Not doing dungeon23

 I decided I'm not going to participate in this.  As a friend said, it can be too big and overwhelming.

Instead what I'm going to do is world build.

First step as per advice in the comments of a previous post.

http://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2022/12/am-i-d-out.html?m=0

Read the 1e dmg.

Thank you JB 

Step 2

Go here https://watabou.itch.io/perilous-shores 

Use the small descriptions as writing prompts.

Download every iteration of the map. 

People and monster the map.

Pepper it with some adventures I want to run.

Step 3

Run it with whitebox fmag.

First however step 1.

Statless and system agnostic

I've often wondered how one would write an adventure that was statless and system agnostic.

I'm not entirely sure it's doable, or at the very least useable.

I know there are a few books out there that were produced well that are decent.  I also know there are a lot that paint the picture of being agnostic but still have kinda sorta dnd stats in them.

There are others that have their own baked in system and notes about conversion.

I think writing source and campaign style books is a lot easier to do.

Do you have any favourites that check off the box of being statless and system agnostic?

Dungeon 23

 https://gizmodo.com/dungeon23-2023-ttrpg-writing-challenge-roleplaying-game-1849930262

So a new thing started, a writing prompt.  This time it's a year, not a month.  There has already been a few people starting this.

I am not going to come right out and say I'm doing this, because I know I won't complete it and I know I'll get sidetracked.  I've attempted mega dungeons on this blog before!

That being said I like the idea of the following:

Doing a once a week catch up with as much stuff as I can.

Doing a dungeon

Working on city neighbourhoods.

Working on NPCs

Working on a large campaign world.

What might happen is it might be all of those things.

Or nothing lol!

Am I D&D'd out?

Things I'm not entirely excited about: 

When I first started blogging and found the OSR I consumed everything.  Everything was wonderful, neat and exciting!  The last few years that has waned a little bit.  I"m still excited about playing, and in some cases running games (although I find I get partied out quick running games)*.  

*This might be because I've been running 5e, which requires atleast for me more prep.  A low prep OSR game I could probably run a bit longer. 

So the excitement has worn off, the parade of new things has lost its lustre.  Every time I start writing something I get about 4 pages in, in an hour or so.  Then I bin it and move on.  

I've considered pulling the 3T stuff from drivethru as it's basically irrelevant nowadays. 

I recently purchase Ghosts of saltmarsh, and the essentials kit.  I made it halfway thru both books and was a little meh on them.  Likely because I picked up my guitar and started working on some riffs.  And also because I'm running lmop, and there is only so much room in my brain.  A friend at work is always telling me about his game, and how wildly excited he is.  

I started a game with my cousins, and its wonderful to see how excited they are (first time players across the board, and I handed them the red pill). 

I've joined and left a pile of groups on facebook.  I still miss the colab of g plus but that is gone and long dead.  I'm still in contact with plenty of OSR folks, and game with a bunch of cool dudes on the regular. 

I think it might be time to pick up a new old rule set.  Something that isn't dragons, dungeons, trolls and heroes of the elf, halfling, dwarf variety.  Maybe star wars, or a super hero game.  I dunno. 

Light! I've been spending a lot of time over at the BF forums, reading the posts.  I'm hoping to help out with the project in the new year.  Maybe do some proof reading or something. 

Maybe I'm old? Maybe I have far too much on my mind and really need some escapism but am having a hard time trying to figure out what that is.  Maybe my stratocaster is calling me too often.  

Shit its been forever since I've drawn a map.  As is typical this is a ramble post. 

Things I'm excited about: 

The second edition of Labyrinth Lord 

https://goblinoidgames.com/

Monkey Blood Design YT channel 

https://www.youtube.com/@monkeyblooddesign

Basic Fantasy Adventure Anthology 3.  (It's been up for a bit, just started to read thru it now).   **

https://basicfantasy.org/downloads/AA3-Adventure-Anthology-Three-r11.pdf

**I'd like to grab a bunch of BF adventures and sprinkle them over a perilous shores map at some point.

It's Christmas and I work retail

My guess is the reason for this melon collie post is the fact that I'm friggin bagged out at this point.  Working 6 days a week and all kinds of fucked up shifts. 

Comics & World's

 I've been going on a bit of a tear reading graphic novels latetly.  The local library has a HUGE selection.  For a long time I thought "Hey I should collect graphic novels", but I've realized that I read them once and that's it.  Which seems counterproductive moneywise.  Other than old school GI JOE and a few other choice selections I've managed to steady my hand. 

But I digress, I've been on a batman kick latetly.  There have been a LOT of writers on the batman comics over the years.   The 2 books I grabbed from the library are: 

Batman 66' 

Which is basically a throwback to the Adam west TV show, it's fucking great!  

While I prefer old school detective batman the most, i do like basically all iterations of the batman.  I have found memories of going to see the Keaton movie, and the later ones.  

*note there is a Batman 89' which I desperately need to read at some point. 

The other book I got from the library is the Scott Snyder Court Of Owls (which I just went and placed holds on a bunch of other ones in that series).  It's pretty awesome, the batman in this is a bit Frank Miller and a bit different. 

What i've come to realize is that the interesting thing about comics is that they grow and evolve.  Sometimes there are throwbacks, or different worlds, obviously different story lines.  The characters and the setting remains the same, but not always.  In some cases heroes become villains (and vice versa). 

Which leads me to D&D.  For a long time I was an overprepper, and I did not want to ruin canon!  Seriously the whole idea of canon and "Playing it wrong" bothered me for a long time.  I'm going to chalk that up to having read Dragonlance when I was a kid, and the fact that I started out playing 2nd edition in the Forgotten Realms.  At that time FR had already been around for a long time, I had the campaign set and it was filled with all this interesting lore and adventure ideas.  The more I played the more I realized if this happened, what happens to X, etc. 

