TableTop Game & Hobby, on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area, has a new product. ->
Check out Phil’s website, and if you live in the area or are passing through, check it out.
Phil was a couple of years behind me in high school and always said that he would open his own game store, and he did. Last year was the 20th anniversary, and I wrote about it here.
I am guilty of writing massive posts that fall under the heading of Walls of Text.
I think I have some good ideas in there, and since I tend to write stream of consciousness usually with as few notes as possible, I end up with a massive wall of text.
I came up with an idea to have fun with this.
There is a massive wall of text and the adventurers need to find the key of TL;DR to surpass it.
I first had this idea in February of last year, but did not get the graphic put together until recently. My Gimp-fu and Inkscape-fu aren’t up to executing the image in my head, but it gives the idea. My freehand drawing skills aren’t there either. I imagine a giant wall with text filling each brick/stone/block in the wall, with a big and imposing presence.
I had thought of making this my entry in the 2015 One Page Dungeon Contest, but I need a better graphic, and a better idea for the adventure, so that this could be a real submission.
A – Aqueducts/pipes/fountains/cisterns/wells/artesian wells/water towers/flood control basins/drains/Archimedes Screw/Dippers/Reservoirs
Without water to drink, a city cannot arise. There won’t be more than a large village or small town without plentiful water.
A few collected homes can manage with a nearby stream, river, or lake that does not run dry.
More reliable sources of water to avoid the problems of drought will result in wells, cisterns, rain barrels, or other means of collecting and accessing water.
The climate will affect water supply. For a large city to arise in an arid or desert region, even more water is needed to offset evaporation, or technology is needed to minimize evaporation. Unless the desert conditions developed after the city existed, and are part of the reason the city became abandoned, some consideration for this needs to be addressed in planning your city.
Except for a bunch of clerics using create water there would need to be a consistent and reliable source of water. Assume 1 gallon per person per day. And at least one gallon per animal per day. In an arid environment, drought resistant animals, like camels would be the long-haul beast of burden.
Fountains were used to make water available to the masses in the ancient world. The people would go to the fountain to collect water in jars each day.
Public and private baths. What is the cities cleanliness culture? How much water is required?
Rain cachement from runoff from roofs to underground cisterns. Such man-made or artificially enlarged caves/caverns easily make a dungeon.
Tera cotta roof tiles with terra cota drain pipes indicate a need for an industry in or near the city or easily shipped to the city from elsewhere.
Pipes or pipelike structures to aid and direct the flow of water would be well maintained in an inhabited city.
The city watch, any military outposts/castle/barracks, and the city government and leading class would have greater and more secure access to water.
Disruption of the water supply following an earthquake or other natural disaster, war, monster incursion, or “innocent” activities of player characters would result in unrest from mere grumbling to riots or organized revolt, depending on the mindset of the populace. Could some such action be the cause for the downfall of the city?
Water in excess is also bad. If there is sufficient rainfall to result in flooding of the city, rain cachement basins and storm drains to direct flood waters away from the populace would be present. Coastal cities could be subject to storm surges, tidal waves, and hurricanes. How much excess water can a city handle? Seawater and storm debris in the drinking water is not good. Usually the underground portions of aqueducts were only a few feet high and normally the water ran about half that height. Cisterns could be simple stone or cement lined pits to massive cavernous chambers like the Basilica Cistern of Constantinople that still exists in Istanbul today.
Would a sufficiently advanced magical civilization bind water elementals or other water based creatures to ensuring the continuation of the water supply? Similarly, earth elementals could be put to use in construction of passages through mountains and hills. Also wizards could do their public service using dig, rock to mud, or mud to rock, move earth, wall of stone, etc.
My campaign is a low magic setting, that is, the heights of magical creation and invention are in the past, but such past objects can still be found.
Whether a city is abandoned or not, water weirds and other water based creatures could be trapped in fountains, wells, or cisterns, or live there voluntarily.
Wells and cisterns make a good place to hide or lose something valuable. What if the party is hired to go retrieve a lost item in one of the wells or cisterns and discovers an entire under city full of adventure.
What does the local thieves/assassins guild know about the water system and any connection to an illicit trade route or a black market ran through the under city.
The water supply is separate from the sewer system. I will deal with sewers in a later posting in this series. The water supply is “clean”. What penalties would the party incur for contaminating the water supply? What if they or another actor/group cause the sewer system to flow into the water supply?
In a desert or arid region, there would be severe penalties for compromising or adversely affecting the water supply. In a region where there is less issues keeping the supply going, it would take much more to cause a problem, unless it is an authoritarian regime, or strict bureaucracy where it matters. Of course, anything to mess with the players is always fun!
In a desert or arid region, settlements might develop near oases, and oases would guide trade routes.
Water is also a source of power for mills.
Rivers, streams, lakes, seas, and oceans are also sources of food. Swamps and marshes have a surplus of water making the ground of little utility for settlements or farming. How does water and its surplus or scarcity inform existing and abandoned settlements?
Information on various ancient water technologies for further reading below:
Roman aqueducts supplied public baths, latrines, fountains and private households. Aqueducts also provided water for mining operations, milling, farms and gardens.
Fountains were originally purely functional, connected to springs or aqueducts and used to provide drinking water and water for bathing and washing to the residents of cities, towns and villages. Until the 19th century they operated by gravity.
The Nabateans of Petra had a sophisticated collection of desert based water technology. More on Nabateans with lots of pictures.
Iran – desert water transportation – Qanat – a series of underground connected wells that transports water over a distance. Can be used for cooling and ice storage.
The reservoirs for qanats were an anbars.
Persians had ice houses (evaporative coolers) and Wind catchers for cooling.
Ancient Water Technologies Website
Wells specific to fortifications are Castle Wells.
Artesian Well: A water well under positive pressure.
Irrigation tools: Shadoof
Sakia or Persian Wheel
Scoop Wheel – Similar to a water wheel, but works the opposite. A water wheel is water powered, but a scoop wheel is an engine powered by a windmill.
Windmill: can be used for grinding grain or draining wetlands for agriculture.
A type of water mill is the tide mill that uses the flow of tides rather than a river or stream.
Horse Mill: Can be used for any milling purpose, but most often grinding grain or pumping water.
Fighting fires: The ancient Romans had the vigiles. They had a fire engine that was a double action pump. Until the advent of canvass wrapped rubber hose, fire hoses were made of leather with brass fittings. The first firehoses were developed in 1673, but brass rivets and brass connectors would not be outside the technology level of a fantasy world.
Saltern – Area for making salt.
[UPDATE] – I was reading an article about using the Byzantine Empire as a model for a campaign setting, and it referenced the Valens Aqueduct. It gives some information on water storage in Constantinople that is very impressive.
Following various threads, as I am wont to do when reading Wikipedia, I read of Constantinople’s three historic open air cisterns, Cistern of Mocius, Cistern of Aetius, and Cistern of Aspar, and the millions of gallons of water they allowed. These were open air cisterns built of brick and stone, not like the underground Basilica Cistern mentioned above.
[UPDATE: April 18, 2016 – I was reading an article about the puquios of Nazca, Peru, a pre-colonial water collection system. Wind goes down a spiral hole in the ground to help raise water from the ground.]
Now that I have all my dice cleaned up and inked, as needed. I thought I should take a picture of all of them. I am sure I will be buying more dice as time goes on. I think I can go a bit longer until my next purchase, perhaps waiting until my next convention….
While getting things on the table to take pictures, I realized that the Game Science Dice I bought last year at Gen Con 2014 had not been inked, so after taking a picture of all the dice and putting them away, I inked them and include before and after pictures at the end.
I don’t jumble all my dice together. I keep some of them separated out so I can have a full set quickly. The only ones I jumble up are the ones in my leather dice bag. I don’t recall where I got that dice bag, if was at the Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs, Kansas, or at a what ever that con was called in Kansas City. I’ve had it for over thirty years, since I got it in high school.
I just realized that this picture does not include all of my original chipping dice. Only the yellow d4, that I still use, since it doesn’t seem to chip like the others.
So I guess these are the dice that I will actually use in play.
It also does not include three other sets of Chessex dice for my two sons and my oldest son’s girlfriend.
Still, that’s a decent collection. It more than suits my needs and there are some specialty dice too. The only kind of dice I don’t have are Fate/Fudge dice. I don’t know that I’d ever use/need them. I did listen to the Drink Spin Run podcast (also on G+)of their play session with Fate, and with the right group of people and someone who understands the rules, it could be a blast.
I am sure there are those that easily have me beat, but this time last year, I did not have a d30 or more than a Game Science set I have had over 30 years, and a couple of Chessex sets, and a bunch of d6’s from WalMart.
Of the dice I can think of that I would get in the future (I will be getting some, the rest of my Inkwell Ideas DungeonMorphs 2Kickstarter.), will be additional DungeonMorph dice, and perhaps Fate/Fudge dice. If I could get a full set of dice from d3 to d30 in a matched set, I would buy that. So there’s my wishlist/future purchase list for dice.
I bought a roll of hex Gaming Paper a couple weekends ago. Here is a quick review and some ideas I have for using it.
I had heard of Gaming Paper a few years ago, and I like the idea. One can use it for instant terrain maps for use with miniatures. It is also useful to cut some out and use to generate a hex crawl area map and take notes.
It is designed to write in pencil and be able to erase it. I tested and dry erase markers will wipe off, just like an ink pen, if you do so right away. I drew an X with a purple dry erase marker and waited for it to dry. It mostly wiped off, but left a faded X. So if you want to write something that it not permanent, do it in pencil, a high quality eraser is key.
I like the idea of cutting out a piece big enough to generate a hex crawl area map, and use it to write notes. Rather than writing or typing a list that then has to be translated to a map, one can do the initial notes in pencil, and then use ink when plans are solidified.
A similar sized piece can be cut and given to the players and let them map things out as they go.
The FAQ states that it did not feed well through printes when they tried it. Most likely because of how thin and slick it is. The rubber rollers need to get a good grip on the paper for it to feed properly. The blue color of the lines is the kind of blue that probably won’t scan or photocopy well. If you are using pieces larger than a standard scanner, you would not be able to scan it easily.
The only time I really use miniatures at the table is for marching order and placement in combat. Gaming paper is a much less expensive option to a battle mat. The paper is generally spill resistant, and it is designed to be rolled up and re-used.
It is tear resistant, so there is not much worry about frayed edges. It tries to roll itself up, so a means to get it flat might be needed. I tried blue painter’s tape and it did not take away the surface when removed. I even put a piece of Scotch Tape on it and it did not pull away the surface.
I cut a piece about 18 inches wide, and was going to use it to re-do and clarify the peninsula where the players in my AD&D campaign are running around. I then realized, depending on the scale for each hex, I didn’t cut it wide enough. So remember, measure twice, but once….
From my experience, very sharp scissors are better. The paper resists tearing so you can’t just slide your scissors along to make a quick cut.
Below you can see the piece I cut and how well it covers my work space.
If your FLGS doesn’t have it, you can go to the Gaming Paper website and order direct. They have free shipping on orders over $50.00.
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.
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.
Here are the in-process pictures of my painting efforts for my Hero Forge Miniature of Griswald, my representation of my favorite AD&D character, from my brother Robert’s AD&D campaign.
While I was at it, I also painted my miniatures that I have had from back in the day and not yet painted.
I began with washing them with warm soapy water and gently scrubbed the non-painted ones with an old toothbrush.
After letting them air dry a few hours, I painted them with a coat of white Testors acrylic as a primer. I know there is a special primer, but my hand is not the steadiest for this detail work, and my eyes don’t see those small details so well. I finally have the patience to do a good job, but my hands aren’t as steady and my eyes aren’t as goo up close. Well, I have been nearsighted since junior high, and now have bifocals, but I have to take of my glasses to see anything closer than about 6-8 inches, like the back of my hand or when I am shaving. So I am curious to see how well this turns out. So we’ll call it an experiment. I don’t think I’ll have people seeking me out to do their miniatures, unless their eyes are in worse shape than mine.
There aren’t enough hours in the day to paint and let dry and repeat to get each part painted. I focused on the big parts, the cloaks. I let them dry overnight after each step. So instead of one article showing all the progress and the final result. I will break this up into multiple postings.
It takes up my work space to spread out my game materials. I have to use that space because I can close the door to keep my son’s cats out. The last thing I need is cats breaking or hiding these.
So here are the before and after priming pictures. Yes, those are blue shop towels under them. Much thicker than regular paper towels and I can wipe off excess paint from the rush without it soaking through.
Here are the after painting the cloaks & boots pictures. Yes, I know, that black is really dark, but it is a work in progress. It is only paint after all, and I can just start over if I goof it up or don’t like the end result. I had to take off my glasses so I could see the details when I had to hold them close. Do I get extra XP because I didn’t get paint on my glasses?
I tried using my camera for better pictures to show the burrs on my new Game Science dice, but it is a cheap camera and better suited to taking pictures of people and larger objects.
The burrs turned “white” and did not come off in big pieces, so what I ended up with were flecks that barely showed up. I did not have a dark background to place them against.
Below shows the transition in brief.
I have had this X-Acto knife for a couple of years, but only now took it out of the package.
I had to buy silver Sharpies. This was not a fine point, so ink was both in the groove of each number and on the face of the die. As soon as I filled in the number, I used a napkin to rub the face and only the ink inside the numbers was left.
I have about five reams of paper that is printed on one side, from moving to working at home. I use it for taking notes when I am on the phone or when working on a data issue for a client. I folded over about ten sheets of paper and slowly shaved off the burrs. The burr on the d24 was huge. A large piece of it broke off and I heard it bounce off something, so I don’t know where it went. NOTE: An old catalog or phone book or magazine also works well for a surface for using an X-acto knife.
I like the final results, and it makes these dice usable. Without coloring them in, I had to pick them up to attempt to read them. Certain rolls, you don’t want to pick up without others verifying. Older eyes make reading un-inked dice quite the challenge. I used to be able to do the fine work, like inking these dice with my glasses on, but now I have to take them off to see clearly such close up work. Let that inform your purchases and products going forward.
