Well, thank you all for your comments on my last economic rambling for my Dark Ages campaign - I've gotten "Weeping/grinning" to "it's flawed in lots of minor ways" to "Dire chickens!" but nobody screamed "URDOINITRONG!" so either you all think I'm nuts (a good thing) or you're all stunned by my sheer idiocy (more probable).
Either way, it was gratifying to hear that I'm on the right track, with determining land costs based on their food producing potential. I concentrated on meat as the "main food driver", I handwaved that grain would be roughly equivalent in terms of cost. I know that's probably wrong - but I chose meat as my starting point and since I've confessed that this is all napkin math, I'll take that logic to the end. I'm not simulating Earth realistically, so my basis of economy is not going to match "real life" either. However, I've tried to give it some thought and some tenuous logic, so here's the end point - how much land costs:
All this assumes average harvest. 30 acres fed 4 people for a year (360 day year) - 7.5 acres a person (360 day year)
However, Dark Ages has a 240 day calendar, so we'll do some math to adjust for the difference in days per year. (240/360 = .67)
20 acres (30*.67) provides for 4 people a year in DA. 5 acres feeds a person for a year in DA.
24gp in either grain or meat/year can be earned by that 5 acres (72gp average cost a person for meat/grain/liquid a year).
1 acre can make minimum 4g 8s a year. The acre measures 43,560 sq ft - approx. 208.7' x 208.7'. The earning potiential of a square foot of land is 0.0001gp per square foot. (4.8 / 43560)
(Good thing my monetary system is 10cp = 1sp, 10sp = 1gp. )
10x10 area = 100 sq ft = 1cp/yr. (100 * 0.0001) (That orc sitting on a chest with pie better pay his taxes!)
That's just napkin math for the earning potential of land. Now, how's that equate to living spaces? I did really quick and dirty 30 min research on Google on rough idea of living spaces in Middle Ages - got a couple of figures that "felt" right. The prices below are the amount of rent based on food earning potential alone - my players should note these are not final prices - the landlords would no doubt want to make a bit of a profit.
Peasant 'Wattle' house: 20' x 40' = 800sq ft = 8c/year for renting of the living space alone (The people who "rent" farmlands from kingdom pay taxes in form of food produced from land rented, or would work on the local lord's farmlands for a percentage of their time.)
Single "Manor" building: 66' x 33' (took dimension from reconstructed English Village) - 2 stories - 4s 4c.
Moral of story - when land is not the commodity, but merely the vehicle for producing food and seen as such - land is cheap.
Now that I have a starting place, I can look at what Marshall Roen and the Priest Phaellum might charge for their land, assuming they want some sort of profit.
The players have a question outstanding on the list as to the size they imagine the structure they've been "squatting in". Once they give me that, I can do a rough calculation of the rent and take a guess at how much they would sell the land for.
BTW, this strangely "feels" right where taxes have been assessed on the treasure that the players are bringing in (commerce taxes) versus land taxes. The players haven't been taxed on purchases because the merchants bringing the goods into Enonia are taxed, and they raise their prices accordingly. Land isn't the main driver. Food and commerce is.
This also means I may have to cast a hoary eye at my price list at some point and see if it makes sense to the earning/spending potential of a person, in relation to food costs. And this means my assumption for 40% of their yearly wage going to housing is dead wrong - a person in Enonia would need to make a lot less.
My head hurts.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Economy in the Dark Ages campaign
So much for "light posting" - I always say that and then I have half a million things to yack about. However, in light of the really fascinating articles that Alexis has been posting on Tao about economies in a "D&D Earth Simulation", I thought I would post this "letter" I just sent to some players in my Dark Ages campaign. I'm going to send all of them the link to this post.
(BTW, Alexis, I have no doubt this will make you weep, but this is my first crack at even thinking about this sort of thing - in the past, I would have thrown dice and pulled a number out of my ass... but you are inspiring me to think about it.)
The whole thing started when the players requested to know how much housing would cost. It was a reasonable question, but it's opened up a whole can of worms.
