The wines of Castle Xyntillan

I won't bore you with the a play-by-play of the first three sessions of the Castle Xyntillan campaign, but there's still a lot to discuss.  First, Castle Xyntillan is everything I hoped it would be and more.  Its easy to run, thematic, flexible, and highly entertaining for GM and players alike. The first treasure found: The telepathic brain in a jar. Three level 1 characters (a fighter, a cleric and a magic-user) have survived all three sessions with only minor injuries, explored around 20 rooms, found some interesting if minor wealth, and are now on the verge of their first big score.  They have located the Wine Cellar.

The Wine Cellar is described as follows: "Rows of stacked old casks containing ancient vintages. Smell of earth and mould(sic.)"

As you can see there's not much to go on there.  The map shows it as a large "L" shaped room, 20' wide, with length of 90' and 60'.  Four 30' sections of walls are labelled on the map as "barrels".  The rest of the room description details what monsters/NPCs may be encountered here, and what is in each cask, which is accomplished by random a d12 roll.  What is not noted is the size, weight, and number of barrels.  The value of the contents of some barrels is noted, but the ones containing common wine are not given a value.  The PCs, upon finding this area, have determined that wine is valuable and so they should loot the place.  And so for the first time as the GM, I am having to doing some serious thinking about how to run this part of the adventure.

I started by trying to envision the wine cellar based on the description given and what I know about the storage of alcoholic beverages in barrels. The description clearly states "rows of stacked old casks"  so I know that there aren't just barrels sitting on the floor here. For every barrel on the floor, there could be one or more barrels in the space above it.  This immediately brought to mind a whiskey aging warehouse.  I've visited several of these as my parents lived in Kentucky for many years and touring distilleries is nice way to pass time while visiting them.  But bourbon distilleries generally use standard sized barrels, which are 53 gallons/200 liters, and I wasn't sure what would have been used for wine during the time period that Xyntillan is set in.  Which raises the question, what time period is Xyntillan set in?  I guess that is kind of fluid, but I'm equating it to mid 15th Century France.  At that time, bottles were not used to store wine; it was all stored in barrels which varied in size from a few gallons up to over 250 gallons, which is known as a Tun. My quick armature research revealed that all sorts of sizes were used, so the question was what was I going to put in Xyntillan?

Since some of the barrels had sizable GP value associated with them, it was clear that it was intended that the PCs should be able to remove them from the castle, but I didn't want it to be too easy. Secondly, the smaller the barrels, the more there would be I figured. More barrels means more barrels of value and more treasure assuming that I followed the random table provided. The description and table gives no limit to the number of valuable casks, so if there are hundreds of casks in the cellar, there could be dozens of barrels worth several thousand GP, and fairly easily transportable. If I used the standard barrel (known as a hogshead my medieval standards) each would weigh about 500 lbs.  Fairly cumbersome, but not something the party couldn't take care of by themselves with some effort. Instead I settled on the Butt.  Beyond the obvious reasons for, I picked the butt because at half a tun, it is large, hard but not impossible to more, reduces the number of overall casks in the cellar, and forces the party to engage some sort of hirelings to get them out of the castle.

I ended up settling on these figures: The wine is all in Butts weighing 1000lbs each.  They are stacked on racks, 3 high.  Each 10' section holds three columns of three casks, so nine in total.  With twelve 10' sections in the cellar, that makes for 108 casks, about 27 of which are valuable.  I also determined that while the normal wine could have some value, it would be obvious to the PCs that it would not be worth the time to move these.  While looking at the value for wines in various D&D sources, I found the "Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" to be a good resource, and it gave a value of 20-30 GP a tun for common wine. After transport costs, those end up being nearly worthless.

So then how are the barrels moved? That's really up to the PCs, but I have some clear suggestions for them. Their characters could try to figure this out themselves, but its going to be clear to them that they will need to hire people to move these things, and experienced porters and teamsters will have a good plan.  I determined that they will need a team of roughly 20 men with wooden poles/levers, ropes, and pulleys to get these casks off the racks and up the long stairwell to the main floor. Moving each cask should take 2-3 turns. Once outside, a wagon with a four horse team with a driver and assistant will be able to transport four butts of wine.

The next consideration is how the PCs will determine which wines to take and how to value them.  I could be a nice and just let them know the values of each wine, but no, I'm not going to be nice.  I've decided that they need to hire wine tasting experts/sommeliers to identify the valuable wine and its exact value.  With out these, the PC risk misidentifying some average wine as valuable, and not correctly valuing then wine when selling it. It will take 1 turn to test three casks, so there is a time consideration with this step as well.

Finally, there are some related questions that the above topics have raised.  Can you rent a wagon team?  Apparently not, so the party needs to buy a wagon and team, including tack.  If they are hiring 20 porters to come on an expedition that will take 5 days (2 days to the castle, a day of work and a day back) they will need to provide food and some sort of shelter, so serious camping supplies need to be purchased.  With the size of the expedition now close to the 30 folks, they are an obvious target for bandits, so mercenary guards may be in order, which again is additional cost.

Despite these costs, complications, and risks, the party stands to make a sizeable sum of money if they can pull this off. A single wagon load of four butts will have an average value of 14kgp, and with around seven wagon loads in the cellar there is a veritable fortune to be made.  So what's going to stop them?  Lots of wandering monster rolls. The next few sessions should be interesting.

A new campaign - Castle Xyntillan

So after a long time away from the hobby, I'm starting up a new campaign with friends with myself as the DM.  I've chosen Castle Xyntillan as the basis for this campaign for various reason, but mostly because it is an amazing adventure module.  It would seem to be ready to run as is; just grab a copy of Swords and Wizardry and you are ready to go.

Or not.

Like most people likely to read this blog, I can't leave well enough alone, and so I'm already adding house rules to this campaign.  Some probably aren't needed, but I think they add to the game in the long term.  The first change is that I will be using the OSE basic rules as the core ruleset for the players. I settled on this because it was free, has the best layout, and doesn't include demi-humans.  Nothing against Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings but they don't seem to quite fit in with the setting. So only the four core character classes are available (at least to start).

Because of the number of small edits that I would like to make, I really would prefer to create a whole new rulebook, but I really don't have the time or inclination to do all of that work.  Instead I have created a Players' Guide which includes all of the edits and additions that I have made.  Some of these are fairly basic, and similar to other rulesets.  I'm using the Cleric spell progressions from Labyrinth Lord, the To-Hit progression from Original Edition Delta, and new Saving Throw tables I've devised with smoothed progression. I'm also incorporating many of the ideas from Courtney Campbell's amazing On Downtime and Demesnes. 

Additionally, I'm adding in some ideas of my own.  Some of these are just extra spice; things that aren't really needed but could be interesting.  Others are rules I've added to address certain issues that I think will come up in the campaign.  For example, there's a lot of level draining undead in Xyntillan, but the local Cleric is only level 2.  So there's a need for a system to allow for PCs to find an NPC that can cast spells like Remove Curse, Restoration, and Raise Dead.

