Tag Archives: Hommlet

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UCon 2019 Post-Con Post

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UCon 2019 ended on Sunday, November 24 and I am finally writing about what happened. I mentioned what was on my schedule in my last post.

Pick Up Games

Brendan LaSalle, Clayton Williams, Laura Pirkola

I met up with friends Thursday night and we had a pick up game of my card game. Laura Pirkola and Clayton Williams invited me to join in a pick up DCC [Affiliate Link] game with Brendan LaSalle. It had a hard start time so we didn’t get through the full card game as we had many interruptions. The most important of which was ordering a pizza. This was critical as I got so busy with packing and so forth before the two hour drive, that I didn’t have lunch.

Brendan describing the situation.

The DCC scenario was play testing something that should be appearing as a new module sometime in the future. I don’t recall if there was a specific time frame or not. We ended up playing two characters each, until we were joined by another husband and wife who joined in at the halfway point. It was a great time, as always with Brendan.

I stayed up way too late visiting with friends in the lounge. I didn’t get to my room until 2:30 AM, and took forever to fall asleep. Then I kept waking up. Part of the issue was being dehydrated as I hadn’t had enough water during the day, then had a tall glass in the bar, after a short glass during DCC and pizza.

Hommlet

My copy of Village of Hommlet

I slept as long as I could before going down for breakfast before my morning game, where I ran Village of Hommlet [Affiliate Link]. I realized I had forgotten to grab my 1e DM screen when I packed up all my table copies of the Player’s Handbook. It seems I no longer had the PDF of the DMG [Affiliate Link] on my Dropbox nor my I got on my Google Drive. So I got on my DriveThruRPG account, since I purchased the PDF, I can just download it again…. NOT.

For some reason, I could not find it in my library. Next, I tried pulling up the PDF on its listing. Turns out I found a bug in the mobile site. On the desktop version of the website, you can click on the product listing for something you’ve already purchased, and it gives a link labeled, “Click to get it.” I got on Discord and mentioned it to the DriveThruDiscord and they said to report the issue, it’s probably a bug. [Which reminds me, I need to report it if it is still an issue after I finish this post.]

I only needed it for the combat charts. I then looked up the Target 20 System mechanic. When we were at the table, one of the players had the DMG on their tablet, so I used that to track combat, turning undead, etc. I planned on 8 players, but one person really wanted in, so we squeezed in nine players plus me around the table.

My PHB I got for Christmas the year it was released.

All of my other preparations were in place. I had five table copies of the Players Handbook [Affiliate Link] for players, plus my copy. I had them all sign my copy. This is the original, well-worn copy I got for Christmas back in the day. I’ve also gotten it signed by several TSR notables from back in the day. Sadly, not Gary or Dave.

Players in the Hommlet game.

I also have 18 AD&D Characters I created. I have form-fillable PDF character sheets for each one, and I update their information for each level. So I always have a stock of characters for whatever AD&D adventure I run at a con.

The players had a great time. I started them at the gate house instead of making them start at the edge of town and figure out where to go. Most of my rolls were in the party’s favor. Things such as surprise, finding secret doors, etc. While they did not manage to find the big bad and his minions, they did find the ghouls and it was a near fought thing. The best fighters were getting paralyzed and they were just not hitting the ghouls. In the end, they bested the ghouls and we were out of time.

In the various instances of combat, some had been knocked down and I used the -10 HP is death in AD&D. They were stabilized and clerics were able to give them enough HP to have positive HP. I handle negative HP as serious and the player is unconscious for one hour per point of negative. This forces characters to be encumbered with an unconscious character, if they push on, or having to find a place to rest in relative safety. They were all experienced players and chose to hole up and rest each time players were incapacitated.

During the ghoul fight, several characters went into negative HP. They were pretty chewed up, but had find some nice treasure. I didn’t keep track, but I don’t think it would have been enough XP for 9 characters to level.

Boot Hill

Boot Hill sequel to last year’s game. The two in the middle played last year.

Last year, I ran a Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] game, A Posse For The School Marm. All of the players asked for a sequel for next year. So I brought a sequel, Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch , that we played Friday night at the same table as Hommlet that morning.

