Ladies and Jelly spoons!
I give you... Orville the Illithid/Beholder
Happy Quarantine gaming!
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Proof of concept
I got bored and had an idea. This is never a good thing. Idle GM hands can only lead to Player sorrow.
Ladies and Jelly spoons!
I give you... Orville the Illithid/Beholder
Ladies and Jelly spoons!
I give you... Orville the Illithid/Beholder
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
February 2020 RPG Blog Carnival: Legends & Lore
The Morningstar Ledger
It is a whispered rumor. To some it brings great power, others will find only ruin. All manner of grotesque, vile, and egregious deeds are recorded within it's covers. These deeds share one quality that ensures it will be enshrined on the pages. They are all secrets. Secrets the powerful fear, and do not want known. Secrets they will protect, at any cost.
*** *** *** *** ***
The legend of the Morningstar ledger. This little gem popped into my head one afternoon, I don't remember what I was reading, that spawned the idea, and I don't have a use for it in any of my games.
However it does fit nicely in this month's RPG Blog Carnival.
Legends are one of the best story hooks you can use. They can lead your players to fame and fortune, or it can be a huge red-herring. If you've been playing for a while, you have the seeds of legends in your head. Ever had a character escape death by the skin of his d20? Then you have the seeds of a legend. If you treat it right, you a few legends. How did they escape? Was it due to some rare knowledge? Maybe an item aided them?
A creative DM/GM can use a legend to change the abilities of an artifact. How?, you might ask.
Back in the time of THAC0, I had Ranger character. I was really proud of Lethric. He used dual longswords and was quite formidable. Until he lost his right hand to a hungry mimic...
Or so I thought. The dice gods are fickle, ironically generous at times too. Same adventure, only in a dungeon. What did the dice gods give me? Yep... THAT hand. Not the eye, just THE HAND. So, back in the antediluvian high school games, things in the DMG were considered off limits to purely players. However if you shared DMing duties with someone then you were expected to keep the secrets of how the sausages were made. i.e. It was by mutual unspoken consensus that you didn't metagame when playing a character in someone else's game.
What to do... What to doo...
Legends usually have their basis in actual people or events. This is where the legend of Lethric Gillenhammer was born. Lethric would switch classes and become Magic-user. He would not attach the hand until I was sure I could use it. He starts searching for the eye. If I'm gonna try this, I gonna go for broke. Lethric's hand had been restored. Almost immediate after we got out of the dungeon where it got mimic munched. So I was more than able to advance as a MU. He did eventually find the eye. I enacted the plan. Keep in mind, I was fully under the delusion that I would be able to play Lethric again..... When you stop laughing we'll continue.
Lethric now had the hand and the eye, and ring of wishes with 2 wishes left. Using every ounce of Gygaxian Legalese I could think of, I wrote a 9 page wish. I gave it to a couple of friends to read and poke holes in. Sean found it. As Lethric was playing in his game, Lethric was subject to his game's mythology. Lethric removed his eye and cut off his left hand. The first wish broke the cosmos so the second wish could do what I wanted. I did it. I had severed the alignment consequences from the Primary power usage, and managed to contain the eye under a patch. To keep it from being used against the hand. I could use the hand with no repercussions. Eureeeka! Ok, wait a minute there Skippy, Sean had determined that yes Lethric could use the hand, if he could convince it to cooperate. Sean gave the hand a mind of it's own. It was now an obnoxious familiar.
In my gaming cosmos, the hand and eye are now endowed with an intelligence separate from the big V, and each other. Never played Lethric again. He's the Legendary wizard, quest giver, info dumper when I need him. And I can invest the hand and eye with whatever powers I need.
I mentioned earlier that legends make great story hooks. I have a few already written (of course I did). The Legends of Nohj.
Well, that was quite the ramble wasn't it?
I thought I had a coherent post in mind when I started this... Unhuh, yeah... right...
Anyone who has played more than one adventure, will have fuel for legends if and when they want to run their own games. The lore is the story behind it, or the out of game stuff that opened the door. It's all in HOW you tell the story.
I'm done rambling... For now. If I don't get to March's Carnival I'll just say
Happy Gaming!
It is a whispered rumor. To some it brings great power, others will find only ruin. All manner of grotesque, vile, and egregious deeds are recorded within it's covers. These deeds share one quality that ensures it will be enshrined on the pages. They are all secrets. Secrets the powerful fear, and do not want known. Secrets they will protect, at any cost.
*** *** *** *** ***
The legend of the Morningstar ledger. This little gem popped into my head one afternoon, I don't remember what I was reading, that spawned the idea, and I don't have a use for it in any of my games.
