Let's take a quick trip back to 1989. Wargaming, and especially historical miniature wargaming, is suffering from an over-abundance of complex rules, expensive entry points and, anecdotally, waning interest. A gentleman by the name of Phil Barker, of Wargames Research Group, walks into a Society of Ancients conference, that year, armed with a revolutionary two page document. It was an experimental set of rules which "stripped away" the points, the tables, the complex rules and took the game back to a very basic, but very open format. Wargamers could play games in under an hour, as versus many hours. Novices didn't need to spend large amounts of money on miniatures, they could field an army with only twelve elements (each element has a couple of figures to represent the type of element - spearman, swordsman, cavalry, etc.) and fight a complete battle.
This two page document took the wargaming community by storm. Within a year, a commercial version of the rules had been generated. From 1990 to today, DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) is a very popular, and easy to learn, wargame. It has gone on to branch into different versions of varying complexity, but the basic DBA game remains very accessible, with few changes. It has gone through only 6 "official" change versions, with the last being in 2004.
What an amazing story and what interesting parallels it holds for D&D.
In my observation and participation, wargaming, and historical miniature wargaming in particular, can be a community obsessed on details and complexity. If we also look at the evolution of wargames from a very broad perspective, we see it going through a cycle of simple leading to complex, then back to simple. I find that very interesting in light of how D&D has progressed - from the simplicity of OD&D, to the building complexity of AD&D, 2E, 3E and now 4E. Contrast that progression of complexity and expense to the real interest these days in the simpler versions of the game: Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry and the like.
It seems to me that there is real heartening lesson in looking at how DBA came about and how it changed the historical wargaming community. There is still a vibrant and active DBA community and there is still a great deal of interest in the rules. It made its mark on a community that needed a simpler option and it opened the door for a great many people to enjoy what had become an expensive, complex niche of a niche.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - my main mission is to share my love of the original editions of D&D. I think that is best done with simple rules, open games and an accepting attitude. Just as DBA paved the way to provide an extremely viable alternative to the complex rules at the time, I think what we do in the "old school revival/renaissance" can echo that. I don't think the RPG world is an exact parallel, but I do see how the retroclones and the OSR have opened the door to a simpler and perhaps more accessible version of the game we all love. I think that by stressing alternatives to the expensive entry point for D&D, we will find more and more interest. I think this is especially true, considering the fact of the continuing "Core Book" churn that I hear about - the plan by WotC is apparently to release +1 x 3 so-called-Core Books each year for 4E.
For what it's worth, I've been reading DBA so I can learn how to play - and perhaps have an endgame to my campaigns where massive armies can duke it out using DBA (or perhaps the fantasy based offshoot of DBA - called Hordes of the Things.) I'm also reading it to gain a perspective of going back to simple - and then in looking at my copies of the retroclones, feeling like I'm in good company all around.
Sharpen your pencils, get out the graph paper and enter the One Page Dungeon Contest! A "metric ton" of awesome prizes awaits those who dare! Contest ends May 14th.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
OD&D Solo Game - Wife makes me proud
My wife continued to demonstrate that she's learning the tactical lessons of fighting in dungeons this Saturday night. We picked up our solo game after a 20 day hiatus and she delved deep into the ruined tower, uncovering more mysteries. My daughter joined in the game and played a bit more reservedly, after having gotten herself in trouble the last time by being alone and surrounded by skeletons.
Efficient dungeoneering: I'm thoroughly impressed that my wife has learned the art of tactical use of terrain in a dungeon. Zombies approaching? Choke them at the door. Many skeletons? Form a circle and get the clubbers/blunt wielders to the front. Always have spears in row 2. Search, use poles and what-not to open from a distance. Keep your eye on the ball. She's displaying all of that and more. I'm proud to a T to watch her efficiently take apart my dungeon - well, all except my bridge of skeletons, but she's *still* working on how she'll deal with that.
She also is enjoying the power of an NPC 2nd level cleric who made a couple of Turn Undead throws which assisted her in dealing with skeletons, zombies and a ghoul. I was pretty surprised he made that roll - and when the ghoul lost initiative on the round to flee - stuck at a heavy door - the party killed him quickly.
NPCs with quirks: I am continuing to use the awesome Hireling charts from Knockspell #1. In this case, Brother Atu of some god likes to talk to himself and present a metal spiked flower as a holy symbol. My wife's character Aeli hired him on at the expensive rate of 3gp a day, but so far he's been worth it.
I have several NPCs with quirks and traits - from the stiff Captain of the Guard Equay, to the decadent and bourgeois bookseller Nicodemus, to the forgetful, singing Innkeeper Burlburr and the taciturn Dwarf weaponsmith Thumboldt. Tironell, the long standing NPC magic-user who has been adventuring with Aeli since Day 1, and her followers Rather and Turchao, they all have their small personal stamps that I've left her with. It works well because I don't have to put a lot into their backgrounds unless needed, but their quirks do feed into who they are and she remembers it.
Handwaving 1 weak monster combats: I had a nice chart set up for what the players find if they search the muck of a cavern. There's also a 2in6 chance of giant centipedes (1d4) showing up each time they search. Well, for a large party, running combat for 1 lousy centipede that wasn't going to kill (through poison) someone and had about 2 hp wasn't worth the time. So I gave it a 1in10 that the centipede would end up biting someone, and just handwaved the combat. Cheap, I know, but I just didn't feel like the endless fight with rats, and at this point, it was very unlikely that 1 centipede would do much against a posse of 8 adventurers. If it had been 3 or 4 centipedes, I would have done the combat but one? Pfft.
I did wonder if this was a good thing or not, but as nobody minded the handwaving and were willing to accept damage if they got nicked by the 1in10, I felt OK with it.