Back to Batman and comics in general.  It doesn't matter if you break it, the next writer is going to come along and do something completely different.  They will resurrect the Batman in a new fucked up Gotham and the whole thing starts again. 

So Greyhawk the new 52?  Sure.  What I need to remember, and what other DM's need to remember is THIS IS YOUR VERSION OF THE WORLD PRESENTED.  Go ahead and make Vecna a good guy, or completely kill him off, Let the elemental cults sweep over the world and have the PCs pickup the pieces.  

I've been working on a saltmarsh campaign in 5e, and at first I was like "well there's no tieflings, and dragonborn in Greyhawk, how do I explain that?"  I explain it if a player wants to play one, that's how.  It's my version, who gives a rip. 

There's a note about Granny Nightshade being in a forest near saltmarsh, yet she also appears as a big bad in witchlight.  Maybe she's there, and she's brought warduke with her.  And if I run witchlight, its back or forward in time with different characters. 

Side note, here's an interesting thread about Granny in saltmarsh 

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/buib0x/granny_nightshade_spoilers_for_those_doing_ghosts/

A couple pieces of information in Gos chapter 1 that stood out to me were 2 separate portals to other planes which exist in the greater region surrounding Saltmarsh. There's the nexus to the Shadowfell at Granny Nightshade's castle, of course. But there's also a portal to the Abyss located in the Drowned Forest (GoS p 24).

What if some demon lord wants to use these two portals as a way to invade the Shadowfell? Basically, send a demonic army into the PM plane through the Drowned Forest and into the Shadowfell by way of Saltmarsh. Could this be the real reason why Captain Xendros (Faithful Quartermaster of Iuz, GoS p 14) is in Saltmarsh? Could she be looking for the Apparatus of Kwalish in order to be able to more safely traverse the Drowned Forest? Will the Players have to side with Granny Nightshade in order to stop this invasion?

 

via ShakeWeightMyDick

·3 yr. ago

WOW I'm behind eh?  Just go that book a few weeks ago. 

Okay this has got slightly off topic.  But hey this is the 3 Toadstools and if you are a reader you know that is my typical MO right?   right! 

A long time ago I wrote a thing about "What if Batman was a D&D Character"  

http://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2014/01/if-batman-was-d-character.html

Started working on a thing and realized

So I started working on a thing, and it's basically a total rehash of something else.  Which has lead me to think about things that are needed.  But to go back one sentence, I should see where this goes and follow thru.  I don't do that.  I actually had a super interesting conversation last night prior to our D&D game about ADHD.  

I've never been diagnosed, but I clearly have it.  What we were discussing is the idea that we (adhd'ers who are creators) tend to not get things done unless there is a time line.  Well a deadline.  Because we can always just put it off.  

At some point in time, anxiety, depression etc hits and then with that comes the adrenaline rush and you just sit and get shit done.  It could be at 1 am on a tuesday when you have to work the next day.  

Obviously there is a medication out there to help you focus.  But you also need to be diagnosed.  Which is a long process.  For the most part I don't want to be medicated.  I do however do a lot of self medicating.  Would I do less of that if I was medicated? Likely.   One of the biggest problems I face, is that I decide "Hey so I'm going to quit doing this thing, because it's bad".  And I make it awhile, and then all of the weirdness fills me and I fall right back into it.

Weirdness is probably the best way to describe it.

Alright D&D.  So what is actually needed? What is something I want to play?  I want to play in a domain game, and not wait to get to that point.  I've said it before I'm a really big fan of the first few levels of D&D.  (This include 5e).  I've never really played any upper level PCs.  Partially because I enjoy lower levels, and partially because I am always the one in harm's way.  Last night we got TPKd.  It was fantastic. 

So you start out at level 8 or so.  All of the PCs in the game are rulers of a small section of land.  They have a keep and are tasked with making sure everything stays up and running.  They have to fend off monsters, deal with bad crops etc.  I dunno if this sounds fun at all?  

I do know that there are some supplements out there for stuff like this (birthright) and there are rules for domain play.  Are there any OSR books that have this developed?  

If you have a hex map of the land that you live and rule on, would you know every square inch?  As a 8th level bad ass would you be out taking care of bandits? or sending the peons to deal with it?  Obviously anything like a dragon would fall on your lap.  

How would this be fun?  I know from a mathematical standpoint there are likely players out there that would super enjoy it.  I'm looking at you Joe!  Spending time selling off gear and managing the hoard can be a fun thing to do.  On some occasions its a good off game thing, via email etc. 

Circling back, I've got one full page so far in the thing that has already been done (a lot actually) and it's probably not as great but who the crap cares anyways?  Right so 64 pages that's the goal. 

And that was a ramble! 

lotfp scotland

It occurred to me this morning, that 17th century Scotland would be a fun place to play D&D.   It seems that a great many landowners buggered off to England and followed the king.  Which would likely mean that crime would be more rampant.  As well just people doing their thing, farming etc.  Without a lot of authority, rumours could spread like wildfire.  Not to mention that the population appeared to be isolated.  This is D&D folks!  

I decided to google that, and came across this smallish website with some information. 

https://www.scottisharchivesforschools.org/unioncrowns/17thCenturyScotland.asp#:~:text=17th%20century%20Scotland%20looked%20very,of%20bogs%2C%20mountains%20and%20moorland.

First things first, this map is fantastic! 

* Map (National Records of Scotland reference: RHP 1096/3. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.)

I've personally been looking for a project to keep me busy for awhile.  I'm slowly falling into the seasonal depression thing.  The effect of the weather and the darkness leaves me very lackadaisical. 

Obviously the perfect system for this is Lamentations of the flame princess, as it's already set in the 17th century (at least Raggi's default game).  

I personally have Scottish & Irish roots, this idea appeals to me.  I mean I got married in a kilt! (That's obviously not any actual Scottish stret cred there, just mentioning it).  

