tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18498918102046880642024-03-13T21:07:00.943-07:00Comma, Blank_ has moved! Change your links to our new URL, www.PapersPencils.com!LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-35826707538095421212012-02-26T20:07:00.005-08:002012-02-26T20:30:07.187-08:00Comma, Blank_ Has Moved!<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnnRgdRsgv0/T0sB45by3yI/AAAAAAAABiE/8bAdNUjZhLw/s1600/CommaBlank.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 71px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnnRgdRsgv0/T0sB45by3yI/AAAAAAAABiE/8bAdNUjZhLw/s400/CommaBlank.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713662629251309346" border="0" /></a><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This will be my final post on Comma, Blank_, because I now have my own domain! All new posts can be found at:<br /></p><h1 style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a title="Papers & Pencils" href="http://www.paperspencils.com/" target="_blank"><strong>www.PapersPencils.com</strong></a></h1><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Comma, Blank_'s entire archive of RPG posts has been successfully ported over to the new site. I have also transferred each and every one of the post comments by hand, including links back to each commenter's profile, because I put a high value on the feedback you, my readers, leave for me. However, no new posts will be posted here after this one. And I will not be monitoring comments on this site any longer. So update your bookmarks, feed reader, or whatever it is you use to access my writings! I consider it a privilege to entertain my readers, and I would hate to lose even a single one of you in this move.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This site has been of immeasurable value to me, and I must confess I'm sorry to leave it, even if I'll just be doing the exact same thing on the new site. Before I started this site, I was not very happy with my life. A quick peek at the first post on the blog, entitled "<a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/08/worthlessness.html" target="_blank">Worthlessness</a>," (which is one of the few non RPG posts here, and will not be moving to the new site), might give you a bit of an idea of just how down on myself I was. Truth be told, that's not even the half of it. I was struggling through more emotional distress at the time than I want to bother talking about here. Suffice to say, my life was not going well, and I had very little hope that it would ever get better.</p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The blog trudged along lazily through August and September. I was aiming to put up 3 posts every week, but I was failing, which was business as usual for me. In my mind, it was a foregone conclusion that eventually I'd get bored of the blog, and go back to being an "aspiring writer," who thinks a lot about writing, but never actually does it. I felt shitty about myself, and to be honest, I should have felt shitty about myself. I have no pity for the faults in myself which are rooted in my own lack of will. During a moment of courage in early October, I decided I was going to push myself harder. I was going to get 15 posts done that month, I decided. On October 10th, 2011, while driving my girlfriend Morrie to the train station in the morning, I told her that I was going to try to put up 15 posts in October. She snickered.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"No you're not." she said flatly. The comment stung, and I think she sensed that. She quickly qualified her statement. "I mean, you'd have to do a post what...every night?"</p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Don't judge her harshly. It was an off-the cuff response which she has repeatedly apologized for in the time since. I almost didn't even mention that it was her who said it, but I want to make clear that this was the opinion of someone who matters to me. The comment stung. I got angry. I've heard a lot of writers say that a dismissive comment, or a rejection, is what motivated them to keep going. I never understood the sentiment until that day. As soon as I got to work I pulled a calendar off the wall and began marking off days. I figured I shouldn't write every day, since that would just burn me out. I would, instead, write every other day during the week, on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. I have the weekends off, so decided I should have plenty of time both to rest, and to write on Saturday </span><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and</strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Sunday. By that schedule of 5 posts a week, I figured out that I could have 19 posts done by the end of the month. That was plenty. Over lunch that day I started working on </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.paperspencils.com/2011/10/10/magically-generating-new-adventures/" target="_blank">Magically Generating New Adventures</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, which remains one of my most popular posts. I started keeping tally marks for how many posts I had for the month. I was going to prove Morrie wrong. I was going to hit 15 posts. I could even skip 4 days if I wanted to.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I didn't want to.</p><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8PJycUYoPhs/T0sB_piw3EI/AAAAAAAABiQ/e_VeLwLFfSI/s1600/kc7srz.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8PJycUYoPhs/T0sB_piw3EI/AAAAAAAABiQ/e_VeLwLFfSI/s400/kc7srz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713662745244654658" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I kept to my schedule exactly. Even on Halloween, my favorite holiday, I was answering the door between writing paragraphs of </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.paperspencils.com/2011/10/31/the-problem-with-feats/" target="_blank">The Problem With Feats</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. I tapped away at my keyboard despite a finger which I had severely burned on an ultraviolet light. Despite the fact that my hair kept getting in my face, since having it down was part of my costume. Despite the fact that I had already reached my 15-post goal. The goal didn't matter anymore. Proving Morrie wrong didn't matter anymore. I owe her a lot for that single insensitive comment, because without it I don't know if I would have managed to forge the self discipline which has allowed me to devote myself so fully to this writing project.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I continued my 5-posts-a-week schedule through November, which proved harder. By the end of November I had decided two things. First, writing a Comma, Blank_ post five days a week was too much for me. I started to worry that I was going to burn out, so in December I officially dropped down to only one post over the weekend, bringing my work load down to only four posts per week. Second, I decided that it was time to devote myself more fully to the writing project. So, in early December, I did some budgeting, and some brainstorming, and registered the <a href="http://www.paperspencils.com/" target="_blank">www.PapersPencils.com</a> domain, and purchased two years of hosting. Yeah, I've been working on this for almost three months. What can I say? I'm a busy guy.</p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Since starting Comma, Blank_, I have missed only 2 posts, which were over the Christmas holiday. My life is better in countless ways. I feel like I'm improving myself a little bit with every word I write. And my readership is growing as well. During the month of February, there has not been a single day where traffic was lower than the corresponding day of the previous month. It kinda makes me want to continue using the old site until Wednesday just to see if the trend actually continues throughout the whole month. But, to be honest, it has been a serious pain in the ass to format everything post twice--once for Blogger, and again for Wordpress. I'm eager to be done with that. Besides, in 25 days of February, I've already surpassed the traffic during the 31 days of January by over 200 unique hits, and broken the 1000-hit-per-month barrier for the first time. And I don't intend to stop there. I've got so many plans for future projects and improvements--you have no idea.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ArGFhwsjTk/T0sCSBjGZUI/AAAAAAAABic/sd89tTgRiz4/s1600/TrafficIncrease.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 58px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ArGFhwsjTk/T0sCSBjGZUI/AAAAAAAABic/sd89tTgRiz4/s400/TrafficIncrease.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713663060926162242" border="0" /></a><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">So thank you, my readers, and everyone who has ever linked to me. Thank you to my friends on Twitter, and to my girlfriend Morrie. Thank you to -C of </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Hack and Slash</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> for sending me several unique hits ever day, and to </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://boards.4chan.org/tg/" target="_blank">/tg/</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> for giving me years worth of scintillating conversation and inspiration, and to every RPG blog I've ever read which has given me an idea or caused me to question my preconceived notions. Thank you to my friends who play these tabletop RPGs with me, who have been very patient with me when I've allowed writing about games to distract me from running games. You all rock.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">By the way, if you were wondering, this blog was called Comma, Blank_ because I originally envisioned it as a project "in between" the major projects of my life. The idea was that looking back, the stuff I worked on before this blog would be considered significant, and the stuff after this blog would be significant, but this blog was likely to be somewhat forgettable. That's what I thought at the time, anyway. Thus, this blog was the comma between the things I did in the past, and the things I would someday do in the future. Ironic that it ended up becoming a project which I used to redefine who I am. For three days, the blog was actually titled simply " ,_ " but I started to feel like too much of a hipster douche for my own taste.</p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I figured I ought to tell that story, since I likely won't get another chance.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">See you on the new site, friends!</p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">-Nick "LS" Whelan</span><br /><a href="http://www.paperspencils.com/">www.PapersPencils.com</a><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p style="text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></p>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-78387587775848507772012-02-24T20:14:00.010-08:002012-02-25T22:37:39.092-08:00Merciless Monsters 2: Bloody Avenger (Bloody Mary)<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSiw08PYjaI/T0ipaDBlL6I/AAAAAAAABhI/4Dj-0IU-hVE/s1600/bloody_mary_ghost.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 297px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSiw08PYjaI/T0ipaDBlL6I/AAAAAAAABhI/4Dj-0IU-hVE/s400/bloody_mary_ghost.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713002392273104802" border="0" /></a>I recently became rather intrigued by Bloody Mary folklore. I've always been a fan of undead creatures. In particular, I'm fascinated to learn about the reality of humanity's fear of the dead. Pop culture is so inundated with movie monsters these days that it's easy to know everything about zombies of vampires without ever learning the reality which inspired the fantasy. In fact, it was the trailer for the movie "Paranormal Activity 3" which first got me interested in this folklore. I find it hilarious that a movie trailer failed to convince me to see the movie, but succeeded in motivating me to do some reading. Even if it was just Wikipedia, and a handful of other websites.<br /><br />Each of us is a student of popular culture, whether or not we realize it. But there's so much more to these creatures. Historical information, which filmmakers never passed down to us. Did you know that while Catholics in Western Europe took a slowly-decomposing corpse as a sign of sainthood; Catholics in Eastern Europe took it as a sign that the corpse was waking at night as a vampire? It's true. Likewise, Zombies originate from Afro-Haitian superstitions, where "sorcerers" would use psychoactive chemicals to place a victim in a highly suggestible state, then order that victim to do their bidding.<br /><br />Interesting stuff.<br /><br />Hoping to find some similarly interesting revelations for Bloody Mary, I did some looking around. I haven't found a ton of solid information on the tale's origins--it seems to be a relatively recent, and particularly fractured piece of folklore. However, the sheer volume of completely different accounts of this mirror-dwelling creature make it a curiosity to me. And as I looked for additional sources of information, I began to wonder if Mary had ever been converted into a monster for gaming. I flipped through the various incorporeal undead in my Bestiaries and Monster Manuals, but didn't find anything which seemed specifically based on her. Since I find the folklore so fascinating, I thought I'd go ahead and create my own.<br /><br />As an aside, in my study of Bloody Mary, I learned a word which should be very useful to game masters and world crafters. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Catoptromancy</span>; <span style="font-style: italic;">Divination by use of mirrors, or other reflective surfaces</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xIqCnlm5MkU/T0ipxKTAsaI/AAAAAAAABhU/nAYg0M-YvOQ/s1600/GagaFanVid2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xIqCnlm5MkU/T0ipxKTAsaI/AAAAAAAABhU/nAYg0M-YvOQ/s400/GagaFanVid2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713002789362250146" border="0" /></a><br /><h3>Bloody Avenger<br /></h3><span style="font-style:italic;">At first all that can be seen is the dripping blood, falling apparently from thin air. Once one looks upon vengeful specter's crimson form, the black pits of its eyes widen, and it gurgles a curse from a blood filled mouth.</span><br /><hr />Bloody Avenger; CR 10; [Undead(Incorporeal)] [Urban] [Any Climate] [Nocturnal]<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">XP: 6,400</span><br />CE Medium Undead<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Init</span> +7; <span style="font-weight:bold;">Senses</span> darkvision 60ft; Perception +12<br /><hr />DEFENSE<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">AC</span> 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 [10 + Dex(3) + Dodge(1) + Incorporeal Deflection(4)]<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">HP</span> 90 (9d8 + 45)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fast Healing</span> 2<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fort</span> +3 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Ref</span> +6 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Will</span> +12<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Defensive Abilities</span> Incorporeal<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Immunities</span> Undead Traits<br /><hr />OFFENSE<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Speed</span> fly 30 ft. (Perfect)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Melee</span> Lacerate Face + 14 (4d6 + 4)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Special Attacks</span> Death's Gaze, Share Guilt, Expose Guilt, Bloody Chains<br /><hr />STATISTICS<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Str </span>-- <span style="font-weight:bold;">Dex </span>16 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Con </span>-- <span style="font-weight:bold;">Int </span>6 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wis</span><span> 15</span> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Cha </span>18<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Base Attack</span><span> +6/1</span><span> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">CMB</span><span> </span><span>+9 </span><span style="font-weight:bold;">CMD </span>19<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Feats</span> Improved Initiative, Dodge, Ability Focus(Death's Gaze), Iron Will, Toughness, Natural Weapon Focus (Lacerate Face)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Skills</span> Fly (+12), Intimidation (+21), Perception (+12), Stealth (+20)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Languages</span> Common<br /><hr />ECOLOGY<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Environment</span> Most commonly in urban homes, but they can strike wherever a mirror is nearby.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Organization</span> Solitary<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Activity Cycle</span> Primarily nocturnal, but do not tire, and can function wherever there is low light.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Treasure</span> Standard<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2_ahQVU6rCI/T0ip7vlPyFI/AAAAAAAABhg/UVgAnaG5TDQ/s1600/GagaFanVid3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2_ahQVU6rCI/T0ip7vlPyFI/AAAAAAAABhg/UVgAnaG5TDQ/s400/GagaFanVid3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713002971169540178" border="0" /></a><br /><hr />SPECIAL ABILITIES<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Invisibility(Sp) </span><span>A bloody avenger may cast Invisibility (as the spell) at will. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Catoptromancy(Su) </span><span>A bloody avenger can enter any mirror, and exit through any other mirror on the same plane. Broken mirrors do not affect the creature's ability to travel through them</span><span>, however, a mirror covered with a cloth cannot be traveled through. The creature can do this while invisible. Note that this ability works only for mirrors, surfaces which are incidentally reflective cannot be used for this, or any other mirror-related ability of the Bloody Avenger.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lacerate Face(Ex)</span> Bloody Avengers are compelled to destroy their victim's faces. It is not entirely clear why they do this, but it is surmised that it is based on the creature's intense feelings of guilt, and a desire to destroy its own identity. This is a melee touch attack which deals damage equal to 1d6/2 hit dice. A Bloody Avenger's charisma modifier is considered a weapon bonus for the purposes of this attack, and can be added both to the attack and the damage roll.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Death's Gaze(Su)</span> 3 times per day, as a standard action, a Bloody Avenger may show a target opponent their own death. This is the death which they are currently fated for, though their fate is not immutable. However, the individual who sees this image of their death will know, inherently, that it is not an illusion. The fear this causes is profound. The target becomes immediately Panicked, but is entitled to a will saving throw [DC 20 (10 + 1/2 HD + Cha + Ability Focus)] to be only shaken. Targets can repeat the will save on each turn until they succeed. The Shaken condition lasts 3 rounds. In order to be affected by this attack, the target must look either at the Bloody Avenger, or at any mirrors.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Share Guilt(Su)</span> Once per day a Bloody Avenger may pass through a target creature by moving through a square which that creature occupies. The target is entitled to a reflex saving throw [DC 17 (10 + 1/2 HD + Cha)] to take an immediate 5-foot step out of the way. If the Bloody Avenger successfully passes through the target, then for the next 24 hours, any damage inflicted on the Bloody Avenger will be inflicted on that target. This effect is treated as a curse, and any ability which removes curses will end this effect.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Expose Guilt(Su)</span> Once per day, a Bloody Avenger can select a target. As a standard action, the Bloody Avenger shares the target's greatest unknown sin to all of that target's allies within 60ft. Any moral boosting effects which that character granted to his companions ceases to function, and all opponents within 10ft of the character take a -1 penalty to all rolls. This effect lasts for 24 hours.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bloody Chains(Su)</span> Once per day, a Bloody Avenger can cause four blood-soaked barbed chains to emerge from any mirror within 60 feet, and grapple with a target. The chains are treated as having the Grab ability, so they do not provoke an attack of opportunity when they attempt to grapple. The chains have an effective CMB of +14, and can extend a maximum of 30ft from the mirror. The chains immediately begin attempting to draw a grappled target into the mirror (requiring a successful grapple check each round to move the target at half of the chain's speed of 30). Each of the 4 chains has hardness 10, hp 5, and a break DC of 26. Each chain destroyed reduces the chain's overall CMB by 2.<br /><br />If the chains successfully move a target to a space adjacent to the mirror which they came out of, then on their next turn they may attempt a final grapple check to pull their target into the mirror. (This is considered a hazardous location, granting the target a +4 on their grapple attempt). If the target is successfully drawn into the mirror, then they fall out of another mirror somewhere on the same plane. This mirror could be elsewhere in town, in another nation, or even on another continent.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Death Rattle(Su)</span> Upon its destruction, a Bloody Avenger lets out a piercing wail of anguish. Characters within a 60ft radius of the destroyed Bloody Avenger, who are not wearing protective ear coverings, take 10d6 sonic damage from this wail.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0oi3EvMXO1c/T0iqNPcutpI/AAAAAAAABhs/hRBT1JgmuFU/s1600/GagaFanVid4.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0oi3EvMXO1c/T0iqNPcutpI/AAAAAAAABhs/hRBT1JgmuFU/s400/GagaFanVid4.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713003271781529234" border="0" /></a><br /><hr />SPECIAL WEAKNESSES<hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distraction</span> All Bloody Avengers are created from a death which resulted from the death of someone else--whether or not they are guilty of it. They are fixated on that event, and seek indiscriminate revenge for it. However, if they are presented with someone who reminds them of whomever's death caused their own, the Bloody Avenger may become distracted. For example, a mother who went mad and died after the passing of her child may, as a Bloody Avenger, become distracted by a young child, believing it to be her own for as long as her distraction is not interrupted.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summoning</span> If an adventurer looks into a mirror and speaks the true name of a Bloody Avenger three times, then confesses to causing the death for which the Bloody Avenger is seeking vengeance, then the Bloody Avenger is immediately transported to that mirror.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Forced Medium</span> Bloody Avengers can be used to discover secrets which may otherwise be impossible to discern. Once one is encountered or summoned, the party or individual who encounter it must not meet the Bloody Avengers eyes, nor harm it at all. For 1 minute (10 rounds) the Bloody Avenger will attack the party normally, however, unless the party meets the creature's eyes or attacks it in return, it cannot use lethal force. After a minute has passed, the Bloody Avenger can no longer attack the party. The party can, at this point, ask to speak with a specific dead person. They need not know the person's name, but must know something about them. "The person who designed the ruins of Aomur," or "The little boy who was killed by Joey Grills four years ago" would be sufficient. The Bloody Avenger will then retrieve the soul of this person with unerring accuracy, assuming they are dead, their souls still exist, and the phrasing of the question did not specifically exclude the intended person (Such as if Joey Grills killed a girl).<br /><br />The soul is then compelled to answer any questions the party has for it. This bypasses any of the normal restrictions on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Speak with Dead</span> spell. Three conditions cause this effect to end: 1) if the party meets the eyes of, or attacks, the Bloody Avenger, then the dead spirit disappears, and the party must combat the Bloody Avenger normally. 2) If the party tells the spirit it can go, then the Bloody Avenger will also excuse itself by exiting through the nearest mirror. If the mirror has been covered, the Bloody Avenger will attack the party. 3) after 10 minutes, the Bloody Avenger is released from its compulsion, and will release the spirit and attack the party.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2o6o0tiv8sM/T0iqUszAMXI/AAAAAAAABh4/ByFU5tU1KDk/s1600/GagaFanVid1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2o6o0tiv8sM/T0iqUszAMXI/AAAAAAAABh4/ByFU5tU1KDk/s400/GagaFanVid1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713003399918662002" border="0" /></a><br /><hr />ADDITIONAL INFORMATION<hr /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Background</span> A Bloody Avenger is a very particular manner of ghost. In life, the creatures who eventually become Bloody Avengers all suffer greatly from the horrible death, or loss, of someone dear to them. Such as a mother whose child goes missing, a man whose mother is murdered, or a child who watches another child fall down a well. The exact manner of the loss is irrelevant, so long as the person feels guilt over the loss. It matters not if the person in question is actually responsible in any degree for the loss, so long as they feel guilt over it.<br /><br />That guilt must then drive the person to their own death, or dominate the rest of their life. To use the above examples, if the mother who lost her child went mad, and eventually committed suicide, that would qualify. If the man mentioned above had murdered his mother himself; and was then tried and executed for the crime, that would qualify. Even if he denied his guilt, it is likely that he still felt that guilt on some level. Lastly, if the young child lives a long life, yet is always haunted by feelings of guilt for the other child's death, then even dying of old age would not save him or her from qualifying. Any of these people might potentially rise as Bloody Avengers.<br /><br />Bloody Avengers remember very little of their lives. They wander, only half aware of the world around them, while the other half of their attention is constantly reliving the moment which caused their guilt. This leaves them angry and violent, and poised to attack anyone who disturbs them.<br /><hr />REFERENCE<hr /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">The Undead Type is described on page 309 of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Pathfinder Bestiary</span>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">The Incorporeal Subtype is described on page 312 of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Pathfinder Bestiary</span>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">The Incorporeal Trait is described on page 301 of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Pathfinder Bestiary</span>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Information on the Bloody Mary legend drawn from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mary_%28folklore%29">Wikipedia entry</a>, and the <a href="http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp">Snopes.com entry</a> (oddly enough. Do ghost stories really need to be verified?)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Images for this post taken from a remarkable fan-video for the Lady Gaga song "Bloody Mary"</span></li></ul><span><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/63zSjR_nhNI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /></span>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-46815838841877778042012-02-22T19:27:00.008-08:002012-02-22T22:57:58.067-08:00Suppositions on Tabletop RPG Time Tracking<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9CCRhiZTEBg/T0XcmCPLqYI/AAAAAAAABgA/3HDd9wNXPw0/s1600/large_day_and_night_36593.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9CCRhiZTEBg/T0XcmCPLqYI/AAAAAAAABgA/3HDd9wNXPw0/s400/large_day_and_night_36593.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712214248383031682" border="0" /></a>Since <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/time-management.html">Monday's post on time management</a>, I've had four separate people ask me how keeping track of time would work in a game. This may not seem like much, but it's probably the most universal response I've received to a single post. Normally I don't even get that much feedback on a given day's writing, and when I do, it's pretty varied. So to have four people ask the same question is unusual, and warrants further attention. I thought I would use tonight's post to look into time management further. Specifically, to look at how it might be applied to a Pathfinder game. I would like to make clear before hand that I've never actually kept track of time in a game--at least not in the ways I'm about to delve into. This post is, at best, educated speculation. If nothing else, the following will be a solid outline for what I will be attempting in the future, and I can do another follow up post with what I learn.<br /><br />Before I get started, lets go over some basic definitions. As mentioned yesterday, I think the best way to scale time tracking is to use the same definitions Pathfinder establishes for movement on pages 170-172 of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Pathfinder Core Rulebook</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tactical Time</span> is something any Pathfinder player will be familiar with. It is built on the <span style="font-style: italic;">6-second round</span>, and is what we use to measure the passage of time in combat, or in other severely time-critical situations. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Local Time</span> is for exploration, such as when the players are delving into a dungeon. The six second round would be far too short for this, and slow down gameplay to a ridiculous degree, so for Local Time, we will use the <span style="font-style: italic;">10 minute turn,</span><span> which can also be divided into</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> 1 minute fragments</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Overland Time</span> can be measured in <span style="font-style: italic;">days</span>. If the party is simply traveling from point A to point B across a great distance, breaking things down into a unit smaller than a day would be tedious. Lastly, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Hour</span> can be useful as a unit of measure for both Local, and Overland Time, when the situation warrants it.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-je4yP41uaC8/T0XfuAsLPQI/AAAAAAAABgk/UoRox9RpiGw/s1600/sundial-01.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 280px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-je4yP41uaC8/T0XfuAsLPQI/AAAAAAAABgk/UoRox9RpiGw/s400/sundial-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712217683941604610" border="0" /></a>With our basic units of measure established, we need to know how they fit into one another, and how they eventually build into a year. This may seem somewhat silly at first, but consider: the Gregorian Calendar (the calendar most westerners use) is as confusing as the endless layers of the abyss. Largely due to the fact that it is an imprecise attempt to force a variety of natural phenomena into logical time-measurement boxes. By taking advantage of the fact that we're playing a fantasy adventure game, we can easily redefine the way units of time fit into one another so that we can more easily keep track.