gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
In case you missed it, I love Istanbul. My studies include the wider Eastern Roman Empire (aka the Byzantine Empire) and later the Ottoman Empire, with a fascination with the end of that empire, which was very messy.

Which is why I had a big smile on my face when FedEx sent me an email that my package had been picked up in Istanbul. What am I getting? Historica Arcanum: The City of Crescent.

The campaign takes place in Victorian-Era Istanbul during the reign of Abdulmejid I, with an intrigue-filled campaign taking players on a journey in one of the oldest and most culturally diverse Imperial Capitals of our world! I've been reading the PDF, but I wanted the physical book.

Yes, it uses the D&D 5th Edition engine, but it is magnificently tweaked to get the feel of 19th-century Ḳosṭanṭīnīye (The Turkish version of Constantinople.) Written by natives of the city, you feel it. They do a great job of translating D&D classes into roles appropriate for the setting and a much more subtle advancement path.

This is not a game of bashing monsters (although creatures of legend live in the Queen of Cities in disguises) but a thinking campaign of Secret History, as rival magical societies and political movements begin fighting for the fate of House of Osman.

Then there is the free stuff. A pack of gorgeous maps that took me back in an instant. When I saw the books at Baycon, I checked out the map and was able to place our hotel from 2016 on it. There is a collection of smaller tactical maps for fights in the city.

There was also a 29-track soundtrack designed to be played at various points in the game. Just on it is own, it is beautiful. Two tracks, "Istanbul by Day" and "Istanbul by Night," are just ambient sounds from the city.

This is an amazing piece of work, and Metis Media has produced several similar titles. Check them out.

gridlore: Photo: Rob Halford on stage from the 1982 "Screaming for Vengeance" tour (Music - Rob Halford)
It took three years, but it was mostly worth the wait.

I'm a Metalhead. I have been since 1983. I love almost all forms of the genre, so to see a TTRPG dedicated to the concept of a freewheeling, horns-flashing, headbanging game made me happy to back the Kickstarter.

Let's pretend we're all at a late-night restaurant after a show, sharing french fries and ranch dressing—first, the complaints.

The game is jargon-heavy. Successes are "Tributes," for example. Several important concepts are buried in the text. I had to keep flipping back to the glossary to comprehend the rule I was reading. The rules could be slightly better organized. Many simple proofreading and editing errors should have been caught in the layout process. Each of the six Metal Gods gets a single "art page" describing them and their goals. One of them is cut off mid-sentence. Later in the book, extraneous letters and odd cuts appear. I get meeting an already blown shipping date, but two extra pairs of eyes and one week of rewriting would have fixed these issues.

Now the things that make us throw up the horns, sing along, and get thrown out of Denny's at 3 A.M.

The tone of the writing and the artwork all build the setting and feel of Ragnarock perfectly. One of my early misconceptions was this was a game about being a metal band in Ragnarock. No, this is about being fucking Metal Demigods in Ragnarock. If this means your Avatar is Hammerhead Türzertrümmerer, who literally has a giant hammer for a head and two giant fucking Teutonic hammers for hands? Go for it!

Attributes and Skills are combined. For example, our friend Hammerhead should put some points in Brute if he wants to break down doors. You also choose a Metal God and a Tone. I'll detail character generation later because it is an adventure in itself, and yes, you can die during character generation.

The world-building requires two encores because there are two worlds. Mundania, where all of us Work Units (formerly known as People) are trapped, and Raganrock, where a few lucky souls can escape to fight the good fight. Your mortal body is still in Mundania, filling out TPS reports or stamping passports or whatever soul-destroying job the Executors and Upper Management have bestowed on you. They desire absolute obedience and conformity. Think of the worst dystopian SF you've ever read or seen. The Adjustment Bureau. Matrix Revolutions without the happy ending. A Stalinist gray wasteland if Stalin and J.P. Morgan joined forces.

But you have escaped, been drawn to the Spiral Umbilical, and if you survived. . . welcome to the party, pal!

So, there will be a second reading in the near future. I'll run my idea for a character through the introductory adventure, which is also an ideal Session Zero and character-building exercise.

What do I want? Aside from a corrected book. . .
  • A proper atlas and gazetteer of Ragnarok.
  • A handout of the basic creation myth.
  • The Spiral Umbilical adventure as a download.


Update from [personal profile] kshandra, 23 Nov 2023: One of the mutual friends Doug and I had through social media is [personal profile] laurenthemself, who among other things works with Ivan Van Norman, the man behind Gods of Metal. I can't find the comment currently, but they promised that they would hold a ceremonial bonfire and "send" Doug a copy of the errata that way. That's metal AF, if you ask me.
gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
It turns out that the "new" edition of Hârn is vaporware at this point, so everything I've written before holds true.

So, here we are. I've tried to show those of you reading this why HârnMaster is a great system and an absolutely fabulous setting with forty years of development behind it. Realistic wounds, a real feudal setting, and an island teetering on the edge of chaos in so many places.

I've glossed over psionic powers, the enigmatic Earthmasters who left sites made of Godstone across Hârn, and existence of the Keitherian family of worlds, accessible to powerful Grey Mages. Most sages assume Lothrim summoned the Gargun from one of these worlds. A strange place called "Terra" is part of the family. Your choice as what time period Terra is in should you travel there.

But that is really advanced stuff. Late campaign adventures. Let's start with some basics.
  • Embrace the character generation process. Sure, you might generate an impoverished shephard, but that describes King David in the Bible. Use the character generation process to build an interesting character who might someday rock the world.
  • Use Session Zero to establish why the party is together. Hârnic families are extensive and united in a clan structure. This is the perfect way to build a party with established bonds. Take the case of a Satia-Mavari Who returns to his home village after completing his apprenticeship with a Shek-Pvar chantry. He has been entrusted with a magically-sealed message tube to be delivered to a mage in Orbal, but the new journeyman mage is frightened of taking the journey alone. This is when cousins, siblings, and friends stand up. A chance to see more of Hârn and maybe make their fortunes doing something other than growing crops for the local lord? This establishes connections. Maybe one of the adventurers is the Satia-Mavari's older brother, who deserted from the Earl's guard and doesn't think his brother can poor piss out of a boot. Established relationships!
  • Hârn is a fog-shrouded, rainy land. Play this up. Trekking through the Sorkin Mountains should involve fog-shrouded trails where all sounds are muffled and distorted. Was that a Harpy?
  • As a GM, do not ignore the political situation. King Mignath of Kaldor amazes his subjects by just drawing breath, and there is no clear succession in place. Chysbia sits between two far more powerful kingdoms that both have a good claim on it. Rethem is facing a potential civil war and the king know three of his four predecessors didn't die in bed. Kanday faces ongoing religious skirmishes between Kandian Laranians and Rethemi Agrikians. Orbaal is no more stable than any other Ivanian kingdom, and the majority Jarin population is gearing up for revolution. Again.
  • Build up slowly. One of the best early adventures is 100 Bushels of Rye, a fairly simple investigation module that leads to some interesting places. This is for 1st Edition, but can easily be converted.
  • Do not neglect the importance of contacts and favors. People are people, and having a friend in Cherafir's bonding house, or a Thardic Senator who owes you one can be vital. Conversely, honor your obligations.
  • Finally, and this applies to all TTRPGs, everyone should work together to both build the legend and have fun. The GM/player relationship should not be one of adversaries fighting in a wargame, but a cooperative effort to build something great.
Well, I've made my pitch. Oh, if if you really want to see how moribund Columbia Games really is, check out the system requirements for the character generator. I laughed my ass off.