Up till now, I've put "drain costs" (cost of living) at 1cp for subsistence, 1sp for "common room" living and 1gp for "private room" living, per day. This means a certain amount of food - subsistence, getting by, and comfortable, respectively. That was just by "seat of my pants" and no thought behind it. However, it doesn't give me any sort of metric of how to estimate the cost of renting a room, or building. Again, I could wing it, but this time I wanted to see if I could crunch numbers in a reasonable way.
The name of the game for human civilization in the current time of my Dark Ages game is survival. Civilization is sliding backwards thanks to a cataclysmic event. Food is the "driver" of the current economy, moreso than property. In better times, property and goods were more of a basis, but it was related to food. Now food is king. People want to eat and the economy drives on the unit of food - how much someone eats per day.
What you're about to read below will probably make you wince. It's not an accurate simulation by any means. I used my cost for a chicken (10sp) as a starting point. Why? Because it "felt" right to me. I'm not much of a simulationist, but I am trying to be somewhat reasonable in my thoughts - and I needed a starting point.
I've calculated that it costs roughly 3sp a day to eat a portion of meat, bread and beer/water to have a decent living. This does represent a change to what I had originally just "winged" as a cost of living. How did I get there?
Let's take a chicken and a cow. On "just pulling numbers from books and whatnot", a chicken costs 10sp in Enonia, and a cow costs 20gp. I think that came from the 1EPHB, or perhaps OSRIC.
This means a chicken, which can feed 10 people (8oz meat per person, 80 ozs, 80/16oz in a lb is 5 lbs which is a reasonable weight of a chicken) costs 1sp/day/person. A cow, which can feed 820 portions from a 1,000 lb cow at 42% usage (rough estimates), would cost about 82gp on the basis of meat alone. A cow and chicken have the ability of reproducing and bringing more animals and therefore increased profits, so they should cost more. This is all "napkin math" to get us to a certain point. I like the feel of a chicken feeding 10 people a day, so I feel good about the 1sp a day for meat.
This also means my prices for cows are way low and my chickens are probably going to cost more now too.
So... on the basis of those assumptions - 1sp/day meat (8oz), 1sp/day bread, 1sp/day beer (3cp @ pint - roughly 4 pints for enough "liquid" for a day) - An average person needs to earn 720 sp a year to eat. (3 * 240 days). 72 gold. Roughly 2.5 gold every 30 days.
Figure the average tax is about 20% of wages - so we're up to 90gp to just eat.
Now figure housing is roughly 30 to 40% of wages after taxes, if the person is out and out renting and not in some sort of service to the landowner (like farmers) - so now we're up to wages being around 150 a year (30gp for taxes, ~48gp for housing, ~72gp for food) just to pay taxes, live in a small place and eat.
Now that's not including things like clothing and other items to merely live by. However, THAT gives me a basis for the economy of an average Joe. An average person would earn 6sp, 3cp a day. 3 sp for food, 2 sp for living, 1sp 3cp for taxes. Anything above that is profit.
If we go to 175 gp a year - then we make a profit of 25 gp. That *might* handle inflation and price changes - winter is roughly a 1/3 of the year in my campaign and prices will go up - so if we figure 25% increase on average - that increases the cost of food by 6gp - so now we're up to needing to earn ~ 156, which gives us 19 gp to do things to improve our station during a year.
19gp profit - not much - when you consider that a cow costs 82gp... which means that we're probably looking at someone who wants to afford some "breathing room" probably needs to earn about 200gp a year. (A cow could feed a family of 3 for a year, not counting spoilage).
So, I know that an average person, like a craftsman or apprentice (non-indentured) needs to earn 175 to 200gp a year in my campaign. How does that translate to basic housing costs? I don't know... I have to think about that more. I'm assuming basic living - a roughly 2 room dwelling for sleeping and food preparation.
This also means that I may have to revisit ALL the pricing because now that I have a basis of economy - 150gp a year for an average person - a short sword which has x amount of metal and materials, plus y time for a person to create and make a profit...
In terms of land ownership in my campaign...
Prior to the Doom, the King was considered to own all lands, except for the lands he titled to others (or his official regents titled/deeded to others) as their own. This would be "name class" and nobility. Someone like Kristian Sion or Rirallo MacKine were probably titled the land that their shops are on, due to family and importance to the community. All other lands are either run by the town/cities or administered by the nearest Lords/representatives of the King, which in this case is Marshall Roen. So in terms of ownership, the abandoned buildings would revert in ownership back to the King, if they had ever left the King's ownership in the first place.
