The Linnorm Ice Throne

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The Linnorm Ice Throne is a magical artifact for the Pathfinder Roleplaying System and written as part of the Winter is Coming Blog Festival. The throne can be dropped into a campaign for use with a nemesis in the cold lands of the north or it can be used to bring winter to any region you wish during any season!

The Linnorm Ice Throne

Aura: Strong Abjuration, Evocation and Transmutation      CL: 20th
Slot: None                                                                            Weight: 1900 lbs

Description:

A towering throne of graying ice with a harsh contrast between a smooth seating area and the jagged ice crystals surrounding it the Linnorm Ice Throne make a commanding presence. The light plays off the crystal-like cold throne in a glittering play of reflection.

The throne’s back stands nearly eight feet tall, the likeness of a great linnorm is carved from the ice, weaving about the back culminating in a vicious serpent head with ice fangs bared arched over any who would sit in the throne. Large, smooth arm rests sit to either side of a nearly three feat side seat, with four short pillars of ice forming the legs of the throne.

There is some mystery as to history of the Linnorm Ice Throne, the most common story one of an archmage of ancient times having crafted it in a lost ice citadel to the north. Driven by his desire to command the prevalent linnorms of the frozen north the Linnorm Ice Throne came into being.  The throne is said to be fused with the blood of an ice linnorm that still flows within the throne itself and provides the throne with its power.

Powers:

The Linnorm Ice Throne holds several powers to help the person that currently controls the throne maintain their rule.

Control Weather (Winter): The throne has the power to permanently control the weather in the two mile radius. The throne prefers a brutally cold climate and will manifest winter weather in any region it is moved to. The weather created by the throne are near blizzard-like conditions.

Endure Elements: Upon any person seated in the throne it will place an endure elements spell upon the person to allow them to easily withstand the frozen surroundings the throne surrounds itself with. The throne owner must return to the throne every 24 hours to have this effect renewed.

Cold Ice Strike: The person seated on the throne can use a command word to cause the linnorm carved into the ice of the throne to spel forth a flurry of ice slivers as described in the Cold Ice Strike spell. This can be done three times per day and acts as 15th level caster.

Icy Prison, Mass: The person seated on the throne can use a command word to cause the throne to cast Mass Icy Prison as a 15th level caster.

Mage’s Private Sanctum: The throne is always treated as if centered within a casting of Mage’s Private Sanctum (450′ Cube).

Destruction:

Destroying the Linnorm Ice Throne is quite difficult due to its controlling effects of weather. One must have a Fire Giant that can withstand the effects of the cold the throne produces smash it upon an anvil with a magical hammer of fire and then immediately have the pieces of the throne ingested by a great red dragon. Failure to immediately have the pieces consumed will find the throne reassembling itself.

Winter is Coming!

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Winter is Coming RPG Blog FestivalWinter is coming. Wait, what? Yes, with the first day of fall the Winter is Coming RPG Blog Festival launches! This will give you plenty of time to take the articles from this festival and work them into any winter themed games you may have!

@twwombat has kicked off the idea of a week-long RPG blog festival that starts today, September 23rd. The theme for the festival is winter-themed elements for a variety of RPG game systems including D&D, Pathfinder and a few more. The elements can be new magic items, encounters, NPCs, feats and more all written by a wide variety of contributors to the RPG blog festival. At last count @twwombat had twenty-five participants lined up for the upcoming week.

The Iron Tavern will be participating in RPG blog festival with two contributions during the upcoming week. First we will look at the cold and mysterious Linnorm Ice Throne. From the frozen lands to the north this long lost, powerful artifact of the cold has been discovered again. This will be a magical artifact designed using the Pathfinder rule system.

Next up The Iron Tavern will publish a winter chase encounter using the Pathfinder rule system chase rules. What winter hazards will your players have to face to succeed? This chase encounter will be a drop-in encounter possibly with slight modifications for your specific campaign taking place during the winter.

There are lots of other contributors lined up for the Winter is Coming RPG Blog Festival. Be sure to keep an eye here for The Iron Tavern’s contributions and an eye on Wombat’s Gaming Den of Iniquity so you don’t miss any of the great stuff in store for the upcoming week. Winter is coming!

