Props: Building Maps and Letters

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Ever played in one of those games where the GM lays out a prop that it is obvious they have spent hours on? Well sometimes GM’s know a few tricks on how to make something look terribly cool in a fraction of the time it looks like it took to make.

I have decided to do a bit of foreshadowing in the Skull and Shackles Pathfinder campaign I am running for my group. A part of doing this is actually going to be giving them a treasure map that they will find in some creatures loot somewhere or on board one of the ships that they pirate away for later use!

A good map has the old crisp aged parchment feel. It has a slightly off look and of course for a pirate map it has to look like it has been through the wringer. All of this is achievable in a little under half an hour including drawing the map and I am here to walk you through the steps!

Editors Note: This process requires the use of an oven. Do so at your own risk – The Iron Tavern is not responsible for fires!

Things you will need
1. Piece of paper
2. Lemon cut in half
3. Bowl
4. Pastry/Paint Brush
5. Oven
6. Something to write with and a lighter if you want it to look like my final product!
Lemon and an oven. Basic chemistry! Set the oven to 160 degrees celsius (that is 320 Fahrenheit for others). If it is a fan forced oven we do NOT want the fan on or the paper will blow about everywhere.
After the oven is set you need to do is squeeze the lemon juice out of those halves. You don’t need to strain the pips 🙂 If the lemon is very dry you may need a couple to get enough juice.
Once the lemon is dry use the pastry brush to cover your piece of paper. I generally do both sides but one side should be OK.
Place your sheet of paper in the oven and watch it. Mine took around 7 minutes to get a light off white colour and a nice crispy antiqueness to the sheet. I also picked up some nice fat stains on the sheet from my last roast which is cool because it makes it look like it has lived! The longer you leave it in, the darker it will get but it may catch alight so keep an eye on it.
Once the sheet is done, do your writing. If it is a letter or whatever go for it. You can see I am a tragic and actually use a quill and ink for this phase which layers that little bit more on to the authenticness.
The next step is optional and should be done outside or over a sink. For my map I took a lighter to the edges of my page, a little bit at a time. Let it burn a bit, blow it out. Repeat until you are all the way round.
Final step is presentation. For my pirate map I rolled it in to a tube, tied a bit of twine around it in true piratical style. If yours is a love letter, place some ribbon around it. If it is a secret message and you have wax and a seal, go for it.

: The Lemon And the Paper

: The Paper and Lemon Juice

: Into the Oven

: Out of the Oven

: Drawing the Map with Quill

: All Rolled up

Finally, take it to the table and lay it out for the players. they will think it is cool and wonder how much spare time you have. For the pirate map it took me a little over 20 minutes, all up to make, including the photos!

Hopefully this helps you bring a few props to the table! Keep rolling 🙂

Mark Knights is 39 year old guy living in a small rural town called Elliott in Tasmania, Australia. I have been role playing since I was 11 years old playing the original versions of Dungeons and Dragons, MERP, Elric, Dragon Warriors and the like amongst other genre games. I played D&D 2nd Edition through the 90′s but I ran Earthdawn for my fantasy setting and loved it as a GM. When 3rd Edition came out for D&D I tried it but found it too heavy on rules. I ignored the 3.5 edition of DnD in favour of Earthdawn (big mistake) as I thought it was just a money spinner. When 4th Edition DnD came on my players and I gave it a red hot go but hated what it had dumbed the game down to be. On a trip to Melbourne to buy some 4E stuff from a hobby store an old mate of mine pointed me at Pathfinder and in a Fantasy setting I have never looked back.

Review: Blackguard’s Revenge & The Iron Crypt of the Heretics

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

The Dungeon Crawl Classic line has of course become its own RPG and a personal favorite of the owner of the Iron Tavern. It started though as modules for d20. While I never got the chance to run or play in most of them they are still very much a go to source for adventures for me. They are usually short and to the point dungeon crawls. They offer a variety of locations, clever encounters, the occasional trap and riddle, and plenty of danger. I made it a point to get a copy of each of them, though not all of the special releases and limited titles.

The Blackguard’s Revenge and its sequel The Iron Crypt of the Heretics are the twelfth adventure in the Dungeon Crawl Classic line. The Iron Crypt of the Heretics is number 12.5 and even though it is by a different author it makes for a good sequel adventure. They are written by F. Wesley Schneider and Harley Stroh. Neither is very large the first being forty pages and the sequel being twenty four. Blackguard’s Revenge is pretty easy to find for under five dollars, but Iron Crypt of the Heretics looks to be harder to find and can go for as much as thirty dollars. Both are out of print but can be purchased as PDFs for around seven dollars.

The Blackguard’s Revenge is a different kind of dungeon crawl. It is a rescue mission to aid a group of Paladins in a cloister that is under attack. There are a few moving parts the GM can have fun with. There are plenty of different creatures to fight and in this kind of module I usually increase the numbers a little and add or enhance the main bad guy some just to make it a bit more challenging on the PCs. I also wanted it to feel like time was of the essence so some of the bad guys would purposely try to slow down the PCs so they would be too late in rescuing the Paladins. This kind of adventure can also raise ethic problems. There is a good amount of treasure here to be found, but most of it belongs to the cloister, so the PCs can look like the bad guys by looting the place. My group didn’t care, they were ready to pry gold symbols off the wall and pack up the Holy paintings. The Paladins when rescued do need the PCs help so there is plenty of reason that the PCs will get rewarded and aided for the next adventure.

The next adventure being the Iron Crypt of the Heretics. The adventures are written to link together but they do not have to. They can easily be run separate or with other activities in between. What I like about the Iron Crypt is it is a change of pace. Where Blackguard’s Revenge is mostly combat and heroics of rescuing Paladins the Iron Crypt takes a slower approach and has a lot more traps, riddles, and puzzles for the PCs to deal with. It is a challenging module but not so much so that the players get frustrated. Basically the place has been raided and it let out an army of undead that attacked the Paladins in the first module. Now the PCs need to break in and reseal the place. The two modules make for a good back to back series of adventures offering a good variety of encounters and problems.

