-04:00

Your small group scurries down the staircase, and you exit Oak Island Keep - heading East over the bridge, and back into the town. Several guild-members line the street who help point you in the correct direction, towards the east and into the Temple District.

To your left as you cross to the other side of Sharkfin bridge you make out an old building which seems to be sagging in the middle, it's walls slowly rotting and its pilings sinking into the inexorable flow of the river below. A half ruined sign still hangs askew over the boarded-up door, but the picture has long since worn away.

Next to the ruined building is another interesting sight, a small quaint building that seems to be a shop of some kind. As you pass by, strange smells greet your noses, and you notice a number of crows lurking on the eaves and gutters.

A sign above the door depicts a Quasit breaking a wand over a horned skull, and an evil spirit of some sort rising up from the shattered end of the wand. A middle-aged woman stands in the doorway, leaning up against the frame. She gives you a polite nod as you pass, and the smirk on her face tells you that she knows you'll be back.

As you round the corner, a larger building comes into view on your right, it's sign flickering with faerie fire. The façade of this structure is covered with dozens of posters, many in tatters or out of date, depicting strange freaks of nature, monsters, and bizarre relics with catch-phrases such as "See the Wondrous Eel-Man!" and "Behold Nature's Cruelest Trick: The Toad-Faced Dog!" and "Test Your Endurance in the Pit of Vile Ooze!"

The huge flickering sign above the main entrance proudly proclaims the place to be Anmeh's Hall of Oddities. The building however looks to be currently closed, though not out of business, so you imagine it is because of the festival, and continue on.

You weave further down the street, as the crowd gets slowly less dense. Small groups of people break off from the mob, heading down side streets towards their meeting place, as you can see the Temple District in the distance. As you walk further along the street, on your left you pass by a building called "The Lizard's Boat", you pass a forge with a sign bearing the picture of an anvil and the words "Guildhall of Smiths" hanging from a post at the street corner, and finally a large older building with a broad front porch.

You barely have time to inspect these structures however, as you round the corner and come face to face with the Cathedral of Pelor. This impressive cathedral towers over the neighboring buildings, and indeed it might be the tallest structure in the entire town. It certainly presents one of the most impressive landmarks you've seen so far.

The white stone walls of this Cathedral rise nearly 100 feet into the air, and the large dome of red and orange metal atop the square structure adds another fifty feet to its height. The radiant golden symbol of Pelor adorns the walls of the structure, glinting in the sun, proclaiming its allegiance proudly and unmistakably.

Yet despite its grandiose appearance, the building seems run down and even a bit dirty.

As you walk through the front entryway, your eyes adjust to the dimness of the cathedral itself. The cathedral is primarily one huge open space, consisting of a central pulpit surrounded by numerous pews. A middle aged man, human, comes to greet you.

He is dressed in the robes and fittings of a high priest, and holds his hands out in welcome, a broad smile crossing his face and crinkling the corners of his eyes. He says his introductions quickly, but kindly, not really leaving you much space to get a word in edge-wise. You think that he may have been prompted on how to greet you and what to say, and that he is carefully trying to not forget.

"Welcome! Welcome to the Cathedral of Pelor. My name is Father Balthazar, High Priest of this church. I imagine you are here with the Festival? Ah yes, well I am new to the city myself, so from one newcomer to another, I welcome you!"

Leading you inside, the priest continues his introduction. "We have arranged one of the side meeting chambers for you..." He motions through the door into a small room with a table and four chairs. "As you can see, I've left a basket of bread and cheese on the table for you, as I imagine you're hungry after your boat ride." He looks around for a second, making sure no one is around, as he confesses in a whisper, "I've also snuck a bottle of sacramental wine under the table for you."

He smiles, a warm comforting smile. "Anyways here you are, I was told a member of the Guild would be by to explain the rules and to pick you up when it was your turn to enter. The only hints they gave me to tell you were that you should get to know each other, and what skills you have to utilize. That way, you may have some strategy when you enter the maze. Well, if you need anything, let me know. May Pelor bless you."

He traces a quick holy symbol in the air before smiling once more, and turning to leave.

Holidays in D&D: Part Four

2009-07-07T22:00:00.005-04:00

Before long, you spy a middle aged man stride up the steps to the platform. The human stands just over five feet tall, and his face is framed by shoulder length brown hair, to match his drooping mustache. He is cloaked in a fine crimson silk cape, falling loosely around his green tabard, inlaid with golden thread that shimmers even from your distance away. Aside from his noble guard he is dressed in noble's clothing, fringed by perfectly tanned bits of leather. His fingers are adorned with rings and he wears a rather large golden amulet around his neck.

He walks to the center of the platform, looking out over the bustling sea of adventurers for a moment, as if taking in every individual face.

He finally raises his gloved hands, and almost immediately, the crowd is silent. Even the birds in the oak trees fall silent, as a tense and excited peace falls over the crowd for a moment. He slowly lowers his hands, letting the silence sink in, before finally speaking, his voice magically rippling over the crowd to reach every ear.

"Welcome... to the Festival of Adventurers!"

As if on cue, the gathered forces suddenly unite in one explosive cheer! Hats are thrown into the air, as magic missiles explode in the atmosphere, and glitterdust spells rain down upon the crowd.

The cheering seems to continue without end, the sights and sounds, the songs and smells, all having built to this one bursting moment of excitement. It was finally to begin.

Again, the man slowly lifted his hands, the crowd falling softly once more, until his chuckling laughter was the only noise heard.

"Hah hah, yes yes, welcome! I am Lord Erolin Timertikos, and welcome to my fair city. Look around! The men and the women, the elves and the dwarves who stand beside you.

Here on Oak Island stand over one thousand people. Some from the mountains, some from the trees. Some from the cities, and some from the very ocean itself.

We have crossed the seven continents seeking those brave enough, strong enough, and wise enough, to be here today. And here you are, one thousand strong. But there is one thing. Yes there is one thing, that binds you all together. There is one thing that makes you, all of you, one. You. Are. Adventurers!"

Cheers from the audiences erupt again. You can make out dwarves patting elves on the back. And a few gnomes sitting on the shoulders of orcs and half-giants for a better view. It is truly a sight to behold, the unity of it all. Again the man raises his hand, bringing a swift silence to the island.

"Yes, Adventurers. Heroes. Heroines. The dungeon crawlers and the treasure seekers. Some of you seek fame. Some of you seek riches. Some of you glory. You serve your gods, you weave your spells, you shine your swords, all of you for adventure. And I can tell you my friends, there is nothing greater.

My great grandfather, the great paladin Orrin Timertikos founded this town, and his was the adventure that started it all. All that you see before you. Adventuring runs in my blood as it does yours, and in the next three days you will have your chance to prove it. Challenges await you indeed, and though I have heard many rumors about the supposed first challenge…"

He pauses to chuckle for a little bit. “A kobold throwing contest being the most amusing of them all…”

This raises a light laughter from the crowd, including from the kobolds who seem to be enjoying themselves more then ever. "Nothing could prepare you! Nothing could prepare you for our first challenge. Priestess Tolivar, if you would please."

This last bit he says aside to a woman dressed in brown robes, leaves in her hair, standing to the side. She nods, turning with her back to the crowd, facing the large vacant space behind the main stage. She begins to weave her hands together, as if they were dancing to the patterns of the wind.

"Now then," Erolin continues, "Priestess Lira Tolivar, leader of the Oak Island druids, has granted us this place for our first event. Now if you would all do me a favor and reach into your green envelopes. Within, you should find a bound scroll. Open it.

On that scroll is written a name. It is the name of your team. Yes your team! For what is an adventurer without a party of fellow adventurers by their side? Of course, in this challenge, you have been randomly paired up based on the order you checked in, so I wish you all the best. On the back of your scroll is a meeting place somewhere in the city. Members of the Adventurers Guild will be available to provide directions if you require them. After the challenge is revealed, you should report to your scheduled meeting place, to meet your teammates, and discuss strategy. Strategy, you ask? You will need it, for taking on this!"

He steps to the side in one fluid motion, throwing his hand back to present the open space behind the platform as the druid finishes dispelling the illusion and the true landscape forms into place. A huge maze rises from the ground, as walls of briar and stone form twisting walls and narrow passages. You can just make out the roar of strange beasts waiting within, as the crowd gasps and murmurs in excitement. Many fingers point towards the center of the maze, where one tall pole stands, topped by a small blue fluttering flag.

"The Labyrinth! Four teams enter. Many challenges wait within, not to mention the other teams out to make sure they reach the flag first. Who will emerge victorious? That and many more questions will be answered at this, the Festival of Adventurers!"

A final cheer erupts from the crowd, before the mob begins to file off of the island, heading to their respective meeting points. You all glance down at your scrolls, and at the two little words scribed upon them, "Team Chimera". The back of the scroll lists your meeting location as the Cathedral of Pelor, towards the western end of town in the Temple district. The festival has begun.

Holidays in D&D: Part Three

2009-07-06T20:31:00.007-04:00

You make your ways through the crowded streets, passing by various buildings, some of which appear to be small privately owned shops, or minor pubs like the one you tried to gain entry to before. Likewise, these taverns also have their doors closed. You cross over Sharkfin Bridge and continue West through the slum district until you reach a main intersection.

To your right stands a tall, incredibly flashy building that seems out of place this close to the slums. Marble columns carved to resemble trees line the walls of the building and a large illusory image of a scandalously writhing woman with pale skin and green hair undulates on a miniature stage built to resemble a forest glen above the main entrance. A golden sign labels this establishment as "The Dancing Dryad". Unfortunately you only have time to catch a glance at it, as you hurry the rest of the way towards Oak Island.

Walking along this road you can see to your right where the rock drops off to a lower layer, and the western edge of the peninsula. This district is filled with large manors and expensive looking houses. Several roads lead down into the district, and city guard can be seen patrolling in small groups rather then individually around this high class district.

Reaching the eastern edge of the bridge connecting to Oak Island, you cross through a large stone structure, open to the air. A sign labels this structure as the "Saltmarsh Point Forum", and as you walk through the center of the forum, you pass by four statues, flanking you two to a side. The statues depict a paladin, a rogue, a wizard, and a druid - likenesses you imagine to the four adventurers who founded Saltmarsh so many years ago.

As you cross the bridge, you don't have to be a dwarf to admire the architectural wonder, as the bridge is held aloft by only four thin pilings that reach down to the ground and seabed below.

Crossing over to the other side, you enter a large abandoned squat stone keep, now overgrown with vines. Reaching the exit on the other side you are met with a sea of people.

Creatures of all races and genders crowd this small island, lining up before a large platform.

You can see a wide open span of the island stretching out behind the platform, dense patches of oak trees lining the edges of the plateau. Some of you manage to spot a small staircase to the side of the keep which you all head to, drawn both by the idea of not having to stand in the back row of an almost endless crowd of people.

You all make your way up onto the roof, passing by a young noble couple catching a private moment in the stairwell. They blush and run off as you approach, giggling. As you reach the roof, you all can't help but congratulate yourselves on such a find. You seem to be the only four up here, and sitting on the crenelated wall gives you a commanding view of the masses below, the arranged platform, and the island beyond.

Turning around you can see the city spread out before you, fireworks still echoing in the sky, as hippogryph riders do somersaults in the air. You sit back and manage to try and relax for the few minutes you have before the opening ceremonies start

- - -

There are many ways to incorporate holidays into your game. Many campaign settings will provide a list of common holidays in their world, while source material on deities is a good place to look for religious festivals. Homebrewing holidays isn't all that hard either, and based on your knowledge of the group you play with, it might be best to tailor your festivities to whatever your group might enjoy.

Traditional Holidays
Most holidays are annual, and the most common ones are based on the changing seasons. Midsummer, midwinter, the end of the dry season, the beginning of harvest season, and so on all make good options for holidays.

Such universal yearly dates probably encourage celebration through your world or campaign's continent (though the biggest celebrations and balls obviously take place in the capital city).

Other traditional holidays typically mark the beginning of something. Whether it's the day a nation first gained independence, the day a great war ended (or began), or the day a town was founded - these celebrations can be local or broad, focused around individual towns and may even bring animosity from some communities who opposed the change (despite how long ago it was).

Religious Holidays
Holidays linked to deities can add fantastic flavor to any game. From secret underground masquerade balls held for a god of trickery and shadows, to festivals for the goddess of love where candy and contraceptives are sold in the streets (if you catch my drift).

Religious holidays can add a lot to games especially if you have one of more players whose characters are devoted to the deity in question. Special invitations to them and a number of guests can get the party as special guests to unique celebrations, and make players value their dedication to the gods in your game.

Guests of Honor
Nothing will entertain your players more then holidays specifically surrounding them. Did your players more or less single-handedly save a small town from an overwhelming assault? Perhaps they saved the life of a town's mayor! Such grand actions may make the characters local heroes and may encourage a small annual festival to be held in their honor.

Unexpected invitations to the PC's as "guests of honor" to a festival held in their honor for actions they took a year (and several levels) ago should delight and surprise your players. A feast, a ball, and grand gifts from the town such as a boat, or a home of their own, will give your players a chance to relax and revel in their own accomplishments (perhaps while they even watch the town's children re-enact the events in a small play).

Birthdays
If all else fails, celebrate your player's birthdays in-game by giving their characters a birthday party too! Having all of their favorite NPC's surprise them with small gifts and a big cake can add to any session! For maximum surprise, encourage your group to keep the celebration a secret and procure a real cake for everyone to enjoy. There's a lot of different ways you can approach this idea, but the number one rule is HAVE FUN WITH IT!

As the last part to this series on holidays, next time I'll give you all a holiday ready and raring to be celebrated in your next session. Happy celebrating!

Blog Updates: Memberships and a new banner!

2009-07-05T12:46:00.005-04:00

Following my hiatus from blogging, I'm happy to say that I've been easily to get back in the swing of things. Unfortunately, due to my blog being unresponsive for several months, my membership from the RPG Bloggers Network was removed.

Thankfully, a quick email took care of that and now I am back on the feed! Already my Google Analytics page is showing a steady increase of readers which is fantastic! I have visitor goals for this blog that I have not yet met, but due to my absence it's expected. I'm hoping to pull in some new readers and get back the loyal readers I've lost.

Speaking of readers, I always love to see comments and to know who's following Beneath the Screen, so feel free to throw a comment up - I'd love to hear from you!

Looking for something to comment about? How about the new banner! I'm trying out a new banner as you can see and I'm quite excited about the change. Voice your opinions! Share your thoughts!

