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...)

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?

Campaign Planning - Old Book Images

My grandson and his friends would like to play some Old School D&D this summer (probably Swords & Wizardry) and I started planning yesterday.

Young people are more visual than us grognards, so I thought I'd start by identifying all the imagery that would play a role in the campaign.

I went to the OBI Scrapbook Blog and dug through their archive.  I also went to Wikimedia Commons.  The idea was to use ONLY Public Domain images.  Old stuff (mostly) and re-purpose them into the foundation of the campaign.

Many of the images were good "as is," but some were not.  I used GIMP to remove elements that I didn't need or want.  :)

I created a PDF file of all the images and I will be working to "stat up" all the different stuff as the campaign progresses.  I'll be using a "just in time" approach -- planning only what is needed and being creative on the fly when necessary.

I used an old book cover picture to create sections within the pictures.  I think I have over 150 different images.

Here are a few screenshots of the work so far.

The interesting thing that I find happening is that I'm making choices about what IS and what ISN'T included in the world.  If I can't find a picture, I can't use it.  The "picture book" is a constraint but it is also serves to focus my ideas.  

I'm liking the way this is going so far.  I thought I'd like to share.

Here's the file of all the pics if you are interested.

Midkemia Press Cities - Sampler Pages 3

TAVERNS

So, what kind of tavern is it?  Generate a name here.

Roll 2d6, one for the Lodging and one for the Food Quality.   You can then cross-reference the costs on IIb.

Enjoy!  You can get the Sampler here.

Midkemia Press Cities - Sampler Pages 2

OPEN MARKET/BAZAAR

Here's a great table --

I'd begin by rolling d% and I'd read across the "Number of Buildings" row.  

• If I rolled below 3, I'd say there's 1 tent that sells a lot of different stuff and keep rolling. 
• If I roll above 70, I'd roll in the 51-70 column and add 1d10 to the result.

You can modify/tweak the occupations in Table 1d by assigning some lower chances for more specialized types of occupations.

• For example in the Tinker/Coppersmith row --  If you roll 10-20, include a Silversmith in addition to a Tinker and Coppersmith.  01-05, include a Goldsmith and the other types.
• For example in the Horse Trader row -- If you roll 10-20, include exotic animals like llamas and camels in the stable.  If you roll 01-02, maybe he has a gryphon or pegasi.
• For Sharpener -- if you roll 10-20, there's also a Blacksmith, 01-05 add a Weaponsmith to the mix; 06-10 include an Armorer.
• etc.  You get the idea...

You can get the sampler here.

Midkemia Cities - Sampler Pages

Years ago, Midkemia Press sold an awesome product called "Cities."  You can still get it as a PDF if you are so inclined.

They also have a sampler.  I think there are some good tables in there and I'm planning to do a few posts about them.

ENCOUNTER TABLE - POOR QUARTER

In my campaign, 9 times out of 10, the PCs are probably in the crappy part of town anyway.  Keep this chart handy and roll % based on the time of day.  Most of these categories are self explanatory.  It wouldn't take much work to generate a quick NPC and assign them to one of these categories.  You could easily use my GM Cards to make that happen.  Also my 3 word NPCs.  

If you roll Category 1 (Already Occurring) the Sampler has this table as well.

There is some really good stuff here.  Print this page out too.  Maybe on the back of the first one...

I was digging through some stuff on my computer and I found a link to an old PBWorks site that I was using over 5 YEARS AGO to document my thoughts and ideas about gaming.

It was still active (Wow!) so I logged in and found this article.  I present it as a "blast from the past".  Unedited by my current thoughts and sensibilities.  Let's see how it holds up...

Trust in Gaming

Why?

Two reasons.

One, its the right thing to do. When your friends come over to your house, they want to have fun. They don't want to take part in something that isn't enjoyable. If they wanted to do that, they'd go to work or mow the lawn. A game that doesn't follow these tenets just isn't fun.

Two, I dislike rules heavy games (AD&D 3.5 I'm looking at you!) and so I run my games fast and loose. Right or wrong, I like to think of my RPG sessions as a type of freeform jazz -- we start off in a direction and then we roll with it. I build a lot of randomness and freedom into the game. Anyway, when you play off the cuff, there's a lot of GM fiat. This makes some players nervous because they don't always know what is going to happen next. They don't know exactly how their powers work (Champions! You heard me!) If you try to run your games with these tenets, the players will trust that you'll give them a fair shake. It's a partnership where we are all invested in having fun and telling a compelling story.