Blackguard’s Revenge and Iron Crypt are two good modules early in the very successful line of modules. They are easy to convert to other games and Blackguard’s Revenge even has a 1e version of it that Goodman Games published.

Chris Gath. I’ve been gaming since 1980 playing all kinds of games since then. In the past year I’ve run Pathfinder, Dungeon Crawl Classic, Paranoia, and Mini d6. My current campaign is mini d6 and we are using that for a modern supernatural conspiracy investigative game. On some forums I’m known as Crothian and I’ve written a few hundred reviews though I took a sabbatical from reviewing for a few years as it burnt me out. I was also an judge for the Gen Con awards (ENnies) six times. Jeff, the owner of this blog, is one of my players and a good friend.

Ending a Campaign

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Ending a campaign is a curious problem. First you have to consider at what point is the right time to bring things to a close. Once that is decided you need to deal with the fallout of the decision with the players of the game. Many campaigns end just by petering interest, or real life stepping in and causing an issue and that is not the ending of the campaign that I will be talking to. The end to a campaign that I am talking of is where you are at the point where the campaign is done. Solidly done and anything further would just be new material that would detract from the original.

It will come to you as no surprise that I write to this topic as a GM. I largely run nearly every game I play in as the GM, so my mind goes to that viewpoint automatically. It is interesting to note there is a completely different subset of topics to this issue as a player that I will write to in the future.

In my experience though, this decision is always made by the GM, though I have heard of collaborative efforts between a player and a GM to reach a certain point in a game and call it quits as that is the game material that they wanted to explore. For example, a cool looking module comes out for 8th Circle adepts in Earthdawn and your players are already 10th circle, you might run the module over a few weeks with fresh characters, or do a flashback and pretend the actual characters did it. This may not really constitute a campaign but say it was a few linked modules.

I am an explorer as a GM. I like to run games that each have something different to offer. I will detail the games I am running at the moment and the reasons I run them:

I’ll start with the non fantasy and hope Jeffrey doesn’t throw anything at me. Traveller. I run this game as an exploration of sandbox environments and also to get that space feel in a game once again.
The quasi-could be fantasy FATE Demolished Ones is a game I run as it is a perfect mind blowing style adventure. Think of any movie you have seen with a twist at the end. This game is that movie but the twists happen once or twice a session. Running a game like this is an effort in preparation and delivery which I revel in.
I run Reign of Winter the Pathfinder adventure path as it occurs in extremes. Extreme cold, later on extreme extra planetary regions in a fantasy setting. Also it is populated by witches which is a class up until now that I was not all that familiar with so it gives me an opportunity to explore that class thoroughly.
Finally there is the Skull and Shackles adventure path for Pathfinder that I run in person. It is my only in-person game and I run this game because the modules work in a very encouraging way. I have not played a game where each module offers truly tangible rewards to characters at the end for the struggle they have been through. In my opinion I think all game rewards should be run this way as the payoff at the end make the characters think it has all been worthwhile.

I give you the above to illustrate the point that I have something that I want from each game. Sure, they are all role playing and part of it is that I enjoy it but I would not be comfortable running four parallel games of the same adventure path with different groups. The monotony would drive me insane.

For each of those games though I have to consider an end point though. Some of you will snort and giggle at this point and say that three of the above (the last three) are a no brainer as it is pre-made adventures and have a natural end. Well, it is not that clear in all actuality. I will grant you that I intend that the Reign of Winter game will end at the conclusion of the sixth module The Witch Queen’s Revenge will be the conclusion of the campaign. Thankfully for my players that is a long way off yet.

But other campaigns take on a different life. The players become invested in their characters and if there is a sniff of adventure left in the game they will be keen to continue on with the game. I had run the Serpent’s Skull adventure path and it leaves things quite wide open at the end of the final module. I had bought the adventure path in the hopes of showing off a complete campaign cycle. Because of the open ending though I am left a little disappointed as it did not meet what I was looking for (a complete story) and the players are keen to finish it as they invested the time. When we closed (not ended) the play in that game for a while it was always with a mind to come back to it after I had designed some material which I am doing at the moment.

I think the time to consider ending a campaign is actually at the start of the campaign. Perhaps at the first session you should discuss with the players what it is you want to see happen with the campaign. I have told each of the Reign of Winter players that the end of the game is the end of the final module. The Skull and Shackles actually only goes to about 14th level so there is plenty of scope for the players to continue on their pirating ways after. Of course they will have some serious clout by that time in the Shackles and they may be happy to call it a day.

Being up front with the players allows them to be ready for the end of the campaign as well. They may be ready to turn it all in and retire or have something for their characters to move in that is a satisfactory finish for them. Of course players can get sentimental about their characters (and rightfully so) as they spend game after game inhabiting the one role and you have to take this factor into consideration when you think about when to end the campaign.

Remind the players of the decision often as well. Make them aware that when the big Demon boss has been defeated and the holy grenade of Antioch is back in the vault of the Thanes (or whatever the end point may be) that the campaign will end and it will be time to try something new, or perhaps someone new in the GM chair. Perhaps even a new game system!

Campaigns do die out naturally and the ability to end a campaign can be a weird time for the GM. From the details above it would seem that you have to have a good plan set up from the outset to do this, or use pre printed materials. This is not the case of course. If it is a homebrew campaign you of course will not have everything planned out to their 19th level final battle! Having a game at a time prepared can be a challenge so you don’t want that kind of pressure hanging over you. What you do want to do is a have a think of where you want to complete it. If it is not a sandbox then you probably have a seed of an idea in you that you want to explore and also an idea of where it will go. Talk to the players and say that they will face a big threat in this campaign and that the campaign and adventures for this game will end when the threat is defeated. Negotiate with the players because this is also a good time to get out of them what they are considering for the game and their characters.

It pays to think ahead. RPG’s are often described as open ended games in which no one wins or loses, but it is important to consider what the end point will be. In a sandbox game, there need not be one but when you are investigating a specific topic or campaign then it pays to be prepared for it to end. Of course it can be great to bring the characters out of retirement for a one off bash every now and again, but know the days of playing the same roles time and again are over. This is a disappointing and exciting time. Disappointing because you say goodbye to an old friend but exciting because you say hello to new ones and new stories to fire your imagination with. Have a great week and keep rolling!