Not having religion/pantheons: The time has come in my wife's game to figure out how Gods/Goddesses and the like will work... and I'm drawing a blank. Pantheons are not my thing. I can do the generic religions, but when it comes to either using existing pantheons like Norse or Egyptian, or coming up with a new one, or adapting ones from a book - I'm just not excited about it. Truth be told, I'd rather NOT deal with it, but I'm going to have to have it sooner than later, so it's time to think about it. It's just not my favorite of tasks.
That's it, though, for the what didn't work. Everything pretty much flowed really well this game. Aeli was on top of her game and now she has mysteries to solve:
- The ruined tower apparently is a lot bigger than she thought.
- What does the mysterious iron key lead to?
- How to get past those skeletons on the bridge, since that seems to be the only way deeper?
- What is the significance of the very ancient books they found. (Let me tell you, coming up with book titles off the cuff is fun. I managed to bore both my wife and daughter with their descriptions and contents.)
I find myself really liking my NPC magic-user. I have to remember, he's fodder - but I've not had a mage go past 3rd level in any game that I can remember. I may have to use him in another universe if I play in someone else's game.
Sharpen your pencils, get out the graph paper and enter the One Page Dungeon Contest! A "metric ton" of awesome prizes awaits those who dare! Contest ends May 14th.
What Went Well
Efficient dungeoneering: I'm thoroughly impressed that my wife has learned the art of tactical use of terrain in a dungeon. Zombies approaching? Choke them at the door. Many skeletons? Form a circle and get the clubbers/blunt wielders to the front. Always have spears in row 2. Search, use poles and what-not to open from a distance. Keep your eye on the ball. She's displaying all of that and more. I'm proud to a T to watch her efficiently take apart my dungeon - well, all except my bridge of skeletons, but she's *still* working on how she'll deal with that.
She also is enjoying the power of an NPC 2nd level cleric who made a couple of Turn Undead throws which assisted her in dealing with skeletons, zombies and a ghoul. I was pretty surprised he made that roll - and when the ghoul lost initiative on the round to flee - stuck at a heavy door - the party killed him quickly.
NPCs with quirks: I am continuing to use the awesome Hireling charts from Knockspell #1. In this case, Brother Atu of some god likes to talk to himself and present a metal spiked flower as a holy symbol. My wife's character Aeli hired him on at the expensive rate of 3gp a day, but so far he's been worth it.
I have several NPCs with quirks and traits - from the stiff Captain of the Guard Equay, to the decadent and bourgeois bookseller Nicodemus, to the forgetful, singing Innkeeper Burlburr and the taciturn Dwarf weaponsmith Thumboldt. Tironell, the long standing NPC magic-user who has been adventuring with Aeli since Day 1, and her followers Rather and Turchao, they all have their small personal stamps that I've left her with. It works well because I don't have to put a lot into their backgrounds unless needed, but their quirks do feed into who they are and she remembers it.
Handwaving 1 weak monster combats: I had a nice chart set up for what the players find if they search the muck of a cavern. There's also a 2in6 chance of giant centipedes (1d4) showing up each time they search. Well, for a large party, running combat for 1 lousy centipede that wasn't going to kill (through poison) someone and had about 2 hp wasn't worth the time. So I gave it a 1in10 that the centipede would end up biting someone, and just handwaved the combat. Cheap, I know, but I just didn't feel like the endless fight with rats, and at this point, it was very unlikely that 1 centipede would do much against a posse of 8 adventurers. If it had been 3 or 4 centipedes, I would have done the combat but one? Pfft.
I did wonder if this was a good thing or not, but as nobody minded the handwaving and were willing to accept damage if they got nicked by the 1in10, I felt OK with it.
Things That Didn't Work
Not having religion/pantheons: The time has come in my wife's game to figure out how Gods/Goddesses and the like will work... and I'm drawing a blank. Pantheons are not my thing. I can do the generic religions, but when it comes to either using existing pantheons like Norse or Egyptian, or coming up with a new one, or adapting ones from a book - I'm just not excited about it. Truth be told, I'd rather NOT deal with it, but I'm going to have to have it sooner than later, so it's time to think about it. It's just not my favorite of tasks.
That's it, though, for the what didn't work. Everything pretty much flowed really well this game. Aeli was on top of her game and now she has mysteries to solve:
- The ruined tower apparently is a lot bigger than she thought.
- What does the mysterious iron key lead to?
- How to get past those skeletons on the bridge, since that seems to be the only way deeper?
- What is the significance of the very ancient books they found. (Let me tell you, coming up with book titles off the cuff is fun. I managed to bore both my wife and daughter with their descriptions and contents.)
I find myself really liking my NPC magic-user. I have to remember, he's fodder - but I've not had a mage go past 3rd level in any game that I can remember. I may have to use him in another universe if I play in someone else's game.
Sharpen your pencils, get out the graph paper and enter the One Page Dungeon Contest! A "metric ton" of awesome prizes awaits those who dare! Contest ends May 14th.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Running a solo game
Over the past few months, I've been running a (mostly) solo campaign with my wife. This started back in November of 2008 and the campaign is still ongoing. Below you'll find links to pages that highlight lessons learned and some of the joys I've discovered in running a solo game. I think you'll find these posts useful if you're considering a solo game.
Starting Out
Although a couple of these posts ended up a bit long, they highlighted some of the techniques I used to get my wife involved in the game - simple rules, focusing on things she would find enjoyable, teaching her "the basics" of "old school" play.
Sometimes things happen, players get frustrated, or things get difficult. In a solo game, you (the DM) are the NPCs, the backup and the advice giver - there are no other players to help. I wrote about some of these situations.
Sometimes you might decide to expand things, or make the world bigger, or even open up the solo game to other people. In my case, my solo game has become somewhat of a family campaign.
Starting Out
Although a couple of these posts ended up a bit long, they highlighted some of the techniques I used to get my wife involved in the game - simple rules, focusing on things she would find enjoyable, teaching her "the basics" of "old school" play.
