Kanoodle as In-Game Puzzle - Part 1

For a very long time, I've been interested in integrating real puzzles into my tabletop games. I know that some folks prefer to keep character skills separate from player skills, but as an old school GM, I don't ascribe to that point of view. 

Rather than puzzles being purely character skill or purely player skill, I've been trying to merge the two for some time. Allowing character skill (or lack thereof) to make things easier (or harder) for the player at the table. This would turn puzzles/tricks/traps into a sort of "mini game." I think this builds engagement at the table. I wouldn't want to do it for every single trick/trap/puzzle, but used judiciously, I think it can be fun. 

Years ago, I wrote an article for Knockspell Magazine about using Mastermind as a trap mini-game https://www.mythmeregames.com/products/knockspell-magazine-6  Sly Flourish has a different take here https://slyflourish.com/mastermind.html 

For me, the real world puzzle mini-game represents some kind of challenge to the character that they'll need to solve:

• Open a tricky lock
• Unravel a mystical enchantment
• Uncover a vital clue
• Etc. 

In this post, I will explore the idea of using Kanoodle as the basis for the puzzle mini-game, rather than Mastermind. I'm not linking to it here. It's easy enough to find on Amazon or possibly at the grocery store. That's where I bought mine. 😀

Right up front, I want to state that I haven't playtested these ideas -- but I plan to! I also invite any of you that read this post to try it yourself and please feel free to leave a comment with feedback. Maybe together we can create something useful to the community. 

The good folks who make the Kanoodle have posted the solutions/guides here https://www.educationalinsights.com/kanoodle-solutions-guides  They will prove to be useful, I expect, as I plan how to make this work.

Kanoodle has 2D and 3D puzzles. I'm going to start with the 2D puzzles initially. 

They break down the levels of the puzzles here --

The puzzles should start at a given level and then be made easier for the player (or more difficult) if their character is particularly suited to the situation the puzzle is intended to represent.

Here's a Level 6 puzzle. It took me less than 2 minutes to solve. Not too shabby. 

Here's a Level 4 puzzle. It took me 15 seconds to solve. Pretty easy.

Here's how I'm going to proceed.

• Start with a Level 5 Puzzle
• Set up the puzzle as pictured in the book. Give the spare parts to the player.
• Set a 2 minute timer
• Decide if a SKILL or an ATTRIBUTE is going to be the determining part of the character that modifies the puzzle.
• If it's a SKILL, go up to Level 6 if the skill is "fumbled"; leave it alone at Level 5 if the skill is simply failed; go down to Level 4 if the skill check is successful.
• If it's an ATTRIBUTE, go up to Level 6, if the related attribute is 5 or less; leave it alone at Level 5 if the attribute is between 6 and 15; go down to Level 4 if the attribute is 16 or more.

Please try it at your table, if you are so inclined, and let me know what you think! 

Character Creation House Rules

Has it really been 3+ years since I tried to restart this blog? Wow. A lot has happened to me in that time. 

I posted about my "Ideal OSR Campaign" and I made a list. Not sure where I'd like to start, so I thought I'd start with some low hanging fruit. 

Character creation

In my campaigns, I still want players to roll up their PCs. I don't like stat matrixes. I like the randomness of figuring out what kind of character you can play by rolling dice.

Here are a couple of my methods. Nothing Earth shattering, but I thought I'd share. The community is large and hey, maybe this will be new to someone! 

4d6x7

When rolling the standard 6 attributes, my players roll 4d6 (drop lowest) 7 times. They can then arrange those rolls in any order they'd like. The 7th number, multiplied by 10, becomes their starting gold. If I'm feeling generous I'll let them keep all 4 dice for gold.

If a player rolls 4 sixes for any attribute, they can have a 19.  If 18/00 is a thing for STR, they can have that instead.

30d6

There are NO attribute bonuses by race. No variations of attributes by race.  Instead, YOU get to decide how you want to split up your dice.  What attribute is most important to you?  Where do you put your extra dice?