I intend to try to keep up with this blog, but we all know how things go.  I lesson I have learned from good bloggers and YouTubers over the year is to have a set schedule with different themes/topics.  Currently I have several topics that I want to write about, first being this new campaign.  Secondly I've been meaning to write a detailed room by room examination of The Tomb of Horrors.  That alone could keep me busy with weekly blog posts for most of a year.  I'd also like to look at other standout rooms and encounters from classic modules. And finally I'd like post regularly about various rules. As much as I try to resist, I'm always one to mess around with different rules, and I'd like to get these thoughts on paper, even if I don't get a chance to try them in play.

The Lost Continent of Malzthurdän - a Gygax '75 Challenge campaign setting, Part 3 - The Dungeon

Week 3 turned out to be quite a challenge, and frankly I still have some work to do.  When ever I thought of running a campaign before, I always planned on using published material, particularly when it comes to dungeon.  In my mind, there is so much great material that I already own I should probably just use that and adapt it to my campaign. A modified Caverns of Thracia would be perfect for this, but the challenge asked for a new dungeon.  So this ends up being the first dungeon I've created in over 30 years! Crazy stuff huh? 

This is the dungeon located at 12 on the area map. It is a tomb built into the side of a mountain at the end of the ruined city. Most everything in the ruins has been picked clean but the tomb itself is fairly intact. The entrance is an ancient stone gatehouse, now covered in vegetation, and set of double doors leading to the tomb itself.  The tomb is the resting place of a great king from a lost human empire on this continent (yes king, not emperor, I'm going with a Westeros Seven Kingdoms sort of thing here).  The first level is centered on a shrine, and is dedicated to religious worship for the deities of the Empire.  The second level is dedicated to the history of the kingdom.  The third level contains the actual resting place of the king and was dedicated to his life and the history of his family. The King's ghost still haunts the halls.  The Ophidians and Lizardfolk are aware of this and stay away from the tomb generally.  However, a tribe of kobolds have recently moved into the area, and their shaman has trapped the ghost in a binding circle.

Wandering monster table for use on all 3 levels:

Roll	Encounter
1	d6 giant rats
2	d3 ophidians
3-4	d6 kobolds
5	1 huge spider
6	1 giant snake

1. Gatehouse west - empty. debris 
2. Gatehouse east - debris.  Nest of 5 giant rats in the se corner.
3. Entrance hall - Doorway has been cleared recently and opens easily, though with noise. Floor slants down from door to first intersection.
4. Shrine - Permanent Protection from Evil in area.  Evil/Chaotic monster will not enter here. Altar along south wall. Black, red, and white wax residue on alter from west to east.  If candles found in tomb of those colors are lit and placed correctly, the door to the stairs at B will be unlocked.
5. Waiting area - broken chairs/benches.  Gecko Lizard (3hd) on ceiling
6. Empty
7. Supply room - religious items, red candles. 2 Ophidian scouts. One has a gem worth 50gp. 
8. Waiting area. - Cobwebs and debris
9. Room of Blessings - 8 fonts of water. One of them will Bless whomever drinks from it.
10. Supply room - debris, religious items. Black candles.
11. Hidden room - valuable religious items (500 gp, 50lbs), white candles.

• A - Stairs down to level 2.
• B - Stairs down to level 3.

12. Hall of the Empire - Mosaic murals on all wall depicting scenes of the empire.Soft light from continual light chandeliers

13. Waiting room - debris, broken chairs, tables and benches.strong smell of decay. 6 rot grubs in debris

14. Display room - mosaics.  broken statues.

15. Guard room - chairs, table, and bedrolls.  6 Kobolds. one will be listening at the door.

16. Display room - mosaics.  broken statues.

17. Armory - Door is locked (key is lost). Rusted and decaying weapons and armor.  1 magic shield

18. Snake lair - strong stench. much debris. many bones. Giant snake in north end of room. Kobolds feed it.

19. Royal waiting room - Door is locked (key is lost). Rotting couches, chairs, and tables. 30gp, 10pp, and a 300 gp silver ring found in the recesses of the couches.

20. Hidden ante-chamber - purpose unclear.  Secret passage leads to the unknown

• A - Stairs up to Level 1
• C - Stairs down to Level 2

Level 3

50% chance that any wandering monster encountered in the halls here will instead be a Gelatinous Cube.Other than 26 and 27, these rooms have be thoroughly converted by the kobolds, and their original purpose is unclear.

• B - Stairs up to Level 1
• C - Stairs up to Level 2

21. Guard room - 6 kobolds

22. Living quarters - 8 kobolds. 50% chance of being asleep

23. Chief's room - Kobold Chief and 5 female attendants. 50% chance Chief is asleep. Wields a magic mace.

24. Living quarters - 6 kobolds. 50% chance of being asleep

25. Shaman's room - Kobold Shaman and 2 guards. 50% chance Shaman is asleep.

26. King's tomb - Angry ghost (treat as spectre) bound in circle in middle of the room. If released will attack kobolds. (just break the circle) Nothing of value in sarcophagus, but secret trap door in bottom. Ghost will tell party of secret door and 27 if given magic shield (17) and mace (23).

27. King's true resting place - Actual remains an Crown worth 10k GP. Returning it to rightful heirs will put king to rest.

Orcs, Drow, and Diversity

This recent blog post from WotC has rankled some nerves apparently, which I guess is predictable considering where we are at this moment in history, and particularly in the USA. I find this to be an important issue, so I had a couple of thoughts I would share.

• It's still your game at your table. For anyone that is upset by Orcs and Drow being "just as morally and culturally complex as other peoples" I would just remind you that what you do at your table is your business.  If you want them to be purely evil monsters, so be it. Just because of this decision by WotC doesn't mean you are obligated to change how things work in your campaign.  That's one of the joys of the OSR; we make the game our own and continue to play it differently than modern interpretations.
• Diversity and Inclusion are a good thing. When I was a kid, D&D was a nerdy thing to do. We were the outcasts.  The LEAST we can do is to remember that and allow people to feel comfortable and included.  Your own table may not be diverse and inclusive, but at least recognize that the official game should be.  
• Monsters still exist. D&D is a game of fantasy, imagination, and escapism. Part of that is being able to have clearly defined "good guys" and "bad guys".  Not every campaign needs to use that concept, but many of us enjoy that.  I'm sure that WotC will continue to support that, just not with Orcs and Drow. There's 45 years worth of monsters out there that are clearly EVIL that we can continue to use as clear, "kill on site" sort of bad guys.