Two of the players from last year made it, and brought their character sheets. The group played smart and rolled well. The rules for Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] are very light. I realized I was not using an option that would have made the gunfights last longer. I made the big bad tough, but not fast enough. The players grabbed the pregens that had the fastest characters, which I forgot I rolled some really nice scores for the pregens. (Why can’t I roll that well for my own characters?)

We had a lot of fun and there were requests for another sequel, so I will have to scratch my head on that one. I didn’t have a ready made scenario like I did after last year.

I ended the day in the bar, but went to bed earlier. I was able to sleep in as I didn’t have my first scheduled game until 8:00 PM Saturday.

Macchiato Monsters

I slept in Saturday and got in on a game of Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] ran by Brett Slocum. I had a play games all weekend pass, which makes it easy to slip into games with openings.

I had never played Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] , but it is described as a cross between Black Hack [Affiliate Link] and White Hack. I’ve played Black Hack and have both 1st and 2nd edition. I’ve never seen nor played White Hack.

It has a great deal of freedom in character creation and requires players to be creative, as one chooses a self-defined character within the parameters set by character creation.

It was a fun time and a full table. We all played as a team and ended with a whirlwind wrap up by the GM, as there was more module than time would allow, but we got a feel for the rules. It is much more reliant on role play but dice do come into play. Creativity and an open mind are key. I’m definitely intrigued and will look into picking up both Macchiato Monsters [Affiliate Link] and White Hack.

NOTE: White Hack is only available on Lulu and does not have a PDF.

Playtesting The Card Game

Ready and waiting for the players.

While I have had lots of playtesting of the card game at two game stores, two Gary Cons, two Marmalade Dogs, and now two UCons, this was the first time I had a playtest on the official schedule at a con. This was also the first time I had played in the board game area. I had strolled through it just to see what was going on in prior years.

I had one person pre-registered, and two other players for the first round of playtesting. One player, the youngest, in his 20’s left before the first hand was played. He went to join a game one of his friends was running. I had one person walking by who we invited to join the second game.

The consensus was that they all liked it, but felt it needs something more. The big thing is the game lasted nearly an hour. This is because the end condition for the game is dependent on how long it takes for a control card to come up twice. In this case, it was very late in both halves of the game.

While I understand the suggestions, it runs the risk of either breaking something that works, or making a very simple game more complex. It is interesting that about half the players who have played it, likes the rules as is, and the other half want something more.

I have some ideas for how to have two ways to play, a simple rules default and a full rules option.

In the current rules, each card does one thing. That is the strength of the rules. The challenge is to have additional rules and options for some cards that will not break the game or make it overly complicated.

I also honed my elevator pitch for the card game: Each player is building their own army in the midst of challenges. The player with the largest army (most points) wins.

All in all, I had great feedback from people who play a lot of games, and one of them also designs his own games. He had a WWII war in the Pacific naval simulation that I and another player from the playtest played after the time was up. It was a lot of fun and while it needs a bit of polish, I look forward to seeing it again next year.

The game developer player’s game partner stopped by midway through the WWII game and they are working on a space combat game that they have been playtesting at conventions for several years, including Gencon. They had a game slated for the next morning and invited me to join. I was very intrigued by their description.

[Earlier today I got the first piece of complete line art in preparation for the coming Kickstarter. I’ve got concept sketches for over a dozen cards, and hope to have many more soon.]

Space Combat Game

Setting up for the battle.

The name of the game is Star Blast. This was the last play test prior to publishing. Their plan it to put the rules on DriveThruRPG to get it out there, then do a Kickstarter to make a board game out of it.

They use Excel to make the ship sheets. Each ship has sensors, power, shields, weapons, etc. This very loosely reminds me of the original Star Fleet Battles from the mid 80s. I played a lot of Star Fleet Battles with my brother, Robert, and our friend Darryl.

Another player and I were space pirates out for resources. The other team represented the system with the resources. We had a railgun battle cruiser and a torpedo cruiser and a beam cruiser. They had a carrier with two fighter squadrons and a frigate. Our ships outclassed theirs.

