Weekend Action Report: 11/16 - 11/18

Welcome to Happy Valley & In the “Shire of Woodlawn” this weekend 

First of all, I'm planning to run a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign starting in February of 2019. The series of "one-shots" that I'm running all over the Baltimore Metro area has a two-fold purpose. I'm mastering the rule-set, which isn't too difficult, because DCC is a streamlined version of D&D 3.0; and I'm running the prologue for my DCC campaign.

The "campaign world" in DCC can be relatively small, because travel is supposed to be so exceedingly dangerous that few people travel more than a couple miles from home, ever. So I've placed my campaign in a verdant, jungle valley, in the midst of a civil war between local tribes. The Southern tribes recently gained the upper-hand by gaining military aid from their allies The Aquilonians (whose symbol is the Roman Eagle). The Aquilonians use amazing magical artifacts in war. Their ornithopters are seen flapping their way to and fro all across the valley, and their wizards have mighty Patrons that can easily disrupt the terrain and the natural weather patterns. In short, the Aquilonians are mighty and they are alien to the valley.

All of my Baltimore-area DCC events take place in this valley, which I call "Happy Valley." The name and the reference came from a background story in GDW's Twilight 2000 roleplaying game from the 1980's. For the history buffs, it's a bit of foreshadowing... bad things are coming to the valley, and in a short time, things are going to get deadly (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley,_Vietnam).

At the FLGS...

Randalf the Brown, a first level Wizard has continued to vex me, and Stan the Wildling has started teaching me a few things about the unheroic PCs that, I’m certain, will pop up from time to time in my DCC campaign. Stan’s player, my good buddy, David Baker, explained to me that since Stan only has to survive an encounter to gain any XP, he’ll keep running for cover when things get crazy. 

I was running a couple folks through Frozen in Time, when Randalf the Brown, played by store owner Sean Montague, decided he was going to smash a magical rod into what he thought was a control panel... the resulting damage killed all but two of the other party members, and caused feedback, which after six rounds, led to the powerplant’s destruction. Sean tried to cast spider climb, and failed, but didn’t fumble. Next he spellburned down to 3’s in his physical stats and convinced his patron to teleport him out of Null-Zero’s ice station. That’s when David came in... 

David concocted a retroactive continuity loop, that was just plausible enough that I ruled it could have happened... enter David’s character Marcus, and Randalf’s salvation. Marcus helped Randalf back to Sweet Water Village (the Party’s home in Happy Valley), where the crazy wizard was able to rest up, while Sean jumped out of the game to manage the store.

Thus far in the campaign prologue, the PC’s have released the Chaos Lord, and the evil spirit Samhain... both these BBEGs are moving in the valley, and the players don’t know it yet. And Randalf the Brown has put the word out into the multiverse that he’s in the business of slaying dragons. The Dragon Queen has heard him, and she’s on her way. 

I'm in the process of creating D&D's Dragonlance - Queen of Dragons, Takhisis, as a Chaotic Patron for DCC Wizards. 

Weekend Action Report: 11/2 through 11/4

Weekend Action Report: 11/2-11/4 - I ran games at two different venues this weekend: The LoFi Game Night at MAP Technologies - 229 Park Ave, and Comic Cosmic Collectives and Games, located in Security Square Mall.

The MAP Technologies event was all about getting to know a new space and making friends with strangers. The Owner/Operator, Mike Peace, is really looking forward to building buzz and holding tabletop RPG events more often. If you’re a GM and you’re willing to run on 11/14, let me know. MAP has space for all of us.

Sean Ramon Montague never ceases to amaze with his portrayal of Randall the Brown, sorcerer supreme in his own mind... in DCC he’s quite capable and very lucky! In Randalf’s career, he’s managed to “kill” two dragons. Always achieving The Most, by snatching certain defeat from the jaws of death just as they snap shut. Like I said this guy is lucky! Eventually though, in DCC, Luck burns out and the dice go cold. Eventually, when Randall dies, it will be at Sean’s hands, and not mine.

In “Happy Valley” a war rages between the indigenous tribes of the North and the tribes of the South. The Adventurers are based in a small village, called Sweet Water, and they’ve begun to make themselves at home, helping the local children, earning money and investing in the village’s infrastructure. They’ll grow important if they live long enough.

