I can’t reveal any details, except to say that it is exciting!
Oh, I can say that it is related to the OSR.
Watch for the big announcement coming in April.
It’s super awesome coolness!
Category Archives: RPGs
Rakshasa
As a kid I remember watching Kolchak the Night Stalker, the movies and the TV show. I don’t recall all the details, but have been watching the TV show online. I managed to find the movies from before the TV show on YouTube and watched them. If you are interested in watching these, then spoiler alert!!
The other day, I watched an episode that dealt with a rakshasa and the method of slaying them was a blessed crossbow bolt, as it is in the AD&D Monster Manual.
I found that interesting. I am not familiar with most of Indian mythology. There are times I wish I had footnotes for the source, or the inspiration used for these creatures. Until the Monster Manual, were any of these monsters from myth and legend in any single book?
I find that the Night Stalker series gets a bit repetitive, but having him be the only one or nearly the only one who gets what is going on, makes it interesting. With all the creatures he killed, what level would he be?
Going from memory, and I have not finished the series, he has killed two vampires, one werewolf, one zombie, and one rakshasa. There are other creatures, but some I don’t recall, or they do not have a creature stated. I’m not going to stat out creatures for this exercise. Assuming average hit points, I came up with 5,265 experience points which is halfway through 3rd level fighter. Since AD&D does not reward as much XP for monsters, this is reasonable. Karl never gets any treasure, and is the reluctant hero because he knows the truth and if no one is going to do anything about these creatures, then he must do it. Karl’s only reward is that he has save the city or the world.
In some shows, he does not kill the creature, but drives them off, or for the android episode, tries to help. In the electricity monster he gets people to listen, but the usual cover up, similar to the first movie with the vampire, is of no benefit to him.
So after two TV movies and one season of a TV show, I would estimate he earned the experience to be a 5th level fighter, perhaps 6th. If a thief, it would be higher. He did not use magic or pray to the gods, but did use items blessed by others, or had others bless an item. Karl does not gain in proficiency in fighting, but rather uses his mind. He is more like a sage out to do good based on his experience, knowledge, and research.
I can see how these shows can give ideas for a “modern fantasy” setting, or some variation on a science fiction or horror genre.
This show also takes me back to sitting around the TV as a family and talking about the show during the commercials. Unlike today, where it seems that everyone has their own media device and the household is in their individual media world.
Lycanthrope
I had a thought the other day about lycanthropes and demi-humans. I play AD&D and only humans are subject to lycanthrope, by the book.
After being bitten by a lycanthropic creature, there must still be some way to affect non-humans. They do not become shape-shifters, but have other effects.
I thought a neat way to torment players of demi-human characters is to tell them that their characters have strange dreams that unnerve them and disturb their sleep on the full moon. Have them wake up with a strange taste in their mouth, or that they have feathers from eating their pillow. Or blood from the rare mutton in the kitchen, but don’t tell them the blood is from the mutton. Having a grisly and unrelated murder could be fun! Make them think they are a lycanthrope, but only having the dreams one would have without the death and destruction. Of course, if they seek help from a temple, they will learn the truth, but still require some expensive or time consuming ritual to free them of the affliction.
I know some DMs that have all races subject to lycanthrope. I don’t know about other editions of D&D or other rulesets, but I like the AD&D way of handling it. Others might want it different, and that’s OK.
Perhaps have someone bitten by a wererat crave cheese, and someone bitten by a werewolf affected by fleas. One bitten by a werebear could crave honey, etc.
One Page Dungeon Contest – 2015
Last year about this time, I wrote about the 2014 One Page Dungeon Contest, and thought about an entry, but none of my ideas would gel.
I am thinking about the 2015 OPDC with just over two months until the deadline. It is a single page, what’s the big deal, right?
Well a single page requires the most bang for the buck so to speak. One needs a density of information without a density of facts. A hook that evokes ideas, and a map that gives what words cannot. I have a small degree of artistic talent, but it is not a honed or practiced talent, so my efforts are hit and miss.
A one page dungeon also screams for brevity with a conciseness that cuts to the point immediately. As is evident from many of my blog posts, I am skilled at the WALL OF TEXT. It takes effort for me to distill things to the bare essentials.
I could make a submission that is merely an entry, but I want to make a memorable entry that is a contender. Heck, who am I kidding? I want to win!
So I know I need an idea that is just novel enough and easy to convey/explain in a single page. I have some faint wisps of ideas that if I can bring them to fruition and execute them as well as I imagine them, then I have a shot.