We won almost all of the rolls to determine turn order. The first turn we elected to let the other team go first, so we could react to them. We then tried to move in and find a clear shot. There were lots of asteroids and gas clouds that limited the effectiveness of long shots.

I commanded the torpedo cruiser and beam cruiser. I moved to intercept and fired on their frigate and got a long range hit. Their carrier moved to a certain range and released fighters, then it got behind a gas cloud. The fighters and the frigate did some damage to one of the light cruisers, but damage control repaired it.

Our side focused on the fighters before they could get back to the carrier to get more torpedoes. We managed to hurt them a bit. Another few shots on the frigate and it had “fires”. Since a fire in space could easily be put out, it was explained that fire was shorthand for cascading system failures.

The damage control rules required a certain roll on a d6 to repair. One either failed to repair, or the roll revealed that damage control discovered the system was irreparable. The problem with fires is if you don’t put them out, there is a chance they spread.

That is what too out the frigate. It had a huge number of fires and eventually it fell apart.

My torpedo cruiser took a few hits as it went in to help the battle cruiser against the carrier and the fighters. The battle cruiser just couldn’t line up a killing shot on the carrier. We managed to shrink one fighter squadron, but the weapon on the carrier plus the speed and torpedoes of the fighters started fires on the torpedo cruiser and those fires multiplied until it was weakened enough that it basically fell apart.

We reduced the fighters some more, but time ran out before we could line up fatal blows to the carrier. The pirates won the scenario as we had the most ships remaining.

The frigate was no match for our ships and was better suited to screening the carrier than trying to face us. The fighters with their speed and torpedoes were killer if the carrier was in a safe position to launch and able to recover them for re-arming with their tough weapons. Fighter also had beams, but had to be in close.

I had a lot of fun, and had not played any sort of miniatures battle since the early 90’s. I am looking forward to seeing this released. When I know more, I will be sure to mention it hear and on the podcast.

Final turn of the battle before one of my ships was destroyed.

Farewells

I said my goodbyes to those who left before I did. I joined friends in the lounge to chat for a couple hours before I decided I better head home before dark. I really didn’t want to leave. I’m looking forward to next year.

You can hear the companion podcast here.

RPGs

UCon 2019

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I will be at UCon 2019 in Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend (November 22-24). I leave today and will enjoy the pre-con catch up with friends and pick-up games. Here’s a link to the PDF of the Con Book.

Friday morning, I will be running the AD&D [Affiliate Link] module, Village of Hommlet T-1 [Affiliate Link] . This is an homage as this was the first thing I ever ran as a DM/GM at a convention. That was at Marmalade Dog, here in Kalamazoo, a few years ago. I am now much better at running convention games. Since I put in the time to learn this module all those years ago, I wanted to give it a go and do a better job. I know I can do a lot better than when I ran it the first few times at Marmalade Dog. [You can see all my posts that mention Hommlet here.]

Friday evening, I will run a follow up scenario to last year’s Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] adventure, “A Posse For The School Marm.” At the conclusion of the game, all the players asked for a sequel. I just had to oblige them. I hope I do it justice. [You can see all my posts about Boot Hill here.]

Saturday evening, I’m scheduled for 4 hours to have play testing of my card game. I will also be available for pick up games for those who are interested. The art is not moving as fast as I want it to, so I’m trying not to get ahead of myself.

As always, I look forward to some me time out of the house and away from work. Visiting with friends, making new friends, and playing games is a great mini vacation. If you’ll be there and we haven’t met, I’m the one with the black Follow Me, And Die! T-Shirt. I have several of them so I can wear one each day.

RPGs

Day 6 F is for Farmers and Feeding

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F – Farmers/Feeding

Any sizable population needs to eat. There is limited potential to grow food within the city, unless there is a very regimented layout and everyone has access to garden space. There will be farmland nearby, or within easy shipping distance.

For example, when Rome conquered Egypt, they did so in part, to control the grain from Egypt – it was the bread basket for Rome with shipments about three days out from Rome, as I recall. Unseasonable storms and shipwrecks of grain shipments that caused a delay would lead to unrest. The grain ships were the size of the large shipping vessels of later centuries, many with two or three masts. Something not commonly mentioned in school. [I can’t seem to find the book I have where I read about this, and don’t recall the title.]