Anyways, I wanted to throw up a quick update before I went to my World of Darkness game today. Have a happy Sunday!

Holidays in D&D: Part Two

2009-07-04T21:40:00.005-04:00

Happy Fireworks Day to everyone! In honor of the holiday, and as a follow up to some holiday flavor, I present the second part of my ode to holidays in your Dungeons and Dragons game.

Incorporating holidays and celebrations into your D&D game is a great way to keep your world alive and vibrant. Holidays may occur for any number of reasons and inject a unique event into the lives of the characters in your campaign. Perhaps your players stumble randomly upon such a celebration, are planning to attend it for a few months, or are the guests of honor themselves!

Festivals can make fantastic diving boards into a campaign, or a flavorful adventure on the side. Regardless of how you use holidays in your game, if done well, they have the potential for giving your players a break from their stressful adventure-filled lives, and finally some time to just have fun.

The Good: Upsides to Holidays in D&D
Having holidays and festivals in your game has benefits and downsides, both of which you should consider before implementing them into your game. As the Dungeon Master for your group, you know your players better then I do, and a holiday certainly won't work for everyone, but they do hold great potential.

Holidays can start quests, or even entire campaigns. Perhaps your adventurers get matched up in the same team for the annual Festival of Adventurers! This is a great way to seed plot hooks and information, from the small sidequests to the main plotline.

Want your players to save the King from assassination, or even assassinate him themselves? What better chance to do that then the annual festival when he makes a very public appearance? Is there a villain on the run from the players? What better place for him to hide then in all the hubbub in your nation's capital city during the holidays. Ah, work and pleasure combined.

The Bad: Downsides to Holidays in D&D
Holiday adventures are not for everyone, and if you do decide to use them, make sure to match the events to your players preferences. If you have a kick-down-the-door party, make sure that you have plenty of bar fights, rowdy festival guests, and other such encounters lined up for them.

A potential problem to holidays in D&D as well is the fact that, to do a festival or celebration justice, it may take a few sessions (depending on your average session length). To fully convey such a unique event, much like any important (read: once in a campaign) event in your party's life (like meeting royalty for example), I think it's worth it for the Dungeon Master to plan ahead and truly give the event some thought and detail.

Giving your players time to explore the festival, or a city's unique deals, decor, and events, will be worth it in the end.

Next, I'll discuss ways you can incorporate holidays of varying types into your game (and how to celebrate player birthdays!)

Now, go enjoy your fireworks and try not to blow any fingers off!

Holidays in D&D: Part One

2009-07-03T04:23:00.007-04:00

Your first step onto the docks sends a chill of excitement down your spine. The city streets are densely packed with creatures and races from all over the world, dressed in armor, robes, and garish outfits hailing from cultures you've never even heard of.

Throngs of children run amok through the crowds, squealing in joy at their first sighting of a half-giant, asking for autographs from some of the more regal looking elves, playing tag with a group of kobolds, and gently stroking the fur of various animals that cling tightly to their master's sides for fear of being lost in all of the excitement.

City streets are decorated with ribbons of green and gold, while proudly proclaiming the symbol of the Adventurer's Guild, the sponsors of this grand event.

A large shimmering banner hangs above the entrance to the shipyard, raining down a shower of magical sparkles on each new group of boat passengers as they cross the threshold onto the cobblestone city streets, as a magic mouth exclaims "WELCOME ONE AND ALL, TO THE FESTIVAL OF ADVENTURERS!"

A large gnomish band can be seen across the crowd in a raised pavilion playing jaunty tunes that whirl around your ears while a mixture of exotic smells overwhelm you, of spiced krenshar meat sizzling on a bed of hot coals, deep-fried guttersnipe shish-kabob, and warm gnomish goldspeck ale.

The sights, the sounds, the smells, all drown you in revelry, as even the most stoic mages cannot help but crack a smile, getting caught up in the joy and celebration that surrounds every new step.

The flow of city traffic quickly moves you south along winding streets, towards the Market Place and check-in for the festival itself. As you process down the streets in pseudo parade fashion, some of you cannot help but wave and cheer yourselves, as city locals lean out their windows or doors, throwing flower petals and streamers out towards you.

Every so often, a glitterdust spell is fired into the air, and as the shimmering beads of magic rain down upon you, you can often spy acrobatic hippogryph riders doing stunts far in the air above you.

The Market Place itself is booming with excitement. The long, wide street is lined with merchants, selling wares of all shapes and sizes.

A Goblin bangs his pots and pans, showing their durability, as a pair of young Half-Orc twins explain to a Halfling bard how their mandolins hold secret compartments sized perfectly for hiding an extra playing card or two.

You are shuffled quickly to a large group of tables, behind which sit several representatives of the Adventurers Guild, buried under piles of papers and bright green folders. After you work your way through the line they greet you with a genuine smile.

Without a wasted word, the representative before you rattles through his introduction all in one breath, as you imagine he has said nothing else for the entire day.

”Greetings, and welcome to the first annual Festival of Adventurers! If I could just get your name, city of origin, god or goddess of preference, area of expertise, and weapon of choice, I can give you your official Festival Packet. Oh yes, and did you come alone, or with others? This includes family, friends, party members, familiars, animal companions, and any other relation of body, mind, or spirit.”

They smile at you, dipping their inkpen in a small inkwell, preparing to jot down your answers.

A DM's Dilemma: Dealing With Powerhouse Parties

2009-07-02T04:22:00.007-04:00

Before I get too far into anything, there's a fantastic post over at Ravyn's blog Exchange of Realities. It doesn't have to do with the topic of this post but I just wanted to send a link her way because she's written up some very neat advice about how you can show a character's "skill" without them actually using it. I think her points can easily be applied to the game table and utilized as ways for you to show your character's adeptness at certain skills without actually rolling a die.

Making a thief acrobat? Look up some climbing terms or tumbling techniques! Throw the lingo in game! Talk to your DM about famous acrobats in your game world that you can bring up in conversation with fellow tumblers. This is a great way to expand upon your character and to bring something extra to the game table.

Now then, on to the topic at hand!

There has been a lot of buzz on the interwebs lately about parties being too powerful for their own good, feeling “safe”, and what to do about it from a DM standpoint. Tycho over at Penny Arcade made his point on the topic (not to mention a hilarious comic), while Janna also spoke on the matter over at Dungeon Mastering.

Flashman85 from Exfanding Your Horizons made a guest post here a while back on balancing battles to the party - a great guide for how to plan battles out appropriately for your party’s power level, but following an event with my most recent gaming group, I thought I’d toss my hat in the ring as well on the topic.

In the most recent campaign I ran, I had a group that was so well-crafted with characters built to exploit every strength of their individual classes that I continually found that the battles I threw at them were not challenging - and in many cases, not even the slightest bit scary for them. 95% of the battles were laughable, if not already over before the monsters got to take their first actions (poor flatfooted fools).

So, I decided I wanted to challenge them and give them battles that would make them think, plan, and at least worry about the livelihood of their characters. I photocopied all of their character sheets for my records, made notes of their equipped items, and got updated spell lists from each of the casters.

One of the next battles they fought was against a flying golem. The party was ill-equipped beyond belief to fight flying creatures, and the immunity to magic was an even further crimp in their style. One by one, the golem launched his arrows and carved up the party fairly effectively. After the battle finally ended I looked around the table and what did I see?

No one was having fun.

I have seen many upset gamers in my time, and I've learned that there is a distinct difference between someone being upset about losing and someone who just isn't having fun at the table. All six of them were fitting very uncomfortably into the latter category.

Me: "You guys ok?"

Them: "That battle sucked."

Me: "Well, not every battle can be easy. Challenging is good right? It made you think!"

Here's the kicker.

Them: "There's a difference between a battle being challenging and a battle being set up in such a way that we simply can't do anything to the monster. Four of us couldn't do anything in that fight."

Ouch. I had to give it to them, I'd screwed up. In my attempts to challenge them, I put the party in a situation where they couldn't function. Since the challenge of the battle was purely with the monster they faced - those who couldn't do anything to affect the creature pretty much sat the battle out.

So... how to make a battle challenging in a way powerhouse characters will enjoy?

1. Quantity, Not Quality (well, a little quality)

My first suggestion here has to echo the great point that Janna made over at Dungeon Mastering. Sometimes, number can be more effective then you realize. Given, too many of the same old monster can bog down a battle and make it boring, but sending waves of low-powered enemies at your PC's not only can give them the chance to show up their big muscles (hey goblin, do you have your tickets? TO THE GUN SHOW?!) but it can actually prove a challenge over time.

Rather then do this in one giant simultaneous assault, long multi-staged battles without a chance to rest and refuel can work just as well. Battles with many stages will also give PC's a big sense of accomplishment when they finally do end, so this type of encounter is one I highly suggest.

2. Everyone Has A Job To Do

The main mistake I made in the flying golem battle was that it was the only challenge. There wasn't anything the spellcasters could do to help their combat-based comrades. Given, a large part of this issue was on the fault of the very specialized way my players had designed their characters, since none of them had prepared defensive or buff-based spells, but as the DM my job was to make sure they had fun. I failed. Yeah, I really failed.

So you don't make the same mistake, when you're going for a challenging battle, make there be problems to solve in addition to the nasty opponents. A puzzle boss that the PC's must figure out, a riddle to solve, or a recently triggered trap to deal with that's swiftly filling the room with electrically charged water for example.

This way, your party can essentially separate into teams - all facing the same dangers and "battle" together, though not all of them have to fight. This encourages teamwork, rather then a stadium game where half of the party sits in the bleachers to watch.

3. Your Minions Have Brains!

This is the solution I finally used with the party mentioned above and it really added to the whole campaign. Only truly usable in a long-running adventure, this technique involves the PC's enemies slowly getting smarter.

Understandably, the BBEG will eventually catch on to the fact that some meddlesome kids are trying to thwart his plan. Therefore, it makes sense that he would send spies to watch them (maybe join them for a time), encourage his minions to flee back and report if they seem to be outmatched, and - if pushed to anger - utilize tools such as scrying mirrors and crystal balls to learn their tactics and weaknesses.

Using this method to make battles more challenging allows you to send the same monsters against your PC's that you'd been planning on... just, better prepared.

If your players favor cleave attacks or area spells, the minions begin training in earnest to keep exactly thirty feet apart from each other. Swashbuckler PC's enjoy disarming everything wielded against them? Perhaps the minions start investing in locked gauntlets.

Your minions shouldn't take any overly excessive methods to destroy your PC's, like buying expensive magical items, but intelligently prepared spells and the purchase of some basic resistance potions matching the weapons of choice chosen by your PC's will keep them on their toes. (And of course, throwing in the occasional mercenary or random-encounter monster who has no idea what's going on and allows the PC's to do what they do best never hurts! In fact, I highly suggest it.)

The best part of this increase in challenge is the fact that your parents will LOVE IT! As long as you let them know all this extra effort is all due to them, it will be a healthy boost to their egos. Plus, it encourages them to come up with new strategies, and puts even the most specialized and maximized characters in a position where they have to be creative in order to succeed.

The key to this tactic's success is to have it leak, at least eventually, to the players that their characters are being watched and that NPC's are specifically being trained to fight them. Just making your monsters suddenly know all their tricks with no explanation will upset the PC's.

Having a list of their names and a sentence about their tactics on a note they find as treasure is a good way to solve this problem. Or a simple "It's those adventurers! Spread out! We need three on the barbarian!" warcry will set the record straight and may even lead to a fun torture session where the PC's find out which of their "friendly NPC companions" leaked the infomation to the BBEG three sessions ago. *Insert evil double-crossing laughter here*

- - -

Happy Hunting!

How do you use character backstories?

2009-07-01T04:52:00.007-04:00

I am currently fortunate enough to be playing in a couple White Wolf games. The World of Darkness system is actually what initially inspired me to create Othercity so needless to say I've always been a fan. There are many pros and cons about World of Darkness games, but one of the things I love most about it is creating the characters.

While Dungeons & Dragons obviously has the character optimization aspect to character creation, I find that in World of Darkness the depth of your character's history and motivation are much more important. Anyone who knows me knows I love writing up character backgrounds.

Below is the character history of the current Mage character I'm running. The GM is using the old World of Darkness rules, so this fine chap belongs to the Celestial Chorus. This background could work just as well for a Hunter campaign - which is probably why I wrote it like I did. (I secretly love Hunter - don't tell anyone!)

While I wrote up the history, I got to thinking about character histories in general. I've played in plenty of games - D&D, White Wolf, and many more. Some DM/GM's love getting backstories from their players, some require it, and some don't care either way. Obviously when you're running a published adventure it's hard to incorporate backstory points for your players unless they've specifically worked with you to tie their background into future events along the quest line or main NPC's.

To the GM's and DM's out there, do you ask for character histories? If so, how do you utilize them in your game? And from a player standpoint, do you players out there enjoy writing stories? Even if they can't be used in gameplay, does it help you play your character, or is it usually not worth the effort. Give me your thoughts!

And now, for your reading pleasure - the backstory of Father Orion McDonnough - an Irish Priest and member of the Celestial Chorus.

- - -

Father McDonnough's History

The dreams started... well, the dreams never really "started". Saying that something starts implies that there was a point in time prior to which there was an absence of whatever began, making it's presence then known... Father McDonnough lifted his pen from the journal in pause, glancing at the fresh entry. Why do I overcomplicate even the simplest explanations...

I suppose nothing's really simple anymore. I miss simple.

- - -

Orion had always been a man of vision, in more ways then one. Born in Dublin, February 2nd in 1957, Orion McDonnough grew up under the caring but strict eye of his mother. His father committed suicide when the boy was three for reasons at the time unknown. The dreams told him though - long before Orion was old enough to fully understand what they were telling him. His father sought the easy way out - put under pressure by a group of men who had a score to settle with him based on the unforgiven actions of his father - Orion's grandfather - a former member of the IRA.

Tortured by the loss of her husband, Aileen McDonnough was driven into the arms of another man - the Good Lord. Orion's life became that of a proper Irish Catholic man, and the years of worship flew by (along with his fair share of rugby games). At the age of 23, he graduated with high honors from Saint Patrick's College - the foremost seminary in Ireland. Six years later, Orion had finished his schooling, earning a doctorate of religion. His dreams were peaceful then.