All of this combined with the fact that I've basically side view watched Outlander at least 4 times.  My wife is obsessed.  When I say side view, I mean that I'm typically doing nothing, on my phone, playing guitar etc whilst she watches the show.  I should note that the show is set in 1743, so it's a bit later.  But there is some inspiration there. 

Here's a little blog post with Scottish folklore & monsters. 

https://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/news-offers/the-creatures-of-scottish-folklore

and some more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Scottish_legendary_creatures

*Photo courtesy of https://www.chantelledione.com/

Considering I've started and not finished the Gygax Challenge numerous times, maybe it's time to do that?  Sure why not.  

I think what I'm going to do though, is not follow the challenge in the way it is laid out as I always get hung up.  Instead I think what I'll do is pick a monster from the above list and create an adventure with it.  Then rinse and repeat.  It seems like a more organic way to write stuff to me.   

Now to state out a Brownie that sweeps the kitchen while the farmers sleep.  Hmm.... maybe the brownie decided to steal some chickens or one of the farmers kids?   Perhaps.  By the time the farmer realizes it, the child is long gone.  Willie trots off to town to raise the alarm bells, and that is where the PCs come in. 

Of course they have been busy drinking and the ravings of the farmer fall on deaf ears.  Until it happens again! 

Interesting thread at grognardia

 Interesting thread http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/10/affection-for-second-edition.html?m=1

I posted the following comments

I think 2e does get the blunt end of the stick sometimes. I'm 43 and I grew up with 2e. A lot of guys I play with nowadays played 2e but started with earlier editions. In some cases I think guys my age just never went back. They either started playing 5w after a long break from 2e. Or they are playing with people that want to play older editions. I'm guessing we will get a 2e Rennasance soon. I know there's people out there playing it now. But it's definitely not as popular as the other games.

Maybe my next online campaign will be a 2e game.  I've got a pile of modules I'd like to run.

When I ran a one shot I decided to not use any optional rules and was surprised at how very bx it was.

If you have a hankering to play the game you can grab 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/156530

What do I look for?

 What do I, what do you look for in your game?

This brought to you by a Reddit thread that got me thinking.  Reddit has started inspiring me to write more again about osr stuffs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/y3wir3/osrnsrbrosr_oh_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Actually just one comment that turned my add brain onto this.

My "what I look for in a game is"

Exploring the world.  Interesting NPCs with different ideas and plots.  Roleplaying not just in the tavern.  Player agency.  Good chance of death or dismemberment.  

What I don't like is tactical grid combat, exploration, wargame mentality.

You?

Ghosts of saltmarsh

Good Morning! 

I recently purchased Princes of the apocalypse because I thought at some point I'd like to run it.   I believe that module came out in like 2014 or 2015.  And I'd often thought if I buy one 5e module that would be the one.  I know silly right?  I read thru the first like 10 pages, and just realized it's totally not my thing.  It just seems like a bunch of dungeon crawls with a sorta story, and once you finish killing off one cult it's onto the next one.   I didn't find it that inspiring.  Obviously this was at the start of fifth edition, and the system has evolved a lot in the last few years.  I find it quite funny that I'm now purchasing modules for a system that is being re-written.  It's very typical me.  It's also very typical me to think about something for a very long time before purchasing it.  

The good news is, if I feel like running Elemental evil, I have the reprint of the original.  

Alright, so I go down to the local hobby shop (if you are in Winnipeg, MB you gotta check it out) https://gameknight.ca/

I switcheroo princes for Saltmarsh.  I was originally going to grab Queen of the dragon hoard, as it's a good tie in with Lost Mines.  Unfortunately they did not have a copy.  Which was a blessing in disguise. 

I grabbed Saltmarsh, not having read much up on it.  

Holy was I pleasantly surprised.  It's actually set I Greyhawk! Not retconned into the Forgotten Realms.  Nice.  

side note:  This makes me excited, the wizards have basically put out almost all the world's in brief in the adventures to date.  Leaving just a few left Dark Sun, Al-Quadim (which technically could be FR) and Mystara!  They did paint a brief picture of Mystars in the PHB or DMG, and this gives me some hope that it would happen.  If you want to run 5e mystara here is an unofficial guide https://www.rpgmp3.com/files/pdf/Mystara_Players_Guide_5e.pdf

As is typical I know have super gamer A.D.D. and want to run Saltmarsh.  I made the old man mistake of having a nap yesterday afternoon, which made me not sleep well.  In turn I was up half the night thinking about building a gazateer for the players.  Which is exactly what I'm going to do when I complete this blog post. 

I will in all likely hood complete the Starter set adventure with a few of the essential adventures thrown in for good measure, and then we will move on to Saltmarsh and a new campaign.   

One thing I noticed on the Keoland map was the Tower of Zenupus, and that reminded me of this conversion. https://www.dmsguild.com/product/301308/The-Ruined-Tower-of-Zenopus 

Once you exhaust the possibilities of the saltmarsh book you can always throw in some homemade dungeons, Tales from the yawning portal, even TOEE if you feel up to it. 

As far as the gazateer is concerned, I'm going to lay out basically everything that the players will need in one pdf.  Races & Classes allowed, actual modifications to the classes (only up to level 12) using copy and paste from https://www.5esrd.com/ and Gods etc.  And of course the backgrounds from Saltmarsh.

Super nifty! 

Right that was an obvious ramble.  

Vampyre Coven

Upon a hill south of a dusty valley lies the manor house of Granville.  Within it is a small vampire coven of six.  The dark cloud coven as they like to call themselves are esteemed members of society.  They own merchant companies, tradehouses, inns, local governments, villages and a keep.  

The have agents, informants everywhere.  

The manor is a meeting place where plans are devised and discussed.   Within it's multiple story building are immense treasures, ancient books, and a vault made of dwarven hewn rock.  It is said the only way into the vault is with the blood of a vampire.

