Playing the Dungeon of Voorand - the end?

Last night we had the final session for the campaign. At least it will be the last session with these players, and in Kingston ON. I ran it like I have done it since the start, with a Megadungeon and a sandbox attitude where the players decide what they want to do and the world develops according to their interests. When I have felt unsure I have tried to follow Vincent Baker's advice and "say yes or roll the dice" seem to work just fine. I think the experiment have been a success, and I feel it closed on a chord with power and harmony.

The construction kept going on, and a college, housing and entertainment of various kinds are now available outside the dungeon. I didn't feel I could do as much with that potential with such a limited time, but I still liked the possibilities of adventure that could provide. Maybe they will stay and will become a part of the setting for when I find a new group.

The delving was a bit short, since we all were a bit unfocused. But, we had some glorious fights with gigantic spiders and they managed to poison a delver. I was kind and didn't kill anyone with the venomous bite. The best use of a magic item was definitely the Redecorating Wand, which so far had not found much use. Now, with cobwebs all over the place it found its use and it transformed the corridors into nicely decorated tunnels with drapes of spider silk. Pretty. In the dying moments of the session I short circuited some laborious tunnel crawling and described the vista of the Lost Underground City which they found according to the map they had purchased. Since they had quested for the goblin city and the crystal forest for so long I gave them a glimpse. End with a hint of more and they might keep dreaming. At least that was my hope. In the end everyone got a diploma as a superior delver and thanks for showing up and making it fun. It felt like a cool way to send off the campaign. Someone did this with their Mage chronicle (was it ChattyDM? I can't find anything on his blog archive!) and it seemed nice.

So, as I said the format for the game seems to have worked pretty well. I'm not that fond of the Kremm Resistance rules, and I'm beginning to think that ablative armor like in 4th ed might add a nice dimension of resource management. I'll probably also do some testing with the experience for gold rule next time. Tunnels & Trolls is a fun system, and I think the progress of the characters in the campaign made it feel like an accomplishment, but not so slow as to make it feel like you was at a stand still. What will be my next big RPG project? Time will tell, but I have had suggestions for a WH40k rpg. We'll see.

Combat and Tactics, the abstract way

Today I had some time to trawl through a bunch of interesting looking blog posts I had been saving. I found this little gem over here, which is pure gold! Go and take a look!

Wolds of Fantasy Part II - Kingdoms of Kalamar

I have already written about Greyhawk, and concluded that it didn't do much for me. When I first heard of Kingdoms of Kalamar, it was a review on rpg.net. Interestingly enough that review felt it was a good effort, but that it was kind of bland. Sound familiar? I, on the other hand, thought it sounded like my kind of world.

What is Kingdoms of Kalamar (KoK) then? Well, it is a world which stand out as being intended to "make sense". The geography is thought out, with waterways and caravan routes by the big cities, water currents and trade routes and tectonics which looks real. It kind of reminds me of Harn. But, where Harn never worked for me, KoK did.

KoK feels a lot like a less higher powered world than, say, Forgotten Realms. There's NPCs that rule nations and city states, and there are guild masters and court magicians. But, it's not that common for them to be much higher than early "name level". I find that just to my taste. I also really like the political history, which will give you a lot of ideas for conflicts and drama. What made me a convert, though, was the idea of a big set of gods who are described in a general way and also described with different names for different cultures. No more "gods of the dwarves". I liked that. Also, they have no stats.

Now, it is kind of ironic that I feel Greyhawk is kind of bland, for KoK is actually very vanilla itself. It's plain solid medieval fantasy with all the trappings. The one "oddity" it has is that hobgoblins are civilized and have a sophisticated culture. Otherwise it strikes me as just what I think Greyhawk is. It's just a lot more real to me! I'm not a sucker for realism, but it feels more like a believable world than e.g. Greyhawk does. The strange thing is of course that it's not uncommon for people to encounter KoK and thing it looks to dull and non fantastic enough. I wonder what would have happened had KoK been the thing that defined D&D, and not Greyhawk? For those gamers who claims to like the Folio and the bare bones quality, maybe the Judge Guild Wilderlands is a better match, but for the vanilla fantasy mould I know no better than Kingdoms of Kalamar.

How many game books do you buy?

I remember that the excellent site Pen & Paper once had a poll about how many game books you owned. It was interesting, since I remember it having had more than 2000 gamers answering that poll! It's not enough to be a good coverage of all of gamerhood, but it did show some trends about the gamers that hang out on the web.

There were multiple categories, and most of them in the lower range, naturally. Those of us who own stupid amounts were lumped together as "more than 1000", "500-1000", "200-500" if I remember correctly. The lower ranges were far more fine grained. What surprised me was how many that fell in the category of roughly 25 game books. For me that sounds a lot like having one favourite game line, or maybe two. A lot of people also had less than 10. I think those people who claim you only need one rule book and some imagination might be onto something. The next big bump were the collectors, and I was in the higher end of that range, 200-500.