Over the next 10 years, Father McDonnough followed his dreams, and they brought him success in all he attempted. After founding his own church in Cork, Orion's primary achievement was establishing the Quiet Grace Orphanage. Giving 20 children a home, and over 300 good Catholics a church. The dreams were peaceful then.

Until that night...

- - -

Father McDonnough awoke with a start. He shivered. His body was covered in a cold sweat. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The priest looked down on his notebook where he'd scrawled the few lines about dreams. He took up his pen again and wrote two words. They strayed off the lines and angeled sharply up the page. A nightmare? Before he knew what he was doing, the pen fell to the floor and Orion bolted for the door.

Fleeing out of the cathedral, McDonnough ran through the streets like a madman. No car to speak of - a worldly possession he never saw use for until now - the bottom of his long coat swung around his knees. His priestly garb was not made for running, but he hadn't the time to change.

A pair of headlights.

Waving his arms madly for the car to slow, McDonnough silently thanked the Father that it was a woman of his own congregation. "Father McDonnough?"

"No time child, you must take me to tha orphanage! Immediately!"

The car sped through the night, and as they drove he prayed. His prayers opened into visions. Visions of darkness and... blood. He could hear the screams.

"Father, are you alright?" McDonnough opened his eyes to the questioning woman. "Father, yer - yer'eyes." The priest reached a hand up to his face. He was crying. Crimson tears. The car had stopped.

McDonnough was inside in moments - the orphanage was as silent as a grave. He ran through the shadows - passing door after door. The man didn't stop to open a single one, he knew the children were already dead. But there was life still here... lingering. Reaching the last door on the hall, McDonnough through the door open. "Tha power of- uuf!" A heavy fist laid into McDonnough's stomach - and the man felt power like he'd never felt before as the simple attack sent him flying to the wall of the hallway behind him. He struggled to stand, but a simple gaze from his attacker froze the priest in fear. The man was dressed in ragged jeans, oil-stained and torn. A long black trenchcoat hung from his shoulders, and blond hair was slicked back along his pale scalp. He wore no shirt - wearing nothing beneath the coat but the carving of a pentagram in his chest. His face was sharp and angled - and a baseball bat was strapped to his back. His teeth were hidden... in the throat of a child. Soon enough, he let the girl's corpse fall - broken and drained.

Slowly the man licked his fingers and spoke softly as if to himself, but McDonnough knew he was speaking loud enough for him to hear. "Tha thing about kids is, you cannae have just one. Not after a long night when yer real thirsty. They just donnae have enough of it innem... But I must say, iss'tha freshest you'll find. They're kind of like... espressos. Good things, small packages and all that." The man slinked towards him. "Have nae tried preacher in a'while though. Mebee a little dessert is..." The man locked eyes with McDonnough. The priest felt as if the man was peeling back layers of his very soul. "Interestin'..." the man commented. "On second thought, at tha end of tha day, any man can say 'e killed one and twenty people, but only a truly special man can say 'e killed twenty, and left one man to live with it all." He grinned at McDonnough as he backed away down the hall towards the exit. "Besides, yer kind stings goin' down anyway." A light chuckle amongst the shadows, and then he was gone.

- - -

For five years, the dreams didn't come. McDonnough felt alone. As if he'd failed. As if he'd been abandoned by God. He never forgot that night. Many lesser men would have given up everything, but McDonnough stuck with his church and helped the community move through the tragedy. He told no one of what he'd truly seen that night. The woman who'd drove him was dead in her car as he left. No one knew he'd even beem there. "A tragedy" they called it. "The Silent Grace Murders" - one of the Ireland's unsolved mysteries. McDonnough always knew it wasn't just a man he'd seen that night. It was a demon of some kind. Explaining such to anyone would be fruitless though... he knew this. And so, he kept silent.

It wasn't until his mother died that the dreams began again. Five years after that terrifying night, Aileen McDonnough went quietly in her sleep. That night, the dreams began again. The following morning, McDonnough followed them, and in the spring of 2001 booked a plane to America.

McDonnough got a job at the Blessed Path Church in [Insert town approx. hour away from main city] unnaturally fast. The head priest, Father Gilroy, hired him on the spot. He was a strong-willed man who McDonnough admired. In private, the two shared many conversations about the Catholic church. Gilroy spoke of a unity between many faiths - an idea of peace between all religions that he was passionate about. Gilroy had many strange theories and thoughts, but his sermons were simple and true to the Catholic faith. All in all, he was a very strange man. McDonnough looked to him for guidance, and Gilroy offered it in lessons and knowledge. The man was a mentor to him (in ways McDonnough didn't even know at the time), and helped him adjust to life in America. The job was stable, enlightening, and far away from the darkness of home. However, the shadows could never quite leave the priest alone. After two years of employment, the next chapter of McDonnough's life began yet again with a single night.

- - -

It was late - an hour or so past midnight - but McDonnough was still at the church. Going over some last minute paperwork for the charity race that coming weekend, McDonnough snapped his attention away from the paper-scattered table as he heard movement in the Nave. McDonnough never agreed with the head priest's desire to keep the church open all night, but the man insisted that a House of God must never close to those who need it.

Making his way into the Nave, McDonnough's eyes snapped to the man climbing the steps up to the Lectern. The man was dressed in a dark business suit and was well kept. Reaching the top, the man reached out to a polished gold-plated cross and reached out - as if to take it - smudging the metal with the oils from his hand. McDonnough relaxed a little. "May I help you?"

"Ah, yes." The man suddenly noticed McDonnough and placed the cross back - taking a few steps down the stairs. "I am looking for Father Gilroy. I was under the impression..." the man looked at Orion's outfit, "that he was the only Priest at this church."

"The name's Father McDonnough, I am Father Gilroy's assistant." McDonnough walked up the staircase past the stranger, absentmindedly pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket to polish the cross once more. "Father Kilroy is not in tonight... I don't believe he ever is at such an hour. You should be able to find him here most days before six." McDonnough placed the polished cross down on the altar once more - inspecting it as he heard the stranger's weight shift behind him.

"It's not like Gilroy to miss a meeting like this. I don't suppose you'll mind if I leave a message do you?"

McDonnough felt the stairs behind him creak ever so gently. The man was walking towards him... slowly. Whatever this was, it wasn't good. As McDonnough's eyes gazed at the cross with some hope of guidance the priest noticed a peculiar thing. The man had no reflection. McDonnough was overwhelmed with one screaming thought. This man is no man. Grasping the cross with his hand, McDonnough spun in one quick movement. The man was two stairs down - with arm's reach. His mouth was pulled back in some sick grin - two large fangs jutting down from his top lip as his eyes tore into the priest's soul. McDonnough felt the same power being exerted over him as before, but this time he was ready.

Holding the cross out, McDonnough screamed at the demon. "LEAVE THIS PLACE. CHRIST COMPELS YOU. FLEE DEMON!"

For a moment, the beast almost smiled. The sort of pitying smile that one offers after hearing the same old joke for the hundredth time. But then the man recoiled. McDonnough heard the sound of sizzling - like grease on a frying pan - along with a snarl. The man fell backwards, stumbled to his feet, and fled.

- - -

McDonnough gave his letter of resignation to Father Gilroy the following morning, before packing up and moving once more. The church burned to the ground three days later. Father Gilroy died in the blaze.

Today, McDonnough owns and operates a small church in [city]. The church was built six years ago - and McDonnough came upon it immediately following Gilroy's death in it's final month of construction - thanks to of course, his dreams pointing him in that direction. He applied to work as the church's priest, and the job was given to him. He named it St. Elizabeth's Church, and has lived there ever since.

McDonnough has spent the last six years, in addition to establishing the church and himself as one of the main religious figures in [city], researching the circumstances surrounding the fire at Gilroy's church. The parallels McDonnough has been able to draw between the Quiet Grace Murders and the fire at Blessed Path have been shocking. The entire quest for answers has opened McDonnough's eyes to a world he was not ready to see.

Starting about one year ago, his dreams started becoming more vivid then ever. Powerful and frightening. The scales have been peeled away and McDonnough began to sense things he'd never been able to sense before. And it terrified him.

- - -

"And the glory,"

Why do I know exactly how many people are in this room? How did I count them all?

"And the power,"

I can feel every second. It just ticks away in my head. Pew number 7 has a small crack in it. WHY do I know this?!

"Forever and ever,"

A man, in the back row... isn't breathing. But I see him... smiling...

"Amen."

Gamebuilding #4: Prologue

2009-06-29T22:32:00.005-04:00

So, I've begun piecing together what I have on my Othercity game into an actual word document. And... *drumroll fanfare* I actually have a system! My biggest fear with game creation was actually banging out a unique system. I decided that I did indeed want to steer clear of Othercity just being a setting within the d20 or World of Darkness universes, but to do that I needed a fresh way to organize skills, roll dice, and generally map out character advancement. I think I've figured it out!

That however, is a post for another day, as I'm still working out the kinks (*catcall*). I have however, based on the few Othercity posts I've already written, worked out a passing Prologue for the playtest copy of Othercity. Enjoy!

[Warning: crude apocalypse-induced language ahead]

- - -

The joints in Anna's fingers protested enough for the woman to finally pause - removing her fingertips from the typewriter's keyboard with such speed that an observer might have assumed the ancient machine had shocked her. The room she sat within, having just been filled with the snapping of metal type bars, suddenly fell silent. Anna nursed her hands – curling and uncurling her overworked knuckles – as she glanced over the many paragraphs that had burst unexpectedly onto the formerly blank page. Dark and organized letters, with the occasional glaring typo... Anna silently wished for spell check.

Firstlight, Cycle 8032, Count 23. Anna had learned to alter it – her perception of time – a long while ago. It began the day her watch had finally broken. Such a disaster that had been... Fairly insignificant, when it came right down to things, but a disaster to her – on that day of all days. Jeremiah would have said that her lingering attachment to the watch was just an exaggeration of some deep–seated "daddy issues". Jeremiah would have said that the watch was nothing, nothing in comparison to the other events of that day. Of course, the last thing Anna needed to trouble her mind about these days was Jeremiah.

To whom it may concern, was how she started the letters now. When the writing began, it was "Dear Diary". That wasn't the way of things here, it never had been. She wasn’t writing for herself.

Not anymore.

Everything was simple. Well, if not simple, at least normal. As normal as the world could be I suppose. Well, when held up against the "world" today, things were certainly simple back then. You woke up, had breakfast. God, I miss eggs. Went to work... I hated my job, sitting in that intolerable cubicle all day – crunching numbers. I would give anything to go back. Give me a conference call – hell, give me a drunk dial from my boss any day over this shit. This dystopian cluster–fuck. I'd take it all back – every ounce of reality's bullshit over another day ~~down here.~~ Up here? Ah hell.

I remember that day three years ago. I pretend I don't along with the other Terrers. We all kind of pretend to forget how it used to be. Whenever we talk about "then" – about lemonade stands on the sidewalk... about the rain. God, I miss the rain. Someone always gets to crying, and we don’t have time for that. It's not safe enough in D11 to cry. Best to keep a low profile, a slingshot to your hip and your mouth shut. We leaned that quickly.

The sun was high. God, I miss the sun. And I was late. Therapy sessions ~~don't~~ didn't come cheap and I hated keeping my husband (ex – husband now I suppose) waiting. He always gave me that look... that disappointed look. He was the master of making me feel like shit. Damn Saturday Boston traffic. There was this car in front of me. A yellow VW bug, Massachusetts plates. I even remember their plate number. Why do I remember their plate number??? It was 2:06 PM. Peter Gabriel just came on.

I wonder how long it as before they realized I wasn't in my car anymore. I wonder if anyone's even left. I wonder how long James waited for me to get there, or to get home. Maybe they're all gone. Global warming and all that bullshit, maybe the planet's gone nuclear.. Who the hell cares anyways, there wasn't much worth saving.

God, I miss earth.

Sincerely,
Annabelle J. Bradford

Anna always signed her full name. In some small way, it made her feel less like she was going to die the next day.

- - -

Welcome to Othercity – an urban fantasy rpg where you take on the role of a uniquely average character torn away from their ordinary life and thrown into a place of mystery, horror, betrayal, intrigue, and danger. You must survive long enough to solve the mysteries of this newfound world if you ever hope to find a way home.

Othercity is a game of creative storytelling, character development, and intense roleplaying which spans a wide range of genres – primarily mystery and horror. A game of Othercity thrives on a high level of focused devotion to the game, active player/player interactions, and a positive environment between players and the Narrator. Exploration and survival are key elements in this game, meaning that heavy reliance on dice or unique powers will only kill you faster. A keen mind and creativity will always outmatch a lucky die roll. Of course, a foolhardy mistake may be the last you ever make.

This, first and foremost, is a game of role playing – not "roll playing". If you want to talk down a gunman, intimidate a torture victim, or charm the pants off of a private dancer – be prepared to do just that. Therefore, when designing your character, try to model their skills off of traits you would be comfortable portraying through roleplaying.

Finally, due to the nature of this setting, Othercity players should be prepared for potentially adult–themed scenarios. Othercity encourages the fade–to–black sequence for any sexually graphic scenes, but themes such as murder, rape, racism, torture, abuse, and other such themes are sometimes unavoidable in a horror–genre game. Such themes are to be taken seriously and conversation surrounding them should stay in–character.

In the end, Othercity hopes to be a perfect blend of horrifying scenes, devious foes, unending mystery, gritty realism, and fantastic danger. Good luck, and welcome to Other.

Back, and ready to Blog!

2009-06-27T22:43:00.004-04:00

*Breathes deep*

Wow, it's been a while. But I'm back.

Rather then jumping right into a gaming post, I believe I owe you folks out there a slight absence apology!

I must admit a heaping portion of embarrassment on my side of the blogosphere. What was supposed to be a daily-post blog until the day I died sort of... fell by the wayside for a while. I was finishing up my college education and between my 20+ hours of class every week, and 30+ hours of D&D everything else kind of was hard to keep up with. (Yes, those numbers are correct)

But, lo and behold, I have graduated! College days are finally behind me and I am free to go job searching in this fantastic job market, sleep in, and of course - blog.

Sadly, a lack of college means a serious lack of tabletop games, but I think I'm more then capable of blogging on!

So, to those of you who thought the Storyteller was gone, think again!

Let the blogging begin! (again...)

CCF Refuses D&D Donation: Update

2008-11-12T07:06:00.007-05:00

I'm sure a lot of you out there have heard that the Christian Children's Fund, a charity supported for a long time by Gary Gygax, refused a several thousand dollar donation from Gen Con this year. This cause a lot of anger, and confused a lot of people.