I'm not perfect -- no one is -- but I try to run my RPGs according to the following tenets. I think that more times than not, I do a good job and I pull it off. It has taken me years to refine my GMing skills. I offer the following to anyone who is thinking about running a tabletop RPG game.

Tenets

Fairness/Equity/Parity

Try to give all characters equal screen time. This doesn't mean that if one character gets a magic sword, everyone gets a magic sword. It means that if one player gets a goody, the other players can rest assured that their goody will happen eventually. Everyone gets a turn. One player might get a special item, another player might get a sidekick, still a third might gain an enemy. In game terms, these are all equal (strange way of thinking about it, huh?) but they all give each character/player a time and a place to take the spotlight and excel.

Consistency

If the last time you fought orcs, they went down with one swing of your axe, then that had better happen next time. If it doesn't happen next time, as a GM you'd better have a good explanation of why (even if the characters and players aren't privy to it.) If you make a decision on the fly that turns out to be wrong or unbalancing to the game, take the time to discuss it with the players and explain why the rules have change. In advance.

Heroes are the Stars

In order to make a compelling game world, you have to populate it with interesting characters (NPCs). A world filled with nameless shopkeepers, guards, and barkeeps is a boring world. Having said that, no matter how wonderful that villain/anti-hero/druid/mage/etc. is he or she is not the focus of the game. The players are and their heroes are. Period. Not every villain needs to get away, not every sidekick needs the coolest magic item, etc. Let the heroes have the spotlight. If there's a legitimate reason why an NPC should have the spotlight (she's the only one who can pick the lock, he's the one who knows a contact in the city) have them take the lead (briefly) then hand the story back over. Besides, if your NPCs start interacting with each other, isn't that really like talking to yourself?

Be Prepared

This means that when gaming day arrives, don't be clueless about what is going to happen. I've already mentioned that I like to play it fast and loose, so what does "be prepared" mean to me? Well, I typically have a concept map put together showing the relationships between the heroes, villains, places and things. I have a rough flow chart showing the plot as I envision it. I'm open if the characters want to go in a different direction and I'm ready to improvise, but I have some resources to help me roll with it.

Listen

Consider the following: sometimes the ideas that your players come up with are better than your ideas. Steal them. Not only will the players appreciate the better plotline, they'll think that they are really tuned in to the scenario. "I knew it. I saw that coming."

Exempli gratia: Years ago I kicked off my first campaign with an adventure involving a wyrm (a giant flightless dragon.) The scenario involved a wyrm that was menacing caravans on a well traveled trade route. The heroes were hired as guards for a particularly valuable shipment. My ideas was that the wyrm was just hungry and was attacking the caravans as a ready source of horseflesh. Yummy.

Then I overheard my players discussing how the wyrm must be controlled by a mage. They had seen a pattern in the descriptions of the caravan merchandise that was lost/stolen (one I hadn't intended) and had reasoned that a mage must be responsible.

I quickly sketched a cavern complex, reasoned that the wyrm would have a "magic collar" that would allow the mage to control it, and whipped up a small group of brigands that would help the mage pillage the caravans. Presto. Instant improved adventure.

Award Excellence

When a player comes up with a great idea that moves the story along, when they immerse themselves in their role, or when they take the time to describe a clever combat maneuver. Try to say YES. If there's a good reason why you don't want them to succeed, then say NO, but have a good reason. If you want them to succeed, don't have them roll dice. Just narrate what happens and move on. If you have them roll, no matter how slim their chance of failure, it could happen. Just say YES.

Furthermore, when they do exciting and fun things, give them a payback. Give them a clue, item, contact, complication, etc. Something that says, "well done, here's another chance for you to shine." You can award them with "metagame" things too like experience points or FATE points. The point is, the award is positive feedback that says "keep it up, keep doing that." That's what you want from your players.

No Dirty Tricks/Character Death

Nothing will alienate you players more than a tricky situation that they can't figure out that eventually kills off their character. They invest a lot of time and energy into their in-game persona. Don't treat them carelessly. Don't kill off a character through a bad roll or bad design. Traps that kill unless the heroes spot them are a bad idea unless the heroes know that the place is filled with lethal traps. Kill off a red shirt to show them how deadly. I like FATE and Fudge because they have "taken out" as the final stage in the character damage track. This could mean that the hero is unconscious or otherwise disabled an not able to continue. Not necessarily dead.