Currently drinking: Sierra-Nevada Oktoberfest Festbeer.
gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
After yesterday's Back To School meeting, the legion of SCPD Crossing Guards, which I am a proud member, returned to work. Yes, school started on August 10th. For a relatively old guy who remembers school starting after Labor Day, it is pretty weird to welcome kids back in the middle of summer.

But we did get 90 days of summer vacation. Sadly, health problems for both of us limited our ability to enjoy the season. I have been studying Spanish to better communicate with many of my families, as my school serves a large Latino population. We did make one or two concerts and enjoyed a trip on a scenic railway in Fremont.

I only worked my morning shift today, as I had to visit my cardiologist's office for an echocardiogram and get a three-day heart monitor. There are no real concerns, but people like me with an...exciting? Terrifying? Three-volume health history need to keep up with heart health, and it has been a very long time between heart exams.

Seriously, I have the ICD-10 codes of everything that has tried to kill me or change the way I live tattooed on my right bicep, and I need to find an artist to add a couple of codes.

So, what does this mean for my writing and posting? With more structure in my life, I will be eating on a more regular basis (this has been an issue, depression sucks) and setting time aside after my afternoon shifts - I work 1.5 hours in the morning and another 1.5 in the afternoon - for research, writing, and posting.

Now I just need to figure out how to embed photos on my posts because I have a new TTRPG - Gods of Metal: Ragnarock - that is a fucking shit load of insane fun.

Currently drinking: Elysian Space Dust IPA.
gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
"Hell Is Other People" - Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

On Hârn, most of your conflicts will be with other humans. Bandits along trade roads; aggressive tribes; Agrikian patrols; Orballese Ivinians spoiling for a fight; the guards in the castle or temple you are trying to rob; or if you follow the multiple campaign threads that lead to chaos in several kingdoms, in wars and skirmishes to decide the fate of nations.

However, Hârn does have some unique foes for brave adventurers to face. The misty mountains and deep swamps hold many mysteries and threats.

The Gargun

They have many names: Foulspawn, Goblins, Orcs, Hârn's Gargun are a race of small, vicious, intelligent humanoids. They are the most aggressive and brutal of the intelligent culture-forming Hârnic species. They are also the most alien, dramatically distinct from Humans, Khuzudul, and Sindarin in origin, biology, and society.

He is believed to be created or brought to Hârn by Lothrim the Foulspawner. Lothrim used the fast-breeding Gargun warriors as shock troops, allowing him to replace his military losses, preserve his better-trained elite human armies, and rapidly expand his empire. The Gargun are one of Lothrim's more vile legacies; the creatures outlived their "creator" and, by 250TR, had spread throughout the island. All Gargun have an abiding hatred for the Khuzdul and will if there is any chance of victory, attack any dwarves they happen upon. The two races have a long history of mutual animosity dating from the Gargun's first appearance on Hârn and the subsequent Carnage of Kiraz.

The Gargun are divided into five distinct sub-species: Gargu-araki (small or streaked orc), Gargu-hyeka (common or brown orc), Gargu-khanu (black orc), Gargu-kyani (white orc), and Gargu-viasal (red orc). Contrary to widely held belief, the Gargun cannot interbreed among their sub-species, at least not without the intervention of magic or alchemy. Each sub-species has unique social and racial traits.

The Gargun have a hive-based society, with one fertile queen and intense competition to be one of the fertile "princes" allowed to fertilize the queen's eggs. This is accomplished by being the strongest and bringing the most treasure back to the colony.

About half the Gargun of Hârn live in abandoned mines, cave systems, or lost Khuzdal citadels. The others are nomadic, competing with the human tribes.

When a colony becomes overcrowded, there are two possible outcomes. The first is a sudden genocidal slaughter until the population is reduced to a manageable level. The other is terrifying. Gargun will seize female "princesses," and thousand of Gargun will flood the countryside in search of a new home. They will eat everything in their path, steal what they can, burn what they can't, and are relentless in their advance.

Luckily for the rest of Lythia, the Gargun appear to be repelled by oceans.

The Ivashu

Ivashu are creatures of Ilvir, known as the Fatherless Multitude by the faithful or the Accursed Beasts of the Barren Circle by non-believers. Ilvir creates the Ivashu at Araka-Kalai, making use of a limited number of souls over and over again. Some Ivashu are relatively common because they have proved most adaptable to survival or are the easiest to create. However, Ilvir also enjoys experimental lifeforms and can produce any conceivable beast in some quantity. Many varieties are unique, designed to perform a specific task or to amuse the deity.

Ivashu are a great excuse to introduce unique creatures to the campaign.

Yélgri - the Hârnic Harpy

Yélgri are also called the Hârnic Harpy. They are small, highly aggressive, violent quasi-reptilian, warm-blooded winged predators and scavengers. They usually avoid attacking larger creatures capable of defending themselves, instead preferring to harass them. They are known to kill for amusement and will ferociously defend their nests.

They use simple tools and weapons such as clubs, barbed javelins, nets, rocks, and even bombs made of their dung. They communicate using a primitive language of barks, screams, and grunts. Some travelers have reported hearing Yélgri flocks singing harmoniously.

Yélgri are usually encountered in family flocks of up to a dozen, led by alpha males and females. Larger communities have been occasionally observed, with one colony in the Hefiosa Hills reported to number over fifty. Yélgri eggs are tiny, leathery, and cared for by the entire family flock. They reach maturity after around two years and may live for as much as twenty.

The only natural enemies of the Yélgri are the Orcs, who are fond of Yélgri flesh and eggs. Yélgri will hunt Orcs when they see an opportunity and are one of the few creatures willing to eat foulspawn flesh.

The Ilme

The Ilme are a strange race of mere-dragons, among the unique and most mysterious of the intelligent races on Hârn. The Ilme have an ancient culture with a complex language and deep mythology. They bear some likeness to their great dragon cousins, and many a reported tale of dragonkind was almost certainly an Ilme encounter, but there are significant differences. Although they are reptilian, the Ilme have no wings and probably could not fly even if they had; they commonly attain a height of 12 feet and a weight of two tons. The two sexes live apart except when mating. Despite their undisputed strength, male Ilme are somewhat cowardly and are frequently bullied and robbed by local Gargun bands. They prefer to hunt from ambush or eat carrion. They will rarely attack intruders but will fight with desperation when cornered. Even then, they usually try to negotiate first. Female Ilme are another matter; they will attack and fight intruders with limb-tearing ferocity, primarily to protect their young. The Ilme do not breathe fire, although their breath is far from sweet.

The Hârn Bestiary has multiple entries for critters, both mundane and monstrous. Many of the more extreme monsters can be credited to Ilvir. The cool thing is you get short articles on the setting's cats, dogs, cattle, and horses.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
As with religion, magic in HârnMaster is limited and rare, but a skilled mage can move mountains.

