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RPGs

Tweaking Random Treasure Maps

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An idea came to me to make treasure maps more interesting. I used a combination of a table from Kelri’s 4 – ENCOUNTERS Reference.pdf, page 130 gives 3 tables, a 2d8 table for the form of the map, a percentile table like in the 1e DMG for what the map goes to, and the best one a d10 table for the status of the treasure. This is on page 120 of the 1e DMG.

Surprisingly, OSRIC does not have tables for determining the type of map one finds. While AD&D assumes a treasure map, OSRIC just says the GM will have to make their own treasure maps.

Just because one has a treasure map does not mean that the treasure the map leads to is real, or if real, is still there. In the DMG, 5% of all treasure maps are false maps.What does that mean? The treasure is gone, or it’s like a scam where there is no really Lost Dutchman Mine, or the monsters in the dungeon are hoping to lead the adventurer’s away.

I combined the ideas from Kelri’s map table, the 1e DMG map tables, Grim’s all the dice Treasure Map Generator, and Richard LeBlanc’s New Big Dragon A to Z d30 Treasure Map Generator.

Grim’s table is a way to indicate landmarks, obstacles, or destinations on the map. The d30 map generator is one of 30 d30 PDFs written as part of the annual 2014 A to Z blogging challenge. It details the materials used for the map, the condition of the map, and the language or code it is written in.

My need for these map tables arose several years ago, in my home campaign, I created a map seller and decided to randomly determine how many treasure maps he had. The party bought every map he had in the general location where they were adventuring. I determined there were 32 maps and the party bought 17 maps. I then determined all kinds of things about the maps using all these resources, plus some additional things.

I built a spreadsheet to track it. The first column is Source, where did the map come from. I used the name of the map seller. I did not determine where he got them, so that is another layer one could add. Then I had Quality of the cartography, Size in square feet, Condition, Language, Details, General location depicted on map, Treasure status, 6 columns for the general terrain, landmarks, obstacles to put on the map, and Notes about exactly where a pristine or mostly pristine treasure is in the dungeon or other location. Determining treasure can also lead to their being more maps. Here is a link to a PDF of what I ended up with. Don’t ask me how I got to this point. It was just a mis-mash of different tables jammed into something I wanted. It was a lot of work.

This leads to all kinds of ways to use each map in game. Can the player’s read or decipher it? Is it good enough quality for the party to figure out where it is? And it the treasure still there?

For really large treasures, some are still “there”. That is there are in the general area, but have been found and moved and hidden by others who found it first. If the moved treasure is still there, it has either been found recently, or the finders never returned to claim it. If the moved treasure is “gone” it was either retrieved by the initial finders or still others. A large enough horde might get found and moved and hidden many times over the millennia as different groups find it and take what they can carry, and hide the rest hoping to come back later.

Some treasure might be found and dealt with in interesting ways. I have one treasure somewhere in my world that was found by a reclusive individual who built a shack over a treasure found by adventurers in the past who moved and buried it. The recluse is either unwise or untrusting, I haven’t decided yet, but won’t leave his shack except when in need of something, and only carries enough money to buy what he needs in town. Portions of the horde are scattered about his “range” so that he has multiple nest eggs in case something bad happens, but the treasure is so huge, he can never move it all on his own.

My idea is to create a PDF in the coming months with these ideas.

Generate random treasure maps and determine if the treasures are intact, partially looted, or cleaned out.

Cleaned out can be complete, bits in the corners left, smaller piles & stashes of coins in nooks, crannies, crevices, or ledges, or undiscovered rooms.

There are tons of maps available online for dungeons and other adventure locations, but I’m not aware of any maps that actually lead to these locations. Is there anyone out there creating treasure maps or maps to various locations?

Here is the companion podcast episode #116 from Thursday, May 9, 2019.

RPGs

River and River Encounter Tables

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While listening to the podcast of +Colin Green, AKA Spikepit, on the Spikepit podcast, he asked for source material on river encounters and adventures. He also mentioned a swamp.

Until he mentioned swamps, I was thinking about the creeks I wandered as a boy in a rural/suburban landscape, and going on float trips on different rivers in college, and seeing the results of the major flooding in the Midwest in the late 90’s/early 00’s that affected huge areas. When he mentioned swamps I thought of The Screaming Swamp, my contribution to The Black Isle, that I mentioned a few weeks ago, when it was released.

My ideas for rivers involve random tables. Rivers come in all shapes and sizes, from dry creeks in the desert that only flow when it rains, to mighty rivers like the Missouri, Nile, or Amazon. They all have a source, tributaries, general direction of flow, branches, rapids, falls, and estuaries or mouths. They can be fast, slow, relatively short, or very long. They can freeze over in winter allowing wild herds, trade, or war to cross. 

I took these ideas and expanded them in my publication on DriveThruRPG: Rivers and River Encounters [Affiliate Link].

All rivers have a means to cross them, whether by fording, ferrying, boat, or bridge. They all have a means to travel them if wide and deep enough. The creeks I wandered as a boy were rarely deep enough to find a spot to swim, so traffic would cross them at the easiest spot to avoid them. Larger rivers, like the Missouri were first avenues of exploration and trade. Nearly any size boat can be found, up to small ships, and huge number of barges.

Intelligent races can attempt to wrest control of rivers for their own purposes, such as irrigation, dams to store water for dry conditions, dams for hydro power for grinding grain or sawing logs, or for generating electricity. Locks can be implemented to make a river part of a canal to make travel over difficult terrain possible. 

Where there is trade, there are towns, warehouses, shops, merchants, thieves, bandits, and river pirates. Where there is trade, the authorities come looking for taxes to pay to put down the pirates and thieves, and as the traffic becomes more peaceful, the taxes cover more and more.

Druids would argue against too drastic a change to a river, using their natural magic to thwart attempts to tame it.

Rivers have their own wonders both to behold and dangerous to the unwary. Huge bluffs overlooking the river make a great place to jump in, but also make a great location for a fort or monster lair. Sand and gravel bars impede traffic, but can air in crossing. They can also shift during flooding. Bends in rivers can host deep depressions suitable for the biggest fish, and the things that eat the biggest fish.

Low areas form bogs, swamps, marshes, and fens. Trees fall and form areas to block traffic, make a danger to traffic, and hide both game and predator. Beavers construct dams for their homes and to make an environment to their liking. While attractive to other wildlife, farmers and villages may not like it.