Now if the players do something patently stupid. Kill their character. They're asking for it. If you adhere to a player-centric, story based game where the heroes often get out of tough spots by the skin of their teeth, some players will interpret this as weakness on the part of the GM. "I can do anything and he won't kill me." Wrong. If they are stupid, make them pay for their stupidity. They should have seen it coming. Being fair doesn't mean being a pushover. Just make sure that if a character dies it is either dramatically appropriate (my paladin died fighting the demon queen so that everyone else could get away and all the children would be saved from her clutches) or it is the players legitimate fault (you mean I can't jump off of a cliff? Oh, dragons are deadly. I probably shouldn't have doused myself in gasoline and then lit up a smoke.) Give them the chance to act in a rational fashion, if they refuse, it's their funeral.

Challenging RPG Puzzle for Players AND Characters

Here's a picture of the puzzle to pique your curiosity!  I've changed the central picture, but the example still works...

So, there's this board game called "Mansions of Madness."  I don't own it, but I know a little bit about it.  It sounds really cool and if I get the chance, I will probably try to play it sometime.

In the game, there are these puzzles that you must solve to move on.  Maybe from room to room or to get a weapon or to escape.  I don't know exactly, but I do know that the PLAYER must solve the puzzle and the INT of the character she is playing determines HOW MANY MOVES they get to solve it.

I didn't reverse-engineer the puzzles from the game.  I adopted a similar style, but the puzzle pieces and the design of each is mine alone.

So, I thought, what if we did that at the table?  Each round a PLAYER gets a number of moves based upon the stats of her character.  Here's a table that I might use to determine the number of moves --

• ATTRIBUTE < 13 = 1 move
• ATTRIBUTE 13, 14, 15 = 2 moves
• ATTRIBUTE 16, 17 = 3 moves
• ATTRIBUTE 18 = 4 moves
• Specialized skill = +1 move
• Character level = +1 move/5 levels

Right up front, I want to say that I have NOT used this in my game yet.  I have tested the puzzle on actual humans and it does what I want it to do.  YMMV.  :)

Each round the Player gets a number of moves (I'll define those below) based upon the stats of her character?  What stat?  Well, the puzzle is an abstraction.  Maybe its a complicated mechanical lock that requires nimble fingers to manipulate (DEX).  Maybe it's an arcane puzzle made of shifting runes and eldritch energies (INT).  Maybe its a series of tests of will and courage designed to challenge the faith of the believer (WIS).  You can decide based on the situation.  

What character class is important can vary as can the types of "specialized skills" that apply.

Some Basic Rules

• To be solved, the symbols on the edges of the moveable square pieces must match the symbols that surround them in the frame.
• Each piece has a number from 1 to 20.  This is to help GMs plan their puzzles.  It is of course totally fine to simply generate a random puzzle by drawing four pieces of the twenty.
• This is NOT a team effort.  One Player and their Character must manipulate the puzzle each round.  If another player and a different character want to try they must take over and manipulate the puzzle during a different round.  No discussion.  (Of course if you want to break this rule, go ahead, but I don't recommend it.)
• It is important to put something at risk.  Each round, what is the price of delay?  Does a new monster appear through a gate?  Does the party take damage?  Is a wandering monster rolled for?    Does the room close in a little bit more?
• When the puzzle pieces are placed on the table, the arrows must point UP at the start.  The puzzle frame must be placed so that the lock is right side up.  

The Moves

• Rotate piece 90° = 1 move.  
• You can rotate the piece clockwise or counter-clockwise, but only 90° per move.  If the piece has a blue arrow, that piece may only be rotated clockwise.  
• In the example puzzle above, you would need to rotate puzzle piece #4 three times to make it fit (3 moves).
• Swap two pieces = 1 move.  
• Choose two pieces and exchange their positions in the frame.  This DOES NOT change their orientation in any way.
• In the example puzzle above, you would want to swap #1 and #5.  You'd have to rotate them both as well to make them fit.  2 rotates each.  (5 total moves).
• Draw a new piece and trade it for an existing piece = 1 move.  
• You may look at the new piece BEFORE you discard the existing piece.  Regardless of the orientation of the existing piece, you must place the new piece in the frame with the arrow pointing up.
• If you've made the moves I've described above, #9 will never work.  Time to swap it out.

Puzzle Theory

There are 20 pieces in the puzzle.  Five groups of four.  Each group was designed to force a minimum and a maximum number of moves regardless of when its placed in the puzzle.  