Cattle or other herds used for meat would also need to be close. Unless salted or cured, meat would not keep long. Thus there would be a market where livestock is slaughtered and the leather makers get the hides, the butchers get the meat, and the glue makers get the bones. There are other groups related to animal slaughter, such as drovers, herdsmen, stockyards, etc. Typically, animals were most often kept for their value in helping to plow or harvest, or the ability to harvest their wool or hair. Meat tended to be a rare part of a peasant’s diet, other than fish or fowl, most meat would be a rabbit or squirrel.

For a collapsed city, the remnants of surrounding farms and the stockyards and slaughter operations would be evident. Small hamlets where the farmers and resident smiths and carpenters and wainwrights lived to support an area of farmland. The module The Village of Hommlet is a farming hamlet with many adherents to druidical teachings and a decent level druid to lead the flock with a holy grove in the center of town, and a low level assistant. What kind of bonuses would such a farming community have to their output with druids around? They would easily have a surplus for sale or trade.

It is important to keep in mind that a portion of crops had to be kept back for planting the next year. Any famine that caused them to resort to eating their seeds for the next year’s planting would be devastating. If this happens, how far do they have to travel to get seeds for next year’s crops? In some areas, this could force a mass migration to get to an area where seed was available for planting.

Surplus grain that wasn’t sold is easily converted to beer. If fermentation is known in your world, the first step in making whisky is to make beer. The grains left after the beer making stage can be used for animal feed. Agrarian societies tended to use all they could and minimize waste.

My mother once told me that she asked her mother what she missed about living on the farm, where my grandmother grew up. My grandmother answered, “Fried blood.” That sounds really gross to me. I have no idea how it was prepared. I have an image of an iron skillet on a wood or gas stove, with cooking oil (lard) and adding blood from the latest beef or hog slaughter. For all I know, it might have been mixed with flour or cornmeal.

Farms will be on land that drains well, so land that floods every year after planting time will not be planted. Bottom land that floods unpredictably might be planted as it is today, but unless they have discovered marine cement like the ancient Romans, and use lots of labor or lots of magic to build flood control levies, the rivers will change course and flood far and wide. Just read about the floods in the 1930’s and 40’s that lead the Army Corps of Engineers to implement flood control with dams and levies to stabilize the course of the major rivers.

There are many kinds of natural disasters that can lead to crop failure:

  • Floods (Unless it is something like the annual flooding of the Nile to deposit silt. That is required for a decent crop in that arid climate.)
  • Droughts
  • Hail (after the crop has sprouted)
  • Frost (on tree buds or sprouted crops)
  • Unseasonable Temperatures (Extremes of cold delay planting or slow growth, and heat burns up plants even with plentiful water.*)
  • Naturally occurring disease or blight
  • Naturally occurring insect swarms or overabundance of crop pests (Without insecticides expect worms in apples, etc.)
  • Disease among the horses, mules, oxen, or whatever plow animal predominates, reducing the volume of land made ready to plant, if it comes before or during plowing.
  • Disease among farm workers during the time for plowing, planting, watering, or harvesting.

Unnatural occurrences affecting crops:

  • Invading Armies Burn Crops
  • Rampaging Monsters Uproot/Dig Up/Pull Up/Burn/Freeze/Etc.
  • Rampaging Monsters go after farmers and livestock.
  • Divine Intervention at the behest of the evil big bad, or some good big good.
  • Area druids, clerics, and magic users coming together to save crops, if they’re the good guys, or destroy them if they’re bad guys or at war with a nation.
  • Any natural disease can be caused by an evil cleric.

There are lots of simple engineering projects that ancient civilizations used that might be evident in your campaign. 