Part of the town guard's duty is to prevent squatters and to note who is living where. I've been making weekly rolls based on an even 10% chance that the players will be noticed/rousted - so far, they've gotten very lucky - no hits. At some point, they're going to be noticed. So their first stop will be to inquire to the Town Council clerk(s) as to the availability of the building they're squatting in.
The lands outside the Kingdom, in the now abandoned wildlands? A person is on their own. No taxes, but no protection. The Settlers who wanted to settle a new farm hamlet in Valenia were hoping to stake a claim - but there be monsters out there...
(BTW, Alexis, I have no doubt this will make you weep, but this is my first crack at even thinking about this sort of thing - in the past, I would have thrown dice and pulled a number out of my ass... but you are inspiring me to think about it.)
The whole thing started when the players requested to know how much housing would cost. It was a reasonable question, but it's opened up a whole can of worms.
Up till now, I've put "drain costs" (cost of living) at 1cp for subsistence, 1sp for "common room" living and 1gp for "private room" living, per day. This means a certain amount of food - subsistence, getting by, and comfortable, respectively. That was just by "seat of my pants" and no thought behind it. However, it doesn't give me any sort of metric of how to estimate the cost of renting a room, or building. Again, I could wing it, but this time I wanted to see if I could crunch numbers in a reasonable way.
The name of the game for human civilization in the current time of my Dark Ages game is survival. Civilization is sliding backwards thanks to a cataclysmic event. Food is the "driver" of the current economy, moreso than property. In better times, property and goods were more of a basis, but it was related to food. Now food is king. People want to eat and the economy drives on the unit of food - how much someone eats per day.
What you're about to read below will probably make you wince. It's not an accurate simulation by any means. I used my cost for a chicken (10sp) as a starting point. Why? Because it "felt" right to me. I'm not much of a simulationist, but I am trying to be somewhat reasonable in my thoughts - and I needed a starting point.
I've calculated that it costs roughly 3sp a day to eat a portion of meat, bread and beer/water to have a decent living. This does represent a change to what I had originally just "winged" as a cost of living. How did I get there?
Let's take a chicken and a cow. On "just pulling numbers from books and whatnot", a chicken costs 10sp in Enonia, and a cow costs 20gp. I think that came from the 1EPHB, or perhaps OSRIC.
This means a chicken, which can feed 10 people (8oz meat per person, 80 ozs, 80/16oz in a lb is 5 lbs which is a reasonable weight of a chicken) costs 1sp/day/person. A cow, which can feed 820 portions from a 1,000 lb cow at 42% usage (rough estimates), would cost about 82gp on the basis of meat alone. A cow and chicken have the ability of reproducing and bringing more animals and therefore increased profits, so they should cost more. This is all "napkin math" to get us to a certain point. I like the feel of a chicken feeding 10 people a day, so I feel good about the 1sp a day for meat.
This also means my prices for cows are way low and my chickens are probably going to cost more now too.
So... on the basis of those assumptions - 1sp/day meat (8oz), 1sp/day bread, 1sp/day beer (3cp @ pint - roughly 4 pints for enough "liquid" for a day) - An average person needs to earn 720 sp a year to eat. (3 * 240 days). 72 gold. Roughly 2.5 gold every 30 days.
Figure the average tax is about 20% of wages - so we're up to 90gp to just eat.
Now figure housing is roughly 30 to 40% of wages after taxes, if the person is out and out renting and not in some sort of service to the landowner (like farmers) - so now we're up to wages being around 150 a year (30gp for taxes, ~48gp for housing, ~72gp for food) just to pay taxes, live in a small place and eat.
Now that's not including things like clothing and other items to merely live by. However, THAT gives me a basis for the economy of an average Joe. An average person would earn 6sp, 3cp a day. 3 sp for food, 2 sp for living, 1sp 3cp for taxes. Anything above that is profit.
If we go to 175 gp a year - then we make a profit of 25 gp. That *might* handle inflation and price changes - winter is roughly a 1/3 of the year in my campaign and prices will go up - so if we figure 25% increase on average - that increases the cost of food by 6gp - so now we're up to needing to earn ~ 156, which gives us 19 gp to do things to improve our station during a year.