Rivers are also a source of water and great cities tend to only be built near them. They can become corrupted or polluted and poison the population and wildlife.

There are so many things to consider and so many possible tables. I’m not sure I’ll get to tables in this post, but will have as many things to consider for building my tables.

Terrain, geography, natural hazards, control of traffic, strategic points, wildlife (game and predator), monsters, thieves, bandits, and pirate. Navy, patrol, and tax and tariff collectors. Trade wars, embargoes, boycotts, boat and ship construction. Barge traffic. Source, width, depth, falls, tributaries, branches, bends, bluffs, fords, ferries, bridges, canals, dams, locks, estuaries, mouths. Watersheds. rain, floods, droughts, aqueducts, aquifers, caves, caverns, grottoes, cenotes, glaciers, ice, snow, spring thaw, flash floods, encounters, and more.

I foresee many rabbit trails of research on Wikipedia in my future for this. So many ideas all at once is hard to get them all down.

It occurs to me that there are two methods of placing rivers. There may be other ways, but I think they would be sub classes of the following. 

  1. Let the terrain you place on the map dictate where to put rivers.
  2. Draw the rivers first to dictate where you put the terrain.

The tables I plan to develop will aide with developing the river and it’s terrain, or help flesh out the river and terrain you provide. All well planned table should be able to give you ideas to make the things they suggest your own.

The Tables

Rather than plot out the whole river, the type will matter and the GM can pick what part of the river they need for a specific location or encounter.

SOURCE

All streams & rivers have a source, or starting point.

  • Spring
  • Glacial Melt
  • Mountain Stream

CROSSING

When a watercourse crosses your intended path, how do you cross it?

This can also be applied to other barriers, like gaps, gorges, peaks, etc.

  • Walk, Step, Leap, Running Jump.
    • For narrow creeks and streams you may be able to just step over them. 
    • The banks of creeks can be very steep on one side and low on the other.
      • I once slid down a shale cliff while holding the end of a rope intended to help me avoid sliding and getting banged up.  I finally stopped when the rope had played out a safe distance from the stream that was 30 to 40 feet below the top of the shale cliff. Climbing such a cliff is like going up the down escalator with pieces breaking and causing you to slide in addition to moving in the opposite of the intended direction.
  • Natural Bridge
    • This can be a tree, rock, packed earth, packed snow, ice, or the bodies or bones of one or more dead creatures.
  • Directed Natural Bridge
    • Yesterday, someone posted a link to this article on root bridges.
    • These are living trees, roots, or other plant matter guided by humans to cross over gorges and rivers.
    • The original picture online was quite elaborate and the surface of the bridge was packed with dirt and fitted with stones to make a solid surface. 
    • For a game setting, I can see elves, druids, and other forest denizens making such structures in the trees.
  • Ford
    • Stepping Stones
      • These tend to be smooth round stones that are commonly slick without water. Water makes them more so.
      • Wise locals will replace or overlay them with flat stones for more sure  footing.
    • Mixed stone & natural gravel
      • The shallow area has trapped the smaller rocks and stones creating a wet, but serviceable crossing. The intervention of intelligent species may enhance it or destroy it for it’s own purposes.
    • Sandy crossing.
      • More gravel and sand than stones. Area could be prone to liquefaction of the sand and “quicksand.”
    • Wet Crossing
      • Anything from getting your feet wet to not so deep you’re swimming for foot traffic.
      • Anything too deep to walk, but not needing a boat.
        • Riding a riding animal or pack animal.
        • A vehicle, whether drawn or pushed by animals or an engine.
    • Ferry
      • Where the water is consistently deep enough that foot and vehicle traffic can’t make it, but a bridge is not justifiable or impossible.
      • Ferries can cross a distance not much wider than the ferry, to great distances. In addition to crossing watercourses, they can cross lakes and seas to islands or cross straits.
      • Ferries can be tethered or free. The simplest tethered ferries use the tether to pull the ferry and cargo along. Some use a capstan powered by the crew or beast(s) of burden. The capstan is put on the shore for the most efficiency. It could also be a treadwheel powered by the crew or beast of burden.
      • Ferries have a fee that is what the market will bear. There is taxation of it, unless the ferry is initiated prior to civilization catching up with it.
      • Often ferries exist in slightly deeper water to a nearby ferry and is for those who want to stay dry, or for cargo that they don’t want to risk getting to market. In this case, the ferry can’t charge too much, or people will simply go to the ford.
      • Ferries are also used in locations that are too wide for existing technology or resources to bridge.
      • Ferries can be passenger ferries which only accommodate people and their personal possessions. Basically boats.
      • Vehicle and cargo ferries have ramps and flat decks to enable beast drawn vehicles and powered vehicles to embark and disembark.
    • Bridge
      • From simple footbridges for pedestrian traffic, to bridges allowing at least one wagon to cross. 
        • Narrow bridges will have a system to control the flow of traffic if it is only wide enough for traffic in one direction.
        • Daily shift changes, the length of the market day, etc. will influence the busiest time for narrow bridges.
        • Taxes, fees, and tariffs are often collected for maintenance costs and revenue for the crown.
      • Construction is most commonly the cheapest material available that can do the job. 
        • Wood will be used for the narrowest spans that are not easily forded. Heavy traffic may lead to replacement with stone for durability and less frequent repairs and breakdowns.
        • Stone can be used from the river, if enough can be found nearby. Otherwise you will need a quarry within a reasonable distance for the source of materials.
        • Brick can be used for narrow spans if the materials and technology exist.
        • Cement and Concrete technology can increase the distance that can be spanned if the knowledge to use pilings at the base of arches. Roman brick. Roman Architecture. Roman Engineering. Roman Roads.
          • Aqueducts also use bridges for water. In areas where they cross the same spans as other traffic, they could share the same bridge. Here’s some information on Roman Aqueducts.
          • Aqueducts can also be used to extend watercourses for waterborne travel, and are called navigable aqueducts.

Portage

Similar to how a watercourse can interrupt land travel, land can interrupt water travel. There can be low points in a river such as where there is a ford, gravel or sand bar, collection of large stones, debris over the years of floods, or low water caused by drought. 

Portaging is simply porting (carrying) your craft overland until you reach more water. Historically, one thinks of the canoes of trappers and trader, and the boats of Lewis & Clark. However, there have been instances of sizable boats and ships being portaged.

