Author: Justin Hamilton

Vayra’s 10 Setting Questions

The blogosphere has been doing a bunch of these setting questions recently, I believe initially (re)starting with Vayra’s 10 Questions. I wanted to jump on this bandwagon and answer for one of my long running settings, which I am currently running twice monthly with long time friends and con pals.

Because I’m silly and facetious and sometimes like to both embrace and poke fun at fantasy spellings I always type the name of this setting out as ÆЯÞ, not that anyone in setting calls the world that. This is mostly medieval fantasy with a lot of your typical “fantasyland” assumptions – wizards, dwarves, fallen magical empires, etc. I’ll be answering in context of a small isle the current campaign is taking place on – Ringland or in silly fantasy conlang – Morydysg. I am also using my house system Primeval 2d6.

1. What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?

There aren’t character classes, but for starting characters most of the nobility is going to be trained in some amount of fencing and maybe some grappling and archery. Especially so for knights and the like. If a character begins attached to an organization such as the undead-hunting Greycloaks or the Bronze Flame exorcists will be trained to fight their usual enemies, but its not exactly “the most.”

2. Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?

Absolutely. In addition to most characters who have leveraged into magic, demonic pacts is always a possible event in character creation. The exiles of heaven are legion and always looking to bargain.

3. Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I’m the timelost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father’s vizier but I don’t know that, or that I’m elf conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?

Please no on the eight pages. After character generation, which includes some life pathing, if you want to go back and fill in details I absolutely welcome that. If that turns out to be eight pages then I guess you do you, but I am not going to read that. Give me 2-5 bullet points please.

Also pretty much anything tonally out of the game (medieval society + typical fantasy land) or outside of general power assumptions (lowish fantasy, don’t want to commit to being “low” since players can be wizards and have like a gnome infestation or something, but generally around starting level OD&D power levels) will be “known” by your character but not true until proven at the table.

4. If I eat someone’s heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?

It depends on who they and you are. In many cases a parasitic demon will want to feast on the life blood of a victim and will provide magic as compensation, so you could get it that way. If your meal is inherently magic then you’ll definitely retain some of their lingering power, but it is unlikely you will be able to hold onto it for long. Eating the flesh of fey is in particular dangerous, being much closer to the primordial soup of chaos than humans, potentially wracking or unmaking you.

5. These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?

Probably not? I kind of like boring – I’d rather be shown awesome stuff than told something is awesome, and I feel a lot of classes tell more than show. But I’m always up to conversing and making a compromise. Since I don’t have classes I think it would be easy for you to just tell me what you want and we roll with it.

6. If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?

On Ringland you’d be able to name it. But there are places in the world where guild structures are such that only masters are allowed to name the product of their craft. Its not (usually) enforced through judicious measures, but kind of like if you put on a blackbelt and walked into a martial arts gym without the experience – you’d be in for a rough time with the locals.

7. Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all? Actually, how do I win in general?

Depends on the campaign but I often play with players having lots of characters all over the place, so its absolutely possible that there will be player character killing. One player even murdered one of his own characters with another recently for nefarious purposes.

8. What language stands in for ‘Common’? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?

On Ringland its Gwevian, the language of the dominant culture on the island. There are large pockets of cultures on the island, old and new, who speak their own language and may not know this language. Its usually assumed player characters can speak with each other unless someone is playing something atypical.

9. How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No not once a day just, like, normally?

You’ll need to learn some form of spirit speech and get the environment right for each particular rock, based on the personality of the inhabiting spirit(s). The Church abhors this as they do not agree with the animistic interpretation that some folk of the isle have, and believe this is just a demon hiding out in a stone.

10. Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers and shit and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?

Cozy wizards are those chartered by the Order of the Ebon Serpent and has proven their utility to the nobility. Also potentially if they are in a secret demon cult that the particular noble is in or wants to be in and they keep it hush-hush and giggle and wink at each other and cross their fingers while attending Church.

Unchartered wizards, those who track with demons, anyone who creates a clone of another or deals heavily in planar magics (as the Church professes that the world is “All There Is”), or generally wizards who have utilized magic in the harm of others will be burned alive. You can definitely be both at the same time. The notion of “chartering” is not universally accepted among the isle, and different cultures have different interpretations of what is accepted magic and what is damnable.

White Box Home Printing

Over the years I’ve done a few home prints of the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons and its started to get actually good. I just wanted to share pictures and provide advice that I have found to work for me.

So while not terribly historically accurate, I have opted to use the WotC reprints, but I have utilized the original covers. I have them saved from a specific website where you can find pdfs of games for archival purposes, but I think these are now unavailable. I am sure if you asked the right person for the original covers they’d send you a link.

To print them in booklet form I used Adobe Acrobat, although I’m sure many pdf programs can print in booklet style. I printed the covers separate from the internal contents so that I could print them on different kinds of paper.