Magic is ruled by the six schools of the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Shek-Pvar. The six orders, plus the Neutral school, and their specialties, are:
  • Lyahvi - Wind, Magnification, Visual Illusions
  • Pelehn - Fireball, Volcanos, Movement Enhancement
  • Jmorvi - Weapon Creation, Prospecting/Mining, Lockboxes
  • Fryria - Healing, Horticulture, Necromancy, Earthquakes
  • Odvishe - Waves, Precipitation, Movement Reduction
  • Savorya - Divination, Written Works, Memory Suppression
  • Neutral - Counter-Magic, Interworld Travel, Energy Storage
Every aspiring mage must determine their Convocational Mastery Level like any other skill. Each sub-order has different requirements and different astrological modifiers. So while you may want to be a fireball-tossing Pelehni, you might be better suited to an apprenticeship with the Savorya.

But here's a twist. Every chantry is rated in Hârn's 1-5 star system. Getting into the best chantries is hard, and you might have to settle for a low-rated chantry and a drunk master.

Whatever your education was like (and honestly, a bad master and a shitty chancery is an excellent character backstory), you enter the game as a Satia-Mavari, a journeyman mage. Here's where HârnMaster shines as a campaign idea generator.

All Satia-Mavari are required to spend at least a year on wanderjahre. Before they can return to claim the status as full Mavari (full mages and entitled to the benefits of that status), they must collect at least three examples of a lost spell, original spell research, or a significant magical relic.

Halford's boots, this is a years-long campaign just waiting to happen. The Satia-Mavari calls on family to help him, and they begin tracking down rumors and legends, with numerous opportunities for side adventures.

Sadly, the base rulebook is lacking in spells. HârnMaster - Magic has plenty, and there are numerous online grimoires for additional ideas. The spells themselves depart from the D&D trope of walking artillery. Well, except for the Pelehnio, of course. But you will find a plethora of spells that range from utilitarian to devastating. Evey mage has unimaginable power if they survive long enough to tap into it.

The drawback is the schools are on a wheel, and learning spells from schools opposite yours is very hard. The goal of every wizard is to study and learn enough to become a Grey Mage. This requires:
  • Arcane Discipline to ML101 (or higher).
  • Master Arcane Lore to ML101 (or higher).
  • Know at least one spell in each convocation to ML 91 or better.
  • Know at least twelve convocational spells to ML71+
  • Know at least six neutral spells to ML61+.
Grey Mages are exceedingly rare and nearly legendary in their power. They are not tied to any chancery, but instead tend to retreat into wild lands to build their towers and study in isolation. Disturb them at your peril.

The structure of the Shek-Pvar has encouraged many players of Ars Magica to use Hârn as an alternate setting. Playing a Satia-Mavari is risky; you don't have many spells, and your control is still growing, but in the long run, your power can humble dragons.

OK, almost done! Next are some unique threats on Hârn, the more expansive universe, and Godstones. As always, I crave your reactions.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
Yeah, I fell off the posting wagon; it's been a rough start to summer. But back to HârnMaster! We've covered character generation, how skills work, and the sheer joy of the combat system. Today, religion.

Designed as a deliberately low-magic, skill-focused system and setting, the gods of Hârn are real but distant. They do provide rituals to their priests, which can be quite powerful, but for the most part, the various churches are more shepherds and institutions. The Gods of Hârn are:
  • Agrik: the god of bloody war and fire. He believes that might makes right, only the strongest should rule, and that the uncertainty of conflict brings necessary improvement. War and tumult are the great threshing floor that separates the worthy from the unworthy. Agrik is in direct opposition to Larani and her rigid adherence to order. His worship is proscribed through much of Hârn, except in Rethem where it is the state religion.
  • Halea: the Maker of Bargains, the immoral goddess of beauty, wealth, and hedonistic pleasures. Halea usually appears to humans as a beautiful youth. For Halea, greed is good; power is better. There is no sin, only pleasure matters. She shrewdly maintains her position in the courts of the gods and wishes stability, so she may continue to enjoy her pleasures. She has temples in most trading cities but is most worshiped in the Thardic Republic.
  • Ilvir: known as the “Ochre Womb" and the “Brooder in the Blasted Plains”, Ilivir creates strange beings known as Ivashu. The purpose of the Ivashu are a mystery known only to Ilvir. Ilvir’s adherents are drawn to him by the promise that after death their souls will be reincarnated into Ivashu, which they believe is a higher form of life.
  • Larani: the Lady of Paladins, the good goddess who represents order and the chivalric ideals of faith, piety, honor, righteousness, truth, justice, courage, and strength. She teaches perfection through order and faith. Larani directly opposes Agrik and his followers in their savage and chaotic attempts to achieve perfection through strength, mean survival, and brutal and unnecessary conflict. Larani is most popular amongst the nobility. Being found to be an adherent of Larani in Rethem gets you a spot at the next heretic burning.
  • Morgath: the god of death, retribution, and revenge. Lord of the undead, suffering, and chaos. Morgath gathers souls to feed the Shadow of Bukrai and upend the order of the universe; he offers those in service to him eternal life, of a sort, with the offer to become Amorvis (free-willed undead). Proscribed almost everywhere but Rethem (sigh).
  • Naveh: the god of nightmares, thieves, and assassins. He rules the night and is the silent death. Seemingly Nihilistic, Naveh's purposes are obscured in shadow, seemingly with no discernable aims. Every state on Hârn suppresses this religion. Or so they think.
  • Peoni: the good goddess of peace forgiveness, love, life, and healing. She believes in achieving perfection through teaching peace and forgiveness. She nurtures with love, feeding the hungry, bringing hope to the hopeless, healing the sick, and forgiving sinners. She rewards patience, virtue, chastity, temperance, and forgiveness. She is the most popular 'goddess', especially amongst the lower classes. (Except in Rethem, of course.) Peonian clerics seeking martyrdom often sneak into Rethm to establish covert churches.
  • Sarajin: the god of courage, strength, prowess in combat, fame, clever tactics, battlelust, and the “sport” of war. He loves Kelestia as it is. His followers seek his favor by gaining fame with acts of bravery in combat, canny gambits, and martial skill. Sarajin is said to most often appear as a giant, yellow-haired warrior in leather and furs, carrying Fakang, his massive double-bladed axe. He is the god of the Invinians, the Viking analogs in the setting.
  • Save-K'Nor: the god of intellect, learning, and true knowledge. Save-K'nor seeks to guide his adherents by perfecting their intellect and knowledge of moral philosophy so that they may understand the true nature of Kelestia and thereby select the righteous path of their own free will. The church of Save-K'nor has few adherents because of its focus on scholarship; however, their level of education puts many in place to be of singular influence on events.
  • Siem: the benign god of magic, mysteries, and dreams. Siem is the oldest of the 'gods'. He chose to withdraw from the other ‘gods’ to his own idyllic domain within Kelestia, 'the Blessed Realm', where all remains preserved in a pristine state, and there is almost no passage of time. He is most associated with the Faerie folk, Elves, and Dwarves, though some Men worship him too.
HârnMaster allows a player to create a newly-consecrated priest of any of these faiths, subject to the character's place of birth and the campaign's focus. Clerics start with many skills, but they have obligations to their church and order.