• Four pieces that require 0 to 1 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 1 to 2 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 2 to 3 moves to fit
• Four pieces that require 3 to 4 moves to fit
• Four pieces that will never fit

In Conclusion

Print this out on some cardstock.  Color is best, but I made the symbols very distinctive shapes so that it will work in black and white.  

I hope you can find a use for this puzzle in your game.  I welcome any suggestions you'd like to share and/or any modifications or suggestions you'd like to make.  Look forward to additional puzzles and other crazy ideas as this gets some use in my game.  I've already got some percolating around in my head.  :)

Download the puzzle here.  Enjoy!

Generic Counters

I'm planning to build a "Convention Kit" or "Portable DM Kit" or whatever.  Basically a "single box" (this is defined vaguely for a reason) that I can grab and be ready to DM a game in my preferred style.

This idea is larval at this stage, so I don't really have too much to say about it yet.

Anyway, here's a bag of counters that *should* substitute for monsters, NPCs and possibly even PCs when I run a game using my "kit".

Multiple styles, colors, and roughly three sizes.

They all fit in this bag --

More to come!

Polyhedral NPC Matrix (Part 4)

So, Telecanter told me in a comment that he thought dropping the Scrabble Tiles onto a map was a really good idea.  If he thinks so, I have to give it a try.

I got the old Judges Guild Tarantis City Supplement a long time ago on RPGNow.  It has a great map in the back.  It's big with a lot of possibilities.

So, I took a picture of my "tile map" with my phone.  I used GIMP to cut out all the circles and make them a little transparent.  I overlayed this onto the Tarantis map.  I stretched the circles a little to spread them out across the city a bit.

Here's the map:

Looking where the circles are on the Tarantis map, I made some determinations about what my NPCs are doing there.

Here's that chart:

The coolest thing here is the serendipity of it all.  The randomness tells a story, more than you'd get if you made it up on your own and you get to be surprised by it as it happens.

For example,

• Steinthor the Dog works for the Wizard on Quikling Row.  Did the wizard set him up with that symbiotic arm?
• Apparently Weasel lurks around the Temple on Firdausi Lane.  Does he masquerade as a priest? Does he do work for those at the Temple?  Does he have sanctuary there?
• Julian the Barbarian hangs out in the Bazaar.  Why?  Is he looking for a job?  Does he have merchandise to sell?
• Galan, our Bard, frequently performs at the Weeping Willow Inn.  How does he get along with the proprietors?  How many of their famous "Zombie" drinks can he handle?

Great stuff!  More plots and possibilities to be found as I read through the selections in more detail.

Polyhedral NPC Matrix (Part 3)

On my previous post, Telecanter suggested that I use a bunch of Scrabble Tiles to make the NPC Matrix.

Excellent idea.  Thank you!

Keith Davies further suggested that "blanks" might have some special connotation when the tiles were thrown.

Another excellent idea!  Thank you!

So, I liked these ideas SO MUCH that I gave it a try.  I honestly don't know where to go from here.  I have ideas and I'm thinking about it.  I want to show you the maps I made.

I selected all the tiles.  These aren't Scrabble but from Bananagrams (?)  A friend (RF in my CotMA Campaign) gave these to me.

I threw them down on a large sheet of paper from an IKEA art roll I have in my office.  A few tiles bounced off the table (I was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic...) so I just picked them up and flipped them back onto the paper.  This is what it looked like at the end.

Now, none of my tiles are "blank" as Keith suggested, but a large number are upside-down.  I figure that tells me *something* about those NPCs.  Maybe they are good or maybe they are evil.  Maybe they all have a secret...  I don't know, but I want to make sure I remember which ones were upside-down.

I began by circling the upside-up ones in RED.  Here's what that looks like:

I wrote the letter inside the circle.  There's still *a lot* of room to scribble more notes on here when the time is right...

Then, I circled the upside-down tiles in BLUE.

So, there's the map.  What does proximity mean?  If the letters are close together, are they allies?  Are they an organization?  Do they have a common goal regardless of their "alignment" or alliances?

What if they are all alone on the periphery.  What does that mean?

This method bears a striking resemblance to the excellent ideas Telecanter shared about making caves, caverns and dungeons with dice and condiments!

At first glance, this looks like a map.  If this was a city, you could overlay this onto a map and perhaps find out where all of them "live."  Alternately, you could print up a city map (or regional map) and throw the tiles onto it.  The location of the tile would show where they "live."

I'm going to ponder this map awhile and see what pops into my head.  Of course, I appreciate any suggestions or ideas you might have.  Please share them in the comments.