19gp profit - not much - when you consider that a cow costs 82gp... which means that we're probably looking at someone who wants to afford some "breathing room" probably needs to earn about 200gp a year. (A cow could feed a family of 3 for a year, not counting spoilage).
So, I know that an average person, like a craftsman or apprentice (non-indentured) needs to earn 175 to 200gp a year in my campaign. How does that translate to basic housing costs? I don't know... I have to think about that more. I'm assuming basic living - a roughly 2 room dwelling for sleeping and food preparation.
This also means that I may have to revisit ALL the pricing because now that I have a basis of economy - 150gp a year for an average person - a short sword which has x amount of metal and materials, plus y time for a person to create and make a profit...
In terms of land ownership in my campaign...
Prior to the Doom, the King was considered to own all lands, except for the lands he titled to others (or his official regents titled/deeded to others) as their own. This would be "name class" and nobility. Someone like Kristian Sion or Rirallo MacKine were probably titled the land that their shops are on, due to family and importance to the community. All other lands are either run by the town/cities or administered by the nearest Lords/representatives of the King, which in this case is Marshall Roen. So in terms of ownership, the abandoned buildings would revert in ownership back to the King, if they had ever left the King's ownership in the first place.
Part of the town guard's duty is to prevent squatters and to note who is living where. I've been making weekly rolls based on an even 10% chance that the players will be noticed/rousted - so far, they've gotten very lucky - no hits. At some point, they're going to be noticed. So their first stop will be to inquire to the Town Council clerk(s) as to the availability of the building they're squatting in.
The lands outside the Kingdom, in the now abandoned wildlands? A person is on their own. No taxes, but no protection. The Settlers who wanted to settle a new farm hamlet in Valenia were hoping to stake a claim - but there be monsters out there...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
OD&D Solo Game with my wife - The bandit trap
Last night, @theprincesswife and I continued our "short sessions" with more OD&D solo game play. This was a session where I had to come up with stuff on the fly and walk the line again of "How far do the NPCs go to help the player out?".
My wife's character (Aeli) is waiting for the leather worker to finish her "slingshot", so she decided to pick back up on the bandit story and see if she could find them. She wasn't sure how to proceed, so I led her on a bit of brainstorming how she might find bandits. She finally came up with "ask around town" and "go out in the woods and look around" - so I asked her which one might have better results. After thinking about it, she decided to ask around some of the locals - which led her to the Vicious Pixie (thank you, LotFP, for the Inn Generator in Fight On! #2).
After learning how to bribe toothless, bald, greasy tavern keepers for information (HINT: Lots of gold!), Aeli sent her two henchmen to grab a sallow youth and proceeded to interrogate him at the point of a blade. This is where all the improvisation came in. I had to connect this guy with an encounter area outside of town. So the youth, Nib, confessed to having lured hapless caravans to a campground 5 hours walk from town, and signalling bandits that there was easy prey. Dragging Nibs with her, Aeli and posse proceeded to gear up and set a trap.
The large sheets of grid paper and the crayon terrain laid out a large open area surrounded by trees. I had the henchmen ask/negotiate/suggest a good trap to lure the bandits in, so the mage could cast sleep on them. This is where I still had that uneasy feeling I was doing too much of the decision making - but at the same time, I didn't want @theprincesswife to get frustrated at trying to set up her trap. So after some back and forth, and a quick wandering monster battle with a vampire bat, the group lit a large fire, Nibs reluctantly laid out the signal rocks and they waited.
At this encounter point, I had given it a 25% chance that bandits would attack anyone camping there. Since @theprincesswife had gone through the trouble of finding Nibs and dragging him along to help set up a trap, I increased the odds favorably to 50/50 that it would work and bandits would show up. A quick roll of the d%100 and at 27% percent, the battle was on! The bandits crept up to the fire and charged the "merchants" (hirelings) lying asleep.
One of the hirelings who had failed his morale surrendered to the bandits in a completely realistic show (he really was surrendering) and at that, the mage threw sleep and put out most of the bandits. Two got away, but the leader was surrounded and forced to surrender at sword-point. I think if @theprincesswife could have high-fived her party, she would have! Now they're going to proceed back to the farm community - she quickly is becoming the Heroine of Valetown!