Apart from all the pictures that gives us about the size of most game libraries, it gives me an interesting comparison. I just counted the amount of game books I have in my library now, since having moved and left most of what I counted in the former poll in storage. That way I could easy see how much I have accrued over the last 24 months, and maybe also compare that to the time the rest of the collection have grown. After some math I found that I buy roughly 6 books a month, or closer to 7 if I include magazines. Should I be lucky that I will have ten years or so to find storage space until I reach the "more than 1000" range, or should I be scared that it took only 24 months to surpass the size of most of the collections in that poll, again?

Ennie Awards 2009

I just voted in the category for free rpg's. I think you should vote too. I suggest a game that begins with 'Sw' and ends with 'dry'.

Worlds of Fantasy Part I - Greyhawk

I never understood why some people have such a high regard for Greyhawk. Did I just come to it from the wrong angle, or is it not for me?

I no longer remember when I first heard of Greyhawk, but I know I've heard it was "that world Gygax invented in the dawn of the hobby". I knew nothing of Blackmoor or Braunstein then. The first memory I have of it is of an blurb in a catalog from a mail order game store. That product was From the Ashes, and I also remember seeing The City of Skulls. As you can tell, I came to Grehawk fairly late. It didn't seem all that interesting, though. There was a crowd of settings published for 2nd ed AD&D at this time, and they all seemed more interesting than the, to me, bland looking Greyhawk.

A few years down the line, when I first encountered the nebulous subject of "old school", I bought a bunch of the old adventures from eBay and Noble Knight to run an old school campaign with the then new 3rd ed D&D. Now I read some of the short snippets of background in these modules, and it seemed less interesting than ever. I still don't see how it could make anyone care much for Greyhawk. I actually borrowed a couple of later books from a friend, after having heard of the folio and realized it was out of print. Both of these products gave me the impression that you probably had to have been there from the beginning. They referred to wars, rulers and countries, but nothing hooked me. It still seemed, bland.

I have now later been exposed to more of Greyhawk, and still feel it is very bland. It has absolutely nothing that sets it apart, except that it was Gary's campaign world. Sure, not all fantasy campaigns needs three suns and purple elves, but still. I'm beginning to think that the reason so many fans of D&D have a soft spot for Greyhawk is that when they were exposed to it, it was about the only thing out there. Also, the fact that the AD&D tournament modules were a common experience for many players made Greyhawk a common ground of the D&D experience. Greyhawk was D&D, basically.

Maybe someone will now comment and say that Greyhawk is wonderful and the Folio is the best thing that ever happened to gaming. For me it was always just "a fantasy world" and even when I tried it wouldn't come alive. Considering I already from a earlier age knew of Dragonlance from the excellent computer games from SSI, I think Greyhawk is a good example of marketing failure. Considering what happened to TSR as Gygax left I guess it was inevitable.

Playing the Dungeon of Voorand - zombie overkill and the founding of Las Vegas

Last night's game in the Dungeon of Voorand Campaign is sadly enough going to be the penultimate session. One more Thursday, and then I will pack up my stuff and leave Kingston. I feels a bit numbing to having to end this very enjoyable run, but at least we ends while having fun and still pumped up about everything cool we all want to do in the game.

More than once my dear players have realized that there are more to find even at places they thought had "cleared out", or just left for more challenging levels. I once got to hear that the dungeon felt big and like there was a lot still to explore. I loved that I had managed to capture that part of the Megadungeon concept.

Last night they decided to poke around some dark corners of level one. Naturally, not everything was like when they last were there, and they found a secret little "sublevel" that I had hidden. Not even this time did they explore everything, but they did find a ogre guarding a statue decorated with magical items like a helmet, belt, sword and other trinkets. Since they broke down the door and made a lot of noise, they woke the guardian up. They later found that others had taken his offer of using a bribe, and had plundered the statue somewhat. They did away with the guardian by a very dirty manoeuvrer, and grabbed themselves some magic. Now they have realized that all permanent items come with drawbacks, so it will be fun to see if that makes them vary.

As I have been telling before, we have had an explosion of building lately. We have had a tavern built by a PC outside the dungeon, and today a school for special education (firstly outdoorsmanship) and a casino was built. As you might have surmised from the subject, they are on their way to build Las Vegas out in the wilderness by the foot of the mountain. I think inventive players are the best gift a GM can get. Just imagine the possibilities for conflict, or ways to use this to have them pour out their hard earned money!

In a information gathering pause, shopping around for workers for their projects, they also bought a treasure map! I love these items. They are a good way to give small nudges to players, or to pace the game, or to siphon off some funds, or lead the into traps, or... you get the picture. They decided they wanted to see the Lost City, and the Crystal Forest and managed to find a delver who had been there and draw them a map. The best part of that was that when they entered level three on their way to the edge of their new map, they went in another direction and got themselves into trouble! If I say barracks full of zombies, what do you say? One dead PC later, and they retreated. I thought I said they saw a room full of tripple bunks from which stiff legged creatures shambled. Sometimes having the best armour in the game will make you to brave. Learn when to run.

It was a fun night, and even though we had a death we still play with stables so nobody is running out of clones yet. Next week will be the last, and from experience I think that my players will make it a good finale without me making it any special. We just play games and have fun. Fight on!