Review: Bookhounds of London

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

In early September on Facebook Ken Hite, author of this book, posted a comment that one of his newer books had already received as many reviews as this book, which about three years old. I went to make sure I had it and more importantly could find it before posting that I’d help by reviewing it. I don’t normally do it but Bookhounds of London is an amazing book. At Gen Con that year I had more people that I trust tell me to get this book. They were not wrong. The only reason I have never used it is because it is a very specific book dealing with the Cthulhu Mythos books in London in the 1930’s. If that doesn’t sound awesome to you, then sadly this book might not be for you.

Bookhounds of London is a source book for the game Trails of Cthulhu. Trail of Cthulhu is an RPG that deals with the Cthulhu Mythos and focuses more on the mystery, though insanity and death are still a good part of it. Bookhounds of London takes the normal type of Cthulhu campaign and changes it. Instead of being investigators, the characters are Bookhounds. They operate a bookstore in London, deal with private collectors and auctions, and deal with books that contain information man was not meant to know. It is an interesting twist on what could be called the normal type of Cthulhu adventure. The book can easily be used with any system. The brilliance in this book is the writing and research that went into it.

The book starts with how to create characters. Bookhounds differ in small ways from other investigators. It starts with the new occupations that show the focus of this type of campaign. One might be a Book Scout, Bookseller, Catalog Agent, Forger, or Occultist. The book also has new abilities, like Auction and Textual analysis. Lastly, and most importantly. are the rules for the Bookshop the players characters own or work for. It serves as a place of business, a place to do research, a good way to get contacts, and a base of operations. The book then goes into the book trade. This is one of the foundations of any Bookhound campaign. It talks about auctions, hunting for books, libraries, and of course the books themselves.

The best part of the book though is the setting. It gives a great deal of information on London in the 1930’s. It even has almost thirty pages of colored maps of the city and many of the buildings of the era. It is very impressive. The setting is done in such a way to make it useful for anyone wanting to use 1930’s London, and not just in a Mythos game. I could easily see Pulp games or war games set in the setting and will find the information in here very useful.

Last is the adventure Whitechapel Black-Letter. It is a simple adventure that can be done in as few as three scenes. But the adventure has enough setting seeds and mysteries that it can easily be expanded and much of the work is done for the GM to something much more. It gives hints to Jack the Ripper as one should guess from the title. It is a great starting adventure for the Bookhounds type or to be used as a different kind of adventure in another Cthulhu campaign.

Bookhounds of London is an amazing book. It and Shadows over Filmland, which I also love, really show the writing prowess Ken Hite and the quality of product Pelgrane Press creates.

The Beauty of Earthdawn

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Most of us are familiar with the most famous fantasy games out there. Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Warhammer Fantasy perhaps Dungeon World now, even Tunnels and Trolls! When I speak about Earthdawn though I get a lot of blanks. Some people have heard of it but know nothing about it and very rarely someone who has played it. Today I feel a little unusual writing about Earthdawn as officially at this point in time there is no active version of the system although all of the books are available at various sites.

Earthdawn is without a shadow of a doubt my most beloved fantasy game of all time. It is my kind of system. It is rich in story. It’s mechanics are intricate and woven into the pattern of the whole system. On the same scale, Earthdawn is not a game for everyone. It is intricate, involving a lot of different powers and one of the most original spellcasting systems I have ever seen. Also, the way that the magical item system works is phenomenal.

Let me explain a little more clearly. Earthdawn is all about story. It is an age of magic and legend where players forge the stories that will be spoken about as myths in aeons to come. It is also a world of magic where everything that the heroes do is powered by magic. The simple swing of a blade is powered and guided by the players magical abilities making them more than they could ever hope to be otherwise. In Earthdawn everything, including the characters name, is all about the story.

Earthdawn is FASA’s system that was released in the 90’s after the release of Shadowrun. It is linked to Shadowrun in meta-plot although I never really cared much for following those details. Being that it is linked to Shadowrun and Shadowrun occurs on Earth… Earthdawn is set on Earth! The map to the game translates to areas in and around the mediterranean and the middle east. It works on the same presumption as Shadowrun where there is a natural cycle of magic. Earthdawn occurs in the waning point (after the peak) where magic is leaving the world while Shadowrun works in the waxing phase (magic on the increase). Earthdawn is a much more magically orientated world that has been ravaged by beings that were allowed to cross into our world when the magic reached a certain point. They are horrible creatures bent only on destruction and pain and in the game they are known as Horrors.

Earthdawn is dark fantasy, possibly even horror fantasy depending on how you play it (I love horror fantasy games). The setting is made after much of civilisation sealed themselves underground (there are some exceptions to this) in magically protected cities called Kaers. They did this to escape the predicted coming of the Horrors who travelled through Astral Space to ravage and torment the lands. In the 500 years that the societies lived underground many were breached after they sealed their doors, but even more than that, many were infiltrated before they sealed their doors. All that were breached or infiltrated suffered horrors beyond mention and perished while they were locked away.

Each Kaer was given a magic “meter” of sorts that measured the magic levels in the world. They were advised by the magicians of Thera at what point on the meter that the Horrors would no longer be able to exist and to open their doors and emerge then. But unpredicted the magic meter stopped receding for some time and remained level just above the mark. The first Kaer to open sent explorers out into the worlds to see if the Horrors had left. They travelled out in the air ship Earthdawn but failed to return. At the same time, slowly around the world other Kaers began to open and explore their surroundings. Horrors still existed but they were mainly the lesser Horrors and there were fewer reports of encounters with the Named Horrors that were like eternal nightmares on the collective soul of the land.

The lands of Barsaive collected together under the leadership of the Dwarven Kingdom of Throal to reject the teachings and control of the Empire of Thera who believe in slavery for non-Therans. If you are born in one of the provinces you are treated as a barbarian, or a non-Theran and therefore eligible for slavery. Throal and the free cities rejected Thera when they finally arrived in the province to reclaim their lands and there has been a tense standoff ever since.