A Laranian Matakea (Temple Priest) might be ordered by his Rekela (Bishop) to accompany a young noble on his journeys. (Yes, this is a campaign seed.) A Peonian Reslava (Mendicant Priest, similar to the wandering friars of the Franciscans) would be constantly nagging his companions to show mercy, stopping to help every hamlet and cotter hold and healing the enemy. In short, the system encourages you to roleplay a genuine representative of your deity, not just be a walking first-aid kit and backup combatant.

Then there are the Invocations. These are rituals or prayers the clerics can use. For example, Laranian priests have access to Bandage of St. Pereline, which can stop bloodloss and heal an injury level from a single wound. A critical success heals the wound entirely in one day, while a critical failure causes the wound to develop an infection.

Every religion has these, some in the HârnMaster rule book, with more in the HârnMaster - Religion tome. More about that: do you want to know where the Amansurif of the Agrikian church lives? Want more details on church politics? Planning a campaign based around a mostly Laranian party campaign against the vile Agrikians? This book is for you. But there is more than enough in the basic HârnMaster rulebook to get started.

One final thought. As in most settings, there is a compact that keeps the gods from meddling too much in the mortal world. So if you want to run a mini-campaign where the PCs have to expose and oust the evil Sulapyn (Peonian bishop) who has been embezzling funds, go for it.

Tomorrow, I swear, Magic.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
I've written about Earthdawn before, as one of the great examples of what I called FASA Syndrome - great settings, mediocre rules. But in this case, FASA also managed to fumble the setting in my opinion. It all goes back to how some worldbuilders can't stand an empty space on the map. They have this need to fill every space and detail everything.

This brings me back to my concept of The Edge in settings. Adventures can only take place on the Edge. The Edge is a setting where civilization is either absent, an active threat, or simply unaware of the campaign setting because civilizations impose order. With my eyes, I have seen the oldest fragment of a legal code we know of, The Code of Ur-Nammu. It is from Mesopotamia and is written on tablets in the Sumerian language c. 2100–2050 BCE. Civilizations also make safe areas and expand those safe areas. This includes wars and genocides, of course, but also destroying predatory animals, taming rivers, improving communications and roads, patrolling those roads, and so on.

Edges are by nature unstable. The classic Wild West era lasted about 40-50 years. There was a period of about twenty years in China where things like pulp adventures would thrive. Both of these eras ended with the spread of effective law enforcement for good or bad, and social disapproval of typical "adventurer" activities. I think the longest edge I can think of in a nominally civilized area would be France during the Hundred Years' War when bands of unemployed knights rampaged around looting and blackmailing cities.

The point is that an Edge requires some absence of oversight. This brings me back to Barsaive. The default setting for Earthdawn and roughly in the same area as Ukraine. Let's review the main conceptual theme of the game.

Magic is cyclical. At the low end, magic ceases to work. The problem comes at the peak of the sine wave. when our world starts to reach that level, barriers drop and things known as Horrors can enter our world. Immensely powerful, amoral, and hungry for new victims. Cenobites meet Lovecraftian nightmares. But as the world began reaching this level a few centuries ago, a great wizard or team of wizards learned how to build a magical barrier to the Horrors. String physical defenses would be needed as well. All across the civilized world, men and dwarves began digging Kaers, deep fortified cities. There are real examples of these you can tour in Turkey.

Stores were stocked, subterranean farms started, and everyone was safely inside, the great gates of the Kaers were sealed with iron and magic across Barsaive. Well, not everyone. The immortal Obsidimen melted into their Life Stones to sleep, and the T'skrang made Kaers in deep lakes and hibernated. Many elves worked a great ritual to leave the Earth, while the few who refused paid a great price for their survival. No one knows where the Windlings hid. Then the Horrors came.

The siege lasted centuries. Every Kaer faced attacks that ranged from the brutal force of an angry god beating on the gates to subtle attempts to poison the minds of Kaerfolk. When the attacks finally ceased, when the Sorceror-Kings determined it was safe, the gates were opened. . .

. . .and the world was changed.

This is where the game should start, a recently opened Kaer that has established its first villages outside the gates and is ready to start sending out scouting parties. How has the world changed? Where are the other survivors? What Kaers failed, and why? Are there any signs of Horrors remaining? Do our old maps mean anything? Go forth and find out!

That would have been a great game. Instead, FASA gave us not only a Barsaive that was already up and running, with trade and flying ships, and all that, there was a pseudo-Mycenean empire already on the march! The Edge was already gone!

If I were to run this, I'd rewind to the one known dot on an unreliable map. A game of exploration, diplomacy, horror, and mysteries. Most Kaers would have failed, leaving much of Barsaive a howling wilderness. Ruined Kaers make great Places of Mystery; yeah, Kizen fell, but why does it look like the gates were breached from the inside?

You can do so much with this setting, build something lasting, and never really lose the Edge needed for a great campaign. One thing I'd add. If you've ever seen the 1981 Heavy Metal movie, you'll recall that in the final segment, Taarna, The evil Loc-Nar smashes into a mountain, creating a wave of mud that overwhelms a near-by village and turns them into monstrous humanoid mutants. There's the second phase of the campaign, learning of this growing army of "changed men" who capture entire villages and march them off to an unknown fate.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
Let's go through her Characteristics, Abilities, and initial spells.

Characteristics. Ars Magica uses a loose -3 to +3 scale, although scores off that range are pretty common, but this is where we start.

Strength: -1
Stamina: 0
Dexterity: -1
Quickness: -2
Intelligence: +3
Perception: +2
Presence: 0
Communication: +2

That beating in the kitchen of the monastery so long ago still shows in Jorina's slowness to react. She can also be a touch fumble-fingered at times. On the other side, she's very smart, perceptive, and good at communicating (once you get past her speech issues.)

Generating Abilities (AM's name for skills) is done in three stages.

First is Early Childhood. I used the Mischievous Childhood template, although Crapsack Childhood better describes her life. All abilities come with a specialization, which is treated as one skill level higher.

Brawl: 2 (dodge)
Guile: 2 (lying to authority)
Native Language: 5 (Frisian)
Stealth: 2 (sneak)

Then comes later childhood, where you have a bit more latitude.

Folk Ken: 2 (clergy)
Awareness: 3 (alertness)
Living Language: (French)

At 10, a strange group visited the monastery and was forced to stay in one of the outbuildings. Since everyone hated her, Jorina was sent to serve them. Their leader, a terrifying man with leather-brown skin and his hair wrapped in a big cloth bundle seemed very interested in Jorina. The abbess told Jorina that the man had bought her and that she was no longer welcome. The leader introduced himself as Eutychus of Criamon and said that he was a Sorceror and that Jorina had the power to be a sorcerer as well. So began 15 years of apprenticeship.

Enigmatic Wisdom: 2
Latin: 4 (writing)
Magic Theory: 2
Parma Magica: 1 (Ignem)
Concentration: 2 (spells)
Penetration: 1 (Mentum)
Artes Liberales: 1 (logic)
Code of Hermes: 1
Finesse: 1 (Mentum)
Profession: 2 (scribe)

So much to learn! Parma Magica and Magic Theory are the two great discoveries made by Bonisagus the Founder in the 8th century. His unified theory of magic allowed magi from different traditions to share and learn spells from each other, and Parma Magica not only protects a magus from hostile spells but calms the negative feelings The Gift cause in all living things. Ignem (fire) and Mentum (mind) are two of the magical forms. Speaking of which. . . Jorina's scores in the Techniques of Magic are:

Creo (I create) 4
Intellego (I perceive) 6
Muto (I change) 4
Perdo (I destroy) 4
Rego (I control) 4

And in the Forms:

Animal (non-human animals) 1
Aquam (water) 2
Auram (air) 3
Corpus (the human body) 2
Herbam (plants) 0
Ignem (fire) 0 [and she's not good with this form at all]
Imaginem Sensation and illusion) 5
Mentum (mind) 5 [Jorina is skilled with mind magic]
Terram (earth) 1
Vim (raw magical power) 5

Having a zero in a Technique or Form doesn't mean you can't perform those spells, you just haven't spent a lot of time learning the basic theory around them.