Personally, I was really put off when I first heard about this as a Christian gamer who is almost as passionate about gaming as he is about God. Now the idea of balancing God and D&D is one that I've done a lot of thinking about over the years, and is a topic I plan fully to talk about more in later posts, but for now I wanted to update anyone unaware on the charity situation.

Rich Burlew, author of The Order of the Stick (my favorite gaming webcomic) recently wrote a blog post with some updated information. Apparently, there was miscommunication, and the charity did not actually refused the donation - rather, it was unable to distribute publicity materials or something like that. I can't really work through it all since I been up all night, but it sounds like they're at least taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Rich quotes the following as basically what the charity has been saying in response to this whole controversy. Reprinted for your convenience:

"When Gen Con contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn’t lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements. We were unaware that this had caused any problem or concern for Gen Con until we began receiving emails. This decision was in no way intended to be a reflection on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeon and Dragons. We have the utmost respect for the gaming community and were touched by the generosity expressed through your auction."

Anyways, you can read the whole statement here, and make sure to check out Rich's blog post here for the full update. Also, go read The Order of the Stick!

Crimson Throne D&D: In Retrospect

2008-11-07T21:23:00.005-05:00

The following is an in-character journal recollection as written by Ryan, one of the players in my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign path. He plays the swashbuckler/rogue Ramius, and has logged his memories of the events so far as follows...

Reflections
A letter, by Ramius Lightfoot

As much as I detest the concept of fate, I am beginning to feel more and more that I should not try to tempt it. My encounters over the last few days indicate that perhaps fate plays more of a role in my life than I would like—a desire to become a grand adventurer, and consequently being thrown into the midst of a band of individuals devoted to the single purpose of achieving our individual revenges on Gaedren Lamm; a Harrow reading predicting that I would become a protector of Korvosa, and soon thereafter achieving an honorary post in the Korvosan Guard; a Gypsy woman who turns out to be dead but uses her Harrow deck to pull together a band of adventurers who otherwise would have been content to go their separate ways. As a result of these events, I find myself significantly shaken by an incident I would ordinarily be wont to laugh off—namely, a crazy old man we passed in the street who suddenly approached me and swore that he saw me dying in a dream. Had my most recent experiences with prophecy and fate not occurred, I would have paid it no mind, but now I must confess it worries me. I feel that I should perhaps be a bit more cautious for a while, just in case.

Our run-in with the renegade Guard Vancaskerkin proved… worrisome. The guards below refused to take us to him, and I later learned this is because Vancaskerkin knew nothing of his men’s plan to hire themselves out as mercenaries, but it sparked argument within the party over how to get inside. I was all for sneaking in the back, Einkil, of course, wanted to stand outside and look threatening until the guards came out to us, and Lowen and Tulia wanted to take another try at talking to them. Eventually they ventured inside and charmed one of the guards—but sparked a fight while Einkil and I were still outside. We took great efforts to keep the Guards alive, but it made our battle significantly more difficult, for they fought to kill. I was also concerned that Tulia ended up starting a fight while our two melee combatants, Einkil and myself, were standing outside, helpless to stop the other guard from attacking the poor magic-users. In such a small room with only one entrance--guarded by a rather brutish guard—it proved difficult for us to muscle our way inside to provide assistance as well, which is yet another cause for concern. I must be sure not to let Lowen and Tulia put themselves into such situations without either Einkil or myself around.

Meanwhile, my trust in Einkil, which was beginning to grow upon seeing the dwarf’s competence as a fighter, has waned once again. The tactless fool charged upstairs while we were dealing with the guards and engaged in single combat with Vancaskerkin. As soon as I was able to break myself away from the fight, I charged upstairs and tried to reason with them both, but to no avail. Einkil was dead-set on taking Vancaskerkin down himself… though Vancaskerkin seemed to be willing to at least talk with me if Einkil would disengage himself from combat—something the poor dwarf will never find himself able to do, methinks. The fool did not seem to consider that Vancaskerkin was wanted chiefly for information and that we should try to take him alive. His refusal to disengage and his insubordination upon receiving a scolding from the rest of the party upon Vancaskerkin’s defeat makes me wonder just how trustworthy this dwarf truly is.

Despite the… rifts… that Einkil’s stubborn individual engagement of Vancaskerkin created, I cannot choose but find myself at least mildly impressed that Einkil was able to single-handedly defeat a high-ranking former member of the Guard with a reputation as a notable fighter. I simply wish, though, that the dwarf had some degree of judgment in his person. Without it, I worry that he will get himself or someone else killed… quite possibly even me. We will have to keep a closer eye on him and see if he might begin to make better decisions.

Imagine my surprise — and horror — in finding, while returning to Citadel Volshyenik, someone I had once met, and now knew to be dead: naturally I refer to none other than Zellara. It has now been revealed to us that the Zellara we met with was merely an apparition created through her Harrow deck, whose purpose is to protect Korvosa and bring us together to defeat Gaedren Lamm. Tulia has now become the holder of the Harrow deck, as she is the only one capable of making use of it, although she, and the rest of us, are unsure of how devoted she will prove to be to the protection of Korvosa.

Despite entrusting the attractive young sorceress with this (apparently) powerful and valuable tool, Ziaphas seemed… strangely interested in the deck upon the revelation that Zellara was, in fact, dead. And by strangely interested, I mean eyes-widen-and-go-pale strangely interested, and he then asked to see the deck. Surprised, and mildly disturbed, by the sudden change that seemed to overtake Ziaphas, we all immediately told him no. This young wizard has yet to gain my trust, especially while he carries that damned snake with him—I will not deny that the slithering reptile disturbs me. And on that subject, so does Tulia’s furry rodent. The accursed fuzzball bit me!

Ziaphas himself seems eager enough to join our merry band, but at the same time, there’s something in it that is deceivable…and all I have are a small handful of pieces to analyze the man. He seemed frightened by the imps that we encountered, and said they may have been familiars of Academae mages (but what of that?); he was shocked when we were informed that the Academae’s doors had been sealed shut in the madness that ensued after the King’s death (as anyone of the Academae might be…); he was… strangely intrigued… upon learning that Zellara was long dead (as was I… though I was much more frightened than intrigued). I will continue to take note of Ziaphas’ behavior, and I feel he has warmed up to me fairly quickly — perhaps because I was the first to step forward to save his neck—so it should not be too difficult to learn more of him.

Field Marshall Cressida Croft seems to be pleased with the work we are doing for the Guard, and even went so far as to endow us with an even greater task to perform since we would not be recognized or acknowledged as affiliates of the Korvosan Guard. Much as I wonder at her eagerness to trust our little ragtag band, especially in such difficult times, I am proud to be considered trusted enough by Korvosa’s brilliant Field Marshall to conduct our own investigation into the Ambassador Amprei’s potentially underhanded dealings. Apparently, Field Marshall Croft (rightly) suspected that he is attempting to place an embargo on Korvosa so that when hard economic times ensue he can buy up half the city. As a result…she wanted us to investigate, and attempt to find blackmail-worthy material on him if possible. To be honest, it was simple.

We went to Eel’s End to dig up any material on the ambassador’s personal life that might have manifested itself in one of Korvosa’s… lower places. After some bribes and a couple of rather terrifying, but victorious games of “knivesies,” we convinced the Devargo Barasi, the King of Spiders, to give us some rather… vivid accounts into the ambassador’s love life. They were enough even to make Cressida Croft blush, and were deemed more than sufficient leverage.

I was surprised that I was so eager to partake in a game of knivesies even after being warned of impending death by the street prophet. Either I had too much to drink beforehand, or I was too eager to prove myself capable of winning the game after Einkil managed so bloodily, or I merely wanted to contribute so we could accomplish our mission—whatever the case, I jumped into a situation that apparently many men do not come out of. While I was successful, I daresay it was a rather foolish decision. Watching the drunk go flying off the table, though…that was highly entertaining.

Apparently my shameful addiction to shiver reached the ears of some higher crimelords in Korvosa—the King of Spiders being one. He even went so far as to bet a vial against me in knivesies…and suggested that we talk business after the game was completed. It was easy enough to string him along…but disposing of the shiver I won was far more difficult. If I come across more, I may have more of a struggle. It is my hope, however, that whenever I am presented with an opportunity I will do my best to thwart the shiver market.

After our little encounter with Korvosa’s criminal underworld, Cressida Croft presented us with yet another intriguing duty. I have personally heard many rumors that the King was assassinated, and Field Marshal Croft gave us the source—members of the Queen’s personal guard, one of which being Captain Antony’s late brother, who committed suicide after dropping a name: Trinia, a young art student at the university. It was feared that the mob would find her and kill her before the guard would have a chance to question her…and it was our job to find her, catch her, and bring her back safely to the Citadel Volshyenik.

We probably should have planned things out a little better in our search for the girl once we reached the Shingles…I’m sure we looked completely inconspicuous in our inquiries. A man in leather armor with a bow and rapier, a dwarf in chain mail with an axe, a skinny, nervous-looking mage, and a tall, heavily-cloaked woman all asking questions of residents of the same building as a rumored assassin and trying to pass it off as looking for my “cousin.” Wonderfully subtle. Naturally people who lived in the building had a system in place to warn Trinia of anybody suspicious…so when we arrived in her room there was only an illusion on the bed, and she was out on the roof. Upon Ziaphus’ informing us of the situation, I promptly leaped out onto the roof, and she promptly began running. The chase ensued.

I must say, I highly enjoyed the chase. The girl was quite nimble, and presented a challenge that the others—aside from Lowen, who caught up to me when I had difficulty with a wide gap—could not manage. Einkil actually fell to the streets below, though he was thankfully uninjured and elected to shove his way through the crowds to pursue us. I finally managed to pull ahead of the rest and catch onto Trinia, though…at which point she broke down in tears. She seemed…far too innocent to be capable of killing a king. Yet she did produce a skilled illusion and seemed to have a very strong escape plan that was not easy to foil. My heart tells me that she is innocent, but my brain tells me that there is a very real possibility that we caught a skilled assassin.

Perhaps I am in Cayden Cailean’s favor, despite all my past mistakes. Getting discharged from the Korvosan Guard may well be the greatest step in my career. I’m now a trusted agent of Cressida Croft, with yet another mission. Thousand-Bones has requested that we retrieve his grandson’s body, which was sold to a necromancer in the Gray, in order to prevent an attack on Korvosa. Naturally, I am proud for another opportunity to serve Korvosa and her people.

Another commentary on Ziaphas, while I am discussing our new assignment—he seemed deeply absorbed in thought when presented with our next task. He also... rubbed a strange, discolored spot on his temple and appeared to be in pain. I don’t know what any of this means, but there’s something he hasn’t told us yet. Time will tell, I am sure. Until then, Ziaphas shall receive the benefit of the doubt as a tested member of the party.

The prospect of going to the Gray, even with such a critical situation resting in our hands, makes me nervous. I’ve never bothered to go there to begin with, and I’ve heard from some that it’s not particularly pleasant. Also…I am yet untested against any wielder of magic. Everything I’ve done has been against fellow swordsmen and soldiers. This is truly an excellent opportunity to test myself, but I again bear the street prophet’s words in mind and approach this mission with equal parts pride, humility, enthusiasm, and hesitancy…

Affectionately,
Ramius Lightfoot

Crimson Throne D&D: To Catch An Assassin

2008-11-06T16:12:00.003-05:00

Crimson Throne D&D: The King Of Spiders

2008-11-05T16:12:00.004-05:00

Crimson Throne D&D: Welcome To The Guard

2008-11-04T15:41:00.001-05:00

Runelords D&D: Down Come The Rains

2008-10-16T09:45:00.001-04:00

Runelords D&D: Twenty-Four Days

2008-10-15T23:28:00.003-04:00

This series is a session-by-session recap of the Rise of the Runelords campaign over the course of the school year. The current party:

- Deanda, Elf Druid/Nature's Warrior
- Kiikii, Human Conjurer/Malconvoker
- Nakor, Human Transmuter/Knight Phantom
- Jaime, Human Cleric of Iomedae
- Kraca, Dwarf Monk/Ninja
- Slavla, Half Elf Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker

DM Note: Our heroes had two weeks to do as they wished. I asked for player updates as to what they were doing during those two weeks. In response, for some of them I typed up information. I have reprinted that information here. PLAYERS - If you read this information, it is considered out-of-game. Do not metagame knowing information, unless they inform you of it in game.

Deanda
Deanda visited the Mierani Forests to return the earrings. This is her story...

The cleaning of Fort Rannick went well, more or less. The stink of death still permeated the inner walls of Rannick, though the blood upon the outer fields had begun to wash away as the strange rains continued steadily. The outer walls of Rannick would need professional repairs to return to their former glory, and several of the inner rooms were now simply bare – as everything within them previously had been destroyed.

Taking to the skies, Deanda headed the Mierani forests. They were far, but as a hawk, the straight path was much quicker. Deanda felt a calming joy about her, as the wind whistled over her feathers high above the Varisian countryside. Down below the serene forests, winding rivers, and gently bustling towns of Varisia smiled back at her.

Finally, the forests of the Mierani Elves came into her vision. Deanda remembered the stories of them well, lush and green, pure and untouched by the civilizations of Man.

Surely, these were not the forests of her childhood.

The Mierani forests which once held her parent's home, now stood as blackened scars of former trees. Black tangled masses growing from a fertilizer of ashes now stood. A mark of death on the otherwise serene lushness of the Varisian countryside.

Searching through the shattered forest, Deanda was set upon by a small band of elves – nine in total. These elves may have once been the noble blooded of Mierani, but their hair was wild, and their eyes burned with anger. They easily saw Deanda’s true form through the guise she wore as a bird, and threatened to shoot if she did not present herself.

When Deanda did so, and presented the earrings, the elves fell to their knees. They apologized for their behavior and told Deanda the harrowing tale.

“They came at dawn. Thirty of them… Stone Giants all. They wished to pass to the shore, through our forests, but our Lord – your cousin – informed them that this was sacred land and they could not cross through it. Stone Giants are not evil creatures, and so our Lord approached the discussion as a kind one. But these Stone Giants were not good creatures. They… they slew him and swarmed our city. They were… too powerful. They uprooted entire trees. And they had… they had a dragon. The fires burned quickly. Your mother… your father and brother. They were visiting... They are all dead. I am sorry.”