There are numerous disciplines (same as classes in Pathfinder) that the players can take on and the races are pretty much the same as in other games but also include Windlings (think pixies), Trolls (think large scottish orks!) and T’skrang (Largely lizards that love the river life). Spell wielding magicians fit into the disciplines of elementalist, illusionist, nethermancer and wizard. The more martial disciplines fall under beastmaster, cavalryman, sword master, warrior, sky raider, archer and horror stalker. Finally the more utility like classes fall under air sailor, scout, thief, troubadour and weaponsmith. There are a number of other disciplines that are largely race specific but these are the core of the classes. A discipline is a magical calling in which the individual is taught how to manipulate the patterns of magical energy around them to empower their own Talents. Talents are thematically aligned powers that you use extensively when your character considers their action. As of third edition of the game you get a number of talents per circle (think levels in Pathfinder) that allow you to broaden your abilities from previous circles. You put ranks into those powers to become better at them.

The more traditional magic system i.e. spells from a spellcasting class are handled quite differently from any other system I have come across. To cast a spell safely (their are ways to cast in an unsafe manner that may attract Horror attention) is usually a multiple turn proposition. To cast the spell the magician must first weave threads into magical patterns in astral space called matrixes and then after all threads are woven and the spell is ready to be cast the magician channels magic through the matrix to cast the spell. The magician can attune as many spells as they have matrixes at one time but to change a matrix to another spell either takes time or great skill. The threads that are woven into the spell prior to its casting are used up in the casting so that if they want to cast the spell again they must re-weave the threads. It sounds complicated, and in comparison to other systems it is, but it fits beautifully with the theme in game that all magic is made up of patterns.

Magical items are a thing of beauty in this game. They are at the heart and soul of the mechanic supports the story driven nature of this system. You may find big piles of loot with magical equipment amongst it BUT you will never be able to pick up an item of power and immediately use it like you can in other games. magic items in Earthdawn have a history and have information about them that must be learnt before they can be empowered. Also, magic items generally have different levels of power that you can upgrade the item to. You may need to research another key knowledge of the item or perform a deed with the item before the power can be woven to. Essentially every class gets access to the ability to weave threads. For magicians this happens at first circle and for other classes it generally happens around fourth circle. This ability allows the character to power a magical item by attaching a thread from their own pattern to the magical item and thus being able to gain the benefit from it. This again probably sounds complicated but believe me, it is a beautiful story telling option. To power an item the character must pursue the knowledge to do so.

For example, amongst a Horror’s stash a Warrior picks up a rusty broadsword (every Earthdawn player is suddenly salivating for good reason) and throws it aside. The Weaponsmith picks up the blade and attunes his sight to astral seeing that it contains a more complex pattern than a normal rusting blade. He spends some time with the blade over the next couple of days examining its pattern as they travel and then hands it back to the Warrior. “Friend, this blade has a history and hidden power. I do not know the answers to these questions but you must find the name of the forger of this blade to unlock its secrets.” See how fantastic that idea is to a game and how story driven this mechanic is. It truly inspires legends.

The other thing about Earthdawn stems from the sourcebooks themselves. Sourcebooks normally are filled with pages and pages of information about new rules with a little bit of game information. That concept is truly turned on its head with most sourcebooks. Each sourcebook is filled with world and story information. New rules are largely stored in a chapter at the end of the books linking back to the information contained in the stories. They are mostly beautifully laid out books and all of the sourcebooks back to first edition can still be used. Some of the second and third edition material largely reprint some of the first edition stuff and add to it as it is a game that supports an overarching meta-plot that is played out through this information. If you want to look at what is on offer, here is a link to DriveThruRPG that lists most of what has been printed in the setting so far.

Well, you may well be wondering why I am banging on about a system that is currently not in print. Let me tell you that I have an inkling that now FASA have reformed and that the licence of Earthdawn has lapsed from the companies that were working on it we may just see a new resurgence in Earthdawn material. I am very excited about this possibility and so I want to open some new players eyes to the beauty of Earthdawn. It is not a traditional hack and slash game. It is an intricate system that is carefully measured for the effect it provides but can be a bit daunting at the start.

I have spoken to some that have played the Savage Worlds variant that made it to the table but none that did the Pathfinder version. I still think that the original system (plus the 3rd edition variations) are the best to play the game in. A lot of people level criticisms at this system saying it was made just to appeal to the polyhedron crowd (the game utilises all seven dice in the original version, five in the third edition) but I believe this to be untrue. Looking at the system with my years of experience of reading and playing it I have a respect for how they use the system to support the tenets of the game. What I would love you to do is take a look at the system and find someone to give it a go. It is an incredibly rewarding experience. If you want, I would recommend the Shattered Pattern module as a game. Grab the system, build up some characters to that level then play that adventure. It has a bit of everything it is to play Earthdawn all in one place. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments and until next time, keep rolling!

My Worst Convention Game

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

The Gaming Convention season is almost over. There are going to be some smaller and regional conventions that happen throughout the year but the big season is the summer with Origins and Gen Con. I wanted to talk about the best convention games, but there have been so many great ones that it is hard to think of the best. But when it comes to the worst gaming experience at a convention for me it is not even close. At Origins a few years ago I played in a game of Colonial Gothic that failed in so many ways, all because of the GM.

Colonial Gothic was entered in the ENnies and I was a judge that year. I had played it with some local friends and it did not go well. The rules as we understood them made success very difficult even if we min-maxed a character. The concept of the game is supernatural elements in the time of the American Revolution and that was awesome sounding. I really wanted to like the game but it was not working for us. When I signed up for Origins I saw there was an official game being run Wednesday, the first game of the convention, in the late afternoon. I signed up and had my copy of the book, dice, and was ready to play. Unfortunately the GM was not.

The table had six players and two of us had books. I did not know anyone at the table, but while we waiting for the GM we chatted and it seemed like a good table. No one else knew the game; I was the only person who had played before. I did not mention I had before with the game. Our GM showed up. She fell into the chair exhausted and looked and smelled as if she had just run a marathon. She is a large lady and obviously had health issues. Since then I’ve seen that she now goes around conventions on a scooter. She tossed character sheets at us, told us to make characters, and then she left to get food. We were stunned. Usually GMs provide characters and if we are to make characters they have some condensed rules for us to use and stay there to help the players. With the few copies of the book we had I helped guide the other players to create characters. She came back 15 minutes later with her food. She helped out some and answered questions.