[Finish It Friday] Varlets and Vermin - a review

(Dear Reader, I'm looking at my DRAFTS folder in blogger and I'm trying to finish posts that I began some time ago.  This is the first in that effort!)

Back in May (of 2010 or 2011?  I don't remember now...) Roger the GS at his blog, Roles, Rules, and Rolls, posted a great low-level monster book called "Varlets and Vermin".  I didn't see it back in May (don't know why) but I stumbled upon it a week or two ago.  Since then, I've printed it out and turned it into a booklet.  I've really enjoyed reading through it and I think it has some great monsters in there that can add real excitement to an adventure.

Roger sets the book up with the following sections (I think they are fairly self explanatory):

• At the Entrance
• Rat Variations
• Oh Garbage Dump
• The Underdim
• Three Feet of Water
• Adversarial Gamemaster's Bullpen
• Pauper's Cemetary
• Poor Wizard's Almanack
• Appendix A: Half Man, Half Amazing
• Appendix B: Ten Tamed Titans

At the beginning of each section, he sets the stage with a brief paragraph that lets you know what kind of monsters to expect.  I found this one to be quite amusing:

ADVERSARIAL GAMEMASTER’S BULLPEN 

In a world with ear seekers, throat leeches, trappers, lurkers, mimics and all the other deceptive tricks of the dungeon, the fantasy world hardly needs any more annoying critters to throw at players. And yet, here they are.

Each monster is statted out  for Swords and Wizardry (but they are easily translatable to other OSR games) and he writes a short description that gives you a bit of background about the origin or nature of the beast.  

Each of the monsters has something new or clever to offer.  If the monster has new mechanics associated with it, they are clearly described and explained.  As I read, I found myself thinking about my bi-weekly CotMA game and how I might strategically place some of these beauties into the dungeon.  In the bottom half of this post, I have added some notes about how some of Roger's monsters did in play this week.  :)

Appendix A: Half Man, Half Amazing offers seven different combat tactics that you can use to differentiate between hordes of monsters.  Roger offers this advice:

The secret to making groups of humanoid warriors memorable is to treat them as military cultures, not species. Give each race a different tactic, a different motive.

He gives useful descriptions of Rabble, Warbands, Fanatics, etc.  This Appendix could see some serious use as I make different tribes of orcs, hobgoblins and other humanoids behave differently in CotMA.

In Appendix B: Ten Tamed Titans, Roger takes ten dangerous challenges and brings them down to a level that beginning adventurers can handle.  Some of the challenges start off tame but become more dangerous with time.  Others become more like tricks or traps than monsters to defeat.  My personal favorite is the "Mimicking Golem".  Great stuff!

I couldn't recommend this little book more.  Click on this link immediately and visit Roger's RRR blog.  The link for V&V is on the right hand side of his page.

Polyhedral NPC Matrix (Part 2)

On Tuesday, I posted about using a Scattergories d20 to make an NPC matrix.  Go here to read it.

I decided I wanted to flesh out my matrix with some relationships and motivations.  Finding nothing readily available in my existing resources (I didn't look everywhere...) I mocked this up:

The results of my 1d6+2d6 rolls transformed my NPC Matrix thusly --

It's a start!

Polyhedral NPC Matrix

A few weeks ago, I saw this great series of posts about Polyhedral Pantheons at KJD-IMC.  It got me thinking about dice and how you could make a matrix connecting NPCs within a campaign.

Then I remembered that great party game Scattergories.  It has a d20 in it that has various letters of the alphabet instead of 1 through 20.

Seems to me, you could look at the die and create a matrix -- each face touches three other faces at the edge.  You could create a list of names (using each letter) and you could randomly create some information about each NPC.

Here's my list of names.  I used Chris Pound's Name Generator for the names.  I just picked off the list based upon the letter.

I rolled in the back of my Wilderness Alphabet to randomly generate characteristics.  I wanted each NPC to have a unique role, so I re-rolled occupations.  I also stopped rolling "noses" after about the third or fourth one.  :)

Here's a matrix of how the NPCs know (or are connected) to each other.  Further fleshing out during the game will be necessary.

Depending upon the granularity of your game, you might have a separate matrix for the Wizard's Guild, the Thieve's Guild and the Merchant's Guild.  Or, you might just have one matrix for the city/town/hamlet as a whole.  You can decide.

Now, when the characters are looking for information (or whatever) you can grab that big d20 and roll...

"Oh, a 'G', I guess that Galan Odonsson, the Muttering Bard, knows something..."