“We were cowards, we fled at sight of the dragon’s flames. We nine are the last of the Mierani Elves. At least, so we thought. You are nobler in blood then all of us Lady Deanda. If you will have us, we wish to come with you. Our home is no more, and we have nowhere to go...” One of the older elves stepped forward. He bore a symbol on his tabard that none of the others did. “Lady Deanda, I am a member of the organization which you late family was. The Defenders of the Branch. If you can take us with you, I will gladly offer you membership. Though I am of low rank, I know of the initiation rituals, and am sure that your family’s spirits would be happy to see you join.” The elves looked to their new leader, waiting desperately for a reply…

Jaime
Jaime officially pledged himself to the church of Iomedae, becoming a "blessed". He also joined the ranks of the Lightbringers. Jaime researched Iomedae. This is what he found...

Dogma
Iomedae sees the world as a deadly place, filled with perpetual challenges and trials for those who battle for justice and defend the weak and innocent. Her followers should always act with honor and chivalry, and to uphold justice. Danger is to be faced head-on, with calm and resolve. Those who defeat evil are rewarded with Glory, while those who uphold the tenets of The Inheritor are rewarded with Virtue. The Inheritor's teachings are codified in a chivalric code known as the Iomedaean Code.

The Iomedaean Code
Duty to the People: This duty stresses courage, justice, mercy, valor, protection of the weak, and faithfulness to church superiors of officer of righteous law.
Duty to The Inheritor: This duty stresses obedience to Iomedae herself, devotion to the church, generosity, championing good against evil, putting the needs of the church and the faith above those of mortals.
Duty to a Lady: This duty pertains to the concept of courtly love, devotion to one's beloved, and respect toward all women in general.

Scriptures
A number of holy texts are venerated by the faith of Iomedae. The best-known work is likely The Book of the Code, a four-chapter work outlining the Iomedaean Code and providing examples of how one is expected to follow it. Another well-known work is the Book of Vows which details many of the vows taken by worshipers of Iomedae.

Worshippers
The faith of Iomedae is a very militaristic one, launching crusades against evil and championing causes. As one would expect, many soldiers, city watchmen, mercenaries, and others who make their living by the sword find themselves honoring The Inheritor.

Clergy
Priests of Iomedae often travel the world on orders from their superiors to seek out and destroy evil. Older priests often work as strategists, military instructors, or judges. Their favored weapons are the longsword. Novices of Iomedae are known as the Blessed. Full priests are called the Glorious or, collectively, the Valorous Host. Other titles used by Iomedaean priests are Hero of the Third Rank, Hero of the Second Rank, Hero of the First Rank, Champion of Glory, Knight Gallant, Knight Courageous, Knight Valiant, and Knight Champion. Senior priests are called Paragons, while those who command armies are known as Paragon-Generals. These titles are separate from duty-titles such as postulant, novitiate, professed priest, cloistered cleric, affirmed priest, and templar. They are also separate from ranks within the temple hierarchy such as hierodeacon and abbot. In everyday use, senior priests are called Father or Mother, while lesser priests are known as Brother or Sister. There is also an elite order of priests known as the gloryswords. Priestly vestments include plate armor and red cloaks with silver trim.

Paladins
A large numbers of paladins in Varisia follow Iomedae, as she herself is one. Because of this, and her utter dedication to Law and Good, paladins of Iomedae can be among the most devout, albeit overbearing, people on the Material Plane.

Affiliated Orders
The church of Iomedae is supported by numerous religious-military orders. One such order is the Lightbringers, a group devoted to the death of undead and evil outsiders. From the Lightbringers, many organizations spring, such as the Knights of the Chalice, and Sacred Exorcists. To join any of these organizations, a cleric or paladin must become an official member of the Church of Iomedae, not simply a follower. This involves monthly tithes, and the occasional call to duty. A follower of the Inheritor may sign up for membership at any temple to Iomedae.

Places of Worship
Temples, chapels, and shrines to Iomedae can be found throughout Varisia. Iomedae' temples are decorated with red, gold and silver trappings.

The Tests of Valor
Before advancing in rank, priests of Iomedae must clearly demonstrate their bravery, honor, and sense of justice. The exact nature of these tests varies, but they are revealed through prayer and divinely-inspired visions. They can range from tests of fortitude that can be completed within the temple to crusades against the forces of evil.

- - -

Jaime also research the way of death in this world. This is what he found...

When someone dies, they ascend to the Boneyard – Pharasma’s realm. The Boneyard is situated atop a gigantic spire which pierces the Astral plane. The sides of this spire are pierced with an endless number of hooks.

When a soul comes before Pharasma, if that soul worshipped a God in life, the soul sees their deity before them, instead of Pharasma. If their deity of choice allows them, they are sent to that deitiy’s realm to live out their afterlife there.

If the soul worshiped Pharasma and pleased her, she will allow them to serve in her palace of death. If they angered her, they are buried in the boneyard. Finally, if they did not serve any God or angered theirs, a soul is affixed to the Wall of Souls (the sides of the spire) for eternity.

Many say though that since Pharasma is not an evil Goddess she actually allows these souls to live out their afterlife in some neutral fantasy – trapped in a moment from their mortal life to live out their afterlife in peace.

- - -

Finally, Jaime received a vision...

As Jaime slumbers, he dreams... A book is open on the table before him. An image is painted across both pages, a small man surrounded by twenty raised pedestals. The book closes. “The Call of the Gods” is written in beautiful text along it’s long faded cover.

Nakor

Nakor sent letters to his mother, and brother requesting their help at the Keep. Nakor planned to raise a small army and wished their help with training. His brother, Caleb, arrived. His mother however, was busy with Korvosan business and sent a letter in response. Nakor also sent a letter to Lord Mayor Grobaras of Magnimar making their ownership of the keep official. The return letters from Grobaras and Nakor's mother are below.

Nakor Islani,

I would send an official of the Magnimarian Guard to meet with you, though with Fort Rannick’s great distance from Magnimar, this is simply an impossibility. Word of your doings have reached my ear through letters sent by Mayor Shreed of Turtleback Ferry, and I commend you and your companions on a job well done. Though it is of course quite sad that the Black Arrows, a noble group of warriors, have fallen, I am glad to hear that a group of fine adventurers have taken up the Fort as their own.

From what I heard of Mayor Shreed, the recapturing of Fort Rannick was an equal effort by all involved. For this purpose, I am approving his decision to grant the Fort to the five of you, in addition to naming you all official Lords and Ladies of Magnimar. The only stipulation to gaining this land and this title is that any who wish must pledge themselves to the defense of Magnimar. I don’t think I have to tell you that, since Fort Rannick has always been on the outskirts of Magnimarian territory, it is rare that we would actually call upon your services, but those who wish to take on this reward nonetheless must lay claim to it’s responsibilities.

Any who do not wish to swear themselves to Magnimar’s defense will thusly forfeit their sixth of the keep’s ownership and their title of Lord or Lady.

As we do need a military leader there (given that I assume you are planning to pledge your loyalty to Magnimar and it’s defense as well), I am placing you – under Military Ordinance 22-38, as acting military leader of Fort Rannick. This means that you are being allowed to raise an army, on Magnimar’s behalf. You will be an acting Lieutenant of Magnimar, and will be allocated a small amount of supplies because of this. Keep in mind that this is an army of Magnimar, though you are being given duty to recruit, train, organize, and oversee it.

Also, though I am naming you as military leader of the Keep, this does not necessarily give you any more control of the keep then your fellow adventurers, who still earn an equal portion of it for their duties. You will however be in charge of all military happenings at the keep. I encourage you to have your fellow adventurers help out in the development of this army.

Your primary objective, if stationed at Fort Rannick, is to protect the countryside from the ogres of Hook Mountain. Be forewarned that these beasts are dangerous. Also, it is to ensure that the ogres of Skull’s Crossing are kept in line.

Finally, as the Keep has changed ownership, the six of you may choose to rename it if you wish. Please send me a letter shortly with the new name, along with which of your fellow adventurers also have sworn themselves to Magnimar’s defense.

Be well Lieutenant Islani. Please share the information in this letter with your friends.

Lord Mayor Grobaras

- - -

Nakor,

My son, thank you for your letter.

I hope this reaches you well, for outgoing and incoming post are now being monitored very heavily.

I hate to be telling you this through a letter, but the King is dead. He was killed.

The city has gone mad. Riots plague the streets.

Korvosa has locked it’s doors to any coming or going. And the Acadamae has locked it’s as well. None are allowed to leave, so I am afraid I must stay and do what I can to stop the madness.

It is a joy to hear of your newfound prestige.

Do not visit, you will not be allowed in the city.

~Your Mother

From the Desk of Professor Miranda Cartel
Instructor of Transmutation

Runelords D&D: Retaking Rannick

2008-10-14T23:48:00.001-04:00

This series is a session-by-session recap of the Rise of the Runelords campaign over the course of the school year. The current party:

- Deanda, Elf Druid
- Kiikii, Human Conjurer/Malconvoker
- Nakor, Human Transmuter/Knight Phantom
- Jaime, Human Cleric of Iomedae
- Kraca, Dwarf Monk/Ninja
- Slavla, Half Elf Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker

You awaken to the smell of brimstone.

After a night of rest in Lucrecia's chambers - the lamia matriarch defeated - they were greeted by an unfriendly visitor at dawn. The two ravens chirped lightheartedly in the corner, the signals that Malfeshnakor was there. Instantly, swords were drawn and Jaime called out a challenge to the demon that had slain his father those many years ago. They all had their predictions about who this mysteriously cloaked infernal creature was, but for now, he was simply a voice in the darkness.

Malfeshnakor laughed at their conquests, stating that he could really care less whether or not they retook the keep. He did offer them a warning however. "If you start stepping on the toes of Stone Giants, then... you will have to be dealt with." With a chilling laugh, the voice was gone.

Making their way topside, our heroes carved through the giant's resistance at Fort Rannick. Heading to the top floor, they slew Jaagrath Kreeg - the pappy of the Kreeg Ogres. With Jaagrath defeated, and his magical human-slaying ogre-hook in hand, the heroes seiged the rest of the fort. They made quick work of Dorella Kreeg, one of the ogre casters, and swept their way through the rest of the keep - killing a twisted ogre painter in the process.

In their travels, they came upon a hidden compartment in the room of the former Black Arrow captain, Lamatar. The secret catche contained several love letters and poems, as well as a lock of what Deanda identified as nymph hair. Putting the pieces together, Jakardros determined that Lamatar must have had a nymph mistress, which would explain the occasional retreats he would take away from the fort proper. Most likely over to Whisperwillow, the nearby forest which was said to house many fae creatures.

The adventurers came upon one room where a group of ogres were fighting over a horse skull. Using some magical trickery, Nakor was able to mage hand the skull into one of the ogre's sacks which brought forth a quick and angry battle, leaving all of the ogres quite pathetically incapacitated.

Their assault was expected however, and when they made their way into the Keep's courtyard, they were met with an army of ogres. The brutes numbered over ten in total, their leader waving a large ladle in anger. With a warcry, both sides charged, and battle was joined beneath the pounding rain.

Spells were cast, creatures were summoned, arrows were fired, and blows were exchanged. Vale fell in the fight, as some of our heroes threatened to do as well. However, finally the battle was won, and Fort Rannick was free.

Riding back to Turtleback Ferry, the group brought good tidings. Though the Black Arrows were dead, Fort Rannick had been reclaimed. In return for this great deed, Mayor Shreed announced that from hereforth, the keep would belong to them, and if they wished, they would become Lords and Ladies of Magnimar.

Finally, our heroes had earned a rest.

The Dice Were Everywhere...

2008-10-13T22:30:00.001-04:00

With a cough and a sputter, Storyteller stumbled his way out from the shadows - a dull gray mist fading from this features as he blinked slowly - his eyes adjusting to the change in light. His gaze focused on those who stood before him. He sighed and shook his head.

"I suppose I have some explaining to do...

I woke myself an hour past dawn, as always, in order to take a walk and clear my head. As my feet reached the cool floor however, it happened. I could hear it as I opened my door, and as I brushed my teeth. The distant, yet distinct sound of a die rolling. It followed me as the day stretched onward. The sounds. The dice..."

Storyteller's eyes were wide as his hands gripped each other tightly. "I thought it was nothing. Maybe I'd stayed up too late. But it didn't stop. I couldn't focus. I failed tests in my classes, couldn't sit for more then a few seconds at the keyboard... Always the roll of the dice. Taunting me with failure.

So I decided to do something about it.

Late one night, the roll of dice woke me from my sleep. It had come from the room above, or so I thought. I climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, but they seemed to go on forever. Ahead of me always, was that infernal rolling. The smell of Cheetos and Mountain Dew began to permeate the staircase - burning my nostrils and beckoning tears. Still, I carried onward.

I met a goat on the staircase after my third day of journeying. The goat was wise, and offered me a riddle. I ate the goat, and with my newfound strength continued onward.

Finally, I came upon a door to the roof. A door that should not have been. A door that defied all I knew of reality. Yet here it stood. I knocked. Once. Twice. It swung open beneath my touch.

Beyond, the rooftop stretched to infinity, with the stars of the heavens high above. The roll of dice echoed from the endless gaming tables. I was drawn through the crowds, the Sun Chips, and the geeky laughter. I came to my table. The table of my life.

And there I was - a small figurine, red hair and all. The gridmap was blank, just lines and squares. I looked up to the man who stood across the table from me - who held a single die in his hand. He was cloaked in black and smelled vaguely of Pert Plus shampoo and conditioner. I asked, my voice shaking, 'What is this place?' He replied simply, 'This is the Game.'

I told the cloaked man, 'I must return, for I must blog, and pass word of this place to the people of the internet. I must tell them the truth!' To which the man replied, 'Very well, but when you do, you must tell them of all that is here. You see, it is actually quite a nice place. We have waterslides, and booths for every food and drink imaginable. And the lines are actually quite short.'

As I gazed out over the stands of food and drink, I saw that the man spoke true. Suddenly, I realized that the wise goat had left me quite thirsty. That was when the craving hit me.

Fruit Punch.

With no avail, I looked out in desperation over the thousands of drink booths, my throat aching for relief, my body begging for nothing more then the sweet release of Fruit Punch! Dismayed, I asked the man across the table from me, 'Sir, please tell me fast, where do I wait in line for Fruit Punch, for the goat has left me parched, and I am in need of respite.'

The man sighed, replying in a tone that was almost aching with sadness.