I had signed up for the game to see how the rules work, and to see if when I had ran it earlier that year we had been doing something wrong. The GM told us as we were finishing up characters that even though this was an official event by the publishing company she didn’t know the rules and was not going to be using them as written. Right from the gate the primary reason for my signing up for the game was negated.

The set up for the scenario was that our group has been tasked by colonists in Atlanta, Georgia to find a messenger boy who had gone missing. We created backgrounds for our character so we all knew each other and two of the players created links between their characters and the missing boy to create a better link for why we were going on the adventure. It was a good group of players who worked together and understood what was needed to help a GM along to make the scenario better.

The adventure was supposed to last four hours and it painfully did. We found some clues in Atlanta and made our way on the trail. On the road we ran into a fellow group of travelers. Each of them had a different accent the GM made sure to use and they were not well done. She wanted us to talk to each of the five or six NPCs even though they had no information on the boy or anything useful. The players kept trying to move on but she would bring up another NPC. So we talked to that one hoping someone had useful information but none did.

We found a small town and stayed at an Inn there. Again, there were more NPCs that knew nothing of what we were investigating. By this point the players were getting frustrated. We were not sure what to do so we just wanted to move on to something in the adventure. The characters spent the night in the town and the next morning found an NPC who said he had seen the boy and he went north. That is all we got, but we felt invigorated as we had a clue and a direction!

The group traveled north into some dark woods. There was the sound of a wolf howling. And then we reached the climax of the adventure where we shot a wolf. That was the end of the adventure. A Wolf howled, came out of the woods on the trail, and one of the PCs said I aim my musket at it and shoot. He rolled some dice and the GM said the wolf was dead and that was the adventure. No hint on what happened to the boy. There were no supernatural elements like the game described and it just failed on many levels. It was a bad game, a boring game, but what really made it the worst game ever for me was the GM and her habits.

As I said earlier the game was on the first day of the convention. One cliché about gamers at conventions is the smelly gamer. There are gamers that don’t make any attempt to stay clean and fresh at conventions. But it is a rare person that shows up to the convention smelling horrible. Her eating habits were disgusting. As she ate she made a mess on the table we were gaming at. Crumbs were everywhere. She then licked her hand, placed it on the table to gather up the crumbs, and then ate the crumbs. I had never seen anything like it. I have no idea why I did not just get up and abandoned the game. I saw some of the players at Gen Con a couple of months later and we talked about this. They said the same thing; they did not know why they did not leave. I have never left a con game early so I might just be too polite.

I e-mailed the company and told them they do not want this woman representing them or their games. I politely listed many ways she failed to showcase their game. I got an answer from them but don’t know if they did anything or allowed her to continue to run games for them. I did the following year play in another one of her games. I was signing up for a Dresden Files game and did not know she was running it. I was playing it with a friend so once again I stayed for the whole event. That game was better. It was light on action and plot but at least the GM didn’t eat in front of us. I also did not sit anywhere near her so I don’t know if her stench was active then.

I play a lot of convention games and it is odd how the bad ones stand out in my mind. I’ve had so few bad experiences. The other bad one involved Rotted Capes, but I can save that story for another day. As for the good ones I could talk about many awesome Dread games, Fiasco, Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Nights Black Agents, Serenity, Spycraft, Mutants and Masterminds, Paranoia, Dresden Files, Dungeons and Dragons, etc. I know that the list is incomplete and I am leaving out many other awesome games I’ve played at conventions.

D&D Next is DEAD to me…

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

I am now hanging my head in shame. A shame that I would never have thought to be possible. For two weeks I have lead a public charge to find players to test the final play test release of D&D and in each of these weeks I have found no one. I even tried to appeal to my American compatriots (where I have the largest readership) and run it in an American friendly time which would have meant me getting up early. But alas, my inbox was a place for tumbleweeds to breed and blow across the empty folders of my D&D Next playtest folder.

Melodramatic? Maybe. Over the top? Perhaps. Serious? Definitely. I am but one person who is trying out this game but I can honestly say that this is the first time ever I have tried to get a game up and running and failed. The sadder thing is it does not seem to be an isolated incident when it comes to play testing this game. I have had comments on my blog asking for me to keep people in the loop of what the game runs like because they can’t find anyone willing to play it. I have had other comments where they played a game or two but it all fell apart due to lack of interest.

Is D&D dead?

It looks as though it is to me. I find this very disappointing as the game that I have read offers a lot of potential. It looks like a game that packages together a really workable system of the game. I mentioned last week that it feels like a retro game, and it does. But I have now worked out why. It is because it does not bring anything new to the table but what it brings is a really solid combination of rules and playability that comes packaged in a familiar way. D&D is the security blanket to a lot of people, or at least used to be. I have seen all of the mechanics that are included in these rules elsewhere. There is no smoking gun. No mechanic that illustrates a system of brilliance I can’t live without but it has an excellent balance of good, proven mechanics that do not get in the way of playing it.

It is disappointing to me in another way too. I got excited about D&D again. I have not been excited by D&D since I got the first 3.0 players handbook in my hand (and that wiped the excitement away very quickly). This system makes me think I would enjoy it just as much as I did the Basic set of D&D. But I just don’t know and that irritates me. Do I go out on a limb and buy the books anyway? Possibly running the risk of purchasing dead weight that will never see a game?

I am now calling it, good people of the Iron Tavern Blog. My D&D Next reviewing days are over. My conclusion on the whole scenario can be surmised by the following statement. “D&D Next is perhaps amongst the sleekest designed systems I never played and may go down in history as the best version of D&D that killed the franchise due to lack of interest” RIP D&D, you created many hours of fun in my life and I will be sad to see you go. Keep rolling!

DragonCon DCC RPG Road Crew Report

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

A cautionary tale of pushing your limits…

Brandon Goeringer’s Dragon Con report where he ran 7 sessions of DCC RPG.

