New Classics: The Bonegarden

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The Bonegarden CoverNecromancer games hit the ground running back in the early days of third edition D&D.  Not many companies had a clear direction with their products.  Very simply they had the slogan “Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel” and they lived up to that.  Their adventures were usually longer and more in-depth than others being produced at the time.  Their adventures also were a bit more out there and had  unusual and creative backdrops.  For my fifth New Classic line of blog posts I look at the Bonegarden, a sandbox style module written for third edition D&D but easily converted into other systems.

The great thing about Bonegarden is the multiple ways it can be used.  There is not a plot or assumed path for the module.  There is no one hook that bring the PCs into the place.  The module is designed for characters of about twelfth to fourteenth level, but with different encounter areas it could be used as a difficult place for lower level characters that just need to get in and out with no need for dealing with the whole place.  The Bonegarden is a very large cemetery.  It is surrounded by a magical field that keeps the undead contained but also makes it difficult for characters to get out.  Undead in the Bonegarden are more powerful than those elsewhere and the module covers the reasons for this.  The part that makes the Bonegarden especially deadly is that every night all the undead that were destroyed in the previous twenty four hours come back to unlife, so to speak.

The one hundred and twenty eight page module is filled with undead.  There is a wide variety of them here including many new ones that were in the Tome of Horrors.  There are fifteen new creatures and templates in the book. My favorite is the undead mimic.  Mimics are always fun and having an undead version is clever, as when players are thinking undead they usually are not thinking about mimics.  There are some new feat options and spells in here, but the new magical items are more interesting.  The Pieces of Her Heart is a sad artifact with a unique history and it offers interesting abilities as one collects the different pieces of this broken heart.

Inside the Bonegarden there are many different encounter areas.  The module has wandering monster tables and is one of the few modules that I think makes really good use of them.  There are all types of generic undead one can encounter in here and the undead always come back.  Many of the different encounter areas have their own hooks.  This can make them easy to use sections without the need to use the whole module.  There are also plenty of empty areas a DM can insert in their own encounters and buildings with their own undead creations.

Not everything in the Bonegarden is dead though.  There is a group of survivors that use one of the buildings as a place of protection.  They are dying off slowly but the group is using smart tactics to stay alive.  They are not the oddest thing in there either.  There is a large spaceship of fantastic design that has crashed there.  One could easily make it an ancient spelljammer or something more like the tech of Numeria from the Pathfinder setting.

Like most of the books I look at, this one never seemed to get its due when published.  Now one can easily find a copy for less than ten dollars.  It was a fun module when I ran it for my group many years ago.  There is a lot of things going on but nothing so complex or so huge that is overshadows everything else.  It is a great undead sandbox adventure.

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.

Review: Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management

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Odyssey CoverAuthor:  Phil Vecchione, Walt Ciechanowski
Publisher:  Engine Publishing
Art Director: John Arcadian
Price: Print & PDF $24.95 / PDF $11.95 / PDF @ RPGNow ($11.95)
Pages: 212

Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management is the most recent release from Engine Publishing in print and PDF form, plus bonus EPUB, MOBI and text versions. The book is written by Phil Vecchione (also author of Never Unprepared from Engine Publishing) and Walt Ciechanowski, with art by Avery Liell-Kok, Matt Morrow, Christopher Reach, and Daniel Wood.

Odyssey is a guide to managing campaigns. With that in mind the book covers three major topic areas – starting a campaign, managing a campaign, and ending a campaign. A shorter section defining campaigns starts the book. The book aims to be an in-depth guide to helping a GM guide a campaign from the time it is just an idea, starting the campaign, running the campaign and making it past obstacles that can occur, to wrapping up your campaign.

The book weaves a fictional gaming group amongst the advice to help show how situations can work out better using the advice in the book. The technique works well for this purpose.

Let’s take a look at the book section by section.

On Campaigns

Before the book gets too far into helping you manage a campaign it defines a campaign. Four elements are noted that make up a campaign – characters, gaming sessions, a series of events, and continuity.

Working from there the book moves into why one would want to manage a campaign. Here the book briefly goes into the phases of the campaign, a closer look at the layers of the campaign, and the constant tides of risk and change and their impact on the campaign. This all helps make the case as to why a campaign can benefit from management.

This section is short, but serves well to set the stage for the rest of the book.

Starting a Campaign

The first part of a campaign is starting a campaign. This chapter begins by defining four main phases of starting a campaign. This includes coming up with the campaign concept, the framework, creation, and the first session. The first chapter in this section defines the role of GM and of the players that make up the gaming group as well as key skills for people starting a campaign.

This takes us to the Campaign Concept chapter. This chapter breaks down the elements of forming the concept for the game. The ground rules or blocks that are going to form the foundation of the campaign. Methods of coming up with these ideas as a group or GM are included, along with advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Next we move into the Campaign Framework chapter. This section goes over what I would call the “meta” of the campaign. What system are you going to use, setting, what supplements are allowed, house rules, and even social contracts at the table. The chapter goes into more depth on choosing a setting and what other factors to consider as part of the framework – like roles of the PCs, power level, etc.