There are many types of things that can force the occupants of a water craft to portage it. 

  • Low water due to nature of watercourse or drought.
  • Obstacles
    • Sand bar
    • Gravel bar
    • Rocks
    • Landslide
    • Avalanche
    • Ice
    • Flood debris – rocks, trees, building, bodies, etc.
    • New bridges or ferry tether lines.
    • Collapsed briges
    • Sunken or wrecked vessels.
    • Large water creatures like hippos, or monsters.
  • Rapids
  • Falls

Control of Traffic

Whether traveling on or across a watercourse, others will want to control it. Control can be in the form of legal or extralegal activity. What is considered extralegal in the heart of civilization, might be the closest thing to law in the borderlands. 

Theft

Theft will exist in many forms.

  • Lone or small number of thieves. These will be the pick pockets and those who prey on lone travelers, taking their stuff.
  • Bandits – These will be those a bit more organized and may operate a protection racket at the crossing or narrow point in a river.
  • Pirates – These will roam up and down the river to take the trade goods and other valuables up and down the river. Land raids will be within striking distance of the river, their fast escape route down  river.

Law

Whether the sudden arrival to the frontier or the already civilized interior, the law will make its presence felt in the form of taxation, fees, tariffs, fines and more. 

  • Individual – Whether a self appointed law man or the designated constable of the appropriate jurisdiction. They might deputize assistants. A paladin walking through might disrupt the bandits or pirates, and have to stay on to avoid those he has freed from being taken over again. He might charge fees to help out, and been seen as taxes by some.
  • Garrison – Troops in some level of fortification from the monarch or local noble. They will be place in the most strategic point for control. If the high point is too far to practically control the choke point for traffic, they will s\establish a standing watch, or regular patrol to the point if too far to maintain.
    In a more civilized region or city, the garrison will be the gatehouse or tower built over the tollbooth. A village or town will arise around these locations.
  • Fort or Castle – Troops will have a more substantial and imposing base to project even more strength.
  • Way Stations and Hostels – Way stations for officials and hostels, AKA inns and taverns, will rise up along a road or a large river that is the main route for trade. On borderlands and the wilderness, the ruins of these from fallen empires might be the center point for a small village, or a hideout for bandits, goblins, or a lair of some monster.
  • Boats, Barges, and Ships – In addition to the traffic from civilian versions of these craft, the national or local ruler will patrol the river to protect their own investments in trade and to ensure taxes keep rolling in to keep them in power. 

Beginnings

The source of a river or stream is called the headwaters. Watercourses that begin as springs or flow from other openings in the ground are often considered holy places, or places of magic and healing.

Finding the source of major rivers has been seen as a prize. The Nile was one of the last major rivers in the world to have its source documented by science. There is a game that was released in the 80’s call Source of The Nile informed by this period of colonial expansion and exploration in Africa. More detail at Boardgame Geek.

  • Spring
  • Crack
  • Cave – Surface opening of underground river. Could be a very small opening that is enlarged by those who find it over time.
  • Glacial melt 
  • Mountain peak – the annual spring thaw and rains maintain the flow of water.
  • Marshlands 

Endings

There are two ways a river is considered to end, as an estuary in to a body of water, whether fresh or salt water, or the confluence of two or more rivers into one.

Freshwater bodies can be ponds, lakes, or inland seas. The size of the water body will determine the navigability of the watercourse. Lakes and ponds may have marsh or swamp lands at the estuary in a relatively level area. 

At saltwater bodies, those tend to be seas or oceans. Often the mouth of the river fills with sediment from silt and may limit the ability for seagoing vessels to navigate it.

Weather

Weather affects navigation of watercourses. Too much rain leads to flooding and until the chaos subsides navigation is dangerous. Drought leads to inability to travel, without portage. Seasonal variations in rainfall will lead to semi-predictable peaks and valleys in navigability. Winter in temperate and further regions will lead to ice partially or completely blocking traffic via the river. 

If frozen to sufficient thickness wild herd animals, followed by their predators can cross rivers that lack high banks. Bandits and war parties can utilize this new bridge also. Ice that is thin leads to accidents. Children feared lost beneath the ice or in danger of it could be an adventure hook. 

Drought of an extent to halt traffic will have repercussions on trade, irrigation, diplomacy, and many potentially dying of thirst. Water from a river is easier to access than boring through rock. Work projects to build cisterns for water storage for the next drought, and seeking water will lead to finding things of lost civilizations and provide many adventure hooks.

Geology

Hills and mountains and sedimentary rock along the banks will most likely hold some form of cave or cavern. They may be quite obvious or only be known to a few locals, or be the lairs of predators or monsters. Some could be bandit hideouts, hidden behind waterfalls, surface entrances to a cavern system that eventually leads to the underdark, or the interior world of the planet. I had an idea a couple weeks ago that the underdark is the zone between the outer and inner worlds of the planet.

Cliffs are natural outlooks and can slump if earth or soft stone, or boulders or dead trees can come crashing down. Wyverns might nest on a cliff overlooking the river crossing causing an impact on trade and thus taxes.

Conclusion

There is a lot more here than I could hope to compile in a single day. I hashed this out in about three and a half hours. This will fit into what I see as becoming a framework for building one’s own campaign world, with tools to help build locations and encounters. One need not detail every mile, bend, fall, and rapids in a river. Merely specify what one will find in a particular point along a river.

If you don’t want to map out a river journey, don’t suggest any information to your party to help them think of it. Make all journeys cross rivers and you won’t have to do much detail, of use the same methods for land travel, focus on the narrative of the journey with only highlights of the scenery. Placing specific encounters, or developing encounters that you can fit into any place along a river will ease your work load. 

This exercise of writing this article and generating the rough structure of tables has given me ideas that will percolate in the back of my mind and ideas will emerge when I need them during the course of play. 

I hope you find this informative and useful in crafting your own ideas.

RPGs

Ideas For Hidden Items/Secret Doors

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This is an exercise to help me with my own planning and preparation of adventures for hidden and secret items/treasure/doors/etc. I wanted a quick page to have all the things I wanted to make sure I considered when planning hidden item(s).

See this article on locks. My article on trade goods has some insight on items that might be hidden. Last year’s entry on V – Vaults for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. See also E – Entrances & Exits and D – Dungeons.

The d30 Sandbox Companion, d30 DM companion and other tools are a great way to figure out locations, guards, etc. Don’t forget the many tables in the 1st Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide.