However it does fit nicely in this month's RPG Blog Carnival.
Legends are one of the best story hooks you can use. They can lead your players to fame and fortune, or it can be a huge red-herring. If you've been playing for a while, you have the seeds of legends in your head. Ever had a character escape death by the skin of his d20? Then you have the seeds of a legend. If you treat it right, you a few legends. How did they escape? Was it due to some rare knowledge? Maybe an item aided them?
A creative DM/GM can use a legend to change the abilities of an artifact. How?, you might ask.
Back in the time of THAC0, I had Ranger character. I was really proud of Lethric. He used dual longswords and was quite formidable. Until he lost his right hand to a hungry mimic...
Or so I thought. The dice gods are fickle, ironically generous at times too. Same adventure, only in a dungeon. What did the dice gods give me? Yep... THAT hand. Not the eye, just THE HAND. So, back in the antediluvian high school games, things in the DMG were considered off limits to purely players. However if you shared DMing duties with someone then you were expected to keep the secrets of how the sausages were made. i.e. It was by mutual unspoken consensus that you didn't metagame when playing a character in someone else's game.
What to do... What to doo...
Legends usually have their basis in actual people or events. This is where the legend of Lethric Gillenhammer was born. Lethric would switch classes and become Magic-user. He would not attach the hand until I was sure I could use it. He starts searching for the eye. If I'm gonna try this, I gonna go for broke. Lethric's hand had been restored. Almost immediate after we got out of the dungeon where it got mimic munched. So I was more than able to advance as a MU. He did eventually find the eye. I enacted the plan. Keep in mind, I was fully under the delusion that I would be able to play Lethric again..... When you stop laughing we'll continue.
Lethric now had the hand and the eye, and ring of wishes with 2 wishes left. Using every ounce of Gygaxian Legalese I could think of, I wrote a 9 page wish. I gave it to a couple of friends to read and poke holes in. Sean found it. As Lethric was playing in his game, Lethric was subject to his game's mythology. Lethric removed his eye and cut off his left hand. The first wish broke the cosmos so the second wish could do what I wanted. I did it. I had severed the alignment consequences from the Primary power usage, and managed to contain the eye under a patch. To keep it from being used against the hand. I could use the hand with no repercussions. Eureeeka! Ok, wait a minute there Skippy, Sean had determined that yes Lethric could use the hand, if he could convince it to cooperate. Sean gave the hand a mind of it's own. It was now an obnoxious familiar.
In my gaming cosmos, the hand and eye are now endowed with an intelligence separate from the big V, and each other. Never played Lethric again. He's the Legendary wizard, quest giver, info dumper when I need him. And I can invest the hand and eye with whatever powers I need.
I mentioned earlier that legends make great story hooks. I have a few already written (of course I did). The Legends of Nohj.
Well, that was quite the ramble wasn't it?
I thought I had a coherent post in mind when I started this... Unhuh, yeah... right...
Anyone who has played more than one adventure, will have fuel for legends if and when they want to run their own games. The lore is the story behind it, or the out of game stuff that opened the door. It's all in HOW you tell the story.
I'm done rambling... For now. If I don't get to March's Carnival I'll just say
Happy Gaming!
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Paladras
Paladras watched his companions tie up their horses, and wander off. Kalahr Ian spoke briefly with a small kalahr and set off after it at a brisk pace. The Mountain twins headed towards the tavern, and the Leaf-Kin disappeared into the crowd of travelers wandering through the market.
Paladras had heard the whispers of Diaphasia as soon as they had entered the Anidir forests. He decided to go read the signs, to see what Diaphasia was warning him about.
Opening his eyes, he touches the third finger of his right hand to his temple and invokes his draconic blood.
The breeze carried the scents of the town. Any concentration of kalar smelled like raw meat, stone, and metal. The breeze shifted to come from the north. That's when he smelled it. Ancient dust and the many-legs. Paladras briefly remembered the stories his brood mother had told he and his siblings. His clan had rooted out and eradicated a nest of many-legs while he was still playing with his own egg shards in his clan home.Scanning the horizon to the northeast he saw an intermittent flickering highlighting a mountain far in the distance. Paladras stretched out with all his hereditary senses. Draconic blood affords those that posses it an affinity to their native environment. Paladras had been blooded in the forests of his homeland. He felt, more than saw that the flickering was the presence of evil finally releasing it's hold on the mountain. The many-legs had been vanquished years before, but the evil they tried to invoke clung to the mountain.
Surely Diaphasia wasn't trying to warn him about a long dead nest. So what was it?
