Gygax Challenge Part 2

It's January of a new year.  This means a new beginning!  It's time to get working on things.  I know the hallowed halls of the 3 Toadstools pub & eatery have been awfully quiet.  I apologize patrons, It's been a bit of a thing.  I lost my mojo for gaming for awhile and wallowed in the muck of this forever pan.... you know what we are not going to talk about that are we!  What we are going to talk about is that I decided to redo the gygax challenge created by Mr. Ray Otus Plundergrounds • A podcast on Anchor

Ray set this all on fire a few years ago (maybe last year? no one is counting at this point).  If you would like to participate again go here: The Gygax 75 Challenge by Ray Otus (itch.io)

So without further ado, I restarted and this is what I've got.  

The Pitch

*the dree (druids) have seen dark omens. They fear the return of the horde.
*the people of straybal are celtic\viking albeit more civilized. Each hold is ruled individually. They follow ancient traditions
*magic is light and dark. Light (clerics) is nature influenced. Practiced by druids or dree. Dark is elemental practiced by sorcerers who are shunned.
*years ago the people of straybal fought off the hordes. There remains a guard tower near the river always watching. It is forbidden to cross it.
*no elves, dwarves or halflings…they died out years ago and are mostly fairy tales now.
*grimdark setting, low magic. People eek out a living in the harsh climate.

The Map

I have a few plans for the map, still working thru the details.  I haven't decided if I'm going to complete it yet.  I may work on it as the adventures progress.  I would like to put a mountain range and a valley to the north of the manor.  I need at least one other small settlement as well. 

The Inspiration 

Having just finished the Witcher season 2, this whole thing is very much in that vein.  I went ahead and created a mood board on pinterest here: Pinterest

My hope is to have this basically a Celtic society living in the northern reaches, they are a weee bit more civilized than vikings.  Although they still keep to the old ways as far as gods are concerned. 

Speaking of gods I'm pulling directly from the 2e Legends & Lore book

My hope is to complete the challenge and start running it by the end of Feb.  I will likely post a few more details about this whole process as the month progresses.   I know this is a little bit all over the place writing wise, but I think it will be fun! 

Long story short the idea is to be very grimdark, northern slightly civilized society dealing with Celtic monsters, folklore and religion.  I will likely throw a bit of He-Man in there for good measure. 

End of September update

The current 5e group I'm in is made up of co-workers, we've been playing online every other week for awhile now.  We are currently in Ravinica which is a lot of fun.  My first PC died mostly because I didn't really like him, and we needed a healbot/thief.  What I'm really diggin about these folks is the following:  We are fast and loose with the rules (ie no one is looking up things in a rule book).  We spend a lot of time giggling and roleplaying.  

Having used roll20 and google hangouts (or whatever its called now) I have to say Discord is probably one of the best options for doing non irl table top stuff.  Minus the whole map thing (which I'm sure there is a work around).  I noticed the other day on youtube a tutorial about playing nerd games using discord.... hold on for my google fu, ah here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yg-GyrcccI

The other day on a total lark, and I mean total lark (I never buy things for myself, and I never buy things without researching them) I went ahead and bought "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight" for 5e. 

OH NO! SHANE'S LEFT THE OSR! 

Nah not at all kids!  Don't worry.  This is actually the FIRST real thing I've bought for 5e other than the starter set.  I was gifted the DMG and PHB from a previous group.  

Do not fret good folks, I actually just downloaded this amazing organizational software for writing: https://bibisco.com/

I'm trying to nail down the Gygax 75 challenge into a real thing.  I'm currently amalgamating ideas that I had written on the blog and in other various places (like notebooks and random google drive and libreoffice files).  The one thing I did wrong when I started the challenge in the first place was that I didn't decide on the sytem (sometimes I get analysis paralysis).  That and my ADD kicked in and I switched gears like I always do.  The good news is this software allows me to jump from thing to thing quickly.  As long as I maintain some focus on the overall idea.  