<br /><br />For most of the smaller measurements, it's simpler just to keep them consistent with the real world, to avoid the need to alter game rules. Casters need to rest 8 hours to recover their spells because 8 hours is 1/3 of the standard day, so changing the standard day would upset the balance of the game. However, larger units of measure can be toyed with at will.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">6 Seconds = 1 Tactical Round<br />10 Tactical Rounds = 1 Minute<br />10 Minutes = 1 Local Turn<br />6 Local Turns = 1 Hour<br />24 Hours = 1 Day<br />7 Days = 1 Week<br />5 Weeks = 1 Month (35 Days)<br />10 Months = 1 Year (350 days)<br /></div><br />Keeping a week at 7 days means that the few spells which have a 1 week cooldown are not unintentionally weakened or empowered. Making each month a consistent 5 weeks means you can avoid any confusion by having a single week bridging two months. And 10 months to a year keeps the everything close enough to our reality that the players won't feel detached. Everything is uniform, which will be helpful later on.<br /><br />Now that we've established our definitions, lets talk about movement. A character's speed is already listed on their character sheet for use in combat. The speed which is listed on a character sheet is the distance, in feet, which a character can cover in a 6 second round. (The "move action" in combat is treated as a <span style="font-style: italic;">hustle</span>, rather than a walk, which is why it takes less than the full round). This means that a character with a speed of 30 can move 30 feet in a round, 300 feet in a minute, and 3000 feet per 10 minute turn. This may seem ridiculous, but consider that the average human can walk a mile in 13 minutes. A mile is 5280 feet, which actually breaks down to a little over 406 feet per minute, so Pathfinder actually <span style="font-style: italic;">underestimates</span> our movement speed.<br /><br />Wouldn't this be easier if we were using metric?<br /><br />Considering the size of most dungeons, players will likely be moving in 50-100 foot spurts, rather than moving in increments of 300 or 3000 at a time. So I think the simplest way to handle time tracking within a dungeon will be to mentally keep track of how far your players have moved. Your figure only needs to be a rough estimate. Every time the players have moved about 300 feet, make a tally mark on a piece of paper. Once you've got 10 tally marks, make note that a turn has past. Bear also in mind that often players will not be moving at walking speed. Sometimes they will be hustling (in which case, they can move 600ft per minute), and other times they will be tapping every cobblestone with their 10ft pole. (There is no official rule on this, so lets just say they'd be moving at 1/3rd their normal pace, at 100ft per minute).<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AmBIDFwPOmQ/T0XcuwOYzFI/AAAAAAAABgM/qKzUW1-nOMc/s1600/Dungeon.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AmBIDFwPOmQ/T0XcuwOYzFI/AAAAAAAABgM/qKzUW1-nOMc/s400/Dungeon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712214398166682706" border="0" /></a><br />This sounds like a huge pain, doesn't it? I know, I'm thinking the same thing. But think of how much depth you can add to your game by having your player's torches burn out, or having time sensitive events in your dungeons, such as secret meetings that begin 3 turns after your players enter the dungeon, and end 2 turns later. Maybe your players will find them and be able to listen in, or maybe they won't! That's part of the beauty of tracking time.<br /><br />Overland Movement should be much simpler to track. A character with a speed of 30 can move 24 miles at walking speed in a given day. A day, in this case, being 8 hours, which is the maximum amount of time a character can travel without requiring a constitution check. This amounts to <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-hex-maps-need-to-come-back.html">precisely four hexes</a>, if you're using the standard six-mile hex. If you're not using a hex map (like me, in my current campaign, where I haven't yet converted the <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/negune-historical-overview.html">world map</a> yet) you'll need to figure out how far 24 miles is in some other way. One thing you'll definitely want to keep in mind is how your player's traveling speed might be affected by obstacles such as mountainous terrain, swamps, etc. It would probably be beneficial to establish a baseline speed difference between traveling on roads and traveling through the wilderness as well. Perhaps road travelers can move and even 30 miles, or 5 hexes?<br /><br />Movement isn't the only thing which takes time. Players don't simply walk from their home base to the dungeon any more than they walk from the dungeon entrance directly to the treasure room. There are things to explore, battles to fight, an traps to disarm. So how do we measure those in our time tracking system?<br /><br />Combat is obviously going to be the most frequent interruption to movement--particularly if you're fond of random encounters. When working with Overland Time, their interruption can be largely ignored. Unless the party faced a large number of encounters in a given day, the amount of time a battle takes should be negligible. Whilst using Local Time, however, the length of combat is much more significant. Regardless of how long combat takes, you should probably round the time up to the next minute. Gygax even recommends that "they should rest a turn [LS: 10 minutes] after every time they engage in combat or any other strenuous activities."<br /><br />Other activities can include any number of things. Dealing with a trap, discussing a strategy, negotiating with a monster, exploring a room, opening a locked door, bashing open a locked door, the list goes on. GMs will have to use their judgement on a case by case basis to determine whether an action should be considered negligible (such as glancing around a room), a minute long (such as opening a relatively simple lock, or busting down a door), or longer (negotiating a truce with a hostile creature, or thoroughly exploring a room). I would advise against trying to track increments of time smaller than a minute. Either put a tally mark down for a minute, or don't mark anything at all. It'll even out eventually. Chapter 4 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, "Skills," notes what type of action each skill requires. This can be helpful to determine how much time you want to mark down, though your players will probably hate you if you check the action-typeevery time they make a skill check. Some GM arbitration is called for here.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X9cFvUfz51s/T0XfUqrckmI/AAAAAAAABgY/8pi_ZmljrZc/s1600/Outdoor_survival_450.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 363px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X9cFvUfz51s/T0XfUqrckmI/AAAAAAAABgY/8pi_ZmljrZc/s400/Outdoor_survival_450.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712217248536236642" border="0" /></a>The number of events which consume enough time to be counted as relevant on an overland scale are few and far between. Sleeping tops the list, followed by crafting, and perhaps a few other activities which have their time requirements listed as hours. Overland time might also be consumed by switching to local time for a significant period. For example, if a party can travel 24 miles a day, then the party might travel 12 miles, discover a village, switch to local time, spend 10 10-minute turns in the village, then continue on their way. They could still make it the full 24 miles (since that distance is traveled in 8 hours of the day), while the time they spent in the village would be rounded up to 2 hours, leaving them with 6 hours of rest before needing to sleep for 8 hours.<br /><br />Tracking time in towns is tricky. As best I can tell, most GMs don't even bother with it. However, I think there could be some real value to it if you pulled it off. Often, as a GM, one of my players will want to do something in town, while the rest are content merely to wait. This, to me, seems silly. If the player who has something they need done takes 3 hours, then what is the rest of the party really doing? Sitting at a bench next to the town gate waiting? It strikes me that if I actually turned to them and said "What would you like to do during your 1 hour turn," that might encourage players to engage with the world around them.<br /><br />Lastly, I'd like to touch on long-term time tracking, which is actually what I've found the most information on. The common wisdom seems to be to print out calendar sheets using whatever number of days you have in a month. Many GMs seem to simply mark days off as they pass, which would work fine. However, I think the calendar is a good opportunity to enhance your campaign record keeping. Simple notes such as meeting an important NPC, engaging in a major battle, or recovering a valuable treasure could be notated on the calendar. And, if you're like me and want to create a living world around your players, you can make notes for things the players didn't witness, such as the day two nations went to war, or the day your villain recovers the Big Evil Thingamaboo which will allow them to summon demonic servants. You could also use the calendar to plan future events--keeping in mind that you may need to erase them if your players avert those events from happening.<br /><br />Once again, these are just my musings on how I think I'll try to track time in my upcoming game sessions. I haven't done it before, and I've found a remarkable lack of information on the Internet about how to do it well. So if any more experienced GMs out there would like to set me straight on something, please comment!<br /><br />Either way, I'll be gathering notes on my success and failure, and will revisit this topic once I have a little more experience.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-52733924122908739722012-02-20T21:31:00.004-08:002012-02-21T00:17:35.665-08:00Time Management<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bdAQZo6rjfw/T0MsXOn0YGI/AAAAAAAABfQ/xBZ1kP7JBL8/s1600/GaryGygaxTimeMagazine.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bdAQZo6rjfw/T0MsXOn0YGI/AAAAAAAABfQ/xBZ1kP7JBL8/s400/GaryGygaxTimeMagazine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711457530009641058" border="0" /></a>Allow me to be clear; I play modern tabletop games. Pathfinder is my game of choice, and I believe Paizo is a company with the potential to be a driving force of innovation within the gaming industry. I love rulebooks which are heavy enough to break your toe if you drop them, I love having mountains of build options for my characters, and I love a game which has functional rules for making detailed monster builds. Sure it's a waste of time if you're doing it for every monster in every game, but who says you need to? And no, modern rules are not perfect. I think I've made that clear with posts like <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/problem-with-feats.html">The Problem with Feats</a>, and <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/11/stuff-which-never-works.html">Stuff Which Never Works</a>. I'd like to see some serious revisions to the way modern game developers look at games.<br /><br />I also believe in the importance of learning from history. Whether you are trying to run a nation, a classroom, or just a game table, history can be your greatest teacher. Our forebears were, believe it or not, just as smart as we are. They didn't have all the tools we have today, which is why we sometimes forget just how clever they were. But if anything, lack of tools only made them more ingenious, until one of them was so ingenious that they made a tool so that the given task would never be quite so difficult ever again.<br /><br />Now, do not mistake me: I do not look into the past with rose colored glasses, as some do. Anytime I hear someone rambling about how things were 'better' in the 'old days,' I have to roll my eyes a little.* More often than not the speaker in question is just allowing nostalgia to cloud their perceptions. However, the fact that things have, overall, improved, does not mean that our very clever forebears didn't have amazing ideas which never reached us. And the best part about those clever people being in the past is that we can look around and see for ourselves how their ideas worked out. So even though I do consider myself a modern gamer, I frequently look to the works of Gygax, Arneson, and others who worked on games in the early days.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aHV7U8U6a0/T0NS65g4X-I/AAAAAAAABfc/1_dgy-aTpaw/s1600/DMG.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aHV7U8U6a0/T0NS65g4X-I/AAAAAAAABfc/1_dgy-aTpaw/s400/DMG.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711499924260544482" border="0" /></a>And in reading these early works, I've frequently come across the concept of time management. Specifically, that it is important to track time not only in combat, but out of it as well. It is necessary, according to Gygax, for a Dungeon Master to keep track of in-game time throughout the entire session. This is mentioned a number of time throughout the numerous iterations of D&D's first edition, but nowhere is it more clear than in the original Dungeon Master's Guide--universally regarded among the most authoritative works on the subject of role playing games.<br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">TIME IN THE CAMPAIGN</span><br />"Game time is of utmost importance. Failure to keep careful track of time expenditure by player characters will result in many anomalies in the game. The stricture of time is what makes recovery of hit points meaningful. Likewise, the time spent adventuring in wilderness areas removes concerned characters from their base of operation--be they rented chambers or battlemented strongholds. Certainly the most important time stricture pertains to the manufacturing of magic items, for during the period of such activity no adventuring can be done. Time is also considered in gaining levels and learning new languages and more. All of these demands upon game time force choices upon player characters, and likewise number their days of game life.<br /><br />One of the things stress ed in the original game of D&D was the importance of recording game time with respect to each and every player character in a campaign. In AD&D it is emphasized even more: YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT."<br /><br />-Gary Gygax, <span style="font-style:italic;">Dungeon Master's Guide</span></blockquote>The emphasis, by the way, is <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> mine. That's Gary Gygax throwing up caps, because this is <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> important to him.<br /><br />When I first read about how important Gary considered time management, I was taken aback. On the one hand, I couldn't understand how time management was even supposed to work. And on the other hand, I was offended by the thought that every campaign I had run in the past was not "meaningful," simply because we didn't keep track of time. I've run some damn good games in my years as a GM. Why does the fact that I've never even attempted to keep track of time invalidate that?<br /><br />Then I took a deep breath, remembered that I pride myself on being rational, and tried to stop throwing an internal hissy fit before anyone caught me in the act.<br /><br />The fact that I've never attempted time management before doesn't invalidate all the good games I've run. They were good games, everybody had fun, and nothing will change that. The question is whether those games were good because of, independent from, or despite my lack of time management. And if I'm being honest with myself, I can think of a lot of things which would improve if I was better at tracking in-game time. And even though I can't think of an easy way to manage in-game time, the fact of the matter is that Gygax did it, and many other game masters do it, so it must be possible. I am simply ignorant of the methodology, and that can remedied with learning.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v-D2vECU024/T0NTBvhLd0I/AAAAAAAABfo/ETJB0RpYoiU/s1600/OSRIC.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v-D2vECU024/T0NTBvhLd0I/AAAAAAAABfo/ETJB0RpYoiU/s400/OSRIC.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711500041836525378" border="0" /></a>So I did some more reading. First through Gygax's Dungeon Master's Guide, then through the <a href="http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/">OSRIC </a>manual, since clarity was not always a strong point of Gary's writing. I also refreshed myself on the movement rules as stated on pages 170-172, 192-194 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, since movement is one of the core elements time management affects. Pathfinder divides movement into Tactical, Local, and Overland, which I think functions as a good basis for a modern system of time management.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tactical Time</span> is managed in the basic units which we're all familiar with. A tactical (or 'combat') round is six seconds long. In these six seconds, every combatant gets a turn. Ten rounds make a minute, sixty minutes make an hour, etc. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Local Time</span> is what you might use if you're delving into a dungeon, or exploring a town. Taking a page from OSRIC, it seems like the best unit of time for Local Time is 10 minutes. That's long enough that it shouldn't significantly slow down the players as they try to get things accomplished in game time, but short enough that it shouldn't need to be divided further for players to complete small actions. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Overland Time</span> is tricky. I'm not sure whether it should be measured in hours, or in days. I think the best solution is to use days and hours both as units of measure, depending on what the players want to do. If they're just traveling in to a destination, days will work fine, but if they'd like to spend part of their day exploring the area they're already at, and the rest of the day traveling, then breaking things down into hours could be helpful.<br /><br />I haven't tried this yet, so I have no idea how it will play out in a game, but the more I think about it, the more it seems like time management is actually an <span style="font-style: italic;">awesome</span> idea. Casters will actually have to be careful with their spells if the party doesn't want to stop to rest simply because they ran out of spells within the first few hours of the day. And if a caster does run out of spells, this could give non-caster classes a real opportunity to shine. Potion durations and non-magical hit point recovery become relevant! The players could actually be forced to make decisions based on how much time something will take, or be faced with time-sensitive goals! The very notion that I've never done this before begins to seem ludicrous.<br /><br />I have no idea why modern games stopped emphasizing time management, and why they never developed better systems for implementing it. It seems to be the same problem I discussed a few months ago in my "<a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-hex-maps-need-to-come-back.html">Why Hex Maps Need to Come Back</a>" post. For some reason, modern gaming developers decided to arbitrarily throw something away without coming up with a replacement for it. And us poor kids who were raised on D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder are stuck with an incomplete picture of how role playings games can best be played, until we start looking back through gaming's history for guides.<br /><br />As I stated in the opening of this post, I have a lot of faith in Paizo's ability to be an important force for innovation in RPGs. They should start by bringing back some of these senselessly abandoned concepts.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*To clarify: this is not always the case. Occasionally people will have well reasoned arguments for why they prefer something old over something new. For example, members of the <a href="http://osrgaming.org/main/">Old School Roleplaying/Renaissance community</a> have some <a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-osr-required-reading-list-have-you.html">very solid reasons</a> for preferring 1980s style tabletop RPGs over more modern games. Likewise, I like to think that I have some very solid reasons for feeling that recent expansions of World of Warcraft have reduced the game's quality in many ways. </span>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-41288304966580527352012-02-19T02:24:00.002-08:002012-02-19T06:07:00.646-08:00Magical Marvel's 5: The Glare of Vecna<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--yWJT7VQy9A/T0DO-zBYeII/AAAAAAAABe4/9sKvz_2YePY/s1600/dagger__vecna__s_glare_by_cbmorrie-d4q7esl.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 146px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--yWJT7VQy9A/T0DO-zBYeII/AAAAAAAABe4/9sKvz_2YePY/s400/dagger__vecna__s_glare_by_cbmorrie-d4q7esl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710791905749006466" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This week's artifact sacrificial dagger is again from <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-gming-methodology-for-ascendant.html">my Ascendant Crusade campaign</a>, much like the previous three artifacts <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/magical-marvels-4-gravewhispers-claw.html">Gravewhisper's Claw</a>, <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-3-wallcrafts-offerings.html">Wallcraft's Offerings</a> and <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-2-kofeks-tongue.html">Kofek's Tongue</a>. This weapon is again illustrated by my ladyfriend. You should check out more of her art </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">on her DeviantArt page</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >The Glare of Vecna<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Artifact Sacrificial Dagger</span><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">PHYSICAL ATTACKS<br /><hr /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Blade)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Attack)</span> -4<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Blade)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Damage)</span> 1d4 (Piercing)(17-20/x4)<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPELLS GRANTED</span><br /><hr />At Will - <span style="font-style: italic;">Detect Good</span>, cast by directing the blade towards the target and asking (rhetorically) "Do you seek to foil our lord?" The spell is a great deal more powerful when cast by the dagger, and overcomes any spell resistance the target may have. (Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pg. 267)<br /><br />At Will - <span style="font-style: italic;">Eyebite</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>, cast by directing the blade towards the target and telling them "The Whispered One's ire be upon you!" The target receives of Fortitude save (DC 23) to negate. Failure results in the target becoming sickened, panicked, and/or comatose, depending on their HD. (Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pg. 280)<br /><br />3/Day - <span style="font-style: italic;">Grim Revenge</span>, cast by directing the blade towards the target, then pulling it a yanking motion. Fortitude save (DC 19) negates. This spell is found in the Book of Vile Darkness, Pg. 97. As this book is now out of print, the spell is replicated in its entirety below:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grim Revenge</span><br />Necromancy [Evil]<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Level:</span> Sor/Wiz 4<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Components:</span> V, S, Undead<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Casting Time:</span> 1 action<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Range:</span> Medium (100ft + 10ft./level)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Target:</span> One living humanoid<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Duration:</span> Instantaneous<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saving Throw:</span> Fortitude negates<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spell Resistance:</span> Yes<br />The hand of the subject tears itself away from one of his arms, leaving a bloody stump. This trauma deals 6d6 points of damage. Then the hand, animated and floating in the air, begins to attack the subject. The hand attacks as if it were a wight (See the Pathfinder Bestiary Pg. 276) in terms of its statistics, special attacks, and special qualities, except that it is considered Tiny and gains a +4 AC bonus and a +4 bonus on attack rolls. Their hand can be turned or rebuked as a wight. If the hand is defeated, only a <span style="font-style: italic;">regenerate</span> spell can restore the victim to normal.<br /></blockquote><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPECIAL ABILITIES</span><hr /><ul><li>Any priest or priestess of Vecna who wields this weapon may substitute it for a holy symbol.<br /></li><li>Any <span style="font-style: italic;">coup de grâce</span> delivered with this weapon results in an instant kill, no saving throw. Traditionally sacrificial blows are aimed at the heart, so that the barbs can latch on to the heart, and pull it from the victim's chest.<br /></li></ul><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">APPEARANCE</span><hr />The only thing about Vecna's Glare which resembles a more common weapon is the hilt, wrapped in reddish brown leather with a silver pommel. The cross guard, which appears to be a hand sprouting from the weapon's grip, appears realistic, and even feels like cold dead skin when touched. In the hand is gripped a large eye--about the size of a large orange. Large enough to fill the hand's grip. Like the hand, this eye looks and feels organic, and even has veins which become more or less prominent if the eye becomes "irritated" by things like blood or dirt. Sprouting from the pupil of the eye, representing the eye's line of vision, is an unusual blade. It has no edge, and comes to a point at the tip. It is less of a blade, and more of a spike. Along the shaft of the spike are a multitude of barbs angling back towards the hilt, so that once the blade is inserted, removing it will cause significant additional damage.<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HISTORY</span><hr />During his life, and his pre-deific undeath, Vecna crafted a number of remarkable weapons. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Kas">The Sword of Kas</a> is is only the most well known, and most powerful, of these artifacts. In fact, most of Vecna's own lieutenants were eventually given a weapon forged by their dread emperor's own hand. Vecna's Glare is among those weapons created by the evil god, though in this case, the crafting was a great deal more round-a-bout.<br /><br />Kas was not the only one of Vecna's followers to betray him. He was merely the most successful traitor. Several decades before the fateful battle which destroyed Vecna's corporeal body, another of his lieutenants betrayed him. The attempt was clumsy, and the clever lich easily saw through his minion's attempts at nonchalance. By the time the fool was ready to spring his trap, Vecna had other followers--more loyal followers--in place to ensure the trap backfired on the traitor.<br /><br />Vecna is known for many things. He is a renowned conqueror, he was a magic user without peer throughout the multiverse, and he is the original source of many powerful artifacts. With so much to be known for, it his great skill as a torturer has been largely forgotten. He kept his treasonous minion alive for weeks, forcing him to experience pain beyond the imagining of even the most depraved. The Whispered Lord could make a victim relive their most terrifying memories, sever limbs only to reattach them and sever them again, or even cast spells which would kill whomever the victim most loved, without even knowing himself who that person was. Needless to say, Vecna learned all he needed to know. And when he was finished, he reached into the traitor's chest, and pulled out his heart.<br /><br />Vecna cast a simple spell on the heart, causing it to remain alive, and continue beating indefinitely. He then gave it to Kas the Bloody Handed, and had his lieutenant deliver it to the king with which the traitor had conspired. It seemed that this king, of a kingdom which Vecna had not yet conquered, had thought his kingdom would be safer if Vecna was destroyed. When the king received it, he was filled with anger and fear, and threw the heart out of the window of his audience chamber, where it landed in a river. Two months later, when Vecna sat on the chained king's throne and asked what he had done with the heart, the king answered. He was then forced to watch as his four daughters, three sons, and his queen, were all thrown out the same window, to land in the same river a few hundred feet below.<br /><br />Centuries later, after the betrayal by Kas, and Vecna's own ascention to the level of demigod, the high priestess of Vecna--a rank which is known as "The Heart" within the cult--prayed to her god. She asked that the Hidden Lord might bestow upon her a symbol to rally the cult behind. One which could be used to draw even more to Vecna's ranks. Vecna answered her. He told her of the traitor, and of the discarded heart. He bade her follow the river which the heart had been cast into. Due to the spell which had caused it to live indefinitely, it would still exist. Recovering it would grant her the symbol she desired.<br /><br />The priestess was confused by her god's commands, but she did not question them. Alone she traveled to the castle where her god, centuries before, had murdered a king's family before his eyes. To reach it she had to travel across an ocean, through a desert, and over three mountains. It took her a year to finally reach the castle. There she found the river, and she followed it. She moved carefully, checking thoroughly for any hint of the heart. Eventually, the river flowed into a cave. Once inside the cave, the priestess descended far into the earth in the pursuit of her god's will. She faced many monsters which tested her strength, but she never once considered turning back. She lived off of fungi which grew on the stones, and on the meat of the beasts she fought.<br /><br />Finally, after weeks beneath the earth, having now descended deep into the underdark itself, the priestess came upon a lake. At the center of the lake was a small island, and there slept a red dragon atop its hoard. She constructed a raft, and made her way tentatively across the lake. As she approached, the dragon raised its head, and watched her. Neither attempted to speak until the priestess had brought her raft to land upon the island.<br /><br />"Give me a reason why I should not devour you, puny human." the dragon boomed.<br /><br />"I come to you with tribute, mighty Wyrm!" the priestess said, laying a handful of precious gems on the ground at her feet. "And seek only a single piece of your renowned wisdom in exchange."<br /><br />The dragon snarled, "I am no teller of secrets who can be bought with petty baubles!" it roared, even as it drew the gems into its treasure pile with one might claw. "You've earned yourself only the right to leave here alive. And be quick lest I change my mind!"<br /><br />"I wish only to know, great king amongst dragons, if you have ever seen a beating heart pass through this river." the priestess gambled, knowing the risk she was taking with her life.<br /><br />This question seemed to pique the dragon's curiosity. "Perhaps I have. Tell me first why you seek it." The priestess told the dragon of the heart, its origins, and of her quest to retrieve it, though she was careful to mention only that her god had sent her. To mentioned the Whispered One's name was frowned upon, but to mention it whilst revealing a secret would be blasphemy.<br /><br />When her story was completed, the dragon laughed. Dragon's laughter is a terrifying sound, and it is a credit to the priestess devotion that she did not flee on the spot. "I know this heart," the dragon finally replied. "When I was but a whelpling, it came ashore on my island here. I ate it."