I printed the internal contents on 20 lbs. recycled paper – I have found actually printing on cheaper printer feels better for me for a use-copy. When the paper is too high quality the booklets become difficult to flip through, in addition to increasing the size of each booklet. I then printed the covers onto premium 80 lbs. white cardstock in color.

Afterwards I very gently fold over the pages and the cover, kind of rolling it in the middle without actually creasing it. I used to use a Scor-Pal but I found the actual crease on larger pamphlets creates kind of tiers of pages that affects use-in-hand. Your mileage may vary.

Once I have an obvious center I staple it twice using a long-arm stapler. I don’t really measure the position along the spine, or pre-hole the cover or anything. I just measure from the short edge of the cover to the center, and approximate two places nearish to the ends to staple.

Now that the actual booklet is constructed I start creasing the spine. I’ll very carefully apply pressure until the book mostly lays shut, and afterwards I’ll use a rubber roller to really flatten it out.

With the book sufficiently flattened, I flip open the cover and stick the internal pages into a paper slicer, aligning to whatever pages seem to be sticking out the least, and chop them down to a consistent size when closed. Again nothing terribly precise. Just stick the pages into the slicer, line up so excess page spill is past the blade, then chop.

For the actual white box I could have tried to look for something closer to the actual white box, or even apply paper to a smallish board game, but I opted instead for white corrugated box like this. Its sturdy, and since you have to buy it in a big pack its super useful for keeping all those zines you’ll be getting from Zine Quest in.

With the supplements, reference sheets, Chainmail and Swords & Spells its a pretty tight fit. Obviously if it was just the 3LBBs I could also stash some dice and other stuff, but its packed to the brim with additionals. I don’t heavily use the supplements, but every once and a while I’ll grab something from them, so I like to have them nearby.

Anyway, none of the above is rocket science, I just thought I’d share my process. I’d love to hear from you if you’ve done something similar, for your favorite game, adventure, supplement, daemonic spellbook, etc.

Barrowmaze Open Table Session 26

Summary

Quite a few new adventurers enter into the fray as the party returns to their initial entrance to the Barrowmaze. Therein they battle with stirges supping on a recently deceased adventurer. They discover a secret shrine to a demonic patron, and a magic-user pledges service to an unnamed entity asking to be led to the thief that took his scroll. In pursuit of this scoundrel, the group witnesses a massive Beastfolk, several times larger than they usually encounter as it immediately rushes them, trying to tear the adventurers limb from limb. After a bit of trying to sprint around it they group enters into combat, pinning the beast in a doorway and eventually dispatching it. Late into the night Sena uses her Ring of Invisibility to break into Krotho’s manor, leaving the head of the beastfolk in his chambers, torching his undergarments in the hall before sneaking out.

Cast

Player Characters

  • Barmox the Magic-User, played by Stripe
  • Glarg Grumblebeard, played by Trusty
  • Jollen the Druid, played by Xenken
  • Key the Thief, played by Robert
  • Rocco the Fighter, played by Daryl
  • Sena the Ranger, played by Malley
  • Slaine the Hermit, played by Dio

Hirelings

  • Manks the Cleric of Hathor

Rewards

  • 3 sapphires worth 600gp
  • A coin-purse of 50gp
  • A bag full of chipped jewels worth 200gp
  • A silver dagger designed for ritualistic sacrifice
  • 187.5 total party combat xp

Thoughts

It was a good game, a little hectic given that we had 5 new players. I need to remember to both instigate a Caller when we have lots of players, and to actively utilize them. Even when I have a caller I often forget and respond to absolutely everyone.

I also know due to the size of the game a few players had technical difficulties and unfortunately missed some of the material, which I feel bad about. I think this is unfortunately just chalked up to Discord, each person’s individual setup, and Roll20, but if anyone has recommendation I’d love to hear them.

There were a few questions of utilizing Floating Disc, a notoriously specific spell, in a very general fashion. While I love creativity, I do think the specifics of a spell is kind of a social contract. Some requested exampled were to use it as a wedge for a door, or as a bludgeoning device. Both are clever interpretations of the spell, but why I ruled against those is that it somewhat mitigates the usability things like Hold Portal or Magic Missile. That said, I’m always game for suggestions.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I do feel like I should move back to my policy of trying to keep at most 6 players. When playing online really my sweet spot is 3-5 players. I love being able to share this game with lots of people, but I also think that my strengths as a ref lay in kind of my free formy conversational manner, which can cause a lot of downtime when the table is packed.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and hopefully this shorter format will help me stay on pace with play reports.

Barrowmaze Open Table Catch-Up 15-25

The amount of session reports that I am “behind” on is almost a large than ones I have written – the last one was for October 11th. Since then there has been 16 Sundays (not including the most recent which I’ll write its own report for). Out of those 5 were missed sessions, most for holidays, my birthday, and just general end of the year stuff.

