Grognard Gripes

Okay, so everyone loves an old gamer griping. I don't usually get irritated about gaming history or generalizations, but I was listening to a podcast wherein the duo were describing how early games didn't have long lived characters, strong stories, or developed campaigns. They were outlining how these came along in the 80's, with the change attributed to the proliferation of more robust campaign products.

Well, no. 

We were playing long-running , narrative and character-driven campaigns shortly after 1975. As I have written in other posts, our experience was probably outside of the norm, but definitely not isolated. Were we playing or using published scenarios? No. Were we playing in large organized groups? No. Was our style of play something we saw other folks doing? Not really, but the nodes of gamers related to our node all played in similar fashions.

I think that enough folks were playing in this way that the popular and commercial expression of this style of play emerged as something viable by the late 70s. Perhaps this playstyle influenced the creation of more narrative and campaign driven games, like Call of Cthulhu, and then filtered back to mainstream Dungeons and Dragons. 

"And get off my lawn!" 😉

Legacy or Dynamic Tables

I have started making tables that have an internal logic of escalation or change. As choices are rolled, they are struck off, exposing new options. The same type of die is used throughout. For example, a D6 encounter chart could look as follows:

1 Skeleton

2 Skeleton Gang

3 Zombie

4 Ghoul

5 Zombie Gang

6 Ghoul Gang

7 Shadow

8 Wight

9 Mummy

During their first pass through the tomb, the Shadow, Wight, and Mummy cannot be encountered. However, a random encounter reveals a roll of 4, the Ghoul. The Ghoul is dispatched and now the chart looks as follows:

1 Skeleton

2 Skeleton Gang

3 Zombie

4 Zombie Gang

5 Ghoul Gang

6 Shadow

7 Wight

8 Mummy

In their next trip through the tomb, the adventurers run a slightly greater risk, has the Shadow is now a possibility. The greater risk is telegraphed to the players through environmental or other clues, so they know what might be afoot. A 5 is rolled, and our heroes struggle with the gang of Ghouls. After returning to the village for the night, they return, refreshed. But the dynamic is changed. The chart looks like this:

1 Skeleton

2 Skeleton Gang

3 Zombie

4 Zombie Gang

5  Shadow

6 Wight

7 Mummy

This is obviously an extreme example of escalation, but it builds in the ways interlopers can change the environment through their presence and actions. The items on the lower part of the chart can be positive, or they could be changes in the physical structure. Does the very fabric of the tomb become looser, with greater risks of walls falling? Does the dispatching of the undead create an opportunity for forces of good to appear? It can be a built in timer, so that after a set number of encounters, there is a greater chance of a particular event happening.

Turning my list of possibilities into an evolving chart of realities makes locations more dynamic, and it also forces me out of dictating what that dynamism looks like. Not every thing is going to happen. The only thing I know is the general trajectory (eg 'The more the heroes interfere in the situation, the more arcane forces will be unleashed') but not how it is going to play out at the table. If the Mummy is the most powerful creature in the tomb, it might appear much earlier than I anticipate, forcing the players to change their own plans, try different tactics, and avoid the monster they unleashed until they are ready, and also putting me into a new place. Or it might appear later. What is it waiting for?

Makin' Dungeons

Right now I am making Dungeons using the following:

A general map, well, more of a diagram, showing relationships between locations or sets of locations. 

Maps of each room or space, each on an individual index card. These can be passed around, photographed, emailed etc. They are small enough to fit on a single screen. The players can lay them out in a way that makes sense to them. They are keyed on the reverse and refer to the larger diagram.

A single spread in my notebook with specific schematics, notes, creatures, treasure, secrets, etc. 

At the table I use the latter two 90% of the time. I review the big map before play, just to refresh. As conditions change or havoc is wreaked the note cards are quick to abridge and far easier to redo than a single page map. 

Corridors? If unduly long they are noted on the spread. If not, then it is just room to room.

North? Groovy arrow paper clips...

FaeCraft: Unique Fae

 In the realm of the Fae, the Realm of Light, there are many Fae who function, in game terms, in ways similar to other humanoids, with the range of Crafts available to them. However, in a nod to our game's roots, there are several species of Fae that are their own Craft, in that no other species may access it, they are species specific. There are four in the upcoming volume.

Those That Live Between

Minotaurs
Living symbols of opposition, the cattle that eat meat exemplify contradictions, the crossing of realms, creatures that have lost their way, and a path forward. Minotaurs are massive fierce warriors, dwellers in the Maze, wayfinders, and shamans.

Scavengers
They fill in the cracks, live on the margins, carry messages, and pursue their own way between the Light and the Dark. They are the consummate shapeshifters, stealing and plucking other forms, harboring powers and robbing others of their very forms, feasting on Skin, Blood, Sinew & Bone.

The Small
They are the hunted, the prey, the furtive and the tricky, the quick and the hardly noticeable. Mundane folk see fairies, sprites, brownies, the wee folk, or gremlins. These are a lie, just Poppets designed to fool bigger, slower creatures. The Small are Nests of small animals, disappearing, melting into cover, seeing through all eyes, and hearing through every ear.

Stone Folk
Creatures are not the only shapes that may be inhabited, and the land stretches across the Veil, sediment and stone touch all the Realms. The Stone Folk patiently stride along these veins, bridging the gap, setting the foundation for all the worlds.

Accessible Zines

Hey! I had the great privilege of running a workshop for Zine Month, ZIMO, around increasing accessibility in zine and RPG  publishing. ZIMO is and alternate platform to Zinequest, which was or is a Kickstarter based zine event, and which is no longer being supported for a variety of reasons.

Link to ZIMO

And my show notes

The Workshop was recorded and is available through the ZMO discord server. There are ways to join that server and a host of great conversations and other workshops through the ZIMO link above.

I am more than happy to talk to anyone about increasing accessibility and reviewing design work, as well as general design! 

FAQing CraftWork

Just a running list of minor glitches. Vision issue? Too short a time in the editing oven? They are all issues of nomenclature changes midstream. Lesson learned, hopefully. At any rate, in page order 

SeerCraft (p. 10)

In the section which begins

At first level ...

Where it reads

Choose one  Ability

It should read

Choose one Power

WarCraft (p. 25)

In the section which begins

8 Strategist ...

Where it reads

Includes Your Reputation Precedes You

It should read

Includes Wide Reputation

WildCraft (p. 28)

In the section which begins

At each level thereafter ...

Where it reads

Add one Hypercool Trait

It should read

Add one Hypercool Ability

FaeCraft Crafts

Looking forward to seeing FaeCraft in Action! First Serious draft is done and starting on edits! Four new Crafts!

DreamCraft

Weavers of dreams, thieves of memory, archaeologists who pluck the past from between the ears of the unsuspecting, these are the Dream Crafters. They are hermits, heroes, guardians of history, and hawkers of the fantastic in markets across the world.

MouldCraft

The Springtail Alchemists bring much to the world, primarily learning and teaching around the arts of mold and fungus, insects and concoction. In the few generations since their diaspora, this specialized knowledge has crept into both the Faye and the mundane realms.

GiantCraft

When a creature is touched by the Shadow, the Light, and the Mundane realms a seed is planted. After that, it starts to grow, and the creature grows with it. Some giants are close in size to other humanoids, and pursue livelihoods we recognize. Some giants keep growing, and become unrecognizable in their hugeness.

SkinCraft

From 'A touch of the wild' to 'Fae cursed' some folk, Fae and Mundane, have a form or forms thrust upon them, shapes they may or may not desire. Some learn to control the shifts, while others succumb to unfathomable tides that draw them into strange places.