The Lost Continent of Malzthurdän - a Gygax '75 Challenge campaign setting, Part 2

Week 2 of the Gygax '75 Challenge presents us with the following tasks: Make a map of the local area, populate it with important locations including a "base" starting town and a entrance to a dungeon that will be the focus of most of the adventures, and create a random encounter table.  Easier said than done.  I thought that this would be one of the quicker tasks, but I soon realized that it could become quite cumbersome.  I'm not an artist, so I didn't feel making a hand drawn map.  After a few days I came to grips with Hexographer, and was able to create a reasonable map of coastline, jungle region, and main river for the adventurers to explore.While it should have been fairly straight forward to create one random encounter table, I figures that there should be different tables for some of the different areas on my map, such as the swamp, the river, and the mountains.  It was tempting to default to the tables from B/X or the AD&D monster books, but I wanted something custom, so I settled on 4 separate tables. I'll probably update these as I find more/better monsters to populate them.  (I'm realizing that I have a very limited familiarity with the broad spectrum of monsters that have been created for D&D).  Part of wanting custom tables was wanting very specific monsters in this area. I wanted at least two intelligent "monster" factions in the area, and ones that would fit the theme.  Since this is "starting" area I setting on Lizardfolk and Ophidians, and one hidden group that could prove a strong ally to adventurers.

1. Base camp/town - More on this in week 4, but unlike most starting towns, this is a very small outpost, more of a fortified camp.  Provisions are limited, but it is relatively safe.
2. Lost colony? -  The remains of a village that could have been a previous human/demi-human colony?
3. Remains of a ruin - First signs of an ancient demi-human civilization
4. Lizardfolk Totem - A marker of the Lizardfolk.  Tributes can be found at the base.  Recent activity
5. Forgotten monument - Another sign of ancient civilization. Some words, possible direction
6. Trampled clearing - Do the gods walk here?
7. Overgrown statue - You wouldn't know because of the vegetation growing on it, but this is a bronze statue of a long forgotten Elven hero.
8. Lizardfolk village - Territorial, but willing to listen to reason
9. Ophidian village 1 - Aggressive, superstitious, hungry
10. Ophidian village 2 - Aggressive, VERY superstitious, knowledgeable
11. Minor ruined buildings -Not much to see.  Possible clues to 12
12. Ruined city - Dungeon Entrance - Broken buildings, overgrown streets. Doors lead to riches and bitter ends.

I've kept the descriptions of the numbered locations very brief at this point.  I will continue to develop these in greater detail in the future, but going by the example that Ray Otus gave in the challenge the level of detail I have currently is more than enough.

Jungle (and Hills)

2D4	Encounter	Hook
2	Stirges
3	Lizardfolk	Scouting/Raiding party in Bullywug territory
4	Giant Snake
5	Ophidians	Guards/hunters from 9 or 10
6	Jaguar
7	Baboon
8	Treant	If encountered within 1 hex of 6, party encounters a Moot

Jungle Mountains

2D4	Encounter	Hook
2	Roc
3	Giant Snake
4	Gorillas
5	Kobolds	Guards/Hunters coming from 12, or 2 in 6 chance party has found a Lair
6	Giant Bats
7	Su-monster
8	Tiger

River

2D4	Encounter	Hook
2	Giant Anaconda
3	Giant Insect, Flying
4	Piranha
5	Bullywugs
6	Giant Turtle
7	Crocodiles
8	Hippos

Swamp

2D4	Encounter	Hook
2	Giant Leech
3	Ophidians	Scouting/Raiding party in Lizardfolk territory
4	Giant Frog
5	Lizardfolk	Guards/hunters
6	Giant Snake
7	Giant Insect, Flying
8	Will-O-Wisp	Only at night, otherwise, no encounter

I have not included hooks for every entry as so many of these are animals.  Number appearing etc is also undefined, as it makes sense to scale that to the party to some degree.

Next week is the biggie: Three levels of a dungeon. I'm going to go ahead and do this as part of the challenge and as an exercise, but I'm a big believer in using published adventures, adapting them, and plugging them into your own campaign. If I were to plug in a pre-made dungeon at this point (such as the classic Caverns of Thracia) I would spend the extra time on the map locations and wandering monster tables.

The Lost Continent of Malzthurdän - a Gygax '75 Challenge campaign setting, Part 1

This is the first post on a new campaign setting I am designing based The Gygax '75 Challenge by Ray Otus. The core of the idea, as originally outlined by E. Gary Gygax in the April 1975 wargaming newsletter Europa, was to develop a campaign setting quickly in a five-step process. Ray has further structured this process into five weeks of work, with clear goals and examples for each step. I'll be documenting the creation of this setting in three ways: The physical journal where I am writing down the information needed to run the campaign at the table, this blog where I am recording most of the information in the journal with additional explanation and notes, and finally my first attempt at some Vlog posts on Youtube where I will provide even further explanation and context. 

Step 1 and the focus for this week's post are the core concepts. This step involves creating a core concept, writing down 3-7 "pitch points" used to describe the campaign and "sell" it to potential players, and documenting several sources of inspiration. Along with these is an optional "mood board" I'll be using Pinterest as a way of documenting images that help evoke the setting.  Without further ado, here's week 1 of The Lost Continent of Malzthurdän.

The Lost Continent of Malzthurdän - A rules agnostic OSR campaign of exploration and conquest in a land long forgotten by man, filled with dangers and riches from age lost to time.

Pitch Points

• The campaign takes place on a 'lost' continent. Malzthurdän has existed as nothing more than a myth, even among the elves and dwarves. Recent mysterious events have led to its rediscovery, and rumor has it there are fortunes to be made in the new world for the bold and adventurous.
• Spellcasters and Magic are rare.  The small number of wizards that exist are reclusive academics.  Those that can wield divine magic, such as Clerics, are seen as prophets, saints, and the chosen representatives of the gods.  High level magic is almost always based on rituals.  Most all known magical items are of ancient origin.
• Technology is equivalent to late 15th/early 16th century Europe. While gunpowder and guns do not exist, the rest of the campaign's technology is based on the Age of Exploration. This indicates the "peak" tech available, and it will often be hard to come by. The inhabitants encountered will be using stone age tech, though this can vary in particular instances.
• Rumors and cryptic evidence of lost cities persist.  Demi-human powers believe that their ancestors may have originally come from this continent. Cryptic writing and artefacts push this belief, and rumors among the humanoid tribes that inhabit the land seem to support it, as there are tales of powerful guardian, forbidden ruins, and vast treasures to be found.