Lessons I learned from this game:
My wife's character (Aeli) is waiting for the leather worker to finish her "slingshot", so she decided to pick back up on the bandit story and see if she could find them. She wasn't sure how to proceed, so I led her on a bit of brainstorming how she might find bandits. She finally came up with "ask around town" and "go out in the woods and look around" - so I asked her which one might have better results. After thinking about it, she decided to ask around some of the locals - which led her to the Vicious Pixie (thank you, LotFP, for the Inn Generator in Fight On! #2).
After learning how to bribe toothless, bald, greasy tavern keepers for information (HINT: Lots of gold!), Aeli sent her two henchmen to grab a sallow youth and proceeded to interrogate him at the point of a blade. This is where all the improvisation came in. I had to connect this guy with an encounter area outside of town. So the youth, Nib, confessed to having lured hapless caravans to a campground 5 hours walk from town, and signalling bandits that there was easy prey. Dragging Nibs with her, Aeli and posse proceeded to gear up and set a trap.
 |
| This is going to work, right? |
 |
| The trap is sprung |
 |
| Yes, it worked! |
Lessons I learned from this game:
- Crayons make the coolest terrain generators.
- It's awesome to watch players advance the story, forcing you to DM by the seat of your pants and watch the situation come together.
- I love it when a plan comes together, even if it's not my own. Those 10 bandits could have really caused some hurt had the mage not gotten lucky on his Number of Creatures Affected roll.
- Spur of the moment adjudications of grappling/tackling are much easier than any grappling/tackling rules that I've read/seen.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
OD&D Solo Game - The wife posts about NPCs and hirelings
[My wife wanted to post her thoughts about the NPCs and hirelings and how they've contributed to her game. So I'll now turn over the keyboard to The Princess Wife...]
Aeli's posse - OD&D solo style
Having had very little experience to begin with playing D&D the NPC’s have been extremely valuable to me in learning the game as a whole. A little prodding from them went a long way in learning much more then I believe I could have from any of the books at first. They helped to fuel my own imagination.Currently including Aeli the posse is now eight. Part of the storyline I helped make up in the beginning of the campaign is that she needs a big group to go after the evil mage that killed her family. Problem is trusting anyone with her real identity. Aeli and Tironell have a feeling the dark magic users are on their trail now. She is supposed to be keeping a low profile but unfortunately being from nobility and young she likes to roll into town and fight and party like it’s … yeah 1999. I’m pretty sure this is going to invite trouble.
Still alive:
Tironell - Aeli's very first friend despite herself because she has no trust for magic users.
Rather & Turchao – Loyal and hopefully faithful followers, Rather’s response to anything is always “yeah!” They think they are brothers but they are nothing alike and probably don’t even come from the same continent. Aeli would do or spend just about anything for them.
Emyd – the always drinking hireling.
Roih – not a whole lot of quirks to him, just a good fighter so far.
Quellam – Handsome son of a jeweler Aeli lured away from home with the promise of adventure.
Brother Atu – Quirky cleric that just cracks me up, but effective as all get out.
Not so lucky:
Bieb - Died bravely chewed/poisoned by a spider. He was the first killed in my party.
Nodwig - Dead torch bearer, was errr... accidentally left behind in a tunnel while we were fighting. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when my wonderful DM hubby Chgowiz said “where is Nodwig?” this one nearly made me cry. I know, there’s no crying in D&D.
Torim - Died bravely stabbed by goblins
Chacao - umm.. Died bravely, heh. Clobbered by zombies
Jelub – Didn’t really die but just ran away. I think he had a little arachnophobia.
So, what else can I tell you?
[Editor's note: That's about a 50% survival rate... needless to say, some of the hireling rates are high when she decides to leave town... ]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
OD&D Solo Game with my wife - small games
One of the challenges for my solo game with my wife is time. Now that might seem funny, considering that I meet approximately every two weeks with my Dark Ages group, but it's true. My wife and I also have a houseful of kids and grandkids, a dog, volunteer organizations that we do work with and the struggle to also have those wonderful moments alone called "OMG Adult Night No Kids Go Away Wee!"