Campaign creation gets a short chapter. This chapter aims to help a GM organize his material and consider several elements that go into campaign creation from the GM’s side of the screen.

And finally, this section wraps up with a section on the First Session. This chapter tackles how to handle that first session. I always think the first session of any campaign is one of the hardest. Getting the characters involved in the new world always seems tricky to me, no matter how excited I am for the new campaign. There were several good tips on here on how to get the most out of that first session.

Managing a Campaign

This section jumps right in with the first chapter titled Campaign Management. The chapter is an overview of what is to come, noting five areas of focus. Story, player characters, people, risk, and change. The chapter goes on to talk about being agile and flexible with the areas of focus and avoiding a strict railroad in running a game.

Engine Publishing LogoStory management dives into several good bits of information. Everything from story arcs to ways to hook players into the arc. There is also a section on story structure and touches on the three-act and five-act models plays as something to mimic. The chapter also touches on pacing, the importance of interesting NPCs, and other story related elements that need managed.

Player Character Management comes up next. The authors touch on different character types, growing a character during a campaign both in character and mechanically. There are also tips on how to showcase this growth during sessions.

People Management covers a multitude of real life people scenarios that can impact your game and frequently need some management. Everything from scheduling issues, to problem player types that can disrupt a campaign. The chapter closes with tips on keeping interest in the campaign – both the GM’s and the player’s.

Risk Management is a short chapter that helps a GM use a four step process for managing risks. These steps help determine what risks might be, how likely they are to occur (to help determine how much time to spend on them), and how to mitigate the risk. This was a handy chapter and helps drive home that there is always risk, but not all risk warrants time spent on detailed plans to mitigate, while others might.

The final chapter in this section is Change Management. This chapter also covers four steps to use to address change that might occur in your campaign. This change could be anything from a new player joining the group to a long term player leaving the group.

Ending a Campaign

The first chapter in this section is titled When It Is Time To End Your Campaign. Several warning signs that it is time to consider ending your campaign are listed. The authors also note that ending a campaign is not necessarily a bad thing.

Killing a Campaign comes next as one of the ways to end a campaign. Four common approaches to this method are mentioned and how to implement each of those in your own campaign. And even if a campaign must be killed, the chapter reminds you to look at why the campaign failed and learn from it.

The next chapter covers methods to Suspend a Campaign. The first topic addresses determine whether a campaign should be killed rather than suspended. If interest exists to continue at a later date, then suspending the campaign might be an option. The chapter covers how to suspend it and how to bring it back when the time has come to do so.

The final option mentioned is the Managed Ending. This is where the campaign simply has loose ends tied up because the campaign has run its course. This is a chance to explore final areas players have been desperate to do so or tie up any other loose ends that might exist. The grand finale!

Summary

Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management is another excellent offering from Engine Publishing. Campaign management is an often overlooked component of RPG books. Very few RPG publishers give the topic an in-depth look. Campaigns are what keep people playing and successful campaigns are what keep people coming back to the table. The practical advice included in Odyssey is a methodical look at managing a successful campaign and avoiding common pitfalls, a welcome resource to both new GMs and seasoned GMs alike. The fact it is system neutral helps further its usefulness to an even greater number of GMs.

In addition to the usefulness of the subject matter, the book flowed well making reading about such management techniques of a campaign enjoyable. The mixing of the fictional gaming group stories applying the techniques were useful examples further illustrating the relevance of the techniques.

Pairing Odyssey with Never Unprepared and a new or seasoned GM is well on their way to smooth running sessions and campaigns.

Review: The Twice Robbed Tomb

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The Twice Robbed Tomb CoverAuthor:  Perry Fehr
Publisher:  Purple Duck Games
Cover Art: Ryan Rhodes
Price: PDF $2.00 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com
Pages: 10 (incl. cover)

The Twice Robbed Tomb is a Labyrinth Lord adventure from Purple Duck Games. Written by Perry Fehr the module comes in at 10 pages including cover and OGL licensing page. A variety of artists receive credit, including Ryan Rhodes, Darkzel, Storn Cook, and Malcom McClinton.

Pheniket the Pharaonic’s tomb was uncovered nearly 50 years ago. Through this discovery the almost completed plans of Pheniket have begun to come to fruition. With “treasure maps” and “keys” being sold in town leading unsuspecting adventurers to the tomb to find loot not carried out from the tomb, the party is likely to find themselves in search of lost treasures.

The module contains the tomb’s background and a merchant peddling maps to the tomb. A rumor table is also included for characters that do some research in town before headed out. The monster’s in the module are standard with a strong undead theme for the tomb.