Sources of Inspiration

• Conquistadors, by Michel Wood.  The exploits of Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizzaro are the primary inspiration for overland adventures and challenges to be represented in this campaign. Wood spins a wonderful tale using multiple sources to present a reasonably balanced view of the conquistadors. One must marvel at the hardships they overcame and what they were able to accomplish, and yet be horrified by the destruction they left in their path. Available in print, ebook, and audio book through your library or Amazon. There is also a 4 part TV series which I have not seen yet.
• Aguirre, Wrath of God.   The first feature film from acclaimed director Werner Herzog (aka the "Client" in the Mandalorian) is a story of historical fiction based loosely on the accounts of Gaspar deCarvajal which detail an exploration of the western rain forests of the Amazon basin, and the eventual first navigation of the Amazon river by westerners.  This film goes a long way in setting the mood and giving a good visual representation of the type of equipment and environment the party will be working with. Currently streaming free on Tubi
• Lost City Z. - While this story takes place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it describes in great detail he difficulty in following clues left by others, retracing your steps in a harsh environment, and the struggles to stay healthy when even the environment is trying to kill you. It’s another tales that takes place in the western amazon basin.  Available in all book formats through your library or Amazon.  The movie is available to rent on various stream services and is currently included in Amazon Prime Video.
• The Lewis & Clark expedition While this occurred several centuries later, it provides background on adventures in a different climate with different geography.  It also is a clear example of how befriending and negotiating with encountered peoples can be vital to the survival of the party.  The number of books and videos on the topic are too numerous to mention, but it is notable that their journals are freely available. There are also day by day breakdowns of the events of their trek which would be a valuable resource for any hexcrawl campaign.
• The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan & The Tomb of Horrors These modules exemplify the type of adventures and challenges that the party should expect to face in the dungeons of the campaign. The party must be prepared and quick witted. Fighting the humanoid inhabitants of Malthurzdän will yield limited plunder, but the vast treasures await in the lost tombs, shrines, temples, and cities of the continent. If you don't have these, you know where to get them.
• Indiana Jones These movies typify the whole genre of swashbuckling adventure archaeology which probably started with H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and continues to this day in video games such as Tomb Raider and Uncharted.  While these stories are filled with the sorts of trips and traps that you would expect, they also carry another theme that will carry into the campaign: Indy was always in a race, always competing for his prize.  So will the PCs be competing with others for the treasures that they seek.

Mood Board - Malzthurdän on Pinterest

Next week, a map of the surrounding area for the start of the campaign.

Notes

If I have done my job correctly, you should already have a pretty clear about of what the campaign is about. As I mentioned in describing the book Conquistadors, when I heard the stories of Cortes and Pizzaro as told by Wood, I was truly inspired.  These were tales of men in desperate, deadly situations that somehow overcame the longest of odds to carve out personal empires in a hostile new world. While what actions that they took, particularly Pizzaro were often downright evil, their adventures are simply amazing. What really struck me though was the small size of the groups that they led.  At many points they had but a small, core company of men, and they supplemented that at various points with hired men-at-arms and allies. The similarities to a D&D party and their hireling was immediately apparent to me. It almost directly followed the sort of campaign outlined by Gygax in OD&D. My only challenge in trying to turn this into a playable setting was to try to invest some sort framework where I wasn't putting the PCs into the same morale situations that the Conquistadors face.  I was not going to allow my campaign to turn into a genocide.

So I decided that "my" new world would be a lost continent, overrun by evil forces, with no humans or demi-humans having stepped foot in these lands for millennia. I'm still not completely happy with that change.  Simply replacing Native American with Orcs could be viewed as equating the two, and that is not my intention.  There's more to the story that I am not revealing at this time but suffice it to say that the humanoids of Malthurzdän are not the original inhabitants of that continent and are not innocents in this story.  Not that one of the potential inspirations for this setting is Maztica campaign developed for 2E AD&D.  While there were some ideas there, I quickly dismissed it as I wanted to make sure that I was merely inspired by the events of the exploration of the western hemisphere, not mimicking them.

The one concession that I am going to make in designing this campaign is that I will be creating a minimum of new dungeon levels.  Most of what I will use is published adventures that I modify to fit this setting.  There is such a wealth of great material that is available to me I figure that this is the best time to use it.  The strategy also allows me to populate my world with ready dungeons very quickly, so that no matter where the PCs go I can be prepared for them and avoid Quantum Ogre situations.

One last important note about this setting.  It is currently system agnostic, but that could change.  I don't like to choose a game system until I know the players that will be in the campaign.  I could run this as 1e with some groups, B/X with others, or some OD&D variant with others.  It really depends on what the players are familiar with.  While I've made many friends online playing B/X and 1e games, more recently I've been wanting to play games with my pre-existing friends that may not be that familiar with D&D rules, in which case something more simplistic like Delving Deeper or S&W may be more appropriate. Separate from the base rules, I'm making a study of all the hexcrawling procedures outlined in early rules and modules, and well as the multitudes of blog posts on the subject. As this campaign is focused on exploration, the details of the procedure used to track and resolve travel are a key part of the game.  Another hidden inspiration to this campaign is the board game Lost Expedition, which uses simple, categorized resources and skills to track how your group is able to overcome challenges along a journey. Such a structure may be a great way to quickly resolve wilderness encounters, and I'll be writing more about that in the future.

Grogcon 2019 after action report

Wow, what a weekend!  My work and career often keeps me away from playing games on a regular basis or attending conventions, so I used some vacation time this past weekend to attend GrogCon, which was part of the Crucible 8 convention in Orlando. I got to wander around the convention and take a look at some amazing miniature wargame displays, participate in my first 5E/Adventurers League game, as well as play in four 1e adventures.

First a little about the con.  It was probably 80% focused on miniature wargmaing tournaments.  As one would expect 40k, Age of Sigmar, and WarMchine/Hordes were the most popular.  Infinity was well represented, and I saw some BloodBowl, Bolt Action, and other various games being played.  On the Roleplaying side, most of the events were D&D Adventurers League games from the new Descent to Avernus campaign. Grogcon itself was a small part of the overall con with only a game or two running at any one time, but while it lacked in size it certainly delivered in quality.  I should also note some real positives about the venue.  The hotel didn't seem like anything to write home about, but they had multiple food options that were pretty good, parking was not a problem, the bathrooms were great and the air conditioning was a true blessing. Yes people thought it was cold, but there was not a whiff of BO. (seriously, if you've ever been to a con you know how much of an issue this can be.)

Friday night started with a 1e adventure written and run by Victor Dorso called the Keep at Blood Red Falls.  It was a classic military raid style adventure for higher level characters (8-10).  The scenario reminded me of some of the original "Giants" or "Slavers" modules and proved to be even more difficult. Ultimately the group was not successful (to date, nobody has according to Vic), but we created a ton of chaos, came up with some innovative ways of dealing with certain situations, and had a really fun time.

Saturday afternoon was D&D Adventurers League Descent to Avernus- Escape from Elturel.  While I have 5e, this was my first actual game as well as my first exposure to Adventurers League.  This was a level 1-2 adventure that focused on the immediate aftermath of the town of Elturel being swallow up by the first layer of Hell.  Sounds pretty scary, but the scenario was not very challenging.  It was fun and engaging, and the players had a great time. After playing this event I wish I had the time to play some of the follow ups that were offered, but there were 1e events to attend.