I'm trying to write something every morning for 15 minutes. 

Whether its shit or not. 

I'll hire an editor hahah. 

In other random news, I think I'm going to try and get some kinda roll20 western marches, marsh's? marshmellows? type game thing happening.  What my thought this morning was, was to basically use all the awesome online generating tools to build a hexcrawl and then let the players be in the drivers seat. 

Could be fun? 

It could also be my brain having the morning coffee kick in.

Mostly its because I'm not currently DMing a game, and that muscle is something I need to flex once in awhile.  

Anyways I'm off to work.  

Good news I restrung my strat yesterday and I've got it down to about 8 minutes.  That's almost pit crew level! 

The preoccupied mind

It's 12:42 am, it's not even really that late. 

(So the new blogger gui is weird right? right).   

I've just realized in the last few months that I get very fixated on a thing, and then it becomes basically my world.  It's weird.  This is probably sort of an RPG post, sort of a rambling post. 

I'm apparently suffering from insomnia this evening, and have decided to kill it with a beer and some blogging.  My current fixation has been on deciding on a truck.  Buying a used truck is friggin hard, there's so many options, some newer models with more KMs 

*(Canadian speak for miles...ie kilometres) 

some vice versa, older less miles.  I actually sort of found one that I dug, then found out that there was one thing I neglected to contemplated into the shane formula and that was a back seat for doggos. 

(it's likely that we will always get portable dogs like Lily the pug cross, but one never knows.  My wife seems to think that a boxer is a wonderful idea and I'm inclined to agree). 

I'm also deciding on a stratocaster, that is however a story for another day.  Long story short, I always want to do the right thing, write the right thing! make the right decision.  Of course this is not actually feasible or doable.  People make mistakes 

(someone said that, I have no idea who, but its true)

A few weeks ago I got really into Ray Otus's Gygax 75 challenge, and then real life caught up with me.  Here's where I went wrong.  

I STARTED EDITING MYSELF

Do not fucking do that.  Seriously, please roll a d20, put your left hand up and repeat after me 

DON'T WRITE AND EDIT! 

k what did you roll? inquiring minds. 

I did week 1, and that was reasonably easy, and week 2 was alright.  Then I started working on the dungeon.  The whole point of this is exercise is to NOT overthink and just go with it.  I have 3 pages of a dungeon that is located in a witches hut.  The entrance to the actual dungeon is inside a drawer of a nightstand.  

I decided that was a dumb idea

and wrote a forest adventure.  

(I will likely complete the forest adventure, but in more of a broadstroke). 

The other point of the challenge is to get to get to the end and then run it for your friends.  Then tweak it.  Which is what I intend to do. 

As I stated there is likely a chance that I won't post anymore actual content from the challenge online until I atleast run it.  

In the meantime, here's the strat. 

Gygax 75 Challenge Week 2? Sorta

I'm a little bit ahead, but that's fine.  What I've been fighting is the endless tweaking that my head wants to do.  I was telling Ray Otus the cool thing about this challenge is for the most part it makes me stay on task, and helps with my a.d.d.  Week 1 do this, don't do anything else etc. 

Anyways, here's a picture of the hex map for the world.  I've been considering the following:

1.)  Keeping this as a test and trying again.
2.)  Colouring it with crayons
3.)  Scanning it first then possibly colouring in gimp.

What I've really been trying to do is go with my gut on this challenge and complete it!

Here's a semi started encounter table:
1.  Chimera flying
2.  Giant lazily napping, likes to play cards.
5.  White rabbit (actual demon
6.  Woman who claims to be a noble (bandit)
7.  Acolyte who spreads "false doom"
8.  a group of farmers bragging about a fresh monster kill
9.  Hazer (human who blinks in and out of existence/plane hopping).  Scared, attacks?
10  Travelling merchanit, exotic wares, must answer questions truthfully
11.  The trickster (leprechaun sorta).
14.  Stampeding magra (cross between rhino/mammoth)
15.  Doppelgänger that is on the fritz, keeps changing shape.
20.  Gold Dragon.