Paladras tucked his wings under his robes, then pulled his hood up. Hissing the incantation for unobtrusive presence, he headed back towards the tavern to talk to the Mountain twins. Misssy was a child of the World spirit, she might see something he could not.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
The Forest kin visibly paled when Paladras appeared next to him. "Alright Fangface, you are going to teach me that one day."
Paladras popped a few pimka fruit in his mouth and hissed out some laughter. "Kasssz, I told you. Ssorsscery is easy for Wyrmkin. Dragons are made of magic."
Paladras turned and started hissing in low tones with one of the Half elf sisters.
"Mizzy, there is an air of unrest in the forest, when you are able to spare a moment, please accompany me so that we might narrow down the cause."
"That can't be a good thing. Should we go get Ian?"
Paladras had heard the whispers of Diaphasia as soon as they had entered the Anidir forests. He decided to go read the signs, to see what Diaphasia was warning him about.
Opening his eyes, he touches the third finger of his right hand to his temple and invokes his draconic blood.
The breeze carried the scents of the town. Any concentration of kalar smelled like raw meat, stone, and metal. The breeze shifted to come from the north. That's when he smelled it. Ancient dust and the many-legs. Paladras briefly remembered the stories his brood mother had told he and his siblings. His clan had rooted out and eradicated a nest of many-legs while he was still playing with his own egg shards in his clan home.Scanning the horizon to the northeast he saw an intermittent flickering highlighting a mountain far in the distance. Paladras stretched out with all his hereditary senses. Draconic blood affords those that posses it an affinity to their native environment. Paladras had been blooded in the forests of his homeland. He felt, more than saw that the flickering was the presence of evil finally releasing it's hold on the mountain. The many-legs had been vanquished years before, but the evil they tried to invoke clung to the mountain.
Surely Diaphasia wasn't trying to warn him about a long dead nest. So what was it?
Paladras tucked his wings under his robes, then pulled his hood up. Hissing the incantation for unobtrusive presence, he headed back towards the tavern to talk to the Mountain twins. Misssy was a child of the World spirit, she might see something he could not.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
The Forest kin visibly paled when Paladras appeared next to him. "Alright Fangface, you are going to teach me that one day."
Paladras popped a few pimka fruit in his mouth and hissed out some laughter. "Kasssz, I told you. Ssorsscery is easy for Wyrmkin. Dragons are made of magic."
Paladras turned and started hissing in low tones with one of the Half elf sisters.
"Mizzy, there is an air of unrest in the forest, when you are able to spare a moment, please accompany me so that we might narrow down the cause."
"That can't be a good thing. Should we go get Ian?"
January 2020 RPG Blog Carnival: Random Encounter Tables
Greetings and well met once again!
I venture forth from under my rock to bring you more blithering, blathering, and chicken chasing, usually on topic even. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT CHICKEN! Sorry, he was big and shiney.
Random Encounter Tables.
Yep, this is a subject every GM has, or will eventually, use or need and/or scream incoherently at a Random Encounter table. Let's see if this scenario sounds familiar: Gm rolls, consults table, then goes outside and throws dice across the yard in frustration because the RET has just determined that your brand new shiney 1st level adventuring party is now facing a Shadow Dragon!
Oh yes, that actually happened to me. Yep, killed that game with one die roll.
All my personal failings as a GM aside, you might run into a similar problem and I'll try and give you a few ideas on how to avoid the aneurysms this causes. Apologies for not delving into the maths of dice probability, it makes my head hurt.
If you have wandered around my blog before, then you have probably discovered my custom RETs.
Forest
Plains
Hills/Mountains
Swamp/Marsh
I have long since packed up my PF books, I don't have notes available on how they worked out. I usually scribble notes on the tables, so I can make tweaks later.
I designed these with a spread of CRs because I am of the GM school of...
PCs need to learn when to run away. No, I have never had a party decide discretion is the better part of valor. It always takes at least one PC death for them to get the message.
I designed these tables with an eye towards longevity. I was able to use the tables thru when the PCs made 6th level.
Looking at the Forest table. Entries 1, 51-53, and 100 are not just monsters. These are plot hooks. The ancient graveyard was going to reveal a small statuette of a god they could not recognize. The ruined tower was the hook for a secret library and a journal that would have led a brave party up against a Tarrasque. The pyramid ruins are there, because I don't get to use my Heart room trap enough.
If you're like me, when you start a sandbox game you have a selection of of plot hooks for the PCs to choose from. To prevent analysis paralysis, take all your plot hooks and work them into a RET. Let the dice gods decide what the PCs are going after. You don't even have to start them at the trite animal tavern. The first session can have a more organic flow and save you the headaches of trying to get the PCs to pick a direction.