Saturday night was the main event: The Grogcon 1e AD&D tournament.  Three teams ran through the same module, Gnomeskull, with a 5 hour time limit.  The team that earned the most XP wins. The scenario was a raid by a party of Gnomes (levels 5-8) on the keep of Kobold God/King on the first layer of Hell. (Yes, Hell and raids were a theme this year). The module was written by Dan Gormanski and our table was DM'd by James from the GrogTalk podcast.  As everyone was a gnome, we were limited to fighters, thieves, illusionists, and multi-class variants.  For a tournament module the adventure offered the players a lot of options and choices.  There were multiple ways to attack and enter the keep and each team ended up using completely different strategies.  Despite the large amount of racial, illusionist, and thief abilities that the party had much of exploration felt like 0e. We used a lot very detailed descriptions of what and how we were doing things to gain advantages. My team ended up tied for second, but we had a great time.

Sunday morning's game was an adventure called Citadel by the Sea, run by Dan Gormanski and first published in Dragon in 1983.  This was a low level adventure (we were all level 3) that involved exploring ruin near a remote town that believes that they have been curse when an archaeologist disturbs something in the ruins.  Things are not as they seem however.  Dan did an amazing job with his acting and characterizations of the NPCs, and it turned out to be a great little adventure.  Not only were we successful in finishing it, we avoid almost all the traps and unnecessary monsters.  By this time of the weekend all the players were on their game.

Last but not least I had the privilege of playing in The Porcelain Sword of Queen Eshalla written and run by Carlos Lising of Casl Entertainment. This was a well hones mid-level tournament module with wonderful middle-eastern theme and a diverse set of challenges. Carlos is well known in 1e circles as a great writer and DM and I was not disappointed.  The adventure was still in the playtesting phase, but it taught and well balanced between combat, exploration, and puzzle solving.  Again the team avoid traps and other mistake that every other group of  had fallen prey to.  This game also produced the highlight moment of the con:

Bugbear: I surrender to you, holy man!Brother Harun of the Black Lotus: I accept the surrender --of your soul! *shooting crossbow into eye socket at close range*

Remainder of group: 😲

Completing that adventure felt like a true accomplishment, and after 21 hours of D&D I was wiped out. 

It was truly a great time and has really inspired me to continue playing on a regular basis and make the extra effort to go to more gaming conventions.  It's really a wonderful hobby we have.  I just showed up with some dice, pencil and paper, and my original 1e Player's Handbook and I had the time of my life.  

RPG Review: The Tingleverse - The Chuck Tingle RPG

You can't judge a book by its' cover they say.  I think the same adage applies to a title.  If you are familiar with Chuck Tingle, then "The Tingleverse: The official Chuck Tingle Role-Playing game" could be a few different things.  Is it a table-top RPG? An adult bedroom game?  I'm happy to report that it is in fact an OSR RPG rule-book with some great ideas and unique setting, but some serious structural flaws. 

Chuck Tingle is best known for being an author of gay erotica featuring Bigfoot, unicorns, dinosaurs, and even anthropomorphized objects and concept.  I haven't read any of Dr. Tingle's stories, but he has been nominated for two Hugo awards and has a huge following.  My first concern was that this game would be some sort of erotic RPG, but it turns out that is not the case.  The Tingleverse can be completely non-sexual/erotic, so this game will work with your normal open minded RPG group.  The Tingleverse is a strange setting though: I strange cross of South Park, Twin Peaks, and Dr. Tingle own bizarre imagination.  It's a world filled with crossed timelines, chocolate milk, and Buckaroos.

The 270 page softcover rule-book is available through Amazon (Dr. Tingle's own website redirects purchasers to Amazon) and appears to be a print on demand.  My copy denotes it was printed in Middletown Delaware, "30 September 2019", which was the same day I placed my order.  This also appears to be completely self published, with all work being done by Dr. Tingle himself as there are no credits for art, graphic design editing, etc.   Other than the cover, illustrations of the included monsters are the only pieces of art on the book.

The book starts with a brief introduction , then jumps into eight pages of background on the setting including an overview of the Tingleverse and the default starting location of Billings Montana. The next section of the book adheres closely to the standard RPG process of character creation.  Here we discover that game uses six ability scores which be familiar to anyone that has played an RPG. Here they are named Strength, Dexterity, Fortitude, Book Smarts, Street Smarts, and Charm.  Players can chose from human, bigfoot, unicorn, or raptor as their 'type' (race) each with their own unique advantages and ability modifiers.  There are 5 classes (called 'trots') to chose from: The Bad Boy, Charmer, Sneak, True Buckaroo, and Wizard.  These mirror traditional fighter, bard, rogue, cleric, and wizard classes, but with some significant differences.  There are 3 categories of saves, attack bonuses are separate for melee and ranged combat, and each class has its own defense score in place of armor class.   Next each character get some "unique ways" which are similar to perks, and then character creation is rounded out with equipment.

The bulk of the book (114 pages) is taken up with descriptions of "Cool Moves" which are effectively spells or spell like abilities.  Every class has their own list of cool moves and uses the same table for determining how many cool moves of each level they have available per day.  

There is a brief section on experience outlining xp for personal and group actions. No specific xp rewards are mentioned beyond those for defeating monsters, only general suggestions of an xp reward for solving a puzzle or completing a quest.  Dr. Tingle suggestion personal xp rewards for good roleplaying and achieving character objectives.

The following chapter details the rules of combat.  The rules are simple and abstract.  This section also covers Void Madness which serves the same purpose as Insanity from Call of Cthulhu.

There is one page discussing treasure followed 25 pages of magic items; some fairly standard, others unique to the Tingleverse.   

Lastly, there is a sampling of 20 monsters from the Tingleverse. As previously mentioned, each of these are illustrated and are fully statted and described including xp value.

Full disclosure; I haven't read The Tingleverse cover to cover, but I feel safe in making a preliminary review based on what i have read and seen in the book. It's clear that Dr. Tingle is amazingly creative and funny. Even where he derives his content directly primary sources he puts his own 'tingle' on it.  For example, the traditional Magic-User spell 'grease' is now called 'Lube'. Magic missile is 'Magical Balls'.  None of the mechanics are revolutionary but that's OK.  The game sits clearly within the OSR /traditional RPG space without copying a ruleset and placing a gameworld on top of it.  Strip away the setting and you still have a competent set of rules with some innovation ideas that you can mine for you own games

There are serious weaknesses with this product however, which is unfortunate.  The layout sets RPG rulebook design back 45 years.  It is somehow actually worse that the original D&D books from Gygax in 1974.  There are no graphic design elements.  The tables are pure text and are often split over two pages.  The book looks like it was typed up in a Word doc and sent to the press without editing of any type.  There is blank space all over the place just begging for artwork.  The index for the Cool Moves comes AFTER all of the moves are described! (even Gygax put the list before the descriptions).  These complaints may seem a bit nit-picky for a self-published title but this is not Dr. Tingle's first book, it is only available in print, and is priced at $19.95  He may not have published an RPG before, but its clear that he has read other RPG books and should have a basic understanding and respect for the importance of layout and design.  The layout is so poor that it interferes with its usefulness.  In order to run a game of Tingleverse I would have to create copies of important tables for my own use.  I wouldn't even be able to photocopy them because they are on two different pages and difficult to read.  It's unfortunate that the book was published this way, though if it is in fact print on demand one can only hope that Dr. Tingle gets some feedback and chooses to work with a professional graphic designer that can quickly address these issues so that future purchasers get a better quality product.