- Introducing my wife to OD&D style play - a somewhat simple overview of some things I did in our first game
- Getting my wife to go back to the dungeon - a long post where I talk about getting her more involved with her character and teaching her a bit more about dungeon diving
- Getting assistance for a lone character - my wife learned about getting assistance in town and how hirelings/henchmen work - a useful thing for a lone PC!
- When hirelings become followers - how to make some NPCs into a 'party' for a solo PC (this other post is a prequel and sets up her gaining followers)
- The first barfight - because every campaign has to have one now and then...
- Wandering in the wilderness - introducing a solo gamer to going beyond the town and first dungeon.
Sometimes things happen, players get frustrated, or things get difficult. In a solo game, you (the DM) are the NPCs, the backup and the advice giver - there are no other players to help. I wrote about some of these situations.
- Dungeons have puzzles too - my wife discovered that there's more to dungeons than monsters - dealing with the frustrations of puzzles and traps
- When mapping becomes difficult - sometimes mapping makes the game harder than it is. Here's how I helped my wife deal with that issue.
- When the dice roll against your player - killing a solo PC can be... difficult. I've faced that once and here's what happened.
Sometimes you might decide to expand things, or make the world bigger, or even open up the solo game to other people. In my case, my solo game has become somewhat of a family campaign.
- My kids adventure in my wife's world - and although they didn't interact directly with my wife's PC, they are in the same world, affecting things.
- My wife's character becomes important - as PCs get stronger, they will begin to influence the world around them. In a solo game, that's rather obvious and I've learned to make that's part of the game.
- My wife answers questions about her solo game - someone asked if she would do a guest stint - and she agreed! You can see how she views the game.
- Rules aren't necessarily important - A solo gamer might be completely new to RPGs. You don't have to load them down with rules.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Wargaming Roots of D&D
This post comes by way of an ongoing reading of a 1st edition TSR supplement - "Dungeon Master's Design Kit", an ongoing slow education into miniature wargaming and some various blog readings, this post by Rob Conley at "Bat in the Attic": Into the First Fantasy Campaign Part 1.
James over at Grognardia focuses a lot of his attention on the pulp aspect of the hobby, and rightly so, as the pulp fiction that Arneson, Gygax and others grew up with definitely influenced the hobby. That's why we have "fire and forget" magic, fantastic monsters, paladins and many other little idiosyncrasies that pervade our hobby. I think, at times, we tend to focus on that too much and forget that there's another leg of the stool to D&D - wargaming.
I've learned a lot from reading Grognardia and other posts about how the hobby changed during the 1980s. At the time, I really didn't give it much thought. I didn't buy/play the modules so much, and our games were more of the "Heavy Metal" type than the plot driven type. I didn't play Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk or any of the 2nd edition settings. We weren't caught up in the movement from sandboxes to stories to railroads. It's only later, by looking back at the whole picture and reading some of the books and modules that I can see the movement from where OD&D had it's roots to where the game is today.
The Design Kit, written in 1988, is a perfect case in point. I intend on reviewing this accessory later, as a study for myself so I can write one for a sandbox, so I won't get too deep into it. It is, however, demonstrates the emphasis in the mid/late 80s onward of plot, story and three acts - intro, drama, conclusion. I find this book particularly useless in helping me in my sandboxes.
Contrast that to wargames, at least wargaming as I understand it. When I play a wargame, it's usually based on a scenario. I have a tactical (or strategic) goal, usually involving battling for territory or objectives, resources to use or obtain, terrain to deal with. The focus is small (usually) in scale.
When I read OD&D/AD&D/Holmes, I can see that lineage. When I read how the games were conducted, I can feel that direct influence. Dungeons were seen as the scenarios. Towns and NPCs provided resources. The clearing of the land and obtaining of treasure was a means to an end (holding territory) and a desirable objective so that one could move to up direct wargame scenarios. After all, why have a castle if you're not going to have followers and soldiers? Why have soldiers if you're not going to campaign on a vast scale.
This may be why OD&D's end-game (the castle/keep and the army) faded in importance. Allow me to speculate for a bit. As D&D got bigger in the 80s, people didn't want to go from adventuring to army wargaming. Although for some of us, that would have been fun, for most of the kids I played D&D with, wargaming was the domain of creepy, boring old men who cited from mysterious historical tomes and pushed cardboard counters around with the seriousness of life/death struggles. No, most of my friends wanted either more, more, more story/adventure and they wanted their person to matter to the world. Enter Dragonlance and the plot/story driven module and the rest is history.
As I play my current sandboxes, I can see the differences very clearly. My two campaigns are focused on area/territory adventuring, with player driven plots. This follows nicely of what I understand from wargaming - when I sit down to re-enact the Battle of Stalingrad, for example (you can see my Squad Leader leanings now...) it might be the Germans that win. And if we were conducting a campaign where my victory influenced the future battles of Stalingrad, well, I've just driven the "plot" of the wargame.
Maybe I'm just really as uneducated as I joke - probably most of you are nodding your heads and saying "Well, duh..." because now it does seem obvious. I think I'm going to be thinking a lot more about the wargaming roots and how they influenced the history of D&D.
In the meantime, if you see me at my FLGS picking up a few packs of 15mm miniatures and lugging around Chainmail or Horde of the Things books, don't be alarmed -- unless you want to play in my sandbox.
James over at Grognardia focuses a lot of his attention on the pulp aspect of the hobby, and rightly so, as the pulp fiction that Arneson, Gygax and others grew up with definitely influenced the hobby. That's why we have "fire and forget" magic, fantastic monsters, paladins and many other little idiosyncrasies that pervade our hobby. I think, at times, we tend to focus on that too much and forget that there's another leg of the stool to D&D - wargaming.
I've learned a lot from reading Grognardia and other posts about how the hobby changed during the 1980s. At the time, I really didn't give it much thought. I didn't buy/play the modules so much, and our games were more of the "Heavy Metal" type than the plot driven type. I didn't play Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk or any of the 2nd edition settings. We weren't caught up in the movement from sandboxes to stories to railroads. It's only later, by looking back at the whole picture and reading some of the books and modules that I can see the movement from where OD&D had it's roots to where the game is today.