You get to roll 30d6, divided into 6 rolls, keep the high 3 each time. Heck if you want to roll 2d6 for an attribute, go for it, it’s your character.  If you roll a 2, count it as a 3.  A 3 sucks bad enough.  

You must roll your attributes in some order, once you group the dice. I usually roll STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA.

For example, I want to play a strong fighter character.

STR          8d6 INT     3d6

WIS 3d6 DEX 5d6

CON 8d6 CHA  3d6

In this system, if you roll five (5) or more sixes on any attribute roll, that attribute is 19.

I plan to expand on Character creation more in the future!

My Ideal OSR Campaign Structure/Setting/Settings

 Hi there, it's me, back from a long hiatus... 

Anyway, I had a thought that I might assemble a series of blog posts where I ruminate upon my favorite bits of the OSR and Old School gaming.  Full Disclaimer: YMMV.  These are my thoughts alone.  I'm not looking to pick a fight, just try to assemble a "comprehensive" list of the favorite bits and tools and resources that I would use in an ideal campaign.  

To me, ideal means a campaign that is fully assembled -- not plotted or heavily structured -- but a campaign where all the pieces are organized (as much as possible) so the GM has all their resources at their fingertips.

Here's a starter list of all the things I'd like to identify as resources.  This list is under construction.  As posts are added, they will be hyperlinked here.

• Outdoor/Wilderness Setting
• Mapping
• Primary City
• Megadungeon(s)
• Mapping Sources
• NPC Generator
• Henchmen/Hirelings
• Random Tables
• House Rules
• Character Creation
• Combat, etc.
• Magic
• Monsters
• Downtime Rules

So that's where I'll start.  I hope you enjoy the series.  

Counter-magic, Anti-magic, Dispel Magic USING SPELLS

OK, long time no post.  :)  Sorry about that.  I've been busy running several back-to-back RPG campaigns (every other week for years...) and I've had some professional setbacks, but they're getting better.

I'm big into 3D printing these days (2 printers!) see jpacek on Thingiverse.

Still fiddling with my game and trying to be a better GM.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anyhoo, here's the idea --

"Wizards can use their memorized spells to counter/deactivate/manipulate other magical effects.  Well, at least they can *try*"

This idea is untested in play, but I'm planning to implement it in my game.  I'll post about how that goes.  :)

Exempli gratia --

Melkor, a mage, encounters a shimmering wall of energy.  He uses his senses and his "magic sense" to determine that it's a disintegration barrier.

Disintegration is Transmutation magic.  Transmutation is the *target school.* 

Here's a bit about disintegration from the d20 SRD.  I play fast and loose, so this is fine for my purposes.  http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/disintegrate.htm.

Disintegration is 6th level.  In this case, let's just assume the caster is 2x the level of the spell, so 12th level.

Melkor looks at his memorized spells and tries to see if he has any Transmutation spells. 

His highest level transmutation spells are Fly and Haste at 3rd level.  Melkor is 8th level. 

This is going to work like Dispel Magic

make a dispel check (1d20 + your caster level, maximum +10) against the spell or against each ongoing spell currently in effect on the object or creature. The DC for this dispel check is 11 + the spell’s caster level. If you succeed on a particular check, that spell is dispelled; if you fail, that spell remains in effect.

So, Melkor will add 8 to his roll and the target will be 23.   A couple more things --

The difference in the levels of the spell should matter.  Disintigrate is 3 level higher than his 3rd level spells, so add -3 to the roll.  Melkor is now adding 5.  The target is still 23. 

Succeed or fail, Melkor's spell is used in the attempt. 

A couple more ideas.  

I found this chart using a Google search here.  If you are the rightful owner of this chart and would like me to remove it; please leave a comment. 