So that means I am missing reports for sessions 15-25. Of course there’s no way I’ll be able to summarize those, track down exactly everyone who played, etc. but I’ll try to very, very briefly outline what happened so I can pick up regular reporting again. I won’t be able to highlight everything but here’s some details:

  • The party stole a fantastic painting out of the noble’s tomb, and Sky the Druid used some mind-reading to deftly negotiate with H.H.R. Huffnpuff for a massive sum of wealth.
  • Removing the painting released a vault extending into some caves, releasing a hulking biped insectoid monster that they manage to dash away from.
  • Ambushed by a rival adventuring party, the group aggressively charges and slays two of their adversaries, scaring off the remaining three and claiming the fallen’s magic items for themselves.
  • While investigating a sole tomb, Ragnar the Half-Elf touched an ominous tome and was transported away to an alien realm to do battle with a small grey sorcerer atop a floating throne. Striking the magic-user twice, Ragnar was returned to the tomb with access to the tome.
  • The group discovered a demonic brazier that seems to extinguish flame.
  • Returning to the site of a previous massacre – the water logged tomb filled with a diorama of an elven warrior battling lizardmen, Sena the Ranger used her rope of climbing to remove the sword while the party ducked out of the tomb before the statue guardians attacked.
  • Sena continued her construction of a canal to the mounds, and as it neared completion some of her laborers came to her panicked that many decided to plunder a nearby religious site for a frog cult, after hearing the monks left for a pilgrimage, but were lost within.
  • The party traversed the magical threats in the tomb, with Martin the Cleric using wards to protect them from rampaging Frogoyles, finding the lost laborer who was infected with some sort of frog curse, the holy man exorcised it from the poor man’s body.
  • One of their hirelings was eaten whole by a mummified frogman, and the party fled sealing the dead within, burning religious iconography as they beat their retreat.
  • Barmox the Magic-User found some very enlightening weed and pipe in the shrine, and returned to share it with Huffnpuff, gaining magical insights as he took a deep hit.
  • Sky befriended a diseased alpha rat, and led it on many adventures before it was consumed by green slime.
  • They party found an ever-flowing cup, producing holy water, ale, or mead, or even sometimes potions. Two party members were slain by stone guardians in its retrieval.
  • The group stumbled upon corpses ambulated by a swarming mass of rotgrubs. After deadly combat Sky’s faithful mutt Foamy was found panting with the foul swarm digging into her skin. Sky immediately enacted dagger-surgery to get them out, narrowly saving his dog.
  • The group plundered an ancient library of an old pestilence cult, but not before battling with the entombed high priest who drained some of Lathan’s lifeforce. Their rewards were hundreds of pounds of books they were able to make a good exchange for, and a multitude of magical incenses, powders, and salves.
  • Sena’s canal ended, and Krothos the local lord immediately set to taxing it, giving the party 1 free pass on the canal as a reward. Sena punched his advisor, and Krothos let them off with a warning, heading off to drink and gamble.

Tons more occurred in addition to the above. As I go through my notes I’ll return here to add, but for now I think this is a decent summary. I apologize that I haven’t catalogued everyone who played in these games, and my apologies if I haven’t highlighted one of your favorite moments, but I definitely encourage you to comment if you played or remember any details and I’ll update this post.

Later this week I’ll write up the most recent session, and hopefully get caught up on my Open Table Valley of the Wind Game.

Thank you!

Session Reports

A big kick in the pants for updating this blog more frequently was the roll-over from a home campaign to my current Barrowmaze game. Initially I had a lot of fun writing the session reports, but as time went on I found that the way I was writing with how I remembered the sessions did not necessarily line up. I also kind of felt bad about the games that I did not do session reports for, primarily only writing for my two open table games.

That said, I look back over the gap of Barrowmaze and feel bad that I didn’t at least minimally note every session. Sure I have scribbles in my GM notebook, but I often forget to annotate the date, and honestly if I don’t consciously have to comb over these notes immediately after session they become near unusable down the line.

I think I want to start writing session reports, but with the idea that they may not be read at all, not even by me. But mostly as a means to mark a date and time, say who it was with, what we played, and maybe a few sentences about what I thought about that. This way I can be look back and be reminded of all the cool people I had the opportunity to game with, or make note of all the various games I am fortunate to play.

What I will change is not trying to write for other people. I also won’t feel bad if I don’t remember every awesome quip or jokes the players have. I love the creativity, but its too hard to catalogue in the moment. That said if you read this blog and are a player in my game and want to highlight moments, definitely comment and I will add them.

Failed Career: Mercenary

You get

Gambeson reeking of body odor, a spear with a notched shaft, one stale sausage.

What is your shame?