Monte Cook Back at Wizards?

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Monte at WotC - Good or Bad?Twitter was afire yesterday with the announcement Mike Mearls made stating that Monte Cook was brought on board at Wizards of the Coast to work with R&D in “making D&D the greatest RPG the world has seen”. In addition he will also be taking over the Legends and Lore column that Mike has been writing weekly for the past eight months.

There appear to be several different camps and a lot of speculation about what this means for D&D. Some camps I agree with, some of the speculation out there makes sense and some not so much!

My thoughts? I am actually excited to see what Monte will bring to D&D. I was not a big fan of 4e as it just did not seem to match what I feel D&D should be for me. Because of that I spent most of my time playing 3.5 or Pathfinder and only paid cursory attention to what was going on in the D&D world. Don’t get me wrong though, I fully understand that many people do enjoy 4e and I don’t begrudge them that one bit. I am sure the game I prefer might not match the game they prefer.

But with this announcement? I plan to at least become a regular reader of the Legends and Lore column. Now my curiosity is piqued! What is in store for D&D? Will 4e just be modified with changes Monte might bring to the table? Or is this the beginning of a new edition? For someone that hasn’t followed D&D in its 4e iteration very closely, Wizards seems to have succeeded in at least getting some of former customer to pay closer attention again.

I am still not sure D&D can pull me back in just yet, but for the first time in a long time that possibility is there. I have been quite happy with my Pathfinder and other systems and the entertainment they have provided me. It would take some major changes to draw me back to the D&D brand.

My hopes with this addition of Monte Cook to the R&D staff? It is hard to put my finger on exactly what I want to see, but I hope that he helps bring back some of the 3e feel to the game again while retaining the ease of DMing the 4e system that every lauds. Maybe something with newer mechanics but retains the “old school feel”.

Regardless of how this plays out, it does indeed seem that there are exciting times ahead for D&D! I am looking forward to watching things unfold in the coming months ahead.

Broken Mountains Patrol

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Iron Tavern BarrelThe pair of dwarves quickly move forward through the common room of the Iron Tavern, Baerun stands his ground as they draw closer, his face suddenly breaking out in a large smile as the pair are steps away.

“Thought ye’d seen the last ‘o us, did ye?” the first dwarf calls as he claps Baerun’s back with a blow that would have knocked the less hearty down. A wide-mouthed smile also breaks out across his face from underneath his beard.

The second dwarf pulls a stool out from the bar, the wooden legs scratching against the floor as he makes himself comfortable. “Expectin’ me to pour my own drink dere, Baerun?” he says as he leans forward elbows on the iron topped bar.

“Reggor.” Baerun says to the dwarf that clapped him on the back. “And Nortik, of course.”

“Have yerself a seat Reggor. I’ll pour ye a couple of ales.” Baerun continues, still smiling as he pulls a couple of mugs down from the rack overhead and begins filling them from one of the tapped wooden barrels marked C.A.

He places the overfilled mugs down before each dwarf each sitting at the bar.

“How was the trip across this time?” Baerun asks, wiping down the bar top. “Nip of fall is in the air, won’t be many more easy trips I reckon.”

“Ah, de’ mountain trolls gettin’ restless. Lotsa’ prints, probaby a trio ‘o dem. Nortik and me tried to track ’em a bit, but we lost ’em across a rock field. Maybe we’ll run into ’em on da way back.” Reggor replies, pushing an already empty mug away and nodding for another.

Baerun promptly offers another, following with a second for Nortik who is also pushing his empty mug back across the bar.

“Them trolls always causing concern in these parts.” Baerun replies. “Just part of getting the ore out of here. Hungry? I can have something made up for ye?”

Reggor and Nortik both nod.

Baerun scrawls something on a small piece of parchment and sets it on the ledge of a pass window behind the bar. A burnt, human sized hand takes the slip of paper from the ledge and disappears from sight.

“It’ll be ready in a bit.” Baerun says to the pair of dwarves as he walks back to you at your end of the bar.

“Sorry ’bout that. Old friends!” Baerun says as he passes another mug of ale along to you. “Who are they ye ask?”

“I told ye that the dwarves patrol the main road to the mine earlier, eh?” Baerun replies.