Last night I started thinking about character classes (which maybe a whole in depth blog post).  Even though in the original challenge it stats that you should really have the system in mind before starting the challenge.

What I've slightly come up with is the following:

Instead of race as a class, each race will get some benefits (+ on ability scores, see in the dark).   The actual classes will be Ranger (with access to magic), druid (with access to cleric spells), Warlocks/Witches (magic), Knights (Cleric spells),  Rangers will get the thief skills, and druids and knights will be able to turn undead.  This of course is just a thought at this point.  The other thing I'd like to do is to have a basic table that everyone rolls on when they create their character.  They get one magical ability that they can use once a day for 1d6 rounds.  examples include:  Levitation, Force Push/Pull, Camouflage, Shield +2 AC.  I may borrow a few ideas from https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/holmes-ref-rolling-up-adventurer.html Specifically the swanson abilities.

I've yet to decide if I'm going to run b/x or whitebox FMAG.  I will probably mine the crap out of this post:  https://smolderingwizard.com/2019/10/04/forgotten-gems-of-the-osr-white-box-heroes/

That's what I got so far.  Probably do a bit of re-writing on the encounter tables this evening.  Tomorrow I'll scan the map and tinker.

damn this is fun!

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week 1

To participate go here: https://rayotus.itch.io/gygax75

Alright week 1, I needed to come up with a pitch and the inspirations behind the pitch.

PITCH

*  Every corner of the land is filled with magik whether good or evil.  The countryside is cut off from the outside world, it is protected by magical barriers created by the Mage King.  All forms of life have some kind of inheritant magik. (1)

*  Monster's are unique and not always evil.  They have their own motivations.  Ancient  monsters inhabited the land prior to the magical barriers being raised. (2)

*  The citizens of the land are all humanoid woodland creatures (Mice, Foxes, Bears, etc).  They have a basic understanding of medieval technology (Leather, Iron) and commerce.  Most citizens rarely have a use for weapons, other than for hunting fowl.  The creatures mingle together in small towns & villages. (3)

*  Since the disappearance of the Mage king the magical barrier is failing.  Evil slowly spreads, turning ordinary plants & animals into their darker cousins.  These evil creatures occupy ancient ruins, regaining their strength before they plunge the world into darkness.  The general population is only slightly aware of this, as the decay has been slow.  (1)

*  The setting is very high fantasy, with all the usual troupes you would expect (Princess's locked in towers, Knights, Old wizened wizards).  However with a twist. 

Inspiration 

Here is my inspiration board: https://www.pinterest.ca/obdgil/gygax-75/

Bibliography 

(1) Xanth Books https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanth Written By Piers Anthony. 
Darksword Trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darksword Written By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Magic Kingdom For Sale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Kingdom_for_Sale%E2%80%93Sold!
Written By Terry Brooks
Shannara Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannara written by Terry Brooks

In all of the above books there are magical barriers in place (or fairy mists), a wizard or king who rules the world, creatures that are magical by nature, people being shunned if they have no magic. 

(2) Greek & Roman Mythology
A lot of the monsters in Greek mythology are unique, there are not hoards of Minotaurs.  The idea behind this is a bit lotfp in that when encountered the monsters will be terrifying.

(3) Robin Hood (Disney Animated Film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood_(1973_film)
Rabbits & Rangers https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/191133/Rabbits--Rangers--LL Written By James V. West

I'm working thru the concept mechanically that every PC and NPC will have some form of magic, likely a d20 table.  Something similar to a cantrip, but only once a day.  As well I will probably add in some Race as a class for each woodland creatures.  I intend to pull inspiration from Rabbits & Rangers (Which is currently FREE!).  I've always loved Robin Hood by disney, and I really like the idea of having a mix of different woodland creatures, that should hopefully not have any racial bias towards each other, just live their life.  (ie the old Elves & Dwarves not getting along thing).