The Tyranny of the DM and the Tyranny of the Player

We have been discussing the way the rules can help and hinder players and game masters acting like jerks over at Zach's place, RPG Blog II. Zach is, as you might know, one of the voices of The RPG Circus. They had ChattyDM over for a talk at their show, and he claimed that the reign of the tyrannical DM was now over. Since I have little time to listen to podcasts I wont try to put words in the mouth of Chatty, but the way the discussion went on Zach's blog made me chip in with my own two cents.

Now, I don't think the tyranny of anything have ended. In the latest edition of D&D I would even like to claim that the Tyranny of the Player have reared its ugly head. Now we have a game where every character class plays very much like the other, and where everything you can do is written down as a Power. While it don't have to be that way, just like the former editions of the game didn't have to bring on the tyranny of the DM, it has opened the door for something which I consider just as bad as the Tyranny of the DM.

When you have a game system which is open for interpretation, and where different characters have different game mechanics, you might have to add common sense. You might also have to add some on the spot rulings. More often than not you might also have to play the social game and be graceful enough to admit that your character is not as powerful as the others at all occasions. Basically, it means that in order for the game to work smoothly you will have to have a bit of trust. That trust has to work both ways across the screen. Preferably it also extends in between the players. If you know that the game is not a zero sum game of "balance", you will have to trust that the other people around the table is not out to ruin your game. I could also mention the word "fun", but we all know old schoolers hate fun.

Also, have you considered that maybe some of those stories you have heard told about how someone totally was screwed over by his DM might actually been what that player deserved? Mike Mornard tells us it happened in the Greyhawk campaign, and I'm wondering if not that has been the reason more than once. That's not bad DM-ing. It's bad Playing, and they need just as much empowerment as lousy DM's need. 'nuff said.

A New Box of Tunnels and Trolls goodies!

James Shipman from Outlaw Press have said that we can look forward to a new boxed set of T&T stuff this GenCon! Fiery Dragon Publishing is putting out this box, and the contents is of yet unknown. James have been providing FDP with material from his own Outlaw Press, so he knows they will use some stuff he has published, but not what they have chosen.

Why FDP have any mention of this on their web, or try to pump up any interest at all is anyones guess. I've been running T&T demos and other events and to my questions about potential convetion/demo support they have not even bothered to answer. So, make what you will of it. Outlaw Press publishes premium T&T goodness, though, so the content of the secret box have a good chance of being great.

Buy a rulebook from Flying Buffalo while you wait for the new box. Rick is a nice guy, supports conventions and the rules he sells are great!

I'm not a believer in James Mishler, the prophet

I guess a lot of you have read the discussions in the blogosphere lately where "experts" of all kind explain why the hobby industry is doomed, or not. It started when James Mishler laid down his version of things. Naturally people started arguing. This first post, percolated in my mind a bit before I decided what to make of it. Then he replied to some selected individuals and the points they brought up. Now it started to get interesting, since some of the people who replied are pretty thick in the middle of the actual production of games themselves. Now I just read his final word on the matter, and I'm not all that impressed.

Frankly, anyone who waves around words like Great Depression like James does need to chill. His knowledge of how to produce a RPG, and the steps needed and their relative costs, is probably ok. But, an expert on global economy he is not. His view of the greater economic trends is extremely limited, based entirely on the US and frankly something a publisher of books, magazines and games should keep away from. You think you know something about publishing games, being on the inside of the hobby for many years? I think you are right! You think that makes you an expert on macroeconomic problems? I don't think so.

So, would that damn the man? No, probably not. But, the fact that his analysis is really limited and he is obviously talking about things he isn't an expert on (unless he has unmentioned experience in politics and running a big company) makes you wonder how much he is off the mark.

Do I mean that everything James say is false? No, the sad fact is that most of what he say is probably correct. But, a while ago Joseph Goodman posted his analysis of how well D&D4 is selling, and is basically boiled down to "I know more than you since I have data to prove it, but I'm not making that data public". It's a situation most often reacted to by "Put up or shut up". Rightly, people were annoyed by his attitude. Now look at the attitude of James Mishler. He calls Gareth Skarka for "King of Snarks". Dude, who is being snarky now? If you want to be believed, scale back on the hyperbole.

Are roleplaying games to cheap? Well, considering how many hours of entertainment you get from a core rulebook they surely are. Since that is not a very convincing economic argument, how about this one. If the pay for the most well paid contributor to a game book is paid less than it takes to make a living, nobody is going to make a living out of writing game books. That's all there is to the whole debate. Now, you have to decide if you think it makes sense for people to expect to make a living out of writing for games.

How about pdf's then? Well, I've written already about the total cost of a pdf buy. I still stand by those conclusions that it makes little sense to buy a pdf for the prices you pay today if you have to foot the bill for printing yourself and get a less attractive product. You say that is intentional to make me buy the hardcopy book? I think the idea is flawed. Erik Mona and John Wick will soon have had core books out there for a deep discount. Time will tell how that pans out.