My second major complaint is what is missing from the book.  There is no introductory adventure. No tips on running a campaign.  The only info the TM (Tingle Master) has to go on is the eight pages of background material at the start of the book and the implied setting described in the rest of the rules.  This would be fine if the book was billed as a Players Handbook, but then why include the section on Monsters?  Apparently Dr. Tingle is working on an expanded Monster Guide, which is needed, but without further setting materials I find it difficult to run a game in this setting.  It's possible that details on the setting are found in Dr' Tingle's other writing, but if this is so it would have been nice if he had suggest a couple of titles to read. (seriously, which would be more informative: The Complete Guide to the Void or Bigfoot Pirates Haunt my Balls?)  To my mind this is not an all-in-one rulebook and the marketing needed to be clear on that.

Despite the flaws, I still recommend the game for those looking for something different. The game does need more info on the setting and explanation for the TM as well as an improved layout. However, the implied setting of the Tingleverse is amazingly creative, and the differences that these rules offer are worthy of examination and potential use in your own OSR campaign.  The magic items, monsters, and spells also offer some new creative material to spice up your game. Love is real. Resist the Void. 

To each their own

The things that get written in the OSR/RPG community never cease to amaze me.  I shouldn't be surprised at my age, having been around online communities and gaming for 15 years, but it still does.  It seems to me that most OSR bloggers are GMs, and experienced GMs at that.  In general they have a lot more experience at running a game than I do, so it's always worth my while to listen to what others have to say and learn from their experience.  That said, don't EVER tell me how to run my game.

If you don't like boxed text in your modules, fine, don't use it.  Don't buy the products. You want to point out that a product has boxed text, and lacks simple concise descriptions, fine.  But don't tell me that I shouldn't be using it.  You want to let publishers know that you won't buy a product that has boxed text, fine.  But don't pretend to speak for everyone.  It's some text.  In a box.  For a game.  That's supposed to be fun. Lighten up.

On the other hand, if you don't like minimally detailed, seemingly random hexcrawls, don't use 'em!  You may think it's a crappy idea, and you are entitled to your opinion.  But that same product may be exactly what someone else wants for their campaign.  And if they do, that doesn't make them a bad GM, it just means you have different tastes and different opinions.

The great thing about the OSR is that we as GMs and players have the power to run games how we want to run them, and play in the types of games we want to play in.  There is room for ever variety and permutation under the sun.  As writers, artists, and publishers we can make the games and supplements that we want to make.  What actually gets used is up to the consumer.  It's a beautiful thing and should be encouraged, not beaten like a dog through the streets of the OSR blogosphere because a product didn't conform to YOUR standards.

Return to the SKLD: Who needs classes?

Two years ago I whipped up a 'lite' version of D&D which I called SKLD! (or Skald) which stands for Search, Kill, Loot, Drink! I've play tested it couple of times but haven't had the opportunity to use it in a regular game. I've been thinking of trying to make some improvements on it it and revise it, so I've decided to write a few blog posts examining certain key features.If you'd like to download a copy you can get a copy from google docs or mediafire. 

One of my main inspirations for these rules was Searchers of the Unknown.  SotU uses classless system.  In the basic original game, everyone is a human adventurer.  All the differences between characters are determined by their equipment.  On the surface is seems overly simplistic, but the more I thought about it, I found that it had a certain charm.  To me, it's the perfect way to achieve the OSR Murderhobo vibe.  Everyone is just a dude, nothing special at all.  The characters develop based on their actions and the equipment they collect. Certainly there are limitations to this sort of system, namely in the magic department, but there are fairly simple ways to work around this.  

For SKLD, I decided that there should be different races available to the players, and that the characters should have have the 6 standard ability scores (SotU does not use any ability scores, everyone is assumed to be totally average). Ability scores seem too iconic to me, as do the the standard demi-human races, so I had to keep those in SKLD. The one mistake that I may have made is not making the demi-humans significantly different from the humans.  I have given them the standard racial special abilities, and some ability score modifiers, but I may need to do some more with them.  I used the standard B/X ability score modifiers, which range from a -3 to a +3, but I'm thinking of changing this to -2 to +2 system (thanks to Courtney from Hack & Slash). 

One of the important aspects of SotU is that the Armor Class is more important than ever.  AC directly affects movement rate and initiative. In SKLD, I've expanded this concept so that AC also affects a character's chances of pulling off special maneuvers, or using magic.  In this way I feel that AC really lives up to the term armor CLASS, and is not just a physical defense rating.  In effect, the Armor Classes are the character classes in SotU and SKLD. 

Next time, I'm going to talk about a magic system without magic-users.

Report from the Front: Cold Wars

I really had a blast at HMGS Cold Wars this past Saturday.  It's been either 15 or 20 years since I had been to one of these events.  A lot is the same, and a lot has changed.  While a lot of gaming conventions have really diversified and become more mainstream because of the rise of "geek culture", Cold Wars (and I am assuming all historical miniatures gaming conventions) remains firmly rooted in grognardville. It really looked like a gathering of Gary Gygax clones at times.  However, I saw a lot of younger faces a newer games too.  It was a great mix of old a new blood.

If you've never been to a convention like this, there are generally 3 types of games going on: Scenarios, demonstrations and tournaments.  The scenario games are designed for people that are familiar with the game system being used to show up and play.  The game master usually provides the terrain and miniatures.  In general these games are large, multi-player events with elaborate terrain.  The demonstration games are very similar, except that they are designed for players that have not played the system before.  Very often they allow people to just walk up and play, and are generally shorter in duration.  The last type are the tournaments, where groups of player gather to compete against one another.  I think that most Warhammer and WarmaHordes players are familiar with this sort of game.  There's usually a good mix of all 3 types of games at these conventions.

The other main attraction is the dealer room and swap meet.  These are a great way to pick up some hard to find rules and miniatures, and to get an up close look at products before you buy them.  The swap meet also offers a chance to get some really good deals.

So whats the same?  15mm Ancients, American Civil War and Napoleonics are still very popular with the older crowd. I don't have much experience with  ACW and Napoleonics, so I'm not sure which rules were being used, but I saw DBA, DBM, Field of Glory, Warhammer, and Warrior being used for ancients and medievals. There were tons of amazing scenario games using less popular and rulesets, timeperiods and scales. I spent most of the day just wandering around and looking at what was going on.

What's new? Well new to me at least.  Lot's of WWII gaming.  Bolt Action and Flames of War were probably the 2 biggest games at the convention.  The 25' long table for the Pegasus Bridge Bolt Action scenario was the true definition of Epic.