<br /><br />The priestess nodded. "I see." she said calmly, taking hold of her holy symbol so she could prepare a spell. The two battled for hours. The priestess was powerful, but a dragon is a foe none should take lightly, and the island lacked cover which she could use to defend herself against the dragon's fiery breath. In the end, she was very nearly slain. The only thing which saved her was being tail swiped by the dragon hard enough to send her flying onto the treasure pile--right next to a magical spear. So when the dragon moved to swallow her, she dove the spear through the roof of its mouth, and deep into the dragon's brain.<br /><br />Her foe slain, the priestess found a sword within the treasure pile, and began to cut into the dragon. Her severe injuries made cutting through the dragon's thick hide difficult, but eventually she was able to reach the dragon's heart--nearly as large as she was herself. She sliced it open, and within was Vecna's Glare, glowing with a purple-black aura of evil.<br /><br />It took over a year to return home, but when she arrived and held the dagger aloft before the faithful, they cowered before its might. She knew that, now, worshipers would flock to the cult of Vecna in droves. How often did gods bless their priests with such a mighty artifact? She felt truly blessed to have Vecna's favor.<br /><br />That evening, The Heart lay down to sleep in her her own bed for the first time in over two years. And in the dead of night, the priestess who had been handling The Heart's affairs in her absence took Vecna's Glare, and murdered the high priestess with it.<br /><br />Let none rest easy in Vecna's favor.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-50609944335480760182012-02-17T21:14:00.000-08:002012-02-18T00:14:12.305-08:00Negune: The Nation of Regalia<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0tAkPToOtaI/Tz89emGC6fI/AAAAAAAABeg/HyWYAP76NCQ/s1600/Regalia.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 253px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0tAkPToOtaI/Tz89emGC6fI/AAAAAAAABeg/HyWYAP76NCQ/s400/Regalia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710350448360352242" border="0" /></a>The nation of Regalia is by far the largest of the five nations on the continent of <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/negune-historical-overview.html">Negune</a>. Founded eight centuries ago by the legendary bard Horatiana The Beloved, Regalia is a benevolent monarchy, so named because Horatiana was fond of wordplay, but lacked any talent for it. Regalia controls the entire eastern coast of the continent, providing it with the easiest access to the only other known landmass, the continent of Kalimesh. Regalia also boarders every other nation on the continent, except Ribanko, which has become completely isolationist and refuses to engage with the other nations; and Stekett, which, despite not sharing a boarder with Negune, is still most easily reached from Regalia rather than any of the other nations. Given these two significant advantages, Regalia has become the center of culture and trade on the continent.<br /><br />Regalia is comprised of seven provinces: Centralia, Volpan, Pyensal, Sextent, Shield Haven, Garvain, and Tonshire. One for each of the seven adventurers who united the peoples of Negune eight hundred years ago. Though the seven continents are not explicitly named for one of the companions, each of the seven capitol cities has a bronze statue of one of the heroes just inside the town gate, along with an inscribed plaque penned by Horatiana herself.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Government</span><br />Regalia is a monarchy guided by the traditions put forth by Queen Horatiana. Though no formal constitution has ever been drafted, in true Bardic style, Horatiana had every wall of the sprawling royal palace engraved with lessons she had learned, and her philosophies for leadership. These engravings do not legally bind the monarch. In fact, Monarchs often ignore certain engravings when they do not suit their needs or plans. However, the engravings are respected, and on three separate occasions, monarchs have been removed from power for violating the spirit of these philosophies. The wisest of Regalia's monarchs, it is said, spend their lives strolling through the halls of the royal palace, carefully studying the engravings left by their ancient forbear. So respected is this wisdom, that it has been disseminated throughout the seven provinces, and "Take wisdom from the walls" has become a common saying among Regalians.<br /><br />The current monarch, Queen Byethen, is particularly devoted to these teachings. In accordance with them, she has established a council of seven advisers--one from each of the provinces--which are drawn from the town mayors, and cycled out after one year to make room for a new adviser. She has also assembled a council of 33 scholars, wizards, clerics, soldiers, and government clerks whose primary duty is to argue with her. To "Play Asmodeus' Advocate," if you will. They may respond to her ideas only with argument, or silence. Though they have no power to overrule her, the walls discourage her from taking any action she cannot defend. Queen Byethen also spends one week of each year living and working in a random town within her kingdom, so that she might never forget the hardships her people face.<br /><br />Something which the walls are most emphatic about, and which no ruler has yet ignored, deals with the royal succession, and the separation between the nation of Regalia, and the seven provinces which constitute it. At any given time, there must be seven potential successors to the throne. Each of these successors is made the ruler of one of the provinces. The monarch may replace a successor at any time, based on any criteria, or completely arbitrarily. However, so long as the successors have the confidence of the monarch, they should be allowed to rule their provinces as they see fit. When the monarch has died, or otherwise cedes the throne, whatever advisory councils they formed during their reign gathers, and selects one of the seven to take the crown of Regalia.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Economy</span></span><br />Regalia is a fantastically wealthy nation. In terms of resources, it has an ample amount of forested area, plentiful fishing, rich mining, and expansive farmland. Regalia is so rich in natural resources, that no necessary commodity needs to be imported from any other nation--though the provinces themselves do need to trade with one another. The surplus of resources has also made Regalia rich in the gold and platinum of other lands through trade. Regalia's prosperity has reinforced the native legend that Negune was blessed by the gods to make it a place worthy of heroes. That legend has even spread across the sea, to Kalimesh.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Culture</span><br />Though the specific culture varies from province to province, a few common themes unite Regalian culture as a whole. Despite being governed by a monarchy, Regalia fosters a meritocratic culture. The nation's wealth has allowed education and other opportunities to be offered to most of the people. At present, two of the seven provinces are ruled by people who were born on the lower rungs of society: one a farmer, the other a miller. And as province governors, these two will both be considered as potential monarchs when Byethen leaves power.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-27391324859077729642012-02-16T19:12:00.000-08:002012-02-16T19:35:53.491-08:00Paizo's Year Long Retrospective: 1<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_KZFVR1oio/Tz3HUBNF97I/AAAAAAAABdg/6hSm6eCMeOw/s1600/120209-Lisa.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_KZFVR1oio/Tz3HUBNF97I/AAAAAAAABdg/6hSm6eCMeOw/s400/120209-Lisa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709939049310320562" border="0" /></a>It's a good thing nobody relies on me for news, because I am terrible about paying attention to news and posting about it in a timely manner.<br /><br />A week ago today (see how on top of things I am?) Paizo put up <a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5ld43?Paizo-Publishings-10th-Anniversary">a fascinating retrospective on their blog</a>. The company was originally founded in 2002, so this year will be the tenth year of Paizo's operation. Ten years since they started bringing us the best content we ever saw out of <span style="font-style: italic;">Dungeon</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon </span>magazines. Eventually they would go on to create many amazing products, including my beloved Pathfinder RPG. It's no secret that I'm in love with this company. They've done so much to improve gaming, and I like to hope that in the future they will continue to combine their amazing innovators, with tried and tested ideas to create some amazing games for us to spend all of our money on.<br /><br />I'll forgo the play-by-play. Though I did get a hearty laugh from some friends earlier today when I recounted the story about how Paizo moved into their first offices. "The previous company in the offices had vacated in a hurry, so the landlord offered to sell us all their stuff for a dollar. It turned out to be a really good investment, because we found a $20 in one of the desks." Good times, good times.<br /><br />I would really encourage you to <a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5ld43?Paizo-Publishings-10th-Anniversary">read the post</a>. It's a fun and charming read, with a few moment that made me giggle. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this as more are posted throughout the year.<br /><br />Also, is it just me, or does Lisa Stevens come off as some kind of nerd-badass genius? She was laid off from her job at Wizards of the Coast, so she took a year off to work on her Star Wars Collection!?<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W5Of2e1uX3c/Tz3K8IqTmVI/AAAAAAAABds/ZtLl_1dmMX4/s1600/MotherfuckerImAWizard.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 340px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W5Of2e1uX3c/Tz3K8IqTmVI/AAAAAAAABds/ZtLl_1dmMX4/s400/MotherfuckerImAWizard.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709943037041547602" border="0" /></a>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-40393857316873324812012-02-15T20:10:00.000-08:002012-02-15T23:52:34.723-08:00Koldonberane, The Forest Dragon<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxZoSi7M9zA/TzygbdCkD7I/AAAAAAAABdU/rqHu_YeB6UM/s1600/leaf_dragon.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxZoSi7M9zA/TzygbdCkD7I/AAAAAAAABdU/rqHu_YeB6UM/s400/leaf_dragon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709614821111238578" border="0" /></a>I'm really quite happy with <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/">Monday's post about deities</a>. You may have noticed that I really got into it, given that it's roughly twice as long as my average post. My own verbosity aside, in my opinion it's a pretty great post. So when I started thinking about what I should write for Wednesday's post, I remembered that <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/tinkeredrose">a friend</a> had recently encouraged me to write about Koldonberane, a deity I created a few years ago for a campaign which never ended up getting started. So not only do I get to make a friend happy, but I get to demonstrate the deity system I created in my last post! Huzzah!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Koldonberane</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Tree Wyrm, Leafscale, The Rustling Wind</span><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lesser Deity (Divine Rank 4)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Holy Symbol</span> A green tree with a dragon emerging from the leaves. More ornate symbols include tree roots, which entangle both a halberd, and a short bow.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Home Plane</span> Arborea<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alignment</span> Chaotic Neutral<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Major Portfolio</span> Nature, Animals<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Minor Portfolio</span> Adventure, Rangers, Balance Dragons<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Domains</span> Animal, Plant, Travel<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Worshipers</span> Rangers Druids, Barbarians, Hunters, Trappers<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Clerical Alignments</span> TN, CN, CG, CE<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Favored Weapons</span> The halberd, and the short bow<br /><br />Koldonberane embodies the uncaring chaos of nature. She appears as a titanic dragon, with leaves instead of scales. These leaves constantly shift from green, to bronze, to red, to yellow, to black, then fall from her hide, only to reveal fresh green leaves underneath. Though she is a lesser deity, many rangers and other adventurers who revere nature follow her because of the favor which she shows to those who have great self determination.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dogma</span> Koldonberane teaches that nature is indifferent to good, evil, and law. It is a force beyond these limiting concepts. While a mouse may be beloved by nature, so too is a hawk. The hawk needs no permission, nor any absolution for killing and eating the mouse. So long as balance is maintained, nature is self-governing. And so long as chaos reigns, balance will always be maintained. The only true sin, in Koldonberane's eyes, is a disruption of the world's natural balance.<br /><br />For this reason, Koldonberane favors mortals who live out in nature, separate from those of their kind who seek to dominate nature, rather than find their own place within nature's balance. She cares not if a man kills an animal for food, or fells a tree to build a boat. New animals will be born, new trees will grow. But Koldonberane becomes upset when a copse of trees is felled to make a cabin, and she becomes enraged when a forest is cleared to make room for a city.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Clergy and Temples</span> Koldonberane's few temples are magically woven from still-growing trees, and carpeted with living grass. However, few followers of Koldonberane are compelled to build temples to their draconic goddess. Most prefer to travel, living in balance with nature around them, and ensuring that others maintain that balance as well.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >History</span><br />Koldonberane is a young deity, having only ascended four hundred thousand years ago. Before that, she was a dragon. Of what color, she cannot recall, but she knows that she lived in a forest. There, in her forest lair, she went about the business of dragons: hoarding treasure. She viewed this too be quite good and proper, and had amassed a great and glittering pile for herself.<br /><br />As winter drew near one year, she spotted a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. Being a particularly philosophical dragon, she likened the squirrel to herself. The tiny creature's hoard of nuts was a pale shadow of Koldonberane's hoard of treasure. And while the creature's taste in treasure was primitive compared to her own, Koldonberane speculated that the gods may have crafted squirrels as a tiny homage to their greatest creation. Which, of course, was dragons.<br /><br />Koldonberane's forest was far to the North of the world, and winter was long. The mighty dragon slept until the spring came. When she finally awoke, she was greeted by the sight of the squirrel whose hoard Koldonberane had pondered the previous fall. Feeling spry and energetic after her long sleep, the mighty dragon approached the squirrel's nest, hoping to catch a glimpse of its tiny hoard. What she saw instead was nothing but shells. The squirrel had eaten its entire hoard!<br /><br />At first, Koldonberane felt confused, but her confusion quickly became anger. She shouted and cursed the squirrel. She decried its mimicry as a mockery of dragon kind, and swore to destroy it and all of its kin, but it had fled. Still angry, she vowed to wait for its return, and destroy it then. But first she needed to find a meal, something to wake her from her long slumber. She took flight, and hunted through the forest for elk, deer, and other large sources of meat.<br /><br />As she ate, she thought. Her anger gradually began to abate as she pondered the purpose of the squirrel's hoarding. She came to realize that the squirrel's hoard had not been an end unto itself, but rather a means to its own survival. It was something of a leap for her, but the more she thought about it, the more Koldonberane found she could relate to the squirrel's actions. And, being truly philosophical for a dragon, Koldonberane did something which dragons almost never do: she turned her criticism inward.<br /><br />"Why do I, why does any dragon, hoard our treasures?" she thought. Numerous justifications presented themselves, but to her credit, Koldonberane dismissed each of them. The truth had been laid bare: her hoard had no purpose.<br /><br />After that, Koldonberane continued to lay atop her treasure for several months. But now it simply seemed cold, and uncomfortable. Koldonberane tried adding to her hoard, which had always pleased her in the past. Now it felt empty. The sparkle of a polished coin no longer captivated her, and she resolved to be rid it all. She flew to the nearest city, and announced that anyone could have anything they were able to carry away from her hoard.<br /><br />People came from miles around with sacks and carts, some even came with bags of holding. Koldonberane watched them take her treasures from nearby. She felt a panic, seeing 'thieves' taking her beloved treasure--but she did not interfere. She steeled her resolve to let her treasure disappear.<br /><br />People had been hauling treasure away for less than a day when the king arrived. But Koldonberane's hoard was massive that ten such days would not leave a significant dent in her pile. The King, though, brought with him an army of carts, and ten times an army of soldiers. He demanded that all the treasure be his. Koldonberane told him he may take whatever his carts could carry, but the King was adamant. He wanted not only the treasure he could carry, but treasure which he would leave behind must be kept for him, and the treasure which had already been given must be returned to him. The dragon refused.<br /><br />The battle between the king's army and the dragon was fierce. Koldonberane was, at that time, among the most ancient dragons to ever exist. She slew hundreds of the king's mightiest knights, but could not defend herself against so great a force. Koldonberane was slain, her body fell against the same tree in which the squirrel had made its nest. The King had his carts loaded, and took what treasure he could back to his kingdom.<br /><br />When the King returned with more carts, he found many people around the corpse of the dragon, praying for blessings from the gold-giver. The King's men chased them off, and the king posted guards around Koldonberane's body to stop any others from worshiping the beast. The king returned a third time, now in late fall, for a third load of treasure. The guards he had left were camped nearby, and the dragon's corpse was gone! The guards explains how, in just a few short weeks, the roots of the tree had grown up around the dragon, and wrapped it in a wooden cocoon. The king said good riddance to the beast, and took his treasure, and his guards, back to his kingdom for the winter.<br /><br />In spring, the king again brought his carts for the fourth and last load of treasure. As it was being loaded, he gazed at the tree which had consumed Koldonberane. Its leaves had sprouted a beautiful spring green, and he found the tree to be a pleasant sight.<br /><br />Then, from amidst the rustling leaves, two eyes stared back at him. They did not appear to be fixed to anything, waving in the wind as the tree did. A creak sounded, and the wind-blown leaves momentarily seemed to form a gaping maw. Frightened, the king called to his men to hurry along, just in time for great leafy wings to sprout from the tree's bows.<br /><br />The king screamed in terror as Koldonberane, the demigod, flew from the branches of the tree, leaving it bare of any leaves. But Koldonberane was now beyond such simple motivations as revenge, and ignored the petty human as it flew off towards the heavens.<br /><br />Koldonberane's clergy hold that the tree which Koldonberane sprouted from still exists. It is said that green scales now grow on the tree, instead of leaves. What powers this mysterious tree might hold are unknown, however, as its mere existence is speculation.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-15395900340299119402012-02-13T19:38:00.001-08:002012-02-14T00:51:05.300-08:00Deities Defined<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rUw4pbtGLOg/TznpP94nMGI/AAAAAAAABbw/v2dRvIyUZVc/s1600/Ingres_Jean-Auguste-Dominique_JupiterAndThetis_1811.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 317px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rUw4pbtGLOg/TznpP94nMGI/AAAAAAAABbw/v2dRvIyUZVc/s400/Ingres_Jean-Auguste-Dominique_JupiterAndThetis_1811.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708850463188136034" border="0" /></a>After 100+ posts, it's a little hard to remember what I've revealed about myself and what I haven't. So I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I majored in philosophy in college. Cue all the "blah blah, useless degree, blah blah, enjoy delivering pizzas" nonsense. During my study of philosophy, I often tried to suss out what precisely philosophers do. Which isn't to say <span style="font-style:italic;">I</span> didn't know, insofar as an undergrad ever knows anything about their field. But I didn't have a definition on hand, no sentence-or-two which summed up the task which I was planning to dedicate my life to. I did have a joke answer; "We take things which are simple, make them sound complicated, then con universities into giving us tenure for it." I've found that most people in "useless" majors come up with jokes like that as a means of fending off dickheads who like to question the life decisions of people they don't know.<br /><br />I don't know that the answer I eventually came to would be satisfactory to other philosophers--if I can even call myself that, being a dropout. To me, philosophy is the application logic as a means of attempting to learn the rules of, and to define, that which is considered undefinable, and beyond logical governance. (Kinda recursive if you think about it). Such illogical, undefinable things might include ethics, the fundamental answer to 'why,' or even conceptualizations of divinity. And thus do we come to tonight's subject matter.<br /><br />Truth be told, I don't think I'll ever go back to the study of philosophy as a primary pursuit in my life. But that desire to define is still strong for me. So what if I've given up the quest to define the concept of divinity? I'm an atheist anyway! And it's way more fun to codify divinity within Pathfinder. I actually started this project many years ago. Shortly after I got the D&D 3.0 supplement "Deities and Demigods," I became fascinated with the concept of "divine ranks." I can't imagine myself letting my players be gods, even demigods. I doubt I would ever encourage them to fight a god, either. But I still like the idea of codifying what gods are and how much power they have. If, for no other reason, than because it places limits on what gods can do for their followers. So after a <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/vitaemachina/status/168230570319556608">friend on Twitter reminded me</a> that I had started this project years ago, it occurred to me that finishing it would make an excellent post!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Logos</span></span><br />The only truly almighty being, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus#Logos">Logos</a> is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. The power of the Logos is so far beyond understanding that even the mightiest of gods are powerless before it. However, Logos is also non-sentient. It is a vague force which controls the universe according to a logic which no one can possibly comprehend. Perhaps the simplest way to explain Logos is that if the laws of thermodynamics, motion, and conservation of mass are the laws of physics, then Logos is the laws of metaphysics. It is said that the multiverse itself is the mind of logos, and that every event, every insect, every human, dwarf, elf, or god, are all simply the machinations of the Logos' mind. But this is widely viewed as conjecture.<br /><br />Knowledge of Logos is reserved largely for those powerful enough to see its subtle workings, which leaves very few besides the gods themselves. Only once has a mortal creature learned anything of Logos. A wizard, whose name and race have long been lost, once learned a single word in the ineffable language of the Logos. The wizard spoke the word, and was so completely obliterated that his soul ceased to exist, and even those who had known him forgot him completely. And through his erasure, the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20041203a&page=2">Illumian</a> people were created.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RuD0tVYkX_0/Tzods_LXF4I/AAAAAAAABcU/8nS6vZHkcXo/s1600/KronosDevours.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RuD0tVYkX_0/Tzods_LXF4I/AAAAAAAABcU/8nS6vZHkcXo/s400/KronosDevours.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708908136356059010" border="0" /></a>Divine Power</span><br />Deific power is gauged by "Divine Ranks." These ranks define a deities power in a manner similar to a character's levels, but are functionally quite different. It is a closely guarded secret of the gods that their power is drawn from their mortal worshipers. The greater the number of worshipers, and the greater the power of those worshipers, the greater the god's own power will be. And while the numbers of mortals are ever-growing, adding more and more potential power for the deities to absorb, the pool of available power between all of the gods is functionally finite. Often, in order for one god to increase their divine rank, another god must lose their own. One might think that a god could simply create more and more worlds, and fill them with worshipers. And, indeed, a god called Hewavaj'Hove did precisely that once. For one brief moment He reigned supreme amongst the gods. Then he was completely obliterated in a fashion which the other gods describe as "painful in a way only a god could experience." The gods have determined that it is Logos who destroyed their momentary overlord, but have not yet determined which crime was deemed worthy of such a horrible execution.<br /><br />All gods of divine rank 1 or higher have the following abilities and attributes, both in their primary form, and when represented through avatars:<br /><ul><li>Has access to all clerical spells which would normally be available to that deities' alignment/domains as at-will powers.<br /></li><li>Can control weather, landscape, and other physical phenomena within 100 miles of current location for each divine rank. (10 miles/divine rank when represented through an avatar.)</li><li>Ability to appear in whatever form the deity desires, or to create avatars in whatever form desired.<br /></li><li>Immortal.</li><li>Unable to be harmed, save by items which are extremely powerful. Save for a god's own weapons, anything which could harm a god is likely unique to the god, and a carefully guarded secret.<br /></li><li>A deity is completely immune to any form of Transmutation, Energy Drain, Ability Drain, Ability Damage, or Mind-Affecting Effect.<br /></li><li>A deity may, at any time, be aware of everything (including thoughts) which exists within 1 mile of any of its worshipers, holy sites, or other objects or locations sacred to that deity. A deity may also attempt to block the senses of another deity within this range. More information on deity conflict below.</li><li>Any deity may create a demi-plane. These planes are typically rather small, and can serve as private retreats for the deity.</li><li>A deity may travel the multiverse as easily as a mortal might walk to the shop down the street.<br /></li></ul><p>Any additional power is determined by the divine rank of the god in question.</p><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8UgZ90qurYk/TzoFea2FlCI/AAAAAAAABcI/J8ASWF2LDjg/s1600/DivineRanks.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 143px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8UgZ90qurYk/TzoFea2FlCI/AAAAAAAABcI/J8ASWF2LDjg/s400/DivineRanks.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708881497805919266" border="0" /></a>The divine ranks, as presented here, are infinitely scalable. Each element progresses in a predictable pattern (A deity gains a minor portfolio every rank, gains a domain every two ranks, and so forth.) For my purposes, a maximum divine rank of 10 is plenty.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Divine Details</span><br />On the chart above I list five types of powers which progressively grow more powerful as a deity gains divine rank. Domains, Major & Minor Portfolios, Absolute Portfolios, and Avatars.</p><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRF5V385kSY/Tzod7zkYJhI/AAAAAAAABcg/bVfH5Tp-ySU/s1600/i-dont-see-many-ice-giants-around-11673-1305616610-36.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRF5V385kSY/Tzod7zkYJhI/AAAAAAAABcg/bVfH5Tp-ySU/s400/i-dont-see-many-ice-giants-around-11673-1305616610-36.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708908390937798162" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Domains</span> Any D&D or Pathfinder player should already be aware of what a Domain is, and how it works. When a cleric selects their deity, they choose two of that deity's domains. These domains represent core values, and sources of power for the deity and their followers. Depending on which domains are chosen, clerics gain access to different spells, and may focus on different aspects of their deity's teachings. Note that deities below rank two have no domains. This is because they do not yet have sufficient divine rank to grant spells to their followers. They may still have clerics devoted to them, but these clerics draw their power from other sources.<br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Major & Minor Portfolios</span> A deity's portfolio is what they are the god "of." For example, my favorite god, Vecna, might have in his portfolio; Knowledge, Secrets, Magic, and Undeath. Any special powers Vecna has would be derived from these portfolios, and he would certainly have a certain amount of control over items in his portfolio. The difference between Major & Minor portfolios is one of scope, rather than power. (In fact, perhaps "Narrow & Broad" would be better, but we'll stick with what I have in the image above for now).<br /></p><p>A major portfolio is something broad. For example, "Magic," "Insects," or "Knowledge." Whilst a minor portfolio is something more specific, like "Transmutation," "Beetles," or "Secrets." The line which separates major and minor portfolio items can be vague. However, without listing ever possible portfolio item, it must be left to good judgement to determine whether a portfolio item is major, or minor.<br /></p><p>Major and minor portfolios may conflict with each other, if the minor portfolio fits within the major portfolio. For example, if a god of magic attempts to exercise their power over transmutation spells, a god of transmutation spells may resist the god of magic with a +2 bonus to their deity check. Likewise, if the god of magic is attempting to affect a conjuration spell, the god of transmutation may still attempt to resist the will of the god of magic, but takes a -4 penalty on their deity check. More information on deity checks is below.<br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Absolute Portfolio</span> Drawn from the same lists as minor portfolios, an absolute portfolio is a realm over which a deity is considered to have absolute dominion. A deity with secrets in its Absolute Portfolio may have greater control over that realm than a deity who has secrets as a minor portfolio. For example, while a "Secrets: Minor" god may be able to learn any secret which they desire, a "Secrets: Absolute" god might already know every secret, even to the point of learning of new secrets as they are created.