Friday, June 21, 2013

Tekumel and Con of the North 2014

I know, I know. It's June! Why am I touting a convention that isn't until February 2014? Because the Con of the North event submission deadline is September 1st!

I am organizing a Tekumel Theme Room for CotN 2014. In order to qualify for a room, I need to collect 28 hours or more of Tekumel games to play. I will run 8-12 hours of games, so I'm soliciting 16-20 more hours of games. That's only 3-5 more games needed.

If you would like to run a Tekumel game at the con in the theme room, please let me know and start working on it. You have two months. I don't care what ruleset you use.

DNA Apocalypse -- Recreating the OD&D default setting

+Wayne Rossi wrote a series of blog posts about the default setting of OD&D as presented in the encounter tables and the Outdoor Survival map. He combined them into a PDF here

My mind started a background thread on this default setting, and I've come up with a history that combines the seemingly disparate elements. So I present to you:

The DNA Apocalypse


It all started with the magnificent Wooly Mammoth. Scientists brought back the wooly mammoth, using DNA from frozen carcasses found in the permafrost of Siberia. Based on their success, the rest of the extinct Ice Age animals were next: giant sloths, wooly rhinos, scimitar cats, cave bears, etc. After that, the Holy Grail of dinosaurs were produced, using the exact techniques proposed in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Huge preserves and islands kept these ancient beasts contained. Theme parks were built: Jurassic Park and Neanderthal Land. A Christian billionaire built one that put humans and dinosaurs together, like Raquel Welch in the movie, 1 Million Years B.C. The reconstituted creatures from the distant past became the latest technological marvel and made the financiers very rich. 

They tried their hands at creatures that never existed. They made dragons from pterodactyls and goblins from a mixture of human and animal DNA, and started a medieval fantasy park. They made the chimera, the manticore, and a human-bull hybrid, the Minotaur, for the Greek Myth park,  Green Martians and white apes filled Barsoom-on-Earth. Only males were produced. Their fertility was genetically turned off. The parks were secured by the latest in technology. They learned from Michael Crichton, putting more safeguards into both biological and technological security.

Within this backdrop is a world where the gulf between the richest and the poorest was expanding. The rich played while the poor slaved. A group of anarchist hackers decided to even the playing field by hacking the infrastructure of the world. The chaos they caused began a war of trojan horses and computer viruses between governments and hackers. It was not known which side made the mistake, but one poorly written virus went out of control and caused a six-day worldwide blackout.

By the time the lights came back on, all of the monsters of the past and imagination had escaped their techno-zoos. Nature abhors a vacuum and unproductive life. The genetic fertility barriers were overcome by mutations, and some of the males reverted to being females. The monsters could breed now. 

All hell broke loose. Economies crashed as monsters roamed the Earth, destroying farmland and cities alike. The military tried to stop them, but it was too late. Civilization spiraled down.

10,000 years later, the Earth is inhabited by a variety of hybrid races, plants with animal characteristics, and just plain monsters. The world has countless ruins of shining glass cities. Feudalism and empires have returned. Through mutation and hard study, some groups have developed the powers of the mind. There are heroes and wizards among us. 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

After Vacation: The Majestic Wilderlands

Now that was a vacation. The annual family car trip to Maryland for a week of cabin camping with a ton of friends was a big success this year. I really got a chance to relax, drink, eat, talk, drink. I spent one rainy day drawing maps and writing RPG-related stuff. The rest of the vacation was a break even from that, which I've been rather obsessed with lately.

I bought The Majestic Wilderlands by Rob Conley in softcover, and it arrived before I left. I almost took it with me, but decided not to risk it with the near certainty of rain and a 24-hour car trip on each end. Now I'm back and already digging into the book.

This book is a perfect example of how to build a campaign book. I'm not very far in, but I'm already impressed with the character classes. You can choose to be a generic fighter, cleric, or magic user, or you can pick a more specialized subclass. For fighters, there are Berserkers, Knights, Soldiers, Paladins of Mitra, and Myrmidons of Set, each having a different focus and advantages. For magic users, there are Mages, Artificers, Wizards, Rune-casters, and Theurgists. Clerics are customized by deity with weapon and armor restrictions and spell differences. Rogues have Burglar, Thug, Mountebank, The Claws of Kalis, and Merchant Adventurer subclasses. Several non-adventurer classes are described as well: Craftsman, Hedge Mage, Priest, and Scholars.

Some of these classes are generic enough to use anywhere, and some are deeply steeped in the setting, including all the religious classes (Paladins, Myrmidons, Theurgists, Clerics, and The Claws of Kalis). But even the setting-specific subclasses are easily modifiable.

One of my long-term goals is to translate the yummy goodness of Chivalry and Sorcery into an easy to use form like S&W or LL, and this wonderful book is giving me the inspiration on how to do it. I can already see how Cabalists from C&S would map onto Rune-Casters, and the Paladins and Myrmidons give a great example of how to do religious fighting orders.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

S&W and Quasqueton

Here is a session report from the Tuesday Night Group. We returned to the Swords and Wizardry game that went on hiatus a few months back.