She also learned a nice set of starting spells. I'll explain what spells do if asked. Each spell has the Technique and Form listed at the end. I'm not bothering with the spell levels here unless asked.

Wizard's Sidestep Re/Im
True Sight of Air In/Au
Calm the Motion of the Heart Pe/Me
Jupiter's Resounding Blow Cr/Au
The Call to Slumber Re/Me
Moonbeam Cr/Ig
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler Pe/Aq (it dries the target's body and clothing. Useful!)
The Intuition of the Forest In/He
Aura of Ennobled Presence Mu/Im
Words of the Unbroken Silence Cr/Me
Confusion of the Numbed Will Re/Me

A nice start. Jorina has passed her Gauntlet, is 25, and while I could start her now, I'm going to run her year-by-year to build her up, gain magic goodies and a familiar, and even have her perform her longevity spell research. It's not uncommon for AM mages to start the game well into their sixties, appear to be in their early 40s, and be quite powerful.

One thing I do need is her Wizard's Sigil. Every magus has one, it's a personal touch, often created by the subconscious, that acts as a fingerprint. In the saga I played in so long ago, my magus was of House Bjornaer, and his heartbeast was a large raven. All his spells invoked ravens. If he cast Rain of Stones, the stones would be black and make little croaking sounds when they hit. His Wizard's Sidestep had him dissolve into a mass of ink black bird shapes that would reform where he stepped to. So I'm going to have to think about this.

As always, suggestions and comments welcome.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
Making Progress on Jorina, my Frisian mage. We'll start with her Virtues

The Gift, Hermetic Mage, The Enigma. These three free statuses establish her as magically talented, a member of the Order of Hermes, and an initiate into the Mystery House of Criamon. The last gives her a score of 1 in the Enigmatic Wisdom ability.

Premonitions (minor supernatural) Even as a child, Jorina could usually see danger coming. This got her denounced as a witch and sent to a local monetary to work in the kitchens.

Quiet Magic x2 (minor hermetic) Because of her speech problem (see below) her parens trained her to be able to cast spells without speaking.

Still Casting (minor hermetic) Jorina took things a step further and trained herself to minimize the arm and hand movements need to cast spells.

Cyclic Magic (positive, minor hermetic) Her magic is tied to the lunar cycle and is strongest under the full moon.

Puissant Ability (Enigmatic Wisdom, major general) This allows her to learn her House's mystery faster, and master her mind's ability to see the solution to puzzles and riddles.

Flexible Formulaic Magic (major hermetic) When casting a spell she knows, Jorina can expend a little extra effort to later the range, duration, or effect.

Affinity with Art (Mentum, minor hermetic) Jorina is especially skilled with spells that affect the mind.

Now, her Flaws.

Twilight Prone (major hermetic) Like most Criamon, she is more likely to be drawn into the madhouse that is Wizard's Twilight when she botches a spell. However, she is more likely to learn from the experience.

Afflicted Tongue (minor genera). Jorina couldn't predict every danger, and a beating for stealing food left her aphasic. Her speech is halting, she misplaced words, and sometimes just can speak at all.

Cyclic Magic (negative, minor hermetic) During the dark of the moon, her powers fade. Jorina is very interested in discovering why this happens.

Magic Addiction (major hermetic) The sheer joy of casting, the feel of magic flowing through her veins, Jorina has a hard time not casting that next spell.

Deficient Form (ignem, minor hermetic) Her dislike of destructive magic and probably something in her past has made mastering spells concerning fire and light difficult for her.

Poor Memory (minor personality) That beating in the monastery has left Jorina with a bad memory of places and names.

Jorina (I'll Latinize her name later) is a stealthy mage who eschews big showy effects in favor of illusion and deception. She has to time her most rigorous laboratory work with the lunar cycles and probably has acquired a Companion whose main job is to remind her of the things she's forgotten. She's probably a chronicler, carefully writing down not just her magical notes, but the events of the day.

Next up, her characteristics, childhood, and apprenticeship. In which, I'll write more of her story!
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
This takes place after the destruction of the Empire of the Giants and the scattering of the Dragons during the Greater War of the Gods and shortly after the Races of the Tree were created. It was a Golden Age, where the Races of the Tree (humans, dwarfs, halflings, and gnomes) worked together in harmony. Some humans, however, were touched by the Corpus Infernus and roamed the lands as barbarian raiders.

The orcs were created when the demon-touched leader of the greatest barbarian horde was frustrated by his inability to break the defenses of one of the great cities of this legendary age. This leader, Grummish One-Eye, made a pact with Canarak, God of Slaughter to allow him to sack this city.

Overnight, his army was twisted into what we now know as orcs, and with their new-found ferocity, were able to destroy one of the last Golden Cities. But Grummish's triumph was short-lived, as almost immediately his army turned on itself. Grummish himself was killed and is now a demigod in the service of Canarak.

Orcs, being children of Canarak, are violent beings who kill for sport. They live in tribal groups where the strongest and most successful lead by right of force. Orc warbands raid more civilized lands as a way of proving their worth. Orcs don't care about the value of treasure beyond its value as a display of the martial prowess in stealing it.

Orc tribes tend to weed out their own weaklings through hazing and ritual combat. Some males are expelled and forced to find new bands to join. Sometimes, a tribe will grow too large and destroy itself in a frenzy of destruction. While not strictly nocturnal, orcs prefer to operate in dim light. Bands usually try to find a cave system or abandoned tomb complex as a stronghold. Since they crave combat, they will abandon an area if it lacks challenges.

Rarely, an orc will appear with the strength, charisma, and intelligence to unite the tribes into a horde. Such orcs are known as "Grummishning haqiqiy o'g'li" or a "True Son of Grummish." When a True Son appears, civilized nations tremble. The only way to end the threat is to kill the true son.

I use the D&D5e sourcebook The Book of the Righteous for my games, as it is an excellent and complete pantheon, and most of it is system-neutral. It's also fairly easy to add to in careful doses. I've added the giants as div, a variant of the first intelligent species created by the gods. Other div in the current age are the elves, fae, and other nature spirits. These specific div were touched by the primal gods of the elements to create servants. Which is why you have fire giants, storm giants, etc.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
While engaged in a discussion of Cyberpunk tropes everyone is tired of in TTRPGs, one person mentioned the pervasive Asian Chic feeling, with Japanese zaibatsu dominating the world, ninjas, and the entire manga/anime feel.

I agree heartily. What I want to see, and may have to write for the SWADE Cyberpunk system, is a setting where the African Renaissance is full speed ahead and the US and China have been greatly reduced in influence. African corporations are the big influences, African music is hot, and the current First World players like the US and China are collapsing.