  1. Fired: Your routine shirking of duties, going AWOL, and just plain ornery nature led to you getting kicked out of the company. Everyone but one of your old sympathetic pals look down upon you.
  2. Shell-shocked: Your crew was one of the first to acquire a prototype canon. Not completely sure how it worked, they launched you from it. You now reek of gunpowder no matter how much you wash.
  3. Snitched On: The blink dogs that your mercenary group used as scouts saw you stealing a bit of extra from the company’s coffers, and dutifully did their best Lassie impression to point you out. Despite being thrown out, one still pursues you to this day.
  4. Last Mercenary Standing: You were ordered to slay one man in a set of ruins. The figure transformed before your eyes, taking the shape of a massive minotaur, brutally slaying your friends. Somehow you were hidden in the rubble and the gore and were survived, but swore vengeance upon this shape shifter.
  5. Laughing Stock: Your preference for ridiculous and sometime self-injuring weapons such as massive flails, impractical whips, chain staves, and the like got you laughed at by all your companions. You decided to wander off, the lone wolf that you are, to prove to them that your prototype boomerang-crossbow will be the next advancement in warfare.
  6. Undead: Your previous mission to the Crypt of the Dread Necromancer ended, unexpectedly, with your gruesome death. What was surprising, however, was that your arose that very night, a member of the unliving. Aside from stinking a bit and being unable to bear the sight of holy symbols you seem to be mostly the same. You feared persecution and decided to flee from your company.

What treasure did you find on your final mission?

  1. Sarcastic Suit of Armor: You found a set of pretty decent plate, but it seems to be related those fabled singing swords as it always has some disparaging remark or joke about whatever your doing. This is especially annoying because whenever it talks it flaps its visor up and down, even while you’re wearing it.
  2. Rodent of Radiant Charisma: While marching through the marshlands you fell under the enchanting spell of a capybara. This creature seems to have a calming effect on most mundane animals when not too much of a commotion is going on.
  3. Handgonne: An extremely rare metal tube set into a heavy block, if you stuff this full of blackpowder and a variety of sharp or metallic objects, you’re able to produce an extremely dangerous blast. Sometimes that danger affects you and your friends. You weren’t fortunate enough to discover a user’s manual as well.
  4. Reverse Umbrella: You drew the shortest straw so all of your companions got first pick of the (murdered) wizard’s armory. This is an umbrella that produces a localized rainstorm when its open, pouring continuously out of the umbrella.
  5. A Really Opulent Hat: Full of feathers, pins, adornments this massive hat is always the center of conversation.
  6. Harpy Egg: Everyone told you not to take it. Anger the harpies they said. You’d be the death of us they said. Well turns out they were right, but that’s not gonna stop you from being a momma soon.

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Quick Update

I have been a bit quiet on this blog, as I’ve just been very busy with work and glued to the television as the election was occurring, but I am still (fortunately) gaming.

I am a bit behind on my actual plays, hopefully I will catch up, but they are definitely less of a priority for me than actually gaming, and to be honest they’ve kept me from returning to other articles I’ve wanted to focus more energy on.

In terms of new games, I am running a hack of Into the Odd using some tools I hope to assemble into a pdf to help people run a more feudal/medieval fantasy game. A little like what a lot of the Coins & Scrolls blog has, but I’m trying to focus on trimming down up front prep time and build things more generatively.

Hopefully as I collect the tools I’ve been scribbling down to run this campaign I will be incentivized to put them in one place and actually explain how to use them.

Barrowmaze Open Table Session 14

Summary

Finding their way into an old noble’s tomb, a wizard is possessed by the spirit of an ancient squire and joins forces with their liege wraith. The party’s courageous self-proclaimed knight is cursed with ghostly undeath by the lord’s blade, and the oddly-friendly skeleton swears fealty to him as he fades from the mortal realm. A thief is found wandering the tomb, having fallen into a portal trap elsewhere, and the party enters into combat with the approaching death cultists and their zombie horde.

details follow

Odd ReDuel – Techniques

A few years ago I made a post about a dueling system I was using to run a less abstract, tactical version of Torchbearer/MouseGuard’s rock-paper-scissors conflict resolution. So very much not in line with the stuff I have been posting about recently, but if you find a set of rules that add fun to your game, include it. This is definitely verbose, but sometimes I have fun with very crunchy mechanisms once and a while. While at the time I wrote this “for” Into the Odd (because thats what I was running) this could obviously be used in many old school or adjacent systems.

So while I still would run a majority of combats closer to freeform, sometimes its fun to have the suspense of flipping over a card to find out your opponent has blocked when you feinted. This can be a fun minigame for knightly duels between a player character and their hated rival, or even maybe a system to throw into a small miniatures game to play out a fencing bout between generals. I definitely wouldn’t break this out for every single combat (if you could model them with roughly Into the Odd stats).

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