In closing, RETs come in all types and sizes. If you really don't feel like putting together a custom table, there is a mega multitude of tables out there. If you don't mind a little work, try designing your own tables. You don't have to start from scratch. Just cross out any entries that don't make sense and add something that does. You're the GM, do whatever you want.
Now, having bored you enough for the time being. Go check out the other entries in this month's carnival.
Happy Gaming!
I venture forth from under my rock to bring you more blithering, blathering, and chicken chasing, usually on topic even. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT CHICKEN! Sorry, he was big and shiney.
Random Encounter Tables.
Yep, this is a subject every GM has, or will eventually, use or need and/or scream incoherently at a Random Encounter table. Let's see if this scenario sounds familiar: Gm rolls, consults table, then goes outside and throws dice across the yard in frustration because the RET has just determined that your brand new shiney 1st level adventuring party is now facing a Shadow Dragon!
Oh yes, that actually happened to me. Yep, killed that game with one die roll.
All my personal failings as a GM aside, you might run into a similar problem and I'll try and give you a few ideas on how to avoid the aneurysms this causes. Apologies for not delving into the maths of dice probability, it makes my head hurt.
If you have wandered around my blog before, then you have probably discovered my custom RETs.
Forest
Plains
Hills/Mountains
Swamp/Marsh
I have long since packed up my PF books, I don't have notes available on how they worked out. I usually scribble notes on the tables, so I can make tweaks later.
I designed these with a spread of CRs because I am of the GM school of...
I designed these tables with an eye towards longevity. I was able to use the tables thru when the PCs made 6th level.
Looking at the Forest table. Entries 1, 51-53, and 100 are not just monsters. These are plot hooks. The ancient graveyard was going to reveal a small statuette of a god they could not recognize. The ruined tower was the hook for a secret library and a journal that would have led a brave party up against a Tarrasque. The pyramid ruins are there, because I don't get to use my Heart room trap enough.
If you're like me, when you start a sandbox game you have a selection of of plot hooks for the PCs to choose from. To prevent analysis paralysis, take all your plot hooks and work them into a RET. Let the dice gods decide what the PCs are going after. You don't even have to start them at the trite animal tavern. The first session can have a more organic flow and save you the headaches of trying to get the PCs to pick a direction.
In closing, RETs come in all types and sizes. If you really don't feel like putting together a custom table, there is a mega multitude of tables out there. If you don't mind a little work, try designing your own tables. You don't have to start from scratch. Just cross out any entries that don't make sense and add something that does. You're the GM, do whatever you want.
Now, having bored you enough for the time being. Go check out the other entries in this month's carnival.
Happy Gaming!
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Story Hooks
Last year I discovered I had a 12 year old cousin that plays RPGs.
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW AWESOME THAT IS?!?!?!?!
It is supremely awesome! Yes it is.
After discovering this, I went on a campaign to supply her with a wide range of gaming materials. Aside from buying all kinds of stuff, her Mom mentioned that the aforementioned cousin (her daughter) was going to run a game, and some story hooks might assist her. So here a few hooks I came up with.
Escape from Space Station Hydra
A routine refueling stop turns deadly, when
the station’s AI apparently goes insane and start shutting down entire sections
of the station. Will you and your crew be able to get off the station before
the Station’s AI succeeds in trapping you on the station and turning off the
life support? Rogue maintenance droids and out of control station defenses are
all that stand in your way.
The Edo
The T.C.S. Colony
ship Edo went missing 142 years ago, on its way to the Zathras system.
Disappeared with all hands, thought to be lost for all time.
Long range scanners have picked up an object
entering the edge of T.C.S. space. It’s transponder code matches the Edo’s. The
Admiralty is requesting that any ship or outpost within range, locate and
investigate immediately.
The Monoliths of Mazenar
The Interstellar
Institute has lost an expedition. The survey party sent to Mazenar to evaluate
the planet for colonization is 20 days overdue. All attempts at contact have
failed. The Institute Director will pay for an enterprising crew to find and
return the crew of the T.C.S. Gloval Survey ship.
Their last
transmission reported that they had found a vast plain of carved monoliths, and
that were going to investigate.
Transport Duty
Wihelm Von Brunner, Administrator of the
planet Kaldras has asked you and your crew to deliver and important package to
the Inverness Research station in the Inglenor system. Piece of cake, right?
Then why is your ship being followed? What is the mysterious package? Who is
following you, and why? Can you make it to the research station before they
catch you or something goes wrong?
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