  • Terraces (Hilly or mountainous terrain will use terraces for flat area for growing crops. Only the sheerest of cliffs will not have a terrace. The Incas had impressive terraces in the Andes.)
  • Irrigation Canals (Long distance transport can be 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Smaller branches to agricultural lands will be shallower and narrower, until there is a ditch perhaps 2 or 3 feet deep and as much wide that is tapped to let water onto the fields.)
    • Irrigation canals could tie into navigation canals, if it would not limit the effectiveness of the navigation canal.
  • Aqueducts could carry water to hard to reach farmland.

Manure and composted vegetable matter would be the primary fertilizer. Manure was usually reserved for the gardens near farms. In your game, you might have cart loads or wagon loads of manure hauled from the king’s stables to the royal gardens or royal fields.

Every farmhouse will have a garden for herbs and vegetables for the farm family, and surplus for sale. Are there root cellars to keep fruits and vegetables cool and dry into the winter? What methods of preserving fruits and vegetables exist? The most basic is sun drying. Lay out on some sort of cloth or tarp slices of thicker fruit to dry. Smaller fruit, like grapes are laid out whole and dried for raisins, and plumbs for prunes. My last great-grand aunt (my grandfather’s youngest aunt) lived into her 90’s, when I was in my early 20’s. She would lay out a cloth on her bed covered with apple slices and open the curtains to dry them.

Ice houses could exist in areas where it freezes or near mountains. Until the development of mechanical refrigeration, ice would be harvested from lakes and ponds and put in underground ice houses. Dirt, sand, clay, and straw were used to maintain a steady temperature. Ice was able to be kept into the summer months. Toss in a wizard who can make a wall of ice and you have a year round deep freeze, or an air conditioner.

Cheese making is an early technology. Milk from any animal will not keep long without refrigeration and pasteurizing. The best long term storage of milk is to make cheese. Cheese properly sealed in wax will keep for centuries. Butter is related to cheese making. It can last several weeks if it doesn’t get too hot for too long.

Are there beekeepers? Without beekeepers, honey would be more rare and expensive, since it would all be wild honey. This would make mead non-existent to very rare. Honey does not rot, if it dries out just add water and heat it. I have an idea for giant bees being used for an apiary. Perhaps giants would use such bees.

Is the process of pickling known? You can’t have pickles without this. Nearly anything can be pickled, including meat.

Canning was not discovered until the late 1700’s  or early 1800’s. Napoleon funded early efforts at canning to help feed his army. Home canning using Mason jars is not that old. Would the quality of glass and pressure cookers be available to support canning? I don’t see that in my fantasy RPG, but if it works for you, go for it.

Is crop rotation practiced or known? It depends on the degree of realism in your game. Hand wave it unless it serves as a plot point, is my opinion. In the Medieval period crop rotation was letting land lie fallow, unused, for a season or two to renew itself. It was not until much later that it was realized that some crops used up certain things in the soil and other crops put it back. The prime example is corn (maize) using nitrogen and legumes, like peanuts or beans fixing nitrogen in the soil.

Giant or miniature animals.

In a fantasy setting what effect would there be on agriculture if giant or miniature versions of farm animals were used by human sized races? Huge horses and oxen could plow more land and give more manure. However, larger animals require more feed. Miniature as in the fantasy miniature animals could be used to plow gardens or small terraces. Specialized fruits and vegetables might require either giant or miniature animals in the planting for harvest. An extravagant ruler might delight in having miniature horses plow his personal garden for his own table. Of course, halflings would tend to use smaller animals and giants that planted would use giant horses.

Finally, a website I discovered in early March, Lost Kingdom, has many interesting articles on how medieval life can inform fantasy RPGs. I already mentioned The Porcelain Argument in a blog posting last month.

“Surplus food allows cities, trade and a large standing military – all the characteristics of a formidable nation.” From The Porcelain Argument at Lost Kingdom.

Various types of medieval farming implements are discussed here, at Lost Kingdom. I added a note to their article: “The development of the horse collar enabled the move to horses and mules for plowing. The collar distributed the weight on the horse and did not constrict its trachea, and gave it 50% greater capacity to work. The horse then could work more hours than an ox. This lead to the horse replacing the ox in many agricultural areas of Europe.” See Wikipedia.

