Bards: Style and Substance

Pathfinder BardThe Pathfinder Bard class is one I am well familiar with. The makers of the Adventure Paths love themselves a good bard NPC and in my earlier 2nd edition game days I used to play the odd bard here and there. The one problem with the bard is they get a little stereotyped most of the time. They pull the lute out or burst into song to support the rest of the party by giving them that +1 edge in combat. The good old morale bonus. but is the Bard truly just a utility class? Let us scratch the surface and find out more.

First, to break the bard “one size fits all” image, let us look at how they deliver their powers. Most of them are done through the Perform skill. The atypical bard plays stringed instruments or is a singer. Well let us branch out a bit from there. Breaking the stereotype is as easy as choosing different focused skills. For example, under perform you could have acting, mime, dancing, tumbling, comedy, magic shows, and the like. Imagine how that works in combat? Let me give you an example.

I once had a halfling bard (actually he was a duo act with another halfling bard played by another player) and we performed a tumbling act and were known as the “Zucchini Brothers”! I had specialized in a lasso and our performance in the midst of combat was to raise the famed morale bonus as well as provide a distraction to opponents. We did this by tumbling past opponents, lassoing weapons and ducking under legs. It turned our pure utility into a fun event that was colorful in description and purpose. Mind you, our GM did ban those characters as they made a fool of one too many of his NPC’s from memory. Plus they lassoed a +3 battleaxe artifact and made away with it causing some serious problems in game (this was before GM’s were meant to be fans of the players!)

Bards are not one trick ponies. Sure, most players understand the value of a bard in combat but look at all their other abilities. Bards are receptacles of knowledge. They can make Knowledge checks untrained! I am not sure about your games but in mine a lot of the information of the plot can be ferreted out utilizing various Knowledge skills. it makes the game plot a lot more robust and a robust plot is a memorable game in the players’ eyes. Having a bard and finding this information regularly allows for you to be in the hot seat for being able to lead a team of adventurers. it is not really about the strongest, but what and who you know which is all about knowledges.

Other performance abilities include countering sound based spells, inspiring competence in others, fascinating a crowd as well as giving them suggestions. There are also great performances that can be learned (using the expanded core books) that allow for even greater effects from the bard. It seems that the ones the player companions really get hooked on are the ones that give them a bonus in combat. While this is important at times, it is often more important to counter the spell that is about to destroy the party, or have the constabulary of the town suddenly become fascinated with why their horse is infected with ticks while you make away with the town treasury.

There are also the benefits to skill use as you progress in the class. You gain the ability to take 10 on Knowledge checks as well as taking 20 once a day representing your superior all-round knowledge. Then at tenth level you also gain the ability to use any skill untrained, even if training is required! This is a super ability but seems to be often overlooked by many that play a bard.

Of course there is the ability to use spells too, much in the same way as a sorcerer. That is a spontaneous caster. You know only a handful of spells per level but can cast any of them without the need to have them prepared. The spells the Bard gets tend to be a utility nature but they enhance the class features well. Apt attention to the spells you learn are a must as they will greatly enhance your character and their usefulness in every situation.

Bard’s are charismatic and knowledgeable. You may not expect to find one leading men into battle but you should not be surprised to find one acting as a tactician, general or spymaster. They have a perfect blend of social and functional skills that give them the ability to lead people. Followers always want to follow someone that knows what they are talking about and can present that information in a suitable manner. That is the bard through and through.

When you think of the bard, try to ignore that minds image of the fop in the big flouncy hat who strums his lute and sings of brave Sir Robin. Sure they exist but they are performers, not bards. Bards are inquisitive and skilled. They know how to work a crowd and do so to further their own ends. Most Inn’s have performers to draw in a crowd but most of these performers are not bards. They are musicians and singers, not bards. A bard may want to perform for money every now and again, and it is these performances that become truly legendary and memorable in the common persons mind.