Between now and then are my goals of the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge and a daily article on this blog between now and April 1st, and other game activities. Plus the Tenkar’s Landing Crowdsourced Sandbox Setting is now ramping up to work on the actual town of Tenkar’s Landing. I need to do my part with an idea or two.
Map Request (Challenge)
On Tuesday, March 3, 2015, I posted on my G+ page a desire for the OSR mapmakers to map the Phuktal Monastery.
This picture so captured my imagination that I immediately started wishing I had a cool map and thought how and where I could work this into my campaign.
I shared the image and wrote on my G+ page:
I’d love to see how many of the OSR mapmakers interpret this. +Dyson Logos +matt jackson {Profile deleted before 2/11/2019] +Simon Forster +MonkeyBlood Design +Michael Prescott et. al.
This does remind me of a map by Dyson, but I am not placing it at the moment.
I have some ideas and am thinking where I would put this in my campaign.
+Dyson Logos went all “challenge accepted” and started drawing this.
He then posted an update.
Then, he posted a rough scan of a floor plan for a multi-level series of maps.
Next, he shared a more detailed update.
I was not expecting the immediacy with which Dyson dove in the day after my post. I must have caught him at the right time. I was not a member of his Patreon, so I decided to do my small part. I see that members of his Patreon can suggest maps, so I think it fitting that I signed up. I only wish I could afford more and sign up for all the cool map makers at the same time. Perhaps, I can give a month or two here and there to each one.
I am excited to see the conclusion of this map. I have enjoyed Dyson’s many maps and his latest megadungeon effort. I think it is cool that I am a member of the Tenkar’s Landing Crowdsourced Sandbox Setting that resulted in the island and is now moving on to designing the town of Tenkar’s Landing. Dyson drew the town back a year or two, but from what was posted the other day, he is drawing a bigger town for that effort. I have been so busy with changes at work, a convention, and preparing for my efforts at the 2015 April A to Z Blogging Challenge, that I have not had any ideas come to mind for the town.
Thanks Dyson! Very Cool!
Magic and Technology – The Porcelain Argument
I ran across this article, The Porcelain Argument: How would the existence of magic affect technological advancement?, on Sunday. I very much enjoyed it and it is in line with my thinking of how a high magic setting would function.
My campaign is, for humans, a now low magic setting because the ancient empire collapsed a thousand or more years ago and much ancient magical knowledge was “lost”.
Reading this article had me nodding my head in agreement.
I highly recommend it to help set the tone of your campaign’s magic and technology levels.
One interesting thought, would those who could not afford magic invest in fancy technology to try to mimic magic in an effort to appear to be in a higher social status? Hidden mechanisms for an elevator or lift, some way of igniting a light, etc.
This reminds me of a History Channel show some years ago about ancient inventors who made temple devices to make certain items in the temple move or act on their own, with wheels, pulleys, or primitive steam power. One I believe was a holy water dispenser for a coin donation. Another had a dove or other bird “fly” across the sanctuary. In a world where clerical and druidical magic is not lost other than turning from the gods or nature, how would temple technology be different from the rest of society? However, in a societal collapse, the precise applications for certain spells might be lost, if the central hierarchy of a faith was lost.
This all helps to highlight the questions: What remnants of the ancient civilization are still in use? What remnants of it are still visible? What devices both magical and non-magical might adventurers discover? Would any such devices be “set loose” and go on a rampage, or cause other mischief?
In a sandbox setting, one does not have to have all these answers until the players come close to finding them. I have a few things thought out, but as for mundane items, I have not given it much thought. This has definitely given me food for thought and started the wheels turning.
300!!
How can I not mention the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae?
While 300 blog posts is not as impressive as the feat of those long-dead Spartans, as someone with a BA in history and a big interest in ancient and medieval history, I could not help it, nor did I try.
Someone posting daily for a year can easily accomplish 300 posts with over two months to spare. In my case, I started in July of 2009, almost six years to get to 300 posts. That’s only 50 posts a year. In 2014, I hit 100 and 200 posts. In 2014, when the weather got nicer, I had a lot fewer posts. When the weather got cold my output increased until November, when I participated in NaNoWriMo, Tenkar’s Landing, UCon, and in late December decided to GM for the first time at a con with Marmalade Dog 20 the first weekend in February.