The Lost Kingdom also has an excellent article on the Farming Year. One thing this article did not mention was pollarding. It was a system of pruning trees for either animal fodder, called pollard hay, or for wood, usually used for staves and poles. Since pollarded trees tend to live longer, I can see druids being in favor of this form of tree harvest.

* Three years ago we had extreme heat and I kept my garden watered. Most of it burnt up, but my pumpkins and squash went crazy.

RPGs

Laminating My Hommlet Map

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In February, I ran Village of Hommlet at Marmalade Dog 20. I was very much over prepared. The map in my original module is very faint, and the blue of the ink is the kind that does not copy well. I purchased the PDF from DriveThruRPG, but the map did not print very clearly. So I got a couple sheets of tracing paper and traced it. I then ran by Kinko’s and made copies to regular paper and taped them together. The map did not feature very much in play, but since I put so much time into it, I wanted to preserve it, in case I ever need it. I am sure I will run Hommlet again someday.

Note on this process. Make sure the ink side of the tracing paper is facing down when you go to make copies. I didn’t realize the error of my ways until I got to the con and the map didn’t line up right. One page was correct and the other was not. I had to find a back lit window by the doors to trace the other side of the paper so that it was legible. I then ran by Kinko’s and made a correct copy of that part of the map for the last two days of the con. I later grabbed my colored pencils and colored my map.

01Hommlet
Colored and ready to be preserved.

02HommletBack
My map face down on the Contact Paper. Center it and apply pressure from the center out.

 

So I made a trip to the craft store and bought some clear contact paper. I cut some off a bit longer than the map.

Contact Paper
Contact Paper

After getting the backing off, I spread the contact paper on my table sticky side up.

I then laid the map ink side down. I cut out the corners of the contact paper and folded it over to wrap around the back of map. I used the scraps to cover the seam where I stitched the paper map together into one.

Map Face Down On Contact Paper
Map Face Down On Contact Paper with the edges folded over.

Rather than try to cut a piece of contact paper to fit, I used packing tape to cover the bare paper on the back of the map. (I know some might cringe at this. However, this is copy paper. It is NOT acid free paper, so using packing tape plus keeping it out of the light, will make it last longer. Unless I get a light table and acid free paper to trace a new map, I can’t make it last any longer. This is just a tool, even faded it will still work, and that might add a bit of character to it.)

Packing Tape Dispenser
Packing Tape Dispenser

06BackOfMapWhenDone
Clear Packing tape on the back so all the paper is covered.

04EdgesFoldedOver

Now, other than sitting in a spill, someone being deliberately destructive, or a disaster, I have a map that I can write on with dry erase markers and use for years to come.

08Finished
Finished

09RolledUp
Rolls up nicely.

10UnrollsWell
A couple of angled views.

07Finished

RPGs

Marmalade Dog 20 – 2015 Post Con Write Up

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Welcome To Marmalade Dog
Welcome To Marmalade Dog

The first slot started Friday at 3:00 PM. I was too late to join in a game, so I visited with Roy Snyder and Adam Muszkiewicz  and Pete Schwab  and others until the 7:30 PM slot when I was set to run T1 – The Village of Hommlet.

When Adam and I were talking the topic of random tables and drop tables and all the dice tables came up. I mentioned that I am slowly crafting an all the dice type table to help me generate area of an ancient “abandoned” city for houses, building, and other features. Adam pointed me to a display at Roy’s booth for Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, Winter 2014, Issue #1. Pages 10 and 11 have a neighborhood generator, and pages 12 and 13 have a gang generator. The neighborhood generator has a lot of ideas that I am looking for so I bought it.

No one signed up for my slot, so I played in Adam Muszkiewicz’s Kickassistan session. Roy, Pete, Andrew Moss [G+ deleted before 2/11/2019], Jared Randall, and Laura Williams all joined in. I had never played DCC and it was great! Adam had an interesting concept. Our character sheets where blank 3×5 index cards. We rolled for random professions, and birth portents. We did not roll any stat until we needed it. Each character was first level, so we got to pick a class. Adam had different players make up why we were their based on our known information. If we were rolling for our main ability for our class we got two re-rolls, but had to put the rolls on another stat. This was with 3d6.