Having a campaign set in Mombassa would be really cool, as you have a totally different feel and all of the Continent to play in. You could even ignore the US. Scandanavian mercenaries, Ukrainian bankers, Arab and Indian factors, and a dozen languages are spoken in the new Sprawl as Mombassa (and the space elevator just offshore) have made this city ground zero for intrigue.

What would make this setting unique is Mombassa is an old, old city. It dates back to at least the 14th century. It has ancient mosques mixed in with modern areas. I love the idea of Old Africa meeting New Africa.

And you have all of Africa to play in!

Yeah, I need to write this. I'll be using Sprawlrunners, a cyberpunk Savage Worlds rule set for this. Does anyone want to help?
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
Pathfinder for Savage Worlds: Pathfinder CompanionPathfinder for Savage Worlds: Pathfinder Companion by Jason Bulmahn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've been playing RPGs since 1977, and in that time I've become a bit of a connoisseur of game settings. I've seen the really great ones (Glorantha, Hârn) and the really bad ones (looking at you, Mystara.) So I know what makes a good setting. Interesting places and people, a coherent history, and opportunities for adventure galore!

This book hits all the marks, We start with an introduction to the Pathfinder Society, a loosely-organized adventurers' guild that can be a launch pad for many adventures. The main focus of the Society is gathering information. A party might be told by their Venture-Captain (the local "branch managers") that a black dragon has been sighted near a certain swampy area where no dragon has been seen for centuries. Go find it and assess the threat. That kind of mission, along with political intrigue, exploration, and traditional dungeon delves. Good stuff.

Next, we get a timeline, and here's where I took off a star. The designers (and I realize that this is all adapted from material published by Paizo earlier) fall into the "thousands of years" trap. Humans have had writing for about 6,000 years. All those early societies are dead. It's just human nature for things to change. But still, it is a good summation of events leading up to the present day.

Then comes the real meat, the Gazeteer. We get introduced to the states of the Inner Sea, and they are an amazing lot that all make sense and all provide adventuring opportunities galore! Take Galt, a nation that overthrew its noble rulers and is now reminiscent of France under the Committee for Public Safety. Governments rise and fall, factions form, dissolve, and battle in the streets, and the Final Blade, a guillotine that traps the soul of its victim, never stops. It makes sense in the context of what is happening in Galt's neighboring states. Golarion is a cohesive world.

We get a short but useful adventure generator, some of the more important factions in the Inner Sea region, and advice on merging Pathfinder's class & level expectations so Savage Worlds, the gods and main infernal beings, the other planes, and final some powerful artifacts.

A very well-produced book! An asset to my gaming shelf.



View all my reviews
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
Pathfinder® for Savage Worlds Core RulesPathfinder® for Savage Worlds Core Rules by Jason Bulmahn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Remember those old commercials for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter! You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!"

That's what this is, a perfect marriage of the epic high fantasy of Pathfinder with the more streamlined and grittier rules of Savage Worlds: Adventurers Edition. Classes are replaced by archetypes that mimic the classic character classes that you can choose to use or customize as you will. Combat is far more dangerous now that it is not simply a whittling contest to see who loses hit points first. Heroes can die just as fast as a spear carrier. This creates far more tactical thinking, and running away to fight again becomes an option. Magic is simpler and potentially more devastating.

It's not a huge book but has what you need to begin your adventures around Gorlarion and the Inner Sea. It's a great build that elevates both games' ideas while compromising neithers' essential feel.



View all my reviews
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
More reasons to love Runequest. I've been reading Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass, a 380-page tome that isn't just a splat book of army lists, but a detailed examination of every aspect of warfare in Glorantha for all the possible materials you can make armor out of, military history, organization of everything from the Lunar Regiments to Orlanthi war-bands, battlefield knowledge, how shield walls and phalanxes work, and how they differ in combat, logistics, roads, river transport in Dragon Pass, magic, Heroes and the Companions, and I'm just halfway through!

Oh, siege warfare. I forgot the chapter on siege warfare that detailed how various cultures build gates and towers, siege engines, and dear Lhankr Mhy, so much information!

This isn't a gamebook, it's a military academy textbook. I feel like I'm going to be asked to write an essay on Satarite hill forts any day now. But it is all useful stuff in building the world of Glorantha at the dawn of the Hero Wars, something characters will get caught up in.

Along with being really well-written, there are art pieces in here that deserve to be hanging in museums. The plate of Fazzur Widread and the Feathered Horse Queen accepting the surrender of Kallyr Starbrow looks like it was painted by Titian.

Amazingly good book. The one thing it doesn't have is a mass combat system, and that is only because Chaosium is going to release an official one later this year.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
On my gaming bookshelf, I have about 14" of space dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, most of it official WOTC stuff plus some stuff I've picked up on various Kickstarters. I've been playing various forms of D&D since 1978 or so. And I can't do it anymore. I can no longer keep making excuses for the glaring problems with class & level systems. Allow me to begin.

This is a brief summary of the jobs I've had as an adult: light weapons infantry, car wash worker (all positions), retail sales (several times), airport shuttle van driver and dispatcher, commercial truck driver, forklift operator, limousine dispatcher, and now school crossing guard.

What character class am I? Even if you just focus on my years as an infantryman, the skills involved went far beyond the core responsibilities of killing people and breaking things. I, for example, learned enough about how the company supply room worked to earn a secondary MOS as a Small Unit Supply Specialist. We are all like that, no matter what our main focus is, we've all picked up weird side skills from hobbies and old jobs.

Class systems lock you into an identity; you are a Fighter, or a Wizard, or a Rockerboy. Your options are limited by design. This means that your game options are likewise limited. D&D5e uses class options to offer more variety, but it still becomes a straightjacket. This has also led to an explosion of class options which has become almost as bad as the nightmare that Feats became in D&D3/3.5 and Pathfinder 1st. The end result is players show up at the table with an esoteric build depending on options given in some third-party book. This results in arguments and destroyed campaigns. I have seen this happen.

Next, we have Levels. As a mechanic to mark progress and increase the power levels it works, to a point. But most systems also tie new abilities to level increases, so very quickly the characters are nigh-unstoppable by any normal force. Which requires ramping up the threats in an ever-escalating arms race. The game becomes the same melee with changing faces. Enough about them, they simply are a kludge.

Finally, and strap in for this one. . . Hit Points.

I hate hit points as they are presented in most class&level games. To understand how low this has been an issue, I think the first defense and attempt to tweak hit points was when The Dragon was still in single-digit issues. Hit points date back to D&D's ancestral miniature gaming roots. When one figure represents a unit of Athenian hoplites, or Napoleonic Grenadiers, or whatever, a set number that counts down to when that unit is no longer combat capable for whatever reason makes sense. They may have died, been wounded, run off, whatever. It doesn't matter in the context of the game.

But when you are playing a single person of flesh and blood, wounds matter. Bleeding matters. Having the shoulder of your sword arm crushed by a mace, matters. This is all ignored with hit points. Joe the Fighter can start a fight with 75 hit points. Six rounds later, he's been ripped by massive claws, hit with a jet of flame, and been hit by six arrows. He's down to 3 hit points.