I took these ideas and expanded them in my publication on DriveThruRPG: Locks, Vaults, and hiding Places [Affiliate Link].

Type of Hiding:

  1. In Plain Sight*
  2. Container**
  3. Magic***
  4. Hidden****
  5. Trap*****
  6. Combination of the above.

*This can vary from the object is in plain sight, but could be obscured in a minor way, it is very plain looking, it is in a room with multiple similar or identical objects, illusion, magic, mirrors, etc.

**Containers may be hidden or in plain sight. Containers are anything that holds something. Sacks, bags, bottles, kegs, casks, barrels, scroll cases, cups, glasses, chests, luggage, rooms, planets, pocket dimensions, etc.

***Includes magic and illusions. Any way that a spell can be used to hide something. Darkness, polymorph, invisibility, duo-dimension, etc.

****Hidden can vary in how well something is hidden from not well to devilishly clever. This type of hiding is non-magical.

*****One or more normal or non-magical traps that are part of the hidden location of the item(s).

Effort Given to Hiding:

How much time and effort the possessor and/or owner of an object spends hiding it determines how easily is is found and retrieved.

  1. Quick/Rushed – For example, a pickpocket hiding his new loot.
  2. A few uninterrupted minutes. – This is slightly better hidden, but without a known location to deposit it or a magic item or spell to place on it, one will not hide it too well.
  3. An hour to think and plan it.
  4. Days or more to plan it.
  5. Special building project, craft project, etc. to hide/conceal it.
  6. Magic and/or illusion to hide it.
  7. Guardian(s) placed to defend and prevent finding the hidden location.
  8. Inaccessible location – top of mountain, bottom of sea, middle of desert, etc.

A good example is the myths about Oak Island indicate that it is a vastly complex route to a hidden treasure. If it really is a hidden treasure chamber with various obstacles along the way, it shows maximum effort. Tides, weather, geology, hydrology, atmosphere, traps, barriers, etc.

Guardians:

  1. None* – Solely reliant on how well it is hidden.
  2. Obstacle – In addition to traps or hiding, there might be a moat, cavern, etc.
  3. Lock/Seal/Glyph – From physical locks to magical or holy/unholy protections.
  4. Normal creatures – from unintelligent to highly intelligent
  5. Magical creatures – from charmed normal creatures to magical creatures or even extra planar creatures.
  6. Combination**

*There might be no guards for other reasons, such as the guardians are dead or defeated by those who have gone before, but the hidden location/item(s) was not found.

**Combination could indicate competing groups out for the honor of guarding the item the best. This could lead to one group sabotaging the other or making it appear the other is the one who let the item(s) get found and removed from hiding.

NOTE: Guardians that are intelligent can be highly organized, like a secret society dedicated to keeping something hidden, or a tribe whose goal is to keep something hidden.

Guardians will also vary in how efficient and effective they are. A single guardian that has to eat will have to be away seeking food, unless there is a ready food supply. If the guardian eats adventurers, there will have to be a steady stream of new ones to feed the guardian to keep it from hunting.

Guardians with a large area to patrol will only be as effective as the amount of area they can survey/patrol.

The loyalty and dedication of guardians will also be a factor. A bound magical creature might have learned loopholes that it might use to let the item be found to spite the one who bound them. If the binding has a bit that will harm the bound if the item is recovered, it would motivate the guard to do a good job.

Lack of food, pay, discipline, etc. will have an impact on how motivated and loyal guards are.

NOTE: It is possible for the guardian to be the hiding spot, i.e. a large creature, like a dragon or some such has swallowed the item(s) and you have to slay the creature to get it.

Tools for guardians:

Intelligent guardians will be given tools they can use. Unintelligent guardians will have the environment designed to maximize the effectiveness of the guardian. For example, a ten foot cubic passageway around a room that is a ten foot cube patrolled by a gelatinous cube fed by the refuse from the sewers of the city above. Rats and other denizens of the sewers would be between the hiding spot and the character’s starting point.

A great aid to helping guardians do their job is that they don’t know the secret(s) needed to retrieve the item(s) or even the exact location of the hiding place.

  1. Knowledge – lore, map or other secrets to help protect item(s)
  2. Items – Specialty items whether normal or non-magical specific to keeping it hidden.
  3. Magic – Spells, charms, or magic items designed to help with the mission of guarding the item(s).

For a science fiction or modern setting, replace scrying devices with closed circuit TV, add motion sensors, laser defenses, etc.

What is hidden?

  1. Good guys hide something from bad guys.
  2. Bad guys hide something from good guys.
  3. Money
  4. Gems & Jewels
  5. Money, Gems & Jewels.
  6. Magic.
  7. Magic & Money
  8. Magic & Money, Gems & Jewels
  9. Unique interesting item – could be magical.
  10. Nothing*

*The reasons for this are manifold. The place of hiding was prepared, but the item was never put in place. The item was moved for cleaning and lost. The item was acquired by a prior person or group. More examples could be found.

To whom is the hidden valuable?

  1. The person who hid it. Others consider it junk, odd, etc.
  2. Specific species/race.
  3. Specific class.
  4. Specific alignment/affiliation/group with a common goal.
  5. Specific person/creature*
  6. Everyone who knows about it.**

*The big bad, the big good, some average Joe, like a farmer, player character, dragon, lich, diety, demon, devil, etc.

**Watch It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to get an idea of how this might work.

Multi-part items with multiple hiding spots

Just like Harry Potter seeking the horcruxes of Voldemoort, each hidden in its own unique way, a multi-part item or treasure could contain clues or the requirements to find other location(s).

This gets complicated. Each individual location is subject to each of the above criteria, in addition to the specifics of the item.

Take a mythical 7 part item. In the initial hiding the only way to find the items is to find them in the correct sequence. If you find item 7 first you can’t find item one or six, since an item only tells you how to find the next item. In addition, over the ages, some items have been found or moved, or the custodian(s) of the items did not place the item in its hiding spot.

I need to start an adventure with finding the last item in a series and seeing if the party takes the bait to figure out how to find the rest of it. Lots of money spent with one or more sages, wizards, and clerics seeking clues.

Custodians – Similar to guardians, and may be a subset of elite/senior guardians who actually know the secret location and many of the secrets to get close to the item, and even interact with it. As a last resort, custodians can move that which is hidden.