Unlike their feral cousins, the black cloud coven do not run around the countryside terrorizing citizens.   In fact they have attempted to keep their secret as safe as possible.  Venturing out into the wilderness to hunt down large animals.

It should be noted that they have an ongoing feud with all lyncanthropes, and don't hesitate to hunt them down or pay to have them killed.

The coven prides themselves on their secrecy. They will do anything to maintain their position. 

To kill the coven one must kill all of them first before their leader, lest he will raise them again.

Speaking of, the coven has the ability to raise the dead for a hefty price.  First you must find them, then pay up.  In return they ask for a massive amount of gold and a land title, or something of similar value.

There are people who know how to find them.

The actual manor is protected very well.  It appears as a run down old house, which is a massive illusion.  The front yard is surrounded by razor sharp vines.  

Elves of winterwood

The ice elves of winterwood have the ability to remember time. Stored in their memories are eons of information that they can travel back to and re live at a moments notice.

When an elf dies they are reborn with all of their previous lives memories intact.

There are three main clans of ice elves that live within the vast winterwood.  Their leaders are descendants of previous leaders.  With that the government, culture and society is unchanged.  They are highly inquisitive.

Ice elves have built great castles made of ice, wood and stone.  Here they toil, working on astronomy, astrology, chemistry and other forms of taboo science.  The quest is to be all knowing and all seeing.  

Religion plays no role in their society, having displaced it long ago for wisdom and understanding of the natural world.

Ice elves are born without an inherent magical ability (unlike their pointed eard cousins of high folklore).  

They generally stand six feet tall, have long white or golden hair.  Their skin is the colour of off milk, almost almond.  

Because of their intense training regimes they are generally well built and muscular.

If encountered beyond the woods they will likely be doing the following:

1.  Treating with a local sage or scholar.

2.  Gazing upon the sun and stars.

3.  Searching for ancient sites.

4.  Hunting great beasts to dissect 

They are often found riding great raccoons.

Ice elf 

Prime requisite: wisdom

Add +1 to strength 

HD 1d6

Max level 8 

(xp required as per bx).

Can use esp once a day.  (As spell).

Immune to cold.  Infravision 60'

Upon death a character can reincarnate 3 levels below the level they were at the time of death.  All attributes are -1 from the original stats.

2-6 chance of tracking in the wilderness.

Can wear any armour , but typically are covered in leather armour and furs.  Can use any weapons but prefer halberds and bolas.

New lmop session

 Yesterday we had our first 5e session.  2 new players and 2 veterans.  All under 25, and me over 40.

I gotta say "the kids are alright".

We started off creating characters.   Prior to the session I emailed them all about their background and friendship with gundren rockseeker.

I ended up with a paladin, Warlock, rogue and a cleric.  So 2 technically evil 2 good hahhaa.

First time ever that I've had a player pick more than one god.  The cleric was trying to figure out what God she would follow.  I handed her the phb and pointed to the forgotten realms gods and left her to her own devices.  She ended up being a hippie flower child following a bunch of gods.  Awesome.  She's basically Phoebe from friends.  

We started off in Neverwinter and got on the road after some tavern shenanigans. . The rogue got up in the middle of the night to scope out some thievery.  Rolled to sneak out of the room that he's sharing with the Warlock.  He stepped on every creaky floor board.

The Warlock followed literally right behind the thief all the way to a back alley.  Where they watched two goons load booze in a cart.  The thief realized that the goons were too big to rob and turned around.  He hit his head on the Warlock.  Warlock cast presdigination farted and ran.

The Warlock has the ability to speak to people in their mind.  Which he used often during the meeting at the tavern.  

When he first met them all he just sat down like Aragon in bree.  But he asked them all in their mind if they wanted a drink.

Fast forward they are on the road to phandlin to meet up with their dwarven bro.  They find 2 dead horses in the road.  They cautiously investigate the scene.  Find that one of the horses has gundren symbol on it.

All of a sudden they all get shot with arrows in the ankle and take 1 HP damage.

A fight ensues.  2 goblins get turned to ash from spells. Two more fall by the sword.  2 escape 

The players spend 10 minutes discussing what to do.  I decided the goblins get away into the brambles.

The cleric prays to one of her many gods.  And revives a vision.  Find the halfling on a farm in phandlin.  She decides to follow her god.  The rest of the party wants to track the goblins.  They talk her into tracking them down.

A marching order is decided.  The paladin goes first.

He gets caught on a snare, springs a trap and is hanging 20 feet off the ground.

And that's where we ended it 

Great game

 I had a great game tonight.  Playing bx.  We managed to get ourselves trapped in a room with an ogre banging on the door.  It wasn't smart play but we managed to get by.

Im going to finish this ale, check out what's going on on gplus and then off to bed.

Oh no wait....

https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/xihql9/what_happened_to_the_collaborative_spirit_of_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

The young kids wanna play 5e

After having given the group a choice of different versions of dnd, they have unanimously decided on 5e.  Which I expected.  

I've been reading thru a few modules and coming up with some ideas.  First up I'm going to pass on the sword coast.  Although I'm likely going to port adventures, gods etc from it.  

I've decided not to restrict races or classes other than phb only.  Whilst I'd prefer not to have dragonborn I'll make do.

First up the world, I'm going to use Elsir vale.

https://campaignworlds.fandom.com/wiki/Elsir_Vale

Adventure wise I think I'll start with defense in phlan.

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/170384

And then likely the starter set, phandelver.

I've also been reading queen of the dragon hoard, and the keep on shadowfell.  As is usual one too many modules and ideas are running around my head.

I even thought of porting to geeyhawk.  

I like Elsir vale and netnir vale as they are very sandboxy without a ton of Cannon written for them.  I can basically send the players that link if they want some background.