<br /></p><p>Minor and Major portfolios may still conflict with Absolute portfolios. However, an Absolute portfolio is treated as having a +20 to its deity check, along with any bonuses or penalties a minor portfolio would receive in a given situation, as described above. If, perchance, two Absolute portfolios ever come into conflict, then the loser of the check has their Absolute portfolio permanently transformed into a minor portfolio. A "Supreme" portfolio may exist, which would be similar to an Absolute portfolio, but would apply to Major portfolios rather than minor ones. However, this is a level of power which I don't want within my games.<br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Avatars</span> Being within the presence of a god, even a minor one, would be enough to drive lesser mortals mad. Besides--gods do not leave their realms lightly. To remedy these problems, gods may create an avatar. Avatars are small fragments of a god, which operate completely independently. Given the tremendous willpower of a god, they may give their full attention to all of their avatars simultaneously, without suffering from any distraction or deterioration of abilities. In this way, gods may be in two or more places at once.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Special</span> Aside from the powers listed on the chart above, which grow more powerful as a god gains more and more divine ranks, there are a number of powers which gods attain as they rise through the ranks. Once a power is attained, the god retains the ability to use this power for as long as they remain at or above the divine rank at which the power is acquired. These powers do not become greater as deity gains more divine ranks.<br /></p><ul><li>Any deity of Divine Rank 2 or greater can create any type of creature they desire, but these creatures cannot breed, or be replicated in any quantity sufficient to begin a new species. Such creatures are sustained by the deity, and will be destroyed if the deity loses their divine ranking.<br /></li><li>Any deity of Divine Rank 4 or greater can create new species of animals, or other unintelligent creatures. These creatures will continue to exist even if the deity is destroyed.<br /></li><li>Any deity of Divine Rank 6 or greater can create any type of new creature species they desire. These creatures will continue to exist even if the deity is destroyed.</li><li>Any deity of Divine Rank 8 or greater can create new worlds, or layers to an existing plane.<br /></li><li>Any deity of Divine Rank 10 or greater may create new major planes.<br /></li></ul><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Divine Conflict</span> When deities engage in a battle for divine control, a deity check is used to determine the outcome. This is a very simple check: 1D20 + Divine Rank. Note that a deity check is not used any time deities combat one another, but only when two deities attempt to use their same divine powers affect the same thing in different ways. If, for example, one deity wanted it to rain on the city of Niston, and one wanted the city of Niston to enjoy a bright sunny day, the two deities would make a deity check to determine what kind of weather Niston will see that day.</p><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fRpBEIFZneo/TzoeDp59d1I/AAAAAAAABcs/tGBkhTnHyBs/s1600/painting-athena.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fRpBEIFZneo/TzoeDp59d1I/AAAAAAAABcs/tGBkhTnHyBs/s400/painting-athena.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708908525782923090" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Divine Rank 0</span><br />Divine Rank 0 is special. A new deity typically starts at Divine Rank 1, as a demi-god. Rank 0 is reserved for those gods who have failed to retain enough followers to maintain their divinity. A god at 0 has been forgotten. Perhaps their followers were slaughtered, perhaps the god was simply lazy and did not bother to answer any prayers. A few faithful may remain, but even mortals are sometimes worshiped by a paltry few thousand. That does not make them gods.<br /></p><p>An entity at divine rank 0 is in danger of losing their place among the gods forever. They are reduced To but a handful of divine abilities. They cannot be harmed, maintain their immunities, can travel the multiverse, and are able to cast divine spells matching their alignment as a 20th level cleric would. The entity is given one thousand years to regain enough followers to become a Demi-God. If they fail to complete this task, the entity fades away forever.<br /></p><p>What precisely happens to these forgotten gods is not known. Given that they are forgotten, documentation on their activities is understandably lacking. A few gods claim that their most powerful angels were once forgotten gods. Some adventurers have discovered intelligent items which have claimed to be the remnants of a forgotten god. And then, of course, there is the rare individual who shouts at his fellow tavern patrons "I was a god once, you know!"</p><p>Of course, this might simply be cases of bragging gods, self-important intelligent items, and crazy drunks. There is no way to be certain.<br /></p>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-64502248652546254812012-02-11T17:00:00.000-08:002012-02-12T01:46:55.310-08:00Vecna Reborn<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-44T7-1aY8KA/TzTnXagmptI/AAAAAAAABao/uPGVpIOsw6Y/s1600/RAVVecnaReborn.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-44T7-1aY8KA/TzTnXagmptI/AAAAAAAABao/uPGVpIOsw6Y/s400/RAVVecnaReborn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707441017224341202" border="0" /></a>I recently read the 2nd edition AD&D module <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span>, written by Monte Cook during the end-days of TSR. Long-time Comma, Blank_ readers may recall that one of my earliest posts detailed my thoughts on another AD&D module themed around my favorite villain: <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Lives!</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> is a kind of loose sequel to <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Lives!</span>, insofar as it doesn't contradict its predecessor. There's little continuity between the two, aside from the appearance of Citadel Cavitius, and Vecna himself. But, given that the last adventure ended with Vecna being pushed through a portal into another world--which turns out to be Ravenloft--it's understandable that there's not much to connect this to the previous quest. There <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>a third module which I haven't read yet, entitled <span style="font-style: italic;">Die Vecna, Die!</span>, which ties these two together. I very much look forward to reading it, but that's for another day.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> is only about half the length of <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Lives!</span>, at 63 pages. But that's still twice the length of a standard adventure module, so there's no lack of peril to explore. And the adventure is exciting! I was so engaged I actually put down the novel I've been reading for a week. And, as with any well written module, there's a lot to be learned about game mastery by dissecting the author's work. The author of an adventure module, after all, essentially a professional game master. Who better to try and learn from? Take what works about the adventure, figure out how it was accomplished, and <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">steal it</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RwGnuJyVAb8/TzeJNQPQQmI/AAAAAAAABbA/q8jZDgV2cmQ/s1600/VecnaReborn_Reaver.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RwGnuJyVAb8/TzeJNQPQQmI/AAAAAAAABbA/q8jZDgV2cmQ/s400/VecnaReborn_Reaver.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708181913505645154" border="0" /></a>The most memorable element of this adventure is the constant sense that the PCs are in danger. And not just from wandering monsters and surprise encounters. In fact there are very few of either to be found here. <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> is set between two oppressive autocracies, one ruled by Vecna, and one ruled by Kas the Destroyer (Vecna's former lieutenant, and current mortal foe). Neither civilization requires the players to necessarily keep themselves hidden, but nor do they want the authorities to notice them. The "Daggers" of Kas' domain will arrest, interrogate, and imprison people on a whim. And the "Reavers" of Vecna's domain are undead sentinels who would sooner kill a mortal than deal with any unrest within their lord's domain. Even the relatively few times when the players will likely find themselves outside of either city, wandering patrols, invisible stalkers, virulent plagues, and a life-draining desert serve to keep the players on edge.<br /><br />And that's something I've never been good at. Creating atmosphere in general terms is a struggle for me, but I think I do alright. This adventure, though, would have me actually looking over my shoulder and clasping my hands. I would love to be able to achieve that level of tension and immersion with my players, and I think <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> comes with a good toolkit. Kas' city of Tor Gorak is ruled with a hauntingly chronic injustice, which breeds obsequiousness in its populace. People stay off the streets for fear of getting picked up by the Daggers. The boldest act of defiance in the entire town is the madhouse founded by an old man, where he keeps the insane safe from execution for being 'worthless.' There's only small handful of people there who wouldn't turn on the players instantly to save themselves from the attention of the authorities, and the players are shown early on that they don't want that kind of attention. Shortly after the players arrive in the city, they're (likely) picked up by the Daggers, and taken to their headquarters for interrogation. The players are only released when some good fortune falls into their lap, and if they do anything to warrant getting picked up again, they know they won't be so lucky.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pFLAm7iaGJg/TzeJYvqXyUI/AAAAAAAABbM/wD5TtA7Gp9g/s1600/CavitiusMap_VecnaReborn.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pFLAm7iaGJg/TzeJYvqXyUI/AAAAAAAABbM/wD5TtA7Gp9g/s400/CavitiusMap_VecnaReborn.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708182110919444802" border="0" /></a><br />Vecna's Citadel Cavitius is less overtly totalitarian, but is somehow even more demeaning and oppressive. Horrifying undead guard every entrance to the citadel, allowing any individual to enter, but allowing no one to leave. Vecna, the undead god, rules the city, his undead lords and ladies handle its various affairs, and undead Reavers maintain order. The unholy citizenry ignore the affairs of mortals the same way one might ignore a dog walking through the streets. So while the PCs can go about their business unmolested, their lives are less than meaningless to those around them. It's just as likely that they'll complete their quest as it is for a vampire to pick them off the streets for a gory meal.<br /><br />Imminent danger can take many forms. As I mentioned above, later in the adventure there is a virulent plague killing everyone around the players, leaving them to wonder whether they might catch it themselves. And even on the road, two invisible demons follow the players and cause mischief, letting them know that an unknown danger still lurks somewhere about them. <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> is a litany of very visible, very deadly dangers which the players can do nothing about. Their only hope is to keep their heads down and try to stop Vecna's plot to be reborn without drawing any attention.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HZnQPPKyFA0/TzeJm4P9MwI/AAAAAAAABbY/TVBtKDpiP-o/s1600/VecnaReborn_SkeletalSoldiers.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HZnQPPKyFA0/TzeJm4P9MwI/AAAAAAAABbY/TVBtKDpiP-o/s400/VecnaReborn_SkeletalSoldiers.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708182353742738178" border="0" /></a><br />Another element of the game which caught my attention is The Shadowed Room. During the course of the adventure, the party must travel there to learn how to thwart Vecna's plans. When they find it, they discover that the shadowed room is, in fact, a library. I. Love. Fantasy Libraries. As a bibliophile and a lover of fantasy, they're a combination of two locations which excite and comfort me. I often design such libraries just for the fun of it, and The Shadowed Room is a good one.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLnlzYoIRGA/TzeKcynYhsI/AAAAAAAABbk/DTkk1J7n9Mc/s1600/VecnaReborn_KingOfMadmenSacrifice.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 154px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLnlzYoIRGA/TzeKcynYhsI/AAAAAAAABbk/DTkk1J7n9Mc/s400/VecnaReborn_KingOfMadmenSacrifice.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708183279943321282" /></a>During the height of Vecna's empire in the realm of Oerth, he ruled over a massive city. And in one of the city's many spires, he filled a library with secret both arcane and powerful. The knowledge gathered in this room was so profound, and so remarkable, that the library left a permanent imprint on the multiverse. When the city was destroyed, millennia ago, this imprint remained, as a memory of creation itself. Vecna learned that he could access this memory, and constructed a magical portal to allow himself to access this "Shadowed Room." The knowledge which was once gathered there, knowledge which has otherwise been lost, can be read here. But nothing can be taken from the room, for it is only a shadow of something which once was.<br /><br />Lastly, I want to make note of the fantastic hooks this adventure leaves you with. In my opinion, the best adventure modules leave a group wanting to do more. With the most pressing goal accomplished, a myriad of other possibilities should call to the players, giving the game master a number of avenues to pursue for further games in the same local. And that's precisely what <span style="font-style: italic;">Vecna Reborn</span> does. Immediately upon reaching the period at the end of the last sentence, I instinctively started constructing follow up adventures in my mind. There's so much more the players could accomplish! Freeing Tor Gorak of Kas' rule could last sessions! The headquarters of the Daggers and Kas's own castle would both make excellent settings for dungeon crawls, and after the way the adventure encourages the players to engage with the town's populace, I think they'll feel enough sympathy for them to want to help. Perhaps even form a rebellion for an extended campaign against Kas.<br /><br />Oh! By the way, this is the 100th RPG post on Comma, Blank_. Yay.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-3020740135332017702012-02-10T19:28:00.000-08:002012-02-11T01:14:14.675-08:00Colorful Characters 14: Moreven<span style="font-style: italic;">My <a href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">ladyfriend</a> has contributed a number of pieces of artwork for my Magical Marvels posts, including <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-2-kofeks-tongue.html">Kofek's Tongue</a>, <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-3-wallcrafts-offerings.html">Wallcraft's Offerings</a>, and <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/magical-marvels-4-gravewhispers-claw.html">Gravewhisper's Claw</a>. Recently, she's been working on a character portrait to commemorate the first character she ever played in one of my games: Moreven the sorceress. I'm so impressed by it that I wanted to post it here on Comma, Blank_, and since it's Friday anyway, I thought I'd take a break from my series on the Weapons of the Ascendant Crusade to turn Moreven into a Colorful Character! The real Moreven was killed by orcs, but now you can include a clone of her in any game you choose! As always, you can see more of my ladyfriend's art <a href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">on her DeviantArt page</a>. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I_nVHiZoIzM/TzXmiH5kdjI/AAAAAAAABa0/qlBzrtkONtc/s1600/moreven_the_dark_by_cbmorrie-d4pade6.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I_nVHiZoIzM/TzXmiH5kdjI/AAAAAAAABa0/qlBzrtkONtc/s400/moreven_the_dark_by_cbmorrie-d4pade6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707721576672425522" border="0" /></a>Moreven was always something of a goof. During the simple education children in her town received, she frequently distracted from the lessons to make her classmates laugh--despite the punishment it earned her. As she grew older, she became somewhat notorious as a practical joker. If someone found themselves surprised and humiliated by an unforeseen happenstance, odds were good that they'd hear laughter and running feet right after it. Most of the town's adults looked on her as a troublemaker--though one which they hoped would ultimately grow out of her propensity to make a nuisance of herself. Among her peers, however, Moreven was a queen. Though they sometimes fell before her pranks themselves, her peers none the less adored her for the entertainment she provided them, and for her part, Moreven reveled in their adulation.<br /><br />When Moreven was 12, she found that she was beginning to develop some very peculiar abilities. Abilities which allowed her to bend or even break the laws of nature. Immediately she began using her newfound skills to mastermind even more elaborate pranks, and for a time this worked. But it didn't take long for people to figure out that Moreven was doing things which shouldn't be possible. Things which scared the people of the small rural town. Many of them, even her adoring fans, began to distance themselves from her, then to shun her. They whispered amongst themselves that she was haunted or possessed--whispers which only grew louder when she began to talk to a weasel she had found amongst the crops. Moreven retaliated against the townspeople's whispers with more devious pranks. Pranks which started to skirt the line between harmless fun, and genuinely causing harm. Unsurprisingly, this only strengthened the growing opinion that Moreven was becoming unnatural, and unsafe. Things came to a head when one of the town elders demanded she keep away from his son. Moreven responded by magically knocking a ladder out from under him when he was repairing the roof of his home. She heard the wet cracking sound of his legs breaking as he hit the ground, and knew that she had gone too far. She fled the village then, at the age of 15, without bothering to even say goodbye to anyone.<br /><br />For a while, Moreven managed to earn enough money for food by performing magic tricks in small towns. Her natural clownishness made her an excellent performer, and she found that she could recapture the adulation she had felt from her classmates when she used her powers to entertain, rather than to harm. But her simple magic tricks only kept a given village entertained for so long before she moved on--though rarely before tapping into her skills as a prankster to punish a heckler or two.<br /><br />Eventually, Moreven met up with a troupe of halflings who made their living the same way. They offered to let her travel with them, and for a few months she did. Traveling with a group had its advantages. On her own, Moreven had been accosted by bandits several times, which was less of a problem in a larger group. And while the halfling jugglers, singers, and comedians were good, none were good enough to draw attention away from Moreven's increasingly elaborate magical shows. On the face it was a good deal, but Moreven quickly became frustrated with the Halfling's mannerisms. Though she craved the attention of admirers, Moreven was not a very sociable person, and found the constant friendly hounding of her traveling companions infuriating. They never seemed to want to stop jabbering on about nothing at all. Things came to a head when Moreven discovered that one of the halflings had been stealing from her purse whilst she was asleep. Swearing off ever working with halflings again, Moreven left the troupe in the same manner that she had left her village--though not before setting one of their carts on fire.<br /><br />In the next town, Moreven was performing a show in a tavern when she was approached by a woman with horns and a tail, who asked if she would be interested in working together to solve the town's bandit problem. Morrie had never thought of applying her now well-developed sorceress' abilities to adventuring, but the woman assured Moreven that she was one of the most talented young spellcasters around. Moreven had come to love her life of performing, but realized she would never make enough to pay for more than food and a room before needing to move on to another town. Adventuring would give her an opportunity to make some <span style="font-style: italic;">real</span> money. And besides--nothing was stopping her from performing in the towns they visited.<br /><br />Moreven quickly showed an aptitude for the life of an adventurer. There was gold to be had, and she wanted a piece of it. Moreven and her band were very successful, and when they heard rumors of a secret cathedral to an evil god which was filled with unbelievable treasures, they set out looking for it immediately. It took some doing, but they eventually found the cathedral buried in a cliff side, managed to sneak in, but what they found was not gold and gems. What they found was a necromatic hellhouse. They saw people held in cages, fed to undead monsters to make them strong, necromancers sewing bits of corpses together to create unholy abominations, and numerous other horrors which should not be spoken of.<br /><br />Moreven was disgusted by the blatant display of evil before her. Egging her compatriots on, the party descended on the cultists, and sent them to their dark god. Once the grisly work was done, there was little treasure to be found, though the freed prisoners managed to pool a few dozen gold pieces in thanks. What Moreven was able to find was a clue to the location of another cathedral, and she insisted that the party investigate. They did, and found the location to be much the same, in both the level of evil, and the level of treasure. The party wanted to move on to more profitable ventures, but Moreven pushed them to continue hunting the undead and the necromancers who create them.<br /><br />For a time, the party humored her. She was a valuable sorcerer, and surely one of the temples would have treasure more valuable than the few baubles they'd been able to gather so far. Meanwhile, Moreven was becoming more obsessed with fighting and destroying these horrible monsters. She began to study their craft, guiding her own sorcerous development into the necromatic magics, to better combat her hated foes.<br /><br />Eventually, Moreven's increasing desire to hunt undead rather than seek out treasure caused the group to part ways amicably. Moreven now travels on her own, moving from town to town as a performer, and listening intently for any rumors which would point to any nearby bastion of necromancy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Personality</span><br />Moreven craves the attention of an adoring crowd, but in more intimate social situations she's a recluse. She prefers not to be hassled by peoples problems, or even their genuine interest in her. She's not completely without social graces, though, and can maintain a conversation if she needs to. She simply prefers not to need to.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Tactics</span><br />Moreven has become remarkably adept with Necromancy spells, and with the help of a powerful magic item (the Skull of Necromatic Mastery) she is able to attack her opponents using negative energy spells from even a great range. She does, however, keep a few conventional evocation spells at hand if necromancy fails her.<br /><br />Being a performer, Moreven has a large number of spells which are primarily useful for entertaining a crowd. She often uses these spells to confuse or distract her enemies in combat.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Thoughts on Use</span><br />If all you need is something to spice up a small town, then adding Moreven as a traveling entertainer can do that. Having a sorceress casting flashy spells in the background of a scene can add depth and flavor to a game world.<br /><br />In a more serious context, Moreven has become somewhat renowned as an "Undead Hunter." She can be sought out by PCs in this capacity to offer advice, or other assistance in hunting and destroying undead.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Moreven The Sorceress (CR 3)</span><br />XP: 25.600<br />Female Human Sorceress 14<br />CG humanoid<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Init</span> +2; <span style="font-weight:bold;">Senses</span> Perception +0<br /><hr />Defenses<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">AC</span> 15, Flat Footed 13, Touch 15 [10 + Dex(2) + Robes of Deflection (3)]<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">hp</span> 79 (14d6 +28)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fort</span> +6 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Ref</span> +8 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Will</span> + 12<br /><hr />Offense<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Speed</span> 30ft<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Melee</span> Undying Staff - 4 (1d0/18-20 x2)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ranged</span> Light Crossbow + 2 (1d8/19-20 x2)(80ft)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sorcerer Spells</span> (CL 14th; Concentration +18; +2 save DC for Necromancy spells; +4 to overcome spell resistance)<br />7th (3/day)--<span style="font-style: italic;"> Reverse Gravity</span><br />6th (5/day)--<span style="font-style: italic;"> Acid Fog, Symbol of Fear, Undeath to Death, True Seeing</span><br />5th (6/day)-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Waves of Fatigue, Cone of Cold, Seeming, Overland Flight</span><br />4th (7/day)-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Dimensional Door, Arcane Eye, Ice Storm, Fear, Rainbow Pattern</span><br />3rd (7/day)--<span style="font-style: italic;"> Explosive Runes, Gentle Repose, Ray of Exhaustion, Flame Arrow, Fireball, Dispell Magic</span><br />2nd (7/day)-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Ghoul Touch, Command Undead, Pyrotechnics, Spider Climb, Invisibility, Whispering Wind</span><br />1st (7/day)--<span style="font-style: italic;"> Magic Missile, Disguise Self, Silent Image, Ventriloquism, Floating Disk, Identify</span><br />0 (at will)-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Light, Ghost Sound, Touch of Fatigue, Prestidigitation</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bloodline</span> Arcane<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bloodline Arcana</span><br />Whenever you apply a metamagic feat to a spell that increases the slot used by at least one level, increase the spell's DC by +1. (Does not stack, does not apply to Heightened Spell.)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bloodline Powers</span><br />Arcane Bond -- Able to summon a familiar.<br />Metamagic Adept (3/Day) -- May use a metamagic feat without increasing a spell's casting time.<br /><hr />Stats<hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Str</span> 11 (+0) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Dex</span> 15 (+2) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Con</span> 14 (+2) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Int</span> 14 (+2) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Wis</span> 12 (+1) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Cha</span> 19 (+4)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Base Atk</span> +7/2; <span style="font-weight:bold;">CMB</span> +7; <span style="font-weight:bold;">CMD</span> 19<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Feats</span> Eschew Materials, Spell Focus (Necromancy), Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy), Metamagic: Extend Spell, Metamagic: Maximize Spell, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Combat Casting, Improved Counterspell, Iron Will<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Skills</span> Bluff (+21), Knowledge (Arcana)(+19), Spellcraft(+19), Knowledge (Religion/Undead) (+19)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Languages</span> Common, Elven, Gnoll<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Gear</span> Robes of Deflection +3, Light Crossbow, Bag of Holding, 100ft of silk rope, 10 days of rations, crowbar, bedroll, spyglass, the preserved right arm and left leg of a full grown gnoll, Undying Staff, Skull of Necromatic Mastery<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >New Item: Undying Staff</span><br /><hr />Moreven's signature staff was acquired when I ran her and her fellows through the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 module <span style="font-style:italic;">The Standing Stone</span>. It is constructed from humanoid bones wired together into a single piece. The staff has 1 charge of <span style="font-style: italic;">Animated Dead</span>, and 2 charges of <span style="font-style: italic;">Create Undead</span>. Moreven had a smith modify it to mount a blade on the end, allowing it to serve double-duty as a glaive.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >New Item: Skull of Necromatic Mastery</span><br /><hr />This mysterious and ornate skull is immensely powerful. Any caster who possesses it is able to cast their Necromancy spells with an additional range of 60ft. This range increase includes spells with a range of "touch," which allows the Necromancer in question to use frighteningly powerful spells without putting themselves in direct confrontation with their target.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Familiar: Weasel, the Weasel</span><hr />Tiny Animal<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Init</span> +2; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Senses</span> low-light vision, scent; Perception +3<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">AC</span> 22, touch 14, flat footed 20 [10 + Dex(2) + natural(8) + size(2)]<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">hp</span> 4 (1d8)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fort</span> +2; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ref</span> +4; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Will</span> +1<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Speed</span> 20ft, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Climb</span> 20ft<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Melee</span> bite +4 (1d3 - 4 plus attach)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Space</span> 2 and 1/2 ft.; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reach</span> 0ft<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Str</span> 3 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dex </span>15 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Con</span> 10, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Int</span> 12, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wis</span> 12, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cha</span> 5<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Base Atk</span> +0; <span style="font-weight: bold;">CMB</span> +0; <span style="font-weight: bold;">CMD</span> 6 (10 vs. trip)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feats</span> Weapon Finesse, Alertness<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Skills</span> Acrobatics +10, Climb +10, Escape Artist +3, Stealth +14<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SQ: Attach (Ex)</span> When a weasel hits with a bite attack, it automatically grapples its foe, inflicting automatic bite damage each round.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Familiar Special Abilities</span> Share Spells, Empathic Link, Deliver Touch Spells, Speak with Master, Speak with animals of its kind, Spell resistance, Scry on Familiar, Improved EvasionLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-17207473706169661692012-02-08T17:56:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:09:05.629-08:00Reality is my Sourcebook: The Phylactery<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHuKCx1G9xU/TzM7NR0CgsI/AAAAAAAABaE/dA6C5WKoceQ/s1600/V10p024001.