RPGs

Quick Campaign Creation Checklist

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I had a post like this in the past – Checklist For Gearing Up For An Online Campaign, but I wrote this without reviewing it. I also had a post on Campaign Design, with lots of links to great online resources. For some reason the variation below really hit home with me.

If you are planning your first campaign or planning a new campaign, what do you need to do to be ready for players?

I have a World Building Cheat Sheet on Cheatography that ties in to this topic.

First, you decide what genre, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Western, etc. The decision of a genre may be determined by the rules you already have, or a new game you bought but haven’t had a chance to play. Or you may be gung ho and want to design a new game to go with your campaign.

Before we get too far into this, what do we mean by campaign? For me, a campaign is on open ended series of adventures in the same setting. Basically, this is sandbox style of play. I played in a campaign that is over 30 years old and still going, ran by my brother, Robert. I can play in it whenever I want (Well, that and when his work schedule and my being back home in Missouri coincide….).

For others, a campaign is a series of connected adventures that has an end, either a set number of adventures, or a goal/culmination, that all the players and the DM are working towards. This does not mean that multiple campaigns can’t be in the same world. Why design a world/setting for adventure and not use it? For some, like back in the old days, their setting is running through a bunch of modules, with custom modifications. The One Page Dungeon Contest provides plenty of these.

Scope – Just how big do you plan this campaign to be? Even if you start out with a handful of six mile hexes, just how big is your setting? Will it be limited to a sub-continental or continental scale, a planet, a solar system, a galaxy, parallel universes, different planes of existence? While it may start small in a village or small town with a dungeon, if it takes off, how big is the limit? If you and your players only want to do dungeons, for example working through all the dungeons from the One Page Dungeon Contests, you have your scope. However, if you all want grand and epic adventures across time, space, and multiple dimensions, you have your scope. You don’t have to plan any of that now, just make a note, and as ideas strike you, put them in your notebook.

Background – How much is needed? Do you write sweeping histories and legends? If so, do you share with your players, or allow them to uncover them through play? Or do you have just the barest of notes to set the tone. Or do you get input from players to help set the tone?

Powers/Dieties – If you have Dieties in a fantasy setting, or perhaps in other genres, do you design them whole cloth, or use existing mythos? For example, in AD&D there is Dieties & Demigods or Grewhawk Advenures with dieties all stated out and ready to go. Some GM’s don’t care and just let each player choose what they want for a diety. Or are there super powerful beings that fill the role of dieties, like Q from TNG, or all the major aliens from the Star Gate series?

Races – In a fantasy setting, for example, do you allow all the races that players can be? Do you limit the choices for your vision of your campaign. Do you not care and allow any type of creature to be a PC?

Classes – Do you allow all the classes in the core rules? Do you limit the availability of some classes? Do you allow players to create their own classes?  Will you allow multiclass combinations different from the rules? Will you have race as class?

 Level Limits? – If you plan a game with level limits, do you plan to enforce it or revise it, or have no limits?

Alignment – If your rules have an alignment system, do you use it as is, or modify it to suit your preferences or the flavor of the campaign?

House Rules – What other changes to the standard rules do you have? Do you ignore certain rules? Do you have your own custom rules or mix and match ideas from multiple other games and blogs?

How much do you need to start? – I am assuming a sandbox style of preparation. For D&D, for example, a town, a dungeon or two, some rumors, shops, an inn, a bunch of names for NPC’s that come up, and some monsters, with a few random encounter tables. Keep it simple and keep it small. If you have a hook for people to run off halfway across a continent, then you will need to vastly expand your sandbox before play starts. Keep the focus on the starting area and minimize your efforts. There are tons of helpful ideas for all of this online, with all kinds of random tables to help you build a sandbox, create tables for various purposes, generate random names, etc. Work your setting, don’t make it work you. (This is a big finger pointed at me. I all too easily can get lost in the minutiae.)

Narrow your focus and only make as much material as you need to run the first few sessions. Be open to the players going in unexpected directions, and if they “go off the map”, roll with it. Take notes after the session, and prepare for next time.

Rely on the abundance available. There are tons of free modules and dungeons and other resources online. As mentioned above, the One Page Dungeon Contest has ready made adventures for multiple genres.

Maps or no maps for players? – There are tons of maps online. Do you only need them for you, or will you make them available to players? For example, maps of dungeons, cities, towns, etc? Of will it be theater of the mind and players can make their own maps.

Battlemats/Miniatures? – Will you use battlemats and miniatures for everything, or at all? I tend to use a simple map to show the lay of the land and relative position. Miniatures mostly for marching order and relative position. Often figures can be different dice or marks on a page, or other trinkets.

Player Handouts? – Will all of your preparation and design require a player handout with house rules, campaign setting information, or other things a player in your campaign needs to know? If so, this alone can take as much time as all your other preparation. Be smart, copy and paste and avoid typing something that already exists electronically. Keep a well backed up copy of this document and edit as needed during the course of the campaign.

Keeping it Organized – Plan for success. Don’t wimp out and assume no one will like your game. The first session may not go so well, especially with a group of people new to each other and perhaps new players. The first session will help set the tone and will help you launch into following sessions.

Keep a campaign calendar. If you have determined random events put it on the calendar and track on it the things players do. Include the actual session number and play date and what amount of time on your game calendar were covered.

Take notes during play. Note things you need to remember, have a section for To Do, research, preparation for next time, major events to remember and work into the game, etc. They only need enough detail so that you understand what they mean later.

Get the players involved. Especially for an online game, invite players to write up each session and given them XP, or other in-game rewards for their efforts.

If you have an existing campaign, and your plans to organize it did not go well, learn from what did not go well when planning and organizing a new campaign. Perhaps you can also take time to better organize your existing campaign.

Online tools – Whether you play online via Roll20 or other VTT, you can still use online tools to keep it organized. As long as all players have access to the internet, they can use a Google community to organize play reports and communicate between games, and the GM can message all players in one spot and simplify changes to the game schedule.

If you do play online, use a tool that all players can use and keep everyone involved. This is a bit more challenging remotely, as more quite players can sink into the background if they don’t get their queue to chime into the matter at hand. Whether in person or online, make sure that each player gets their moment. Some very loud and obnoxious players can crowd out the rest of the players.