Let me first start by letting you know that I have never run a game at a convention. I’m a “home role player”. That is probably pretty common with a majority of people. Well I just ran some sessions at Dragon Con in Atlanta Georgia – 7 sessions to be exact – all in 3 days. This is my tale of pushing yourself to the edge for the hobby you love, and almost tumbling over the cliff for the entertainment of strangers and yourself.

I’ve been to Dragon Con a few times before and I mainly go for the RPGs, which many people will tell you are sadly under showcased for a convention of such large size. The first year was simply a scouting mission. I didn’t sign up for any games, I only watched people play various role playing games and attended some panels. My goal was this, “let me see how other GMs are at running games to see if I have the chops to jump in”. My conclusion was these 3 words, “I got this”.

I know that many DMs, GMs, and Judges think they are the best at what they do, and I also have a high opinion of myself in this regard. I would like to explain that I put my all into a game I am running. From speaking loudly with conviction, expressions, voices, energy, and excitement. I am a theater troupe, storyteller, and mime all in one. All of this effort to stand out, to please, to build excitement, champion the system, hobby and product were probably the things, in the end, that took the most toll on me. While exhausted in the “mustering room” before a session began on the final day, I stated to those that saw me slumped in my chair, “I just put so much into it.”

I had seen Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG at my FLGS and was instantly amazed by its old school vibe and artwork. It brought me back to when I first got into this hobby. After purchasing the tome I decided I would look into the games community and while on the Goodman Games site I saw the Road Crew Events. Fantastic, I would run this new RPG at Dragon Con, hand out a bunch of cool swag, and show players what I offer as a Judge and challenge myself to step out of my box after all these years. Certainly I would be the talk of the convention and people would be singing my praises to all that would listen. After much work on my part trying to communicate to the director of Non-Campaign RPGs (a whole other story unto itself) I finally made my sessions on their site, had my swag from Goodman Games, and slots were beginning to fill. “I got this.”

This was the schedule:

7 sessions
2 on Friday and Saturday; 3 on Sunday
4 hour sessions; 28 hours total
0-level character funnels
112 characters used
5 players maximum; each player would have 3 characters.

Yeah, that is a lot. Especially for someone who has never run a game at a convention.

Friday Session 1: The Portal Under the Stars 1pm-5pm

Bob, “Jim Carrey from Kick Ass 2”, “Sleepy”, “Quiet Guy”, Jason

Positives: Bob and Jason were like life long buddies around the dining room table, very friendly and excited to be playing. “Quiet Guy” was fine, he was just that player that seemed to speak the least. They all loved the swag. Adventure and system well received.

Negatives: “Sleepy” did just that. He fell asleep within 2 minutes of me explaining the game. Even though it was incredibly rude he WAS paying to play ($3) and I didn’t let it bother me. Still though, I HAD SOMEONE FALL ASLEEP DURING MY FIRST SESSION! He said he had a hard night and I did call him out on it in front of everyone. He was much better after that. “Jim Carrey” had to leave a little bit early but no big deal, his loss at not experiencing the end of the adventure.

Conclusion: I felt good about the game and was heaped with praise from the players for my effort in making the game exciting. I was even asked if I worked for Goodman Games.

Friday Session 2: Attack of the Frawgs by (ThickSkullAdventures.com) 6pm-10pm

Bob, John, Jennifer, and Joe

Jennifer and Joe had a no show from the Judge that was running their game so I sold them on DCC RPG and they bought the pitch.

Positives: Bob again (yay!). Hilarious comedy from just about everyone. I was on a roll with jokes and had them laughing pretty much through the whole adventure. The adventure was well received and the last encounter was just side splitting with some sexual humor. John said he was sold the moment I said Gygax and he felt that the game was exactly what he was expecting and how I described it.

Negatives: None.

Conclusion: I was relaxed and getting into the zone earlier in the adventure and with more control.

Saturday Session 3: The Portal Under the Stars 1pm-5pm

Pierce, Tony, Amanda, Monica, and Rob

This was a group of friends that all knew each other. Monica and Rob were married and Rob told me that he was his group’s DM.

Positives: A BOX OF WINE. Real easy going group that only got looser as the game progressed, and they all seemed to really love my style and excitement. Monica was the super roller at the table that seemed to be doing all the killing, which made it cool to see her embrace those moments. Pierce hadn’t played in years he said but DCC RPG felt great to him and he liked it a lot. He also came up with a cool trick to foil a nasty monster.

Negatives: Tony had to leave early which kinda stunk, but he did have to go get William Shatner’s autograph. I made a few mistakes with some minor rules stuff, but nothing crippling.

Conclusion: A very memorable group and maybe even my favorite. From what I gathered Rob had “taught” his wife Monica how to be a good player and it showed, very cool. They really got into the game and I felt their energy as a Judge and that only made me try harder.

Saturday Session 4: Attack of the Frawgs (ThickSkullAdventures.com) 6pm-10pm

Perry, John, Jason, John, and Pete (blue shirt)

Positives: Jason was back. Fun group of players that really enjoyed the adventure. Pete knew some of the system and had the book which was extra points. John in the orange shirt was having a ball, laughing hard and really embracing the characters he was playing. He actually said that he enjoyed Attack of the Frawgs more than “more deadly adventures”. The adventure ended in some great hooks for further exploration and the “acting” I did with one of the last creatures was hysterical.

Negatives: None.

Conclusion: Fun time had by all. I was starting to get pretty tired at this junction. I knew the next day was the adventure packed day and I was starting to lose my voice a little bit.

Sunday Session 5: The Portal Under the Stars 1pm-5pm

Rich, Kenny, Michael, Buddy, Chris, and John

This one was bumpy.

Positives: John, Rich, Kenny, and Michael all seemed to be having a blast and told me it was great. Buddy was the “Quiet Guy” but he said he enjoyed himself. John told me later that he really enjoyed the effort and he would use my techniques in his upcoming games.