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 374px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHuKCx1G9xU/TzM7NR0CgsI/AAAAAAAABaE/dA6C5WKoceQ/s400/V10p024001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706970252114559682" border="0" /></a>I learned something the other day.<br /><br />The concept of a lich's phylactery is taken from Judaic mysticism. In reality, phylacteries were a complex kind of 'magic underwear' which were apparently quite common in Jewish communities at one time. <a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/">Jewish Encyclopedia.com</a> has an <a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12125-phylacteries">absolutely fascinating article</a> on the subject, written in the early 20th century. There's an impressive amount of detail there, much of which I think I would need to know a lot more about Jewish tradition to fully understand. But enough of the article is written in plain English for me to learn a lot about the beliefs surrounding this tradition.<br /><br />As I mentioned in my post titled <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/12/succubi-deserve-more.html">Succubi Deserve More</a>, I like to explore the mythology behind fantasy tropes. Not only does it result in me becoming a more educated and historically aware person, but the real-world mythology always offers fascinating insight into the fantastic possibilities. Whoever first decides to take some cultural or mythological element and include it in a fantasy story takes what works for them, and leaves the rest. That's how fantasy writing works. But who is to say that the elements they left behind aren't sometimes just as interesting as the elements they chose to keep?<br /><br />For clarity's sake, lets start with the explanation of what a phylactery is in Pathfinder, pulled from The Pathfinder Bestiary, page 188. For those curious, this excerpt is functionally identical to the same excerpt in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Monster Manual. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LL_x8p6neZQ/TzNTuXyzcNI/AAAAAAAABaQ/izEukAkH5Bk/s1600/JeffEasly_TheLich.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LL_x8p6neZQ/TzNTuXyzcNI/AAAAAAAABaQ/izEukAkH5Bk/s400/JeffEasly_TheLich.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706997208934740178" /></a><blockquote>An integral part of becoming a lich is the creation of the phylactery in which the character stores his soul. The only way to get rid of a lich for sure is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich can rejuvenate after it is killed. (See Creating a Lich, below).<br /><br />Each lich must create its own phylactery by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation.<br /><br />The most common form of phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The box is Tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40.<br /><br />Other forms of phylacteries can exist, such as rings, amulets, or similar items.<br /></blockquote><br />Not a lot to go on, really. I also seem to recall very distinctly that the process of becoming a lich (and so, presumably, creating the phylactery) is supposed to be profoundly evil. To my knowledge, that is the sum of official material on what a phylactery is within the game world. There are probably a few dragon magazine articles, and sourcebooks from the 70s and 80s which contain further tidbits of "official" information, but for now the basic definition will do.<br /><br />Before moving any further, I would like to again remind my readers that I am not a credible source on the topic of Judaic history and lore. The sources for this post, which have far more information on this topic, are the <a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12125-phylacteries">Jewish Encyclopedia.com article on Phylacteries</a>, and the <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/">Skeptic's Annotated Bible</a>.<br /><br />The historical phylactery, by comparison, was considered a very holy thing. In fact, if you look at the word's etymology, the Greek root words suggest that it was intended to protect the wearer from evil. The Jewish custom is based on a number of passages in the Torah, most notably this excerpt from Deuteronomy:<blockquote>And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. <span style="font-weight:bold;">And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.</span> And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on they gates.</blockquote><br />The 'words' this passage wants the reader to spend so much time talking about are, as best I can determine, God's laws. Variations of this passage show up in a number of places, since repetition is an essential element in an oral tradition. The important part, though, is the bit I emphasized. That's the origin of the historical phylactery. The exact means of how these devices were worn is somewhat unclear to me. The image at the start of the post demonstrates how complicated they appear to be--and every element was important. Even the way the knots were tied was meant to symbolize specific Hebrew lettering. Essentially, however, historical phylacteries are small boxes or pouches which are worn on the arms and between the eyes. Within the pouches are a specific arrangement of passages from the Torah, written on tiny scrolls of paper. This is likely where the idea of a lich's phylactery being a metal box filled with tiny magical scrolls came from.<br /><br />One of the archetypical things which liches do is hide their phylacteries. Common ideas are to hide it in a fortress somewhere, or to give it to a powerful dragon to protect. I've been involved in discussions on /tg/ and elsewhere which focus just on coming up with the most outrageous, funny, and clever ways to hid a phylactery. And I've heard some positively fantastic ideas. But the historical phylactery was a thing which had to be worn. You couldn't leave it at home and continue to rely on the spiritual protection it provided.<br /><br />Of course, if every lich was wearing their phylactery dangling between their eyes, the monster would loose all of its flavor. But what if there was a limit to how far away the phylactery could be from the lich? Say, it must be within 1 mile of the lich's location. For each additional mile away, the lich suffers from 1 negative level, and if the lich reaches 0, it dies and re-forms at the location of its phylactery. Perhaps the lich might even get some kind of bonus if its phylactery is within 100ft, say, plus one caster level? Adding a mechanic like this takes nothing away from the the fun of hiding the lich's phylactery, and in fact may end up being a great deal <span style="font-style: italic;">more</span> fun for the players. Looking for a hidden item can be fun, but if that item is in an adamantite box which shifts to a random location in the multiverse every 30 seconds, the players are simply going to get bored. Adding limits gives the players somewhere to start their investigation. Plus, this adds a fun element to the game of a lich needing to actively manage their phylactery's location in order to avoid negative levels.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbyZrOJY01U/TzNUFJ0FvHI/AAAAAAAABac/7aF3VGxeCQs/s1600/Dark-Art_death_lich.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbyZrOJY01U/TzNUFJ0FvHI/AAAAAAAABac/7aF3VGxeCQs/s400/Dark-Art_death_lich.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706997600319028338" /></a><br />Also interesting is that the wearer of a historical phylactery was not supposed to enter a cemetery, or "any unseemly places" whilst wearing it. Again, this suggests some interesting possibilities for the lich's phylactery. Since liches never have their phylactery, it wouldn't make sense for certain places to only be accessible when the lich didn't have it, but what if there were certain places a lich couldn't enter UNLESS it had its phylactery with it? Such as an area which is consecrated, or perhaps they cannot go within 10 miles of their original birthplace without their phylactery. It might even be interesting to say that a lich could never enter a cemetery without its phylactery. Though, given a lich's frequent need for necromancy reagents, this could make things difficult.<br /><br />There are a number of rules for historical phylacteries...actually there are a plethora of rules. There is an entire pantheon of rules. This is, after all, Judaism. The rules range from the spacing on the letters on the little scrolls, to the attention span of the chap scribing those letters, to even the color of the case. Largely, I don't think these have much application. They could be fun if one was trying to come up with a good ritual for creating a phylactery, but unless a character becoming a lich is the focus of a campaign, I don't think it's particularly useful to go into the creation process too much. Although that would be a kickass campaign.<br /><br />However, this rule caught my eye: "The straps (Yad. iii. 3) were made of the same material as the boxes, but could be of any color except blood-red." Perhaps I'm shooting in the dark, here, but what if blood were harmful to phylacteries? What if, perhaps, blood was the ONLY thing which could harm a phylactery. The blood of a goodly person--or perhaps even the blood of a fallen hero. The phylactery must be coated with it, and then it becomes as brittle as a twig.<br /><br />I encourage you to read up on the historical phylactery yourself, and comment on your own ideas for making a lich's phylactery more interesting!LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-47129989252627121382012-02-06T21:41:00.000-08:002012-02-07T01:32:05.867-08:00Negune: Historical Overview<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KeQHENRsj0I/TzC5zMC1w_I/AAAAAAAABZ4/lNxAnt_L_xg/s1600/wjttm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KeQHENRsj0I/TzC5zMC1w_I/AAAAAAAABZ4/lNxAnt_L_xg/s400/wjttm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706265016936023026" border="0" /></a>If you recognize the map above, you may just pay more attention to my posts than I do. I posted it once before (sans political notations) in an October update about methods for <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/non-digital-random-map-generation.html">generating maps randomly without using a computer</a>. As the sloppy handwriting in the upper right indicates, this is the continent of Negune, location of my <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-gming-methodology-for-ascendant.html">Ascendant Crusade</a> campaign. Normally when I start a new game, I start a new game world, and its geography and locals are developed as the players travel further and further abroad from where they start. But Negune is special.<br /><br />You see, several years back I had no job, no close friends living nearby, and most importantly, no Internet. My TV was broken as well, so I couldn't play any of my console games. From September through to December of 2009 I did two things: Watch Star Trek The Next Generation over and over again, and work on developing the world of the Ascendant Crusade. It may sound very sad--and truthfully it wasn't a pleasant time in my life--but I must confess I miss the absolute focus my isolation provided me. It's remarkable what one can get done without the Internet.<br /><br />So where am I going with this? Well you see, I miss working on Negune. I had a lot of ideas which I never had a chance to develop beyond concepts. I want to write about this place. Hell, it's already started <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/magical-marvels-4-gravewhispers-claw.html">seeping into my recent writing</a>. Even while I wrote the Gravewhisper's Claw post, I knew that the dozen made-up 'fantasy words' I was dropping were going to be gibberish to my readers. So from here on I'll occasionally be doing posts which develop my Negune campaign setting. Maybe we'll even learn something about creating a living breathing world along the way. Who the fuck knows.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >History of Negune</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Many thousands of years ago, the god, Valor, looked upon the world of Tyrgaren and saw that it had no heroes to rival those of other worlds. "This will not do!" he bellowed, and struck the oceans with his hammer. Opposite his blow, a new continent rose from the sea. "Here will heroes worthy of me be born! Let any who seek my favor come to Negune, and prove themselves!" To this, Valor's brother Strife replied "If heroes are to be made here, there must be challenges to test them!" With this, Strife sowed across the land challenges unlike those seen before on the face of Tyrgaren. Hearing her brothers, Abundance approached. "You fools." she chided "Who will fight for this land? Who will struggle so hard against challenges so great simply for the favor of a distant god?" And Abundance caressed the land of Negune, bestowing it with a fertility and richness seen nowhere else on Tyrgaren. The three gods embraced, proud of their work, and turned their attention away from their creation. It was then that Evil approached, and blew his dark breath over the land of Negune. "And now," he whispered, careful not to be heard by the three creator gods "my darkness shall always guide this land's fate."</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">--Creation myth, found scribed on an obsidian tablet in the central Arganian forests. </span></blockquote>The earliest civilizations of Negune organized themselves into city-states. Not much is known about this period or what came before it. What is clear is that these city states had a variety of cultures, some quite different from each other. During this civilization's peak, there were several hundred of these city states, frequently warring with one another and vying for land and resources.<br /><br />It was during this peak that a woman named Eganaptyc arrived in the city state of Oriac. History is unclear on precisely where she came from, and many recovered texts from this period suggest a supernatural origin. However, the people of Negune at this time had not yet managed to construct ships capable of crossing oceans, therefore it is more likely that Eganaptyc arrived on Negune from one of the other continents, which were much more technologically advanced during this period. No effort has yet been made to search the ancient libraries of other lands to discover her origins.<br /><br />Eganaptyc was a Wizard of not insignificant skill, if tales of her magical demonstrations are to be believed. Though, given that the people of Negune at this time had very limited experience with magic, their accounts are highly suspect. None the less, Eganaptyc's magical prowess and apparent benevolence quickly elevated her within Oriac, and she was made an adviser to the city's king. The king had no children, and upon his death the people demanded that Eganaptyc take the throne.<br /><br />Under her rule, Oriac began to aggressively expand its boarders. First by securing powerful alliances with other city states in the East, then by conquering the city states to the West. Once her control there was established, Eganaptyc turned on her Eastern allies and conquered them. So did Eganaptyc's wars of conquest continue for many years. Wars which were continued by her son when she became too old to devote her full attention to matters of state. Eganaptyc lived just long enough for all of Negune to be brought under the rule of Oriac during her granddaughter's reign.<br /><br />With no enemies left to fight, Eganaptyc's granddaughter, Retyac the Benevolent, turned her attention to strengthening her empire by spreading education to its furthest reaches. This is the beginning of Negune's golden age. It was marked by unprecedented prosperity in every corner of the Eganaptyc Empire. Technological advancement and learning accelerated, and within ten generations the once primitive Negune had become one of the most advanced societies in the world. The capital city of Oriac came to be widely known as the greatest city in all the world, stretching out to cover the entire island of Argania.<br /><br />For three thousand years this unprecedented prosperity continued, and the Eganaptyc Empire flourished. But as Eganaptyc's descendents became more and more removed from the teachings and philosophies which had made their ancestors great, they began to lose touch with their people. When the people questioned them, these rulers resorted to oppression. And <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/02/magical-marvels-4-gravewhispers-claw.html">almost suddenly, within twenty years, millennia of good was undone</a>. Oriac was sacked, anyone who had represented law and order was subjected to the rule of the mob, and civilization was lost.<br /><br />Alternative governments were tried, but the incessant squabbling and vying for power in these governments led to constant wars, which invariably resulted in groups that were even more fractured, and required even smaller forms of government. Within a few centuries, Negune had descended from a continent-spanning empire, to a loose confederation of states, eventually returning to city states, and then descending even further into tribalism, and finally to barbarism. And there it remained for an eon.<br /><br />Two thousand years after the fall of Oriac, five adventurers came to Negune. Many adventurers had come before them, but all had either returned home or perished. But these seven would prove different. Their names have become legendary: Korrik Anribo, the mighty elven wizard; Shorn Ironteeth, the dwarven axemaster; Horatiana, the human whose songs could soften even a titan's heart; Grephar, the human paladin; Norak the wild man; Bronsond the elven ranger; and Carrifeist, the half elven rogue.<br /><br />For over thirty years, these seven traveled to every land of Negune. They slew monsters, saved villages, and bred good will throughout the land. Then, while exploring the Cold Iron Mountains in central Negune, something happened. Not a one of them would ever speak of it during their lifetimes, but when they descended from the mountain Bronsond was not with them, and they immediately parted ways.<br /><br />Korrik settled in the far North, on a small island which he named Ribanko. He never spoke with any of his compatriots again. Shorn united many disparate and primitive dwarven clans, and settled in the ore-rich mountains in the North, founding the dwarven city he called Shornholm. Grephar traveled far to the West, to the most defensible position in the party had found in all of their travels. He united the people there, and called his nation Stekett. Carrifest settled near the sea. When people came and built a city around her, and begged her to rule it, she named it for her fallen comrade: Bronsond. Horatiana, the party's public face, had gained the most good will during their travels, and people flocked to her banner when she chose to settle down. So many swore allegiance to her that she had to break her nation, Regalia, into seven provinces: Tonshire, Shield Haven, Garvain, Centralia, Volpan, Sextent, and Pyensal. One for each of her former comrades. Before the group parted ways, Norak asked only that his friends never civilize all the land, and that they leave plenty of space for him to run free.<br /><br />Eight hundred years have now passed since the Seven Heroes parted company. All have long since died--save Korrik, who still broods on his isle to the North.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-14152654901585226092012-02-05T12:36:00.000-08:002012-02-05T22:22:24.318-08:00Magical Marvels 4: Gravewhisper's Claw<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k_bjQTIDqOY/Ty8qrN8cIvI/AAAAAAAABWo/xvm3rSiCHqI/s1600/gravewhisper__s_claw_by_cbmorrie-d4oss7f.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 284px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k_bjQTIDqOY/Ty8qrN8cIvI/AAAAAAAABWo/xvm3rSiCHqI/s400/gravewhisper__s_claw_by_cbmorrie-d4oss7f.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705826174867612402" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This week's artifact kopesh is again from <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-gming-methodology-for-ascendant.html">my Ascendant Crusade campaign</a>, much like the previous two artifacts <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-3-wallcrafts-offerings.html">Wallcraft's Offerings</a> and <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-2-kofeks-tongue.html">Kofek's Tongue</a>. This weapon is again illustrated by my ladyfriend. You should check out more of her art </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">on her DeviantArt page</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Gravewhisper's Claw<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Artifact Kopsh</span><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">KOPESH</span><br /><hr />The kopesh is the ancient Egyptian name for a type of sword dating back to 3,000-2,000 B.C.E. The hooked design of the sword was, ostensibly, to allow warriors to grab shields out of their opponent's hands. The sword was used in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 supplement "Arms and Equipment Guide," as a heavy slashing weapon which could be used for trip attacks. The base weapon is exotic, can be wielded in one or two hands, costs 20gp, deals 1d8 slashing damage, has a crit range of 19-20 and multiplies damage by 2 on a critical attack. This is something of a misrepresentation of the weapon, which had a narrow, light blade. For my own purposes, I combined the more traditional blade design and purpose with the thicker width and high damage. <hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHYSICAL ATTACKS<br /><hr /><br />(Blade)</span> 2d8 + 5 (Slashing)(19-20/x2)<br /><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPELLS GRANTED</span><br /><hr /><br />1/Day - <span style="font-style: italic;">True Strike</span>, cast by whispering "Blade of mine, fail me not!" This is a free action. The next attack gains a +20 attack bonus, and ignores any miss chance from concealment. (Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pg. 363)<br /><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPECIAL ABILITIES</span><hr /><ul><li>The blade of Gravewhisper's Claw has one of the keenest edges ever forged. Not only was the swordsmith a master of their craft, but magical enhancements to further narrow the edge, and protect it from dullness have been cast upon the weapon with the skill of the greatest of archmages. This grants the weapon its additional 1d8 damage die on top of the standard kopesh.</li><li>Aside from the powerful sharpness enchantments upon the blade, Gravewhisper's Claw also holds an enchantment which causes the edge of the blade to be hot as a blacksmith's fire. When attacking, Gravewhisper's Claw is able to ignore up to 8 hardness. This allows the wielder to cut into stone as though it were paper. Even steel provides little more resistance than leather. This bonus does not apply to Damage Reduction, nor does it bypass any amount of Armor Class. It does, however, aid in sunder attempts. </li><li>Anyone wielding Gravewhisper's Claw gains the Improved Sunder feat if they do not already have it. Sunder attempts attempted by the wielder do not provoke attacks of opportunity, and are made with a +2 bonus. Additionally, the wielder gains +2 to their combat maneuver defense against sunder attempts.<br /></li><li>Gravewhisper's Claw's hooklike blade can be used to make a trip attempt. If the wielder is tripped during their own trip attempt, they can drop Gravewhisper's Claw to avoid being tripped.<br /></li><li>Gravewhisper's Claw's hooklike blade can be used to make a disarm attempt at a +2 bonus to the wielder's combat maneuver check. This is in addition to the +2 granted by the Improved Sunder feat, for a total of +4.<br /></li><li>The first time anyone takes hold of the hilt of Gravewhisper's Touch, they are immediately affected by a powerful illusion which last several hours for them, but for others appears to last only a few minutes. In this illusion, the wielder experiences the greatest battle the blade was ever involved in: the fall of Niston.<br /></li></ul><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">APPEARANCE</span><hr />Gravewhisper's claw is made of polished black adamantine, and inlaid into an ornate hilt of silvery mithril. The grip of the blade is wrapped tightly in red leather--made from the skin of a Balor killed within the realms of the Abyss. A large sapphire is serves as the pommel of the blade, and two thin bands of gold encircle the silvery hilt just below the blade. The blade itself is thicker than the blade of a standard kopesh, and it hooks more sharply at the end. The edge of the blade glows a dull red color, and though it does not burn to the touch, water which strikes the edge instantly turns to steam. In the crook of the blade floats an ancient Negunian rune. The rune is insubstantial, so objects can pass through it as though it were not there. Roughly translated, the rune means "loyalty above all," with the connotation of strong, even romantic, affection.<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HISTORY</span><hr />When it was created, this blade had another name. It was commissioned by an an ancient king who ruled over the entire continent of Negune from the great city of Oriac, which spanned the entire isle of Argania. The blade was to be given as a gift to the king's mightiest servant who resided far to the North, who was presently quelling a small uprising there. The blade was sent to the king's servant's forward command post by way of a heavily guarded caravan. It was to be the symbol which would carry the royal army to victory against the rebellion.<br /><br />Unfortunately for the king, a rebel force which had made its way deep into the king's territory ambushed the caravan, and stole many of its treasures; including the mighty blade. Instead of serving as a symbol of the king's generosity and his people's unity, it came to represent the might of the rebellion, and the ability of the people to strike a blow against the seemingly invincible armies which ruled over them. The sword rallied the people to the rebellion's cause. And though it took twenty years and countless lives, the rebellion overthrew the king and his kingdom.<br /><br />The end of the war also saw the end of law on the continent. After twenty years, the rebels were ruthless in their extermination of all that their overlords had stood for. The entire city of Oriac was razed to the ground. Its books, its artwork, its many treasures were lost forever. The rebels had come to find authority so distasteful that they rejected the very notion of government. The continent descended into tribalism for centuries, descending eventually into barbarism. For some time the blade would appear here or there for a generation or two, in the hands of a powerful warrior. But it soon became lost.<br /><br />It wasn't until several millenia later, after the continent had been re-settled by immegrants from another land that the blade was rediscovered by an Illumian adventurer named Byert Gravewhisper. It had made its way into the bottommost depths of an unexplored crypt within the boarders of the Regalian province of Volpan. He was there with his adventuring party, led by she who would someday come to be known as The Whispered Queen, looking for the one true c0py of The Book of Vile Darkness, bound by Vecna's own hand. It was easy to spot, for though a thick layer of dust had settled over its entire surface, the red glowing edges burned away any dust which settled upon them.<br /><br />Byert carried the blade with him through the rest of his adventures. The weapon's original name and history had been lost to the ages, so he dubbed the blade "Gravewhisper's Claw." It served him well as he adventured across the continent, and later as he conquered the continent as a general of The Whispered Queen. It was during this period that he commissioned an enchantment placed upon the blade. A passionate military historian, Byert collected many historical weapons and had them enchanted to allow him to re-live the weapons' greatest battle in an illusory world.<br /><br />The weapon remained by Byert's side until his ultimate demise by the side of The Whispered Queen, over a thousand years after he first took the blade for his own. One of the warriors who defeated the Whispered Queen took the blade as his own for a short time. But shortly before his death, he donated it to the clerics of Byblyx, an order which holds the preservation and sharing of knowledge to be the greatest commandment of their goddess. Since then, the blade has been kept in a museum within the capital city of the new Negunian Republic.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-26286892159503124362012-02-04T18:23:00.000-08:002012-02-05T22:21:48.298-08:00Creating an Evil Campaign Featuring the Undead<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkdImVs2S50/Ty3pXqIZedI/AAAAAAAABV4/CU20vUCgzvk/s1600/2poo6jc.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkdImVs2S50/Ty3pXqIZedI/AAAAAAAABV4/CU20vUCgzvk/s400/2poo6jc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705472895604062674" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Note: This Friday's Magical Marvels is written and ready to go up. However, my ladyfriend is busy with coursework, and has not been able to create the art for it. Both of us have really enjoyed what her art has added to this series of posts, so I'll be holding off on posting it until sometime Sunday, after she completes the image. Thanks for your patience!</span></span><br /><br />A month or two back, I typed a bunch of tabletop RPG keywords into twitter, found some random accounts, and followed them. I'm quite active on twitter, but most of my twitter friends are not tabletop role players, so I was hoping to expand my circle of friends a little more. By and large the endeavor has been a failure. Most of the accounts I followed have since been unfollowed either for being inactive, or being boring. Recently, though, one of those accounts posted this:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z52YGKKXHt8/Ty3qPYSzRlI/AAAAAAAABWE/3FPV2bbRPxk/s1600/1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 112px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z52YGKKXHt8/Ty3qPYSzRlI/AAAAAAAABWE/3FPV2bbRPxk/s400/1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705473852888532562" border="0" /></a>Tips on an evil campaign? Why, <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-zalekios-gromar-and-undervaluation.html">Evil is my middle name</a>! It's also my first and last name. Legally, I am Evil E. Eviltan. The original family name is actually "Evilsatan," but it got anglicized when my grandparents arrived on Ellis island. Anyway, I quickly sent DMfemme a response.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sJ6F4Qkdpvk/Ty3rf97yZCI/AAAAAAAABWQ/2-1QlreiUmM/s1600/1_5.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 112px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sJ6F4Qkdpvk/Ty3rf97yZCI/AAAAAAAABWQ/2-1QlreiUmM/s400/1_5.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705475237382087714" border="0" /></a>A few days went by, and I forgot about the message. Twitter is more of a chat room than a message board. If it takes someone more than 15 minutes to respond, odds are they aren't going to. But lo and behold, a few days later:<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k4-tQeBkqE/Ty3sFT9BQPI/AAAAAAAABWc/YqFKXIl7tng/s1600/2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 112px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k4-tQeBkqE/Ty3sFT9BQPI/AAAAAAAABWc/YqFKXIl7tng/s400/2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705475878947995890" border="0" /></a>Undead you say!? Why, I would say that undead was my middle name had I not already established that all of my names are permutations of 'evil!' That was, perhaps, shortsighted writing on my part. None the less, undead are my specialty. I don't think I've ever run a campaign which didn't include undead as a major element. Ever since my <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/personal-history-of-role-playing.html">first game ham-fistedly throwing a mummy at my player</a>, to my most recent cloak & dagger style game about the Cult of Vecna. When it comes to monsters, if it's decomposing and likes the taste of sweet sweet manflesh, I like to include it in my games.