"Who else is after the Scarlet Cloak of Eldradiss?  'J'  Julian Slightthoughts, the dimwitted barbarian..."

"Who hired the assassin?  'H' Harald Catfoot - heck, maybe he IS the assassin..."

You get the idea.  :)

You can order replacement Scattergories d20s here for $2 each.  I faxed my order in on a Thursday and I received my d20s on Monday.  No shipping either!

OSR Dragonbone

Years and years ago, I saw this ad in The Dragon...

I always wanted one, but I never did buy one.  Too expensive for my high school student budget.  Of course, I could use my programmable calculator to generate random numbers as well, so...

This past weekend, I was at the Dollar Store and I saw this:

It's a large, plastic "take your pill" reminder case.  I had an idea...

You can put a set of dice in there just fine.  There's plenty of room to shake them around.

You can see the dice very easily through the clear bottom of the container.  I plan to make one with 7d20 (of different colors) in it to rapidly generate "to hit" and "saving throws" for multiple monsters at once -- or to roll multiple attacks at once.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Design Features Dice

Back in May, Talysman over at 9and30kingdoms wrote up a series of posts about alternate design features for walls, ceilings and floors.  Check them out if you haven't seen them.

In each of those posts (as you know, cuz you've seen them) he made six little square pictures to represent his ideas.

I must be honest, six little square pictures SCREAMS to be made into a d6 and I have these wooden cubes, 3/4" on an edge, so what was stopping me?

Well, procrastination, I guess.  I printed out copies of each little pic back in May, but they've been sitting in a folder since then.  I made each set a different color --

• Black = ceiling features
• Red = floor features
• Blue = wall features

I just got around to making the dice yesterday.

I figure I'll leave them in among my DM stuff and from time to time, as dungeon dressing, I'll randomly grab 1 or 2 of them and I'll mix things up.

Thank you to Talysman for the great posts and the inspiration!

My DIY DM Station

In these videos, I show the rolling GM station that I've built for myself.  I built this on Columbus' Day this year (I usually do something crazy on that day each year -- my wife is always out of town!)

Enjoy the videos

If you have questions or feedback, please post that in the comments.



The 20-Sided Quickies are ALSO from 9 and 30 Kingdoms (thanks Talysman)  They are AWESOME!!

"Coolness" Bonuses

Saw this post over at Tower of Zenopus about City of Heroes and it got me thinking.

I used to like to give out FATE points, Fudge points, Bennies, etc. to players when they did something "cool."  When they took a risk or made everyone laugh or caused a roar from the crowd.

Awhile back, I bought these Old School Bonus Cards at RPGNow.  I haven't used them yet.  Mostly because I don't have any thieves in my game.  That's not really a good excuse, but it eliminates 25% of the deck...

Here's my idea.  (This is untested, but I think I'll be trying it out ASAP)

Get out a deck of cards.

Spades = Combat

Hearts = Healing

Diamonds = Treasure/Certain Skills (lockpicking, find traps, find secret doors)

Clubs = Social/Reaction/All Other Skills

Take out the face cards, leaving just the Ace through 10's.

Anytime a player does something cool with their character, give them a card.  They can have as many cards as they want, but there's only one deck.  If all the cards are in the hands of the players, no one else can get one.

I'd let players trade cards anytime during the game.  If they are in the middle of something, like combat or a social encounter, I'd make them explain HOW they use one of their cards to help their buddy.

I probably will only allow the use of two cards MAX per action; one of yours and one from a buddy (to encourage teamwork).

So, here's how the cards work.  You give the DM the card you want to use and you roll a d12.

• If you roll LESS THAN BUT NOT EQUAL TO the number on your card, you get a +1 or +5% bonus to what you are doing.
• If you roll EXACTLY THE NUMBER ON YOUR CARD you get a +2 or 10% bonus to what you are doing.
• If you ROLL A 12 you get a +3 or 15% bonus.
• If you ROLL AN 11 (Snake Eyes) you get nothing.

For Hearts, I might allow the use of the bonus as extra dice or rerolls --

• +1 = reroll the healing attempt and take the better result OR roll an extra d6
• +2 = reroll the healing attempt OR roll an extra d8
• +3 = reroll the healing attempt OR roll an extra d12

I plan to implement this system right away in my CotMA game.  We'll see how it goes.

3D Dungeon Walls from Foam (part 2)

Previous post here





During these two videos, my lovely wife Jeanne calls on the phone twice...

More video in the next post!!