'There is no punchline.'

The end."

Amusingly enough, this story also can be adapted and used excellently if your character missed an RPG session to explain their absence. Now, back to work.

Avast! Internet Pirates!

2008-09-25T23:55:00.000-04:00

Not to even mention Walmart pirates (but that's another story)...

Anyways, there's no real profound post here today, I just simply want to pass along a bit of knowledge that perhaps might make your day a little brighter.

If you have a Facebook account, you've probably noticed the new shenanigans they're trying to pull off with the layout. It's all a bunch of nonsense really.

But then, it all changed...

Step 1: Click the "Settings" button. It's in the dark blue header bar towards the right. Click directly on the "Settings" button, not on anything in the drop down menu.

Step 2: Choose the tab that says languages.

Step 3: Change your language to English (Pirate).

Seriously... do yourself a favor. Facebook just gained about 500 points in my book. Well done Captain Zuckerberg. Well done...

D&D: Riddle Me That!

2008-09-25T04:58:00.003-04:00

Digging for riddles? I made a previous post with a bunch of D&D monster-based riddles (which no one even tried to answer. Here are some more riddles though, some of them easier, some of them harder. Some of them much harder.

A golden head without a thought
A golden tail as well
But a body have I not
Though futures I can tell.

When Dawn breaks o’er charted hills
I lie patient at your feet
All day I follow, escapeless still
Until the high sun you do meet
Or quickly vanish gone do I
When silver moon climbs up on high.

Lie there seas with no water
Coasts with no sands
The towns hold no people
And the mountains no land

If a man were to carry my burden
It would quickly break his back
I am poor as the poorest of beggars
Yet I leave silver in my track.

You are locked in a room
With no windows or doors.
You have a table and a mirror.
How do you escape?

Try your best! Also, as I mentioned in my last post, please let me know if you're interested in any topics! I'm interested in blogging for the people, so let me know if you have any burning questions, if you'd like me to expand upon anything I've already written, or if there's a brand new topic you'd like me to discuss. You can email me at beneaththescreen@gmail.com, or you can just add a comment!

Happy riddling!

Gamebuilding #3: Othercity

2008-09-23T15:04:00.010-04:00

First and foremost, I know there are bunches and bunches of blogs out there to read, and goodness knows I read about fifty RPG blogs daily. Is there anything you, my wonderful (and quite attractive, if I do say so myself) readers would like me to do a blog post about? Let me know! If you really liked something I've posted about in the past, or would like me to continue a specific series I've delved into, let me know! Getting some feedback about what to post would greatly help me know what you want to read about!

Anyways, to the point...

As many of you may have noticed, I wrote a pair of rather vagues posts a while back here and here. I entitled these posts "Gamebuilding" for a reason, which ties back to the first post I ever made on this blog. One of my reasons behind crafting an RPG blog is to document my quest for publication! Over time I hope to submit adventures and material to several RPG magazines and publications, but the two posts you saw offer an introduction to my grand project.

Othercity.

Here's the first real pitch of this game, so let me know what you think!

Dear Diary,

Myth tells us of time's greatest cities... Atlantis. Babylon. Agartha. Places of fantastic construction, magical origin, and beautiful sights. The stuff of fairy tales, offered up to humanity as symbols of utopian hope and dreamlike wonder.

Every beacon though, however bright, casts a shadow. One fallen to forgetful pasts and dystopian ideals. This shadow, is Othercity.

Othercity is a world outside of our own. A seemingly endless reality of steel, stone, streets and buildings. Divided by districts and factions, it is a harsh place for all who live within it.

And then there's us.

To Earth, we are the lost. To Othercity, we are the Phasers. Nothing more then a bothersome thorn in the feet of Othercity's superiors. People looking for answers, people looking for truth, people looking to get home. Othercity has a system, but we operate outside of it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're special. Maybe it has something to do with what we can do here. Maybe it scares them. Maybe that's why they want to lock us up, or gun us down...

Some of the other Earth Phasers - Terrers they call us - say that Othercity was just another mythical location lost to time in idea and name. I think we've always known of Othercity though... just by a different name.

Welcome to Hell.

~Kayla Bradford

- - -

The way I'm envisioning Othercity is as a dozen or so different genres merging together all within this strange city. To name a few, there will be elements of Fantasy, Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Post Apocolypse, Contemporary, Biopunk, and Superhero.

As a preview to further discussions of Othercity, here is a very quick briefing on each of the cultures/factions:

Wrakes: Law officials of Othercity, unnaturally strong and known to be ruthless and cruel, though much more likely to break your arm then the law.

Serpians: Othercity's gypsy population, you can't trust these drug-dealers any further then their forked tongues will reach.

Rasks: The rulers of Below, these rats will supposidely kill anyone for a price, if you can speak their language that is.

Kienta: A winged race of scientists. If bad looks could kill, these ladies could bring back the dead, not that they aren't trying to find out how to anyways.

Phasers: The chosen. The visitors. The invaders. The Terrers. No matter what you call them, they all have one thing in common. They're a long way from home.

Humans: In the hundreds of years of Phasers coming to Othercity, their "need-to-breed" has left thousands of half, quarter, or less "Humans" in their wake. The Phaser bloodline eliminates all Othercity characteristics in the child, leaving them "normal" in a city that prizes everything else.

Brights: [Data file currently inaccessible]

Coming soon... expanded culture/factions, Othercity's basic geography, and a lexicon of terms important to know in the Othercity world.

Also, I'm leaving the below in the post even though I didn't type it for one reason. Ginger Unity.

***This is proof that Betsy Fernsten (non D&Der) was here when [Storyteller] was writing this blog entry!! She however, did not interfere (much).***

Anyways, more to come on Othercity. I hope people are enjoying what they're seeing so far!

By the way, that fantastic picture above was made by Greywulf over at Greywulf's Lair. He's pretty much awesome so go check his blog out. Right now. DO IT!

LARPing: A Weekend In Pictures

2008-09-22T10:06:00.003-04:00

Just got back from Steam & Cinders last night, and am happy to say it was a successful weekend. For those of you not familiar with what I'm talking about, Steam & Cinders is a LARP - or Live Action Role Playing game - that I work as a senior staffer for. You can learn everything you'd like to know (and probably more) about LARPS from my RPG posts. Specifically this one.

As a senior staff member I get to create and run plots, which is tons of fun. This weekend I got to play a Fire Spirit, a wacky chief engineer, and a native huntsman ritualist, not to mention the dozens of other things I found myself playing as the weekend went on. I may speak more about the event later, but for now, enjoy some pictures!

A Balihu vs. an Aniyonema. Who will prove victorious?

A scavenger and a diplomat out for a walk.

Yes, yes that is a Steampunk Watercooler.

A Jhandihari Merchant and an Aniyonema Totemic pose.

A chemist studying her notes...

As a last note, everything looks better in Sepia. That is all.

Gone LARPing...

2008-09-18T23:36:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm off for the weekend.

Off to hit things with fake weapons and run around the woods...

And to see the world in sepia...

See you Monday!

Use This Tavern!

2008-09-17T23:54:00.004-04:00

Don't have time to create a tavern? Use mine!

The Silver Harp Tavern

The Silver Harp Tavern is often a way station for travelers, probably due to the fact that not only is it run by a pair of adventurers, but it also bears a large sign to the side of the door proclaiming “Adventuring Parties Welcome! Good Food! Warm Beds! Tasty Rumors!” The main chamber is an upscale dining hall with five large tables, a fireplace on the western wall, and a lifted stage to the east.

There always seems to be music playing the tavern, whether or not a performer is on stage. The floor is made of polished wood and the walls are covered in tapestries which depict various exploits of the two owners in their adventuring days.

This main chamber could fit between 20-30 people fairly comfortably, though it is often filled to a 50 person capacity if a well-known bard or storyteller is to be performing.

A long bar stretches along the back wall with a rather cheerful horned man with the legs of a goat mixing drinks, with a set of panpipes always around his neck. Every table is adorned with a large round candle, all of which seem to float an inch or so into the air. In the kitchen behind the bar every so often the sounds of crashing can be heard, but still the Silver Harp is known for its amazing food.

- - -

Menu

Basic Meal………….…………….…………1g
- Carrot and Mushroom Soup
- Honey Bread
- Smoked Boar

Full Meal……..………………………………2g
- Carrot, Mushroom and Onion Soup
- Honey Bread
- Spiced Krenshar
- Common Ale
- Sliced Pear

Deluxe Meal…………………………………10g
As Full Meal except:
- Sliced Peaches replace Sliced Pear
- Halfling Hazlenut replaces Common Ale
- Salted Salmon replaces Spiced Krenshar
- Add Hunk of Mushroom Cheese

- - -

In actual blog-worthy news, I am starting a very exciting reading project. As many of you know, I made a guest post a while back on Chatty DM's blog about how to make taverns more fun.

Well, for those of you who don't know I attend Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, and just the other day I was walking past the "Bucknell Authors" display in the campus bookstore and saw a book called "The World of the Tavern".

A book about taverns? By a Bucknell Professor nonetheless! It was destiny. Unfortunately, the book costs an arm and a leg, but luckily we had one in the campus library. So, I picked it up and plan on reading it over the next week or two. Hopefully you'll see some more tavern-related posts by me in the future with this unique insight. Maybe even an interview with the Professor who co-wrote it?

Happy Taverning!

Handout #1d100: Adding a Template

2008-09-16T23:50:00.004-04:00

Every treasure horde needs something unique. Some groups may certainly be happy with just buckets and buckets full of gold, but sometimes a more unique sort of treasure is required. To some characters, a fully stocked library is just as valuable as any dragon's horde, but what can you give a player to appease their loot tooth?

Submitted for your pleasure is one "scroll" you can print out for your players. A ritual allowing them a chance at transformation into a half-celestial. This was written for 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons, but could certainly be adapted for any system. Many players would consider adding a template to their character better then treasure. I see such a ritual as a great roleplaying opportunity and a fun side-encounter. Enjoy!

Performing Transformations: An Experiment
by Malaki Tapprio

To alter not only the structure of one's body but the blood that flows through one's veins is a truly difficult feat, as it involves the body to be both disassembled and invariably reassembled with the assistance of powerful magicks. Altering merely the outer form of any object is simple, involving merely any illusionary or transmutation magicks to be successful. However, to change the species of a creature is a scrupulous task as it requires the very transformation of ones blood. This requires a much more powerful ritual, to be discussed later.

The most immediate issue approached when discussing self-transformation is that of the soul. Souls are a confusing subject as they are ethereal and therefore impossible to examine. This calls into question whether or not the soul carries important genetic information linked to the shape of a creature or merely that creature’s thoughts, memories, and emotional infrastructure. In my experiences I have found that it is impossible for any genetic information to be linked to this variable, as I have with my own eyes witnessed a soul enter the wrong body. This resulted in one creature literally seeing through the eyes of a different body.

The soul defined who they were, what they knew, their personality, and their memories, while the body was just a shell. However, while this might seem straightforward enough, and one would think merely calling a soul into a different body would perform a proper transformation, this is incorrect. Through several experiments on calling the souls of several Ratticus Norvegici into the bodies of various creatures, while the Ratticus Norvegicus still was able to function, and tried to eat food it was used to, the creature failed to use any of its new body’s abilities.

For example, when the soul of a Ratticus Norvegicus was called into the body of a Pan Troglodytes it did not make use of any of the Pan Troglodytes natural abilities, such as climbing. This works in the same way that trading souls between two humanoids would not allow them to use each other's learned or natural abilities or magicks. It is rumored that the druid cabals have capabilities of doing such reincarnations, but I have heard that it is unreliable at best.

When the soul is not in it's host body and is merely a ghost in a shell, it loses its ability to access any functions beyond those that are basic. This proves that the soul, while having no sway on the shape or makeup of a creature, when removed from its host body loses these functions. Along this line of thinking I have deduced that any changes of form must be made to the host body in order to fully become said creature. The soul however, having no sway on the appearance of a creature should be removed fully before any transformations take place. This is due to the fact that the soul is a very delicate variable, and is subject to possible change should it be present during the actual transformation. Despite what happens to the body, when the soul is called back it will recognize it’s host body as it’s own and reattach properly, now binding to the new shape and genetic makeup, allowing the user full access to all special functions of the new form.

Therefore it is conclusive that to properly transform one creature into another, and to attain all special abilities such as magicks, longevity or the ability to fly, first the soul must be removed from the host body. Following this, any and all transformations to the body must be made. For convenience sake, I suggest cutting the host body into very small bits so the body will already be in it’s lowest form (several hundred pieces) and the blood will be readily accessible and able to be altered if an inner change is required. Transmutation spells can be cast at this time to alter physical appearance.

Following all necessary transformations, the soul may be called, and reattached to its new body. Recognizing the body as it’s host body, the soul will make the proper changes and readily bond to the body, infusing the new shell with the memories, and emotions of the original person. Since the soul recognizes the body as its host, it will make the proper accommodations to allow most if not all of the new body’s functions to be activated and readily used. Along the lines of retaining magicks, magicks are tied to the body, therefore as long as nothing is taken away from the body, only changes, magick users will not lose their spells.

To properly “alter” the blood of a creature in their broken-down state, in the case of completely replacing blood or creating a mixture, it is not possible to merely remove the blood from the broken creature and replace it, rather, the blood must be magically replaced. If any substances are added to a corpse from which the soul has been torn, and the soul is called back, the creature reforms, despite where its blood may be, leaving the added substance behind. The blood therefore must be magically replaced or added to so the body recognizes these substances as now part of the body. This way, when the body is raised after the soul is reattached the substances stay with the body, and indeed, the very genetic substance of the creature is altered.

For example, if you wanted to infuse a human with troll blood, after removing the human’s soul a powerful spell must be used to replace the human blood with troll blood and to bind it to the body. When the soul is called and the body raised, the body would recognize the troll blood as part of the body, and would take the place of the removed human blood. The creature would appear normal, like a human, but with troll blood, abilities, and natural magicks running through it in addition to any emotions, memories and magicks that the human had before the transformation. However, any troll abilities based on the structure of the trolls body would be inoperable unless the humans body structure was also changed during the transformation. In essence, to change both the blood and the body, two powerful spells, most likely drawn from the transmutation path of magick would be required.