We have been delving into Quasqueton from B1 - In Search Of the Unknown (No, not the city in Iowa).

In our last adventure, we were hired by the heating guild of Senzar, a large city we were planning on wintering in. Apparently, they were having trouble with the steam duct network under the city. Upon investigation, we found the place riddled with kobolds and giant rats. After a harrowing adventure where, Mordecai, the hobbit thief, sacrificed himself for the good of the city, we stopped the steam plant from blowing itself and a good chuck of the nice part of town to bits.

We ended up leaving town, because there were some rat plague issues, caused when the steam tunnels were flooded during our expedition. We traveled in the caravan of merchant Septimus and his family (his wife and his lovely 20 year old daughter, Zoandrea, whom was going to Zhakar to be married to a local chieftain) as they left to winter in their home city of Zhakar.

This session was mostly wintering over with three months of city catch-up. Tarmac the Glib, my 1st level fighter, popped up to 2nd level with the e.p. and cash from the Steam Tunnel Affair. After flirting with Zoandrea on the trip, Tarmac began a torrid affair with her before she was wed in Zhakar, which continued after the wedding night. He also started tutoring young warriors in swordplay (business investment). Apparently, he knows some moves or styles that are in demand. He also caroused with Zoandrea all over the city (yeah, that's what the kids are calling it these days). Apparently, he knows some moves or styles that Zoandrea liked as well. Over three months, they were never discovered by her husband, and she did not get pregnant. And, man, the places they went. Tarmac accumulated enough carousing experience to go up to third level.

Hyacinth the elvish magic user started a successful pastry cart business, because he was nearly broke (he spent his well-gotten gains on previous carousing). Tarmac fronted him the start-up money for a 30% cut of the profits. His pastries were great, and he had a solid retailer in Uma, his hireling that he had accidentally metamorphosed into a cow-human hybrid with his potion experiments last year, along with several other villagers in his home village. Uma manned the cart, and was an udder success. The elf also researched his vitae deum addiction, discovering that being devoted to a deity might help with the cravings and the monthly loss of ability scores. So he came to Tarmac, who told him about the joys of being a worshiper of Geoff, the God of Biscuits. Hyacinth devoted himself the Geoff and began Tarmac's devotional, which is to eat a biscuit or pastry every day. Tarmac usually goes to Uma to get his buns. Hycinth found that the biscuit helped with the cravings. He also found a baker to take over making pastries. Hyacinth managed to buy a copy of Mixology and the Dark Sorcerer, a theoretical book on potions that he need for his research, by raven airmail-order. He spent the last two months researching the antidote to his animal hybrid potion. He tested his antidote on Ludwig, my man-at-arms hireling, who had been transformed into a frogman. It was successful, and he decided to stay in the city and take up his painting again. Hyacinth gained the knowledge to make the animal hybrid potion have a temporary effect. Uma was left with the antidote. She was thoughtful about returning to normal, but knows that some of the pastry business's success is because of his unusual nature.

George the Cleric spent most of his time working the street as a preacher, which garnered him some donations. We also acquired Mordecai's tougher brother as a party member. He had a thriving protection racket for the three months.

So, with a new wagon and horses, we returned to White Oak, the village near Quasqueton that is our base of operations into the stronghold without Ludwig and Uma. Uma's brother, transformed into a bull-man, was suspicious of us, until he learned of the antidote. He tried it and then told the rest of the guinea pigs of its existence. We were welcomed back, which was not the case the last time we came north. We picked up Pol, our guide in the area, and headed up to the keep.

When we got near, while we were camping at night, we noticed that the hill the fortress is built into was glowing with blue light. Something we have done inside was infiltrating the whole chunk of rock with vitae deum. This looks like it may be the last time we visit this ruin.

U-Con 2013 Announced

I just received my email notification that U-Con Game Convention is accepting events now. U-Con is a moderately-sized convention in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Michigan area that takes place this year on November 22-24.

My big reason for going is the Tekumel Track that has been going on for over ten years. Several GMs run Tekumel games, and in the past there have been introductory sessions, LARPs, and teleconferences with Professor Barker himself. Often members of the Good Professor's own game group attend.

I will be running two games using my GURPS Tekumel rules. The first is "Rumble in Jakalla", where members of the Broken Reed Clan deal with trouble in the clan house. The second is "Where in Sarku's Cold Wormy Hell Are We?", an experiment in Tekumelani hexcrawling. (For you newcomers, a hexcrawl is an old school gaming idea of exploring a territory to find out what's there.) The players will have the added impetus of trying to figure out where they are on Tekumel and getting back to where they belong.