The Design Kit, written in 1988, is a perfect case in point. I intend on reviewing this accessory later, as a study for myself so I can write one for a sandbox, so I won't get too deep into it. It is, however, demonstrates the emphasis in the mid/late 80s onward of plot, story and three acts - intro, drama, conclusion. I find this book particularly useless in helping me in my sandboxes.
Contrast that to wargames, at least wargaming as I understand it. When I play a wargame, it's usually based on a scenario. I have a tactical (or strategic) goal, usually involving battling for territory or objectives, resources to use or obtain, terrain to deal with. The focus is small (usually) in scale.
When I read OD&D/AD&D/Holmes, I can see that lineage. When I read how the games were conducted, I can feel that direct influence. Dungeons were seen as the scenarios. Towns and NPCs provided resources. The clearing of the land and obtaining of treasure was a means to an end (holding territory) and a desirable objective so that one could move to up direct wargame scenarios. After all, why have a castle if you're not going to have followers and soldiers? Why have soldiers if you're not going to campaign on a vast scale.
This may be why OD&D's end-game (the castle/keep and the army) faded in importance. Allow me to speculate for a bit. As D&D got bigger in the 80s, people didn't want to go from adventuring to army wargaming. Although for some of us, that would have been fun, for most of the kids I played D&D with, wargaming was the domain of creepy, boring old men who cited from mysterious historical tomes and pushed cardboard counters around with the seriousness of life/death struggles. No, most of my friends wanted either more, more, more story/adventure and they wanted their person to matter to the world. Enter Dragonlance and the plot/story driven module and the rest is history.
As I play my current sandboxes, I can see the differences very clearly. My two campaigns are focused on area/territory adventuring, with player driven plots. This follows nicely of what I understand from wargaming - when I sit down to re-enact the Battle of Stalingrad, for example (you can see my Squad Leader leanings now...) it might be the Germans that win. And if we were conducting a campaign where my victory influenced the future battles of Stalingrad, well, I've just driven the "plot" of the wargame.
Maybe I'm just really as uneducated as I joke - probably most of you are nodding your heads and saying "Well, duh..." because now it does seem obvious. I think I'm going to be thinking a lot more about the wargaming roots and how they influenced the history of D&D.
In the meantime, if you see me at my FLGS picking up a few packs of 15mm miniatures and lugging around Chainmail or Horde of the Things books, don't be alarmed -- unless you want to play in my sandbox.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Announcing the One Page Dungeon Contest
[Edit - 5/7/09 - ONE WEEK LEFT! Click here for latest dungeon contest updates. Original contest announcement/rules are below.]
A few months ago, a three headed monster was born in the depths of Sham's Grog 'n Blog, Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG Blog and Mike's Society of the Torch, Pole and Rope. We had put our collective DM-evilness together and come up with a neat template to help people create dungeons quickly and effectively, by concentrating on the meat and allowing the user of the dungeon to add in the flavor, fluff and setting.
A few weeks later, that little creation was "discovered" outside of our little niche of a niche by Philippe-Antoine (Chatty DM) Menard who runs a blog called Musings of the Chatty DM. Tapping into the awesome power of a Chatty DM and mixing it with the Dark and Sinister creation of the Three, a Big and Crazy was born - a collaboration between those of the newer editions and those of the original editions... a collaboration full of Prizes and Fun! The One Page Dungeon Creation Contest!
The idea of the contest is to ask readers to create one dungeon level in an edition-less format (ex: you can name monsters but you don't provide stats for them) using the template and submit it for the contest. We'd judge the entries based on criteria such as 'most evocative setting', 'Funniest entry', 'Most creative use of a Trap" and so on. Once we've named winners, we'll be compiling a FREE PDF of the winners/runner-ups and releasing it to the community at large.
The contest starts today, April 14th and ends on May 14th at midnight. Once the contest is done, 6 judges will scratch their heads and figure out just who stands above the rest. Categories include (but not limited to):
We have several well known RPG bloggers who will be judging, in addition to us:
A few months ago, a three headed monster was born in the depths of Sham's Grog 'n Blog, Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG Blog and Mike's Society of the Torch, Pole and Rope. We had put our collective DM-evilness together and come up with a neat template to help people create dungeons quickly and effectively, by concentrating on the meat and allowing the user of the dungeon to add in the flavor, fluff and setting.
A few weeks later, that little creation was "discovered" outside of our little niche of a niche by Philippe-Antoine (Chatty DM) Menard who runs a blog called Musings of the Chatty DM. Tapping into the awesome power of a Chatty DM and mixing it with the Dark and Sinister creation of the Three, a Big and Crazy was born - a collaboration between those of the newer editions and those of the original editions... a collaboration full of Prizes and Fun! The One Page Dungeon Creation Contest!
The idea of the contest is to ask readers to create one dungeon level in an edition-less format (ex: you can name monsters but you don't provide stats for them) using the template and submit it for the contest. We'd judge the entries based on criteria such as 'most evocative setting', 'Funniest entry', 'Most creative use of a Trap" and so on. Once we've named winners, we'll be compiling a FREE PDF of the winners/runner-ups and releasing it to the community at large.
The contest starts today, April 14th and ends on May 14th at midnight. Once the contest is done, 6 judges will scratch their heads and figure out just who stands above the rest. Categories include (but not limited to):
- Best All Around (Contest Grand Prize)
- Grand Prize Runner-Up: Old School Dungeon Design
- Grand Prize Runner-Up: New Edition Dungeon Design
- Alternative prize categories: Most Creative Trap, Funniest, Most Gonzo, for example.The judges will no doubt have other categories in their minds, as we have a ton of prizes lined up!