<br /><br />The first thing you should do, if you're willing and able to spend a little money, is pick up a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Libris-Mortis-Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying/dp/0786934336"><span style="font-style: italic;">Libris Mortis</span></a>. It's a 3.5 supplement, so if you're running D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder the book is a must-have. But even if you're using another system, there's a lot of good fluff in here. More than I can cover in a single post, and it includes some of my favorite undead monsters. For this post, I'll focus on things I've learned through my own gaming experience, which are not found in <span style="font-style: italic;">Libris Mortis</span>.<br /><br />I can think of a few ways an evil campaign can be undead based. The players can <span style="font-style: italic;">control</span> undead, the players can <span style="font-style: italic;">work with</span> undead, the players can <span style="font-style: italic;">work for</span> undead, or the players can <span style="font-style: italic;">be</span> undead. And, of course, you can mix and match. All of these are fun, and all come with their specific quirks.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Players Control Undead</span><br />If the players control undead, then they are likely of the Wizardly or Clerical persuasion, or some type of magic user at least. Though there's no need to discount other possibilities. Perhaps the players find powerful artifacts early in the game which allow them to control undead--artifacts which grown in power as the characters level up. Or the characters could take the batman super villain route and fall into an open vat of negative energy, only to come out of it with the ability to control undead to some extent.<br /><br />The thing about players who control undead, though, is that they become powerful quickly. Why explore a dungeon when you can simply send hoards of zombies into the dungeon as meat-shields. They'll set off any traps and defeat or weaken any monsters within. Once they've done the grunt work, the players can move in and gather up the treasure. Even if they go into the dungeon themselves, encounters need to be buffed up significantly to make up for all the extra attacks players get ("my character attacks, then Zombies 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 attack").<br /><br />Still, one can't deny the feeling of power that controlling an undead hoard gives to players. It's an exhilarating feeling, and the GM should let them enjoy that. But that doesn't mean the GM should never take it away. Undead-controlling villains can come up against paladins or clerics, able to cause their undead to flee in terror. Or they might find themselves forced to fight on consecrated ground where their undead cannot tread. Worst of all, they might eventually face a more capable necromancer, able to steal their control of their undead away from them! (You could call him "LS," mwuahaha)!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Players Work With Undead</span><br />Lets say, for example, that rather than <span style="font-style: italic;">being</span> necromancers, the players work <span style="font-style: italic;">for</span> a necromancer. This gives the players a bit more freedom, since the GM doesn't need to shoe-horn the players into the position of controlling some undead. More freedom means the players have more control, and the players having more control means the players have <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-player-agency-and-gm-guidance.html">Player Agency</a>, and player agency is a good thing to foster in your games. This option also gives the players less power over how the undead interact with the game, since they don't control them directly. And as a third boon, this option gives the GM a convenient "quest giver" in the form of the player's necromatic master.<br /><br />Consider, for example, a scenario where the players are in the service of the great Necromancer Alicia. Alicia wants the players to subdue a tribe of goblins living not far from her tower of Brooding Darkness. Perhaps she provides them with amulets to help them direct the undead, but she could just as easily send an NPC along to control the undead, or even just control the undead herself from the aforementioned tower. Or perhaps Alicia doesn't want the goblins killed, but just needs the players to throw some undead-powder into the goblin's bonfire, causing them all to choke on the fire's smoke and become zombies themselves.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Players Work For Undead</span><br />The players working for an undead has a lot of potential to play out exactly the same way that the players working for a necromancer does. After all, necromancers don't die, they just become liches. (...which, I guess, requires dying at some point, but you take my meaning.) However, there are a variety of intelligent undead with the potential to keep the players as their minions.<br /><br />Vampires are a favorite of mine. I've always felt they're underused in the role of "overlord" style villain. Player quests could include finding humans for the vampire to feed on, help bring about eternal night, or even just work on traditional goals like conquering the world. Just because you don't have a pulse or show up in mirrors doesn't mean you don't still lust for power. Ghosts are another great example. Being incorporeal, ghosts are much less likely to pursue worldly goals, but they could easily have plots of their own. Perhaps they want to return to a corporeal body, or they want the players to enact a ritual which will allow them to pass on to a more pleasant afterlife than the one for which they are destined.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Players Are Undead</span><br />Players as undead offers some of the most interesting possibilities. There are plenty of undead types for players to pick from. The party's wizard could be a lich, the rogue could be a ghost, the fighter a vampire, and the cleric a mummy. Even normally unintelligent undead such as ghasts, ghouls, wights, etc can be "awakened," allowing them to have an Intelligence score. Players will be happy because their undead have fantastic special abilities. All of them will be immune to crits, most of them will gain special attacks, and massive bonuses to their stats.<br /><br />The players will likely be so distracted by all their special bonuses that they'll completely forget all the power they're handing over to their game master. Yes, the vampire fighter now has +6 natural armor, but they also cannot enter private residences without first being invited in, nor can they go outside during the day. And don't forget that all undead can potentially be turned, or worse, dominated by a powerful necromancer. Which isn't to say that you should punish your players for being undead--simply that you should make use of their weaknesses. That's part of the fun of undead!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br />Other</span><br />There are a few other things I'd like to mention about running an undead-heavy campaign before ending this post.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Origin</span> Many types of undead come with origin stories attached. Some are created when innocents are buried in a mass grave, others are spawned of unrepentant murderers, or children killed by their own family members. (The <a href="http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Slaymate_%283.5e_Template%29">slaymate</a> is one of my all time favorite undead.) Be aware of these origins, and if a type of undead doesn't have them, think about creating your own. The origin of an undead can give you a good baseline for that undead's personality. Or, if the players are out to create a specific type of undead, it can provide them with a gruesomely evil task.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Cliches Aren't Scary</span> If you're running an undead-heavy campaign because you like the creepiness of undead, remember that something stops being creepy once you get used to it. If you've only got a few adjectives to describe a zombie--rotting, shambling, grotesque--then your players are going to get bored of them really quick. Be creative, pull out a thesaurus, and make sure you keep giving your players new types of undead to encounter. Your zombies should dribble black gore onto the ground as they shamble, your lich should have half of a nose and a jaw attached to his skull by a wire, and your skeletons should still have bits of shriveled organs piled at the bottom of their rib cage.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't Forget the Classics</span> Often times, game masters get caught up in the big fancy undead, and forget about the little guys. Skeletons and Zombies can be incredibly creepy and threatening at any level. Don't forget that humans aren't the only ones who can be corpse-ified! One of my favorite monsters is the skeletal hill giant. And the dragon whose zombie-wings are too rotted to fly on any longer can be a terrifying foe. Even without using a high-CR foe as the base creature, these types of undead can be formidable. I recently threw my players up against a large number of skeletons which had <span style="font-style: italic;">Magic Missile</span> inscribed on their index fingers. My players found it quite challenging to run back and forth across the battlefield taking out the skeletons one by one, getting hit by 1d4 + 1 unblockable damage from each skeleton each round.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And never forget:</span> If you're running a game with undead, use a <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/09/pathfinder-monster-corpse-sewn.html">Corpse-Sewn Hekatonkheires</a> at some point. It's just the right thing to do!LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-15607771696656419292012-02-02T04:56:00.000-08:002012-02-02T06:56:41.652-08:00NPC Reactions<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HlU_jVHhwV0/TyqKYXLaJuI/AAAAAAAABVs/s0Bva8Qus20/s1600/Massimo.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HlU_jVHhwV0/TyqKYXLaJuI/AAAAAAAABVs/s0Bva8Qus20/s400/Massimo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704524029161514722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Fair warning: the job that pays for my rent has been exhausting lately. I fell asleep immediately after coming home last night, and didn't wake up until morning. I had a rough outline of this post prepared already, but don't have as much time as I'd planned on to actually put it together. </span></span><br /><br />Non-player characters pose a real challenge for me, as a game master. Much as I pride myself on improvisation as a general skill, I am not at all satisfied with my ability to conjure up interesting NPCs on the spot. Over the years I've found that I default to a handful of naming conventions (Um...it'll start with a P..."Hello traveller! My name is...Pyort!" *Players all crack up*) and that all my voices, personalities, etcetera start to sound suspiciously similar over time. An entire world full of Pyorts is not a good idea, let me tell you.<br /><br />To try to remedy this failing of mine, I've tried coming up with a number of tools. I once spent a good six months working on a PHP script which would randomly generate a bunch of "seed" information for an NPC. The idea was that you could hit a button, and be given a race, class, personality type, mood, name, etc. All of which were suited to my campaign setting. The whole project had the added bonus of helping me hone my sloppy PHP skills. Unfortunately I had to move just as the project was gaining momentum, so it's been on the back burner for going on three years now.<br /><br />The project may have been overly ambitious in the first place anyway. These days I'm convinced that there must be a simpler, more elegant way to make NPCs distinct from one another. One which doesn't require that I have a laptop behind the GM screen. There are, after all, a number of identifiable things which modify a person's attitude and behavior. Cultural traits, for example. There have been some interesting studies about how culture modifies a person's behavior, even within the united states. For example, as a statistical average, people in the south are more likely to be polite, but they're also more likely to become violent if they feel they've been insulted or marginalized. Whereas my experience in the pacific northwest for 24 years has led me to expect that people are largely passive aggressive about their feelings. That's a pretty big difference, and it's the same species within the same country. Imagine a world like Pathfinder's where there are literally different races. (In fact I did look at that question <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/monstrous-culture.html">just recently</a>.)<br /><br />Over the last few days, however, I've been thinking much more about what makes people act the way they do in my own life. If I go outside and talk to my neighbors, or to my girlfriend, or to my coworkers, or to my friends, what will affect the way they act towards me? We're all the same species, and we all live in the same area, so ostensibly we would have the same basic rules about social interaction. Yet even day to day a given person can change the way they act. So what's going on, and how can it help me make a better NPC? The way people act around one another is heavily influenced by their mood, their reaction to your mood and appearance, and a myriad of other tiny details which could be placed on a simple random chart for quick NPC generation.<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just received good/bad news/experience</span> This can be small news, like receiving a discount on an item at the shop, or stubbing one's toe. Or it can be bigger things, such as when a merchant arranges a deal which will ensure long-term profits for them, or when a farmer learns that his neighbors farm has been ravaged by locusts and fears he may be next. People are more likely to be helpful and friendly when they've received good fortune, and more likely to be unhelpful and dour when they've received bad. And, of course, the level to which their mood affects them is proportional to how good or how bad the news is. </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Looking forward to something with anxiety/excitement</span> Anxiety and Excitement can manifest themselves very similarly to having just received good or bad news, but in either case a person is likely to be preoccupied with something which is going to happen soon, and may not have as much time for strangers.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">First impression of you is good/bad</span> People have many standards by which they judge a person. The aristocracy, or other contributing members of society, might find you dirty and unpleasant due to your adventuring lifestyle. However, they might also look on you as a curiosity. Someone with interesting tales to tell. Likewise a farmer might see an adventurer as a compatriot. Many adventurers are low-born folk, and they live roughly as low-born folk do. Unlike knights, adventurers are just trying to get by rather than serving a lord. But adventurers also have a nasty reputation for wooing farmer's daughters (or sons).<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Likes/doesn't like members of your gender/race/class/etc</span> The fantasy worlds that many of us play in are based on a medieval world which, in reality, was insanely prejudiced. Now, I am strongly of the opinion that in most fantasy adventure games, history should be ignored on this point. I won't go into that here, because I could write an entire post on that topic. However, it's perfectly legitimate for individual people (or towns or cultures) to hold a particular prejudice which makes them difficult for specific player to deal with. Wizards or Sorcerers could be viewed as untrustworthy, or as offensive to reality. Perhaps men are viewed by a particular culture to be brutish and rude. And elves, don't get me started on those slack-jawed daffodils...<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Generally outgoing/introverted</span></span> This one seems pretty simple, really. Some people are friendly and eager to interact with new people. They're most likely to be helpful on minor issues, though it doesn't necessarily mean they'll go out of their way for strangers. More introverted folks may be no less friendly, but they're not going to be as comfortable dealing with people they're not already familiar with. <span style=" font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></li></ul>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-7609580382550956032012-01-30T01:54:00.000-08:002012-01-30T19:36:52.054-08:00Dwarven Tanks<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AlajOG-nHgo/TyZwnLEFTUI/AAAAAAAABTQ/4oS3RUtUOtQ/s1600/TankAttack.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 277px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AlajOG-nHgo/TyZwnLEFTUI/AAAAAAAABTQ/4oS3RUtUOtQ/s400/TankAttack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703369796398435650" border="0" /></a>I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the past, but I'm a huge fan of oldschool Final Fantasy games. Any numbered games X or prior are great, but IV, VI, VII, and VIII are my favorites by far. Amusingly, I've never really had a taste for western RPGs of the video game variety, such as the Elder Scrolls series, or Mass Effect games. They much more closely emulate my one true love--tabletop games--but I think there's a sort of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley">uncanny valley</a>" effect for me. I like linear games, and I like games with true tactical infinity, but games which emulate tactical infinity without actually giving me infinite options can just be frustrating.<br /><br />I think it was on my second or third play-through of Final Fantasy IV when I had this idea. There's a point, about halfway through the game, after you steal the airship from the evil city-state of Baron. The heroes must fly into a giant crater which connects the surface world to the vast underground realm of the dwarves. Almost immediately you find yourself in the middle of a pitched battle between the Baronian airship navy, and the land-based dwarven tanks.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TJlQDwuTteA/TyZxwiGKJgI/AAAAAAAABTc/e9_DVJKV4Yc/s1600/t_sfdfsdfsffsfsf_155.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TJlQDwuTteA/TyZxwiGKJgI/AAAAAAAABTc/e9_DVJKV4Yc/s400/t_sfdfsdfsffsfsf_155.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703371056711607810" border="0" /></a>The tanks make a few more appearances throughout the game, and the idea intrigued me. I am apparently not alone in this, because both the Warcraft and Warhammer franchises employ dwarves with tanks. Perhaps it's because the race themselves--short, squat, and unimaginably tough--fundamentally resemble tanks. Whatever the reason, I decided that dwarven tanks would make a great addition to my D&D games. However, I'm not a huge fan of including technology in fantasy games. It can be a fun twist for a setting, but as a general rule I like the most advanced technology in my games to be a crossbow. So the challenge was to create a dwarven tank which didn't rely on technology, but also did not rely on an excessive use of magic, since dwarves would probably find distasteful. This is what I came up with. Lali-ho!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">The Dwarven Tank</span><br /><br />The main body of the dwarven tank resembles a boxy steel shell, longer than it is wide. Along the bottom edge of the shell are small steel sheets, attached to the shell by hinges. When the metal sheets are raised, one can see that there are four large iron wheels supporting the shell, and that it otherwise has no bottom to it. On top of the shell, in the center of its surface area, is a large flat disc, and from that disc protrudes a long cylindrical barrel, 7ft long. On both ends of the long shell are small protrusions, the purpose of which is not readily apparent.<br /><br />As large as the dwarven tank may seem from the outside, within things are positively cramped. Each tank employs crew of 11 of the strongest dwarves available. Six dwarves serve as "movers," two dwarves serve as backup movers, one dwarf serves as spotter, one as driver, and one as hammermaster. Since the tank has no bottom, all eleven dwarves must walk in unison with the tank's movements, which is surprisingly difficult for a large number of dwarves to do within such a cramped space.<br /><br />The six movers are divided three to each side, where they take hold of sturdy bars mounted into the inner-walls of the steel shell. Their task is simple: push in unison, either forward or backward, according to the instructions of the driver. The six movers are rotated in shifts with the two backup movers, to ensure that no dwarf ever spends too long at the strenuous task of moving the behemoth dwarven tank.<br /><br />The two protrusions at either end of the tank are periscopes, which are used by the spotter to give instructions both to the driver, and to the hammermaster. The tank completely lacks windows , or openings of any sort save the flaps at the bottom of the tank, so without the spotter and his periscopes, the dwarven tank crew would be blind. The driver stands at one end of the tank, where a number of controls are mounted. A wheel for steering, various pulleys to raise the metal flaps to help the tank move over obstacles.<br /><br />The hammermaster mans the gun, or the "Shock-Put" as the dwarves call it. He uses a pair of heavy cranks to adjust the vertical angle from 0 to 80 degrees, and the horizontal angle up to 180 degrees. These cranks are adjusted according to instructions from the spotter. Once the gun is aimed correctly, the two movers currently off-duty take one of the "shock rocks" from the large bin on the opposite end of the tank from the driver. The shock rock is then loaded into the bottom of the shock put, which is then sealed.<br /><br />The seal of the shock-put holds the shock rock in place while the hammermaster prepares his swing. When the crew is ready to fire, the hammermaster takes up a large two-handed warhammer, and strikes the the bottom of the shock-put, where a piston is mounted. The piston has a special permanent explosive rune enchanted on the inside, which strikes the shock-rock with all the force the hammermaster can transfer into it. The resulting explosion, which varies in strength based on the force with which piston is struck, sends the shock-rock careening out of the shock put at fantastic speeds, often flying as far as five or seven hundred feet when struck by a skilled hammermaster.<br /><br />Most dwarven tank groups also carry a small supply of explosive shock rocks, which are themselves covered in explosive runes. These projectiles cause significantly more damage, but are difficult to create, and thus not used as frequently.<br /><br />It is said that once, long ago, a great dwarven king built a mithril tank which, due to its relatively light frame, could move twice as fast as most dwarven tanks. However, due to the rarity of mithril, this tale is often dismissed as a fabrication.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-15252673782538539342012-01-28T23:31:00.000-08:002012-01-30T00:49:56.254-08:00Succubi in Succubus Town<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TM5j2Xjx6js/TyZMK6l1CAI/AAAAAAAABTE/U3dS-0vVcgY/s1600/2_succubi.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TM5j2Xjx6js/TyZMK6l1CAI/AAAAAAAABTE/U3dS-0vVcgY/s400/2_succubi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703329728521635842" border="0" /></a>I'm obsessed with Comma, Blank_'s Google Analytics profile. Fiddling around with it, learning new things about my traffic, and watching the ways in which my readership has grown in the last few months tickles me pink. And more than anything else, I obsess over are search terms. Knowing what people are looking for when they find your site is not only useful, but it can be gods damned hilarious. Someone searching for "bar0n'ika" ended up finding <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/11/colorful-characters-4-baron-ika-of.html">Colorful Characters 4: Baron Ika of the Treebreaker Tribe</a>, and someone searching for "erotic art inspired by the dungeons & dragons monster manual" found a scan from the 3.5 Monster Manual which I once uploaded but never used.<br /><br />Hits from unusual search terms like those listed above tend to be rare. Most people find Comma, Blank_ by searching for much more mundane terms: dungeon door, elf archer, orc ranger, etc. One unusual term, however, is actually quite common. In fact, <span style="font-weight:bold;">it is the number one search term which leads people to visit this site</span>: "Succubi in Succubus town."<br /><br />The page these folks are finding, of course, is my post from early December entitled "<a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2011/12/succubi-deserve-more.html">Succubi Deserve More</a>," which I think is among some of my better work. I'm only too happy that people are finding it. But I can't help but wonder why in the world <span style="font-weight:bold;">so many people</span> are searching for this term in the first place. I tried searching it myself, and can find no reference to any kind of succubus town whatsoever. Mostly it's just novels by a woman named Nina Harper. I would think that, given the frequency with which the term is searched for, that it was an actual reference to something which could be found online. But no such luck.<br /><br />In discussing this oddity with some of my friends, we got to joking about what a succubus town might look like. Which is when it hit upon me that I should actually start taking notes on our conversation, because writing a post about a town populated entirely by succubi sounds <span style="font-style:italic;">awesome</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >The City of Al Uzzara</span><br />Colloquially known as "Succubus Town," or just "Sex City," Al Uzzara is an opulent metropolis located on the 570th layer of the Abyss; Malcanthet's Domain. Unlike many parts of the abyss it is generally considered a pleasant place to visit. The entire permanent population of Al Uzzara are succubi and incubi, and within the city limits these otherwise evil creatures seem intent on nothing but making their guests comfortable and happy during their stay.<br /><br />Unfortunately, no one is able to truthfully explain precisely how their stay was made pleasant. A permanent and powerful enchantment on the city of Al Uzzara causes any non-succubus who visits to completely forget anything which happened there within an hour of their departure. All they are left with is a vague sensation of how they felt about their stay.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Atmosphere</span><br />On the surface, Al Uzzara is a place where any being can satisfy their carnal urges easily and cheaply. Every inn doubles as a brothel, and every eating establishment is accompanied by a burlesque show. Demons are the city's most common patrons, but beings of many cultures which view planar travel as commonplace visit Al Uzzara frequently. Even humanoids are a common enough sight here, though few creatures of a goodly alignment ever willingly travel to the abyss.<br /><br />The succubic residents of Al Uzzara happily alter their mannerisms, their forms, even their gender, so as to appeal to the aesthetic sensibilities of their visitors. And succubi are <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> good at determining a creature's innermost desires. The guile and trickery which is known throughout the multiverse to be synonymous with succubi seems conspicuously absent here. Most who venture here become overwhelmed by the decadent possibilities to dwell on that curiosity. Those few who do look beyond the surface of Al Uzzara quickly find the natives to be much less friendly. If they are unlucky enough to actually discover anything, they may never return from the city of sex.<br /><br />In truth, the city is, literally, a breeding ground of demonic soldiers and slaves. The succubi of Al Uzzara entice their male visitors to engage in as much debauched sex as possible, allowing the succubi to give birth to demon spawn which may then be sold as troops for the generals of the blood war, or as slaves to anyone who desires them. Female visitors are likewise encouraged to entertain their wildest desires, only to then be drugged, and have their gestation periods magically accelerated. When they awake they will never know what evil's they've helped bring into existence.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Layout</span><br />Al Uzzara is a walled city, with many high towers and sky bridges overlooking the beautiful, but deadly, gardens of the 570th layer of the abyss. It is divided into a number of districts designed to appeal to a variety of archetypical sexual predilections. There are posh pleasure palaces, and lascivious libraries. A district of seedy back alley debauchery, and one of not-so-chaste religious figures--though none of the churches here are consecrated of course. There are even areas of the city for those who like to dominate, or be dominated by others. The city's main roads are designed to allow visitors to travel directly to an area which suits their desires, without passing into an area they may not want to visit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Nexus:</span> All throughout Al Uzzara are hidden doors. Every bedchamber, every harem, every place where a visitor might think themselves alone (save their companionship) is accessible from the nexus. It is a circular stone chamber, buried deep beneath the deepest basements of the city above. Seven ascending ramps spiral outward from the bottom of the chamber. Every few feet along the wall of the chamber is a portal, showing a view of the chamber it leads to. Walking through the portal causes one to appear in some innocuous place out of sight of the room's occupants. The Nexus is used both to carry female guests to the birthing chamber, and to secretly switch out a male guest's companions, so that his previous companions may visit the birthing chamber.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Birthing Chamber:</span> A short hallway at the bottom of the Nexus leads to the Birthing Chamber. Succubi, inherently capable of controlling their own reproductive process, visit here only to drop off their spawn in cages to be sold later. For the non-succubi who are brought here, there are a rows of comfortable couches attended by succubi particularly adept in sorcerous magics. They accelerate the gestation periods of these females, dull their pain and heal any damage caused by the birthing, then call on others to carry them back through the nexus while their young are prepared for sale.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Horns:</span> The horns are the two tallest buildings in Al Uzzara. They are conically shaped--wide at the base, and rising to a point at the top. This is the only visible portion of the city which visitors are not allowed to access, and in fact, it can only be accessed by one with the ability to fly. The right tower is the seat of the city's government. Malcanthet reigns supreme over Al Uzzara, as she does over the entire 570th layer, but she rarely visits this city. The rule of Al Uzzara is largely left to a council of 30 succubi, whose primary concerns are drawing willing victims to the city, and bartering deals with those who wish to purchase the slaves the city produces. The left tower is home to the city's enforcers, collectively known as biters. Violence and conflict are rare in Al Uzzara, and when they occur there is normally a succubus on hand who can easily handle the situation themselves. The biters primarily concern themselves with watching for any who have remained in the city too long, or who seem to be paying too much attention to how the city is run.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-12040996199323634202012-01-27T18:29:00.000-08:002012-01-27T22:04:50.857-08:00Magical Marvels 3: Wallcraft's Offerings<span style="font-style: italic;">This week's artifact duom spear, also from my Ascendant Crusade campaign, is again illustrated by my ladyfriend. You should check out more of her art </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">on her DeviantArt page</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Wallcraft's Offerings<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Artifact Duom Spear</span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-__ar7YaUIWE/TyOMJaSdtdI/AAAAAAAABS4/wk1CyBpXINU/s1600/spear__wallcraft__s_offering_by_cbmorrie-d4nu51w.