“Those two are part of the patrol. Once winter hits the patrols will stop, though a trading caravan or two might try to pass through if they are desperate. They will have their own guards along of course knowing the dwarves don’t patrol in the winter.”

“Reggor and Nortik are some of the toughest, that’s why they travel with just themselves. Those prints of three mountain trolls they found? Lucky for them trolls that those two didn’t find them! Sometime I will see if I can get them to tell you some of their stories, they have some good ones!”

“Fact, if you are looking to head to the mines on your business you might be able to tag along with those two. I could put in a word for you if yer interested. Safest passage yer likely to see!”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, looks like their food is up.” Baerun says as he looks at the pass through window and sees two heaping plates of food sitting there.

The One Ring Resources

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The One Ring was released at Gen Con Indy and many people that were there have their slipcover set, others have received their early bird pre-orders and the rest of us wait with PDFs for our slip-covered sets to arrive. During this time many fans have been busy putting out some excellent fan-created materials for the game. In addition there have been some other gems out there that I felt needed to be consolidated into one place for the moment.

Let’s take a look at some of these gems that are out there!

Cubicle 7 The Video Files

First up is Cubicle 7’s own video series about The One Ring. Likely if you have done any searching for more information about The One Ring you have come across these. But I felt this post would not be complete without some reference to them. These videos include interviews with game designer Francesco Nepitello and art director Jon Hodgson. An excellent series – either for those considering picking up The One Ring or for those waiting for their books!

Jon Hodgson’s Deviant Art Gallery

As mentioned in an earlier post I was very impressed by the artwork in The One Ring books and that was one of the things that drew me into looking at the game closer. Jon Hodgson has been very cool with posting various wallpapers and such to the Cubicle 7 forums. In addition he has a Deviant Art gallery that is well worth checking out if you are looking for inspiration for your Middle-earth game.

Azrapse’s Web Character Builder for The One Ring

One of the more impressive fan created tools for The One Ring is the Web Character Builder written by Azrapse from the Cubicle 7 forums. In a very short period of time he has developed an excellent online character builder TOR characters. The character builder has import and export options, a print option, the ability to export to BBCode for PbP campaigns, a dice roller and he’s recently added an Online Character Server for storing your characters online. In addition he has thus far been very quick at handling feature requests and squashing any bugs. An excellent tool and well worth a look!

Voidstate’s The One Ring Dice Roller

If you are interested in a standalone dice roller for The One Ring, voidstate recently posted just such a thing. It stands to be a great tool if you need to make a quick roll for something. You can choose the type of roll, the number of skill dice, whether you are weary, how to handle the feat dice, whether to spend a Hope point and set the TN if you know it. This is a relatively new creation, but so far voidstate has been updating it to correct for any errors the community has found. Another great tool!

The Rune Generator

This next tool is not specific to The One Ring but one I have already found useful – a rune generator! The rune generator is quite useful for creating handouts and such and can take the text you input and output runes in either Old English runes from The Hobbit or Cirth, Moria Dwarf runes from Lord of the Rings or Elvish Tengwar.

The One Ring Actual Play Post

And the final item I mention is less a resource and more an example of play that might help some people. John Marron over on rpg.net has started an actual play thread of his The One Ring game and includes some of the mechanics behind the action. I found it an interesting read. Be warned though he is running the sample adventure in the game, so there will be spoilers abound. If you might play the adventure it might be best to avoid this last thread to prevent spoiling any fun for you.

The resources highlighted above are just some of the ones that have caught my eye over the past month. Keep an eye on The One Ring Forums at Cubicle 7 and you can find some other fan created resources that might help you with your game as well. Enjoy!

The One Ring at The Iron Tavern

Play-by-Post Gaming: Player Advice

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Green DragonI have made several posts on Play-by-Post (PbP) gaming over the past week or so. Each of these posts have had a heavy GM focus where we’ve focused on pacing, narrative and props for PbPs. Today I want to talk about things you can do as a player to help contribute to the success of a PbP. One cannot expect the GM to carry all of the weight!

Pacing was one of the first areas I talked about from the GM side and the importance of keeping the game moving along at a reasonable rate. A player can also contribute to keeping the pace moving in a PbP.