In the case of making half-breeds, the alteration of blood is slightly different, and easier. Instead of completely removing the blood of the original creature, you need only to bind the blood of the new creature with that of the original. For example, along the same lines if you wanted to make a human half-troll, after removing the soul, a ritual would be done to bind each drop of the trolls blood with a drop of the human’s blood. This is easier because no additional spell is required to bind the new blood to the body, as the bound blood will reform with the original blood.

The specificities of blood for distinct creatures are a hindrance however in the sense that blood cannot be made my magical means. So far, the only discovered way to perform such a blood transfusion is with real blood, usually acquired by killing the creature to which it belongs. This comes with problems though, because if the creature were to be raised after the transformation took place the blood may very well be ripped out of its new host’s body and cause irreparable damage. In the case of creating half-breeds however, some hopeful information has been found.

It appears that if both creatures are willing, a magical compromise can be made. If the souls of two creatures are removed, for example a troll and a human, and magick is cast to bind half of the trolls blood to the human’s, the same effect as before would be possible in the creation of a half-breed. However, to keep the troll alive, half of the human’s blood may be equally bound to the troll’s. In this case, both creatures would be able to live; only two full-bloods would become two half-breeds.

The experiment will be tested on intelligent creatures for the first time in history upon myself, Malaki Tapprio. I will attempt to become half-celestial by bonding with an Archon. Archons interact highly with humans and are also preachers of wisdom, knowledge and aid. My current plan is to find one through my prayers who wishes to be more in touch with the mortal realm and to offer the transference of blood as a suggestion. One candidate is Vretil, who specifically follows the aspects of knowledge; however he is a leader and such a sacrifice on his part I could not even ask. Though some of the angels under him may be willing. The ritual will be performed as followed:

Step 1: The assembled will pray.

Step 2: I will perform a ritual to consecrate and purify the land, so as to make the land both suitable for the ritual, free from unwanted interference, and pure enough for the Archon to set foot on.

Step 3: I will perform a ritual to allow the Archon to come into the Material Plane.

Step 4: We shall both be prepared for the ritual. Our bodies will be cleansed of any possible taint, all equipment shall be removed, and all others, save those needed to cast spells and oversee the ritual, will leave the area.

Step 5: The assembled will pray.

Step 6: Two sacrificial daggers shall be covered in acid. We shall both simultaneously perform the art of righteous sacrifice. Our blood shall fall by our own hands, and in one strike our souls will be removed from our bodies.

Step 7: A Transmuter of great power shall perform a ritual using purified components in order to provide a transference of half of our blood to each other, binding it to our remaining blood.

Step 8: A Transmuter of great power (not necessarily the same one), shall again call upon the their magicks to alter the structure of my body to one that can properly withhold the blood of a celestial being. Such changes will include wings and other adaptations connected to flight. Other possible changes may include hair and eye color.

Step 9: The assembled will pray.

Step 10: Two Clerics of great power will call each of our souls back to our respective bodies. They will bind with our new blood, and the structural changes to my body.

Step 12: We will all pray and thank the Gods for their guidance in this feat.

More information concerning the effects of this ritual are forthcoming, notwithstanding my horrible, horrible death.

Runelords D&D: Paradise Lost

2008-09-15T19:49:00.004-04:00

- - -

DM Notes: (These are player-safe, no spoilers)

What the party seemed to enjoy
- I think there was some great roleplaying that happened in Turtleback Ferry after the Sihedron Rune was discovered. The party seemed to really enjoy interrogating the various citizens in their... unique ways. What was just an information hook turned into a great set of roleplaying encounters.

- Planning the assault on Rannick worked well as the party learned more about the keep the more they planned it out, rather then just charging in.

- Proving victorious against the shocker lizards was actually a really big point of excitement at the table. The swarm was a true threat, but when the party's careful strategy worked with flying colors it was certainly a moment of celebration.

- I think everyone enjoyed my "special treasure" at the end of the session. Who needs in-game gold when you can have chocolate gold coins!!!

What I could have done better
- I had planned to stat out each of the NPC's so that a player could take on their stats. I didn't have an opportunity to do this, but since they still have all of Rannick to get through, I think I'll be able to do this for next session and I think it will work excellently.

- There was an encounter I had wanted to run between Turtleback Ferry and Fort Rannick, but skipped it due to time constraints. I wish I had been able to plan something shorter though as it seemed like an abrupt jump.

Spotlights
I think it's important every game to let one or two characters take the spotlight. Every session, I try to give someone a chance to shine. I try not to spread myself too thin, and try to focus on a different player or pair of players each session. All of the players have a chance to strut their stuff during each session in different ways though, even when they may not realize it.

- Slavla got to flex his muscles as always, but this session he actually got to be one of the party's spokespersons! Usually Slavla is the last person to talk for the group, but he proved key in learning a lot of information about the Sihedron Rune in Turtleback Ferry through his own special means of interrogation. I loved the way this encounter played out and I think Slavla really got to shine.

- Kiikii's skills contributed majorly to every battle that the party came across. Against the shocker lizards and Lucrecia, his spells helped to completely scale back the encounters. I feel like Kiikii always contributes in a major way but the party probably would have been in deep trouble this session if it wasn't for him, and I think they noticed that.

- Though it wasn't as big a spotlight, Deanda single-handedly took the torch to 25 ogres. It was a short encounter since it was so well-planned but through her mad druid stealth skills, she was able to turn a potentially disastrous encounter into a cakewalk.

Crimson Throne D&D: A City Gone Mad

2008-09-14T16:59:00.006-04:00

[SPOILER: Members of my RPOL "Pathfinder: Journeys of Golarion" game should not read this post as it contains information as to the adventure you are currently playing.]

This series is a session-by-session recap of the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign over the course of the school year. Enjoy! The current party:

- Lowen, Half-Elf Cleric of Irori
- Ramius, Human Swashbuckler
- Tulia, Human Sorceress
- Einkil, Dwarf Fighter
- Ziaphas, Human Wizard

So passes Eordred II, second of his honorable name, and as his last breath faded the position upon the Crimson Throne fell to the lovely Queen Ileosa, his lady wife. Such a surprising shift in power however is never without a ripple amongst the populace. This ripple however tore through Korvosa like fire through kindling.

Korvosa was burning.

Over the past hour or two while our heroes fought past Gaedren Lamm's henchmen and freed his enslaved orphans, Korvosa had been tearing itself to pieces. Sable Marines flew at breakneck speed towards Castle Korvosa while Korvosan Guardsmen ran headlong through the streets trying to maintain order. Even the occasional Hellknight could be seen chasing down a rather unfortunate looter or two. It was chaos.

"My family! They might be hurt!" Tulia shouted this half-crazed and half-terrified. Before her newfound companions could stop her, the young girl was running headlong through the streets - quickly disappearing into the chaos.

The party agreed they needed to get out of the streets and made for Zellara's house to try and put the pieces of this mystery together. As they rounded the corner however, the cries of a nearby mob caught their attention. A young intelligent-looking man, perhaps a graduate of the Acadamae by the look of him, was currently surrounded by six men wielding shovels, table legs, and broken chairs.

"Look at yeh skinny boy!" One of the men called at the scrawny scholar. "Betcha never worked an honest day's labor in your life, eh, Queen's Man maybe? M'brother had his arm crushed by a barrel on the docks when he was younger then you. Never raised a mug of ale with that wrist again. Wanna know what it feels like?"

As Ramius and Lowen leaped into action to save the man, Einkil simply grinned as the fight brewed, seeing the skinny man as just as much of a target. Before the dwarf could get the drop on him however, the man fell unconscious to the ground as a shovel knocked him upside the head. The battle was joined as Ramius, Lowen and Einkil made short work of the shovel-toting commoners.

There was some debate about what to do with the scrawny gentleman whose life they'd saved, as Einkil thought they should simply leave him be. As Ramius spied a bottle of wine in the man's backpack however, he quickly said they should bring him to Zellara's with them. The group finally agreed.

When they returned to Zellara's home, the found the fortuneteller's abode abandoned and empty. The dust of several weeks laying thickly on the broken furniture. But how... when this room was fully furnished only hours ago... That was a mystery for later however.

After tying the man up the brought him to consciousness. The bound man introduced himself as Ziaphas, indeed a man of the Acadamae. He'd gone out into the streets of Korvosa only minutes before the chaos hit. He was trying to get to a safer district of the city when the men had accosted him. Having no reason not to believe him, along with his suggestion of a glass of wine, the party released him and contemplated their current situation.

After a little bit, the heroes decided it would be best to ask a guardsmen what had happened. Heading out into the street as they saw one walk by, the unknowingly approached one of the Watch Sergeants, a man named Grau Soldado. The man however, from his slurred words and stumbling, was clearly drunk.

The man, in his stupor, cried out in happiness when he saw Ramius - mistaking the man for a fellow guardsman that had apparently worked along Grau's side in Sandpoint many years ago named Neffi. He insisted on buying the whole group a round of beer at the nearest tavern.

There Grau tried to answer the party's questions as best he could in his state, saying that the King had died, and even though his health had been declining, no one was expecting it so soon. Without the King to pass his orders down, Grau said, the whole of Korvosa had just broken apart. Especially since Eordred had been such a fantastic King.

Since the riots had started, Grau seemed to have just lost it, after seeing some of his fellow guardsmen as well as some Sable Company Marines die from angry citizens. He found the nearest bottle of liquor and started drinking, saying that he had failed. He'd lost his King, lost his honor, and lost his love.

As Grau passed out on the table, the group decided that they needed to go and see what was what at Citadel Volshyenek. Einkil picked up the unconscious man, and they headed out in the direction of the Citadel.

About halfway there however, the group was met with another challenge. Four Imps flew from rooftops around them and assaulted the party, stinging at the heroes with their barbed tails. For a little bit, the imps seemed like too much of a challenge, but luckily a pack of Pseudodragons quickly joined the fight. With the help of the Pseudodragons, the battle proved victorious.

For the entire battle, Ziaphas seemed a little nervous. He explained that he was concerned that the imps might have been familiars of powerful Acadamae mages, though it was entirely possible that they were just part of the stray Imp population that lived throughout Korvosa as a byproduct of Acadamae graduation rituals.

Thankfully, the native Pseudodragon population kept the imps in check, but still the group determined that the Imps probably wouldn't have been brave enough to attack had it not been for the chaotic nature of things in Korvosa.

Arriving at Citadel Volshyenek, they found it's doors open, as the guard was welcoming in nonviolent citizens seeking shelter and safety for the evening. The group found refuge here as they deposited the drunken Watch Sergeant. They could learn little from the guards about what had happened above and beyond what they'd already learned. The group eventually decided it would just be best to get some sleep.

As the following day came, things seemed to be slowly getting back to normal. The fires had at least subsided, though the streets were still thick with looters and ripe with chaos. It was made clear that the streets were not safe, so it seemed that for the meantime our heroes were stuck together.

Hearing of a pawn shop that had hesitantly opened up business, the group made their way to a nearby alleyway within which a halfling had set up shop. The halfling was a rather eccentric fellow and brave, though not without reason, given the half-orc guard he'd hired for himself. The group parted with the treasures they'd gained from Gaedren's lair, making a fine profit. When they reached the fancy brooch, the halfling's eyes went wide though he tried to hide his surprise, offering the group a paltry sum of 100 gold for it.

Sensing that something was off, the group pressed the matter, until both parties were on the verge of drawing swords. One stern look from Einkil however, set the halfling to shaking in his boots. The shopkeeper confessed that he didn't even want to buy it anymore! It was stolen property, he claimed, of the Queen! It was her brooch, and he didn't want to be caught with stolen property. There was rumored to be a reward for it however, so the man suggested they return it to the castle.

Making their way to the castle, the party found it under heavy security. Showing the brooch hurried things along however, and it was mere minutes before they met face-to-face with the Queen's personal handmaiden, bodyguard, and rumored lover, Sabina Merrin - a stunningly gorgeous swordswoman. She took each of their names, and ushered them into the great halls of Castle Korvosa.

After introducing them with a flourish, the party was allowed to approach the Crimson Throne, upon which sat Queen Ileosa. The Queen was a vision of celestial beauty, despite the black mourning dress and veil she wore in honor of her husband's passing. A small silver coffer sat in her lap. The queen spoke...

"This brooch was stolen from me some time ago - I had not expected to see it again, truth be told. And yet, here on my darkest day, you come before me with kindness. The return of this brooch is much more than an honorable deed. It is inspiration. It is hope.

I love Korvosa, as my husband did before me. His death has shocked the city as it has me, but I will not see his legacy destroyed in death, and I shall not see my city torn apart. All Korvosa stands at the precipice of a disaster wrought by her citizens - these riots simply cannot continue. You have already done by heart a great service in returning this bauble to me on this dark day, and you shall be rewarded. Yet, perhaps you can serve your city more.

If you so choose, I shall have Sabina see to it that you have an escort of guards when you leave here - they can see to your safe journey to Citadel Volshyenek. I shall send word ahead of you to Field Marshal Cressida Kroft to let her know you are on the way. The Korvosan guard is stretched thin, and it can certainly use the aid of such heroes as yourselves.

Now, I need to retire to my personal quarters - my grief has drained me. Again, I thank you for your kindness, and I hope your days of serving the crown are only just beginning." The Queen granted them 1,200 gold pieces worth of Korvosan Metal Ingots and bid them farewell.

Upon arriving at the Citadel, the party was ushered before a very exhausted Field Marshal. She spoke shortly and curtly, explaining that if the party wished, they would be offered a temporary membership into the guard so that they could help keep the city under control. The woman glanced through her notes and then to Ramius. "It seems that some of you have... a record with the guard. But as far as I'm concerned, if you're willing to step up to the challenges now, then I'm happy to have you on board." The woman crumpled up Ramius's former record and tossed it to the side, as the swashbuckler smiled and thanked her.

Cressida laid out the mission. A man by the name of Verik Vancaskerkin had defected from the guard and taken a group with him. They were held up in a butchery called "All The Worlds Meat". She wanted to know why he left, but most of all, she wanted him back. Dead or Alive. Cressida wished them luck, and sent them off.

- - -

DM Notes: (These are player-safe, no spoilers)

What the party seemed to enjoy
- Being able to bash down some unruly commoners seemed like it was a little too enjoyable... It was played off as a pretty humorous encounter though, which I think went well.

- The introduction of Ziaphas worked a lot better then I thought it might. Bringing in a new player, even in the second session, is always hard. This went pretty seamlessly though, and I was able to put it right at the beginning of the session.