Hopefully this is a good starting point? I'm onto week 2 now, going to start working on a hex map.  I haven't quite decided on scale just yet.  I'm thinking 1" hexes, scale might be 3 miles per hex possibly (I know its weird!) here's the link http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/gp/h-i-1.pdf




   

The Gygax 75 Challenge

Matt Jackson sent me this link today.  https://rayotus.itch.io/gygax75

Which is basically a guide book based on something Gary wrote about creating your own setting.  Broken down into different tasks every week.  The guide book is written by the wonderful Ray Otus (check out his podcast here https://anchor.fm/plundergrounds )

This workbook is based on an article written by Gary Gygax in 1975, less than 12 months after D&D was released. It encapsulates his thinking at the time about how to get your own D&D campaign world started. I have taken his general advice and parsed it out into achievable, bite-sized prompts & goals for a week-by-week program. 

To print the booklet file, make sure your printer is set to no-scaling (or 100% scaling to the paper, which is intended to be US Letter), 2-sided, binding on short edge. If you don't have a long-arm or booklet stapler, square up the pages and fold them in half to get your crease. Open the booklet back up and place it face down on a few sheets of cardboard. (Anything flat and firm, but not impenetrable, will work. Like an ironing board.) Place two staples along the crease, then pull the booklet away from your surface and bend the prongs of the staples in carefully with your thumb (or use a pencil eraser). Voila!

Coincidentally I've been sorta working on a setting for awhile now.  A little while back Matt and I were discussing settings and he sent me a Shane version of what would become "The Dungeon Masters Book Of Cartography".

You can grab it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858VPC1V

One of the first suggestions in the guide book by Ray is to create a town and 1-3 level dungeon.  Another interesting turn of events! Matt just posted up another awesome map over here: http://www.msjx.org/2020/04/qa03-you-write-adventure.html

So I'm going to spend the rest of the evening reading over Ray's guide book, order myself a copy of the Cartography book and go to town.... err create a town!

Actually here's some proof of concept.

The first section of the book talks about coming up with a theme, and what has been rattling around my head is Xanth and Magic Kingdom For Sale by Terry Brooks.  Specifically a more fairy type world, rather than the typical D&D type world.  Don't get me wrong I really like bandits and old musty tombs.  But I've been thinking about a different sort of world lately.  In the Spell For A Chameleon series there is a lot of wonderful and scary vegetation out in the wilds of Xanth.  The plants can do wondrous and scary things! Which has started me down a rabbit hole of thought.  What kinda of interesting plants can I create that will have magical effects similar to BX D&D spells?  Hmm!

(Interestingly enough there was an RPG choose your own adventure book about Xanth.  Find it here https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Xanth-Crossroads-Adventure-Anthonys/dp/0812564170 )

Another thing I'd like to incorporate into my next game is different races other than the typical ones.  Once again I have nothing against Elves, Halflings and Dwarves (Not entirely a fan of Gnomes....)  I have however "been there and done that".  I've also been playing a lot of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim latetly.  Which has given rise to the idea of creating some race as a class characters like Argonians & Kahjits.  Although with my own spin on em.  *Note that the Kahjits probably came from the Rakasta in the first place!

Here's some inspiration for the Rakasta/Kahjit idea (I found it on instagram check out more here: https://www.instagram.com/mythic_legions_cabal/)

So a world that isn't quite medieval (but maybe it has guns?), has different races that the usual suspects, I"m still not quite sure about the religion, No real organized government (or maybe not...maybe it'll be like Xanth? I dunno yet), Fairy mists where the world beyond is shunned and scary, and of course the world wasn't always like this was it?

Well I think I got the first part done!

Are you going to join me in the challenge?