The art in the module is predominantly color, save for one black and white work. The latter is naked succubus which is why this particular module has an adult label at RPGNow. A player’s map and Labyrinth Lord map are both included. Player’s maps are always a nice thought for those of us who play over virtual tabletops.

The Review

A lot of adventure is packed into the ten pages. With the main plot hook occurring in town and some short travel needed to reach the tomb a Labyrinth Lord could easily expand on that portion if desired.

The temple itself is ten encounter areas. Each is well detailed and includes boxed text as well as the monster stat blocks. Several of the rooms were quite interesting with features that stood out. I risk spoilering the module if I say too much on this aspect, but the adventure is more than just a room-by-room clearing.

Of note is that the maps used in the module are the same as the maps used by The Falcate Idol, a DCC RPG release from Purple Duck Games. This made reading the module quite interesting in seeing how one author populated the maps versus another author.

The module is listed as being appropriate for 4 characters of 3rd level or 6 or more at 2nd level. Tackling the adventure with 4 characters seems like even then it might be tough, especially given the nature of some of the monsters included. At the very least if I were running this, I would strongly encourage some hirelings.

The Twice Robbed Tomb looks like a great adventure for Labyrinth Lord. I could easily see using it for a side-trek as the party passes through a desert town or possibly something that fit more into a grand campaign scheme!

Review: The Seven Deadly Skills of Sir Amoral the Misbegotten

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The Seven Deadly Skills of Sir Amoral the Bastard CoverAuthor:  Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher:  Purple Duck Games
Art: Michael Scotta, Gary Dupuis
Price: PDF $3.00 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / Paizo.com
Pages: 13 (incl. cover)

The Seven Deadly Skills of Sir Amoral the Misbegotten is the fourth release in the Campaign Elements series from Purple Duck Games. The Campaign Elements series helps fulfill the ‘Quest for It’ element of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The products in this series are perfect for use as divine quests, patron quests, or simply when you as a judge have a DCC RPG character that needs or wants to accomplish some task.

This fourth release is written by Daniel Bishop, just as the previous three releases were. The cover illustration was done by Michael Scotta and interior art was done by Michael and Gary Dupuis. The PDF is 13 pages long including the cover and page of OGL information on the last page. An area map is included, as well as encounter descriptions for each location of the ruined Gryffon Keep. Numerous new monsters are included, either to be used for this adventure, or “borrowed” by creative judges for other areas of their campaign. Several ways to introduce this area and Sir Amoral himself are also in the adventure, along with the ‘Squeezing it Dry’ section for getting the absolute most from this scenario.

The primary component to this adventure is the ghost of a once powerful warrior. This warrior knew many fighting techniques that could prove advantageous to other warriors or those interested in pursuing a special fighting technique. In life Sir Amoral was stingy with this knowledge, but in the afterlife he seeks to pass this on to others – if they are worthy.

Sir Amoral knows seven special fighting techniques that one can learn. To be worthy one must pass one of his seven deadly tests. Even succeeding at that means the one seeking to be taught this technique must accept a quest on Sir Amoral’s behalf.

The scenario includes the mechanics for these seven bits of knowledge and seven new creatures Sir Amoral can summon to determine if one is worthy of instruction.

The Review

The scenario rests in a specific area, the ruined Gryffon Keep. Most likely the characters will seek the place out in search of Sir Amoral to teach them new weapon techniques. A creative judge can come up with any number of ways to learn of Sir Amoral, but the most attractive appears to be the characters having met someone who had received training on their adventures. This person could be an ally or rival depending on which fits your DCC campaign the best.

There are some additional hooks noted for drawing characters to the area. And several opportunities exist to expand the adventure site to further work the area into an ongoing campaign.

The seven techniques provide mechanics to do things like increase initiative, increase armor class, introduce a form of attacks of opportunity, and similar mechanics. There is a sidebar that states the seven deadly skills are not supposed to analogous to feats. I still have a hard time shaking the feeling that they feel a little like feats to me.

They are certainly much harder to obtain than a feat in d20 systems and it does come with a price to learn them. But as I read them I feel like they will get recorded on my character sheet in a very similar manner as feats. My initial reaction is lukewarm to these mechanics.

I think when I use this scenario in play I would still have the seven deadly skills, but possibly swap in something of my own creation. I think. We will see what happens when the time comes though. In either case – a neat scenario and idea and certainly workable even if I tweak it from how originally written.

The scenario does include 7+ new monsters. Many of these are for use with the seven trials, but a judge could easily “borrow” some of these for use anywhere in a campaign.

The location itself is also interesting and has at least one area that just calls for a judge to expand on it a bit and really work it into their campaign.

Once again this release in the Campaign Elements series has lots of useful parts in it and ideas to “borrow” for an established DCC RPG campaign. Used in whole or in part this is another strong release from Purple Duck Games and Daniel Bishop. It is a welcome addition to my collection.

What is Coming up Next?