We have several well known RPG bloggers who will be judging, in addition to us:
- Sham from Sham's Grog n Blog (http://shamsgrog.blogspot.
com/ ) - Amityville Mike from Society of Torch, Pole and Rope (http://poleandrope.blogspot.
com/ ) - Graham from Critical Ankle Bites (http://criticalanklebites.
com/ ) - Dave from Critical-Hits.com (http://www.critical-hits.com/)
Contest Rules
These prizes have been generously donated by our sponsors - they really are excited about this contest and we hope you are just as excited about their support. Please be sure to show them your support as well.
Brave Halfling Publishing
Fight On Magazine
Goodman Games
Malhavoc Press/DungeonADay
Mythmere Games
Necromancer Games
Obsidian Portal
Open Designs
Otherworld Miniatures
Smiteworks
Tabletop Adventure
So what are you waiting for? Sharpen those pencils, get out those dungeon mapping tools, grab some graph paper and your favorite beverage and show us what you can do... on ONE PAGE!
If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to contact either of us: Phil (phil.a.menard@gmail.com) and/or myself (chgowiz@gmail.com)
Good luck... if YOU DARE! (Look, Tucker's already hard at work!)
1. Participants create a one page dungeon using the template found here. For a contest entry example see here.
2. The dungeon must have the following features:
- Name of Dungeon
- Map
- Dungeon Key (in an edition-neutral form: Description of monsters, Treasure, Traps, etc... No game stats)
OPTIONAL (If you can fit them on one page...)3. One entry per participant. Participants may revise/replace their entries up till the end of contest, with the last revision counting as their official entry. Entry may win grand prize or one of the runner up prizes, plus any number of alternative prize categories.
- Wandering Monster or Random Event tables or a list of scripted "events" that can occur over the adventure
- Background
- Additional descriptions that add to the dungeon, such as detailed description of trap or trick or unique feature.
4. Participants are allowed to modify the template, provided it remains a one-page entry.
5. Submission must be emailed in PDF, Word or Open Office format at the following address: onepage@chattydm.net
6. Submitting a dungeon to the contest releases it under the Creative Common Share-alike license (US 2008) with credit to the contest participant.
7. Contest closes on May 14th 2009 at Midnight Eastern (US) Time.
The prizes (oh yes, the prizes!)Grand Prize
- Patron membership of Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design
- Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s Dungeon a Day
- A full Licence for Smitework’s Fantasy Grounds II
- 1 year membership to Obsidian Portal
- 50$ Gift Certificate from One-Bookshelf
Grand Prize Runner-Up: Old School Dungeon Design
- Bundle of Goblinoid Games product
- Bundle of Brave Halfling Production products
- Otherworld Miniatures Demon Idol Miniature
- Bundles of Fight On and Knockspell issues
- Bits of Darkness Bundle from Tabletop Adventures
- 6 month membership Obsidian Portal
Grand Prize Runner-Up: New Edition Dungeon Design
- D&D 4e Dungeon Delve & Adventurer’s Vault
- Fantasy Grounds II License
- 6 month membership Obsidian Portal
To divide among other Categories
- Open Design’s Kobold’s Guide to Game Design
- Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s Dungeon-a-Day
- Bundle of Necromancer Games products
- Bundle of Brave Halfling Production PDF products
- Bundle of Knockspell and City Encounter PDFs
- Bundle of Fight On Magazine (issues 1-4 PDFs)
- Tabletop Adventure’s Bits of Darkness Bundle
- Tabletop Adventures’ Deck O’Names Set
- A few D&D 4e Adventures and Hardcovers
- Otherworld Miniatures - Pig Faced Orcs (Or Box of Minis)
- Goodman Games - The Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role Playing Games and their Modern Simulacra
These prizes have been generously donated by our sponsors - they really are excited about this contest and we hope you are just as excited about their support. Please be sure to show them your support as well.
Brave Halfling Publishing
Fight On Magazine
Goodman Games
Malhavoc Press/DungeonADay
Mythmere Games
Necromancer Games
Obsidian Portal
Open Designs
Otherworld Miniatures
Smiteworks
Tabletop Adventure
So what are you waiting for? Sharpen those pencils, get out those dungeon mapping tools, grab some graph paper and your favorite beverage and show us what you can do... on ONE PAGE!If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to contact either of us: Phil (phil.a.menard@gmail.com) and/or myself (chgowiz@gmail.com)
Good luck... if YOU DARE! (Look, Tucker's already hard at work!)
Monday, April 6, 2009
OD&D Family Game with my wife and kids
This weekend saw one of my daughters over for a visitation, as well as my eldest step-daughter over to be with her child, so we had a regular gaggle to join in with my wife in her solo game. I can't tell you how immensely satisfying it is that I have a shared story with my family through Dungeons and Dragons. I sat back and listened to them riff and chat with things that have happened before and the shared excitement and it just made me smile the biggest of smiles. I can think of no better way of carrying on Gygax's and Arneson's legacy than this type of shared family experience.
In my haste to get things rolling, I missed an opportunity to broaden the rumors for my daughters' characters. Aeli (my wife's character) was in the farmtown of Vale while Mysteria (the elf) and Shimi (the fighter) were in Westport. I handwaved a job of caravan guard for the two to join Aeli, awarding them a gold piece, but I forgot to really mention why guards were needed for a simple one day trip. Ah well, I don't think they noticed, but my DM-perfectionist-critic was giving me an earful last night.
So the party gathered - a regular army of 3 PCs, one NPC, 2 henchmen and and 5 hirelings. Aeli didn't have clear directions written down on how to get back to the tower which provoked some prompting from Tironell, the NPC mage, and a big negative modifier on the "Get lost" roll. The dice favored the party and they found themselves facing a familiar stone door in a hill which led to a familiar ancient room, now filled with the stench of rotting and hacked zombies.