AND HE'S FUCKING FINE! He isn't holding his intestines in place, he isn't limping on a horrifically burned leg, and he's not coughing up blood from the arrows in his lungs. Joe will fight at absolute full capacity until he drops to 0 hp. There are no consequences to combat. Combat with hit point systems aren't combat, they're whittling contests devoid of any consideration of tactical thinking. Everyone just min/maxes their attack. The reason the joke about Warlocks always using Eldritch Blast is funny is because it is true. I've played a Hexblade Warlock, and I had no other effective combat option at my disposal.

So done with it. What are you replacing it with, you might ask if you've read this far?

Runequest - Adventuires in Glorantha

It's a skill-based system with no classes. There are professions, and some of them are combat builds, but everyone is a well-rounded character coming into the game. Honestly, playing someone who was a herder and got swept up into the wars against the Lunar Empire and is now seeking his fortune is far closer to the Hero's Journey. One of the more intriguing pre-generated characters in the Starters Kit is Narres Runepainter, an initiate of Eurmal, the Trickster. She was trained to tattoo the dead to prepare them for their journey to the Underworld. She's not a combat monster but has some useful magic and very useful skills.

Combat in Runequest is brutal. Every character has total hit points (work with me here) and hit points in seven hit locations, head, chest, abdomen, and arms and legs. Taking damage to these areas not only lowers your total but has very real consequences. For example, Narres has 14 total hit points, and location hit points:

Head: 5
Chest: 6
Abdomen: 5
R/L Arms: 4 each
R/L Legs: 5 each

Narres does not wear armor. So if a Red Earth pirate hits her right arm with a broadsword doing 8 points of damage, not only does that come off her total, having taken twice the locations total, she falls incapacitated. One hit. But it gets worse! Runequest has what are called "spacial" results if your to-hit roll is 20% of what was required. So if your weapon skill is 80%, a 16 or below is a special hit. This can get nasty, as damage is doubled and all sorts of fun can ensue. For example, if you thrust your spear at a Dark Troll, get a special success, and score enough damage to get past his armor, your spear is stuck in the troll.

RQ demands tactical thinking, using ranged weapons and magic first, and always having the option to run away. There are also rules for the shield wall (something I've never seen in another TTRPG) and challenging leaders to single combat.

So there you have it. Why I'm done with class & level systems and whitling down hit points.
gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
I hate murder hobo TTRPG campaigns. That's where the characters wander around looking for things to kill and loot. That's it. It was fine in the early days when role-playing was still heavily influenced by war/miniature games, but we are so far past that.

A good game has a hook, an overarching plot that may not even be readily apparent at the beginning. Think of the first season of Babylon 5, where events happened, there were adventures, but only one character even suspected that the Shadows were returning. There were, if I may steal the name of one of the best episodes of that season, signs and portents, but the full push of the Shadow War only really got started in Season 2.

I guess at this point I should remind people who may not remember these elements of the plot structure that are so useful in designing campaigns.

Every campaign needs a push to get the characters moving along and a reason to keep going. In Romancing the Stone the push is finding the legendary emerald. A push can be the heat of war, a natural disaster, or a charge from a patron or employer. The push is towards a goal: finding the emerald, stopping the war, or saving people from the disaster. The push is forced movement to advance the plot. Most scenarios inside a campaign should have some element that pushes the plot forward.

Next, you have the pull, which is usually some reward or pay-off that the characters are striving for. The dragon's horde, learning the truth behind the X-files after stopping the conspiracy. . . something the players and their characters want. Killing or otherwise disposing of the main villain can be a pull that grows on the players as they deal with the baddie over and over, never quite winning. The push and pull should be related in some way.

The enigma is the main mystery to be unraveled by the characters throughout the campaign. Finding the Lost City, deciphering the code needed to save the world, learning why the colony ship was found abandoned; all are mysteries that can make a campaign's worth of adventures to solve. One of my favorite enigmas comes from the 70s kid show Land of the Lost, where the questions of who built the land, how the pylons and gems worked, and how to escape were slowly answered over the show's run. (And I need to win the lottery to get a really good reboot done on Netflix or something. It was good science-fiction, damnit!) Answering pieces of the enigma are great rewards during an adventure.

Finally, the MacGuffin. This is the thing, person, or place that is either the focus of a quest, important to resolving the campaign or simply drives the plot. The falcon statue from The Maltese Falcon is perhaps the most famous of these; as it drives the entire movie and only shows up in the last ten minutes (naq vg gheaf bhg gb or snxr.) The One Ring was a MacGuffin, as were the Death Star plans. The MacGuffin is the essential thing in the campaign.

What makes me think of this is I'm still noodling with my Pirate elves of the Caribbean concept and I was thinking about what to hang a game on. Why would these people be hacking their way through dinosaur and lizardman-infested jungles, fighting Aztec zombie armies, and trading cannon fire on the high seas with dwarf pirates in their smoke-belching ironclads?

Well, I was in the porcelain reading room, and I passed the time by reading one of our Bathroom Readers when I found an article about the crystal skulls. Bingo! In this setting, the elves and dwarfs fled the Americas because the elf empire panicked when they realized they were losing their war with the dwarfs and summon something very, very big. The resulting magical storm destroyed both states and twisted the land. Now, the barrier has finally been broken, and these new old lands and being explored, looted, and fought over.

The crystal skulls, twelve is a good number, were either used in the magic ritual that destroyed everything or created by them, still exists, but have been scattered. John Dee, still alive at 146, has learned that the Ottoman Sultan has dispatched agents to find the skulls to finally crush the remaining Christina world!

He must be stopped, but to move openly would upset the delicate balance of power between the Islamic Caliphate in Iberia and North Africa and the Dual Crowns of England and France, no, he must turn to his agents, they hardy and resourceful men and elves who serve in. . .Their Majesties' Sorcerous Service!

The push is obvious, find the skulls before the enemy does. The pull is the riches the agents can gain both in terms of gold and lost knowledge and power. The enigma is where the skulls have been flung to, and the MacGuffin of course is the skulls.

See how that works? With one idea and those four plot elements, I have the framework for a campaign. I could even cut it back to one skull, which might work better. But now I have a roadmap for adventure. Oh, there's one more thing. . . The twist.

John Dee wants the skulls to make himself the ruler of all Europe as an immortal lich-king.

Or not. You never know, but planting clues is fun!
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
The Red Opera (5E)The Red Opera by Rick Heinz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


First, there was the album from the band DiAmorte. Seriously, that's how I found this, a symphonic metal album based on D&D. Intrigued, I backed the Kickstarter, because I'm a sucker for setting books and I like the Warlock class. This was a very good idea.

The Red Opera is a magnificent book. Beautifully bound with a glorious cover. But what's inside is even better. Set in the Shadelands far to the north of pretty much any setting you can imagine (it's easy to drop in anywhere that there's a northern land with access to the sea) the twin cities of Yon'Cath bask in the ever-shifting light of the Elemental Dance, close by the Well of Souls, the place where the barrier between worlds thins to a fine edge. The Sahdelands is the place where Warlocks come to break their bonds, renegotiate terms with their patrons, or find new masters. All under the eyes of the Accursed King in his Impossible Tower.