Looking at the variant archetypes you can see how ranged the Bard can truly be. There is the Arcane Duelist, the Sandman, the Savage Skald, the Detective and many others throughout the books. These truly show the versatility of this class. it is a class that should not be overlooked in character generation and one that offers a true role-playing experience for the seasoned player. It also offers up a load of fun to a new player who is not yet sure what they want to play. Push them toward the bard because they are so malleable and can suit a style of play once the new player finds it.

Give the Bard a run. I promise you will not be disappointed! Keep rolling 🙂

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Blending Genres

Purple BlendHow do you feel about blended fantasy? I mean taking the ideal of fantasy and moving it into another genre and playing a hybrid. I must admit that I never thought too much about genres until I began learning and developing game systems (mainly computer ones) and how much they have an effect on the audience.

I heard over the weekend that one of my old gaming friends (it feels like he is an old gaming friend but I met him last year on G+) will not play games like Shadowrun as he does not like blended genres. The Fantasy/Cyberpunk blend grates him the wrong way. Play Cyberpunk with him or Dungeon World and he is fine, but not Shadowrun.

My favourite system is really a blended genre game (sort of). Earthdawn is Fantasy Horror, but I like to think of that as Fantasy with a tone, perhaps not a genre. It is unlikely that I will have Jason from the Friday the 13th leap out on my broadsword wielding players. So I am curious as to how these mixed genres affect players.

When you play a game do you want it to fit into one category? Do you want Cthulhu or a World of Darkness game for your horror? Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) for your fantasy? A lot of these systems have done crossovers into other genres in their time. There is Ravenloft and Spelljammer for D&D covering sci-fi and horror. Even Cthulhu is beginning to bring out many different variant settings that could be considered cross genre.

I am running the Reign of Winter Adventure Path for Paizo at the moment and little do they know (though I am sure the cat is out of the bag now) the players will soon find themselves on an alien planet or two! The first is definitely a continuation of a fantasy scene but they will be a little bit in shock when they hit the planet after that. It will be a genre mash up they will not see coming!

The world of Golarion (which is Paizo’s in house world for Pathfinder) has a lot of these mash-ups built right on the one planet. They seek to give as many styles of game as they can so that it appeals to as many people as possible. It is a clever tactic, but is it isolating for you?

Let us start a conversation. Do these cross genre games annoy you or enthrall you? What would you like to see in a system if you could dictate its genre? Would you like to see a Fantasy/Sports game? How about a Fantasy/Robot-Sci Fi? Or would these ideas simply make you throw away your dice forever? Let me know what you think in the comments and keep rolling!

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Stand Up!

Flying Super HeroHeroic fantasy requires your characters to wear their underwear on the outside and stand up! If you are planning on playing in a heroic fantasy game your character needs to be the one the King thinks of when in dire need. It had better be your name on the peasants’ lips rather than a gods when the Tarrasque crests the horizon because heroic fantasy needs heroes, not zeroes.

These are the tropes of heroic fantasy, and largely high fantasy. They are the Dragonlance Saga and David Gemmell’s books as opposed to Elric the anti-hero. So, how do you play a character in a fantasy game that seeks to make you the star that offers change to the world around you. To make things safer for the masses and become legends across time and space?

Heroic characters are bold characters. Their actions are never for themselves and they always attempt the impossible. If there is a hard decision to make it is the heroic character that makes it and it is always the decision that risks the most but achieves the huge win. For example, if there is a 10% chance you can get all the peasants across the gorge or there is a 90% chance you can save most of the peasants crossing the rapids the hero always goes for the hard option (the bridge) because it saves everyone!

Of course this means that true heroes are forces for good and they put that force above all else. It is OK not to listen to or bargain with the lich because it is an evil creature. There need not be any thought about that. Blast the lich because it is obvious it is evil. A truly heroic individual does not work in grey. Grey areas are things that exist in dark fantasy, not heroic fantasy!