Organizing as you go will simplify things down the road. Have a filing system that works for you, so you can find anything you need in seconds. Keep a list of NPC’s at hand so you always have the stats you generated for them and avoid generating new stats. If you do this, as I have done a few times, use the new stats for a new NPC. Make sure that everything you do is something you can use.

If hosting in your home, make sure that you have an understanding on pens/pencils, dice, paper, rule books, snacks,  etc. Unless you are a relatively new GM, you may not have extra dice to share. I fall into the camp of, no one uses the DM’s DM dice! But I have many other sets that I share. If the GM hosts, will the players bring snacks, etc? Is alcohol permitted? If you are a particular person when it comes to your stuff and your home, figure out how to explain your rules of use, so that it doesn’t turn people away.

I only mention this from my experience way back with one friend who would always lean back in chairs, and he ruined several of my parents chairs without much of an apology or offer to replace them. This usually is not a problem with adults, but some adults can still be careless with other’s stuff. You also didn’t dare give this guy a pencil, as he would chew it up, and leave slivers all over. Bic ink pens also suffered, the caps most of all.

Also be realistic, if you live in a tiny apartment, can you really host sessions with ten players? Is there a local place you can go to play? this goes back to how portable is your campaign? Can you play it anywhere? If you only have one toilet, how long will breaks have to be so that everyone gets a turn?

Get feedback from the players before, during, and after each session to see if they are into it and enjoying themselves. If a session goes very well, you won’t have to ask, they will either say it outright, or give obvious clues that it hit the spot.

Use the players suppositions and fears. – Players can’t help to speculate about what they will encounter. If you get them into it, you can really use themselves against themselves. Use this to tweak the current session, or collect notes on all their wild speculations and build an adventure built off of them. When you use player’s ramblings in play, they buy into it all the more, because now they are invested and see that you are willing to play along.

Build and revise as needed. – As you go through the process of building your campaign/world/setting, you will think of something not listed here. Add it to the list. As players begin interacting with your creation, it will have to adapt, be willing to let it change as it happens. If you have a “really great idea” in the planning stages, but it doesn’t seem to fit once play begins, that’s ok. Either save it for a different setting, revise it so that it fits, or wait until the campaign develops so that it makes sense to use that idea.

What did I miss? I left out links to all the articles on how to build a sandbox

THE OUTLINE

  • Genre/Rules (Game) – This is not necessarily the same thing.
    • The rules should be one that you know well enough to run without too much delay for “getting things right”.
    • I am more and more of the mind that “getting things right” does not mean stopping the game for an extended period of time to figure out some forgotten, obscure point, or edge case in the rules. Make a decision/ruling, note it, live with it, and move on.
    • Can you pack up the game and take it anywhere, or must the players come to your place because of how much material is involved?
    • How crunchy/detailed/complicated do you want your rules to be? If you like realism, choose a system that goes for realism. If you want rules that allow fast and simple play so you have more time to enjoy the cooperative play and storytelling of RPG’s, find the system that works for you.
  • Type of campaign (open ended ongoing or limited duration)
    • Sandbox vs. something else.
  • Scope
  • Background
  • Powers/Dieties
  • Races
  • Classes
  • Alignment
  • House Rules
  • How much do you need to start?
  • Maps or no maps for players?
  • Battlemats/Miniatures?
  • Player Handouts?
  • Keeping it Organized
    • Campaign Calendar
    • Notes during the session.
    • Player Involvement
    • Online Tools
    • Hosting in your home?
  • Feedback
  • Use the players suppositions and fears.
  • Build and revise as needed. –
RPGs

Faction Interaction Tracker

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As I have mentioned before, I play in a weekly Wednesday night AD&D Roll20 campaign that just hit 71 sessions this week. Here is a link to the spreadsheet I built in Google Sheets.

After session 69, our DM, John, asked us to put together a list of all the factions and potential enemies we had made. I made a quick off the cuff list in a reply to that thread on our G+ Community. You can catch John’s blog about his design for the campaign here.

Before we got going on session 70, John mentioned that he had built a spreadsheet to help him keep track of all the factions, but had an issue tracking which groups were friendly or in communication with other groups. I suggested color coding or using mind map software. John mentioned that he thought of building an SQL database and using SQL queries to make sense of it.

While I love technology and the idea of using bells and whistles and shiny bits to track such interactions, that is impractical. There has to be an easier way to do it with a spreadsheet so you can just print it out for use at the table.

First, I turned to Google, but did not quickly find anything searching for “RPG faction tracker” or “RPG intrigue tracker”.

It is simple to make a list of groups and keep track of whether or not they like the PC’s and how much. The complexity comes in when when keeping track of how the various factions feel about each other.

Factions that don’t get along might cooperate if they also don’t like the PC’s enough to do so, and there is benefit in their cooperation.

Factions that don’t get along and one side likes the PC’s would only cooperate in helping or hindering the PC’s if the benefit were enough to counteract their favorable or unfavorable opinion of the PC’s. For example, the group friendly to the PC’s would only sell them out if the price of losing the abilities and services of the PC’s were worth it.

Factions that like each other would be challenged if one liked the PC’s and the other did not. Which friendship would win out, faction1-faction2, or factionX-PC’s?

An X-Y type chart with each faction on each axis to chart how they interact with each other, and how they view the PC’s.

A straight text faction tracker does not display very well.

Faction 1   N/A                –                      0                        +

Faction 2   –                        N/A              _                         +

Faction 3   0                        –                       N/A               +

Faction N +                          +                     +                            N/A

Faction 1    Faction 2   Faction 3   Faction N

Here is one built in LibreOffice and copy and pasted in.

Faction Tracker

Faction 1N/A | ++ | 0+ | +– | –– | – –
Faction 2+ | 0N/A | –+ | 0– | – –++ | – – – –
Faction 3+ | ++ | 0N/A | 0+ | – – –++ | – – –
Faction …– | –– | – –+ | – – –N/A | – –+ | – – – – –
Faction N– | – –++ | – – – –++ | – – –+ | – – – – –N/A | – – –
 Faction 1Faction 2Faction 3Faction …Faction N

In the above example, each faction on the grid is shown as having a relationship of N/A with itself. I got to thinking about it, and you can color code that to indicate the stability of the organization, or divisions and intrigue within the organization. To the right is how that faction views the PC’s.

So the left side of each cell is the relationship/opinion of one faction for another, and the right side is the net view of both factions for the PC’s.