The other big game this year was SAGA, the 28mm Dark Age skirmish game.  I haven't tried this one yet, but it really interests me.  Armies range in size of between 16 and 70 figures roughly, and there lots of high quality miniatures available, some in plastic making it a very affordable game, even though the books are a little pricey.

The other major new theme I  noticed was the broad acceptance of Sci-Fi and Fantasy games.  I saw Star Wars X-Wing miniatures and Battletech being played along with 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Fanticide, Malifaux and many others.

On a person note, I was able to pick up some bargains.  I got the tanks and artillery to complete my Bolt Action Desert Rats army. I swore I wasn't going to pick up any more fantasy, but I found a great deal on some orc boar riders and 2 shamen.  I resisted the $30 chimera for my Imperial Guard, but ended up taking home a box of Schaeffer's Last Chancers because I love the figures and they were a bargain.  I didn't get any of the DBA armies I was looking for, mostly because there were not any dealers there that had quality 15mm medievals.  It seems that in the internet age, many of the major European based companies are not coming to the US conventions.  On there other hand there were vast amounts of 28mm figs available for that same timeperiod, mostly because of the popularity of SAGA.

This convention has really fired my interest in the hobby again, so I'll be writing more about wargaming and miniatures in the future.

Miniatures and the Airbrush

More and more of my free time is being devoted to miniature wargaming.  I've had some great online D&D sessions in recent months, but I really miss running games and I have yet to find a game that really hits my sweet spot as a player.  So I've started working on miniatures again.  I've have several projects going on right now and I think it will take several months to complete them all.

The first major project is a "Desert Rats" army for Bolt Action.  I'm still int he process of assembling the 30 some infantry models, and I have yet to purchase any tanks or other vehicles.  I'm hoping to find some bargains at the Cold Wars convention next weekend.  While I'm there I'm thinking of picking up a few 15mm DBA armies to match up against my Vikings.  I'm thinking Anglo-Saxons or Normans, though Eastern Woodland Indians might be a neat opponent too.

For 40k I've still got some Space Wolves to work on.  I have 2 Rhinos that need to be finished, but since I can't see using them that often I'm not very motivated with those.  The next models I'll probably work on there are the 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry I have.  Then I'll start touching up and converting some of the older models I have.  The only other Space Wolf model I really need is a Njal Stormcaller.

All of my Imperial Guard is painted, but I do need to finish the bases on the infantry.  I've been thinking about adding some of the Wargames Factory Shock Troops for Elites and Heavy Weapons, but as my IG were originally planned as an Ally detachment, I'm not really pressed about building up that army.

I've got a large Orc army for Warhammer Fantasy that is now completely base coated, ie green. That's probably the largest project I have sitting around.  It's over 150 figures.  My other WFB army is still waiting for miniatures to arrive.  I got a small group of Chaos Warriors, but I've been waiting a years for a certain Kickstarter to deliver  with the bulk of the force.  Not that I'd have time to paint them anytime soon.

My Flying Monkey army for Fanticide is now based and primed.  The real pain in the neck starts this week as I have to attach all of the wings to the monkeys.  I have a feeling that these things are going to be falling off all of the time.

And if all of that wasn't enough, I still have ALL of the Reaper Miniatures KickStarter to paint up.  To get all of this painted, I decided it was time to invest in an airbrush.  I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm really liking it.  Here's a pick of my first project with the new rig.

It's a little hard to see here, but I'm really excited about how easy it is to create shadows and highlights with the airbrush.  I'm not expecting this to be a masterpiece, but I want this to turn out well so I can feel proud about displaying it.

Bolt Action!

So while I've been playing some D&D over Google Hangouts over the last few months, I had pretty much packed in my miniatures.  I stopped by a local hobby shop hoping to track down some DBA gamers and instead ran smack dab into Bolt Action.

If you aren't familiar with it, Bolt Action is a Skirmish/platoon level wargame set in WWII, designed for 28mm figures.  The game was written by Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, and published by Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing. As you might have guessed based on the authors and scale, this is 40k for WWII.  Thankfully there are some great rules innovations.  Instead of players taking turns moving and firing all of their units, players draw dice from a bag to see which player gets to activate a unit next.  There's a mechanic for suppressing fire.  Close combat is rare, but decisive.  It seems to be a great set of rules that makes for a tactically interesting game.

From a modelling standpoint, there are plenty of great miniatures out there.  While 28mm is the suggested scale, as that is what Warlord Games is selling, it would be very easy and economical to use 1/72 scale figures and tanks.  The armies aren't that large generally, so the cost should be prohibitive.  A typical army consists of 30-50 infantry plus leaders, an artillery piece, and armored car or recon vehicle, a tank, and possibly some transport vehicles. Standard 1000 point armies are available for $120. If you want to jump in feet first, they have a whole Pegasus Bridge set for $280.

For an old 40K fan that loves history, is working on a budget, and demands a solid ruleset, Bolt Action is not to be missed.  I'm hoping to get some games in at Cold Wars next month.

An Ode to Orthodoxy

I've never met Frank Mentzer. I don't know anything about his reputation.  All I know is that he was responsible for BECMI and Temple of Elemental Evil. With that in mind, I find the statement below from 1982's RPGA module R-1 'To the Aid of Flax' to be ponderous.

Has anyone else ever gone 6 years in a single campaign and not created some sort of house rule, new spell, or new monster?  If Mentzer's statement is 100% factual, it has to hold the record for the most orthodox, by the book campaign in history.  Of course I'm sure he used the AD&D combat rules exactly as written.

Why I don't blog anymore

It's been a long time since I have put anything on this blog, though I had lots of ideas to write about. Every time I start writing something I decide not to post it.  I regret not posting, but there's always a reason not to.

It's been said before.  A lot of time things I want to express have been said before, and sometimes quite often. I feel there's no need to add my two cents. Here are some eloquent, thoughtful people that have stated positions and thoughts similar to my own, and I don't see much point in a 'me too' post.

It's stupid.  Little odd things interest me.  Talking about them publicly makes me feel like a very strange person. So I'm hesitant to put my weirdness on full display.

People are going to disagree with me.  I don't mind them doing so, but I feel the need to defend my position, and I dislike trying to do so in an Internet forum format.

I prefer to talk about these things in person.  I enjoy discussing the things I want to post about, and posting is not discussing.  I really enjoy talking face to face or via voice chat etc.  the change of ideas that goes on in that environment see much superior to anything I would get out of posting something on a blog and reading comments.

I don't have anything worth adding. It's just egotistical to think people are going to be interested in my random thoughts about gaming and what I've been up to recently. This is probably my biggest hurdle to blogging. I usually get half way through writing a post and ask "why am I doing is?"  I never have an answer.