The heroic character also tends to serve a force for good, like a good God or a kingdom. Make sure that does not detract from your character though. Toss it in as a catch phrase here and there (“By the power of greyskull!”) but make sure that it is all about you! The hero is the centre of the story and the reason is backstory. Don’t let it shine too much.

When interacting make sure you are the pure fit for your class. Finely toned fighters that move gracefully. Hooded rogues whose voice is like a whisper but cuts through any noise. A wizard in flowing colorful robes with a pointed hat and eyes that burn with power. You are much more than any non adventurer. Prepare some cliched words for when you meet your nemesis, because you can be assured that you will meet a nemesis in a heroic campaign.

Spread your legend too. If there is no bard in the town, hire one to follow you around and turn your deeds into song and poetry. Hire a bard to talk to the damsels or gents that you saved in your most recent action. Speak loudly in taverns of your latest exploits. You are no hero if no one knows your name!

If you know you are playing in that heroic campaign give some thought as you build the character on how you want them to stand up and shine. A good character will trump a neutral and an evil character but these characters can also shine in their own right. Just make sure you play the character bold and brilliant to ensure that the hero within becomes the hero that the whole world sees! Until next week, keep rolling!

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Free Gaming

I read a blog on the weekend of the bloggers top 10 favorite games that were free to download. I was impressed at the depth of games that had been included and was even more impressed by the inclusion of at least one “big” name game of years gone by. Now the list that was provided was across all genres and I thought to myself that I could probably put something together in a similar style for the readers over here at the Iron Tavern blog to have a look over and consider playing. Honestly, quality gaming has never been so cheap!

Mark Knights’ Top Five Free Fantasy Games

5. Halberd Fantasy Roleplaying

Halbred

With a nod to the writing styles of Terry Pratchett and his disc-world novels this game sneaks in at number five. Humor in a fantasy game is always welcome at my table so let the system actually incorporate it! It is a high magic, high paced humorous look at the standard genre and well worth a look.

4. D6 Fantasy

d6-fantasy

If you like a fair amount of crunch with your game try out the d6 fantasy game. The rules are in place and the game has a fantastic flow to them. Even better than the robust rules set has to be the array of supplements for the game that are all free too! So they don’t suck you in with the basic free rules, they also give everything I could ever need to run a game!

 3. Basic Fantasy

Basic Fantasy

Written in an OSR style and based loosely on 3.5 edition D&D also Basic Fantasy is an open source role playing game written for fans of fantasy RPG’s by the fans of fantasy RPG’s! I am a big open source fan and it is why this one pips d6 Fantasy for third spot. The scope and setup of this game is great and I am very impressed with this games achievements! In this version not only can you download and play it, you could also possibly contribute to the game as well!

 2. Talislanta

Talislanta

Coming in a close second is a game that I have spent a good deal of time in my past playing. Talislanta! That is right, you can now download this awesome game for free (any of the 5 editions are up for grabs). This series prided itself on having no elves and in fact it has a very different fantasy setting that is rich and detailed. I am actually listed as one of the official play-testers for fifth edition which is a bit of a blast. I had a great deal of fun with this game. Although some of the books appear huge the rules are actually quite moderate and the books are heavy on setting. This game is well worth a look!

1. Dungeonslayers

Dungeonslayers

This is quite honestly one of the best looking, most professional free games out there. It is a game translated from its native German and it appears slick, rules lite and a fun game. There are a load of materials you can get for it including adventures, world information and a host of other materials. For such a great game I am surprised at how few people know about it AND how hard it is to find on Google! Use the link above to download the rules and get into some Dungeon slaying right now!

Check these games out and let me know what you think! Keep rolling 🙂

All images were taken from the websites that have been linked to this page to advertise the download of these products.

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Aaaaand ACTION!

Spy with GunYou put a whole lot of preparation into the first game. Built the skeleton of a campaign world and some NPC’s, possibly even a few adventures planned. But how do you hook the players? How are you going to get them keen for this game, then the next, and the one after that!

Let me give you a hint. Watch a James Bond movie. Not the whole thing if you are time poor, just the bit before the starting credits. What does every Bond movie have in common to get the viewer into the main movie? Action. Hook them with a good level of heart pounding action.

Don’t plan this action out too much, just some combatants thrown together that might give a bit of a hint of what is to come. Once you have that and a setting (the players find themselves at a dungeon entrance as a swarm of skeletons start toward them from the adjoining cemetery) ask the players why they are there? Give them a bit of power to work out how they find themselves here.

In this initial moment the players will come up with some hook plots that you can use and they will also build a past. A past that gels their characters together. The pressure will be on too. They will want to get into the battle and so the plot will come out nice and naturally. The cohesiveness of the group will build from this point.

The job of the GM at this point is to encourage them to come up with this story and the greatest encouragement is to ask them questions and show some interest in the story they are building. When they tell you a Demon Lord ordered them to the dungeon ask them what the Demon Lord’s name is and why they sent them? What can be found there? As they start talking about how they all got together make sure everyone gets involved. If you have two players building something without starring others turn the focus of the story to them. Ask the other players how they enter the story and encourage them to take it over.

And that’s it! Call Action! Get into the fight. Ask them why they are there and take lots of notes about what the players come up with. You can use this to flavor your main plot or use their material to build some interesting side-plots in the campaign. Just make sure you use it and start as soon as you can because the players will lap up their involvement in the stories that sprout from their imaginations. If they do not get hooked in a campaign they helped shape then they never will! Keep rolling!

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Knights and Their True Reality

Black KnightIn Pathfinder I love a good warrior with noble intentions. The Lawful Good Paladin riding his noble charger, the glorious Cavalier waving his banner as he leads his companions into victorious battle. These warriors extol the virtues of fairness and defenders of the good. Or so we think anyway. In reality, at the service of a lord or king what were these warriors like in reality? We love to tell tales of the noble and just but in reality, in our very own histories is that how these warriors acted.

The short answer is of course no. The warriors, knights, and cavaliers alike were formidable enemies in their thick armour and with their strength of arms. But they did not care for the rights of the individual or the plight of the downtrodden. In fact it was these very people that often guided the forces that worked against the peasants or even the average man. These individuals served a noble or king in their own right and saw that the edicts of the authoritarian arm were enacted. There were taxes to collect, tithes to receive, crops to be harvested. A farmer or peasant would consider themselves lucky to have a talking to if the crops were late, for in reality the forces under the night would use pressure tactics and at times were downright thugs to get quotas met.

So where does this trope of good and fair knights living by a personal code of honor come from? It comes from the Knight Code of Chivalry that formed out of the Crusades. Chivalry is actually a word with connotations attached to horsemanship and it was attached to these mounted warriors who served in the crusades. From this was born the chivalrous code of the warriors who were mainly attached to the church. They lived to protect the weak (which meant women and elderly of the church), and protect the interests of the church. In their eyes though unless an individual was a God-fearing believer of the church, they were fair game.

The tales of King Arthur in Britain give heed to the idea of courtly behaviour and the notion that Knights protected all of the weak. These tales though never really touch on the lives of the peasants around them, only those that were attached to the court and the like making it clear that class segregation was definitely a clear delineation of the Knight overall.

That leads us to question how we handle Knights and Cavaliers in a game. Cavaliers are a much more clear cut differentiation in Pathfinder as they have their codes already set out for them. The codes are reflective of the fantasy tropes that pervade the fiction. Cavaliers protect the innocent and strike down those that would do evil (of course they are not restricted to good roles but this is the focus) but what of our true Knights, the Paladins of our fantasy world.

Paladins largely serve a god and embody their ideals. These paladins serve Gods that are good in nature and proponents of the law, much like the knights that followed the Chivalrous code. Now if a Paladin in game struck down a peasant due to them not supporting the ideals of their god, where would that place that as a Games Master? Do we make them seek atonement and take their powers from them? But what if that peasant had cursed their God’s name? What should we do? The chivalrous code of real life Knights would have them make war with these individuals wherever they found them. So should we take their powers off them instead when they turn a blind eye to this behavior?

I think the answer to this situation will indeed lie at the heart of your game style. Most would probably take the powers if they struck down the peasant and that is certainly in keeping with the glorified, romanticised version of a Knight. I think I lean more toward the serving of a god’s tenets and striking down infidels which is a much more realistic or gritty style but it adds to the complexity of the role. Let me know what your thoughts are in regards to including the more realistic aspects of character classes are into the fantasy genre in the comments. Until next week, keep rolling!

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Sharing the Fear

Spooky CastleThere are some tried and true methods for sharing the fear, or scaring the living daylights out of your audience. These apply equally well in role playing games as they do to other formats of horror as well. From probably the earliest days of sharing a tale around the fire these techniques have been spreading the joy of being scared down through the ages, so pay close heed reader, lest the darkness swallow you before you finish my terrible techniques…

First and foremost is framing the game. You want the player to know upfront this is going to be an adventure filled with horror. You probably wonder at this point if this is the best way to instill fear but consider an example. Say you are running a game where the fearsome krakledon thought extinct for over a millennia erupts from the earth and swallows whole the birth town of our adventurers. If it is unexpected, i.e. the players think they are in a standard game, the players become shocked at this event, rather than in fear (fear may come later but shock is generally the initial response). If you have framed it (and this does not mean specifically saying it was horror but perhaps scary portents on the lead up) then the event will not take them by surprise it will scare them as they realize the krakledon is some great evil emerging from the ground (note, krakledon is a made up creature. Don’t go looking for it.). Some games do this just by playing them like Call of the Cthulhu and Ravenloft. If you are playing that game you are already in the frame of mind that is required because you expect it to have horror in it.

Lighting can be used to great effect when playing a horror game. If ever there is a time to turn the lights out and use candles it is while you are playing a horror game. Spend some time making sure your candles have built up wax drips down the side, new candles can ruin the effect. Also, use a GM screen and have loads of tea light candles burning on your side so the light from them comes from below your face, casting eerie, scary shadows. You can of course take this further and deck out the table like a gothic nightmare and even get some spray on spider webs to play. If you have a stark basement or a dusty attic, put it to use and play there. If you have a shed and live in a windy area that will make strange noises, all the better.

If you have only a kitchen table to play at, investigate getting a spooky soundtrack to play through a sound system. I have several favorites to use. I have one that is as old as the hills with chains and witches, winds and wolves. All great stuff for traditional horror. Being a bit of a horror video game nut I also have several horror video game soundtracks that spook the nerve from my players! I have one in particular that spooks my (15 year old) daughter so much that I have been banned from playing it due to the nightmares that follow! If you can, have a generic soundtrack just looping but if you want to get specialized, cue up the tracks you need and use them at predetermined points in the story to send your players packing!

Narration techniques also come into it. Make sure you overplay your big baddies and have them become unforgiving nightmares in your portrayal. If you want to hit them with something new start describing the leadup a little quieter so the players have to really concentrate on what you are saying and then when you want to surprise them BOOM! Make it loud and use large hand gestures! It should unnerve them. Also with a horror game make sure you are descriptive. Don’t say “You look in the ballroom and see a vampire with his two thralls in tow” say instead “A gaunt pale figure walks to the table. He spies an open curtain reflecting the scene and hisses something to the misbegotten pale man that stands next to a second beautiful but tragic figure of a woman. The pair react quickly and run forward closing the curtain and then move to the table to snuff out two of the candles near where their master will sit. The pale figure then moves so quickly, almost at an inhuman speed to seat himself at the table. He waits for the woman to come forward. She grabs the crystal wine glass and draws out a bottle from inside her cloak, unstoppers it and pours a thick red wine into it for him before withdrawing to the shadows with her male counterpart.” Description is key here. Never, ever, name your creature types. Let the players work it out. They are likely to decide that this is a vampire but they will never be 100% certain because you never stated it was.

Draw on your own experiences. If you have ever been on camp and told ghost stories around the campfire then remember what scared you. That style of tale sharing is the oldest that exists and the tropes it uses are easily translated to the table for scares a plenty. Remember also that people love to be scared. The adrenaline rush they get from having their heart quicken, even the appearance of goosebumps make the player alert, aware and in a heightened state. Don’t tame it down, pile it on!

Give some of these a try at your next horror game and let me know how it went! Until then, keep rolling, but look over your shoulder. Because I heard once that a GM dared to roll the dice in jest of the gods of horror and his soul was sucked straight from him. Now when a GM stands and sits three times while waving his d20 in the air saying Dire Derek Rolls they are struck down within 8 hours by an accidental death. Of course no one can prove that it is this same GM but better safe than sorry, right?

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

large_dead_treeMy fantasy games would mostly fall under the headings of fantasy horror if a genre was applied to them. I love the feeling I get when a player is creeped out by my game or they get involved, reacting with fear or horror at the game. It is largely why my favorite fantasy game is Earthdawn (I know I only play it via email at the moment and Pathfinder is my main game) where it is all about the darkness and the things that live there. Not to mention what they can do to you once they find you. This turns me to the point of my blog today. There are two definite streams of horror, the traditional path or the worlds of Lovecraft inspired weirdness.

Whichever style of horror you like is what you should concentrate on presenting to your players. I love Lovecraftian stuff but I do use the more Gothic Horror style on occasion to mix things up. Knowing the difference is the key to the way you get the players involved.

Traditional refers to those works of horror that became widely popular through mass media and literature. These tales were popularised by the Gothic Horror writers in the 18th century but their fodder for their novels was well established by this time. It stemmed from folklore and stories shared with a basis in religion or even pagan ritual. Largely, the novels written at the time were written by women and targeted at women focussing on a female protagonist that was caught in a spooky mansion with elements of the supernatural that tested them.

These initial stories were very popular in their time but few have common appeal today. It was not until Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that we see titles that are commonly thought of as traditional horror today. Writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson amongst others that turned the idea of Horror into a creature feature, or horror of a deeper darker nature designed to scare the reader to the core. These titles endure to this day and scare every new generation. They endure because at their heart are tales of human vice and virtue played out in a fantastic way.

The traditional horror tack in fantasy games normally takes a known trope of the genre and plays it up to the group of players. As a GM you want the players to recognize the threat early and for the players knowledge of the threat to spur the horror. For example, using a vampire in a game causes all of the players to sit in a group and talk about what they know and what they need to do to survive. They treat every situation with kid gloves and wonder at the power of the creatures that they are facing. Will it die in sunlight? Can we get close enough to stake it? Has it got brainwashed spawn in the local community? The very presence of this type of creature almost dictates an investigation before the ultimate confrontation. Are the players up to the task? As they stare down the vampire they will feel their own hearts in their mouth as they roll the dice for initiative.

An off shoot of this style is to use creatures that has been made famous by the game itself. Consider the Beholder from Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). This creature is now synonymous with the game and nearly anyone that has played even a modicum of D&D knows of the floating eye tyrant. The responses tend to be the same so that we can recreate the idea of a traditional horror experience. I am sure that the first time the Beholder appeared that it was really quite a Lovecraftian style encounter though.

Lovecraftian horror is a newer version of horror and stems from the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft who was an unsuccessful but prolific horror author whose works are now strong influences on most major horror writers like Stephen King, Dean Koontz and James Herbert to name a few. Lovecraft wrote horror stories that focused on strange, alien forces that had little or no cares for humanity and the madness that they caused in humanity when they found them. Each power was a unique thing that existed with the knowledges hidden in the Universe. Almost all of these powers or creatures were extremely destructive in a way that humans are destructive when they tread on an anthill. That is these creatures are completely oblivious to the suffering or destruction that they cause and even when or if they do notice they have no cares for it. This horror style focuses more on the insignificance and horror of the unknown than it does on fear of a particular type of creature.

As Lovecraft was never a full time author and died young in 1937 it has taken some time for his works to become influential. In fact he was largely unheard of in the 1970’s but started to gain a following as influential authors started to site his name in their list of influences. Lovecraft focused on this alien style of horror but as his creations become more mainstream (e.g. Cthulhu) some of his writing would also work in games of traditional style horror with the more popular of his creations.

But it is this style of game that appeals to me. Lovecraftian horror is definitely a different feeling of horror. It contains an element of the hopelessness of humanity against the never-ending Universe. It highlights how little we know, and when used creatively, how desperate and offensive we can be in pursuit of this knowledge. It is why Earthdawn appeals to me. There are a loosely affiliated group of astral creatures called Horrors. If you want a traditional game you can use a Horror that is common in type but the games that commit to memory are the ones that use the unique, bizarre and most alien. Also these creatures live off emotion and the manipulation of humanity for the purpose of feeding is truly disgusting and alien to take on as well.

Cultists fall into both categories. If they are cultists of devils, demons or angels then they fall much more under the traditional category of horror. This is because these creatures, weird as they are, are all in place around humanity to teach them of sins which are known impulses and urges. Whereas a cultist of a Horror may worship it so that it can turn all snow purple. nobody knows why. But on investigation your hero may discover that the blood of living sacrifices is needed to turn the snow purple. These motivations are alien and therefore the horror much more different and the cultists will be much more random to portray than a devil worshipper.

In my next post I will look at the ways that you can begin to instill this feeling of horror into your game. There are techniques that work really well and get the players to feel the fear that their characters are. The techniques for both of the above streams of horror are largely very similar and I offered the description above as a primer for you. So until next time keep rolling!

Mark Knights is  40 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.

The Year of D&D

dnd-logoI have been welcomed back to the Iron Tavern! I am as surprised as you so I thought I would start of with a little diatribe of my prediction for this year. Of course that prediction is all about the up and coming edition of everybody’s best known game, Dungeons and Dragons.

If you are a regular reader of my posts (may Besmara bless you) you will realize the love-hate relationship I developed with the D&D Next material from last year. I liked it a lot because it is no longer a board (bored) game and is swinging back to its roots with some interesting mechanical choices and a somewhat retro feel. You will also recall I could not organize a game of it. Sure, after I declared it dead to me people came out of the woodwork to give me a game but I stayed true. It should not have been that hard to have played a game.

I am now looking at some of the release schedule for the coming year and I have to say it is hard to go past the release of this new edition for excitement and anticipation. I personally have made the decision to not invest in the game as I believe this year will be the year of Shadowrun for me. But the players of my regular Pathfinder game are keen to give this new D&D system a go.

I have to say the release schedule for Pathfinder is looking pretty bleak in the way of major game releases. There are of course the regularly scheduled releases of Adventure Paths and modules, Golarian updates, players companion material but nothing really to enhance the core system in a major way. There is the Advanced Class Guide currently being playtested but will be up for an August release, so some time before I need to spend money. I have to say that the idea of a Class Guide (I have not downloaded the playtest so I may be very ignorant here) leaves me a little cold. There are a LOT of customization options available for most classes already so it makes me nervous to consider what may be in this book.

Release of Dungeons and Dragons will more than likely occur sometime in June, July, or August. I am not sure how the release will be structured. Will they follow the tradition of having a players handbook, a dungeon master guide and a monster manual? Or will they finally change up this tired and expensive process. The site that announces the “Summer” (won’t be summer here) release has no further details and points to dungeonsanddragons.com which is a parked site with no detail on it yet. What would be nice is a boxed set. Just saying 🙂

Of course there are some other fantastic game developments coming up. Pathfinder Online is set to move into testing stages after the next quarter (I have early access – woot!) and there are a bunch of other exciting projects coming to fruition in 2014. FATE turns officially one this year and it seems to still be going strong with a stream of really useful material now out for it. Earthdawn Kickstarter is in its last days and is promising to be a great new start to a troubled title that has floundered for a little too long (Earthdawn is my favorite fantasy game ever). You can still back it though there are only two days to go. The details are here.

2014 is shaping up as the year of the Dungeons and Dragons but what are you looking forward to most? Hit us up in the comments section and let me know what I should be getting excited about! Keep rolling everyone.

Mark Knights is  40 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.

Blinded By The Light

brimorak_fight

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds – used under Paizo Community Use Policy

Conditions in a game can play as big or as small a role as you would like as a GM. It is pretty rare in a fantasy game that some kind of exotic creature does not have some way to cause an issue to the character they target. Conditions can be great equalizers to power players and awesome factors for players that want to puzzle their way around things.

A quick proviso: We all know I am a Pathfinder player for my fantasy largely, so I am going to describe the conditions here that are pertinent to a Pathfinder game. It is likely that your own game system has rules covering these same things but if I do slip and talk about statistical effects I am coming from a Pathfinder perspective.

Have a two-handed weapon specialist who sneers at the rogue every time they drag out a short sword or a dagger? Well do I have the condition for you! Swallowed whole. Hit them with a big creature that has a penchant for not chewing its food. Have the character slip down the gullet of the creature. Inside the gullet of a creature it is much easier to harm BUT the character can only attack with a light one handed weapon. Seleca, the Cavalier in one of my games, is the two handed specialist and she has recently just scored level 18. She is capable of cutting a twentieth level fighter down with over 300 hp in one round. She has just taken to carrying a dagger as she has now been swallowed around seven times and been able to do absolutely nothing until her companions cut her out.

A condition that hampers nearly every type of character is the blinded condition. In Pathfinder Blindness/Deafness is a second level spell and is a permanent effect! While running the Reign of Winter adventure path for Pathfinder I have blinded a Paladin twice in the campaign. The first time this occurred he remained blind for about four sessions and the condition really hampered his ability to be effective. The second time lasted only a single combat (in which he hilariously got eaten by an oven) but it caused a big drama as he struggled to be effective against the witch that had caused the blindness. This condition also seriously hampers a magician. A magician that cannot see is severely hampered in creating lines of effect for spells or using a lot of the spells in their repertoire.

Continuing on with the spell caster perspective you also could use deafness. Deafness causes any spell with a verbal component a chance of failure as although the magician can think of the correct words the brain cannot tell if the mouth is verbalizing them correctly. Tonal information is important to the casting of spells and this feedback to the brain is important to ensure the tone and pitch is correct in the delivery.

Creatures that can cause confusion or stunning effects are also good to have. If they can cause these conditions for multiple rounds it can turn a powerful enemy into their own worst nightmare! Confusion gives the player a random chance of what they are going to do for the round. There are four different options in Pathfinder. They can continue as normal, babble incoherently, attack themselves or attack the nearest living creature, regardless of who it is! As you can see, two of these outcome (50% of the time) the player will likely be doing awful things to themselves or possibly their companions! Stun on the other hand is effective against characters that get a lot of attacks per round with a weapon. It causes the player to drop anything that is held. That means to become effective again the player needs to pick up the weapon (which draws an attack of opportunity) or draw a new less preferred weapon (no AoO) before they can be effective again. The player is also unable to act for a round which means the creature can attack for that round. It is likely confusion will last multiple rounds while stunning is very rarely any more than one round.

Just a quick post today. Use your creatures wisely to inflict interesting conditions. There are far more conditions that exist in the game than what I have listed here, but the ones above are always a good place to start. The players will remember these combats for the way they overcame them regardless of the ‘x’ condition they were carrying. it makes for more interesting combats and more heroic actions from the players. 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.