You would think that we could game in the evenings, but nine times out of ten, we're exhausted and more wanting to go to bed at 10pm than stay up and play D&D. I know, shocking, but very true. So we're trying something a bit different. Normally, I do not end adventures in the middle of a scene, or in the middle of a dungeon delve, but we're going to do exactly that. We'll play maybe an hour when we can, in the weekday evenings, and see how it goes. Last night, we held our first "mini session" and we had a blast!
Ever since my wife was confronted by an interesting tactical situation, she's been chewing on it. You see, there's a 20 foot long bridge over a deep deadly chasm. It's a one-person-wide bridge, with 4 skeletons with spears on the other side. The other side is a 10x10 area with a door. The skeletons have shown that they'll go into a spear/shield wall if someone stands on the bridge. 4 to 1 odds and my wife doesn't like it.
With the hiring of Brother Atu, the steel flower cleric, she has an option to turn the skeletons, but not guaranteed, so she's trying to come up with new ways to defeat them. Her plan? Create the equivalent of a human-powered catapult. She has a leather worker creating a slingshot type of harness out of leather, which can hold a boulder about the size of a head. She and another strong hireling will each hold the straps on either side of the "cup" and attempt to toss/snap the harness like a combo between a slingshot and a sling to rain stony doom on the skeletons.
I can't even tell you how many multiples of awesome that plan is. Wil it work? Who knows? Right now, based on the gold she's spent on what is essentially a one time weapon, I give it good odds that it'll work. I figure a boulder flung 20 ft hitting a walking set of bones is worth 2d6 damage, which should be a one shot kill on a 1d8 skeleton. I can't wait to see the dice rolls on this sucker though. She's spent some serious time thinking about this and that just tickles me in the happy place.
She is also quite the carouser! She's in what is essentially a quiet farm trade hub. She rolls on in, takes care of a ghoul problem and then celebrates with the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner for her 7 companions (hirelings, henchmen and NPC) and buys beer for 30 odd people who happened to be in the Inn at the time. I only wish I had remembered Rient's Carousing tables were in Fight On #4, because this situation called for some possible building burning or gambling debts. The town is not soon going to forget when Aeli, Heroine of Valetown, held a victory party. Hopefully it's not too soon, like what happened in Dragonslayer when they thought Vermithrax was dead...
Anyway, we'll probably squeeze in another hour tonight to see how far she gets with the rock throwing and the preparations for clearing the bridge. I wonder what's on the other side... hmmm...
You would think that we could game in the evenings, but nine times out of ten, we're exhausted and more wanting to go to bed at 10pm than stay up and play D&D. I know, shocking, but very true. So we're trying something a bit different. Normally, I do not end adventures in the middle of a scene, or in the middle of a dungeon delve, but we're going to do exactly that. We'll play maybe an hour when we can, in the weekday evenings, and see how it goes. Last night, we held our first "mini session" and we had a blast!
Ever since my wife was confronted by an interesting tactical situation, she's been chewing on it. You see, there's a 20 foot long bridge over a deep deadly chasm. It's a one-person-wide bridge, with 4 skeletons with spears on the other side. The other side is a 10x10 area with a door. The skeletons have shown that they'll go into a spear/shield wall if someone stands on the bridge. 4 to 1 odds and my wife doesn't like it.
With the hiring of Brother Atu, the steel flower cleric, she has an option to turn the skeletons, but not guaranteed, so she's trying to come up with new ways to defeat them. Her plan? Create the equivalent of a human-powered catapult. She has a leather worker creating a slingshot type of harness out of leather, which can hold a boulder about the size of a head. She and another strong hireling will each hold the straps on either side of the "cup" and attempt to toss/snap the harness like a combo between a slingshot and a sling to rain stony doom on the skeletons.
I can't even tell you how many multiples of awesome that plan is. Wil it work? Who knows? Right now, based on the gold she's spent on what is essentially a one time weapon, I give it good odds that it'll work. I figure a boulder flung 20 ft hitting a walking set of bones is worth 2d6 damage, which should be a one shot kill on a 1d8 skeleton. I can't wait to see the dice rolls on this sucker though. She's spent some serious time thinking about this and that just tickles me in the happy place.