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 369px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-__ar7YaUIWE/TyOMJaSdtdI/AAAAAAAABS4/wk1CyBpXINU/s400/spear__wallcraft__s_offering_by_cbmorrie-d4nu51w.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702555646484657618" border="0" /></a><hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">DUOM SPEAR</span><br /><hr />The Duom spear, introduced in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 supplement <span style="font-style:italic;">Arms and Equipment Guide</span> is a longspear with a standard spearhead, as well as two blades curved so that they point backward along the shaft. The weapon has reach, allowing you to strike opponents 10 feet away with it. Those proficient with the duom can also attack adjacent foes with the reversed heads using a practiced "reverse thrust." Apply a -2 penalty on the attack roll if you use the duom to attack a second, adjacent opponent in the same round you attacked the first opponent. Duom spears cost about 20gp, deal 1d8 damage for medium creatures, with a critical multiplier of 3 on a natural twenty. They weigh 8 pounds on average, and deal piercing damage. <hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHYSICAL ATTACKS<br /><hr />(Main Blade)</span> 1d8 + 5 (Piercing)(20/x3)(10ft.)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Reverse Blades)</span> 1d8 + 5 (Piercing)(20/x3)(5ft.)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Shaft)</span> 1d6 + 5 (Bludgeoning)(20/x2)(5ft.)<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPELLS GRANTED</span><br /><hr />At Will- <span style="font-style: italic;">Unhallow</span>, cast by thrusting Wallcraft's Offering into the ground for two minutes. (Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pg. 363)<br /><br />At Will - <span style="font-style: italic;">Animate Dead</span>, cast by letting the droplets of blood from Wallcraft's Offering fall onto a viable corpse for 1 full round. (PFCR Pg. 241)<br /><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPECIAL ABILITIES</span><hr /><ul><li>Though Duoms are not made for throwing, Wallcraft's Offerings magically gives it a throwing range increment of 20ft.<br /></li><li>At will it can be summoned to its owners hands.<br /></li><li>At will, the blood dripping from The Blind Empress' hand can create a cloud of red mist around the spear's blade, granting a +5 to bluff checks when attempting to feint.</li><li>Once per day, The Blind Empress' discarded eye can guide the spear in magical flight. A target who is within the sight of the thrower must be selected, and the thrower must speak the command word "May Vecna make my aim true!" Wallcraft's Offering then flies through the air at a speed of 120ft per round, following the target even around corners, and up to one mile distant from the thrower. After either hitting or missing the target, or reaching 1 mile of distance, Wallcraft's Offering is magically summoned back to the thrower's hands. </li><li>Wallcraft's Offering grants the wielder a +10 on Spellcraft, Knowledge(Arcana), and knowledge (Religion) checks.</li><li>When attempting to recruit followers of Vecna, the wielder is granted +5 to their leadership score. All normal leadership restrictions apply.</li><li>The character wielding Wallcraft's Offering is treated as one level higher for the purposes of determining how many undead they can control.<br /></li><li>Wallcraft's Offering can be used as a holy symbol by followers of Vecna. </li><li>Wallcraft's Offering radiates a strong aura of Necromancy and Evil.<br /></li></ul><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">APPEARANCE</span><hr />The blade's shaft is made of a polished bronze, which is perfectly smooth, yet does not slide in the hand when gripped. The shaft ends in an expertly crafted bronze skull, from which springs the the adamantium spear blade. A pair of imp's wings, torn from the back of one of the foul creatures, have been magically turned to iron and shaped into the duom's reverse blades. The Whispered Queen's eye, plucked from her own head, is mounted between the two wings. Likewise her hand, cut from her own arm, clutches the duom's shaft just below the spear blade. Though it has been severed for years, it still bleeds profusely. Any blood which falls from it, however, disappears shortly after it touches the ground.<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HISTORY</span><hr />Not much is known about the early life of the woman for whom this weapon was named. She was always shrouded in mystery, and what was known of her has now been lost to the mists of time. What people do know are the titles she earned for herself. Vecna's Heartfelt Voice, The Blind Empress, the Whispered Queen, Lady of the Ascent--Warmisstress Wallcraft. From her granite throne at center of the Citadel of the Seed, she ruled over the known world with an iron fist for a thousand years. Though it has been centuries since the end of her rule, there are few more terrifying figures in history than she. Perhaps even more so, now that she sits at the right hand of the god she served so well.<br /><br />It is said that the Whispered Queen was chosen at a young age by Vecna himself. That he groomed her, and guided her to usurp the leadership of his religion from her long forgotten predecessor. That when she stood over the bloody corpse, she turned the knife on herself, and cut out her eyes and her left hand in honor of her god.<br /><br />The followers of Vecna--those few who still remain--know the story to be a little less dramatic. The Whispered Queen did usurp leadership of the Cult of Vecna from the former leader, and in doing so, obtained both <a href="http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Vecna#Hand_and_Eye_of_Vecna">The Hand and The Eye</a>. The removal of her own hand and eye were a gesture of faith, yes, but it was also necessary for her to affix the powerful artifacts to her own body. And she only removed one eye, as the other had been lost during her youth. But even the faithful do not know that tale.<br /><br />After gaining control the Cult of Vecna, The Whispered Queen took her severed hand and eye, and forged them into one of the most magnificent weapons the world has ever seen. Working with her companions, including master tactician <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-2-kofeks-tongue.html">Kisteer Forktongue</a>, The Whispered Queen systematically conquered kingdom after kingdom with ruthless efficiency. Often neighboring nations were completely unaware that their ally had been conquered until the forces of Vecna were on their own doorstep. The world fell before her might, and her empire lasted a thousand years.<br /><br />But all empires must fall. The Whispered Queen finally met her end at the hands of upstart peasants, and Wallcraft's Offering was seemingly lost to the ages.<br /><br />What is not commonly known is that one of the peasants who defeated the Whispered Queen, a paladin named Toryan, tried to destroy the vile weapon, but could not. No fire would smelt it, no axe would sunder it, no hammer could even dull its razor edge. At a loss for options, she gathered together three dozen other paladins from her order, and they traveled deep into the wilderness. When they reached a suitable place, they all dug together for nine days, and placed the spear in a sealed adamantium box, upon which they placed powerful wards against evil and divination--hoping to keep its location hidden from the god of secrets himself.<br /><br />The 37 paladins then buried the box again, and vowed to dedicate their lives to its protection. They settled there, and built a small farming community on the ground above their ward. Generations have passed, and the community has grown to a small town of 300 people. Most know nothing of their town's founders, or of their town's sacred purpose. They are no longer even deep in the wilderness: civilization has spread out around them, and there are several other communities nearby. Only the twelve town elders, and the town's High Cleric know of the secret beneath the earth, and even they know only that a great evil rests there which must be protected.<br /><br />But centuries have passed, and the magical protections have begun to weaken...LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-3201146150261352052012-01-25T18:44:00.000-08:002012-01-25T19:31:26.653-08:00A Personal History of Role Playing<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l-ufWNxJi1o/TyC-7w8_UrI/AAAAAAAABRk/H2-tcvEAr-k/s1600/DSCF0486.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l-ufWNxJi1o/TyC-7w8_UrI/AAAAAAAABRk/H2-tcvEAr-k/s400/DSCF0486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701767062213317298" border="0" /></a>When I was young, I liked to play pretend. When we're young, we all do. I played "Star Wars" a lot, putting myself into the role of Luke Skywalker, waving sticks around and making "vroosh!" noises with my mouth. As I got a little older, and my friends started to be more interested in bicycles and video games, I continued to enjoy playing pretend. Which isn't to say I didn't love video games or bicycles. I distinctly remember being a member of a "biker gang" which wasn't allowed to cross any streets, so we just rode around the block over and over. But while my friends <span style="font-style: italic;">stopped</span> playing pretend, <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> fantasies only became more elaborate. I even started making up my own characters, drawing pictures of them, and writing notes about their various abilities and weapons. Looking back on it, these pieces of paper were proto-character sheets.<br /><br />I owe it to <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/billamend">Bill Amend</a>, the brilliant cartoonist behind the long-running syndicated comic strip Fox Trot, for first introducing me to the concept of tabletop role playing games. You see, one of my other passions as a young child was reading the comic strips in the daily newspaper. Even after my family stopped having the paper delivered, because my parents didn't have time to read it, I convinced my grandmother to save the comic page for me. I even kept all of the comic pages in a box under my bed. If you're not familiar with Fox Trot, one of the primary characters is ten year old Jason Fox, a geeky kid who excels academically, and is passionate about many "nerdy" pursuits. I can't recall precisely when, but at some point during my childhood the strip featured Jason and his friend Marcus playing Dungeons and Dragons. The game wasn't mentioned by name, but the core elements were all on display: a dungeon master's screen, dice, and the DM weaving a world for the player's character to explore.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlzJiojkrhU/TyC_-jJIemI/AAAAAAAABRw/9PTFxzyEeYA/s1600/dungeons-and-dragons---gocomics-com--comics--edito-lrg.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 147px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlzJiojkrhU/TyC_-jJIemI/AAAAAAAABRw/9PTFxzyEeYA/s400/dungeons-and-dragons---gocomics-com--comics--edito-lrg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701768209557387874" border="0" /></a>The notion intrigued me. I was too young then to remember what precisely went through my mind, but I knew that whatever they were doing looked fun, and I wanted to play too. I constructed a GM screen out of black construction paper, and glued little pieces of note paper to the inside of it. On the note paper, I wrote the rules I had made up for the game. I also recall creating small tokens--doodles on pieces of paper--to represent adventurers and monsters. I also had a bowl with numbered scraps of paper to take the place of the dice. My parents warned me that the game I was emulating was an evil one--which would prove to be a major point of contention later in my life. But, to their credit, they didn't go so far as to forcibly stop me from pursuing the project. I spent at least a few days working on my primitive version of D&D, but never really figured out how to make all the elements come together into a cohesive game. Nor could I convince any of my siblings to play with me. Eventually I gave up and largely forgot about the project, as kids are apt to do.<br /><br />Eventually I joined my friends in growing out of playing pretend--though I never did stop quietly imagining myself to be someone else. That's something I still do to this day. But so far as role playing is concerned, I didn't take my next step until I was about 14 years old. That's when my family finally got an Internet connection, and an entire <span style="font-weight: bold;">world</span> outside of my orthodox catholic homeschooler existence opened up. Writing about my history with the Internet and the impact it had on my life could be a whole other post altogether. But what's important is that it didn't take long for me to break my parents rule about never talking to other people on the Internet. In short order I found forums, and on forums, I found people role playing.<br /><br />It was awful. The role plays I participated in those days were all themed around the Legend of Zelda mythos, yet most of the players were playing Final Fantasy characters. Not ripoffs mind you, characters like Auron, Sephiroth, and Red XIII were (for some reason) determined to save Hyrule. I hesitate to even mention the character I played, because I don't think anyone directly involved remembers, but my character was actually named "Link Skywalker." He traveled through dimensions living through other people's lives. After living through someone's life, he had all of their abilities and equipment. I honestly cannot tell you how tempted I am to simply edit this paragraph out and let my readers go on blissfully unaware of how shamefully bad my early role playing was.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_AyygC4nls/TyDCNRWm3eI/AAAAAAAABR8/1_yVLFj5qug/s1600/P7160008.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 143px; height: 255px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_AyygC4nls/TyDCNRWm3eI/AAAAAAAABR8/1_yVLFj5qug/s400/P7160008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701770661503360482" border="0" /></a>It was around this same time that I joined a saber fencing class, which may seem irrelevant. However, this is the class where I first met Jeremy. He was quite a bit older than me, and in the advanced class, but we connected over our shared nerdiness. It wasn't long before we spent more time talking than we did fencing, and I eventually learned that he played Dungeons and Dragons. I had always been interested in D&D, since I realized it was what Jason and Marcus had been playing in that old Fox Trot comic. However, my parents had made it very clear to me that such games were strictly forbidden--not just by them, but by "almighty god." I wasn't really convinced that D&D was evil, but at that time I was scared enough of my parents that I didn't pursue the topic further.<br /><br />My forum role playing continued for several years, and the quality of it improved a great deal. I abandoned my original character almost immediately in favor of one I dubbed Beloch Shrike (partially after the villain from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark"><span style="font-style: italic;">Raiders of the Lost Arc</span></a>, and partially after the villain from <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Paradise_Snare"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Paradise Snare</span></a> by A.C. Crispin.) The rest of the group similarly matured, and we experimented with a lot of different things. Some of the most important friendships of my life were formed during these early role playing experiences. Eventually, I even attempted to start a website, titled Epic Journeys, which would serve as a nexus of tools, information, and guides to help people facilitate running their own forum role plays. The project never really got off the ground, though I did actually manage to accomplish one thing. As part of the project, I coined the term "Online Text Based Role Playing Game," or "OTBRPG," and added it to Wikipedia (not then fully aware that this was a serious violation of Wikipedia's rules.) Not only was the article <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTBRPG">never removed</a>, but I have since actually met people who use the term without knowing I invented it. Seriously, google it. The phrase has entered somewhat common usage. This never ceases to crack me up, but I digress.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A_iG3JDttU0/TyDEB_KZqHI/AAAAAAAABSI/E98_wo2p8go/s1600/Catechism-of-the-Catholic-Church-Second-Edition1634xl.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A_iG3JDttU0/TyDEB_KZqHI/AAAAAAAABSI/E98_wo2p8go/s320/Catechism-of-the-Catholic-Church-Second-Edition1634xl.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701772666665019506" border="0" /></a>Everything changed for me, quite suddenly, in the last half of 2004. I was seventeen, still heavily involved in forum role playing, and starting to develop a taste for philosophy. My continued interest in Dungeons and Dragons led me to begin looking through the Catechism of the Catholic Church (big book o' rules) looking for any mention of role playing or D&D. After finding <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">none</span>, I went online and found a forum dedicated to Catholics discussing their faith. I asked them what they thought about D&D being evil, and if you want to see something hilarious, <a href="https://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=8934">the entire thread is still online and available to read</a>. (Though apparently it now shows up as an unsafe link in most browsers. As best I can tell it is still safe to visit.) Most of the answers from other posters seemed to agree that there was nothing inherently wrong with D&D, so I printed the thread out and proudly presented it to my parents. After reading the printout, however, they summarily denied my request to be allowed to play the game. My parents were pretty terrifying people, and I grudgingly obeyed them.<br /><br />Two months later, in September, I met Stephanie, and the changes in my life accelerated. We had a lot in common, including a shared interest in Dungeons and Dragons. At that time I had still never played, and she had played only once or twice. I won't go into the details of our relationship, as is still somewhat painful, and certainly outside this blog's subject matter. Suffice to say that I was head over heels. By November we were dating, and the relationship lasted for six years. In those early days of our relationship, I did a lot of things in order to spend more time with her. I bought a copy of Starcraft so we could have Battle.net dates. And, more relevantly, I took my fencing buddy Jeremy up on his standing offer to borrow his copy of the Dungeons and Dragons third edition core rulebooks. I hid them under some papers in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. Most kids are probably hiding weed, booze, porn and sex from their parents when they're 17. I was hiding role playing sourcebooks. Some might see it as sad, but I'm actually rather proud of that.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BGtRDWkpORY/TyDFwcqmIXI/AAAAAAAABSU/PYlklfkRMuU/s1600/dice_tower.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 105px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BGtRDWkpORY/TyDFwcqmIXI/AAAAAAAABSU/PYlklfkRMuU/s400/dice_tower.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701774564370293106" border="0" /></a>The first little bit of D&D I ever played was with Stephanie. It was bad. I GMed a really short adventure for her where she fought a mummy. I didn't understand any of the rules, and I was throwing stats around left and right without any idea what they meant. Fortunately, my parents and the rest of my family were out of town the following week, so Jeremy came over to give me a proper introduction to the game. Again: most kids throw drinking parties when they're seventeen and their parents are out of town. I threw an adventuring party, and I'm proud of that. When Jeremy arrived he brought a gift with him: my own set of dice. They were a deep red with blue flecks, and they came in a plastic cylinder. He also brought with him his brand-new 3.5 edition core rulebooks, helped me roll up my very first rogue, and ran me through a simple Colosseum adventure where I fought some green needle monster things. It was glorious.<br /><br />I continued in that way for quite some time. I purchased my own copies of the 3.5 rulebooks, and Jeremy would GM for me at his home. His ladyfriend, Jacie, eventually joined me as a gnomish cleric, and the two of us had many fine adventures together. I don't remember how long it took for my parents to find out, likely just a few months if I remember correctly. I had just returned from a game at Jeremy's, and went to find them to let them know I was home, my laptop bag filled with D&D supplies still in hand. They looked at me funny, and asked what I did when I was over at Jeremy's. I tried to be nonchalant, and told them that we mostly just played games. They responded;<br /><br />"Do you play Dungeons and Dragons?"<br /><br />"Yes," I said.<br /><br />They didn't really react much at all to that. Merely nodded and seemed to accept that this was a thing I was doing now. I never have been able to tell what things will make my parents angry and what things they can accept. For awhile I thought that, perhaps, they had mellowed out a bit, and become more accepting. That notion was proven wrong recently, when I asked them if I could buy my younger brother the Pathfinder Beginner Box for Christmas. They denied my request, adding that they didn't like what "those types of games" had already done to one of their children. <span style="font-style: italic;">Cest'la vie</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Jgv_VE3dKA/TyDG2WIJYgI/AAAAAAAABSg/ACXy5dwblaY/s1600/DSCF0815.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Jgv_VE3dKA/TyDG2WIJYgI/AAAAAAAABSg/ACXy5dwblaY/s400/DSCF0815.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701775765206032898" border="0" /></a>Never the less, I took my books out from the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet, and placed them lovingly on one of my bookshelves.<br /><br />Jeremy and I continued to play together, and I tried my hand at GMing several times. I've always loved crafting worlds. In fact, as a young child I used to spend a lot of time drawing complex maps for a monster-filled series of caverns.* I was born to be a GM, but running games for one person can be a limiting experience. I needed a larger group, but I had been home schooled since the fourth grade, and didn't really have the social tools to make friends. At least, that is, until I enrolled in college for the Fall 2005 semester. College is supposedly an eye opening experience even for kids who attended an actual school, so you can imagine what a change it was for me. I met so many wonderful people there, including Chris and Jeremy. They were my first gaming group. I was so happy to finally have one that I actually purchased Player's Handbooks for both of them. We had some great games together, and they even invited some of their own friends along, giving me a nice full party to work with.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBOJPh8psQU/TyDHZZI3vCI/AAAAAAAABSs/YJiT1HTx-p4/s1600/DSCI0028.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBOJPh8psQU/TyDHZZI3vCI/AAAAAAAABSs/YJiT1HTx-p4/s400/DSCI0028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701776367309798434" border="0" /></a><br /><br />To repeat an old cliche, the rest is history. Gaming groups have come and gone, and there have often been weeks or months at a time when I don't get to play, but my love for the game always remains. It's been over seven years since I picked up my first sourcebook--which seems like such a short amount of time compared to the lifetime I feel I've lived as a gamer. Jeremy plays in most of my games, and still serves as my GM whenever we play <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/search/label/Zalekios">Zalekios</a>. And if there's anything I've learned, it's that there will always be people out there who want to play games. All they need is someone to suggest it, and be willing to show them how it's done.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*Holy shit. I can't believe I never thought of using these old drawings as a dungeon for my players before. I know exactly where they are.</span>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-82909533007614604812012-01-23T22:25:00.000-08:002012-01-24T07:32:38.286-08:00Monstrous Culture<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AsnjyeRG9Uw/Tx5qcgC-tyI/AAAAAAAABRY/dUmiXu4UD7c/s1600/orc1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 324px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AsnjyeRG9Uw/Tx5qcgC-tyI/AAAAAAAABRY/dUmiXu4UD7c/s400/orc1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701111216168941346" border="0" /></a>Culture is important. No matter how much of an individual we think we are, each and every one of us is shaped by our culture in profound ways which we aren't even aware of. For example, those of us who pride ourselves on individualism? We probably come from cultures, like the U.S., which emphasize individualism as a positive trait. Given all the fundamental ways in which our culture shapes us, it should be obvious that understanding a person's culture is an essential element in understanding their outlook. Where am I going with this?<br /><br />The cultures of the most basic, most iconic monstrous races in fantasy adventure games are all shit. And it ought to change, because I'm tired of ostensibly different creatures being functionally identical. Take, for example, four of the paragon monstrous races which have been harassing adventurers since first edition D&D: Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and Gnolls. Below, I've reduced the small amounts of cultural information for each of those races, taken from the Pathfinder Bestiary, to bullet points. If you'd like to check my work, these monsters can be found on pages 155, 156, 183, and 222.<br /><b> </b><br /><b>Orcs...</b><br />Are violent and aggressive.<br />Are led by whoever is strongest.<br />Take what they want by force.<br />Don't have regard for the lives of others.<br />Are not good at farming or herding.<br />Prefer to take things from others rather than earn those things for themselves.<br />Their largest group is a "band."<br /><br /><b>Goblins... </b><br />Are filled with hatred.<br />Live in dark places and caves.<br />Are superstitious.<br />Scavenge items from the more civilized races rather than producing anything for themselves.<br />Are universally illiterate.<br />Their larges group is a "tribe."<br /><br /><b>Kobolds...</b><br />Live in caves and other dark places.<br />Are overly proud of their distant relationship to dragons.<br />Are cowardly.<br />Are schemers.<br />Prefer to attack in large groups.<br />Their largest group is a "tribe."<br /><br /><b>Gnolls...</b><br />Prefer to scavange or steal kills, rather than hunt themselves.<br />View non-Gnolls as either meat, or slaves.<br />Enjoy fighting, but only if they have an overwhelming advantage.<br />See no value in courage or valor.<br />Their largest group is a "tribe."<br /><br />Based on those elements, how different are those four really? Is a goblin's rage significantly different from the violence and aggressiveness of orcs? Why do Orcs, Goblins, and Gnolls all universally prefer to take rather than to make? The similarities become even more obvious if you expand the cultural definitions beyond what is found in the scant few lines offered in the bestiary. Ask any gamer to give you the primary characteristic of goblins, and I'll bet you a shiny new platinum piece that they'll say "cowardice" nine times out of ten. That makes three out of four monstrous races which, despite supposedly being threatening, are culturally defined by their cowardice.<br /><br />Most people who play tabletop games are familiar with the phrase "humans in funny hats." A human in a funny hat is a non-human character who is played without regard for race defining characteristics. Such as a dwarf who doesn't care for gold, or ale, or stonework, and prefers to live above ground. Such characters are, essentially, being played as humans. They're merely wearing the skin, or the 'hat,' of another race.<br /><br />Here I think we're dealing with a similar problem. Out of four monsters, most of their cultural traits overlap with each other. The problem only becomes more pronounced if you begin to add more creatures, such as lizardfolk or bugbears. In the end there really seems to be only one or two different types of monster cultures in play, reiterated through lizard people, dog people, dragon people, green people, small green people, and so on. A GM who wants his players to face a large force of angry, marauding creatures without regard for human life could sub in any one of these races without needing to alter how his or her campaign is constructed at all.<br /><br />I'd like to try to develop legitimately distinct cultures for each of the monstrous races in my campaigns, starting with these four.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Orcs</span></span><br />I'm rather fond of the "noble savage" version of orcs put forth in the Warcraft games. I'm not sure where this depiction of orcs originates, but I think it has merit. A race which is warlike and brutal, but which also holds honor above all other concerns. Of course, different Orcish subcultures define honor on their own terms. For some it might mean victory in fair combat, for others it might simply mean the number of notches on a warrior's axe.<br /><br />Given their warlike nature, I would think that Orcs are carnivorous rather than omnivorous. They are master hunters, and the hunt is a central theme in their culture. Orcs often attack other orcs, or other races, on sight. Orcs who have not spent a great deal of time amongst other races will not understand that non-orcs do not view fighting and death to be desirable.<br /><br />Given their constant warring, both with themselves and with other races, most Orcish tribes lag far behind other species technologically.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goblins</span></span><br />Of all the monstrous races, I think goblins are most fit to keep most of the traditional monster culture. They are a weak and cowardly tribal people, who feel anger and rage more strongly than any of their other emotions. Since they rely on each other for self preservation, they turn their anger outward, towards other races. Though plenty of goblin squabbles still turn deadly.<br /><br />They are a sadistic lot, and enjoy taking out their anger and their hate on those who can't properly defend themselves; be it small animals, commoners, or adventurers unprepared for the sheer number of goblins they faced.<br /><br />Goblins are also stupid and superstitious, often attributing magical or divine properties to the mundane. And lastly, goblins are scavengers. They live in caves or in abandoned structures, and like to collect items stolen from other races.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kobolds </span></span><br />I went over some of my thoughts on Kobolds in <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/magical-marvels-2-kofeks-tongue.html">my recent Magical Marvels post</a>. I view them as a humble people, who look to dragons as their great rulers or heroes. They recognize that they are weak, and do not seek to prove themselves in combat against other groups or races. Their unassuming nature has made them the doormats of the world, which has prevented them from becoming as technologically advanced as the other races. And since most kobolds prefer to spend their entire lives living with their tribe, few kobolds go out into the world to bring knowledge back to their people.