I will likely have the Harper's and the cult of the dragon as factions in the game.  Not the zhentatarim however.   It's not that big of a place, and sticking all the forgotten realms factions in would likely get confusing.

Whilst running phlan, I am going to make a point of introducing gundren rockseeker as a patron of the players.   This way they can get a bit of backstory before the starter set.

Got a few weeks to prepare!  

Next game?

 As a good gm I'm already planning my next game.   After a recent BBQ my cousins decided they want to try dnd.  Here's the welcome email I sent.

Hey everyone 

Introductions first. Redacted and redacted are my cousins. Redacted is my nephew. Redacted is redacteds friend.

So I hear you want to play d&d eh? Well we can definitely find a few dungeons with possible dragons!

I figured we can start with 1 game and see how it goes. Maybe get together once a month at our place as time goes on. (Sunday once a month after supper). Starting in October.

I have a few options for games and I'd like to let you guys decide.

Good starter game.

Whitebox dnd, pretty straightforward, easy to create characters and get started. Based on the original version of the game released in 1974. Fairly open ended with lots of room for interpretation. It's a good beer and pretzels game. Just 2 dice, d20 and d6

Bx dnd from 1983. My wheelhouse , best of both worlds. All the dice.  

I'm not going to mention 2nd edition, wildly convuluted and crunchy. What I grew up on. Very fun.

5th edition dnd. Tactical, crunchy and it can be roleplay heavy. Lots to digest but lots of fun as well. Cool thing is you can get very in-depth in character creation. That said first few sessions would be character creation and getting started. Upside is you get very attached to character and immersed .more dice rolling.  

With 5e I can provide pregenerated characters to get us up and going. However part of the game is creating characters and backstory. 

***

I'm awaiting responses.  If I run an old school game it would be Kotb, with in search of the unknown.  Or horror on the hill which I recently acquired.

5e would be the phandelver starter set.

****

Last night after our bx game, Steve and I did our usual talk for an hour and drink beer.   Mostly about dnd and old school games.   During our conversation we discussed our gaming upbringing.  I mentioned to Steve the first real rpg I played was advanced fighting fantasy.  I think we both agreed that your first game and experience helped develop your style and likes.   Much like being a musician, the first music I learned had a lasting impact (Nirvana).

Which has lead me to want to run aff again.  I think irl I'd use the 2nd edition ruleset.  However on roll20 I'd probably use a bastardized version of the original FF roleplay game.  The one before aff, and not the game book.  Somewhere I have a copy of it in text that I borrowed from a blog post.

More information here 

https://fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy_-_The_Introductory_Role-playing_Game

Gamma World Content

 *All of the monsters and items are copyright (c) Wizards of the coast 1979.  All rights reserved.  This is a encounter table for use with Gamma World 1st Edition, published by TSR in 1979.  You will require this book to use this table.  I do not claim any rights over the below content. 

During my brief yet fun Gamma world game, I created a few things for it.  I will be posting them up over the next few days/posts.  I used the starter adventure area in the back of the Gamma World rulebook as a jump off point.  The first thing I did was re-create the hexmap (below).  Then I created an encounter table.  

Note:  I actually spent a few minutes retyping the encounter table only to realize that I had already posted it on the blog! hahaha.   Boy I'm getting old. 

The Trading City 

I pulled a little bit of inspiration for the trading city from Fallout New Vegas, specifically Mr. House. 

Population:  3500 mostly mutant humans, plants and droids. 

Police force:  Limited, mercenaries & security droids. 

Government:  Mother (AI brain deep in the bowels of the city). 

City started when teh first peoles found "Mother" an intelligent AI computer in an abandoned arena.  The city built up from there.  Most trade is to keep the citizens fed, robots upkeep etc.  All trade is controlled by Mother & her security droids.  Mother wants to be in control of any leftover nukes, in the area, robots & tech etc.  She needs to increase broadcast power and needs warriors to assault bases.  The city is mostly a smattering of medieval and some general technology (dish washers, power, lights).  The trading city is built on the remnants of a destroyed ancient city.   It is located on a cliff face which makes a natural barrier.  To the north is a river that runs towards other villages.  Most of the trade is down by the river area.  The balance of the city is gated with old cars and metallic garbage. 

The city is clean.  There are large screens that project propaganda by Mother.  

IT IS BETTER TO DIE THEN TO LIVE AS A CRIMINAL

ALL TECH NEEDS TO BE TURNED INTO THE THE AUTHORITY'S, ILLEGA TECH WILL BE CONFISCATED, AND THE OWNER WILL BE CONDEMNED.

STIPEND AND FOOD DELIVERED WEEKLY.  NO EXCEPTIONS 

NO SHIRT NO SHOES NO SERVICE

Passes into the city must be purchased at the gate from the guards, the price is hefty. 

Dock Area

Most boats are wooden craft pontoon style, and there are some older metal fishing style ships.   The dock is patrolled by security droids who keep a watchful eye on any trade. 

There are 4 large warehouses manned by government employees that handle most of the trade. 

General shops in the area include:  Beasts of burden, wooden carts, general clothier, small boats & canoes, canned goods, travelling supplies. 

The pub in the dock area is called the "Aluminum Kettle".  A ramshackle building made of concrete and tin.  There are 3 levels, beds are reasonably priced.  The tavern section serves a "stew", bread and an alcoholic beverage called "Galou" which tastes bad but is green and frothy. 

NPCs in bar: 

Gregor:  Part of an alliance that wants to shutdown Mother, is planning to go deep underground to find her power source and shut it off.  Is looking for scouts to check out the sewer tunnels.  Mutated Raccoon hybrid.

Nibbler:  Up to no good, doesn't discuss much, eyes the door wariliy, is on a mission to scout pure humans.  Wants to kill them.  Leaves when able to. 