So, I hope people will attend this event, and perhaps run their own games, Tekumel or otherwise. I know I'm hoping to get at least one other OSR game in.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Beyond the Wall Blogtest

Now we can get moving with the Blogtest of the Beyond the Wall and Other Stories RPG. Here's the arrangement of the table and the playbooks we chose:

+Rob Barrett (of Vargold: The Wolf-Time) chose Dwarven Adventurer.
I chose the Would-Be Knight.
+Henry Wong (of The Campaign Expanse) is creating a Self-Taught Mage.
+Pearce Shea (of games with others) is creating a Witch's Prentice.
+Anthony Simeone (of Once More Unto the Breach) is creating a Young Woodsman.
+Mike Lizardi (of Fear No Darkness) is creating a Halfling Outrider.

Character generation in Beyond the Wall is very different from most RPGs. Instead of randomly rolling abilities, you roll the events of your youth that affected your character. These events can give you ability bonuses, as well as skills, items, and other things. Each playbook consists of seven tables that each pose a question about the character's youth. The roll on the table answers that question. During this process, the players build the village and populate it. The tables give you a start and the players and GM flesh it out.

This post will just go through the initial die rolls in the playbook. Then the other players will comment on each other's posts. Later posts will flesh out the characters, village, and NPCs.

Rob Barrett's first post is here.
Henry Wong's first post is here
Pearce Shea's first post is here.
We're still awaiting Anthony Simeone's first post.
Mike Lizardi's first post is here.

Looking in the Would-Be Knight playbook, my character starts with STR 12, DEX 8, CON 8, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8.

The first three tables are the same for everyone growing up in the same location. For this group, that is everyone, except the Halfling and the Dwarf. These tables answer questions about your characters origins. 

1. What did your parents do in the village? What did you learn from them?
I rolled the "Your parents ran the local inn. You grew up meeting many travelers and hearing their tales." which gives me +2 Cha, +1 Int, +1 Dex, +1 Wis. A map icon on this table indicates that I get to place the location on the map, though the Inn is already placed (the only building already on the map).

Henry's Self-Taught Mage got the same result. We and anyone else with that result will work out what that means in comments. We might be siblings, or more than one family runs the inn, or perhaps one character was a foundling raised by the innkeepers. 

2. How did you distinguish yourself as a child?
I got "You solved everyone’s problems and never mentioned your own." This gave my character +1 Str, +1 Con, and +1 Cha.

3. The other PCs were your best friends. Who else in the village befriended you while you were growing up?
The result I rolled was "The fishermen took a liking to you and you swapped stories with them." This grants me +2 Dex and +1 Wis. The fishermen are villagers to develop. This also means that the village is near a large body of water. The group will work out what that means in comments. We have a theme now involving stories, and fishermen are known for, shall we say, expanding the truth? And traveler's tales so well known for accuracy, as well.

So let's see where my proto-gentry is at: STR 13, DEX 11, CON 9, INT 9, WIS 10, CHA 11. Not bad. Already into the bonus for STR, with CHA and DEX not far behind (BTW uses the same bonus progression that B/X uses). Now he's a Level 1 Fighter and gets the Riding skill. The next four questions are about my early days as a fighter.

4. Where did you practice your skill at arms?
I rolled "A real knight came to town and you rode with him for a time." Ooo, no wonder I want to be a knight. With this result, I gained +3 Cha and Etiquette skill. Cool. This knight is my mentor, so I have another NPC to develop.

5. What is your preferred fighting style?
I rolled "Fierce determination and heavy blows". This gives me +2 Con and the Weapon Specialization: Great Sword. Wow, the big guns! I hope I have armor at some point. A fighter can wield any weapon, but a Weapon Specialization gives a +1 to-hit and +2 damage for a single weapon. The map icon in the playbook indicates I get to locate a place in the village.

6. When did you first draw blood? 
This is the time when the player to my right comes along on my mini-adventure. I got "A boastful stranger challenged you to a duel and found you more than he could handle." I gain +2 DEX and another Weapon Specialization. For Henry Wong's Self-Taught Mage, it says, "The friend to your right distracted the stranger’s friends when they sought to aid your opponent, and gains +1 Dex." Since the +2 DEX gives me a DEX 13 and a +1 bonus for missile weapons, I choose the Bow Weapon Specialization. The stranger could also be a nemesis and needs a name. 

Normally, my character would have gained a Knack in this table. These are special combat options like Defensive Fighter, Fleet, or Great Strike. But having a second weapon specialization is just as good to my mind.

7. Now that you are ready, how will you seek your fortune?
On this last question, I rolled, "You will rescue a princess, as in all the old stories, but first you have to find one." I gain +2 CHA and a gold-threaded tunic. This is to give me something to wear that might impress a princess, or at least let me get far enough in the castle to meet her, before being thrown out of the place, since I'm a peasant. The NPC icon in the playbook indicates I get to create a villager.

Here's my final character: STR 13, DEX 13, CON 11INT 9, WIS 10, CHA 16. He has Riding and Etiquette skills, Weapon Specializations in Great Sword and Bow. And a gold-threaded tunic.


So, watch the comments as the blog posts and comments continue. 


My character does not wear a kilt, but this
was the best two-hand sword image I could find.