<br /><br />Their lack of advancement is a shame, because despite their humble nature, kobolds are remarkably clever. The very few who do manage to summon the courage to leave their people, and then are lucky enough to encounter kindly and learned fellows, have proven to be quick learners. More than one great general throughout history has kept a kobold adviser. Many great researchers and wizards have also had kobold assistants. In candid moments, those generals, researchers, and wizards might even admit that some of their great accomplishments were really the work of their kobold associate.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gnolls</span></span><br />Gnolls are, essentially, 9ft tall intelligent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena#Behaviour">Hyenas</a>. So we just need to scroll down to the behavior section of the wikipedia page and...well some of the basic traits I outlined above actually work pretty well. Gnolls are scavengers and kill stealers. However, they are anything but cowardly as fighters. They fight ferociously, and without mercy. Their greater size compared to other humanoids instills them with great confidence in combat--but they are not above flight if they feel they are outmatched. As noted above, Gnolls do not hold valor as a virtue.<br /><br />Gnolls are relatively smart, but simple and lazy. They do what they need to do to fill their needs: eating, sleeping, and reproducing. Once they've got those things taken care of, they don't care much for anything else.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">NOTE: It occurs to me, having written this, that Paizo has released both a "Goblins of Golarion," and an "Orcs of Golarion" supplement. It is possible that these concerns are partially addressed in those booklettes. I think the larger issue remains valid, though. </span></span>LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-83641273687896769842012-01-22T22:48:00.000-08:002012-01-23T00:27:26.048-08:00Handling Overpowered Player Characters<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VvA3YTzMSIE/Tx0OZ_IGW2I/AAAAAAAABQ8/uCdKBwgHpoY/s1600/dragon_200312_n314.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VvA3YTzMSIE/Tx0OZ_IGW2I/AAAAAAAABQ8/uCdKBwgHpoY/s400/dragon_200312_n314.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700728542925839202" /></a>I spent most of today working on a project which will affect the future of Comma, Blank_. Once completed, I think it will be a huge improvement for this humble blog. Until that time, however, I'm afraid that working on it is consuming much of the time I would otherwise be using to play tabletop games, and write about them for your amusement. I've actually been working on it since early December, and only mention it now because I accidentally let it get <span style="font-style: italic;">far too late</span> on a day which I'm supposed to post something. So my options are to stay up really late to finish today's post, or cop-out. And with work in the morning, I've decided to cop-out. So I hope you liked <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/gary-gygax-jeweled-man-and-letting-your.html">Gary Gygax's story of the Jeweled Man from last week</a>, because it's time for another post based on The All-Father's column.<br /><br />This time it's a tale of self-destructing PCs from Dragon #314, first published in December of 2003. Gygax reminisces about an overconfident player with a high leveled character he didn't earn, and gives advice on how to deal with such players. Advice I don't entirely agree with, in matter of fact. But we'll get to that later.<br /><br />Once again, I will reprint Gygax's original words here, but I do so without permission. I'm doing this because this is from a seven-year-old issue of a magazine which has been out of print for almost 5 years (by Vecna's Eye, has it been that long? ;_;). To my knowledge, it's not currently possible to read this column unless you somehow manage to physically acquire an original copy of the issue. And once again, I will happily remove it if contacted by anyone from Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, or the Gygax Estate.<br /><blockquote><h3>Self Destructing PCs</h3><h4>Unearned levels are the PC's worst enemy</h4>Many DMs have asked me how I handle characters that are obviously over-powered, "jumped-up" PCs that never really earned their high abilities and survive by massive hit-point total, super magic, and unearned ease in attacking with sword or spell. To such inquiries, I respond that in recognizing this sort of character I simply play the encounters a bit differently, mainly in the presentation of information, not in "fudging" of the dice rolls for monsters. Inept players will destroy their characters without having to resort to such methods. Allow me to illustrate this with the following account:<br /><br />While at a regional convention in upstate New York, I was asked to run adventures in my campaign's Castle Greyhawk Dungeons. An assembly of players gathered for what was billed a moderate-level excursion. One aggressive young chap came to the table with a 13th-level ranger, supposedly his least powerful character. Although the others in the group had PCs of about half that level and were chary about including the lad with the ranger, I assured them all would work just fine, even with experience division given by shares according to level. <br /><br />There followed some initial exploration and minor encounters as the team worked its way down into the dungeon maze. The first real test came when the party came into a large chamber with many pillars and several doors. As the main group discussed what strategy they would follow in this locale, a bold dwarf broke off and opened a nearby door. Rather than telling the player what he saw, I told the players this:<br /><br />"The dwarf slams the door. He reels back and comes staggering towards the rest of you, stammering something that sounds like. 'G-ga-get back! W-wuh... Horrible! A bunch of them!' He is obviously fearful and thus incoherent. <br /><br />The 13th-level ranger hesitated not a moment. Without consulting with his fellows, the character ran to the door that the dwarf had slammed closed and opened it without concern. The four wights that were preparing to exit their lair confronted him, won initiative, and two succeeded in hitting. In the ensuing melee, these undead monsters managed to strike the ranger twice more, so at the end of the battle, the ranger was of a level more commensurate with the others, 9th as it were. <br /><br />Much disturbed by that turn of events, but clearly not chagrined by his rash behavior and the results, the ranger insisted on leading the way. Soon thereafter, they discovered a staircase down, and beside it lay an alcove wherein a great clay pot rested, radiating heat and billowing smoke. The other PCs advised leaving the strange vessel alone, but the ranger determined to attack it. As he did so, all the other characters fled the area. With a single blow the ranger shattered the pot, and thus a really angry fire elemental was freed. It didn't take long for that monster to finish off the ranger, and thereafter it departed. <br /><br />I took the character sheet from the fellow, suggesting that he should be more careful with such potent characters in the future, for surely he had spent a long time gaining 13th level with his now dead ranger PC. He left the table without comment, and the rest of the group went on to several exciting hours of dungeon delving. <br /><br />This shows that unearned levels don't translate to playing ability. To the contrary, the power gained often makes the player overconfident. Any able DM can craft adventures that weed out unwise and inept players who think to bulldoze their way through problems by use of undeserved power. That's possible only in computer games where saved games and cheat codes serve to reward such play. </blockquote><br /><br />Clearly, the culture surrounding the game in those days was significantly different than it is today. I can't imagine a GM taking a player's character sheet like that. But, then, neither can I really imagine arguing with Gary Gygax if he was my Dungeon Master. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FLQnNquHjtk/Tx0S1Zy4mbI/AAAAAAAABRI/7T1gHL_MVs8/s1600/tumblr_li4p2iiGyP1qg77b4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FLQnNquHjtk/Tx0S1Zy4mbI/AAAAAAAABRI/7T1gHL_MVs8/s400/tumblr_li4p2iiGyP1qg77b4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700733411987593650" /></a>This column struck a cord with me because my own character, <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/search/label/Zalekios">Zalekios Gromar</a>, is bursting with unearned power. Not only is he a Gestalt character with levels in both Warlock and Rogue, but a few years back my GM facetiously gave him a Ring of 100 Wishes, which rocketed his undeserved power level into the stratosphere. Of course, Zalekios is a very special case. He has no party--no companions to excel in the areas where he is weak. He's got to be able to handle everything by himself. That being said, though, he could still probably out-perform four characters of equivalent level. The character is overpowered. I won't argue that. <br /><br />The way my GM and I have always handled it is simply to raise the difficulty of the challenges Zalekios must face. And, when we get it right, it works very well. A few sessions ago, Zalekios was very nearly killed when he was attacked by a level 16 gestalt Paladin/Barbarian character. My GM overruled the fact that Paladins must be lawful, and Barbarians must be Chaotic, because he's evil like that. The combination of rage and smite evil very nearly ended Zalekios career. If not for some clever tactics on my part, using Dimensional Door and Eldritch Blast to keep my foe at range, I would not have survived. <br /><br />And if all the players are overpowered, that's a fine solution. But most often, that's not the case. Players being different levels than one another is not often a problem in modern games, but power disparity will always exist. Sometimes players pull min-maxed builds off of the Internet. Other times, you underestimate just how effective a certain magic item will be in the hands of your players. Or, occasionally, a player just gets really stupidly lucky with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_of_many_things">Deck of Many Things</a>. And in this, I think Gary's advice is eternal. <br /><br />Let player skill determine whether your player deserves what he or she has. Give them opportunities to be overconfident, and pay for it. A player who has easily cut through challenges which the other players would have struggled with is going to come to expect it. So throw them a curve-ball. Drop a high leveled monster on them, and watch as they refuse to run away from a fight. Don't take their power from them, just put them into a position where foolish action will cause them to lose it. <br /><br />Of course, this may not always work. If your player is just as skilled as they are powerful, then you may need to reassess. You don't want them to ruin the game for the other PCs who are left to stroll in their companion's wake. But neither do you want to punish the player if they've made no mistakes. At this point you might consider making a loss of their power part of an important quest. Perhaps the artifact they acquired is evil and needs to be destroyed, or perhaps it is the lost blade of a celestial general who needs it to continue the battle against evil. If the deck of many things granted the player millions of gold, let him learn that an equivalent amount of gold disappeared from the coffers of a small nation, which is now unable to feed its people during a famine. If all else fails, you can just buff up the rest of the party, and the encounter level along with it. <br /><br />As a side note, is it just me, or does it seem really uncool to take control of a player's character? I know role playing games were different in those days, and the particular instance here is pretty mundane, but I can't imagine ever doing that. The control a player has over their character is sacrosanct in my mind. I would have at least allowed him a saving throw versus fear.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-15377916887567445342012-01-21T12:59:00.000-08:002012-01-21T19:24:44.242-08:00Magical Marvels 2: Kofek's TongueAs I mentioned in <a href="http://commablank.blogspot.com/2012/01/colorful-characters-13-maedhar-krekpe.html">last week's Colorful Characters post</a>, I've been thinking about spicing up my Friday update, (never mind the fact that they've been going up on Saturdays lately). So from now on, Fridays will be a toss up between three regular features: Colorful Characters, Magical Marvels, and Malevolent Monsters. (Anybody admire assonance and alliteration?) I'm not going to make any special effort towards making sure there's an even distribution between the three, but if my readership gravitates strongly towards one of the three I'll see if I can't give it some special attention.<br /><br />This week is a top-tier rogue weapon which has shown up in my Ascendant Crusade campaign. Special thanks to my ladyfriend for providing the art for it. You can find more of her artwork <a href="http://cbmorrie.deviantart.com/">on her DeviantArt page</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woewp9M-VD0/Txthn-GLYEI/AAAAAAAABQw/7eOIjlZ7EaA/s1600/kobold_scythe_by_cbmorrie-d4n6izy.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 351px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woewp9M-VD0/Txthn-GLYEI/AAAAAAAABQw/7eOIjlZ7EaA/s400/kobold_scythe_by_cbmorrie-d4n6izy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700257092679196738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Kofek's Tongue<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Intelligent Artifact, Small Scythe</span><br /><hr /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHYSICAL ATTACKS<br /><hr />(Main Blade)</span> 1d6 + 5 (Slashing)(20/x4)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Staff)</span> 1d4 + 5 (Bludgeoning)(20/x2)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Switchblade)</span> 1d3 (Piercing, Slashing)(19-20/x2)(May be activated as a swift action. Weapon is concealed until then)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Dart)</span> 1 damage. Each coated with Nitharit poison (Con damage, PFCR pg. 560) (Only 2, must be reloaded as a full round action) (Darts are fired from the eye sockets of the kobold skull mounted at the top of the blade's shaft)<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPELLS GRANTED</span><br /><hr />6/day - <span style="font-style: italic;">Suggestion</span> (Pathfinder Core Rulebook Pg. 350)<br />1/day - <span style="font-style: italic;">Invisibility</span> (PFCR Pg. 301)(2 minute duration)<br />2/day - <span style="font-style: italic;">Scorching Ray</span> (PFCR Pg. 337)(Ranged Touch, 4d6 fire damage) (One comes from each of the two rubies mounted in the small marble skull's eye sockets)<br /><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">SPECIAL ABILITIES</span><hr /><ul><li>The wielder can make telekinetic trip attacks at a range of 30 feet. Trip attempts are otherwise treated normally.<br /></li><li> As a swift action, the wielder may utter a command word, causing the shaft to split in the middle. The two halves are connected by a chain. This allows the scythe blade to be used as a 10ft reach weapon.</li><li> The scythe blade can be "thrown" by Kofek's Tongue. The blade deals damage normally, and has a range increment of 20ft. Once the blade stops, it magically returns to Kofek's Tongue.<br /></li><li> The wielder gains a +10 to their combat maneuver bonus relating to trip attacks.<br /></li></ul> <hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">INTELLIGENT ITEM ABILITIES</span><hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">EGO</span> 22; <span style="font-weight: bold;">INT</span> 20 (+5) <span style="font-weight: bold;">WIS</span> 18 (+4) <span style="font-weight: bold;">CHA</span> 10 (+0)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Senses</span> Darkvision 120ft, Blindsense, Hearing; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Communication</span> Speech, Telepathy<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Languages</span> Common, Draconic, Goblin, Halfling, Gnomish<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alignment</span> True Neutral<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Purpose</span> Kofek's Tongue is driven towards subterfuge, traps and trickery. During periods of downtime, it will often drive its wielder to perform practical jokes on their own companions, to slake its own thirst for trickery. The weapon would strongly resist being used in an open and honest fight, such as a duel, or military assault.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Racism</span> The weapon can abide gnomes, but CANNOT be weilded by one. Any Gnome which attempts to hold it takes 10d6 damage/hour.<hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">APPEARANCE</span><hr />Kofek's Tongue has a simple brown shaft made of fine polished wood. At the head of the shaft, a kobold's skull and jawbone are mounted. The scythe blade is clutched firmly in the skull's mouth (thus, it is the "tongue.") On the opposite end of the shaft is a small ornate skull made of white marble. In each of the two eye sockets rests a small ruby. A small switchblade is mounted at the bottom of the shaft, which can be released by depressing a small button on the handle, causing the 5" blade to extend straight from the bottom of the shaft, protruding from the small marble skull. <hr /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HISTORY</span><hr />As a species, kobolds are smaller, and more physically feeble than most of the common races. They've learned that the best response to confrontation is to flee, which has earned them a reputation as a cowardly lot. However, kobolds are also exceedingly clever. They know that they do not need to <span style="font-style: italic;">fight</span> their foes in order to harm them. The astounding, even instinctual trap making abilities of kobolds are renowned throughout the world. And none more so than Kofek.<br /><br />Kofek is a Kobold hero, one of the few the species has. She was the matriarch of The Redscale Clan, and taught her people to make traps more devious and deadly than any made by kobold kind before her. The stories told of her by firelight have grown grandiose and distorted through countless retelling, but the core of her legend is true: no adventuring party ever managed to survive the approach to the Redscale village. And when she turned her mind to vengeance against the humans who had driven her clan into the mountain a generation before, the devices Kofek's clan hid throughout the human lands caused many to flee their homes.<br /><br />Then the gnomes came. A band of ten kobold hunters, called by the leader of the human village. He arranged a meeting with Kofek, ostensibly to negotiate an end to hostilities. Instead, the noble Kobold leader was ambushed by the gnomes. Her loyal guards died defending her. Kofek was tortured. Her eyes put out with hot irons, her tongue forks stretched apart, her scales pulled off her one by one. The gnomes demanded to know how to bypass the traps which led to her village, but she never told them. After three weeks of unceasing agony, Kofek died. The gnomes attempted to assail the village on their own, but were killed by the deadly traps. Kofek's vengeance from beyond the grave.<br /><br />With the gnomes gone, and the human forces weakened and demoralized, the Redscale Tribe armed themselves, and marched on the village in force. Many were killed in the battle, but none would flee. Such was their love for the great Kofek. They recovered her body, and brought it back to the village to honor it properly. Kobolds do not bury or burn their dead. They honor them by using their remains to support the tribe. Her scales were made into the raiment which would forever garb the leader of the Redscale tribe, her claws and teeth were made into spear tips and arrowheads. And her skull and jawbone, with her brain still inside, were lovingly crafted into the most magnificent scythe the tribe's weaponsmith ever crafted.<br /><br />For generations, the scythe, named "Kofek's Tongue" served as a badge of office for the village's greatest trap-smith. Until a young kobold, a traveler from the Forktongue tribe, visited the Redscales. His name was Kisteer, and he had heard rumors that Kofek's wisdom still spoke to the one who held the magnificent scythe. Kisteer spent many hours with the tribe's trapsmith, discussing new designs and pretending to learn from the older kobold. While the old kobold was sleeping, Kisteer stole the scythe, and fled from the village.<br /><br />Kisteer wielded Kofek's Tongue through many adventures, and even improved upon it with his own modifications. His mechanical skill and trapping instincts eventually rose to such prominence that they were said to rival Kofek's own. However, most kobolds have no love for Kisteer. As a lieutenant of The Blind Empress, he is viewed as an evil conqueror. And, after the establishment of the Blind Empress' Empire, Kisteer further enraged Kobold kind by visiting many kobold tribes, and robbing them of their strongest and most intelligent members, to establish his own Tribe of The Black Eye.<br /><br />Since Kisteer's death, Kofek's tongue has been passed down through the generations to the leaders of the Tribe of the Black Eye. And is still held by them to this day.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-5978240127037857852012-01-18T08:36:00.000-08:002012-01-18T22:18:14.851-08:00SOPA/PIPA Strike<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FxC87zgBu-s/Txb1TGldSQI/AAAAAAAABQk/x4swmlEGiiQ/s1600/strike-paper-new.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 162px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FxC87zgBu-s/Txb1TGldSQI/AAAAAAAABQk/x4swmlEGiiQ/s400/strike-paper-new.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699012087017982210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If you visited my blog within the last 24 hours, you know that on January 18th, 2012, I joined the rest of the Internet in protesting SOPA and PIPA, two bills presently being considered by legislators in the United States. And though it falls outside the purview of this blog, I think it's relevant for me to take a moment to explain how important this is to me, and why it should be important to you. And to help you understand that, let me explain just how important this blog is to me.<br /><br />Before I started Comma, Blank_, I was not very happy with my life. If you go back to the first post on this blog, entitled “Worthlessness,” you'll get an idea of just how unhappy I was. I was struggling through the depths of severe depression. The woman I love, who I had been with since I was a teenager, had left me. I had been forced to drop out of college, and was working a dead-end job that I hated. And all of those things are still true. But Comma, Blank_ gives me hope. Comma, Blank_ makes me feel like I'm improving myself every day by forcing myself to become a better and more consistent writer. The opportunities it has granted me in the few months I've been writing it give me hope for even greater opportunities to come. Comma, Blank_ is my life preserver, and I cling to it tightly.<br /><br />And today I shut it down. I turned away potential new hits. I prevented anyone new from discovering my work. Because stopping SOPA and PIPA is that important.<br /><br />This legislation will smother the Internet to death. Blogs like my <a href="http://timmverse.blogspot.com/">Traipsing Through the Timmverse</a> will be shut down without trial or due process by media corporations. Let me reiterate that last part in bold: <b>by media corporations</b>. Not agents of the government, not duly elected officials, not judges or any part of the judicial system. That's the kind of power Big Media is attempting to take for itself. And the United States Government is considering giving it to them.<br /><br />We're gamers, so lets put this into our own terminology. The Internet is, among many other things, a producer for entertainment. The media industry is, also, a producer of entertainment. Allowing media corporations the right to shut down sites on the Internet is like giving Wizards of the Coast the right to shut down production of any RPG don't like. Do you trust Wizards of the Coast with the fate of your favorite indie RPG?<br /><br />The Internet stands among the greatest accomplishments of our species. The very idea that someone would try to harm it should enrage you. <b>This is a book burning for the modern age. </b><br /><br />At this point, I'd like to direct you to <a href="http://rilgon.tumblr.com/post/16062617925%E2%80%9D">something written by my friend Rilgon</a>. He's much more involved in the industry, and more educated on the topic, than I am. He's written something eloquent and informative. Something everyone should read.<br /><br />Whatever else you do: contact your representative. You've got a congressperson and two senators. That's three phone calls.<br /><br />You can do it.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1849891810204688064.post-26447926816324485672012-01-16T16:59:00.001-08:002012-01-16T23:55:57.470-08:00Theoretical RPG<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hFEsy2E44HA/TxUoum1JGOI/AAAAAAAABQU/ZH7g-zOuEbY/s1600/pa2ou.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 333px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hFEsy2E44HA/TxUoum1JGOI/AAAAAAAABQU/ZH7g-zOuEbY/s400/pa2ou.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5698505684669765858" border="0" /></a>After the recent announcement of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, and the news that Wizards of the Coast is looking for fan input to help them design it, I've seen a lot of talk around the web. Thoughts on what people think it will be like, and thoughts on what people think it <span style="font-style:italic;">should</span> be like. Personally I have no talent for prediction, so I won't waste anyone's time with my expectations. I <i>do</i> quite like to theorize about game mechanics, but I see no reason to restrict myself to the D&D model.<br /><br />Dungeons and Dragons has been a great game in the past, and I will always love it for that. But lets be frank. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson are dead, the company they founded defunct, and the 5th edition of D&D will be the third edition since they had any input on the game's development. These days, Dungeons and Dragons is nothing but an IP. It is the continuation of the world's oldest role playing game in name only.<br /><br />While some small part of me likes to hope that Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition will be good, I do not believe it will be. I think it will be more to my liking than fourth edition has been. That's only logical to conclude, since Wizards has no doubt noticed that Pathfinder has held onto more market share than D&D for two quarters straight. However, at this point I doubt we're ever going to get away from things like healing surges, "powers," and endlessly ascending player stats. If that's your cup of tea, I bid you enjoy it. But I've no interest in pouring any for myself.<br /><br />Huh, I guess I ended up making some predictions after all. Sorry about that.<br /><br />So in light of everyone else on the Internet talking about their ideas for Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition, I thought I would share some of my own ideas for a future RPG. I've been pondering these for several months now, and they have little to do with Dungeons and Dragons. It just seems like an opportune time to write about some of them.<br /><br /><h3>Two-Tiered Rule Complexity</h3>Oldschool Dungeons and Dragons had a "basic rules / advanced rules" division, but they were two separate games. I'd like to see an RPG which allows groups to play in either a rules-heavy, or rules-light mode, without breaking gameplay when switching between the two. Because sometimes you're looking for a deep, gourmet gaming experience, and other times you've only got time for a one-shot with whoever happens to be around at the time. Your players may want to spend hours fine tuning every ability on the character they've been playing for years, but if that character is out of commission for a session, they don't want to waste any time at all building the throwaway character they'll be playing until their main is available again.<br /><br />Ideally, these two modes of play could even be run simultaneously. With new and inexperienced players using the light rules, and more advanced players using the more detailed rules. For example, "rules light," players could be given a selection of classes to pick from, and that class would provide the player with all the information the player needed on what their character could do. Perhaps some minimum level of customization would be available under the light rules (such as selection of race, and the assignment of something like skill points) but the goal is that everything the player needs to know about their character can be found on 2-3 pages of the sourcebook.<br /><br />Players using the heavier rules would have no class. Instead, they would build their own class by selecting various skills and abilities using a point-buy mechanic. All the skills available to rules light players would be available here, as well as a plethora of alternative options. However, it would be difficult or impossible to create a character using the heavy rules which could completely outclass a character built using the light rules. The classes available to light rules players would simply be pre-optimized characters, built using the heavy rules by the game's designers.<br /><br />Theoretically, the game could even include 3 tiers of rules. Simple, Normal, and Complex. I think that could be really fun, but even two tiers would require a lot more pages than a game with a single tier of rules. To mitigate that, the core rules would be stripped down to precisely that: the core of what an RPG requires. Character creation rules, and combat resolution. Everything else would be handled by my next idea:<br /><br /><h3>Modular Rules</h3><br />Every GM knows that rule 0 is always at their disposal. If they don't like a rule, they can change it, or drop it from the game entirely. The problem with doing so is that removing a rule often causes problems elsewhere in the game. To use Pathfinder as an example, if you stop using the diplomacy skill because you prefer to have your players role play through situations that require diplomacy, then the player who put points in the skill gets screwed.<br /><br />So what if non-core rules were presented as "modules," which could be inserted into or removed from a game without penalty. For example, the game could include the encumbrance modular rule. Everything to do with encumbrance, its effects, and ways to mitigate them, would all be contained in the same place. The game would be designed to function completely with or without encumbrance. So instead of "Is this unfun enough for me to justify invoking rule 0?" the question becomes "is this fun enough to include?"<br /><br />There could even be multiple modules for a single mechanic. Many games have come up with many different ways of handing encumbrance. And while the game might have a "primary" version of the encumbrance rules available in the core rulebook, alternate encumbrance rule modules could be released with supplemental books, providing groups with a handful of different mechanics to choose from.<br /><br /><h3>Bell Curve Die Rolls</h3>There's not a lot which really needs to be said about this which wasn't <a href="http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Ejamesstarlight/LinearVsNonLinear.html">already said</a> by one James Beach back in 2001. So I'll spare you the lengthy recap. Simply put, die rolls should be handled in such a way that they produce a bell curve of results, rather than a linear progression of results. Personally, I like the idea of rolling 3d6 or 2d10 to resolve most problems.<br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />I recognize that these ideas have flaws. Perhaps insurmountable flaws. For example, wouldn't modular rules prevent classes from interacting with them, lest the GM decide not to use the rule? I'm not saying I have actual answers to these questions. These are just thoughts I've had rolling around in my head for awhile, and I thought I'd put them down.LShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495083228566425216noreply@blogger.com3