Axis Strava:  Eccentric wizard type, beard.  Is in search of interesting rare objects.  Desperately wants to find an intact library.  

I have 2 small dungeons that I've started which I'll be posting up soon, with the details that I came up with.  You are welcome to fill them out if you like. 

Update

Hey everyone, I just had an amazing BLT sandwich with home grown tomatoes.

Gaming wise, my gamma world game is done for now.  However I learned a lot of things.   I hadn't ran a game in awhile and it was a new system for me to run.  So that was interesting and meaningful.  One thing I tried was to not overprep.  What I did realize was that I still need a few good encounters and a decent sketch of the world.  It was a lot of fun.

I have a few decent ideas for gamma world which I'll post up here.  Not sure if it's worth putting in a lot of effort for anything official.

More to come.

I'm still playing in Steve's bad assed bx game on Tuesdays nights.  As the winter rolls around I'll hopefully I'll get a game going again with my cousins.  In the meantime I'm happy to keep playing Gideon the neutral cleric.

On another note my good friend Vic passed away last year and I stumbled upon his blog, there's some good stuff here.

http://shelfrant.blogspot.com/?m=1

Gamma World Wednesday Session 4 Recap

 The PCs managed to get into the city with the merchant caravan.  The Merchant Xandu appeared to pay their way.  The group split up and intended on meeting up later.  The asked a guard where the nearest tavern/inn was and found out that there was a place not far from them called the "battered Inn".  As they walked towards the inn they noticed a large moving pictures sign about 20 feet by 10 feet.  It was pixelated by kept flashing the following information on it. 

IT IS BETTER TO DIE THEN TO LIVE AS A CRIMINAL

ALL TECH NEEDS TO BE TURNED INTO THE THE AUTHORITY'S, ILLEGA TECH WILL BE CONFISCATED, AND THE OWNER WILL BE CONDEMNED.

STIPEND AND FOOD DELIVERED WEEKLY.  NO EXCEPTIONS 

NO SHIRT NO SHOES NO SERVICE

They found the battered inn, paid for a room and a promise of a second bed.  They met up with a raccoon named Gregor who told them about how he had been scouting the sewers but was too afraid to go very far.  He wants a map of the interior if possible.

Later they went to the docks and saw the merchant unloading his goods to the security guards at the large warehouse.  It was all tech that had been acquired.  They spoke briefly with grum and decided to meet up at the Aluminium kettle afterwards. 

The kettle is a hoping joint!  Lots of mutants are inside drinking and gambling.  They sat down for some canned juice and a glass of GALOU (which is a homemade alcohol popular in Nocturne).  There they met a large talking bear, who claimed that Xandu the merchant owed them money. 

The bear is an adventurer who was recently beset by large mutated spiders to the north along the river.  He was checking out some ruins there.

Grum & xandu showed up, and Xandu turned into his child like state.  Eventually grum paid off the bear.   

The crew met in the back room to discuss what was going on.  The merchant intends to leave town and go north along the river in the next 5 days.  

The PCs decided to check out the sewers and see what they could find while waiting for the merchant to leave.  There was some discussion about possibly raiding the tech warehouse and maybe weakening the city.  They may get grum involved if possible. 

The PCs went and checked out the sewers, decided on the first of 2 entrances (the more western entrance).  They found a pool filled with feces, and androids cleaning it.  The only exit was covered in a large pulsating black moss with weird twigs that would reach around the pipes.  After burning it they managed to jump thru the door into a hallway.  At the end of the hall they found a room filled with old junk, the floor was only about 5 feet, and then suddenly dropped off into nothingness. 

In the junk they found a large brass 4 handed sword (8 feet long in total) and a stained glass window worth $$$ that had a christmas scene on it.

They dragged the window down the hallway and were going to check out the western passage possibly. 

Gamma world Wednesday session 3 report

 The players kept on their quest to find an ancient site to the west.  Possibly filled with wonders or tech.  

Having skirted the green haze they found their way into the forest, and a wagon trial.  They followed along the wagon trail until they heard some noises coming from the west.  They were met by a merchant caravan which included a green oxen named Ralphie, a soldier named Grum and a dual brained merchant named Xandu.  After some discussion they found out that the balance of the guards were killed in their sleep by a vicious plant.  The merchant offered some domars and a few zippo lighters in exchange for safe passage to the trading city.  The players agreed.  

The caravan is an old rusty el camino, loaded to the gills with boxes and crates.  

Grum is clearly a well seasoned soldier with good direction sense and a laser rifle.  The merchant seems brilliant most of the time, however when his anxiety creeps up he reverts to a child and players with his paddle ball and sucks his thumb. 

The players were told about a set of concrete columns to the west that the merchant caravan had seen, the location was quickly marked upon the map. 

They made a small camp on the outskirts of forest and had lunch,  during that time they heard the same beetle sound that they had previously heard.  The players and Grum went out and did a perimeter check and managed to scare away the beetle.  

As they progressed towards the trading city, they had to decide which route to take.  The caravan had typically cut straight east across the wasteland towards the relative safety of the river.   They would then follow the river towards the city.  In the past they had cut a more direct route to the city, but faced some bandits and the like.  

They decided to take the more direct route after hearing that the river sometimes has deadly things swimming in it.  As well they wanted to keep out of site of any other traders along the river for the time being.  

Xandu spoke at length about the city and the final destination of the "Aluminum kettle" a hive of all things merchant (and some scum and villainy).  

As the afternoon progressed the PCs noticed large billowing smoke.  They separated from the caravan to investigate and found a savage scene.  Body parts were strewn about, and the remains of 10 humans lay smouldering in a large heap.  The remains of a makeshift camp were nearly destroyed during the battle.  They also found 2 mutant animals dead not in the pile.  One was a bear the other a badger.  On the bear they found a journal detailing a spying operation on the PCs home village of beezeldor and tracking information on the humans that were just murdered.  It appears that these creatures are raving lunatics that believe all humans should be destroyed, and only the mutant animal races shall inherit what is left of the earth.   Both dead animals had a hand embroidered insignia on the inside of the collar. 