Negatives: THEY SPLIT THE PARTY 3 WAYS! Splitting the party tested me to the fullest and I had to think fast as well as keep it going smoothly. Chris was in pure survival mode and looked around the doorways with a mirror on a stick. Every room was meta-gamed to a high degree by Chris. Now I must say that if that is his style that is his style. It may not embrace the “feel” of DCC RPG but that is how he wanted to play his characters. None of them died and none of them lived if that makes any sense. The other players became frustrated with this “tactic” and the party was split. Characters died alone and information from one character to another was non-existent. I took major mental fatigue from this game right at the start it seemed. I hate that some players might not have had a better time due to one players inaction but I let people play how they want to some extent. There was an extra player due to Judges not showing up to run their own games though not a negative because I could handle it, just more work.

Conclusion: A very tiring game for it to be my first game of the day, and with 2 session left it damaged the soft matter between my ears. Again I must stress that I put everything I got into these games. I found myself standing up, acting out character attacks and deaths, and really using the space.

Sunday Session 6: Perils of the Sunken City (PurpleSorcerer.com) 6pm-10pm

Bob, Lisa, ???, Pete, Jereme, Kelsey

Positives: Bob was back and brought his wife Lisa. Pete was there too and its nice to have people that know your style and how you run things. Jereme and Kelsey were a couple and that’s always cool. Lots of deaths, which was fun and exciting. Perils is a brutal adventure and it didn’t disappoint in that regard. Opossumen characters were cool and fun to describe and act out for the players. They loved the swag and were very vocal about how much they enjoyed my style. Very clever ways of getting past “traps”.

Negatives: I forgot one guys name. Not that he was quiet or didn’t stand out, I just couldn’t remember it or to write it down and I was really exhausted at this point. They really didn’t “get” the last area of the adventure and that was disappointing for me as a Judge.

Conclusion: I still brought it 100% even though I was hitting a wall physically. The adventure didn’t go how I would have liked, but it was the first time I had ran it. I learned a lot about how to run the adventure the next time. I was lightheaded after this game and needed a boost.

Sunday Session 7: Perils of the Sunken City (PurpleSorcerer.com) 10pm-2am

Player X, James, ???, Perry, Player Y

I normally don’t drink energy drinks but I was looking for any help I could get at this point. I was simply exhausted. It looked like I had 2 black eyes and was punch drunk like a boxer. I was so tired in fact that I forgot to take a picture…or maybe it was because I was about to run a game from hell. It was the latter.

Positives: Perry from my earlier game was there and he is a good guy.

Negatives: I will try to not make this too preachy but the tale must be told. I hope those reading this will learn something to look out for and maybe avoid it if you can. Player X and Player Y were quite simply the worst type of player you could possibly have sit at your table at any time of day. I instantly got a bad vibe as I got my stuff ready and was handing out materials. Player X was standing up a lot and was distracted by unimportant stuff. Player Y was slow to get a sentence out and showed up late. Both of them were playing 0-level characters and were “Role” playing them like a 15th level year long campaign character. Instead of being a group of peasants who worked in the same town together, they were out for themselves, especially Player X. Player X did pretty much the opposite of all the other players. He began sighing heavily at times. Along with him slowing the game down, he interrupted me every time I was reading block text from the adventure, which had me saying “let me finish!” in a stern voice. I’m talking he did it the moment I revealed some terrible monster or horrible revelation, my patience was out the window. I was moments away from kicking him out of the game. Player Y on the other hand would halt the game to a crawl with simply talking so slow and dragging out banality that it became infuriating. He would often stop the game to make a roll and then slowly debate in his mind if he should tell us what it was for, he didn’t. After a hour of game time we were at Area 2 of the adventure and I had to tell them to speed it up.

The player that I couldn’t remember his name seemed like a good guy until at the end of the adventure when he just up and left the table without a handshake, thank you or other acknowledgement of my hard work. I found that quite shocking to say the least as it was a first for me at the convention. Player Y preceded to tell me all the stuff his 0-level characters were thinking and doing after the adventure while Player X wanted to return to the deadly arena and reclaim peasant weapons lost in the fighting, all while I was trying to pack my stuff up, it was 2 am. I was dumbstruck by these two. I found them both to be socially inept in all regards. They simply only cared for their own enjoyment of the game and everyone else was forfeit to listen to their sputtering gibberish. James was tired of these two as well and Perry made the best of the situation. Unfortunately I had to cut out a few rooms because of the time we had lost.

Conclusion: Nightmare. I went to sleep with twitching muscles from exhaustion thinking of writing this report absolutely amazed at what I had just been through. I say to those out there that might play in a convention, try to think about others for a change. Its not all about you. Other people paid money to have a good time and you should make sure that your actions don’t take away from others. I am not your friend, nor have I been playing at your kitchen table, running games to suit your personal rpg needs. We only have 4 hours to get something accomplished that I have worked long and hard. These types of gamers hurt the hobby for others and Judges like me from returning to run something again in the future.

Overall I know that I had a lot on my plate and I accept that. I made the schedule. I won’t have those 2 players ruin what I worked so hard to accomplish. It was a fun experience and a positive one. I learned that I am a good Judge and my self esteem has been boosted from the endeavor. I made some new twitter friends and they still are thanking me for my effort. I love the hobby and will continue to run adventures at future conventions. I hope you have enjoyed this tale and I want you to know that there is a happy ending. Not only did I do what people have labeled me as “a machine!” but I had a belt buckle waiting for me at when I got home thanks to Joseph Goodman.

“I got this.”

Brandon Goeringer is a 36 year old stay at home dad, living in Mauldin South Carolina. I first experienced role playing games with Steve Jackson’s Car Wars and soon after with AD&D 2nd. Edition and Twilight 2000 when I was 10 years old. Fighting Fantasy books scratched my itch when I was alone and once I was able to get a job and some money, the games I’ve played exploded. This made way for MERP, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Star Wars D6, L5R, Call of Cthulhu, White Wolf, and D&D 3.0/3.5 to more modern games such as Pathfinder, Scion, Dark Heresy, Dragon Age, and my extreme love of Savage Worlds. While I own many more games yet to be played I look back on my history and am amazed that I’ve been playing for over 2 and a half decades. Continuing to play the best hobby in the world today, Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG brings me back to those days as a child, looking at the art of Jeff Easley, Brom, and Elmore and being lost in imagination. (Twitter @SavageGM)

Failure to Launch

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

I promised a play review of D&D Next this week and I am afraid that I am going to fail to deliver. But this was not through lack of trying. This makes me now wonder have the D&D crew lost too many people now for the Next generation to be a roaring success.