She is also quite the carouser! She's in what is essentially a quiet farm trade hub. She rolls on in, takes care of a ghoul problem and then celebrates with the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner for her 7 companions (hirelings, henchmen and NPC) and buys beer for 30 odd people who happened to be in the Inn at the time. I only wish I had remembered Rient's Carousing tables were in Fight On #4, because this situation called for some possible building burning or gambling debts. The town is not soon going to forget when Aeli, Heroine of Valetown, held a victory party. Hopefully it's not too soon, like what happened in Dragonslayer when they thought Vermithrax was dead...
Anyway, we'll probably squeeze in another hour tonight to see how far she gets with the rock throwing and the preparations for clearing the bridge. I wonder what's on the other side... hmmm...
Friday, May 15, 2009
How to get your family to play D&D
I've written a column for the Chicago D&D Examiner.com page called "Getting your family to play Dungeons and Dragons". I really like this topic, as it's near and dear to one of the main thrusts of this blog - writing about my solo/family campaign.
In the interest of being fair and public disclosure, I get paid 1 cent US per page view. I don't normally try to push people to my Examiner.com column, aside from the link over on the left there, but I really liked this article and wanted to share it with you, if you're interested.
While you're at it, there are several other RPG bloggers who have Examiner.com columns up - if you're interested, go check out the list of all Games & Hobby Examiners and support one from your local area - every penny is nice!
In the interest of being fair and public disclosure, I get paid 1 cent US per page view. I don't normally try to push people to my Examiner.com column, aside from the link over on the left there, but I really liked this article and wanted to share it with you, if you're interested.
While you're at it, there are several other RPG bloggers who have Examiner.com columns up - if you're interested, go check out the list of all Games & Hobby Examiners and support one from your local area - every penny is nice!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wargaming and the sandbox
I've been considering how wargaming affected the beginnings of our hobby and how it affected how we approach the game today. This all started from my almost virulent reaction to the 1st edition TSR supplement - "Dungeon Master's Design Kit". The kit codifies a "railroad" approach to adventure writing, and provides forms, tables and suggestions. As a possible toolkit, for my way of gaming, it stinks. I can find some possible adventure hooks, and it gives me some bits to think about - but as an adventure or world building guide, it's nothing that I need or want.
I'm going to write up a review of the DMKit later, but I wanted to talk more about "sandboxes". So I typed up a big long post and realized it was complete rubbish. Garbage. It deserved a "SHUT UP CHGOWIZ!" response... so here's my second attempt.
What I wanted to say essentially came down to a simple statement: Wargamers play "what-if" without plots or railroads. They explore a war or part of a war, but without limits or predetermined plot points. That's what the early D&D campaigns, written by wargamers, looked like.
I think that is why I have enjoyed sandbox campaigns so much. I like seeing my players do "what-if" without them worrying if they're on the railroad or not. Their exploration IS the plot and once they grok to that, I see a lot of excitement - as well as accepting responsibility for moving their own game forward in the direction they want.
I think something was/is lost when the emphasis became on plots and "have to do A to get to B", like the DMKit from 1988 codified. I would really like to see the DM Kit redone to support a sandbox. There have been bits and pieces done in Fight On! and in the blogs. Perhaps that should be the next "carnival" or "book" - Game Referee's Sandbox Design Kit.
TWO DAYS ARE LEFT! 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.
I'm going to write up a review of the DMKit later, but I wanted to talk more about "sandboxes". So I typed up a big long post and realized it was complete rubbish. Garbage. It deserved a "SHUT UP CHGOWIZ!" response... so here's my second attempt.
What I wanted to say essentially came down to a simple statement: Wargamers play "what-if" without plots or railroads. They explore a war or part of a war, but without limits or predetermined plot points. That's what the early D&D campaigns, written by wargamers, looked like.
I think that is why I have enjoyed sandbox campaigns so much. I like seeing my players do "what-if" without them worrying if they're on the railroad or not. Their exploration IS the plot and once they grok to that, I see a lot of excitement - as well as accepting responsibility for moving their own game forward in the direction they want.