In column one we see that Faction 1 has a positive relationship with the PC’s. Faction 1 & 2 like each other, but Faction 2 does not like the PC’s so the net view of both factions is that they are neutral to the PC’s. Without some major event or other leverage to move the discussion between them, Faction 1 might not sell out the PC’s.

Faction 1 & 3 like each other and because Faction 3 is neutral to the PC’s the net view of the PC’s is positive.

Faction 1 & … don’t like each other, and Faction … dislikes the PC’s twice as much as Faction 1 likes them, so the net view of the PC’s is negative.  However, since the two factions don’t like each other or get along, the PC’s should be OK from Faction 1.

Faction 1 & N don’t get along and Faction N dislikes the PC’s three times as much as Faction 1 likes them. On top of that Faction N has some sort of a power struggle or instability in its ranks.

The benefit of using multiple +’s and -‘s is a quick visual queue for the level of like or dislike for the PC’s. This gets tricky to enter into Libre Office because one has to remember to tab off after entering a multiple – or it tries to do a formula, even if you set all the cells to be text only. I did not test it on Excel on my work laptop.

So a simpler and quicker entry method would be to use signed numbers, i.e. 1, 2, 3 for degree of positive, and -1, -2, -3 for degree of negative.  If using a spreadsheet, having two columns for tracking the interactions would make it easier to use the graphing/charting capabilities of a spreadsheet.

Screen Shot 08-25-15 at 05.57 PM
Faction 1N/A11011-1-1-1-2
Faction 210N/A-110-1-22-4
Faction 31110N/A01-32-3
Faction …-1-1-1-21-3N/A-21-5
Faction N-1-22-32-31-4N/A-3
 Faction 1 Faction 2 Faction 3 Faction … Faction N 

One can also just as easily use a sheet of graph paper and colored pencils.

The way to gauge how a faction in a town, city, or region views the PC’s, it should be as simple as tracking the number of times the PC’s do something that furthers or hinders the goals, prestige, and power of the faction. If the members of the faction say, “Who? Never heard of them.” when asked about the PC’s, then they are neutral. If they have heard of them, and the PC’s have not done anything to affect their standing in the world, it would still tend to be neutral.

If the PC’s do something to further or hinder a cause that the faction favors, but it does not change their position in the world, the faction would also tend to be neutral. If the cause was not core to their purpose in life. For example, the local thieve’s guild probably won’t care what the PC’s do as long as it doesn’t impact their business. If the guild is limited to what goes on in the city, destroying the local goblin tribe may not matter to them, so neutral. If the goblin tribe was stopped from breaching the city walls and killing all in sight, then the guild would have a positive view since no city means no business. However, if there were some sort of lucrative arrangement with the goblins and the PC’s wiped them out and ended that source of revenue, then a definite negative.

All of these things are relative. Different factions will have different goals and sources of power and influence.

If there is a city, for example, and there are multiple factions vying for control, and the PC’s actions strengthen the position of one or more factions and weaken others, the PC’s may not be safe in certain parts of town. Add in the some factions are allied or opposed to other factions, and the interactions get complicated.

When there is a major slaver’s ring when there are interactions in multiple cities and factions in each, breaking open that slaver’s ring will change the political landscape and factions that are unknown to the PC’s suddenly come to the fore. This is what happened in our weekly online AD&D game. We are still learning of connections. I find myself wishing we had a wizard with a crystal ball, or the ability to be invisible and read minds, to find out more of what we need to know to not get dead.

Just knowing what I know as a player, it is hard to keep straight. Our group seems to be a magnet for trouble and upsetting the social and political balance wherever we go. We view ourselves as the good guys who are there to help, but some we have tried to help might not see it that way, while others are grateful for our assistance, and those we have offended are very thirsty for our blood. It is the ones who are patient about taking care of us, and using them to their advantage while they can that bother me the most. This has made for an engaging and exciting campaign, and I keep wanting to know more.

If PC’s just stick to fighting monsters and looting dungeons and keep out of politics and justice, they could end up with fewer enemies and perhaps stronger friends. It all depends on the group interaction of the players and how they play their characters, and how they interact with the world. If they don’t work to upset the apple cart wherever they go, they can be more scared of the monsters and villains they encounter, than all the factions that are after their heads.

If your players have gained the attention of lots of factions, you might need to keep track of them. Hopefully, these ideas will help you do that.

RPGs

Day 14 N is for Names

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N – Names – All places need a name that fits and evokes a sense of belonging to the setting. Tables for streets, roads, bridges, squares, fountains, etc.

Will their be signposts for streets, names carved on bridges, temples and other civic buildings? If not, how will a party know how to find a square in the butcher’s market for a fallen city?

In a living city, one need merely ask the right person, perhaps for a price. See my prior posting for L – Lost.

In the practical realm of actual play, I find that as a DM the players are always asking about the name of this or that person, place, or thing. As a player, if the DM does not supply it, I find that I too ask about these things.

I find it helpful to have a pre-generated list of names that I can turn to for various random NPCs. The same goes for taverns, villages, streets, geographic features, etc. Every shopkeeper, farmer, peasant, soldier, humanoid,etc. needs a name. If the players capture a kobold, you know that they are going to ask its name. Just like today, there will be popular names, like that of the king, local ruler, family member, etc. It is OK to reuse names.

Make a table, find a table, or a program and generate ridiculously long lists to avoid having to stop play and think of a new name. I find that sometimes, my mind goes utterly blank in the midst of play. I end up with a lot of Sam’s or Bob’s or Jim’s when that happens. If it is an NPC that will be encountered again, make a note of it.

Other postings on my blog related to names:

(NOTE: Each of the following links to a PDF for download.)

RPGs

FMAD Humanoid Age Table

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Last year I was reading the entry in the Monster Manual on ogres and saw what it said about their age. I realized that I had not seen a table on the ages of the various humanoids like for the player character races, so I built my own chart in June, 2014 about the same time I made my name generator. You can get my humanoid age chart here.

Some of these creatures are quite long-lived, so it is reasonable for some of them to know quite a lot about regions they have lived for a few generations. How long has that ogre been under the bridge, etc.

This is not a table to roll on, but a chart showing the age breakdown based on how ages for the player character races ages are broken down in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. It has the ages for young adults on up and a basic age spread for each category. There may be other creatures that I missed that have ages listed, they can easily be added.

RPGs

FMAD Name Generator

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I made my own name generator back in June, 2014, and thought I had posted it to my blog, but I can’t find it. So, I am posting this article and will link to the PDF here.