- I think the group loved Grau and his drunken antics. I had him somewhere between plastered and stoned and he was fairly ridiculous. Sadly, I can't remember any of his drunken quotes right now. Players - can you help me out with some of Grau's more humorous moments? I just remember it being pretty hilarious.

What I could have done better
- I should have saved the Imp/Pseudodragon battle for a session where there was more combat, since the group was relatively ineffective against them so they could have had more of a sense of accomplishment.

- I forgot to make them bow before the Queen. That could have led to some interesting party dynamics...

- I forgot to do something important when they got back to Zellara's house, but it's an easy fix next session.

- I should have had the Grau encounter later in the adventure so that he would have had more time to grieve. I was just too excited for the encounter!

Spotlights
I think it's important every game to let one or two characters take the spotlight. Every session, I try to give someone a chance to shine. I try not to spread myself too thin, and try to focus on a different player or pair of players each session. All of the players have a chance to strut their stuff during each session in different ways though, even when they may not realize it.

- Ramius had the most backstory-centered plot this session. His transgressions in the guard have essentially been forgiven, and he's been granted a second chance to redeem himself. He also had more then enough opportunities to shine in combat, and in his valiant rescue of Ziaphas. Ramius was also given a contact to speak with at the Citadel when they first arrived.

Picture from Pathfinder's Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide.

Leadership: The Solution

2008-09-13T23:30:00.001-04:00

To allow, or not to allow. That is the question. A lot of feats out there, primarily Item Creation feats, always beg this question. Do I want to give my players the false hope that they will actually have downtime to make these items? Am I denying a feat when in fact there will be downtime during which there will be nothing else to do?! Always a debate. Perhaps the biggest debate in my book is for the Leadership feat.

Leadership has the potential to get bad. It can wind up with a ton of figures on the map that are not unlike speedbumps as far as the characters are concerned. And suddenly I as the DM have to come up with how many different personalities? Unless of course I just want the player to manage them all and wind up with thirty followers with identical personalities.

So how can I keep my players and myself happy? Well, I'll allow Leadership - but I want to have fun with it to.

Followers aside for a moment, my solution doesn't work for everyone, because some people just really want to make a second character (their cohort) and get to fight with two characters during combat. Well, I've tried this method and it simply doesn't work.

Characters somehow find cohorts that perfectly accentuate their own abilities, and who get lost in the shuffle as two-dimensional characters with no real motives or backstory besides kissing the character's feet every night.

Hey! Cohorts are people too!

So, first off, I do away with followers. I allow characters to gather followers, but I do not allow followers to go adventuring. They can start a small village, run a store, manage a keep, or anything like that, but these folks will never join your party officially. As for the cohort, while I offer the player some control over the type of cohort, it will be me as the DM who actually makes and runs the character.

This takes a little getting used to, as not all DM's all knowledgeable enough at the game to run too many NPC's. With a well laid-out character sheet however, taking on a DM-PC can be done, and is actually fun.

Pro: You actually become attatched to your "PC" and get rid of that nasty tendency to stack the odds against your player.

Con: You have to be very careful about not making a character who can give the players too much info or who might be tempted to roleplay. You have to get used to the NPC being impartial, going along with the PC's and even perhaps feeding them faulty information sometimes. (This can be fun).

So what do I do when my players take Leadership? I have them fill out the following sheet, then I get to make the cohort and it's up to them whether or not the NPC is accepted. This is all done through roleplaying while I don't even show the sheet to the player. Then, I essentially add an NPC to the party, and take control of them in roleplaying encounters and combat.

Another Pro: Having NPCs under your control with the party can actually be really good. If the players are ever being really really stupid, if you're sneaky, you can nudge them in the right direction without them knowing. This takes practice.

The Leadership Form

My current leadership score:

1. Which type of character class:
- Warrior
- Arcane
- Divine
- Adventurer

2. Which alignment appeals most to you:
- Good
- Evil
- Chaotic
- Lawful

3. Which type of character concept:
- Brute
- Peaceful
- Explorer
- Scholar (book smarts/INT)
- Pious
- Tactician
- Sneak
- Artist
- Sage (worldly/WIS)
- Student

4. Which type of race:
- Same as you
- Humanoid (standard)
- Humanoid (nonstandard)
- Monster
- Animal

So, lets say that our good friend Kiikii-Jiikii wants a stalwart companion to keep him safe (since he's a chicken). Kiikii could specify that he wants a warrior companion who is primarily good. Since Kiikii is looking for brawn, he chooses the Brute concept. Feeling a little crazy, Kiikii chooses Nonstandard Humanoids as the race.

Kiikii's Cohort Options

Class: Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger (two-weapon), Monk, Paladin, Duskblade, Dragon Shaman, Samurai, Knight... and so on...

Alignment: Either Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, or Lawful Good.

Character Concept: Since Kiikii chose Brute we can probably start to narrow down class choices. This mostly has to do with the character's ability score dispersal however, and how they react. They are probably either a dumb thug, or someone who simply deals a lot of damage. They're not too tactical - they just hurt things.

Race: Since Kiikii picked Nonstandard Humanoid there are really a TON of options. Though the character has to be good, it could still be anything from a Kobold to a Gnoll.

Based on all these ideas, I would try to make a character that would add something unique to the party and who would also give Kiikii a fun companion to pal around with. Remember that you probably don't want to make a character who rivals someone else in the party. For example, I wouldn't make a Barbarian cohort, since there's already a barbarian in Kiikii's party.

Plus, I would want to make it something that I would enjoy playing, and that could be played fairly easily. Write up a sheet, pick out a figure, and you're good to go!

Gunslinger: A 3.5 Homebrew Class

2008-09-12T23:27:00.004-04:00

In honor of the current homebrew carnival going on hosted by Donny the DM, I thought I'd toss my two cents in with one of my homebrewed classes for 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons. The Gunslinger. I originally designed him for an Expedition to Castle Ravenloft game I was running since one of my players was eager to use guns. Here's what I came up with...

Gunslinger
Where there are weapons, there are those who have mastered them. From sword-wielding warriors to dagger-throwing ninjas. For some however, a weapon is not just a tool, not just a blade or a bolt, but something more. A lifestyle. Such is the attitude of those who have taken and mastered the keen clockwork motions of the pistol, hidden and deadly. For this weapon master, bullets are his lifeblood, kickback is a graceful art, and the scent of gunpowder is what drives him onward. There is no keener eye and no deadlier bullet, then the Gunslinger.

Adventures: A gunslinger is driven by the desire to perfect himself. An adventure is seen as a challenge, and challenges are made to be overcome. Life is full of trials and gauntlets, all of which the gunslinger sees as opportunities to perfect himself and his skill. He will often think outside the box, trying to go around problems rather then confront them head-on. Gunslingers are careful planners and priceless companions.

Characteristics: Gunslingers are very limited in terms of weapons, typically wielding nothing beyond a pistol and both excelling and improving upon it. His skills allow him to improve upon and maintain his weapons as well as lending some aid in the dangers of a dungeon or in other such unique environments. Typically hailing from urban backgrounds, the gunslinger is not as adept to the wilderness as his distant cousin the ranger, using their knowledge best around machinery, architecture, engineering, and technology. An experienced gunslinger has deadly accuracy with his weapon, or weapons, as some gunslingers choose to focus on duel wielding revolvers.

Alignment: Gunslingers can be of any alignment, while some find profession as chaotic vigilantes defending the less fortunate, others use their skills to further their own gains. Still others work for elite bodyguard companies, or are hired as bloodhounds to track down criminals using their unique abilities. Evil gunslingers are a force to be feared, using their distant and deadly techniques much like an assassin who can take out a target from a half-mile away.

Religion: Gunslingers follow a variety of deities, but most commonly gunslingers follow either Moradin or Garl Glittergold. Moradin, as the god of smithing, metalworking, and engineering, is an obvious choice. Garl Glittergold is the chief patron of the gnomes who flock to this class because it utilizes one of their creations – the revolver. There is some debate over who designed firearms first, the gnomes or dwarves, though the common belief is that gnomes created the revolver.

Background: Most gunslingers gain their training through their craft, either as a blacksmith, alchemist, gunsmith or clockmaker. Combining these crafts gives the components needed to make a gun, and most artisans with the hope of adventuring will often craft and practice with a weapon of their own. Firearms are still considered rare, so not many mainstream adventurers use them, leaving the class primarily to those who can actually craft the weapons and bullets.

Races: Clearly, the most common races who come to this class are gnomes and dwarves, as they feel natural wielding the weapons their ancestors created. Humans however, also are drawn to the gunslinger class, further expanding their versatility. Half-Elves and Half-Orcs have been seen to wield the weapons as well, though halflings find them to cumbersome and elves find them to unnatural, though there’s a first time for everything…

Classes: Gunslingers get along well with most classes, though druids and rangers will often find their techniques disruptive and unnatural. Gunslingers get along well with fighters, who often show them more respect then they show people using wooden weapons. In general, anyone who can mind a gunslingers company and doesn’t mind having their items tinkered with every so often is ok by them! As gunslingers are often curious and think outside the box, their best companions are usually rogues or others who have a knack for using, tampering with, and disassembling devices.

Role: Gunslingers find their best role as a secondary combatant, using their ranged combat abilities to get into a fight quickly and do lots of damage. Gunslingers also know their way around traps and locks. While not as proficient as a rogue, they often can use their abilities to “Aid Another” when dealing with locked doors and traps.

Game Rule Information
Gunslingers have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Dexterity is important for a gunslinger both because he tends to wear light armor and because of their ranged proficiency. Intelligence is also important for gunslingers as it gives them a high number of skill points and Intelligence is the key ability for a gunslingers spells. An Intelligence score of 14 or higher is required to get access to the most powerful gunslinger spells. Charisma is also helpful to a gunslinger as it fuels a lot of their skills.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills: 6 + int modifier (x4 at 1st level)

Gunslinger Class Skills: Appraise (int), Bluff (cha), Concentration (con), Craft (int), Disable Device (int), Gather Information (cha), Hide (dex), Intimidate (cha), Knowledge: Architecture and Engineering (int), Knowledge: Local, Listen, Move Silently (dex), Open Lock (dex), Search (wis), Profession (wis), Search (int), Sense Motive (wis), Spot (wis)

Class Features
These are the class features of the gunslinger.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency (Ex): A gunslinger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as revolvers. A gunslinger may wear light armor, but not shields.

Urban Tracking (Ex): A gunslinger gains Urban Tracking as a bonus feat.

Gunsmith (Ex): A gunslinger gains a +2 insight bonus on all craft checks having to do with assembling a gun (blacksmithing to make bullets, alchemy to make gunpowder, gunsmithing to make the casing, etc.)

Improve Revolvers (Ex): At 2nd level and beyond, by tinkering with a revolver for 8 hours, a gunslinger can make the weapon function more efficiently. Every time a gunslinger earns this ability (at 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level), his guns are somehow visually altered, allowing others to see that his weapon has been altered. For each such alteration, the wielder gains a +1 to their intimidate checks made to demoralize an opponent. This bonus does not stack for multiple tinkered weapons being visible. The alteration is the same for all weapons tinkered by a gunslinger, so should they duel wield revolvers, they will look identical. It is up to the player to determine what the alterations look like, though it should be creative and unique.

At 2nd level, a tinkered weapon counts as a masterwork weapon. As revolvers are complicated weapons, they are not normally sold as masterwork weapons, making this one of the only ways to gain such equipment. At 6th level, a tinkered revolver weighs half as much and is considered a light weapon. At 10th level, a tinkered revolver doubles it’s range increment from 30 ft. to 60 ft. At 14th level, a tinkered revolver gain a +1 to all damage rolls. This stacks with any other abilities which grant a +1 to damage, such as point blank shot. At 18th level, once per day a tinkered revolver can do a complete discharge, firing all bullets within the chamber. This is a full round action. Attack rolls for each bullet are rolled separately.

Practiced Hand (Ex): At 2nd level, a gunslinger gets Weapon Focus: Revolver as a bonus feat.

Draw! (Ex): At 3rd level, a gunslinger gets Quick Draw as a bonus feat, but only for drawing his revolvers, not other weapons.

Steady Eye (Ex): At 4th level, a gunslinger gets Precise Shot as a bonus feat, but only when using revolvers as his ranged weapon.

Trigger Happy (Ex): At 5th level, a gunslinger gains Improved Initiative as a bonus feat.

Expanded Chamber (Su): At 8th level when loading a revolver, a gunslinger can load “another bullet” effectively allowing him seven shots before he needs to reload.

Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a gunslinger becomes much more aware of the combat around him, granting him the ability to dodge incoming fire much easier. He gains the Evasion ability.

Dive for Cover (Ex): At 12th level, a gunslinger furthers his ability to dodge incoming attacks. Once per day, if the gunslinger fails a reflex save to only be dealt half damage from an attack, he may try to make the save again. If he succeeds the second time, he only takes half damage from the attack, but he is considered prone.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): At 17th level a gunslinger may hide regardless of terrain or concealment.

New Items
A gunslinger has access to more advanced items.

Revolver (exotic one-handed)
Dmg: S = 2d4, M = 2d6
Critical: x2
Range Increment: 30 ft.
Weight: 3 lbs.
Damage Type: Piercing
Cost: 500 gp
Craft DC: 30

Bullets (10)
Weight: 1 lb.
Cost: 3 gp.
Craft DC: 10 (requires 1 oz. gunpowder)

Gunpowder (powder horn)
Weight: 2 lbs. (32 oz.)
Cost: 35 gp
Craft DC: 15

Reloading
Different guns reload at different speeds.

Revolvers
1 revolver w/ free hand = standard
1 revolver w/ free hand + rapid reload = move
1 revolver w/ free hand + rapid reload + duel discharge = free
1 revolver w/o free hand = full round
1 revolver w/o free hand + rapid reload = standard
1 revolver w/o free hand + rapid reload + duel discharge = move

So, if Kain is duel-wielding revolvers with the Rapid Reload and Duel Discharge feats, he can empty both revolvers and then take a full round action to reload both of them.

New Feats
A gunslinger has access to different feats which may aid him.

Urban Tracking [general]
You can track down the location of persons within a community.

Duel Discharge [general]
When duel-wielding revolvers, you can reload them quicker.

Prerequisites: Proficiency with Revolvers, Rapid Reload, BAB +4

Benefit: With a flick of your thumb, you can open the cylinders of your revolvers, dropping out the blank shells with a flick of your wrists. This cuts your reload time when duel-wielding (see the above reloading chart).