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D&D NextI have publicly declared my dislike for Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) much to the chagrin of many fans of the system.  I did not take this lightly, as my group and I played the system for over a year solid but we found we were just not getting any enjoyment out of it.  That is when a friend of mine pointed me at Pathfinder and I have step by step been indoctrinated into the system.  I even publicly stated that I would not even look at 5th edition D&D as they had lost me with the franchise.

A few days ago though a blog from Mike Mearls who is the senior manager for D&D R&D at Wizards of the Coast (WotC) entitled “The Final Countdown” caught my eye.  He talks in it about how the public playtest has gone, what they learnt from it and what is to come.  It appears the final playtest is almost over and that the recent release to the DnD Next community was to be the last before they did the hard work working out the maths of a balanced system and creating what will become the 5th Edition of D&D.  I had previously downloaded the Next documents as I had mentioned to Jeffrey Tadlock (the fine proprietor of the Iron Tavern) that I may do a review or two.  When I looked at it though I just could not bring myself to get into it.  I saw good and bad in the first few pages and so I left it.

But this blog has gotten me to download the system again and I have been doing some reading of the contents over the past few days.  What in this article got me to reconsider?  It was this quote from Mike that offered me hope “So, what did we learn from the public playtest? In some cases you confirmed things, in others you dispelled some notions that had become lodged in R&D’s view of you.”  Then he lists his five points that they learnt the most which were:

  1. We like simplicity.  We like games where we are up and running quickly and are able to create games quickly with simple tools

  2. We want classes that can contribute in every situation though we are OK with specialised classes if they balance things out on a broader scale

  3. We want tools that build adventures quickly and easily allowing us to focus on the plot rather than the mechanics

  4. We like flexible rules.  Give us a general rule that can be applied across many instances rather than a rule for every situation

  5. We want a game that will fit several styles of play and above all, a game that works

So I have now retracted my statements about fifth edition and I am looking at the Next material through new eyes.  If the D&D R&D take the above five points on in the system D&D should be looking like a very good game.  I have read a bit of the material now and am ready to make a few overall observations on the new material.  I have double checked the FAQ page and the people over at WotC are happy for me to blog about my experience with the system and so here we go.

I am really quite excited about what I have read and seen so far in the system.  I was trying to explain it to my Pathfinder players last Tuesday night by saying that the system felt like a nod to the retro systems without it actually being retro.  I really do feel like I am reading D&D, not a complete rehash of the system!  The system feels restrained, checked, simple.  I really felt it was a bit like Dungeon World with some of the ways that it has reigned its previous editions excesses in.  The system has been scaled back and a lot of effort has been placed into making the character classes have a lot of flavor and role-playing potential.  Previous editions really seemed to lose a lot of the character class flavor and they have drawn it right back in this edition.

The core classes remain, and I mean core.  The Cleric, Fighter, Mage (no longer Wizard) and Rogue make up the core contingent of classes with Barbarian, Druid, Monk, Paladin and Ranger also present as options that are not pure classes.  But each of these have a really distinct feel to them that makes me feel retro but offers some great color to the classes.  It is not only the classes that have had an injection of flavor, the whole text has with many Forgotten Realms references made in examples (this crushed one of my players who loves Greyhawk!).

All the traditional races are present with some variants (e.g. High Elf) so you will find the Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling and Human in these pages.  Variants are treated as off-shoots of the main race so you would find the High Elf detailed in the Elf section.  Again, these are delightfully portrayed and have a nice flavor to most of the races with only the half-breeds being terse on information apart from their statistical effects.

Skills have gone by the wayside, kind of.  They have now been wrapped up as attribute rolls.  You do not get skill points to spend each level so it really depends on your statistics how well you are at most of the skills that were included in third and fourth edition.  For example, if you wanted to patch up a bleeding companion it would ordinarily require a Heal check but now it requires a Wisdom roll.

Lolth SymbolThe rules on How to play are fantastic.  I was through them so quickly that I was shocked!  They have some great rules supporting a very intuitive, simple system!  Intuitive and simple?  Words I never thought I would say in connection with D&D again!  I laughed out loud after the combat section because it was so simple and so short that I figured there had to be more.  But you know what?  There wasn’t and it looks like it will work seamlessly which is something I craved for in these games.  One of the problems I had with third and fourth edition was the fact that anytime someone moved you had to reach for a rulebook to see if it met one of four hundred different criteria for various triggers (yes, I know I am exaggerating but not much).

Feats exist still but they are not the broad range of multi-configurable minor benefit wielding mechanics that they used to be.  In fact they are entirely optional and to take a Feat you have to give up one of the flavor powers that are offered to your class.  There are only twenty odd Feats listed in the section although I am sure that will grow before the final product is released.