It is hard for me to pass judgement on this. I walked away from D&D 4th Edition after a year of playing and never even looked like going back. I sold books that I had never even opened the cover of to read when I found Pathfinder and decided to make the shift. Now I am in an amusing position of running Pathfinder mainly as my system of choice, a classic system for my sci-fi games and a very successful Indie game called FATE for everything else. I also live in a rural community in Tasmania, Australia which is far from the bustling areas where gamers gather. Honestly, where I live I am lucky to have an in person group.

The thing I do have though is a modicum of charisma and generally if I really want to get a game I can persuade people into it. This week I really wanted to give this game a try. Next looks good but I need to run it to see if it plays as well as it reads. I think this game is a worthwhile addition to the genre and honestly should have been 4th Edition. So there are two things that I can put me failing to get a game running over the past week to.

The first is that my good old charisma is failing me and the ravages of my overwhelming ego are obscuring reality. Some people that know me would certainly have a giggle at that whilst privately believing it. But I seriously think that it is case two. Case two is that the D&D brand is so badly thought of now that few people actually want to give it a run.

The reasoning of why this may be the case is tied up in conversations that I have had this week with individuals online and in person, as well as comments that came on one of the posts on my own blog (www.thepathfinderchronicles.com) when I posted a little bit more on the detail of the system. Much of the commentary I read was that people who had read the rules of the game are struggling to get groups together that have a desire to play the game! One commenter stated they began to play it but the group fell apart because of apathy and real life!

I do find this hard to reconcile. Most gamers have fond memories of this system and while it has suffered (arguably, I am not trying to troll) in the past few years I would still think there is interest as Hasbro’s bottom line says their role playing division is still profiting away. I announced out my regular Tuesday night game that if the players were keen I would run a game at my work for them on the Saturday and it appeared to interest a couple.

On the Saturday (I work in a service station Saturdays) one of them came in. But just to buy a coke. Apparently he had too much going on in an online MMORPG to come and play. The other that I thought may have come popped in for five minutes to say hello, get some of his pay and go again. It was then that these comments I had been reading began to hit home. The two players are the ones who were super hot on the idea of Next when they heard about it and got me interested enough to do the download the material.

I can honestly say I am a little bit disappointed at the moment with my “failure to launch” a game. I have to say though that this week I fully intend to run a game of Next. I had wanted it to be an in person game but it seems that I may not be able to achieve that so I am willing to run this game virtually via hangout. So I am putting the call out here first. If you are keen to give D&D Next a run for its money this Saturday evening (for our American compatriots) which will be Sunday morning Australian time send me an email direct at mark DOT knights AT gmail DOT com! I make this offer initially to the Iron Tavern readers. I want a crew of four to six players for the game which will run between two to three hours. I will put the request out on Google+ after this post has been on the Iron Tavern for a day.

So, what say you fine sturdy adventurers? Are you ready to find out what happens Next? Until next week, keep rolling!

Instant NPCs – Part II

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Last time we came up with some resources to create NPCs quickly on the fly. We generated a list of names, found a list of traits, and located a list of motivations. Why don’t we use those resources to generate some NPCs?

Like with everything else, context is important. So knowing where these characters are going to appear is the first part of the puzzle. But usually I won’t know which path the characters might take, so I may create a few NPCs ahead of time and leave some random elements to do them on the fly if necessary.

For instance, if my PCs are exploring an urban setting and go visit a general store, they may want to chat with the shopkeeper.

First I’ll roll a d12 (or use Random.org) to select a name from the list I created earlier. I rolled a 7, which is… Blizzard. Not one of my favorites on the list, but we’ll go with it to see where it leads.

Next, I’ll try and use the Fiction Writer’s Mentor list of traits and Random.org (works just as well as randomly picking something by hand or via dice) to come up with a random number between 1 and 447. I get 360, which is… Sensitive.

And lastly I’ll roll another d24 on the list of motivations from Alric, which is… Honesty.

Somehow from that combination of properties I see Blizzard as a younger, sensitive girl working on the shop and being brutally honest with customers. And voila, I have a NPC I can work with.

Let’s try another one. Maybe our PCs are on the road and run across a traveling caravan going the other direction. They decide to ask if they hit any trouble on the road ahead. So I’ll need a caravan guard to materialize…

Name: (roll a 6) Tai’sul
Trait: (roll a 331) Religious
Motivation: (roll a 21) Service

I can definitely work with that. Our man Tai’sul is a religious man in the service of his faith escorting a high-ranking church member from one location to another. Perhaps the high-ranking priest is on a tour of temples and churches in the area making sure they’re being held to the standards of their faith. But a personality for our churchly guard is easy to come up with and helped me come up with a reason for the caravan as well.

Let’s do one more for good measure… Perhaps our PCs want to talk to the religious figure being escorted by our friend Tai’sul.

Name: (roll a 3) Gwilherm
Trait: (roll a 419) Unconcerned
Motivation: (roll a 1) Achievement (doesn’t really work, so I roll again) (roll a 20) Religion/Faith

When Tai’sul goes to speak with his master in the wagon, he comes back quickly asking if any of the PCs are among the faithful of their gods. If so, Father Gwilherm will speak with the PCs and express that it was his guards’ duty to protect him from any incidents that may have occurred on the road. If they should die, their spirits will be well taken care of by their creators. Why should he care for any trouble? What is ordained is ordained… And if there are no faithful among the PCs, he declines to speak with them at all and urges his retinue to continue on their journey.

Again, the name, trait, and motivation came together not only to help define the NPC but guide the parameters of the encounter.

Brian “Fitz” Fitzpatrick is a Software Engineer who manages (or is that mangles) Game Knight Reviews and tinkers with writing game materials via his Moebius Adventures imprint. When he’s not writing about gaming, he’s actually gaming or at least thinking about gaming in some capacity. During the non-writing, non-gaming time he’s likely trying to keep up with his wife and two daughters or wrangling code for a living!