Sounds good? It only gets better. The campaign is set out in eight chapters, each a complete scenario that will determine the fate of the region. Each chapter is extremely well written, with plenty of options and potential side quests to keep things from being a linear railroad. My only complaint is the characters are followers in most of these stages, aiding one or another of the cities great leaders. But it works as a narrative. Fully played out, this can be a game-changing mini-campaign for a group. characters will come out changed. Very well done.

There are new spells, Warlock options and Patrons, and several magic items. All are of high quality and add to the feel of the setting. We get a race of elves whose natures and powers change with the seasons, and a race of bear people who feel complete, and not just like people in bear suits. But perhaps my favorite bit is an essay on being a Warlock in D&D, and the nature of Patrons. It really encourages the player to consider who his Patron is, and why both the character and the Patron made this deal to share power. Reading this comparatively short section filled my head with good ideas.

The setting itself is great. Yon'Cath feels like a Gothic horror of a city, and while not detailed heavily, there is enough sketched in terms of important places and notes on different districts that any good gamemaster can really make the city his. The rest of the Shadelands are given enough love to make setting more scenarios in the area a real possibility.

All in all, this is one of the best books I've purchased for D&D5e. I will warn that the campaign is skewed to more experienced parties (in the second scenario, there is a Challenge Rating 17 encounter) but that shouldn't stop anyone from using the Shadelands earlier and allowing the characters to come into the book campaign in their own time.



View all my reviews
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
"There are many magic rings in this world, and none of them should be used lightly." - Gandalf the Grey.

I sit here writing this surrounded by safe, effective technology. The computer, most obviously. But my phone sits on its' charging stand, there's a space heater warming my eternally-aching legs, and behind me is our little kitchen just filled with safe, reliable gadgets that store food and make it much easier to make good hot meals.

Our reliance and expectation of safe and reliable gadgets have affected how we view magic items in RPGs. They are just as standardized and effective as a microwave. A +2 sword is just like any other +2 sword. Which is really a pity. Because magic should be dangerous. At its core, magic is the manipulation of energy. In most systems, you need an in to do this. Be born into a sorcerous bloodline, or with a magical gift, or make a deal with some god or other power to safely handle the energies involved. In Ars Magica even the Gifted magi will be eventually warped by using these powers. But for now, let's work with the idea that arcane practitioners have the magical equivalent of a hard hat, hi-viz vest, and steel-toed boots when casting.

This brings us to magical items. An insanely popular worldbuilding trope is the Big Magic Oops that destroyed a previous empire or set of empires that just churned out all sorts of enchanted objects, all of which no lie hidden in various treasure vaults around the world. I have no trouble with this model, after all, we do find the occasional treasure trove here in the real world. No, where I have a problem is with just how easy and harmless these items are.

Magic is energy manipulation by a living mind. A magic item is forcing the same energy matrix into an inanimate object. The mind of a mage can adjust to the situation, control the forces involved, and adjust their spell on the fly, even if the rules of whatever game system you're using don't go into all that much detail. But what happens when that same power is placed into a ring? A ring that anyone can use assuming they learn the method of activation? I think there are two or three effects that will really change how players view magic items in any game.

Magic is Radioactive

As I've said, magic is energy being manipulated. A magical item is a focal point for that energy. And just like being exposed to radiation over time is a bad idea, excessive exposure to magic is dangerous for those not gifted in handling the energy (going back to Ars Magica for a moment, even those with the Gift are still susceptible over time) are going to be twisted by the energy.

This can manifest in losing points in characteristics, physical illnesses, even being warped the way Sméagol was twisted into Gollum. The more powerful the object, the more rapid the effects, to the point where handling something like the Loch-nar from Heavy Metal might be instantly fatal if you aren't very well prepared. Magic circles and rituals exist for a reason, people!

The way to alleviate this is through careful attunement and limiting exposure. A suit of magic armor made expressly for one wearer is going to be more in tune with that person's spirit, and work with them to protect them from harm. That same suit will be problematic for the guy who just finds it in a dungeon. Getting magic alterations could be a fin side quest, as you need to track down an enchanter who can re-weave the spells that make the armor so effective. The same goes for almost any item of power.

Magic is Addictive

Here's the other side of the coin. For the un-gifted, the thrill of power coursing through their veins as they make use of a magic item will become unbearable to part from. Fantasy literature is filled with tales of people unwilling or unable to part with the very thing that is destroying them, games should be no different in terms of how locked-in one can get. (I'm a recovering methamphetamine addict. Trust me, an addict will happily go to their death to keep the feeling going.)

The classic example here is of course the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings. But a magic sword, cloak, anything of power will sap the will of the user who needs to feel that power every day. Players and gamemasters can have fun with this, as characters will be loathed to part with their item of power for even a short period of time. This can be awkward if you are carrying Királygyilkos, the legendary sword King-Slayer, and your party have to meet the local king for some reason.

Things like will rolls can overcome the compulsion to keep and use as many magic items as you can carry (even as they rot you from the outside inwards) and the long-term solution is to find a group of wizards or some clerical order dedicated to removing hazardous magical items from the world. And there's a campaign idea for you; hunting down dangerous magical relics so they can be destroyed.

Finally, a note about intelligent and willful items. The above assumes inert objects infused with a matrix to hold a specific spell or effect, and the energy to discharge that effect. But an item of power that is self-aware and has an agenda of its own is a whole different ballgame. Such items really need to be broken down into two different groups.

Some magical items will absorb a purpose, either at the time of forging or through use. Forsvarer is a magic sword that was carried by a great hero who died holding off an attack by fire giants. In D&D terms, it's a "Defender" sword (DMG p.164) but you can add that it has developed the purpose of "defend the weak." The bearer has to act to protect everyone, or face consequences from his own sword. A purpose-built weapon might only want to return to its rightful owner. Szczerbiec, the real-world Polish ceremonial coronation sword and best candidate for a Holy Avenger I've ever seen, might be the focus of a game where it compels the bearer to return it to the rightful king. Finding the rightful king is a whole campaign.

Which leads to intelligent magic items. Not only will these things have an agenda, but they will also be quite single-minded about it. Szczerbiec will not put up with your stupid side quests, it has a king to find! Intelligent items might be quite cunning, hiding their true nature, or be loud, boastful, and vain. Imagine having a magical shield with the personality of Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Not only is the damn thing killing you slowly and you are unable to put it down, but it also keeps bragging about how it is the best shield ever, and why are you even wearing armor when you have the mighty shield, Gaston?

OK, I'm writing that one up.

To sum up, magic is dangerous, and magical items should be doubly dangerous. Make them mysterious, ominous, and requiring some work to use safely. Magic should be, well, magical and filled with boobytraps.
gridlore: A Roman 20 sided die, made from green stone (Gaming - Roman d20)
I've been seeing a lot of ads for people who do character portraits, and they are awesome. But there's a problem. They're all so clean and heroic.

If I got a portrait done of one of my characters, and I usually play fighter-types, he'd be tired. His armor would be patched, his sword stained, and his hair and beard would be kind of scraggly. He'd be sitting on a wall or rock leaning on his worse-for-wear shield. The look on his face would say "Fuck your 'long rest' wizard girl, I'm taking a few days. Or not. *sigh* Mount up, that lich ain't going away without help."

Because I was an infantryman. This is how warriors look.

Profile

gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
Douglas Berry

October 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
2223 2425262728
293031    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Aug. 10th, 2025 06:29 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios