Tag Archives: OSR

RPGs

Musings on Bags of Holding

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Today on the podcast, I recorded my second Saturday Scrawl about encumbrance.

This got me to thinking about bags of holding and of course their counterpart, bags of devouring.

Here’s a sneaky way to handle bags of devouring. It is devious and players will hate you for it. 

This is not like the normal bag of devouring from the 1e DMG on pages 137-138, but something different.

Whether it is a mimic like creature or some other creature or a magical object is up to the DM. This is a Dormant Bag of Devouring. This bag functions as a normal bag of holding until a set condition occurs. The DM must determine this condition when the item is placed as potential treasure. 

Creature

If the bag is a creature of some kind, the DM must determine where does the treasure go? It can be a pocket dimension, another plane, or a specific location on the planet. This opens up the possibility of having it disgorge all the treasure it has ever eaten, leading to hilarity as the Scrooge McDuck vaultful of coins fills the location where it was slain. 

Detemine the age of the bag to determine the volume of its lifetime of meals.

1d6 NOTE: The below is in addition to treasure the party puts in it.

  1. New/Baby only the contents of a volume equal to the size of the treasure in which it is found.
  2. Juvenile volume is 5 times the treasure in which it is found.
  3. Young adult volume is 10 times the treasure in which it is found.
  4. Adult volume is 15 times of original treasure.
  5. Mature volume is 20 times of original treasure.
  6. Ancient volume is 25 times original treasure.

Treasure may be in coins, gems, ingots, and other things capable of fitting into its opening (mouth). Damage from falling coins will be 1d6 per 100 coins or gems, and 1d8 per falling ingot. Characters may use their best saving throw to attempt to dodge the falling loot, or attempt to “float” or “climb” to stay above the torrent. If this happens in a small room, it will soon be filled and pour out into all openings and could potentially overflow a small dungeon, sink a ship, topple a tower, etc. Wooden structures must make a saving throw to resist bursting and collapsing.

The best hope is to be in a huge cavern or in the open air when this occurs.

Magic Item

If a magic item, this is a crafty device developed by mages in need of cash. These bags of holding will empty their contents into a space
designated at the time of their creation that is capable of holding it all safely. This will be a room of sturdy stone construction with a heavy door. Often the access door is hidden by illusion or craftsmanship, and is always wizard locked at the current level of the owner.

These devices are often given as rewards to adventuring parties that help the wizard achieve their goals. Successful adventurers are more likely to find treasure.

There will be some sort of alert, so the mage knows to empty the room. Perhaps a magic mouth or other spell. 

If a quick thinking party caster can cast knock BEFORE it finishes consuming its contents, it will shred the bag and open a portal to the treasure vault. This portal will endure for 1 turn. If there is no knock available for the access door, and they can’t find the access door, they are trapped without some other means of egress, such as teleport. 

If the vault is filled, roll percentile dice for the amount of treasure that spills out before the portal closes.

Instead of knock, if hold portal is cast, the mouth of the bag is opened to the standard dimensions of a door and the party has the duration of that spell to attempt to recover their treasure and avoid being trapped as in the example using knock. In this case, the bag will fall harmlessly to the ground, waiting for its next use. If the entire party is in the treasure vault, they bag will lie there until found by another. If some of the party remains they can attempt to fill the bag until it is triggered to consume and cast one of the spells effective to shred or open it.

There may be other spells that allow the players to subvert the intended use of the bag as determined by the DM.

NOTE: The creator of the bag, or their heir, descendant, or successor will often know that something is amiss and will seek to prevent the party from making off with the treasure. It may be possible for them to see the party, as with a crystal ball, spell, or other device and be able to track them.

Triggers

A dormant bag may be triggered to consume its contents by many things. The trigger can be activated by a specific spell near it, a set interval of time, when a specific type of creature is near, or in a specific place. The DM must determine the trigger for each bag before placing it in a treasure.

Examples of spells might be fireball. This would be bad for the party if they cast fireball in a room with the treasure where it is found, as it will attempt to consume the treasure. This is an atypical function of the bag. In this case it will open its mouth wide to grab a pile of treasure it is in, or to inhale all the valuables that are party of the treasure. NOTE: IF the party bests the creature who owns the treasure, the items on their person are not considered part of that loot.

A set interval of time could be once a year, or a certain amount of time after it is filled to maximum capacity, or a certain time of day.

A specific place and time might be to consume all the treasure of a dragon’s hoard if the party has the bag with them when they defeat the dragon, or if the bag is party of the dragon’s hoard. 

The available triggers to choose from are only limited by the DM’s imagination.

Consuming The Treasure

Once the delayed bag is triggered, those who posses it will hear an omm nom nom, sound like Cookie Monster going nuts with a plate of cookies. However, it is only the om nom sound, followed by a large burp when completed. If the party is in a loud environment like walking through the streets during festival, in a rowdy tavern, in the midst of combat, roll to see if they notice the om nom sound. The burp will be a hearty one and if they miss the om nom sound will think a member of the party is responsible for the noise. 

If the party cannot hear because of a silence spell, or some other cause of deafness, they will miss these audible clues.

Just like a bag of holding, the weight is the same and they will not discover it is empty until they go to draw something from it.

Finding The Loot

You should allow some chance for the party to find the loot. A wish, for example will give them the name and address of a wizard who crafts such a bag, or the location the loot has gone if it is a creature. Scrying by spell or device may be effective, unless the mage who crafted a bag has means in place to prevent it. A creature type bag will have its treasure location susceptible to scrying, should the party posses or find such means.

Scrying is only effective within a limited amount of time. It might be one day or week per level of the spellcaster doing the scrying. Make it an amount of time that is within the realm of possibility for the party to find it, if they choose to do so. If they don’t realize that scrying is a possibility within the time limit, that is fine, not everything should be automatic. A wish of course, will trump all, if it is worded properly to prevent unintended consequences.

Special Cases

Mages who plan the design of their bags carefully will have in place safeguards that prevent cursed items from being put in the bag.

Artifacts and certain other powerful magics cannot be placed in these bags due to the nature of their power and magic. Powerful items include any item with a wish, like a luckblade, deck of many things, intelligent items like swords, and items that contain the soul or essence of another creature whether mortal or otherwise. The DM should consider what items are powerful enough to withstand being placed in the bag.

When an item that is cursed or too powerful is placed in the bag, it will not even enter the bag, like it is repelled by a magnet. This repulsion does not propel the item with any great force. It merely prevents placing it in the bag. This effect will hold true if a crafted bag is held open by means of hold portal or similar.

Additionally, items that act as a beacon to overcome scrying cannot be placed in a bag. This is of course optional.

Plot Hook: There may be a certain legendary item, or other item, that the mage wants and they may bargain, cajole, or geas a part to find some component needed to complete a bag that will accept the artifact. Then the bag is given to the party with directions to the artifact.

If you have lots of these bags in your game, you may want only some of them to prevent the creator from getting these items.

If you only have one of these bags in your game you will want to consider special cases. 

Any other special case you can think of may be used.

There could even be a legendary item that is an artifact with all the risks and rewards of same, that is capable of receiving other artifacts and powerful items, perhaps it will transfer the curse on a cursed item to another object such as a coin or other magic item, or even a person. Such as the person who puts the cursed item in the bag.

Other Uses

A variation of this bag is carried by tax collectors to ensure that their collected revenue ends up in government coffers.

A master of a thieves guild might commission such a bag so that operatives can’t cheat the guild out of what is owed.

RPGs

First Experience with Self Publishing

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My first experience with self publishing was as a proof reader, and crafter of the table of contents for The FRONT [Affiliate Link], by +Mark Hunt. 

Google Docs vs MS Word

What I found is that collaborating on a manuscript has certain pitfalls. Google Docs does not handle Word documents well. You can read them, but it messes up the page count. If you convert it back to a Word Doc, it easily doubles the page count due to how it mangles formatting.

There is supposed to be a way to edit Word Docs in Google Drive, without even having Word, but I am not getting it to work. I found this after Mark and I gave up and I just edited the Word Doc and sent it back to him. Google Docs has change tracking and comments, so it is good for the basics. 

From my experience, Google Docs can be used for the collaboration process to get the text right, then worry about the formatting. If Google Docs can handle linked TOC’s and save them to PDF, then it would be a great tool.

If that doesn’t work, then all parties collaborating on a document would need the same tools. For example, MS Office, or the free Libre Office. A way to avoid sending a file back and forth across Google Drive would speed things up noticeably. Preferably a way to avoid using money to buy a solution. Small self-publishers don’t make a lot of money, especially not until they get started and have enough success to buy potentially better tools.

If you are working on your own, and do it all, and can edit/proofread your own work and do it right, then you can get by without a need for collaborative tools. Maybe there is no free and simple way to do this. Perhaps it takes total isolation of the file in the hands of one person at a time. The main requirement being all involved have the same software to get the same results. However, this means that if one person sees an issue, they can’t fix it in real time and have the other(s) inherit that change.

I am curious about how others have approached this and what their experience has been with the tools used for collaboration on RPG products.

Text First Then Layout

My take is to get the text edited and right and then worry about formatting. This is the standard way to do it anyway. Think old school. One didn’t start laying out type on a printing press to write their document. They wrote and edited the document, then figured out the layout. That is why many prefer a plain text editor for getting the text right, and then worry about formatting and layout.

  A template geared towards automatic formatting of page size, font size and spacing, etc. can minimize the need to getting too fiddly with formatting in a word processor. For a more polished look, something like the free and open source Scribus for layout; or the costly version of various Adobe products can give a sharper more varied layout. PDF’s can be generated by more free software than in the past, and it can even have cross linked TOC’s and indexes. NOTE: I used Page+ by Serif for my first PDF on OBS.

Otherwise, you need the author, an editor, and a layout person. Often a layout person can be a good editor/proofreader, but that should not be assumed, as they are different jobs. A proofreader is focused on looking for typos and other obvious issues, while an editor is that plus making sure it all ties together. A layout person makes sure the visual presentation is appealing and improves the readability. Layout people charge a lot more for proofreading and editing. 

Rarer still is someone who can do their own art for a project, most use either stock images that are public domain or low cost, or custom art bought to order for a given project. One must be aware of copyright on images. If you buy art, usually, you only by the right to use it for a particular purpose or amount of time. I recently found Pixabay for public domain images. One also needs to ensure that the fonts they use are free for business use. Lots of licensing out there to keep in mind.

Getting It Out There

Then, there is one of the various publishers that offer PDF’s or POD, or both. If selling one from your own website, you can easily sell the PDF’s, or make them free. For physical product, you either need a POD service, or make arrangements with a printer that can provide the final product desired.

OBS via RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and DM’s Guild make it easy to do PDFs and POD on a custom platform for RPGs. Lulu supports both PDFs and POD, but many choose to do PDFs on OBS and POD on Lulu for greater profit. I find that Lulu tends to do a better job of packaging so your POD orders don’t rattle in the box. OBS (and Amazon) leave a lot to be desired to prevent books from sliding around in the shipping box. The marketing, emailing, and statistics available on OBS, plus the ready made niche audience, makes it the best choice for one-stop service.

What I Know Now

Now that I am a publisher on OBS and have my first PDF available, I have seen all the tools that OBS makes available. Without a lot of effort and success, it is hard to get away from OBS. There are many that use both OBS and direct sales from their website. As a one man outfit, I like the utility of OBS. It is one large project I don’t have to undertake and maintain to duplicate on my website. I definitely lets the small publisher get a lot of value for the percentage taken by OBS. Otherwise, the number of eyes that might stumble on your offerings is a lot smaller. If you are a one person publisher looking to get started, OBS makes it easy to get a slice of your niche in a small niche. The present prominence and success of D&D makes now an even more opportune time to ride this wave. How much longer can it last?

[NOTE: I started this article back in 2016 after my experiences helping with the TOC. I reviewed my back list of drafts over Labor Day weekend, 2018 and completed a few of them.]

RPGs

Mini Review – Low Fantasy Gaming

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[This has been sitting in my drafts forever, and I updated it a while ago to mention newer products. Rather than leave this hidden in my drafts, I thought I’d let it see the light of day.]

Low Fantasy Gaming (LFG) is a free OSR Clone that takes a bit of the original RPG and adds in various tweaks to game mechanics with advantage/disadvantage, skills, exploits (feats?), etc. and limits the availability of magic.

It focuses on humans as the only player race, but has options for other races. Each class is a sort of template for a general idea that has the ability to tweak it to the player’s preference. Some things are left open for new levels to work out between the player and the GM, inviting looking at other RPG’s for ideas. This section acknowledges that this part of the rules is in a perpetual play test state.

There is both a table of contents and an index, but neither is hyperlinked. Still nice to have the basic features in a free product. If the rules are ever for sale, I suggest links in contents and index.

In the credits, several of the artists’ websites are linked. I like that, in case I ever manage to have a project that needs art. It also helps the artist by letting others see their other work.

It is the type of ruleset that is in some ways a setting, but there is no defined setting. One can easily take Robert E. Howard’s map of Hyperboria and place their campaign in it, or develop their own campaign world from scratch.

There are magic user characters, but their access to and use of magic is limited.

Levels are capped at 12th level. Each class gets some sort of base and followers at the appropriate level.

Overall, this gives one an interesting combination of mechanics and options. If you want a simple set of rules, or like collecting free RPGs, check it out. At 188 pages, roughly 80 pages are for players, and the rest for the GM.

As I look at the draft of this post I started in 2016, I am reminded of Knave [Affiliate Link], the new rules light RPG from Ben Milton, creator of Maze Rats [Affiliate Link]. The older I get, the less patience I have for fiddling with and arguing over rules. Let the GM make a ruling so we can get on with the game.

RPGs

First PDF on OBS & Patreon Launched

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I did it! I’m now a publisher with my first PDF, Locks Vaults and Hiding Places, live on both DriveThruRPG and RPGNow as PWYW I also launched my Patreon. The PDF is a sample of the types of RPG supplements I have in mind. Not just regurgitating blog articles, but bringing them together in a coherent form and expanding them.

I have over 700 blog articles, not all are worthy of inclusion in a PDF, but many are. My brain won’t stop, and I have far more ideas than I will ever be able to put to use in my own games, so I don’t want them to go to waste.

There is no better feeling than to put your game ideas out there and have other people like them and use them. I found that this past spring at Gary Con 10, when I play tested my card game. I’m still working on it in the background, revising the rules and play testing. I want things as done as can be when things are ready for the next step and I can launch the Kickstarter, sometime in 2019.

Putting together PDFs will help me get more feedback than I get on most blog articles. I love the ease of feedback on Anchor, and have listeners and calls in’s from other countries. All of this will help me be better at presenting my Kickstarter. Part of a successful Kickstarter is building a community. I know I have offers from some large YouTube channels to mention it when the time is right. 

Please join me on my journey into the realm of making games! If you just grab the PWYW PDF, please give me some constructive criticism. I have my own ideas about what need to be done to improve it, but I’d never get it done if I did that. I can update the PDF as I get feedback and am excited by the possibilities of the interchange of ideas.

Thanks!

I want to thank the RPG artists who make their art available on OBS at a price point beginners can afford. I hope by directing others to your offerings on OBS you get at least a spike in sales. In my case Denis McCarthy for the cover and some interior art, and Daniel F. Walthall for the rest of the interior art.

RPGs

Minimalism At The RPG Table

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Minimalism had really hooked me. Less stuff, less clutter, less to do, less to worry about all appeal to me. Having a simple, organized living space and workspace leads to less cluttered thinking and more progress towards goals.

Similarly, at the game table, if the GM can run the game just as effectively with less stuff, it serves multiple ends.

  1. There is less at the table to get in the way of the players and the GM seeing everyone around the table, and anything of importance on the table.
  2. The game is focused on the fun and not paper shuffling and rules lookups.
  3. The GM has less to carry, and is less likely to get a sore back or neck form carrying a lot.
  4. The less need there is for a large space for a large table to play. GM and players can just sit around the living room.
  5. Players have more room for their character sheet and notes if they are organized and know the rules that apply to their characters, such as combat and spells.

To accomplish minimalism at the table for the GM, there are several things to aid with that. I put out a call for comments and suggestions on this topic across all my social media. I had several suggestions on my G+ page.

Suggestions

  1. Organization.
    My 2 cents – A system that works for the GM to keep notes, encounter tables, rules references, etc. in a clear and concise, easily accessible manner will simplify running the game and reduce stress of the GM and add to the enjoyment of all. 
    I think my number one tip is find the organization system that works for you to keep your campaign notes & individual game notes organized. Through running games figure out what you don’t need. Make a checklist of all you take to the actual game. Then cross off what’s not used.
  2. A DM Journal and Index Cards.
    Colin Green – I try and bring my stuff together into a DM journal, combined with index cards. The index cards have things like monsters, encounters, magic items, NPC’s. The journal has plot/story info, notes, maps, random tables. I try to leave rule books away from the table, forgotten rules are subject to rulings.
  3. Write in it, re-draw, revise.
    David Shugars – If you’re running from a module, write in it! 5e is terrible about information presentation so my Curse of Strahd book had all the monster stats written in sharpie in the margins.
    Aside from that, don’t be afraid to re-draw maps and re-key encounters. Here’s a Dyson map I’ve adapted for my next session, scaled down to fit inside my A5 campaign notebook:
    Photo

    1. Colin Green – that’s perfect, it’s amazing what you can include in a relatively small footprint, with a bit of thought. I’m dropping from A4 to A5 and use a similar approach.
    2. Brett Slocum – When using a campaign Journal like that I like to prep on one page and leave the other page blank. That way you can write notes while you’re playing about what happens, who they meet, the names of things and people.
    3. Me – Players can make their own notebook to track the character’s and party’s progress on adventures. This ties in to my ideas on organization above. Whether you use a BuJo or other journaling method, or a binder instead of a journal, find what works for you. There are lots of YouTube channels on how different people use Bullet Journals. The G+ Community, Bullet Journal for Game Masters has lots of ideas for using the Bullet Journal method to organize one’s campaign.
  4. Simple Rules.
    Brett Slocum – One of my methods for con games is using a simple system like The Black Hack that doesn’t require much referencing to run. I never have to look up bonuses or penalties or most other things. I take the rules but rarely reference them.
  5. Sit alongside the Players.
    Steve Hartline – If I’m well versed in the rule set, I like to sit along side the players. I still have a screen where I’ll keep items that are necessary for that particular session, but I try to limit my time behind the screen (index cards and a 3 ring binder). This setup actually encourages more immersive role playing IMHO.

Jay Murphy of The Vanishing Tower Blog and Podcast has 3 Maxims of Gaming that I think tie into my ideas of minimalism at the table. He explains them in three episodes of his Anchor podcast:

  1. GM must have a firm grip on the genre.
  2. System Matters, But It Doesn’t 
  3. Must have Players who do stuff.

Glen Halstrom of the Old Man Grognard YouTube channel and Radio Grognard podcast on Anchor mentions what he does to get organized to run games on several episodes. In particular, he discusses stat blocks that take a single line next to the creature on encounter tables.  

I’ve gotten behind on all the great podcasts on Anchor, and am not up to speed on the latest from Glen. He has episodes about quickie prep, what’s in his game bag, and organization. 

I like hearing how others do things, and if there’s a quick tip that is easy to work into my process, I take it.

More Tips

There are a few other things that I do to simplify running games.

  • I make a long list of names and put a tick mark when I use a name. I’m not afraid to re-use a name, as some names are common, like John.
  • I give tips to players to help them run their characters. For example, for spell casters, I tell them to note the page number of their spells next to the spell name on their character sheet. I forget where I first heard that, but it is a major time saver.
  • I generate weather for a year at a time and put it on the campaign calendar.
  • I generate an annual and monthly events, modeled after the tables in Oriental Adventures, and put on the campaign calendar.
  • I imagine and think about my campaign setting/world and use my visual memory of real places to help me create my world in my mind so I can describe it to players. By seeing this in my mind I am able to run the town episodes without a map, or describe the location in the nearby dungeon from memory. 
    • I have figured out how to do a mind palace without being intentional about it being a mind palace. 
  • I’m not finding the note of where I heard this next bit, but I love it. Generate multiple die rolls for each type of die for secret rolls, like secret doors, random monster checks, etc. Cross of the roll when needed. Of course, you can roll dice to mess with your players, or for the real thing, but if you don’t want them to know you’re rolling, do that. This will be a new tool in my kit.
    • The person who suggested that, from a podcast, as I recall, also used these rolls for random room descriptions, treasure, etc.
    • This works with any number of random tables. The trick is to have enough random rolls for each die type to avoid running out.
    • Using this method, one can do away with pre-generating weather, and perhaps events for extended periods of time.
  • I like a good random table that is easy to use and evokes lots of ideas. A collection of the right random tables for the genre and situation can spur all kinds of fun.
  • Use the player’s ideas against them. Players always seem to get cross talk at the table and speculation. Even if they suggest something that is not the direction they think it’s going, encourage them to think and follow that. They create their own plot hooks and rumors.
  • To avoid giving every NPC a name, have the NPC speak before the player’s do. for example, “The shopkeeper wants to know what you need”, or “How may I help you?” That was another one from a podcast.

Conclusion

Finding what works best for you to run a game at the table takes time. The more comfortable you are with running games in general, the easier it is to simplify. The right choice of rules that are either simple, or you feel comfortable with less rule books also aids in minimalism at the table.

It opens the opportunity to focus on running the game and the shared story that emerges through play. The old adage of rulings, not rules, makes it more evident that minimalism at the game table is one fruit of growing into the role of GM. With a simple one page map, and a page of notes, I can run a four hour con game. I can endure the chaos and clutter of developing the adventure to inform what notes I use to simplify what I need at the table.

I’d like to keep going with collecting tips for RPG minimalism for GMs and players. Comment here on the blog, or on any of my social media. I will add to this article and do a revised article. 

If you’re the source of an idea I mentioned, please let me know, I want to give credit where credit is due. I typed up my notes, and left off the source for a couple, and tossed the index cards it was written on.

Goals

Besides pen/pencil and paper for notes, and dice, I want to see how lean I can get when running games in person, especially at cons. Mining these tips, and any others that may be submitted or I find online for what I can most easily integrate into my own way of running games. A set of random tables for on the fly ideas and descriptions at the table. A list of NPC names, and simple stats for the creatures that will be encountered.

There are so many games that have an old school D&D core, that combat is run the same way. Except for non-D&D engines, which a simple GM screen can accommodate. If a GM screen doesn’t have the most pertinent rules for a GM to run the game, then it’s no good. I like cool art, but don’t put more effort into art than functionality.

I touched on the topic briefly on my podcast.

RPGs

The Black Hack – A Review

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I am finally reviewing The Black Hack.

A few months back nearly two years ago, I did a review of The Front, before I understood that it was based on The Black Hack. Much of what I liked in The Front are mechanics from The Black Hack.

I backed the Kickstarter for The Black Hack and have had the items to fulfill it for several weeks over a year.

I am pleased with the book, setting, and other things that came with it.

The mechanics are as stripped down as you can get. There are the usual stats with 3d6, but then you do a d20 stat check to do anything. Roll under the ability score on the d20. Combat is quick. The players roll to hit their opponents and roll to dodge attacks. The GM doesn’t have to roll any dice if they don’t want to.

When you use an item, you roll a usage die to see if you use up any of your supplies. An item is assigned a usage die, for example, if it is a d8 for arrows and you shoot and roll a 1, your die type goes down to a d6. As long as you don’t roll a 1, you maintain the usage die. That is, you still have arrows. If you roll a 1 on the d6, it goes to d4. If you roll a 1 on the d4, you are out of arrows. I really like this concept. I suppose you could use other dice, like the d7, d5, and d3, but that just complicates it.

What You Get

  • 2 Rulebooks, each less than 20 pages, digest sized
  • GM screen, 3 panels, digest sized
    • This was a stretch goal.
  • Module/Setting, 4 pages
    • Normal sheet of paper sized cardstock folded to be digest size.
    • It has a die drop table for locations in town and tables to add flavor.
    • It discusses how to create a sandbox for that style of play.
    • This was also a stretch goal.
  • 12 character sheets
    • This was a stretch goal.

There is a robust community on G+ and there is a plethora of *Hack games for different genres. Rad Hack for post apocalyptic, for example. There is at least one such *Hack for every genre, and some have multiple efforts where many have decided to put their spin on it.

You can’t get more streamlined than this other than limiting the number of abilities and dice. This is taking OSR to the extreme in minimalism. One could probably reduce the essence of Black Hack to a page or two. I don’t know if anyone has tried.

There are rumblings about a version 2, but I have not followed those closely.

I have yet to run or play Black Hack. So far, I have only ran The Front at a couple of conventions.

Since this is a rules light system, that is what I like about it. It takes the familiar and boils it down to the essentials. Other rules light systems have boiled down to different essentials. I like it for what it is. Not having put the system through its paces across multiple sessions as a player and GM, I can’t think of anything that is missing.

If you are interested in getting the rules out of the way of playing the game, this may be what you’re looking for.

RPGs

RPG Community Spotlight

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I have slowly been dipping my toes into YouTube as another creative outlet for my RPG ideas. Like most, I have been a long time subscriber to various channels that interest me. Today, I’d like to focus on highlighting four RPG related YouTube channels and what they have to offer. If you are not already following them, check them out and see if their content is useful to you. I have a companion YouTube video here.

Bill Allan

Bill Allan
Bill Allan

Bill Allan covers a variety of RPG topics, from cons to building terrain. He has a background in television and video production, so he makes high quality videos. His skills led him to take the lead in the live feed of the Maze Arcana events at Gen Con 50. Bill is also very helpful in sharing his knowledge so other You Tubers can improve their videos.

His various videos from Gen Con 50 were very cool for those like me, who weren’t there. Being able to see a bit of the museum showing the history of Gen Con and RPGs and other table top games was very interesting and satisfying.

Here he discusses how to run monsters in RPGs. A few helpful hints, and perhaps a few you haven’t thought of.

You can find Bill on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Vimeo.

7D System

Gareth Q. Barrett - 7D System
Gareth Q. Barrett – 7D System

Gareth Q. Barrett has two channels, I’ll focus on 7D System today. The focus for this channel is Gareth’s 7D System, but there is a lot of system agnostic content here. He produces high quality videos with music and all the fancy things one comes to expect from a YouTube video. He is also very generous in his sharing of tips to help YouTube newcomers improve their own videos. There are a lot of ideas and insights here.

He is a talented artist, and produces some impressive drawings on camera. Check out his Monsters for RPG Games playlist.

Gareth likes to mix things up so you never know what manner of speaking you’ll find from him. I really like his video on minor changes to the way you speak to help roleplay different characters – Acting and Voice Acting.

You can find Gareth and 7D System on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and G+.

Questing Beast

Ben Milton - Questing Beast
Ben Milton – Questing Beast

Ben Milton is a regular and prolific producer of quality content on multiple internet outlets. He has done a lot of reviews of games and modules. Actual books are presented onscreen and their pros and cons are highlighted.

He has also developed his own simple and free RPG in the OSR minimalist style, called Maze Rats, available as PWYW. He has a love for the OSR and it shows in his posts and videos.

As a school teacher, he works with kids in an after-school RPG program, playing in the old school style. He shares his experience and how the kids learn and evolve through play.

Ben is a talented artist and has done some cool maps and has videos showing how he does particular map features. He also does maps for commissions.

Recently, he started interviewing other creators on YouTube in a series called Old School Academy. His first guest was Zak Smith [Former Link: https://youtu.be/kAjk5LvV9Hc]. [UPDATE: This video was removed on or about February 10, 2019, due to this post on FaceBook.]

He is very active on OSR topics on Reddit, G+, and Facebook.

You can find him here: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and G+, Art Station for his maps, Tumblr, and his blog. He also has a Patreon.

WASD20

Nate Vanderzee - WASD20
Nate Vanderzee – WASD20

Nate Vanderzee has a broad spectrum of RPG videos on his channel. One series is on teaching people how to play D&D 5e from scratch. He assumes zero roleplaying experience, and no familiarity with the rules. His strong onscreen presence reassures the viewer that he knows his stuff.

As with anyone teaching something new to others, he assumes no prior knowledge. Many of his videos can be applicable to teaching the basics of any RPG.

Nate also draws maps, has unboxing videos, reviews, DM & player tips, miniatures & crafts, and shares about video games. He also does maps on commission and has a regular map drawing livestream. He has the site Sellsword Maps if you want to see examples of his work.

You can find him here: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and G+, and his blog. He also has a Patreon.

OTHERS

I want to make a quick shout out to Jorphdan (the ph is silent) for mentioning me in his YouTube video spotlight.

Jorphdan has a channel dedicated to the lore of the Forgotten Realms. His intro video is hilarious and sets the tone for what you can find there.

His other series are about D&D Cosmology (the planes of existence), a vlog and campaign diary, and live play.

You can find him here: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and G+.

+Matt Finch has launched a new project, Old School Gamer Radio, a just completed Kickstarter, with the YouTube Channel, Uncle Matt’s D&D Studio. His earlier series on the OGL is a must see for anyone publishing under the OGL.

Cody Lewis of Taking20 has a fast growing channel. His start was showing people how to get the most of Roll20. He has branched out into all kinds of efforts this year. I wrote about his channel here, and reviewed a 5e module he co-wrote here. Cody is a welcoming and generous supporter of all RPG creators.

Matt Collville has a fantastic channel. He is focused on getting more people into the DM seat. While I don’t agree with everything he says, I have picked up something from each of his videos. I first wrote about him here. Matt has not enabled ads on his fast growing channel, but he funds it with the sales of his fantasy novel series. I recommend his novels. I still need to write up reviews of them.

QUICK LIST

There are more RPG related YT channels than I could practically cover in one article.  Here is a quick list of some you might want to check out.

Chalice in Chains

AskaPathfinder

Dum Dum Die Podcast

unMadeGaming Also on Twitch.

Nerd Immersion

Encounter Roleplay Also on Twitch.

Tabletop Terrors

Wyloch’s Crafting Vids

theDMGinfo

Black Magic Craft

Gamer_Goggles

You can view the companion video on my channel here:

RPGs

Old School Gamer Radio: A D&D Resource

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Old School Gamer Radio: A D&D Resource has a Kickstarter to help fund a new website described as an index for the OSR. It won’t host the content of others, but point to cool OSR goodness in all the corners of the web, whether blogs, G+, FB, and so forth. There will also be new content on the site.

+Matt Finch of OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry fame, along with Zach Glazer are behind this. Matt has started a new You Tube channel, Uncle Matt’s D&D Studio. He asks that subscribers to his old channel subscribe to the new one.

This sub-heading from the Kickstarter page lays it out: “A unified website for old school D&D, with searchable links to the old school community’s locations, plus content from Matt and others.”

While the Kickstarter hit its initial goal quickly, they would like to reach the $7,500 stretch goal to ramp up the website and You Tube efforts to their maximum potential. This is a shorter run Kickstarter with just 9 days left to go. If you like the OSR and like the idea of having a central place to find the stuff you don’t yet know about, consider backing this. This update video explains it a bit more.

I went crazy and backed at the highest tier to sponsor a video. I can’t stretch beyond that with cash, so I’ll back it with my online efforts.

We had a website a bit like that with the former OSR Today, but its creator had health issues limit his ability to continue that project.

D&D 5e is seen as OSR like by many, so this isn’t a Kickstarter just for grognards from back in the day, or those who like OSR style play.

While Matt and Zach are both connected to Frog God Games, this is an independent effort, although personally supported by +Bill Webb.

RPGs

Adventure Hooks and Encounters Inspired by Cicadas

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Over on G+, +Greg Gorgonmilk [Profile deleted before I archived it at The Internet Archive. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107411251706927346819/+GregGorgonmilk shared a picture of a cicada [Profile deleted: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107411251706927346819/+GregGorgonmilk/posts/MDePnQwnHSw]. This got me to thinking, “How would this affect various creatures in D&D?”

What if there were forms of various burrowing monsters, Ankheg, bulette, etc. that had a cycle like the 17-year cicada. There are not just one group of cicadas, but multiples, and not just 17 years. I believe there is also a 13 year cicada. There are both Periodical, every 13 or 17 years, and Annual Cicadas, which have a life cycle of 2-4 years.

Inspired By Cicadas

Their base stats would be the same as in their source book. Keep it simple, right? Each monster type would just need to kill a certain number of HD of “food” in a set period before burrowing for the next sleep cycle. Say 2-3 weeks, each HD of creature needs to “eat” 2-3 HD for every HD it posses.

Solitary creatures would emerge to eat and mate. Eggs would hatch for laying species, making voracious babies needing several times their HD in food for the rapid growth that occurs before they burrow to hibernate.

Placement & Cycle

To place the groups lay out your campaign map and drop a die indicating how many are in that location. the number could represent either groups or individuals. Roll a d12+6 to see how many years in the cycle for each group.

Of course, there is nothing to say that the cycle is in years, that would put them in living memory. What adventurers wouldn’t want to go out and find the fresh burrows/dens to slay monsters, find treasure, and collect parts for wizards? Better yet, have the cycle in decades or centuries, depending on which race’s living memory will lose track of them. That way, they emerge suddenly and unexpectedly. Only some dusty old tomes might mention it.

By being outside of living memory, it would make even more sense for the crazy weird creatures to emerge when and where they do.

Duration of Last Cycle

To determine how long since the last emergence, either roll those same dice , or 2d6, if using years. For decades or centuries, use what suits your campaign. For worlds that evolve over many campaigns, this would be another aspect to help it come alive.

Alternatively, assign a percentage chance that this year is the end of their cycle, or that they emerge early, as some 17-year cicadas emerged 4 years early this year.

Encounters

For sandbox games a burrow of say, hibernating bulettes, could be placed on the map and set to emerge when the party reaches that hex. Or you could have a random encounter prepared to come up when the party is travelling.  Here, the term burrow or den is used loosely. Some monsters are not found in groups, if you want to go by the book, so a den or burrow would be a generalization for an area where the creatures congregated before burrowing. For bulettes and other very large creatures, they might be spread over many square miles of territory.

If you have a creature you really want to show up in your game, use this to make it happen.

Ecology

Players that encounter such a variation on the usual type of monster might get the bright idea to go dig up these slumbering creatures for “easy” XP. That is easily solved when these creatures curl up and secrete a substance that encases them in a hard shell that disguises their identity and also protects them from scrying. This will make it impossible to determine what kind of creature is in the “shell” if it is found, and reduce the ability to find it.

The secretions will reduce the ability to find it via scrying by 5% per day for the first week. 5% per week for the next month, and 1% per each subsequent month. So 35% after 1st week, and 55% at the end of the month after that, and 67% the year after that.  If one sticks with an additional 1% per month, after an additional two years and seven months it would hit 100%. I would say it shouldn’t be 100% effective. Based on how your preferred rules handle scrying, there should at least be a chance. Rolling 01 on a d100 should find it, unless other modifiers make it impossible.

Earthquakes, floods, new construction, wizard battles,  wars, and battling titanic monsters, like dragons, are some of the things that interrupt the normal cycles. Character wants to build a stronghold, assign a chance that they happen to pick a site  near or over a “burrow”. For example, 10% chance to be near (1d6 miles, hexes, etc.) from a burrow, and 1% chance to be over one. The GM can roll for it, or make the player do it.

Change It Up

To make them different from the book descriptions, make them a different color, smell, size, or flavor of meat (if the party eats its kills).

Where’s the Table?

This should be something each GM can make their own table. But for starters, here is what I am thinking for my own table.

CREATUREBASE CYCLE (Years, Decades, Centuries)TIME SINCE END OF LAST CYCLEPLACEMENTNOTES (Map Location, Treasure, etc.)
Ankhegd6+d122d6Grab some d6’s and drop on the map. Numbers indicate number of groups/dens.Under farmer Bob’s barn
Buletted6+d122d6Grab some d6’s and drop on the map. Numbers indicate number of groups/dens.Under, within, or next to the dungeon

Keep going with each burrowing monster, or monster you re-skin as a burrowing monster.

Make a new table for each genre you run. Of course, some creatures could easily be used across genres.

Vary the cycle units (years, decades, centuries) and number and type of dice used to set the base cycle and time since last cycle.

For placement set one color of dice for each creature and roll all at once. Vary the number of dice used based on the size of your campaign map. If you have a world map, use more dice than a map that is only a portion of a continent.

Make a spreadsheet to keep track of all this, especially the location. Once you know a location, how can you make it interesting? If a location is a far off place, be sure to have the party encounter that cluster of creatures, especially if you haven’t used this variation yet.

If the location is within a dungeon, perhaps the builders of the dungeon avoided waking the creature(s) through blind luck, or build around it on purpose. Another way for creatures to get into a dungeon when “it doesn’t make sense.”

Conclusion

Have you ever placed creatures in this manner? Is this something you would use in your game?

RPGs

Simple Bombs In Fantasy RPGs Without Gunpowder

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I try to think of ways to use my real world knowledge to add things to the game. Last November at UCon, +Del Teigeler played in the Delving Deeper game I ran. His character poured his water down a tunnel that sloped gently downwards away from the party, then poured oil on it, which floated, then lit the oil. Del is a firefighter, so quickly used his actual knowledge to benefit the party.

A few years ago, I wrote an article about using the Rule of 9’s for hit placement, from my training as an EMT.

I decided to write about BLEVEs today. A Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion is why pressure cookers have relief valves. Fill a pressure cooker with war oil and no relief valve, and you get a device that will cause a lot of damage. However, it has to receive constant heat until the vessel fails.  If you don’t want to read the linked Wikipedia article, see the video at the end of the article.

In a fantasy setting, these will require decent quality metal and the skills to craft them. They will have to have an airtight seal that will hold until the vessel fails. Poor quality metal and/or in adequate skills will lead to leaks that may cause a gout of fire on one end, but it won’t explode. Slightly better materials and/or skills could result in an explosion while those intending to use it are still in range. The fire has to be stoked and kept burning until failure.

The requirements for decent quality metal and adequate skills to manufacture would limit this to “higher” civilizations. for example, dwarves and gnomes could be expected to have such things. Some human nations may have them, as well as others with the adequate stuff. Goblins might try to use them, but have as much chance of hurting themselves as their victims.

Wizards might have them constructed and use heat and fire based spells to set them off quickly. This would depend on the GM’s ruling. A fireball with one or more “supplemental” fireballs  from these devices would be devastating in a battle.

These devices would work better as traps or “mines” to hold an enemy at bay while retreating. For example, a cluster of them could be placed in a building that is abandoned and burned to cover a getaway. A trap could cause a room to seal and a fire to light that heats such a device. If the party can’t extinguish the fire or get out of the room in time, they suffer the effects.

A dragon could have its minions construct these devices to be placed in all the narrow entrances to its lair. A blast of dragon’s breath would be sufficient to cause instant failure of the vessels.

The size of the vessels would indicate the area/volume that is affected and the damage.

[pi]

The formula for the area of a sphere is: (4/3)  r3  Here is a link to a calculator from Google. It shows that a 20 foot radius (40 foot diameter), as from a fireball, has a volume of 33,510.32 cubic feet. A 10x10x10 room has a volume of 1,000 cubic feet. Thus a fireball will fill 33.5 ten foot sections of room/dungeon/underground.

Therefore, if your pressure vessels are spheres, you will need this formula to figure how much oil, or other substance, is in them. A 12 inch sphere (6 inch radius)  has a volume of 904.78 cubic inches or 0.52 cubic feet. A BLEVE would hurl heated vaporized and boiling oil plus shredded metal at least 100 feet, if not confined. (I don’t have any facts to back this up, but it seems reasonable. ) Within a close distance, in addition to burns from fire, one would have burns from boiling liquid.

Using water instead of oil will result in shrapnel, and scalding from steam and hot water.

If a metal with a melting point lower than that of the failure point of the pressure vessel is used, one has shrapnel and molten metal to deal with.

A 24 inch sphere (12 inch radius) has a volume of 7,238.23 cubic inches, or 4.19 cubic feet, basically 8 times the volume of a 6 inch sphere.

18 inches for the radius (3 feet diameter) equals a volume of 24,429.02 cubic inches is 1.77 cubic feet.  This is 27 times the volume of a 6 inch sphere (3 inch radius).

I built this spreadsheet so you can run the formula on different size increments. As you can see, a 60 inch sphere (5 feet, with 30 inch radius) is 1,000 times the volume of a 6 inch diameter sphere! If you plug in a different number in the yellow box (cell C2) the only thing that changes is the volume, all the other cells are steady. NOTE: The spreadsheet has been shared as read only, so you will need to copy it to make changes. I also left out the units, so you can plug in your numbers and get the results desired, just add units.

Damage would decrease with distance. For simplicity’s sake, let’s use 1 die of damage per 6″ of diameter within 100 feet. With half damage out to 100 feet.  Combine with a save for half, and one can easily take no damage at 100 feet. I would limit the size of a sphere to six feet in diameter. Time time and cost to construct larger and larger spheres makes it extremely impractical.

Here’s the Table:

(Note: Save for half damage.)

Diameter of SphereCost in GPConstruction TimeDamage within 50’Damage within 100’
6 Inches1,0001 week1d8Half
12 inches8,0002 month2d8Half
18 inches27,0006 months3d8Half
24 inches64,0001 year4d8Half
36 inches125,0001.5 years5d8Half
72 inches216,0002 years6d8Half

The type and number of dice used can easily be modified to suit your taste. Such as, d6 instead of d8.  One can easily modify this to have separate damage dice for shrapnel and the contents. For example, 1d6 for shrapnel and 1d6 for fire damage per 6″ of diameter.  If you want you could use different sized dice for each type of damage.

For more verisimilitude, pick the size of dice to role, such as a d12. Orient the d12 with the 1 up and the 3 facing you. Determine if this is facing the NPCs/monsters or the characters. Roll another d12 and determine which side on the first d12 is indicated. That would be the side that failed first. This would indicate the direction the contents go. The majority of the vessel would go in the opposite direction. If you roll 12, this indicates it fails on the lower right area.

I based the cost and time on how much bigger each size sphere is than the base 6 inch sphere. Since this is the OSR, you can adjust any part of this to suit your needs.

About my experience:

Way back in high school I was a Junior Firefighter. I took the EMT class in the Spring of my junior year of high school. When I turned 18, shortly after my senior year started, I received my EMT license and became a volunteer firefighter. I achieve firefighter II certification, via training at the station. I was not able to maintain licensing and certification when I went off to college.

Instead of getting the approval of the teacher who was on the board of the fire district to respond to fires and accidents, I got to make my own decision. I never had a call while at school my senior year. Once while still a junior firefighter, I got out of school to help with a major grass fire.  I don’t think they’d do that today.

I think this is a clip from one of the training films we had, or they re-used the narrator’s track. That guy narrated everything!

DISCLAIMER: This article is not an endorsement of making devices in the real world with the intent to harm others or otherwise break the law. It is merely a thought experiment using a snippet of my real world knowledge for inspiration to enhance a narrow aspect of fantasy role playing games (FRPGs). If you are not capable of understanding this, then you are not qualified to be part of any organization or agency overseeing such things.