This was the first cooperative role playing session I had ever played. Normal roll playing is cooperative, but this was a few notches up. It gets all the players involved in making an interesting story. After the game, I talked to Adam and we were on the same wavelength and agreed that it either had to be a rules system that the GM had total mastery, or something so simple to make mastery trivial. We both agreed that Delving Deeper would be a good one. Adam had a rough idea of what he wanted to do and greatly encouraged us to come up with something creative, even if it was off the wall. The most hilarious thing was that Roy Snyder invented the Minotaur Class. It would take too long to recount all the hi-jinks the Minotaur got up to. I can’t wait to see the write up for that.

The way this worked is if one was a fighter, they rolled their strength and other associated scores when there was combat or some other reason to know that score. For wizards, we got to pick two spells and toll for two. My character rolled a secondary profession of a sage with a dagger, quill pen, and piece of parchment. Based on this, I though a wizard made sense. I rolled intelligence and it was a 13 so it gets a +1. There is a table in DCC for Mercurial Magic effects. Also there is the concept of point burns, where one can use a point of a physical ability to boost the chance of success. This point burn is temporary. So the first time I cast a spell, charm person, I elected to burn two points of strength, then I had to roll my strength, and I rolled a 4. Thankfully, I did not say I used 4 points of strength, because when an ability hits 0, you are dead. The mercurial magic effect for that spell was then rolled, and it requires spells to be cast with point burn or suffer corruption. There were two other spells that I used and found out their effect. For Flaming Hands, the effect is gender bender that lasts an hour. Finally, Color Spray had the effect of memories of a dying god. I had to roll a d20 to determine the effect. If I rolled low, the dying god would take over my body, if I rolled moderately well, I would avoid the worst, but still have to roll every time. I rolled a natural 20! Adam was amazed. By rolling a 20 this meant that I had mastered the dying god’s memories and a new one would be revealed each time I cast the spell. Plus, it supercharged my casting and I always roll a d24 instead of a d20! Each time I cast Color Spray, Adam asked different players what the specific memories were of the dying god, and it was quite entertaining. I don’t yet know what happens if I use Magic Missile or Spider Climb. I also never took a hit, so I don’t know how many hit points I have.

I like the magic system. It is simple, but requires tables to determine effects. Each spell has its own table. If one does not like fire and forget Vancian Magic, the DCC system or similar is easy to mimic. The wizard can cast their spells at will and just roll a d20 for effect. The point burn mentioned above can give a boost to help insure success. The bonuses to the roll without point burn is +1 per level and  and pluses for abilities over 12. One can add another plus for each point burned from physical abilities, Strength, Stamina, and Agility. If the roll is bad, but close to success, one can burn luck points, but those don’t regenerate, but GMs can award luck points.

The only complication to playing DCC, besides needing a new set of rules, is the need for non-standard dice and in the all the dice tables in the issue of Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, i.e. d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, and d24. I finally got a d30 this past summer at GenCon, but need the others. By the time I decided I needed to buy more dice, the vendor selling dice had already packed up and left before the end of the night Saturday. It is easy to simulate the d3, d5, d16, and d24 using other dice. I am tired and not thinking how I would simulate the d7 and d14. If you had either a d7 or a d14 you can easily simulate the other. So, an online search for more dice may be in order.

After the game on Friday, we went to a bar and closed it. I only had one beer, since I had to drive 15 miles back home. I had not closed a bar in a long time, but we sat around talking about various RPG related topics, from systems to genres, to play, to Kickstarters, and more. It was a lot of fun!

In the first slot on Saturday I played in the DCC funnel ran by Mike Carlson. All four of my characters leveled to 1st level and survived until the last roll of the adventure. We had to make a luck roll, below our luck. One of my characters started with a 16 luck and had burned one, so I had to roll a 15 or lower and rolled a 20. Two of the remaining three characters also failed. One player had non of her four survive. The other three players had two of their characters survive. Mike made a stamp for dead characters. It had a skull and crossbones on the handle and he used red ink to stamp the dead characters as dead. We had a blast.