The PCs rejoined the caravan and continued on towards the trading city.  They were eventually beset by mutated large mosquitos.  After a brief fight they were victorious, however hugo was bitten and left catatonic from poison.   He was promptly thrown into the front seat of the El Camino where he blissfully listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd on 8 track, along with the childish merchant.  The PCs decided to keep the remains of the mosquito in hopes of finding an alchemist who maybe interested in purchasing the bits and pieces, or possibly getting a LVL 6 poison made. 

The road become hilly and rose up, as they neared the city.  Eventually it flattened out to a plateau with small farms.  They were passed by travellers on horseback.  Near the city proper was a small shanty town, and then the gates.  Lining the city is a large wall made of old cars, semi trailers etc.  There is a fairly large lineup to get into the city, the PCs and the caravan were third inline.

Gamma World Play Reports

Here are play reports 1 & 2 from my Gamma World game. 

We were able to get a character and hireling created for the Graymouser.  
We briefly discussed the setup of the village.  Here are the details

The village is to the north, it is called Beezeldor, and is ran by a group of 5 elders.  The main leader is named "Arlock", he is just but does not tolerate mischief, stealing or unruly behaviour.  The inhabitants of the village are a mix of PSH, Mutated Humans and Animals that are all working towards a common goal, survival. 

The village is located in the tree tops on the edge of the forest (ala Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves).  Nearby are small farms that are tended, and hunting grounds.  generally when working there are town guards out keeping an eye on things.  The PCs have come to the conclusion that there is adventure and opportunities outside of the village, and since they've only ever explored a few miles from home they are very curious as to what is out there.  A few of the PSH inhabitants are guarded around the clock from threats, as they have access to a food dispenser not far from the town.  It is a metallic plastic building with a large window, a robot dispenses food to PSH there.  The villagers are tribesman, not unlike the villagers from the isle of dread with primitive weapons albeit with some technology.  Overall the society is very communistic.  There are no cryptic alliances that you know of within the village, everyone is striving towards the common goal. 

To the southwest is a trading city, no one from the village has been there but traders have come from the city.  It sounds interesting, and a bit scary to the PCs minds.   
We started just south of the village, with the adventure hook of going out and finding some powerful technology to help the village survive and to become "elders" in the eyes of the rulers.  Whether or not the PCs come back remains up to them.  Either which way the plan is to set out and see what is out in the world, for good or bad.  

NOTE:  As far as character creation goes, you are more than welcome to create one on your own.  Once done you can email me a copy at shanepatricward AT gmail DOT com.  If you need some help we can get together via google hangouts or discord if you like.  As well you can create one hireling with one physical mutation, roll 3d6 in order for the hireling.  They are equipped with standard dagger, backpack, bow and arrows. 

Our brave heroes set off on a journey to find tech and other civilizations to help our their struggling village.  The hope is to move up the ranks of the village and one day be able to make decisions for the village and possibly rule. 

Heading to the west the PCs discovered a metallic container that was rusted and baked from the sun.  They noticed a strange chittering sound coming from a nearby long grass and discovered a GIANT beetle eating the carcass of a recently deceased elk.  Using empathy powers Skinner was able to scare the beetle away.  Artie started to cook up a elk roast. 

Carefully they metallic container was opened and building materials including wood, nails and paint thiner were found.  The players hide away their findings for later, and had a nice lunch of elk.  While having lunch they noticed movement in the bushes, and sent Hugo to investigate.  They found some feral tribesman and gave them a peace offering of lunch.  

After lunch the players kept skirting the forest and encountered a greenish haze blocking their way for a few miles to the west and east.  They turned back and moved towards the forest.  
A large rumbling started coming from off in the distance, eventually they were beset by 3 large hungry wolves.  One was blasting with a stunning smell from the skunk and went into a paralytic state.  The other 2 were quickly dispatched by the PCs.   

We left off having killed the wolves, and everyone gained 500 XP. 
Rolo is a mutated skunk, his torch bearer artie is a mutated human 
Skinner is a mutated very large rat and his torch bearer is a mutated human called Hugo. 

Those damned bandit

 What are they up to?  Why are they robbing people?

1. Stole a wagon load of ale destined to be delivered to the selfish lord.

2.  Giving money to the poor.

3.  Sowing the seeds of a religious rebellion.

4.  Harbouring an assassin who is innocent.

5.  Feeding a large hungry monster with stolen food stuffs.

6.  Trying to cure their leader.

7.  Being extorted by a rival lord.

8.  Travellers from another dimension who are just trying to survive.

9.  Helping orphaned children whose parents were destroyed by an ogre tribe.

10.  On a mission from God.

Pretty stoked

Wow do I have a lot of things on the go!  First off I'm pretty stoked to be running a gamma world 1e game tomorrow.  Looks like I have 3 players, first game will be character creation.  I'm going to shoot for every other week for games.  

Tonight we raid the dungeons of daghold in Steve C's game, OSE.  This is a weekly old school game that I'm a player in with a bunch of other fun people.  And we are all Canadian! So it's the "BX hoser edition" game eh. 

I started working on Prince's no art contest part 2.  https://princeofnothingblogs.wordpress.com/2022/06/25/announcing-no-artpunk-ii-electric-boogaloo/ 

Hopefully this time around I'll complete it. 

As well I've also started a project called "WB adv.odt"  Which is a collection of adventure's I'm trying to write for WBFMAG using Matt Jackson's maps.  http://www.msjx.org/

And speaking of Matt if you check out his blog he's been doing a lot of solo games, and writing up his adventures on the blog.  This got me going down that rabbit hole and I downloaded Notequest, which looks like a lot of fun. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/308955/NoteQuest

I will likely use my laptop and mipiu for mapping.  Something to do on my day's off.