What if Melkor *doesn't* have any Transmutation magic OR he doesn't want to burn his Haste or Fly right now?  He can use other spells he has.   Just look at the schools that are adjacent or nearby the relevant school and assess a penalty to the roll as you see below.  The school *directly opposite* the target school *cannot* be used.  Here's a pic --

Each step you are away from the target school, you get a cumulative -2 penalty.  

Melkor also has Stinking Cloud (Conjuration) memorized so he could opt to use that.  It's also 3rd level so he now gets to add only 3 to his roll.  The target is still 23.  Not great odds, but I'm saying there's a chance.  :)

Additional thought --

If the magic is some kind of persistent effect, like the disintegration barrier described above, success means that the effect is merely canceled for caster level X spell level rounds.  In this case, 8th level X 3rd level = 24 rounds.  

Keep track of this duration at the table.  It could add to the drama and the tension.  Maybe the characters dispelled the barrier to get in and they have to accomplish their task before the barrier reappears...

If the magic is an active spell from another caster, the spell is dispelled.  

Further thoughts --

Using this would allow GMs to add items to their game that might help with this --

• Wand of Dispelling (+2 to roll)
• P'tau Crystals (focus dispel; remove up to -4 in school penalties)
• Circlet of Dispelling (add 2 to casters level when dispelling)

Taking extra time could benefit the caster.  Stress and time pressure could penalize the caster

I would remove Dispel Magic from my game in favor of this system.

Green Devil Face 3D Printed

This feature is LEGENDARY in the infamous S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax.  Now you can print (a version of) it for your own game.  Derived from OpenForge, it is compatible with Dwarven Forge and other tabletop tile systems. 

Enjoy!

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1380984

Bridge of Sorrows 3D

I might just have to put together a Swords and Wizardry scenario based upon this.  It remains an amazing picture.  :)

A Cool Little Encounter

In the game, Dungeon Boss, you have a boss fight against this guy -- he's a goblin wizard and he has three shrieker mininons.  They screech at the heroes and drain their powers.  Pretty cool idea for a "low level" boss fight in your dungeons.  

Schrodinger's Dungeon as Sandbox Planning Tool

When I’m on the interwebs, I read about GMs and DMs that are constantly planning “story arcs” for their games.  They have this group of “important heroes” and then these heroes go out and do “important things” and that’s the big important story!  

If you like playing that way, that’s cool.  I’m not going to bash it.  I used to play that way -- but I’ve stopped.  

I’ve stopped for a few of reasons --

1. The prep was KILLING ME!  The amount of time it takes to put a “story” together is daunting.  I am an adult with a full time job now.  I want to spend my gaming time playing, crafting or painting minis.  I don’t want to plot out a story.  Personal preference.
2. If one of the players bails, you have a hole in your story that you have to fix.  The more important that PC, the bigger the hole.  The harder it is to plug.  This leads to massive re-writes of the plot and that goes back to #1 above.  HUGE TIME SUCK!  No thank you.
3. The railroad tracks must be strong and narrow.  If the PCs get off the path, the story suffers.  You have to make changes, re-writes, modifications, etc.  In one campaign, to keep “the story” on track, I had to resort to time travel for the PCs to wrap some things up…  Ack.  Too many ret-cons, to much re-writing.  Nope.

So that leaves sandbox play.  

If you run a sandbox, you have to be good at improvising.  Random tables are your friend.  You have to be good at tying disparate elements together on the fly or after the fact.  You have to weave some kind of world together from the bits you put out there.  You need to keep some good notes so that the random bits from three months ago mean something -- after all, that thing you made up about the blue fairy queen might just be the thing the adventurers want to follow up on!

So I had this initial idea -- why not create a set/series of random tables -- in advance -- that define the parameters of the sandbox?  These tables are all the prep you’ll need.  You keep going back to them, time and again, to determine what is going on in your game.

Yes, yes.  I know, there are literally an infinite number of random things out there (Abulafia, Wizardawn, Chaotic Shiny to name a few) plus all the dead-tree and/or PDF versions you can find (Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets, Dungeon Alphabet, Wilderness Alphabet, Toolbox, Ultimate Toolbox, etc.)

I’m talking about something else.  A template or structure that you fill in to represent the structure of your world (or parts of your world.)  The template -- how you roll against it -- sets the dynamics of what appears, when it appears, where it appears.  

You could approximate this by using the resources available -- random wandering monster charts, random treasure tables, etc.  That might work out just fine.  How you apply those random rolls to your world would determine the flavor and structure of the place.  If your whole world looks and feels the same, you could keep using the same tables everywhere.

Of course, if the City of Ghouls is different than the Ankaar, city of Thieves, you might need some different tables.

If The Tomb of Sarkos is different than the Crypt of Worms, you might need some different tables.

Of course, of course you could just randomly roll up some more tables.  Fine.  That’ll work.  

What I’m proposing instead is a fixed structure, that always “works” the same, that you fill in with bits and bobs to make each place different.  You’d fill this out initially, you can add to it and/or modify it as you go.  Make changes.  Deletions.  Additions.  But the “structure” for a given site is fixed at the beginning.

This leads me to another part of my idea, what I’m calling a Schrodinger’s Dungeon.  Nothing is fixed until it is observed.  Everything is in flux, until you roll for it.  

This is different than the Quantum Ogre principle, which states it doesn’t matter which way you go -- you’ll always encounter the ogre.  That messes up player agency.

In a Schrodinger’s Dungeon, you don’t know what’s there until you roll for it.  James Maz came up with this idea too, way back in 2009.  Perhaps it’s been rattling around my head all this time?  Who knows.  I’m still planning to “build it” which I don’t think has been done yet!

Now that I’ve Googled it, The Angry DM has an article about it too.  His idea looks like too much work for me (too many stat blocks) so I’m citing it here out of fairness, but I’ll likely not read much more of it.  :)

“Go left?  Go right?  OK, right it is (dice rattle, DM notes what is there) What do you do now?”

As new information becomes available, “You smell the strong odor of brimstone…” the players are free to act on that -- “OK, so you’d prefer to go left?  OK, (rattle, rattle)...”

The map itself can be randomly generated on the fly or just the contents.  The DM can randomly determine in advance or at the table.  I’d probably do a bit of both…

So what does this structure look like?  How does the prep go?  What’s next?

Well, I’m not quite sure.  I have some ideas, but, well, that’s another post.  :)

RPG Leveling - Experience Points and Evos

I play a game on my phone called "Dungeon Boss."  It's just a fun little hack and slash app where you get in fights with your heroes, kill the monsters and you take their stuff.

There are a lot of little subtleties to this game, but I'm going to focus on one idea (broadly,) so here goes...

You earn experience points from the battles (not sure about treasure) and you need those to level up.  To ascend (get new powers for) your adventurers, you need to collect various sets of "evos."  (I believe this is shorthand for "evolution.")

The quantity and the type of "evos" that you need to ascend each hero varies by the hero.

I would imagine that some are common, some are rare and that after each ascension, the quantity and rarity of the evos for the next ascension will be more difficult to obtain. See below --

So, here's my idea --

What if rpg characters had to earn EVOs and XP to level up?

XP would progress in the normal fashion.

For each level, or milestone level, the character would need to achieve certain objectives (Touchstones in my model) IN ADDITION TO gaining the requisite amount of XP before they can level up. 

Here's an example --

FIGHTERS

Level	Experience	Touchstones
3	4,000	[][] Max Damage with Melee Weapon; [][] Critical Hit with Melee Weapon
5	16,000	[] Defeat 4+ HD Monster in single combat
7	64,000	[] Participate in Warrior's Tournament; [] Defeat negative energy undead creature; [] Fight a Giant
9	256,000	[] Defeat 7+ HD Monster in single combat; [] Fight creature with breath weapon
11	450,000	[] Defeat a 9+ HD dragon; [] Defeat a spellcaster
13	650,000	[] Defeat 10+ HD giant in single combat

Created with the HTML Table Generator

Another idea would be to have players roll on a chart after every relevant encounter (relevant to each character class) and if the dice are kind, they would earn a Touchstone for their character.  Perhaps different types and quantities of Touchstones would be necessary to advance to each level. 

More on that later (when I get a chance to work up the chart...)

[Petty Gods] Mico

I just got around to downloading the new revised and updated "Petty Gods" book.  I must say that it is AWESOME!  Richard LeBlanc, Jr. at New Big Dragon Games has done an incredible job.  Thank you.

Upon downloading, I looked up my contribution, Mico, the petty god of flaming oil.  I discovered that Mico got a new picture courtesy of Mr. LeBlanc (thanks!) and my writing was spruced up a bit also (another thanks!)

If you haven't downloaded this book -- do so immediately!  If you haven't visited New Big Dragon Games and bought all their stuff, do that too!  You won't be disappointed!

[Kickstarter] OSR Summer Camp

So, I had this crazy idea.  I thought, wouldn't it be cool to have a "summer camp" for kids and teach them how to play some "old school" games?

Well, I gave it a try.  I built a Kickstarter and we'll see if the community would like to sponsor me this summer to hold five one-week camps, for a total of 60 kids.

Here's the link!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1969334799/old-school-rpg-summer-camp-osr-camp

Thanks for taking a look!

Help TheDMG restore his YouTube fans!

[Mystery Men] Prelude to Adventure

Tomorrow night, I will run my first adventure as a Mystery Men Mastermind (MMM).

I'm excited and a little intimidated.  I know that I can run a fun game, but I'm a little afraid that the system might break.

This is my point of worry -- Speed

You see, in MM, how often you act/attack/move is coupled to how far/fast you move.  One stat raises them both.

In the book, most example characters are Speed 2 (maybe 3) but I think the system might break at speeds above 4ish.

Seriously, what is the point of using a battle map if the character can move 4 million yards in 1 round?  (Speed 10)

I'll see how it goes, but I'm thinking that I may need to de-couple movement from speed (a la Champions)

We shall see!

[Mystery Men] Combined Attack Powers

One of my players reached out to me and asked about combining attack powers into a single power.  Sounds cool.

First thought - it shouldn't be free to do.

Second thought - it should only be two powers.

Thirdly - those powers shouldn't be incompatible, abusive or redundant.  (No 2x Energy Bolt...)

My "house rule" (at least for now) will be add the costs of the two powers together and add 50%.

The most restrictive conditions of both powers will be enforced for both.  This means if you merge a ranged and a melee power, the combination is now melee.  If one affects a single target and the other has an area, the combined power only affects a single target.

Here are some examples and their costs:

Chilling Curse -A creature you touch takes 1d6 points of hit point damage, 1d4 points of strength damage and either a -6 penalty to one ability score or a -4 penalty on attacks and feats, your choice. The curse lasts until removed with the Remove Curse power or Break Enchantment power.  [16,500]

Poisonous Wounds - Your poisonous touch causes deals 3d8 points of damage to a living creature plus 1d10 points of damage per round until neutralized or until a successful feat of constitution is made.  [24,000]

Chilling Energy Blade of Frost - You create a blade of ice or frost that inflicts 1d8+1/level damage and ignores armor bonuses to DC. You do not add your strength bonus to attack or damage rolls. Metal equipment of the target becomes freezing cold. In the second round after you use this power, the dealing 1d6 points of damage per round for five rounds.  [9,000]

Strike Deaf and Blind - One target within 100 feet is struck blind and deaf.  [9,000]

Stater's Mystery Men: Can someone help me out?

Well we've wrapped up our "Hulks and Horrors" game for now and we're looking to play Champions.  Problem is, I don't think I'm cut out to *run* Champions anymore.  :(

Too complicated.  Too slow.  To fiddly.  

I was thinking about checking out John Stater's "Mystery Men" but it's gone from his site.  I'd ask him for a copy, but it appears that he can't share it right now due to licensing.  I understand that.

Does anyone else have a copy of the free Mystery Men PDF that they'd be willing to share?  This could be the system I'm looking for.

If you do, please send me a copy -- wilmanric AT gee-mail DOTCOM. 

Many thanks in advance!

[Hulks & Horrors] Energy Packs

Here's an idea that will work equally well for Fantasy as for Sci-Fi, albeit for arrows or charges or whatever...

In my Hulks and Horrors game, the spacefarers need energy packs and/or clips of ammo for their blasters, lasers, phasers, etc.

I decided that in the H&H universe, much like our own, there are different types of batteries --

Red - weapons
Blue - heavy tools like laser cutters, sonic welders, etc.
Green - science equipment like tricorders, portable medi-bots, etc.
Yellow - toys like audio track players, GameDudes, etc.

Further, the types are all the same size, so they can be exchanged, but there are tradeoffs.  They all have 20 charges of their "color" and they cannot be recharged normally.  When they are used up, they must be replaced.

Cell Color used	in Red device	in Blue device	in Green device	in Yellow device
Red	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†	Burns device out; smoke, flames, nasty smells!  Depends upon number of charges in cell	Device explodes violently after brief delay! Depends upon number of charges in cell
Blue	Uses 2 charges	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†	Device whines with awful sounds,  growing more and more painful with every round until the device self-destructs! Depends upon number of charges in cell
Depends upon number of charges in cellGreen	Uses 10 charges	Uses 5 charges	Uses 1 charge	Uses 1/2 charge. May damage the device†
Yellow	Uses 20 charges	Uses 10 charges	Uses 5 charges	Uses 1 charge

Created with the HTML Table Generator

† If, when using the device, a critical failure is rolled, the device will be damaged in some way.

I hand out cards to the players when energy packs are found.  To facilitate the production of these cards, one of my players DB, made me a stamp.  It's great, but it isn't working well with the gel stamp pad I bought.  It doesn't seem to pick up the ink well.  I'm going to buy a more standard "inky" stamp pad -- that may work better.

In the interim, I had some small bits of cork lying around, so I made a quick 9x9 stamp of my own.  The idea is that once all 9 boxes are filled in, you cross off the whole "Hollywood Squares" thing for the 10th charge.  :)

Here's a pic.  DB's stamp is the larger one.  The blue cards are "blue" energy clips, the pink are "red."  I have other colors too...

Making a World Globe

Happy Holidays everyone!  It's been a long time, but I'm going to try and post more often in the new year.  I know, I know, famous last words!  :)  I do have a Hulks and Horrors campaign going right now and it seems like there should be some things I could share.  :)  Wish me luck!

Not that anyone cares, but I changed careers (again) and I'm a 7th grade science teacher now.  :)  It's fun and I (mostly) enjoy the students, but the level of work required is daunting.  The last time I taught school, I was 13 years younger than I am now.  Things have changed -- a lot!

Anyone who thinks teaching is a cakewalk should try it for a week or a month.  Sometimes you hear people suggest teaching for a day.  Anyone can do anything for a day.  A week or month would require real commitment.  End of rant.  :)

Some time ago, my friend DB gave me an awesome gift -- an actual GLOBE of my home-brew game world, Queston.  See post here.

Several people asked for a "how to" on it, so I asked DB if he would be a "guest poster" on my blog.  He obliged (some time ago) and sent me this info.  Enjoy!

-=-=-=-=-=-

Hello! My name is Dave… also referred to as DB in some of Jim’s posts. I am an artist and art teacher. Jim was kind enough to post pictures of the globe I made for him as a gift. He had said there was chatter about how I made it and asked if I’d be willing to do a “guest post”… so here I am!

    I have been a long time player in many of Jim’s campaigns, many of them set on his “world” of Queston. I had seen many of his maps of the world and was surprised that he never translated it to a globe before since he is a pretty handy/crafty guy himself. It started off to be a homemade Christmas Gift… but I ran out of time and the project got put on the back burner and ended up coming over a year later, but I am pleased with the result. Alright… On to creation!

    I found an old globe through school sources. Try thrift stores if you don’t already own one. I started by carefully removing it from the stand so I could paint it easier. This one was an old vacuum formed plastic globe from the 80s, so the plastic had some give, but it also had low relief mountains which I didn’t care for. I toyed with the idea of removing them somehow or coating the globe with another material to cover them to make a clean slate. I figured that these would be far too difficult, costly and take too long, so I let them be but I chose the smoothest section to apply a majority of the land masses. Once it was off the stand I suspended the globe with wire and primed it with spray paint then used a nice blue color spray paint as a base surface.

    I knew Jim had a digital copy of his word map… one I believed he made on an Apple 2E back in the day (he might correct me). He sent me the file without asking why, which was nice because it added to the surprise). It was in color but had patterns to denote various environments… swamp, forest, hills, etc. which were helpful since I intended to print it out in B&W. I measured my globe from pole to pole so I knew how big to make the land masses and then used Photoshop to enlarge the map to the dimensions I needed. After enlarging it I then broke the map into chunks with overlapping sections from chunk to chunk so that could be printed on standard 8 ½ X 11 white copy paper. I printed each section multiple times out in black and white. I knew I was going to be cutting them up, gluing and painting them down so standard copy paper was just what I wanted… cheap, easily cut, flexible for gluing, and the surface is perfect for accepting acrylic paint. I printed them out on a laser jet which uses toner. I would not recommend using a standard inkjet printer or color printer. The ink will bleed when glue or paint is applied. With everything printed out I set about cutting it up into pieces that would be overlapped here and there and were small enough to allow to conform to the curve of the globe without much buckling or folding as it conformed. Now the hard part…

    Jim originally designed the world as a flat rectangular map… not a true globe, so as I set about gluing sections of the map onto the globe using Mod Podge and a 1” wide stiff bristled brush I had to tweak the position of areas… Things that were once close became a little more separated. Areas that were once level with one another became skewed. I tried to keep things as close to the original map as I could, but liberties had to be made. I used Mod Podge to glue the map to the blue globe surface and then used a layer of it on top to help seal edges and prevent curling of the paper. I let this then sit until completely dry. Now the time consuming part…

    I printed off a small version of the map in color to act as a guide for the painting process. I started with the coast line, painting blue acrylic color matched the spray paint base to define the edges of the main continent and around all islands. This covered up the excess white paper I left because I didn’t want to die cut around the coastline. I found it easier to glue down as well with a cleaner, straighter edge on the map chunks. I made sure to color match the blue spray paint color with the acrylic I used for the cover up to make it as seamless as I could. Because of the intricacies of the coast, painting the edge took the longest. After that was done I set about painting each of the biome types. This made it easier to paint because I only had to deal with one color at a time. Because the map had pattern denoting each type already, it became basically paint by numbers. I chose colors to represent each biome that fit that environment best.

    For city/area names, I painted as close to the printed words as I could then on a scrap piece of paper I would redraw each area and label each city or title. Then I’d paint over the words on the globe. Once dry, I’d use a fine point sharpie to hand write back in the names. I did this practice in blocks as I moved around the globe, being sure to relabel each city/area as I went so I wouldn’t get mixed up. For areas that were dark in color I used a white gel pen to label areas to they could be read. I also used sharpie to draw the various icons Jim used to denote cities of certain sizes, square, circle, starburst, etc.

    Painting in the biomes required adjustment of the map as I mentioned before. Gluing it down in chunks there where places where the same area of city existed twice and I had to make judgment calls as to which to eliminate and where to put it so it made sense. Borders changed some, mostly vertically to shift with the curve of the globe. At the poles, I “rounded” off the land masses since they were cut off on Jims map.

    For the third of the globe that didn’t have any part of Jim’s world on it I decided to put a label. I went to Michaels and bought two sets of stickers in a font I liked and labeled the globe “Jim Pacek’s Land of Queston” to fill the space. With everything completed I did another coat of Mod Podge over the entire globe to seal the paint, stickers and give a consistent shine to the thing.

Megadungeon Idea - Scripted Changes

This idea is in its infancy.  I haven't playtested it at all.  Hell, I'm just making up the example now.  I had this thought last week on vacation (sitting by the pool has its perks...) but I'm just getting around to writing it up.

The idea is based on the premise that megadungeons should change over time.  The players enter a room, maybe they kill a monster there, take its stuff, etc.  Something should be different the next time.

Coming up with those "differents" is sometimes very hard.  The idea that I had was a kind of flow chart or checklist that DMs could use as the room evolves through the exploration of the megadungeon.  When a "state" is used, you check it off  (maybe date it) and move to the next state next time.

Here's an example (very crude)

[ ] Room has 2 orcs (AC 6, HD 1, HPs 5,4, AT: 1 club, 1d6)  The orcs have 21 sp between them.  There is a crude table, two piles of straw for beds, 2 dirty blankets.
[ ] The room is strangely empty and very, very clean.  Not even any dust.  No furniture.  Nothing.
[ ] A pentagram has been scribed on the floor in pink chalk.  Stubs of red and black candles remain at each point.
[ ] There is a bloody pentagram on the floor of the room.  Deep gouges have been made in the stone.  A single elvish shoe (dainty and expensive) badly torn and bloody lies on the floor.
[ ]...

So, the GM immediately has a narrative in the room.  Things can change.  Of course, not every room would have a "timeline" or narrative.  Just enough to keep the megadungeon "alive" in the minds of the players.

Additionally, if the players impact the development of the events, the DM will need to improvise.  In the example above, perhaps the PCs damage the pentagram deliberately during their 3rd visit to the room.  If so, then the 4th visit makes total sense.  If they completely obliterate the pentagram, maybe the wizard does a poor job re-doing it.  If they just scratch a line, well that makes sense too.

Anyway, I can see myself writing up some "narratives" for certain rooms if I ever get around to making my megadungeon.

What do you think?

The Dice Can Kill You

Cool article about 1st Ed AD&D.  Here's my favorite bit --

REAL STAKES LEAD TO REAL STORIES

It’s late. We had been playing for roughly 28 hours. There are two empty cases of Mountain Dew on the table. I’m so tired I’m beginning to hallucinate goblins. We’ve smoked a carton of cigarettes between four people.  At one point a girlfriend enters the room, coughs with disgust, and swiftly exits. The die rolls continue.

My character sheet looks like an ashtray and I think — although I cannot be sure — that we were playing Queen of the Demonweb Pits. In short, it was the best of times, It was the worst of times.

The entire party except for our mage was literally dead. He was unfortunate enough to be facing Lolth. She was a demigoddess: 95% magic resistance, saves on a 2 or higher, etc. Our guy had exhausted most of his spells except disintegrate, so he casts it, knowing the magic resistance was probably going to stop the spell and he was going to die a horrible death.

Except Winters failed the magic resistance roll first, and then blew the save. Our guy disintegrated the demigoddess. His finger became "the finger that disintegrated a god."

It was awesome, and it was awesome because stories happen when you follow the brutal ethos of the game and Things had a price and a value. Experience felt earned. The game was arbitrary and sometimes random, but this made for more dynamic scenarios.

Modern systems are certainly swinging back in this direction. It’s not like third edition and later didn’t offer the "hardcore" alternatives. The roguelike wave that Dark Soulsinspired, in part anyway, is definitely a hearkening back to these early D&D principles, that drama comes out of consequence, and that consequence can come from a roll of the dice.

I guess it’s time to dust off the Player’s Handbook.

Gaming Crafts (Pic Heavy)

I've been making a bunch of stuff for my games during my time off.  Here are some pictures.  If you have questions about anything, please ask in the comments.  :)