This table uses a couple each of d6’s, d10’s, and d20’s. If you have multiple dice of different colors, you can roll your own.

This table is based on English and treats Y a little differently, giving 20 consonants to choose from. I would mix X and Y, or Q and Y. I am a visual person, so seeing the two letter consonant and vowel combinations helps me to come up with names just by looking at this chart.

One could also make card decks of different letter/syllable combinations and deal out random names that way.

There are also a lot of good online generators. I find it easier to have a long list of names and mark when I have used a name. I then circle back through the list. However, I like certain NPCs to be more memorable and have more unique names.

One could have a town where all the men are Jim, and all the women are Sally, and it is one’s occupation or other feature that distinguishes them. Jim the barber, Jim the butcher, or they just call them Barber or Butcher. Sally the Sorceress, or Sally the Scullery maid, etc. Jim the dark is the farmer with dark hair, and Sally the fair is his wife, for example. I think of everyone named Johnson in the town in Blazing Saddles.

RPGs

Group Name Generator

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I had an idea for a group name generator. Here are my initial ideas. I will polish this and do a proper table after I let the ideas ferment a bit more.

Some groups of players like a name for their group. The online group I play in had a hard time coming up with a cool name, so we ended up using the name of the guard dog of our wizard. The dog’s name is Starchy. Some of us were in the first group of players and by association all of us were referred to by NPCs as “Baldric’s Boys”, since we recovered a gem with significance for the followers of an admiral who died hundreds of years ago. We merged the two into “Starchy’s Boyz”.

It can be used for groups of NPCs, the bad guys, allied good guys, mercenary groups like The Black Company from the book series or The White Company from European History.

Here is a link to the current PDF.

TYPE OF GROUP
Clan
Sept
Tribe
Order
Fellowship
Company
Brigade

PET/FAMILIAR/MONSTER
[Name]
[Species]
Hawk
Dragon

DESCRIPTOR
Slayers
Killers
Seekers
Destroyers

COLOR
Black
White
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
Plaid

WEAPON/ARMOR/OBJECT
Staff
Sword
Scimitar
Cudgel
Bow
Shield(s)
Helmet(s)
Arrow(s)
Idol

RPGs

Adventure/Module Names

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It’s been a long day. Snow and cold last week, followed by warmer temperatures and a lot of rain and a thunderstorm last night. I only new there was a thunderstorm because I had to get up in the middle of the night, I can sleep through most anything once I get to sleep. That was at 3:30 and the power was out.

I got back to sleep.and was sleeping soundly and dreaming, on the edge of lucid dreaming when I swore someone was pounding on my front door, so I stumble downstairs to see who it was. No one. The dogs in their kennels were all excited and wagging their tails into the sides of the kennels making a load of racket. Did my dreaming translate that into pounding on the door? That was at 5:30 and I couldn’t fall back asleep. At 6:30 the power came back on and the streetlight across the street filled my room with light. (I need blackout curtains.)

At 7:00 my alarm went off, so I grudgingly got up and got ready for work and stopped to get massive amounts of caffeine to help me get through the day. At about 9:30 I dozed at my desk for a bit. Thankfully, it was a relatively slow day at work.

We finally got a CostCo in Kalamazoo, within a couple miles of my work, and just off the way home. My son presented me with a membership card, as he got two with his membership. Since he lives with me, we are in the same household. I made the mistake of shopping while I was hungry, but got things that are healthy…or mostly so. I saw what I consider a good deal on a mini desktop with Win7 Pro. My last desktop got zapped and all I could salvage were the peripherals and the hard drive. My laptop has a failed screen and keeps freezing up and having issues with Google+ Hangouts with the weekly AD&D game I’m in. I do some work for a non-profit, so I need a working PC to keep up. I was on the look out for a good buy.

Did I bury the lede well enough? LOL

My tired brain came up with a name based on some of the OSR and original modules, and I thought I’d write about that tonight.

The Caves of Cavernous Caverns. Awesome, right?

Or, The Caves of Chaotic Caverns.

The Crumbling Caves of Chaotic Caverns.

The Terrifying Terror of The Terrible Trolls.

What this is calling for is a random adventure/module name generator. I recall having read about something like that a couple years ago, there is probably more than one, but I don’t feel like googling for them right now.

Alliteration add punch to it, like : Red River of Raging Ravenous Revenants. Although a horde of raging revenants would be silly without the proper story and narrative elements, psychobabble and circumlocutious obfuscation….

It’s not a complete set of tables to generate a module/adventure/campaign name, since I didn’t put a die and a roll with each table, just something to get started. This is more a placeholder for me to refine my idea and come up with some sort of finished product or PDF to share at some point in the nebulous future. Ah what fun a tired brain can generate! Here is the current PDF.

d3 ARTICLE
1-3 – A/An
4-6 – The

LOCATION
Cave(s)/Cavern(s)
Tomb/Crypt/Vault/Grave
Hill(s)/Knob/Mount/Mountain(s)
Plains/Tundra
River/Lake/Sea/Ocean
Idol/Altar/Shrine/Temple
Pit/Dungeon
Fort/Castle/Fortress
Aerie
Coast

NOUN/ITEM
Secret
Night
Gold
Hoard
Horde
Clan/Tribe
Idol
Deep
Dark
Unholy

ADJECTIVE/DESCRIPTOR
Shiny
Adjective form of the Location
Frightful
Awful
Awe/Awe-full
Dread/Dreadful
Mischievous
Ravenous
Raging

ALIGNMENT (Use Lawful, Good, and Neutral if you want.)
Chaotic
Evil

CLASS (Mix in some of the AD&D Level Titles or find a Thesaurus)
Wizard/Mage/Archmage/Necromancer
Priest/High Priest/Acolyte
Monk
Thief/Rogue
Assassin
Warrior
Ranger
Paladin

COLOR
Black
White
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
Ochre
Mauve
Taupe
Plaid

WEAPON(s)
Sword
Dagger
Staff
Hammer
Axe
Spear
Bec-de-corbin (not so much….)
Arrow
Club

MONSTER(s)
Kobold
Goblin
Orc
Hobgoblin
Drow
Pirates
Lizard/Lizardmen
Frog
Ogre
Troll
Dragon
Gelatinous jelly of slimy oozing spores (Now I need to stat that out….)
etc.