After a brief episode with one of the henchmen becoming paralyzed from a poison needle trap on the door, the party faced the first really interesting puzzle of the dungeon. Take a corridor and put a door at the end of it. Divide the corridor with a deep, sure-death-if-you-fall crevasse in the middle, and a rickety, swaying, single person abreast wooden bridge over it. Put 4 skeletons in full chainmain and shields with spears at the end, able to bring 3 to 4 spears to bear on the single person who crosses the bridge to the other side. Mention that it looks like that a person could be easily knocked off the bridge and then enforce the "blades do half damage and arrows do 1hp of damage on skeletons" rule. Sit back and watch the party work.
The party tried launching arrows, and the skeletons formed a shield wall. The party tried launching flaming arrows which resulted in a bit of damage, but no sure solutions. Stepping on the bridge found the skeletons moving into a killing zone setup on the other end. The party hemmed and hawwed for awhile, then decided to investigate the other branch of the trail to see if it led to a part of the hill that would go around the skeletons. This really made me happy - not only that they tried several things, but that they're looking for a way around the danger rather than entering a meat grinder.
The party did indeed find the ruins of a tower, but Shimi and her dog unwisely entered by themselves and poked around as the rest of the party was deciding what to do. Skeletons started erupting from the ground and she found herself down to 1 HP after both skeletons hit her. The party poured through the opening into the tower and a melee was on with skeletons that kept pulling themselves out of the ground. Fortunately, Shimi survived, but my 11 year old daughter was not a happy player - she kept asking if she would need to roll up a new character and the impatience of youth had her practically on the edge of her seat while the rest of the party prosecuted the battle. The day was won, but time got away from us so we ended the game back in Valetown.
The best line of the game was one that was not said. All day, my wife was grumbling about the loss of control over her posse. She has been learning how to run a tight ship, party-wise, but the inclusion of our young fun loving daughter and our goofy son (who stepped in to run a hireling just to play) led to a few times when her plans went out the window due to not a little bit of kidlike silliness. At one point, my son decided to run through a rotted door just to see what would happen. Aeli reached out to try and grab him, but missed the "to hit" roll. My wife and I joked later that had she hit, the next round's stated intentions would be "I @#$! slap my son!". For that, PrincessWife earns 1 imaginary XP!
One small DM technique that I'm sure most of you are already using - the "waves" versus the "big group" of monsters. As the rounds wound on, and more skeletons kept pulling themselves up out of the ground (which in and of itself is a nice effect, thank you old horror flicks!), the players kept groaning and worrying. My wife's brow was furrowed as she tried to plot the best battle strategy, my elder daughter was fretting that she was surrounded by 4 skeletons and my youngest was going on about how she was going to die. I think that's a battle they'll remember for awhile, having managed to survive it. My wife is already plotting how to carry clubs and maces now... ah, 30 years of bashing skeletons has found another victim learning from experience. Sweet, sweet music to my ears.
In my haste to get things rolling, I missed an opportunity to broaden the rumors for my daughters' characters. Aeli (my wife's character) was in the farmtown of Vale while Mysteria (the elf) and Shimi (the fighter) were in Westport. I handwaved a job of caravan guard for the two to join Aeli, awarding them a gold piece, but I forgot to really mention why guards were needed for a simple one day trip. Ah well, I don't think they noticed, but my DM-perfectionist-critic was giving me an earful last night.
So the party gathered - a regular army of 3 PCs, one NPC, 2 henchmen and and 5 hirelings. Aeli didn't have clear directions written down on how to get back to the tower which provoked some prompting from Tironell, the NPC mage, and a big negative modifier on the "Get lost" roll. The dice favored the party and they found themselves facing a familiar stone door in a hill which led to a familiar ancient room, now filled with the stench of rotting and hacked zombies.
After a brief episode with one of the henchmen becoming paralyzed from a poison needle trap on the door, the party faced the first really interesting puzzle of the dungeon. Take a corridor and put a door at the end of it. Divide the corridor with a deep, sure-death-if-you-fall crevasse in the middle, and a rickety, swaying, single person abreast wooden bridge over it. Put 4 skeletons in full chainmain and shields with spears at the end, able to bring 3 to 4 spears to bear on the single person who crosses the bridge to the other side. Mention that it looks like that a person could be easily knocked off the bridge and then enforce the "blades do half damage and arrows do 1hp of damage on skeletons" rule. Sit back and watch the party work.
The party tried launching arrows, and the skeletons formed a shield wall. The party tried launching flaming arrows which resulted in a bit of damage, but no sure solutions. Stepping on the bridge found the skeletons moving into a killing zone setup on the other end. The party hemmed and hawwed for awhile, then decided to investigate the other branch of the trail to see if it led to a part of the hill that would go around the skeletons. This really made me happy - not only that they tried several things, but that they're looking for a way around the danger rather than entering a meat grinder.
The party did indeed find the ruins of a tower, but Shimi and her dog unwisely entered by themselves and poked around as the rest of the party was deciding what to do. Skeletons started erupting from the ground and she found herself down to 1 HP after both skeletons hit her. The party poured through the opening into the tower and a melee was on with skeletons that kept pulling themselves out of the ground. Fortunately, Shimi survived, but my 11 year old daughter was not a happy player - she kept asking if she would need to roll up a new character and the impatience of youth had her practically on the edge of her seat while the rest of the party prosecuted the battle. The day was won, but time got away from us so we ended the game back in Valetown.
The best line of the game was one that was not said. All day, my wife was grumbling about the loss of control over her posse. She has been learning how to run a tight ship, party-wise, but the inclusion of our young fun loving daughter and our goofy son (who stepped in to run a hireling just to play) led to a few times when her plans went out the window due to not a little bit of kidlike silliness. At one point, my son decided to run through a rotted door just to see what would happen. Aeli reached out to try and grab him, but missed the "to hit" roll. My wife and I joked later that had she hit, the next round's stated intentions would be "I @#$! slap my son!". For that, PrincessWife earns 1 imaginary XP!