After striking a bargain between Sweet Water and a powerful Sorcerer calling himself Zelthura Snakemouth, The Party Wizards are summoned by their Patron. He tells them to travel to the Northeast to claim their treasures and vanquish their patron’s enemies. Off they go...

Arriving at The Chasm, they find a glacier stuck between two hills, obviously the result of powerful Aquilonian Magic... the valley is otherwise filled with a verdant jungle.

They are set upon by a snow-white bear of great size, it’s maw and paws covered in fresh blood. Timely reactions lead to the Bear being rendered unconscious by Randalf’s magic, and being unceremoniously dumped into the chasm, to trouble the party, no more.

Scaling the 300’ up the sheer glacier, proved a formidable encounter, but they eventually make it to the opening high above the jungle canopy. The Party enters the glacier to found gray ceramic corridors 5’ across. They split the party, and one group is attacked by centipedes that borrow through the walls and kill a man.

Randalf takes a mortal wound from an ally’s shortbow, but he miraculously survives the attack!!

Quite the weekend!

https://www.goodman-games.com

https://www.facebook.com/mapgametech/

https://www.comiccosmiccollectivesandgames.com/

Crafting a Homebrew Campaign... by making the players do the work

About a year ago, I managed to get a spot as Dungeon Master (DM) at a friendly local game store (FLGS).  The Players Handbook and Basic Rules for D&D 5th Edition were available and the store owner needed a dependable, experienced DM to step in and teach the game.  I didn't want to use a published campaign setting, even though I noticed early on that 5th edition was compatible with everything ever published for D&D.  In the interest of full disclosure, I've been converting D&D and AD&D since the mid 1980's.  It really is one of my favorite things about role-playing games (RPGs); that is mixing and matching bits and bobs between game systems and genres.

Just as I started to plot how I was going to pull together a group of strangers and get them to build a brand-new campaign world, I discovered A Spark In Fate Core from Genesis of Legend Publishing.  I streamlined the process outlined in the booklet and while my brand-new players started creating characters together, I presented them with a challenge... "We're going to build our own D&D campaign," I said.  "Think of TV series, movie, story, book, song, poem, or piece of art that you really love - THIS is your SOURCE.  Then think of a particular trope or bit of that SOURCE that you'd like to add to the campaign setting... THIS is your ASPECT. Once character creation is done, we'll mix the ASPECTs together and frame the campaign based on your respective contributions."

Remember that the most important thing about playing RPGs is that you should have fun playing RPGs.  If you aren't having fun, then you're doing a chore.  Chores and fun don't really mix together (IMHO).   

So as the character creation phase neared completion, I started checking with my players and writing notes about their  SOURCES and ASPECTS.  One player chose Star Trek: TNG as his SOURCE and the Maqui as his ASPECT.  Before the campaign began in earnest, we had a civil war going on.  I was excited about this turn of fate.  Another player chose The Marvel Comics assassin Deadpool as his SOURCE, and together we laid the foundation of an assassins guild.  Now on the DM's side of the screen, I was busy adding a secret to each ASPECT, something cool and dramatic and surprising that would be revealed during the campaign.  We ended up with a D&D campaign of airships, a secretive Elvish resistance front, a federation of 1,000 tiny islands controlled by the military arm of a a religious sect, headed up by the Dragonborn.  We played for twelve weeks and had a grand time.  I diligently stayed away from the idea of "no" during the campaign.  Instead, I ventured into undiscovered territory... "Yes, and then," became my mantra.  And when one PC folded 1,000 paper umbrellas, and hoped for a wish, I gave that character his heart's desire.  That's when the campaign really came off the rails, so to speak.  

All told we had grand time.  The average turn out for the game was ten players.

A Spark in Fate Core  is free to download.  It is designed for use with Fate Core from Evil Hat Productions, but as I explained, it worked out well when we used it to craft our D&D campaign setting.

The Master's Return

Mea Culpa.  I haven't been around these past few years.  D&D 4e has passed along into the mists of time... or the dustiness of your book shelf, depending upon how willing you are to convert such things between game systems and campaigns as your fancies evolve.

But, I'm back and I've been busy running the latest model of Dungeons and Dragons.  The fifth, official, edition of the game was released last summer.  And I realized a few things straight away.

First of all, everything you have for D&D, regardless of the edition, is compatible with 5e.  I promise!