I think something was/is lost when the emphasis became on plots and "have to do A to get to B", like the DMKit from 1988 codified. I would really like to see the DM Kit redone to support a sandbox. There have been bits and pieces done in Fight On! and in the blogs. Perhaps that should be the next "carnival" or "book" - Game Referee's Sandbox Design Kit.
TWO DAYS ARE LEFT! 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.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Interview with Denis Loubet - Illustrator of Ultima
My journey into creating a tabletop interpretation of Ultima has taken me to some very interesting places, but none as interesting, so far, as an email exchange/interview with Denis Loubet. Denis is responsible for virtually all of the artwork seen in the Ultima documentation from Ultima 1 to 3, as well as being the lead/senior artist for the remainder of the Ultima games as well as the Wing Commander games. He's also been a staff artist for Steve Jackson Games, working on GURPS as well as working on many of the Champions titles for Hero Games. His CV is a trip down memory lane and his gallery is fascinating to look at, with both old school and current art.My questions were mainly regarding to Ultima 3, as I wanted to understand how the art came to be. I'm considering doing some illustrations myself for my Swords & Wizardry / Ultima document and I am very grateful for the time Denis took to answer my questions.
Dennis, thank you! It's much appreciated. I know Ultimas 1-3 are almost 30 years old, but they still inspire gamers like myself who still play games to this day, even in our 40s.
Did you do all the illustrations or were there other artists involved?
I think I did all the illustrations myself. Richard [Garriot - Lord British - the author of the Ultima series] actually flew me up to New Hampshire to do the illustrations on site. These were all done with technical pens. Digital art programs were not up to that level of usability yet.
Well, that's what I did for Ultima 3. I don't think I had much to do with the manuals for 1 and 2. Those were done by other artists. However, I did do the start-up screen for Ultima 1 on an Apple II, with an Apple Graphics Tablet attached to a rattling metal stylus that threatened to fall apart at any moment. Power spikes from the utility company showed up as actual vertical spikes the the line I was attempting to draw. That was exciting.How did Richard hear about you and how long did it take you to illustrate the Ultima 3 book?
Richard heard about me in a roundabout way through the Society for Creative Anachronism. I was working for Steve Jackson Games as a staff artist. Steve Jackson was the Duke of the Society chapter in Austin. Richard had been active in the Austin SCA, and visited Steve to show off the game he was working on, Ultima 1. There he met me, and asked me on the spot to do the start-up screen for his game. He got his graphic tablet out of his car while I hunted up a heraldic lion rampant. I then sketched the lion up to the size needed and traced it off with the graphic tablet. Erasing and going back over the line where the power-spikes jerked the line out of true.The Ultima 3 book took me perhaps three or four days of solid work.
Did you come up with the various illustrations by playing the game, or by
talking with Richard and the other game designers or another way?
I hashed out how the Avatar looked with Richard, but everything else was pretty much pulled straight out of my head. I made use of a book on ancient costume, which was probably wildly inaccurate, but did spur some good ideas.The graphic designs like the magic symbols and such were pretty much as Richard described them to me. And a good thing too, I'm terrible with stuff like that.
Did you play any Role Playing Games (like D&D) at the time, if so, which
ones? Did you ever play the Ultima games and what did you think of them, if
you did?
Played a lot of D&D, and then moved on to Champions, from Hero Games.
Would you mind sharing who is your inspiration for your art, and who/what
served as inspiration for the artwork for those games?
These days I'm collecting everything I can of Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy. The guy's a frickin' genius! What he can suggest with a single line... He has more artistic talent in his little finger than I possess in my entire body.
What media did you use to create the artwork/illustrations for those
manuals, especially Ultima 3?
Thank you again, Denis, for answering my questions!
So what does this have to do with old-school D&D? I know that for me, personally, the art and game of Ultima has had as much influence in my tabletop gaming as any of the books I read in 1979 and the early 80s. It's hard for me to separate the two, as they each gave me an experience that resulted in my love of the original editions and the original feel/purpose of the game - the dungeon, the quest, the discovery of the unknown. Denis's art, while simple and few in number, inspired me as much as the art from AD&D and Holmes - it gave me a view to a world that built in my head on top of the simple graphics from the game. For that, I'm ever grateful.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.
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