Dead Characters
Dead Characters

In Saturdays’ second slot, two other GMs did not have full tables, so I had 8 players for Hommlett. So as my first time running a convention game, this was the first time for only two of the players at a convention game, but they were experienced role players. It was fun to see how Adam and friends, and Pete and Roy made this their own thing. They made it to the dungeon under the keep when we ran out of time. Everyone had fun, and I asked for any advice for me. Adam and others agreed that I should have gotten them to the keep sooner for a convention game. They all agreed that I ran it well for normal play.

First Session Player's View
First Session Player’s View
First Session DM's View
First Session DM’s View

In the third slot of Saturday, I played again in Adam’s Kickassistan session, and brought my character from yesterday. It was great! I still don’t know my HP…. We had most of the players from the day before and some new ones and had a blast! Shane Harsch didn’t have anyone for his 5th edition session, so he joined in. His wizard character, mine, and another were planning great things!

Adam demonstrating how he flosses. ;)
Adam demonstrating how he flosses. 😉

Sunday, there is one slot and I ran Hommlet again. I did not have anyone signed up for my session and Pete did not have anyone for his session. Eric Piper got called into work, so his full Castles & Crusades session was cancelled and I ended up with 7 players for Hommlet. I felt that I ran it much smoother and even though Pete knew what was there from the day before, he did not meta game. This group avoided some of the trouble of yesterday’s group, but the cleric of this group went down the secret passage while the others were doing other things, and they found him dead. They rested until morning and went back to town, and I let them equip with the other cleric I had rolled. They only had one character in their group get knocked down. They got a lot farther in the lower level. It was fun and I see how I would run it differently still in a convention setting. Most of the players in this group turned out to be from the town where I lived, and we did not know each other, although two of them know my oldest son.

Second Session Hommlet
Second Session Hommlet

My analysis of running a module at a convention is that initially, I thought it would be easier, since it was all planned out. However, I did not know it as well as if I had put something together on my own. I was way over prepared. I wish I had put that much time into my own campaign, and I would have had a whole new area planned out. I am now able to run Hommlet any time with a quick review of the rules. There was talk from my first session crew of trying to finish it. I would like that, or if the second session crew wanted to keep going. Perhaps next year or at another con.

All of us who signed up to run a session are interested in meeting up for Marmalade Dog 21. If that group is there every year, I will be glad to go and run sessions and play.

Several of us also plan to go to UCon in November. I can’t wait!

My DM Badge
My DM Badge
Con Shirt Front
Con Shirt Front
Con Shirt Back
Con Shirt Back
RPGs

Marmalade Dog 20 – Final Prep

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I am doing my final prep to run my first convention game, Village of Hommlet, at Marmalade Dog 20, as part of the OSR track [link to OSR track broken: http://www.marmaladedog.org/osr.php].

I think I am more nervous than I would be if I were to run a game in my home with a bunch of new players. At least in the case of in my home, I could have had some interaction with them before hand. At a con game you never know what you’re going to get. I guess it’s a box of chocolates.

I have read the module, made notes of what information I need to gather, generated a selection of player characters, and have pencils, note paper, and graph paper for the players.

I have had the original module since the 80’s, but have never ran it or played it. I bought the PDF and copied all of the text and printed it out in bigger print so that I can mark it up and highlight, and make notes without marring my original.

My notes are of all the monsters, spells, and magic items so that I have all the stats that will be needed to avoid picking up a manual. I will still take my manuals and have player’s handbooks available to the players. I’m also reviewing rules on things that could come up, such as grenade like missiles, grappling, etc. It’s a four hour session, so I’ll set a timer on my cell for two hours so we can have a break.

I’m not a fan of football, so I will spend my day on these final preparations.

My plan is to get as much sleep as possible in the days leading up to the con so that I have the energy and clarity of thought to deal with the unexpected in the most constructive way.

I also volunteered to put together an OSR handout, and just sent my first draft to the other OSR track GM’s. I will share that list here and with OSR related G+ communities. Perhaps it will develop into a generic OSR handout that can be used at other conventions, FLGS’s, etc.