One small DM technique that I'm sure most of you are already using - the "waves" versus the "big group" of monsters. As the rounds wound on, and more skeletons kept pulling themselves up out of the ground (which in and of itself is a nice effect, thank you old horror flicks!), the players kept groaning and worrying. My wife's brow was furrowed as she tried to plot the best battle strategy, my elder daughter was fretting that she was surrounded by 4 skeletons and my youngest was going on about how she was going to die. I think that's a battle they'll remember for awhile, having managed to survive it. My wife is already plotting how to carry clubs and maces now... ah, 30 years of bashing skeletons has found another victim learning from experience. Sweet, sweet music to my ears.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Another D&D monster in real life
I found this bit originally in the Swords/Wizardry forums here.
http://news.aol.com/article/giant-sea-worm/412269
Oh yea, this is going in one of my campaigns. 4 ft long and eats metal. What's not to love?
Stats:
Giant Sea Worm
AC: 6[13]
HD: 3
MV: 9/18 swimming
AT: 1 bite (1d6)
SP: Upon successful attack, target must save against the paralyzing/numbing affect of the worm's bristles. Failure means a numbing or loss of use of a limb. This effect is cumulative. It is up to the DM on the specific location or effect (suggestions include cumulative -1 to hit/AC, -10' movement, can attack only every other round, and so on..).
If the creature scores a critical (natural 20) or an attacker fumbles (natural 1), then an effect could be that the worm ate some of the metal of the attacker's weapon or armor - DM's choice.
http://news.aol.com/article/giant-sea-worm/412269
(April 2) - Staff at a British aquarium have captured a massive sea worm that had been terrorizing other aquatic life.
It really does look like something out of a horror movie," Matt Slater, the aquarium's curator, told the Mail. "It's over 4 feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws."
Oh yea, this is going in one of my campaigns. 4 ft long and eats metal. What's not to love?
Stats:
Giant Sea Worm
AC: 6[13]
HD: 3
MV: 9/18 swimming
AT: 1 bite (1d6)
SP: Upon successful attack, target must save against the paralyzing/numbing affect of the worm's bristles. Failure means a numbing or loss of use of a limb. This effect is cumulative. It is up to the DM on the specific location or effect (suggestions include cumulative -1 to hit/AC, -10' movement, can attack only every other round, and so on..).
If the creature scores a critical (natural 20) or an attacker fumbles (natural 1), then an effect could be that the worm ate some of the metal of the attacker's weapon or armor - DM's choice.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A 20 year personal mystery solved (video)
In contrast to all the heavy thinking and discussions going on in the Intertubes today, Chris B at "A Rust Monster Ate My Sword" posted a link to a set of D&D Cartoon character action figures that are extremely well done. That, however, is not just the whole story. No, you see, he put me on the path that solved a 20-odd year mystery for me. To whit - my comment to his post:
It was images like this, along with the 1E books and the Hobbit (among others), that forever cemented the power and mystery of magic in my mind - that mages deal in powers and things that are unnatural for mortal man to control.
Back in the day, when I was an impressionable young lad watching the D&D cartoon, I saw an episode where an evil mage stood before empty ground and intoned in an eldritch voice the command of "RISE!". His lair rose from the ground. That was all I remembered, but since that time, I've rememberd that phrase and scene in my head. It's one of my weird things I'll do when I'm jokingly waking someone up, I'll stand and lift an arm in a Darth Vaderish sort of way and command "RISE."And here is the scene in question (the video will start at that point which Kelek performs the summoning).
Anyway... when I saw the figure of Kelek, I realized he was the sorceror from the scene, so I did a search for him from the YouTube D&D Cartoon ... and at long last, I've found the scene, from the episode "Valley of the Unicorns Part 1": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgCoCch_LVI
Mystery solved! (And this probably is one of the strangest comments you'll get for this post!)
It was images like this, along with the 1E books and the Hobbit (among others), that forever cemented the power and mystery of magic in my mind - that mages deal in powers and things that are unnatural for mortal man to control.
Heavy thinking for a Thursday
If you haven't had a chance to do so, go read EN Shook's essay on Old School at LotGD. It's an interesting read. Go on, I'll wait...
I sure wish comments there were open, but since the turnpike is down, I'll post my thoughts here.
The thing that is fantastic is something that I read on Knights & Knaves (if I recall correctly) - that we are truly blessed to live in these times and we are seeing an intense democratization of our gaming. We've gone from regional games and word of mouth rules transferring to now instant access. If I have a question on how to run the economy of a town, or just how short a gnome is, I can find easily a dozen or more sources of information at my fingertips, as well as game systems that make it easy for me to run pretty much any genre with the results of my research. We don't have to wait for fanzines or official publisher's rags - we can read dozens of blogs to learn how other people do it, why they do it and how we can incorporate it into our games.
EN Shook goes on to say that perhaps "Old Guard" is more appropriate than "old school" - that by saying you are Old Guard, you are giving honor and respect to the past. He says that indeed, we of this "renaissance" are in fact varying off from the original intent, writing new "canon" instead of staying within the strictures of how it was played (ie., the rerolling of hit points prior to each adventure) and therefore by identifying "old school" is both limiting and (if I'm reading Shook correctly) fallacious.
I don't think that rewriting what "old school rules" are is a bad thing, or invalidates what I'm doing. If I read the history correctly, and how I interpret it is that the rules were always meant as guidelines. If I want to take OD&D and houserule the hell out of it, that doesn't make me any less an OD&D player or GM - I think I'm truly honoring the "way of the elders" by taking what works and spinning my own. I don't see anything inherently limiting in calling myself "old school" or "old guard" or "role player who likes to play rules that hearken back to 0e/1e" - unless there was a downside to it.
I'm not sure I agree that there is a downside to labels. Labels are both freeing and limiting, but it's how we approach the conversation and context of those labels that will help define the conversation, which is why THIS is what really stands out for me:
Scott's Thool, for example, or Valley of the Snails, is exactly the kind of thing that I should demonstrate when I talk about old school. These are unique lands who speak to a type of play and a type of mindset/thought/approach that could span any game, and still express the wonderment of fantasy. Were it not for my active campaigns have players who read my blog, I would be more forthcoming about my own worlds...