Secondly, all the 4e books that you thought you'd never use again, once 5e arrived... you can still use the maps and stat blocks pretty much as printed.  Looking at the 4e stat block, just use the Bloodied HP value, everything else works, pretty much the same.  Look it's D&D, you can wing it sometimes, and that doesn't break the rules.  It's not like you're breaking the rules in a Magic tournament.  :)

Third thing to keep in mind is that the newest D&D game is free to play.  No I do not condone going off on a quest into the DarkNet searching for illegal copies of the core books.  Wizards of the Coast, incorporated free rules into their business model for this edition.  Here's the link:  http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules.

Keep in mind that D&D is a game.  A game about fantastic realms and powerful heroes fighting against the forces of evil that wish to destroy civilization.  Sometimes of course it's about rogues and legbreakers taking what they want and running from the King's Men-at -Arms.  My point is that no matter how you play the game, the Basic Rules are free.  Enjoy!

If you need quick maps for your next rpg session, allow me to recommend Dyson Logos.  He's a fantastic cartographer and his maps are top notch... check out his work here: https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/maps/.

Red Box, Nostalgia and the OSR

My D&D Basic books or more precisely my Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal booklets are some of my most cherished gaming materials in my collection. To my best estimate I began playing D&D after school, in the library when I was twelve years old. For Christmas that year, my Mother bought the Basic (Red Box) for my sister and me. By the time we returned to school from Winter break, I had already run the materials in the book and begun writing my own adventures, crafting maps and planning epic quests to save the worlds. By that Summer I discovered Star Frontiers and between the two games, my life was changed forever.

The release of the 4th edition Red Box brought about a flood of emotions and memories. I guess that's how nostalgia marketing works. Wizards invoked these feelings by reminding us of how much fun we had when we gamed with the original Red Box. They hoped to rekindle those old feelings and get you to buy the new package and get interested in the new game. It worked, I bought it, but not for nostalgia, per se. I still play and I teach new players too. I think its best to teach the most easily accesible version of the game to ease the transition from "noob" to community member.

The OSR (Old School Reformation) is a gamer movement that's growing across the blogo-verse. You see, a lot of what we accept as cliche in our games today was actually new back when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were kicking around the ideas of Heroes taking missions separate from their wargaming armies. All seems pretty simple nearly 40 years later. But, back then, it was quite a paradigm shift. The movement is pushing for gamers to do more of the DIY (Do It Yourself) type projects that we did when the rules were less codified.

Look at it this way. Before there were rules for skills, it was assumed that a PC could do whatever the Player and DM agreed he could. Now that we have a skill system, if you don't buy the skill, you don't have it or you don't have it at any effective level. Likewise, the tactical combat systems of the modern versions of the game take quite a bit away from the old school, all-in-the-mind's-eye combat resolution. Once upon a time, players would look around the battlefield asking questions of what their characters could see. Often these details were made up on the fly. The combat that unfolded was a wild melee, remembered through glimpses of awsome deeds. Today we move tokens and take effects, but seldom do my players describe what their characters are doing. Most likely they just tell me where they are moving, what their minor action is and what power they are using. It used to be more fun, before the system defined so much of what happens at the table.

My solution? Take what you want from the game. You bought it. It's yours. If your gaming becomes painful, bothersome or un-fun, then leave the table, find something else to do with your time and money. Really. It's a game! It should be entertaining. It doesnt matter how you play, nor what game you play. Play it to have fun, play it for the social engagement factor. Do it because you wnat to.

Game on my friends. May all your hits be crits!!!

Vampire: The Masquerade / D&D 4e Mash-Up

Since the first time Gary and Dave (the sacred Saints of our beloved hobby and industry) first dreamt that the actions of the battlefront hero were somehow as equally important as the actions of the squad, platoon, company battalion, etc - we have lived in interesting times.

I left High School in 1990, so the games of the late 80's and early 90's left the greatest impact on me. Of course, D&D is my first love. We met at the local library when I was in elementary school. She was this adorable Choose Your Own Adventure (or maybe Pick A Path) book. I was young, impressionable and possessed of a great imagination. She had me at hello. But I digress.

Though this post is about D&D (yes, you Honey :), it is also about another game, a darker game, that turned our assumptions about the villain 90 degrees out of phase (can you Grok it?). She was Vampire: The Masquerade, and her family was White Wolf and they were amazing.