And lastly, I just caught this on reddit, which is a nice video explaining what the OSR is and why it's cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lg-76xJhws

Okay I should probably get my butt in gear and go sell some guitars.

Cheers! 

Enconters for Gamma World

 *All of the monsters and items are copyright (c) Wizards of the coast 1979.  All rights reserved.  This is a encounter table for use with Gamma World 1st Edition, published by TSR in 1979.  You will require this book to use this table.  I do not claim any rights over the below content. 

Looks like I'm going to be running a game on Roll20 once a week.  I'll be using Gamma World 1e, with little to no modifications.  The only thing I'm changing is the tech roll, I'm going to use a homebrew percentile roll rather than the tech table in the book.  Which is basically a game within a game.

I'll probably use discord for voice/chat and roll20 for dice rolls.  Typically I don't use battle maps in roll20, and usually stick with theatre of the mind.  The game is however a bit more tactile, so I may have to use a few maps here and there for fights only.   

I have been slowly writing up a few encounters.  While on vacation this week I'm going to write up a few small dungeons.  This should give me a decent amount of gaming. 

Note, that I do not own the copyright for Gamma World, and any of the monsters detailed below.  All rights reserved Wizard Of the Coast. 

Without further ado, here's the encounters thus far. 

1.  Over grown road, huge pile of metal objects covered in vines.  Under the foliage are the remains of a large vehicle (police riot transport).  2 Win Seen cover the area.  HP 46,41 AC 9, SONIC ATT 2D6, CONTACT POISON PARALYZE 14.  Inside the vehicle:  Skeletons with riot gear (sheath armour) AC4, Batons 1d8, med pack (1d6+1).  The Win seen give off a scent that attacks predators to protect them inadvertently.  In 1d6 rounds Dog Pigs show up hungry.  AC 8, 1d6+2 bite, HP 20.  The Dog Pigs are a cross between a wild boar and a rottweiler.  

2.  A large metatlic building with no obvious doors.  There is a computer terminal and a metal window screen.  Figuring out the terminal will require a tech roll of 15%.  A blood tester will open the window with food.  Only pure blood humans can operate the blood tester.  If the PCs wait, they will see a PSH green hman se the computer and leave.  (There is a small PSH colony nearby). 

3.  A plastic building with overgrown bush.  50 ft above is a metalic road (rail tracks).  There is an elevator inside the building that doesn't work and stairs to get to the landing.  This is basically a train station.  There are tracks that lead west to a military installation and east to a trading city.  A very good chance that there will be a half derailed train somewhere along the tracks. 

4.  West of the forest:  The next few miles are open terrain.  A low 3 ft greenish haze covers the area.  Nothing grows, the ground is rocky and treeless.  Radiation Lvl 9 if moving thru it.  Moving around it there will be the following encounters. 

Badders AC4, HD6 - Mutant badgers

Zarn AC7 HD4 spits poison. 

5.  Old car being pulled by a green large oxen.  Two human men walking alongside.  They are heading east towards the trading city.  (merchant & guard).

Guard:  Sheath armour AC4, HD8, stun rifle

Merchant:  Sheath armour AC4, HD6, dagger.  Mutation:  Double physical pain, poor dual brain (second brain takes over once in awhile, speaks slower).

Treasure:  50 Domars, 4 weeks rations, 4 stim packs, 50 arrows, textiles, office copying machine, pocket television. 

Oxen:  Photosynthetic skin, green in colour HD8.

Rumours & Information: Merchant knows of a base to the west, very radioactive but manageable  to get into.  If you skirt the perimeter and  come around from the east.  Lots of humanoids camped nearby.

The rest of their party died, killed by plants in the jungle near a van.

They are willing to pay for guards to get to the city.

6.)    Parn (mutated beetle w/thorns) AC6, HD10, 9 barbed spikes 2d6 dmg, 4 sword arms 3d6 damage.

Parn is feeding on the carcass of a 2 meter long elk.  Nearby is a storage trailer overtuned (semi).  Trailed is locked.  Inside are crates of canned food, jug of gasoline, 100 domars, 2 tear gas grenades. 

7.)  Strewn about are the corpses of humanoids. Chewed body parts are everywhere.  One of them has a hand written note detailing a spy operation on the locals (PCs village).  these were archivists, they were killed by Zoopremists. 

8.)  Frenzied robot building something large & mechanical made out of scrap metal, car parts,etc.  Robot is very busy and won't answer any questions, just keeps working.  It will only answer "no time, there is no time for this".  He can be reprogrammed with a chip.  Worker Bot AC3 HD9. 

9.) Burrowhill:  Large hill with multiple holes, surrounded by wood fencing with spikes.  Home of ground hog mutants, they are standoffish but friendly if offered food.  They can heal players 1d6 hp a day.  AC 9 HD2 daggers/bow & arrows.

10.)  Group of tribesmen - Hiding in trees and bushes, 8 total.  AC6 HD3

 

Missing google drive files & reorganization

Hey everyone, recently google drive changed the way permissions are done.  Because of this I am continually getting requests for previous files from posts on this blog.  Since this is a bit of a pain in the arse, I've decided to rework the files.  I've been meaning to clear out google drive for a bit anyways, there is a PILE of half started projects on there.  So I started downloading the whole thing and working on re-organizing it all.  What will likely happen is I'm going to prune in and create a one page repository with links when I have some time.  This should make it a lot easier to deal with. 

As it stands I think I was at 4 gigs of the 15, most of which was BS.  

In other news the baron series is back up on drivethrurpg. 

An Invitation From The Blue Baron (A Collaborative Dungeon For Blueholme)

and

The Return Of The Blue Baron (A Collaborative Dungeon For Blueholme)