Swords/Wizardry, OSRIC, 0e, Hackmaster, Tunnels & Trolls - these are just the tools we use to express our worlds. Old "whatever", to me, is an approach, a mindset and a way of presenting these strange and fantastic worlds, with a specific type of context and a specific type of feel. Take a dash of pulp, mix it with some "Yes or roll", "Save or die" mentality, some strange fantastic feel and you have exactly what I want to play, and you have the context by which I approach my mechanics.
So whether I'm "Old Guard", "Old School" or just an "Old Guy", this is the way I like to play and these are the worlds I like to express. My passion for promoting Swords/Wizardry, OSRIC and the "Old School Revival" is more about talking about the neat tools I have to express the wondrous worlds I have within my head and that I want to take my players to each time I sit down in the DM chair.
And just to put it into context, I find it immensely interesting that our hobby is going through very similar discussions of "Old Guard" versus "New Guard" that quite a lot of different social groups, lifestyles and hobbies are talking about. The Internet has shaken up the world and a lot of people are busy putting themselves into corners and labeling themselves as this or that. Most of the time it is truly limiting and divisive - the RPG world is one of the few worlds where I think it doesn't have to be. It's a convenient shorthand for saying "I do something that hearkens back to the past... but is full of life for the future."
I sure wish comments there were open, but since the turnpike is down, I'll post my thoughts here.
At one point I was probably judging Rob using half D&D, 1/4 Chivalry & Sorcery, and 1/4 rules I'd made up or borrowed from the dozens of games in which I was participating.I agree, and more importantly, I think this is exactly the thing that attracts me to the older rules, to the more open environment. When I sit down at my games, I'm running a rules set that has evolved from 30 years of doing some sort of RPG, whether it's D&D, Mechwarrior, Shadowrun, Star Trek, Star Wars, or LARP'ing. My game is the sum of my experiences and, more importantly, it's evolving. Jeff Rient's demonstration of the sublime simplicity of the d6, Alexis's hyperrealistic economic model, Stuart Marshall's inventive situations, Trollsmyth's Shields Splintering, on and on, all of these and almost everything I read affects me and guides me towards a game that I am continuing to discover and enjoy.
Tell me if it isn't true that this exact same openness to rules isn't still taking place right now, throughout the role playing community? One can only imagine the answer is “more so!” I can hear you all shaking your heads in agreement here.
The thing that is fantastic is something that I read on Knights & Knaves (if I recall correctly) - that we are truly blessed to live in these times and we are seeing an intense democratization of our gaming. We've gone from regional games and word of mouth rules transferring to now instant access. If I have a question on how to run the economy of a town, or just how short a gnome is, I can find easily a dozen or more sources of information at my fingertips, as well as game systems that make it easy for me to run pretty much any genre with the results of my research. We don't have to wait for fanzines or official publisher's rags - we can read dozens of blogs to learn how other people do it, why they do it and how we can incorporate it into our games.
EN Shook goes on to say that perhaps "Old Guard" is more appropriate than "old school" - that by saying you are Old Guard, you are giving honor and respect to the past. He says that indeed, we of this "renaissance" are in fact varying off from the original intent, writing new "canon" instead of staying within the strictures of how it was played (ie., the rerolling of hit points prior to each adventure) and therefore by identifying "old school" is both limiting and (if I'm reading Shook correctly) fallacious.
I don't think that rewriting what "old school rules" are is a bad thing, or invalidates what I'm doing. If I read the history correctly, and how I interpret it is that the rules were always meant as guidelines. If I want to take OD&D and houserule the hell out of it, that doesn't make me any less an OD&D player or GM - I think I'm truly honoring the "way of the elders" by taking what works and spinning my own. I don't see anything inherently limiting in calling myself "old school" or "old guard" or "role player who likes to play rules that hearken back to 0e/1e" - unless there was a downside to it.
I'm not sure I agree that there is a downside to labels. Labels are both freeing and limiting, but it's how we approach the conversation and context of those labels that will help define the conversation, which is why THIS is what really stands out for me:
The coin of the role playing realm should be the world.Applause. Not only for succinctly stating what I've been trying to express in my own fumbling ways, but also stating how I should state my preference for my rules.
Scott's Thool, for example, or Valley of the Snails, is exactly the kind of thing that I should demonstrate when I talk about old school. These are unique lands who speak to a type of play and a type of mindset/thought/approach that could span any game, and still express the wonderment of fantasy. Were it not for my active campaigns have players who read my blog, I would be more forthcoming about my own worlds...
Swords/Wizardry, OSRIC, 0e, Hackmaster, Tunnels & Trolls - these are just the tools we use to express our worlds. Old "whatever", to me, is an approach, a mindset and a way of presenting these strange and fantastic worlds, with a specific type of context and a specific type of feel. Take a dash of pulp, mix it with some "Yes or roll", "Save or die" mentality, some strange fantastic feel and you have exactly what I want to play, and you have the context by which I approach my mechanics.
So whether I'm "Old Guard", "Old School" or just an "Old Guy", this is the way I like to play and these are the worlds I like to express. My passion for promoting Swords/Wizardry, OSRIC and the "Old School Revival" is more about talking about the neat tools I have to express the wondrous worlds I have within my head and that I want to take my players to each time I sit down in the DM chair.
And just to put it into context, I find it immensely interesting that our hobby is going through very similar discussions of "Old Guard" versus "New Guard" that quite a lot of different social groups, lifestyles and hobbies are talking about. The Internet has shaken up the world and a lot of people are busy putting themselves into corners and labeling themselves as this or that. Most of the time it is truly limiting and divisive - the RPG world is one of the few worlds where I think it doesn't have to be. It's a convenient shorthand for saying "I do something that hearkens back to the past... but is full of life for the future."
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