It isn’t that I wasn’t writing or wasn’t being creative in some way, it just wasn’t on this blog.
I don’t have enough ideas, or the time and energy to post as often as some do, or to have the consistent quality of others. This is not my 300th written post for this blog, it is the 300th posted for this blog. I have an article ready to post for the next nine days, plus what I have started for the April, 2015 A To Z Challenge.
I will post as often as I can and strive for good ideas.
This is merely a navel gazing post, so other than mentioning Spartans that many seem to think are only a movie, or a movie based on a comic book. Few seem to know it is a real event that occurred long ago. There was a movie about the 300 in the 60’s. The acting is not good and the special effects were not outstanding, but the movement of troops give the general idea of how it must have been.
I have mentioned my character Griswald, a 10th level cleric, 10th level fighter, 11th level wizard half elf. I once estimated, based on the area of effect spells and other offensive spells he has that in a narrow area, he could kill over 500 orcs, perhaps more, by the time they got close enough for him to have to use his sword. That was assuming optimal results in his favor. Who would face such a man? One who can call down the power of his god, or evoke the mysteries of the universe, or beat you by martial skill? As long as there are hundreds or thousands of orcs more scared of their chiefs and sub-chiefs than they are scared of Griswald, that’s who.
I have yet to have a character drive a stake in the ground for a final stand. I have thought about it and planned how it might happen, but never actually played that scenario. I thought I might be playing that scenario when Griswald’s town was under siege, but they left. They will think long and hard before they try it again.
Have any of you had a character perform a rear guard action and fight to the death so that other characters could escape or defeat the bad guy?
GM’s Day – 2015
GM’s Day is a day for GM’s started in 2002 and in 2008 was coincidentally the day that Gary Gygax died – March 4th. It is a day that we prefer to have fun in honor of Gary Gygax and his creation(s) on the anniversary of his death, rather than be maudlin.
There is a FB page with some information, as well as this website with a countdown calendar, and many others easily found with an internet search engine.
Since it falls on Wednesday this year, it is especially cool. The weekly AD&D online campaign I play in meets on Wednesdays. We will be doing something cool, a new type of undead and clearing a hidden dungeon under an abandoned fortress.
Both RPGNow and DriveThruRPG have a GM’s Day sale with 25% off! Cool!
Gary Con Mentioned on Big Bang Theory
One spoiler {Original link to G+ I can’t get Internet Archive to archive.
https://plus.google.com/112306336634914614394/posts/YtBb1vtZdrq ] I didn’t mind was that Gary Con was mentioned on this week’s episode of Big Bang Theory. In general, I don’t like spoilers. My brother has recited movies in detail that I have not seen. A co-worker talked about the space dock scene in Galaxy Quest. I don’t have TV, so I watch programs online. I like that BBT mentions RPGs as part of the geek/nerd life. I find BBT funny because it is true. I have known people like that, and in some ways, I am people like that.
I missed Gary Con last year, and was very interested in going this year, but things have not worked out. The closing of the local office and the transition to working at home was not expected, and I am tired from moving stuff from the office to home, moving stuff around in my home office, and sorting and moving stuff trying to find the best use of the space. I am glad it worked out to not be able to go. I am tired. I also am not too keen to travel in winter. Perhaps I can make Con on the Cob in October instead.
Whither the OSR Superstar Contest?
I had this article scheduled to post on March 6th, but Erik beat me to it and announced the resolution here.
Not what any of us wanted, but a conclusion nonetheless.
Below is what I wrote.
In 2014, Erik Tenkar, over at Tenkar’s Tavern, held a contest for the OSR Superstar. It got down to the finalists in July and there were some delays on the final judging. Up until Erik re-organized his page, there was a largish graphic about the contest.
I posted a comment to the OSR Superstar page asking about it a few months back, and I have seen others ask about it in other forums.
It is understandable if judges dropped out, or something else beyond Erik’s control. Did the finalists not submit? He is a NYPD officer, so his job comes with stresses most of us will never encounter.
Erik usually keeps all the Tavern’s readers in the loop. If he has mentioned it, I have not encountered the explanation.
If it’s resolution is dead or will eventually be resolved, I would like to know. I had a submission, I did not win. The submissions that did well were very cool, and I am curious to see what the finalists come up with for the final challenge.
I know that Erik is looking forward to retirement soon, sometime in the next year, I believe. I would ask that he wrap up a soon to be year old contest before then, so he can focus on the good content he regularly provides.