That is about as far as I have looked in the system so far, although I have flicked through the Bestiary and made one major discovery.  Things have really been toned back.  Do not expect to see creatures in the coming edition with horrendously huge Armour Classes any more.  their stats have been toned right down as has the increase in player character to hit bonuses etc.  But I will talk to that after I have actually run a game of the system which I hope to do soon.  There is no telling how good a system is just from reading it so I already have a couple of people keen to give Next a run before next week where I hope to do a play review of the system here for the Iron Tavern.  Until then, 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.

Roll20 Wins Tabletop Gaming Industry Award and Surpasses 250,000 Users

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Roll20 has released a press release regarding their recent ENnie award for “Best Software” and surpassing 250,000 users! It seems like just yesterday I was posting their announcement of surpassing 100,000 users.

My comments regarding the press release follow the press release posted below.

ROLL20 WINS TABLETOP GAMING INDUSTRY AWARD, SURPASSES 250,000 USERS
Online Application’s Creators Attend Gen Con Indy as the Gaming Hobby Soars
Roll20 Logo
Indianapolis, Indiana (August 25, 2013) The development team of the browser based virtual tabletop Roll20.net was recognized last weekend as creators of the “Best Software” at the Annual Gen Con EN World Roleplaying Game Awards, known as the “ENnies.” The Roll20 program added its 250,000th user over the weekend since launching the popular gaming platform eighteen months ago.

Project lead Riley Dutton said of the ENnies win, “It is exciting and encouraging to be recognized as valuable to the tabletop gaming community. Some of the very best creators in the industry were recognized at the ENnies, and to be listed next to them is a true honor.”

Added co-creator Richard Zayas about the Gen Con weekend, “So much of what we do is online, so the chance to go to Indianapolis and see nearly 50,000 gamers– meet some of our users, play new games we haven’t yet gotten to try, and just enjoy the celebration of these hobbies was fantastic.”

On the subject of Roll20’s quarter million users, program co-creator Nolan T. Jones said, “We created Roll20 as a way for us to personally play games with our friends across the country, and knowing that we’ve been able to help so many others do the same is staggering.”

The Roll20 development team stated at panels over the Gen Con weekend that future updates will revolve around better methods to find gamers in their system, and that they are actively seeking to work with major publishers to bring their content to users in easy-to-use formats.

Roll20 began as an effort to keep developers Dutton, Jones, and Zayas in touch via long distance gaming. Their project became public with an eighteen day Kickstarter campaign in April of 2012. Since then it has attracted over 250,000 users as a free service. The program continues to be funded by subscribers who receive features that assist advanced gameplay.

 

I thought the “Best Software” award was well deserved. While I was torn between wanting Roll20 and Purple Sorcerer’s Crawler’s Companion to win this category with 250,000 users it is little surprise Roll20 ended up with the gold.

If you haven’t checked out Roll20 yet and have any interest in online gaming with a virtual tabletop, you owe it to yourself to take a look. I have been running a DCC RPG campaign over Roll20 for the past year. The software has pretty much just worked. We lose no time sorting out connection difficulties or anything typically associated with a VTT. Though their features have increased over the months, one can still just use it to display a map for a more theater of the mind game keeping complexity to a minimum.

Roll20 has certainly allowed me to get a lot more gaming in over the past year than I would have otherwise.

In regards to surpassing 250,000 users, it was January 21, 2013 when their press release went out announcing surpassing 100,000 users! Here we are in late August with a 150,000 user increase! Very impressive! That is quite the player pool to work with when looking for a new game to play or group to play with.

Instant NPCs – Part I

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Soldier NPCIn any campaign, sandbox or not, the world has to be filled with people coming and going to give it life. Otherwise our PCs are just wandering around talking to themselves or a bunch of monsters. And yes, monsters can be fun (I love a good dungeon crawl), but the roleplaying aspect of our hobby comes from more than combat.

So are NPCs a dime a dozen? It wouldn’t seem so. When I was GMing regularly I had a list of names that I could grab something from when my players decided they needed to visit with someone. But a name isn’t usually enough. After all, who is “Bob” really? He works at the blacksmith down on the corner, but what does he do? What’s his personality like? How does he dress? And that’s when I always got a bit drowned in details. We could go into detail on each and every character in the “world” the characters inhabit, but what does that mean?

Details it turns out are sometimes unnecessary. I find I really like the “One Sentence NPC” approach that Johnn Four pioneered at the Roleplaying Tips site (you can see the issue with the article here), but I want to streamline it a little.

All I really need is a name, a personality trait, and a motivation. The rest sort of handles itself in the process of roleplaying the NPC.

Let’s start with the names. I prefer to have a list prepared that I can just randomly select from, cross off so I don’t use it again, and move on. So let’s generate a list. There are a number of terrific random generators I use regularly:

  • Behind the Name offers all sorts of categories to help guide your name generation. You could specify the “Breton” and “Hillbilly” categories, select “Masculine” as the gender, click “Generate a Name” and instantly have one pop up. I got Corentin, Yanick, and Gwilherm, which are all fun.
  • The Fantasy Name Generator from Samuel Stoddard at Rinkworks is one I use the most. It has two options – Simple and Advanced. I usually just go with Simple and click “Generate Names” to create a block I can pull from. The Advanced side requires a bit of ramp-up to learn how to use, but you have a ton of customizable options available. We’ll grab three “simple” names here – Denad, Alet, and Tai’sul.
  • Seventh Sanctum has a huge number of available options for names (and many many other things). In this case, I like the “Fantasy Name Extreme Generator”, which definitely offers some over-the-top names for your list. After generating 25 names, I’ll grab Blizzard, Flora, and Zeal.
  • And last but not least there’s the Fantasy Name generator at Chaotic Shiny. Like Seventh Sanctum, Chaotic Shiny has a ton of fun generators to play with, but the name tool works great. Tell it how many you want and what gender and it chugs away giving me Kad, Traska, and Kailin.

Thief NPCObviously there are many more out there. Use your Google-fu to find a few and let me know if you find any other cool ones. 🙂

Editor’s Note: And don’t forget Brian’s own License Plates as Name Generators article here for great name ideas.

So here’s the name list we’ve put together. It works well for a random d12 roll at first or just the random stab with a finger:

  • Corentin
  • Yanick
  • Gwilherm
  • Denad
  • Alet
  • Tai’sul
  • Blizzard
  • Flora
  • Zeal
  • Kad
  • Traska
  • Kailin

Once we have our names, we need to find some traits. Again, there are quite a few online references to choose from or existing supplements to pick up.

Luckily Johnn Four’s 3 Line PCs book offers just such a list. There’s 1000 traits in the list to choose from. Randomly roll a d1000 or use the phonebook method of scrolling to a page and putting your finger down. Everything from Able & Brutish to Young & Zany. Just pick one.

Or if you are looking for a list on the web, here are a few I found:

And lastly we need some form of motivation. Why drives these characters to do whatever it is they do or behave the way they do? Here again are a few resources on the web with lists of motivations…

So with these three broad, random lists in hand why don’t we create a few NPCs? Next time we’ll do just that. 🙂

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!

En Route Encounters

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En Route IIt has been a while since I ran a good sandbox fantasy campaign.  I like the adventure paths and enjoy going through them, but they are linear and it can be tough to really have the feeling of go anywhere and try to do anything.  Even though I haven’t run that kind of campaign lately I still hold on to and seek out books that aid in that kind of campaign.  There are not a lot out there that are easily adaptable and portable into different fantasy games and worlds.  This week I am going to look at three books of the En Route series by Atlas Games for their Penumbra line.  These books offer a variety of different encounters that can easily be dropped into almost any fantasy campaign.

The En Route series of books boasts some impressive writers.  We have author credits by Keith Baker, Brannon Hollingsworth, Chris Aylott, Spike Jones, Justin Achilli, and many other familiar names.  The first two are written for 3e and the third is written for 3.5 ed D&D using the OGL, but these are very mechanics light products making them very easy to port into any other fantasy game.  Since the books are older it should be easy to find them relatively cheap.  A quick look on Amazon.com shows they can be purchased for around $5 a piece.

En Route IIThe En Route series are books featuring simple encounters designed to be used when the PCs are traveling from one place to another.  Some are for on the road, in a city, a tavern, in a forest, on the sea, and other places.  There is a variety of different locations with some unusual ones like in a goblin encampment or whenever the party teleports.  Each encounter is a bit more in depth with great plot ideas that a DM can carry forward.  This is one of the great things I like about the books, the encounters can be throw away encounters the PCs run into and then can forget about.  But I like encounters that might originally feel like that but a DM can cleverly use something established there and showcase it later in the campaign.  I think it helps tie different adventures together and helps the players remember what is happening in the campaign because they know something that is happening now can come back and help or hinder them in the future.

Between the three books there are approximately 50 different encounters.  Each covers about four to eight pages.  There are simple ones like the Door.  It is designed for second level characters and while wandering a road they encounter signs that say something like “Are you Worthy?” and “Do you think you have what it takes?”.  Ahead off to the side of the road is a small trail that leads to a door in the side of a rock facing covered in mystical runes and animal carvings.  The door is locked and trapped.  What lies behind the door will be remembered by the party.

En Route IIIThere is the Haunting Place, which says it is for level 10 but I would reduce it to lower level.  The magic of a level 10 party could easily make this encounter too easy or they could kill the creature they are trying to help.  It is built on the idea of a summoned monster trying to get home but there is a communication problem between it and anyone it tries to get to help it.  It can really set the scene for a spooky encounter as the players are trying to figure out exactly what is going on.

Many of the encounters are not combat encounters.  Some use illusions or tricks to set up situations that are not quite apparent to the players at first. One of my favorites is the Glass House by Keith Baker.  It is a simple situation in which a magical experiment inside in Inn turns the place and everyone inside invisible.  The PCs are assumed to be outside and witness the Inn and everyone vanish.  There is a mystery of what happened and how to undo it all but it sets up for some fun and different kind of encounter.