So why am I blogging now?  After getting past the reasons I don't blog, I started thinking about why I should. And it turns out that there are some good reasons for me to start posting again.  I want to point out things that others are blogging about that I find interesting. I want to bring up some odd topics I've been reluctant to mention, but write about them from a neutral standpoint.  I'm more interested in seeing what other people think than expressing my opinion about most topics.  I'd also like to start reviewing some products, both RPGs and wargames, old and new.

Hit Dice, variable weapon damage, and the long sword

I'm playing in a new campaign starting this Sunday, and we've decided to use the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion. For those of you not familiar with it, the LLAEC adds classes, spells and some other concepts from AD&D to Labyrinth Lord.  I really like this because I started with D&D B/X and then moved to AD&D, but even when we moved to AD&D we kept using a lot of the mechanics from Basic, such as the turn sequence and combat sequence, rewarding XP etc.

The LLAEC has an option to use the hit dice for character classes as they exist in AD&D .  By default they use the hit dice as described in LL and B/X. I was wondering which option we were going to use.  At first I was thinking that default option was probably best, but then I remembered why that was a bad idea. Variable weapon damage.

Even though the default rule in B/X is that all weapons do d6 damage, I always, always, always used the variable weapon damage table. I remember first getting the game and having to go sifting to the back of the book to see how much damage a particular weapon did. And I remember being so happy that the Expert rules included that chart at the beginning of the book.   But there's a problem with variable weapon damage, and it's name is the long sword. For some reason, the long sword is the one 1 handed weapon that does d8 damage. Which means that's what everyone wants to use.  It also makes clerics and halflings (which cant use it) less effective in melee, as they can no longer deal as much damage in melee as fighters.

It's a problem that I didn't think a out 30 years ago, because frankly we didn't question those sorts of rules, and it wasn't as much of an issue in AD&D because characters had larger Hit Dice. But as I think of it now, I think that if the variable weapon damage rule is used as is, the Advanced Hit Dice should also be used.  Either that or long swords do a d6.

14.3 lbs

My Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter package has shipped. FOURTEEN POINT THREE POUNDS!!!  Dear lord

A Horde of Orcs!

That's about 150 orcs right there. Just primed them tonight. There a bunch of boar riders and a few chariots to to this too, plus a few character models. The general on a wyvern is already complete.  This will be an easy 3000 points when complete. I figured I bet get working on these things before my Reaper and Redbox miniatures Kickstarters show up. 

Reaper minis incoming!

This weekend I got email notification that my Reaper miniatures kickstarter order will be shipping soon.  It's been almost a year since that kickstarter campaign ended, but I've been looking forward to getting these things for a while. Now that they're on the way, I have to figure out what I'm going to do with them.

1.  I'm going to sort through them and just marvel at how many of them there are.   I can't remember exactly what I ordered, but I think I'm around 200 miniatures

2. Paint these suckers.  I bought storage cases as part of the kickstarter, so there's no excuse for not painting these. I'll have a good place to store them.

3. Use them in some games. Some of them will come into use for RPGs, but I'm also hoping to get some wargaming in with these.  I'll probably try to put together some games using Delta's book of war, and the excellent Fanticide rules from Alien dungeon, but I'll be looking at some more "skirmish" style wargames in the coming months.

Now I just need to get my minis from Redbox games

Starting my own Megadungeon

While I've been itching to run some classic modules and try some of the new classics that are coming out of the OSR, I've got this idea in the back of my head for writing my own MegaDungeon.  The problem is the concept.  I know I could go the easy route and use the "Mythic Underworld" concept, but I want something more detailed, more "realistic".  I've come up with a few ideas, but I think they all have drawbacks.

"The Necromancer beneath the city"  The city once had a large underground dungeon in which it held its prisoners.  Very little of it has been used since the Mad Mayor was overthrown decades ago.  In recent months, public executions and exhiles have ceased, and other prisoners are starting to disappear.  No one in the public knows exactly what has happened to these prisoners.  In truth, they have been thrown into the old Dungeon in groups on a weekly basis.  A powerful Necromancer has moved into the depths of the dungeon, and has threatened the City fathers with devestation if they do not provide him with "tribute" in the form of living bodies.  Once thrown into the dungeon, these prisoners are rounded up by the Necromancer's minions and taken to holding areas where they are later used in various experiements.   

The individuals in an adventuring party are thrown into the dungeon for whatever reason (actual crimes, politcal revenge, outlawed magic or religious practice etc), but before they can be rounded up by the Necromancer's minions, they encounter an old elf who has lived in the dungeon since the time of the Mad Mayor.  He leads the party through a hidden tunnel and provides them with some basic supplies.  From here the party can explore the dungeon, encountering the Necromancer's minions, many unusual experiments, forgotten areas from the time of the Mad Mayor, and eventually the Necromancer himself.

To extend the adventure even further, the Necromancer is taking most of the prisoners and turning them into zombies.  He is then selling these zombies to a political power in the "Underdark"  to create an army.  Either before or after defeating the Necromancer, the party can venture into the "Underdark", ala the D1-3 series.

The drawbacks here are figuring out a reasonable/realistic base of operations.  Without a way to get out of the dungeon, there's really no way to sell loot or get supplies, which creates an interesting situation. The best solution I can come up with is providing a few secret tunnels from the Dungeon into various parts of the city. Without access in and out of the dungeon, it makes for a really good campaign idea, but it doesn't lend itself to the MegaDungeon play style all that well.  In a way it reminds me a little of the situation the a party finds itself in at the start of B4-The Lost City, or A4-In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords.  

"The Endless Catacombs"  The city has buried its dead in a gigantic labyrinth of catacombs for milenia. Adventurers can enter the catacombs for various reasons including: Looting treasure, catching tomb raiders, clearing out invading mosters etc. 

Stole this idea from Glen Cook's 2nd Black Company Book, Shadows Linger.  The problem here is that if it is one gigantic catacomb, the deeper areas are actually the newest, and if they are still being used for their intended purpose, there wouldn't be much adventuring activity there.  This also tends to be heavy on the Undead.

"The Mines o' Death"  The mines are a combination of naturally occuring cave complexes and mines that have been built over the centuries.  Various powers have controlled the mines over the years, but they have been abandoned by civilized races for many centuries due to a lack of production, dangerous conditions, and climate change in the region. The mine is now inhabbited by multiple humanoid factions, as well as all sorts of strange creatures that resided here or were brought here by the creators of the mines.

This is a pretty straight forward concept but seems to have a lot of potential.  I think it has much in common with Moria, mixed in with the Caves of Chaos from B2. I envision the complex having many, many entrances spread out over a few miles, rather than the few dozen yards in caves of Chaos. The caves and mines will interconnect in various interesting ways, and provided for a huge variety of areas.  I like this better than the abandoned Dwarven city model because it allows for more variety and creativity.  One of the major drawbacks in this one is that it lies far from civilization (probably a week's journey or more to the nearest outpost) making it an unlikely location for lower level adventures.