Do your best to make your posts in a timely manner to keep from holding a game up. If you are going to be gone for an extended period of time, give the GM a heads up. They often just appreciate knowing and are happy to NPC your character while you are away. If things are simply very busy in your real life – and lets face it, that’s why we’re playing a PbP – then even simple one liners can be better than massive, verbose posts to keep things moving forward.

Now with that said, when the time permits do focus on descriptive posts. Just as descriptive narrative is important for a GM in his or her posts, do the same as a player. Add those extra details to your posts! They help others get a better feel for your character as well. Describe your actions and mannerisms, give people a hint as to what is going on in your character’s head. Bring your character to life! Some of the most memorable folks I have played with have posted in a form that was quite enjoyable to read.

Another phenomenon I see happen occasionally in PbP is player’s talking past each other or acting in a vacuum. Try to interact with the other players in your party. And when they try to interact with you through conversation or actions be sure to respond! Building this interaction with party members can go far to keep people engaged with the game and go far to keeping the PbP successful.

And finally – help your GM out and make sure you actions are clearly posted. Often I find putting something behind a spoiler tag as out of character that clearly states your actions can help make things a little easier for the GM. A happy GM makes for a happy PbP group!

By doing these things as a player you can help make the PbP you are playing in successful and a good time for all.

It certainly takes a combination of player support and GM support to result in a long running PbP. Sometimes the game just doesn’t work out – but I think if GMs and players start with the advice covered in this series of posts that you are well on your way to a successful play-by-post game!

A Look at The One Ring RPG

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Like many my initial delve into fantasy worlds began with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien crafted the wonderful world of Middle-earth and that has allowed many an opportunity to escape into a far away world.

Along the way there have been several role playing systems that have tried to emulate the feel of Middle-earth. Some of the notables include Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) which came out around 1984. In 2002 Decipher released The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game. And most recently Cubicle 7 released The One Ring – Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild at Gen Con 2011.

The One Ring (TOR) caught some buzz on twitter over the past few weeks and there have been many threads over at rpg.net on the game and a couple surfacing at EN World. Catching wind of some of this from these sources, I became curious and checked the system out.

Before I venture too far into this post, let me state up front this is not an in-depth review. I fully intend to post a more thorough review, but I need to get more experience with how the combat system actually plays out. Consider this post more of a cursory overview of The One Ring.

The One Ring was written by Francesco Nepitello and artwork was done by John Howe, Jon Hodgson and Tomasz Jedruszek and as noted earlier, put out by Cubicle 7 Entertainment. TOR was released as a box set that includes an Adventurer’s Book and Loremaster’s Book along with maps for each and a set of dice to be used with the game.

One of the very first things that drew my attention was the artwork in the book. The feel and style of it really has a Middle-earth feel to it. Yes, that is difficult to describe, but the art within the books seems to have a soft, earthy tone to them in many cases. The characters depicted in the art also have this feel to them, from the dwarves to the elves to the Beornings.

The artwork drew me in with its Middle-earth feel, but how about the game itself? How does it stack up with the feel of Middle-earth? From my initial read it appears to emulate this feel quite well!

The game includes an emphasis on fellowship and includes a mechanic for “fellowship focus”. Basically a character chooses another member of the fellowship as their focus and certain mechanical rewards occur if this person is not wounded or allows them to more easily recover Hope points in certain situations. Hope represents the perseverance of a character. There is a limited amount of hope, but it can be used as a bonus to boost your chance of success at something like a skill check.

On the flip side, there is the ever present threat of The Shadow, a force of corruption. Think of how the One Ring drove people to madness. This element is represented in TOR via shadow points, a method of tracking ones potential move to madness, at times resulting in temporary loss of control for your character. It certainly seems an interesting mechanic.

The One Ring will be a series of releases and expand in the future. For now this release focuses on starting in the year 2946 of the Third Age about five years after the Battle of Five Armies. It also focuses on the Wilderlands region which includes areas such as the Misty Mountains, Mirkwood, the Lonely Mountain and the town of Esgaroth on Long Lake. Future releases will advance the timeline further and increase the geographical area.

Playable characters can choose from one of several cultures. In this initial release you can choose from the Bardings, Beornings, Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, Elves of Mirkwood, Hobbits of the Shire and Woodemn of Wilderland. These heroic cultures will be expanded as the geography covered by the game expands.

The game is not based on d20 which in some ways is nice for someone like me who plays a lot of d20 based games. Task/Skill resolution is determined through success dice (d6) and a feat die (d12). You roll a number of success dice equal to your skill level and the feat die. Sixes on your success dice improve your success and the feat die is a bit of a wildcard with a Sauron rune and Gandalf rune that also affect your success.

There is much more to the game, but this is simply an initial look at the game. In my full review I will get into more of the mechanics and such and how they fit into the feel of Middle-earth in this game, including a closer look at combat resolution.

At this point I am quite impressed by The One Ring. It really seems to hit the right chords in getting the feel of Middle-earth just right – at least for me. If you haven’t taken a look at the game yet and you hold a fondness for Middle-earth take a look. And keep checking back here for a more The One Ring coverage.

The One Ring at The Iron Tavern

Play-by-Post Gaming: Props

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Over the past week I have talked about the importance of keeping the players engaged with a Play-by-Post (PbP) game. We have covered the importance of pacing and offered a variety of ways to keep the pace of a PbP moving along at a reasonable rate. We have talked about making use of vivid descriptions and taking advantage of the PbP format to bring scenes alive that are sometimes more difficult to do in face to face game. This installment we will be talking about props!

PbP games are obviously quite text heavy as they are played out over message boards and email. For those using message boards there are a few things you can do however to help add some additional flavor to your post. Using even just a few of these suggestions will help you run a successful PbP.

First there is the ability to change the text color within your post on most message boards. This one can be hit or miss in my opinion and sometimes running it by your group to see which style they prefer is wise. But, if your group likes it, you can easily mark your words written in character with a different color than the bulk of your description text. Have each player do the same for when their character talks and the conversation readily stands out as one reads through it.

While words are great as we noted in covering descriptions a few days ago, sometimes a picture can go far to help get the picture across to your players. There are easy ways to show your players a picture of an particular NPC, a marking they have seen or even the entrance to a building. Message boards generally have a feature to allow you to embed an image within your post.

My preferred way for posting images in my posts is to use a Dropbox.com account which has a “Public” folder. Anything you place into that folder (images, word docs, text files, etc.) can be shared with someone by using the public link provided for it. So to share an image of a recurring NPC I can drop the image into the public portion of my Dropbox folder, right click and choose copy public link and then using [img] tags in most message boards that support BB Code embed that image in the post. Once you have done it a time or two it is quite easy.

Building from this, one can also apply the same method to posting combat maps. Having actual combat maps help players know where they are standing and can reduce confusion. I usually use Paint.Net to take a map image and then one can either use tokens or do as I do – use colored dots to represent the characters and the enemies they are facing. Once you have the map looking the way you want, copy it to the public Dropbox folder and embed the link in your message board post. Now your players can see the map and have a clearer idea of where they are on the map.

Just using a few of these suggestions you can easily give your players that little bit extra to keep them engaged with the game you are running. It only takes a little more time to include these things in your posts, but they can help keep your players interest which leads to the successful PbP in the long run.

My focus so far in these Play-by-Post articles has been from the GM’s side of the screen. My next Play-by-Post article will be from the perspective of a player and offer some suggestions on what you can do as a player to contribute to a long running PbP game!

The Broken Ridge Mountains

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Dwarven Mines of Broken Ridge MountainsThe heavy wooden planks creak below your feet as you make your way towards the sturdy, fir wood iron topped bar at the back of the common room in The Iron Tavern. The dwarf with the graying beard adorned with various beads of an off orange color turns his attention to you as you approach.

“Welcome to The Iron Tavern mate!” the dwarf states as he wipes up a spot from the iron topped bar. “Don’t think I’ve seen ye around here before. The name is Baerun Ironforge.”

“Take a seat right there.” Baerun says, motioning to one of several empty bar stools “Ye look like a Copperstone Ale could hit the spot for ye, the climb up the pass must have been a long one.” without waiting for a reply the broad shouldered dwarf pulls a mug down from overheard and moves to one of several tapped wooden kegs behind him. He fills the metal mug from one with scripted initials C.A. burned into the wood of barrel. The foam splashes over the top of edge of the oversized mug as he sets the drink down on the bar in front of you.

“First time to the Broken Ridge Mountains ye say? Sure I can tell ye more about them, though ye might be a little late now just learning about them right here on their doorstep!”

“Not many folk come around these parts for pleasure. Only us dwarves find the land fit to live in amongst them rocky, steep ridges we call home. And even then most of us find it best to live under the ground. Us dwarves been living in them mountains for hundreds of years, mining them for about that long.”

“Most of the folk that come through here are here for one thing only. Get the goods the dwarves made or raw materials for their own crafting, load it up and then head back down to the valleys of men and elves.”

“Yep, most of them pass through this here pass, Red Mountain Pass to get there. Especially busy in the summer months. Ye can already feel the crisp in the air though, fall is just around the corner, the first snows won’t be far behind. Oh we’ll still see travelers through here, but not many. The snows make the trek tough on a person. Not even speaking of the critters that roam these mountains.”

“Oh, don’t worry – it isn’t too bad if you stay on the main road to the south gate. Ye aren’t traveling alone are ye?”

“Mmmhhmm, well keep yer wits about ye then. The dwarves do their best to keep the patrols moving along they thoroughfare, but even that can’t keep one fully safe from harm what with at least three days travel from here to the south gate of the halls, and that’s on the fair days.”

“The orcs have sense enough to stay in their holes, but a few of the giants’ll wander down from the upper parts of the mountains and cause trouble every so often, or worse yet some of them mountain trolls. Don’t want to be crossing paths with a mountain troll if ye can help it! Ye’ll likely be just fine though, still ye might have wanted to bring along some others rather wander alone out there.”

Baerun sees the empty glass before you and whisks it away without asking, pouring another healthy round of ale into, foam spilling along the sides. He puts it heavily down on the bar top in front of you.

“What’s that? You want to know more about this here pass? I can…” he begins just as a loud bang comes as the heavy iron door is thrown open and crashes against the wall.

Two dwarves come walking through the door, great axes across their backs and several smaller throwing axes along their well-worn leather belts. They wear leather breeches that have seen many years of travel and long sleeved, dark red shirts under leather vests with a multitude of pockets, straps and hooks.

The pair stride confidently in, paying little attention to anything else within the tavern the first calling “Baerun! Why you little….”

“Er, that tale will have to wait for another time!” Baerun says hurriedly as his attention turns to the new arrivals.

Play-by-Post Gaming: Narrative

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Earlier this week I talked about the importance of pacing in a Play-by-Post (PbP) game. The appropriate pace for your group of players helps keep them engaged which in turn helps lead to a long running PbP game. While pace is important there are other elements of a PbP that can help keep your players engaged. Today we take a look at the power of description and narration within posts.

When browsing other PbPs I frequently see posts from GMs that have fallen to cardboard, one dimensional NPCs or combats that have become “swing and hit” or “swing and miss” posts. The posts are brief and lack any significant descriptive elements. These posts miss out on one of the great advantages PbPs do bring to the table – a medium to really describe the NPCs, their mannerisms and environment.

As GM, take the time to describe that tavern the characters enter. The message board medium allows you the format to describe the smells, the sounds and appearance of that tap room. Take a moment to describe a few of the patrons. Make the place come alive for your players, use your posts to add depth that one might not normally be able to do during a face-to-face game.

You can also bring NPCs to life through descriptive posting as well. Take the extra time to describe an unusual mannerism or perhaps a certain smell associated with the person. Describe their clothing – is it rich and elegant or old and thread-bare? Keep track of these things for later in the game when the NPC reappears so you are consistent through the game with your NPC mannerisms.

This also carries through to combat posts as well. Don’t let your combat posts turn into simple, over mechanical “swing and miss” posts. Add some description to the combat posts. Liven up the combat. Describe the sword swings, describe the parries and describe the glancing blows off of armor. Make note of the sounds happening. Do this for both attacks that hit and the ones that miss. Building up a combat post with lively description can also help draw your players in and keep them engaged with the game.

As mentioned in my pacing post earlier in the week, keeping players engaged with the game will lead to a successful PbP. Making sure that your GM posts include enough description to build an immersive world and play experience will also contribute to keeping your players engaged with your game.