The En Route series is perfect for DMs looking for something a little extra to help out a gaming session or serve as a small distraction.  None of them will take a full session or even a half of session but all of them could if the DM wants to put in a little work to add additional levels of complexity.  I like these for a sandbox campaign as it would be easy to just have the books handy and grab them when needed.  There are a few that could be used in Adventure Paths to just put in something different and not directly connected to the AP.  Most of them are for lower level groups and any of these that say they are for higher ones like level 10 and up I would pay close attention to, as most of them I feel would work better for lower level characters.  There is a lot of creativity and cleverness in these books coming from authors who were not as well-known as they are today.

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.

Do You Tarrasque?

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TarrasqueI have never, as a player, been caught in a game with a Tarrasque. Have you? This creature is one of the most iconic creatures in all the bestiary books I have ever read. We have seen at least five different official versions over time and there is always one thing that can be said about the Tarrasque, and that is you just can’t keep it down. Ever. Period. Don’t mess with it because it will kill you.

The Tarrasque has always been an open topic of conversation at the D&D and Pathfinder tables. It is said if a GM ever tires of his current campaign the certain way to end it is to introduce a Tarrasque. But what are the origins of such a beast. When it got placed in the Pathfinder Bestiary I realized that the adorable little critter (not) was’t the Intellectual Property (IP) of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) as I had previously believed. I became curious as to the origins of such an iconic creature in the game so I went and looked at books (yes, the paper kind) and the internet to track some information down. Was there a high level adventure hiding somewhere that I could take advantage of debasing the myth that the Tarrasque was a simple rampaging creature full of wrath and destruction?

The legend of St. Martha is actually the source of the Tarrasque story and it stems from a book of legends called the “Golden Legend” which was penned in the mid 1200’s although more was added through the years. Over a thousand manuscripts of this book has survived as it was exceptionally popular in its time. The source of the story comes from France where there was a dragon like creature known as the Taresque who lived in and around the Nerluc area in Provence, France. The creature was laying waste to a wide swathe of territory and nothing seemed to be able to stop it.

The Taresque of legend was not the colossal magical beast of the D&D books. In fact it was said to have six short bear legs, an ox-like body covered by a turtle shell, a scaly scorpion tail and the head of a lion. It was said to burn anything it touched which was the way it was ruining the land. It is unclear if this was before or after it had been attacked by knights and catapults though so it may have been peaceful before it. Regardless, anything they fought with could not defeat the creature.

Enter our heroine, St. Martha. Understanding the damage the creature was causing, she sought out the creature in the hope that her faith in God would protect her and change the Tarasque to a creature of God. On finding the creature St Martha placated the creature with hymns and readings from the Christian book. The creature joined with St Martha who took it to the city to show the people there that the creature was not a threat. As she approached with the creature the people of the city rose up and attacked the beast in fear. The Taresque did not fight back in any way and the city folk killed the creature with their hatred.

After the destruction of the creature St Martha preached to the masses and converted them to christianity. Ashamed at what they had done to the Taresque the newly converted followers of christianity renamed their town to Tarascon in honour of the creature.

There are obviously quite a few differences between the Tarrasque of D&D or Pathfinder and the Taresque of St. Martha’s Legend. But the tale does offer an interesting insight into perhaps the way it could be used in a game. The Taresque of legend appears to have had little overt intelligence but it was aware enough to make choices and this is reflected in the statistics of the Tarrasque as found on the Pathfinder Reference Document (PRD) here. Obviously the creature would listen to reason and therefore had a good Wisdom again reflected in statistics. It does appear in the legend that the creature itself was not an angry rampager in its infancy and it was likely the intervention of man attacking it that caused it to rampage, so it was likely a Neutral creature reacting to being attacked, again reflected in the statistics.

Where the Tarrasque of the game differs though is basically on every other aspect. It is a colossal creature which is not reflected by the statistics. It looks different to the legend representation, it regenerates (even if it has been disintegrated!) and no known method has been found to kill it! In the statistics it truly does seem that this creature is something a GM uses when they have had enough! The only time I have ever used one was in a what if scenario with a mate of mine. It was “What if a Tarrasque met a Hekatonkheires Titan (Bestiary 3). By the way, the Titan won just by stunning the Tarrasque, beating it down to below 0 HP and then banishing it to another dimension.

Using the St. Martha legend you could handle the Tarrasque a different way though. Perhaps even using the same story line where the monstrous beast is simply found and attacked out of fear as your high level party approach the area. The Tarrasque retaliates out of anger for being threatened and disturbed and the players need to find a way to get through to the creature instead of finding a way to destroy the beast. This creature does not need to be the death of the party, in fact it could be a great ally in a time of need if they take the time to solve the beasts issue and the issue those that attacked it have.

I always find it interesting to look at the history of creatures. Find their folklore or legend origins and you will likely find a seed for an adventure. I have never heard of anyone (seriously) using a Tarrasque in a game yet it reappears edition after edition as this gigantic monstrosity. It generates a lot of discussion at the table and while I am sure there is a lot of visits to the Tarrasque page to check its statistics there are very few games that have ever employed one. I am keen to hear in the comments from those that have used one in a serious way or for those of you that have ideas on how else you could introduce the Tarrasque to your game. Let me know, and until next week, 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.

Gen Con – A Reflection

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GenCon LogoGen Con is a gaming convention held yearly in Indianapolis.  It features role playing games, board games, card games, and LARPs.  If there is only one gaming convention people go to a year it is usually this one.  This is the first year that it has been held in Indianapolis that I have not gone.  I’m just a few hours away by car and I have plenty of friends to share a room with.  But it just was not in the cards this year.  It saddens me as there are a lot of friends that I only see there.  Gen Con for me is not about gaming it is about the friends I have gained through gaming.  For the socially awkward introverts like myself that is something to really cherish.

Gen Con is huge.   It is really hard to imagine how big it is even if you are there.  There are sections of the convention that people are not aware of because they focus on events some people are not interested in. I make an effort to walk around to all the places in the convention hall and all the rooms in the many different hotels that they use just so I can get a better appreciation of it all. There are all kinds of board and RPGs being run at all hours.  They have GMs sign up to run games and then people buy tickets for these events.  It is one of the main attractions at the conventions.  People can sign up for games they know and love or try out ones that they have not been able to play before.  It is a great way to get an idea of what else is out there in the industry.  It is a part of Gen Con I avoid.  I don’t like their system to sign up for events and I have better luck with games at smaller conventions.  In all my time at Gen Con I have only played in one event and that was True Dungeon which I really disliked.  I have run three games there and those were done as a favor for a friend who asked me to help him run some events.  I play and run games with my large group of friends off book.  We have our own GMs and a huge player pool.  We do RPGs and board games and some card games and even miniatures.

I don’t think Gen Con likes that we do this.  One year we had games organized on Google Calendar and Gen Con asked us to take it down.  We used to use the open gaming space in the Hyatt and Gen Con people would harass us and then that spaced vanished.  Now Open Gaming is in the convention center in smaller space that is never open.  We would use table in the Embassy Suites but last year they were even cracking down on those and limiting when they could be used.  I’m sure they are cracking down on all kinds of events that don’t bring the convention money.   It doesn’t make me want to sign up for their events. It makes me want to game elsewhere.

My Gen Con experiences are about the people.  I know gamers that fill their convention with events but that is too much pressure.  I take a more laid back approach.  I’ll schedule a game or two each day leaving plenty of time for just meeting and talking to people.  I would spend time walking around and just see who I might run into and if they have a free hour to hang out with them.  I’m a morning person so I would always be up early and I knew which of my other friends would be up and we would get a nice breakfast somewhere.  It is a great way to start off the day with breakfast and good gaming conversations with good friends before the masses wake up.

Nights are filled with parties.  I will attend more parties at Gen Con than I will the rest of the year.  I do not drink alcohol, so that activity at the parties is lost on me.  But after a few hour of conversation there is usually some people just wanting to play something so we will throw together a board game or some kind of gaming event.  Even if we don’t there are few things better then talking and not drinking with friends.

The dealer hall is a big focus of the convention for many gamers.  It is the place that the vendors are and it has reduced hours.  There is always some hot new item that hundreds of people want and that causes the ‘Running of the Fatbeards’.  It is not complimentary term.  The doors will open and hundreds of people will run in trying to buy what they want.  I’ve seen it and it looks dangerous.  I’m really surprised no one has been trampled yet. It is only luck no one gets injured.  Convention Staff just stand back and try not to get hurt themselves.   I used to spend a lot of money in the dealer hall.  As the years have gone by though the old out of print books I want, I mostly have.  There are fewer and fewer items being made that interest me.  It is the great irony of a gamer.  When you are young you have all kinds of time to play games but no money to do so.  When you get older you have the money but no longer the time.

One hassle in Indy is that Gen Con doesn’t seem to get the city to itself.  There are usually other events going on that clash with Gen Con.  Sometimes it is other conventions, or a preseason football game, or some kind of motorcycle rally.  This can make it difficult to get a hotel or parking.  Parking is expensive, at least compared to the large cities near me.  It is about three times more expensive there.  Hotels are also not cheap, especially if one likes to do like I do and arrive Tuesday and leave on Monday.  It is more expensive but worth it.  I’ve stayed in seven different hotels there and a condo.  None of them have been bad.

Gen Con is a great experience and something I look forward to every year.  I am sad I am not there now and not going to enjoy the great experiences.  It is not a perfect convention by any means and I know the way I experience it is going to be very different from how other people do.

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.