Recently my weekly gamers were snooping about underground, far beneath the town of Dyvers on the Nyr Dyv. You see, dragons had attacked the town, hundreds of dragons. The humanoids of the place decided that that survival and running below ground, were better than fighting and dying. My heroes fought some neat werewolves (actually were-wolf/human hybrids Werewolf: the Apocalypse I'm looking at you Sweetie!). Then it occurred to me that a run in with World of Darkness vampires could result in a cool night of gaming.

Back in the long ago days of my youth, when I could literally spend entire days doing nothing but gaming and game prep, I developed a love for system conversions. Today I think the crazy kids call it a mash-up. But I used to convert all kinds of stuff. E.G. - My laser pistol wielding D&D fighters in Star Frontiers, the Epic Car Wars race around the Isle of Dread and even the night my RECON squad cleared the monsters out of the castle in that classic AD&D adventure The Gauntlet. All this to say that bringing the V:tM vampires to D&D would not be challenging, it would be fun.

I started by reviewing the various clans and the most common powers of each from the V:tM core book (from about 1990). Then I read through the descriptions of the various powers and how they "looked" during game play.

So, I chose a level based on the PC level at the time, I think they were 6th. Reading about the Nosferatu Clan, it seemed they weren't really combat monsters like the Gangrel or the Brujah. But the "ugly" tag developed into so ugly that enemies within a square of the Nos, would take a -2 on attack rolls. Now that pretty darned ugly. Looking at the cool things the Animalism power confers at various levels, I created the Call of the Wild power. Basically this power, a rechargeable because of its punishing 3d10+5 damage at range 10 and burst 3. An at-will at that power load-out would have been

unbalanced. Vampires have been known for their mighty strength for a long time. I couldn't let the Nos punk-out in melee, so I gave him a powerful At-Will melee basic - Strength of Ten Men. The Vanish power was based on the V:tM Obfuscate; the way it reads in the original material is that the Vampire just disappears while it's enemies are stunned and look about in confusion. The skills, were the finishing touch, again based upon reading through the original V:tM core rule book, coupled with my DM-Mind of how a Vampire should be equipped for tangling with my PC's.

The coolness of V:tM vampires was only augmented by the mystical qualities of their blood. Including the Blood Bond and the ability to create Ghouls. So my subterranean Vampires of Moloko Fortress had a small army of ghouls. Enjoy!

Making maps and using maps

I'm an Old School gamer so number 2 pencil on 1/4 inch grid, 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches long is my favorite medium when making maps. Mapmaking is one of my all time favorite things to do regarding rpg's. I love mapping cities, and dungeons and castles, and even entire worlds. When I get an idea for a great new setting, I start with the places, then I develop the Organizations based on the places, then the key NPC's come about as parts of the organizations.

When I run my game I use a 1 inch grid 22 inches by 25 inches battlemat. I put a sheet of PVC over that to preserve my mat. This allows me to put really cool full color maps and dungeon tiles under the PVC, then mark the plastic to show additional features, spell effects and fallen creatures who become difficult terrain.

To facilitate use of my prepped maps, I draw the encounter areas at 1/4 inch = 5 feet. Then during play that becomes 1 inch = 5 feet. This allows to me scale quite simply to use old school maps (1/4" = 10 feet becomes 1/2 inch = 10 feet). Also I don't create maps that will render larger than my play area. I keep the action on the battlemat. None of my encounter areas will be larger than 22 inches by 25 inches. However, I can fit a lot of encounter into that limited space.

As the Heroes headed west from Greyhawk, they eventually found a traffic jam of several dozen wagons and carts as well as nearly a hundred humanoids all styimied by a bridge that washed out in a recent thunderstorm. Furthermore, they're told by a helpful bard that a band of kobolds are holed up in caves beneath the wreckage of the bridge. As the heroes navigate the muddy bank, they fall under fire of the kobolds. The heroes, however, quickly identify their targets and press the attack, first at range then in melee.

The heroes fight the kobolds, a troll and eventually a band of Hobgoblins representing a local thieves' guild.

These are the map symbols I learned when I was playing D&D out of the original Red Box. These are also the map symbols listed in the most recent Dungeon Master's Guide.

Let me know if you have any questions.

May all your Hits Be Crits!!