DriveThruRPG Top 12 Review (17 Apr 2021)

 

There are a number of items here that catch my attention, while others -- well, my gaze & attention just slides off them.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

In the Number 01 spot, as expected, we see Dune: Adventures in the Imperium published by Modiphius. I have been eagerly awaiting this, though I'd probably have to dive into the novels once more to get back up to speed on the setting feel. Have picked it up and will review it when done reading.

In the Number 02 and Number 06 spots are Sine Nomine's offerings Worlds Without Number and Stars Without Number respectively. I already own Stars Without Number and started creating characters until I realized that did not actually have a gaming crew who'd play it. It's on the backburner while I wait for my current GM duties to slide back to a Neo-Clone (OSR) area of interest.

Speaking of current GM duties, that would by Cyberpunk RED by R. Talsorian. A former top of the lister, it has slid down to a respectable Number 04 on this list. Setting, Art, and overall rules are excellent -- streamlined for speed of play in this modern gaming culture. Though, tactically, it does raise eyebrows to this veteran of the Interlock & Hero Systems, including their mad, forgotten love child Fuzion.

Whitehack 3rd Edition is in the Number 09 spot, and I've also picked this one up -- and immediately afterwards I realized that this was a completionist impluse buy from my days of collecting these types of rulesets. Still, when I finish it, I'll see how it fares against the other F20 rulesets (modern & neo-clones) as I try to find my preferred one to run a Mystara campaign.

Number 11 is The Company of the Dragon for RuneQuest (Community Content) which hooks my interest only because I have yet to finish reading and creating a character for the latest edition. Someday, RuneQuest, someday!

Number 12 is Arc Dream Publishing's Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes. Which I am tempted to pick up once I pick up the new Delta Green set of rules and either choose to run it myself or find / convince a gaming group that wants to run it.

That's it for this week! Which ones caught your interest?

An Eye on the 5th: beyond Official System Releases

This current version of D&D not only seems to be very friendly towards older D&D conversions, but also -- by extension -- to a lot of the OSR systems that were inspired by those older versions. I think I can see it working for the B/X and BECMI versions of D&D, as well as 1st Edition AD&D -- but I have no real feel for converting the other versions before and after. But it does make it possible to therefore use a lot of (a) old D&D material; and (b) a lot of OSR material.

Unofficial Conversion Document

Fortunately, for people interested in converting older materials (and some OSR systems), James Bowman has produced his own conversion guidelines for D&D 5th Edition.

At the time of this posting, it includes:

• BECMI to 5E (includes 0E, Holmes, and B/X) - last updated 12 August 2014
  2E to 5E (includes 1E) - last updated 12 August 2014
• 3.5 to 5E (includes 3E and Pathfinder) - last updated 12 August 2014
• 4E to 5E - last updated 12 August 2014
  Next to 5E - last updated 12 August 2014
• Castles & Crusades to 5E - last updated 12 August 2014
• Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG to 5E - last updated 12 August 2014

There's both an in-depth document and a quick reference document for each. Great work, Mr. Bowman.

Old School Style: Geomorphs

I'm always happy to see old school maps and geomorphs online, not only because of the nostalgia factor, but also because of my gamer fascination with maps and the design philosophies behind creating 'geomorph' maps in RPGs and boardgames.

Michael Wenman currently is tackling how to create & design geomorphs on his blog in a fascinating (currently 10-part) series.

OSR Game System Listing

And if you're looking for various OSR systems that you might want to go through for source material and perhaps some cool game mechanic hacks for a one-shot, a short campaign, or a permanent house rule -- look no further than the D&D retroclone / neo-clone listing on Taxidermic Owlbear! Logos and links and short summaries aplenty!

Dungeon Crawl Classics available on RPGNow

Get 'em while they're hot. Impressive number of reviews in such a short span of time.

A lot of good or intriguing press about this game. Makes me curious.

Particularly that bit about it being a cross between OSR and D20. And that bit about zero-level characters. And that bit about all spellcasters being different. And that bit about it not being a retro-clone.

Not too keen on using d7s and other weird dice, but hey it's not really a concern these days with online dice and electronic tablets and even Excel if you don't want to shell out the bucks for more dice.

Okay, so Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG intrigues me.

Inspiration: Wonder Woman and the New Old Gods

I'm enjoying a lot of the depictions of the Greek gods in the New 52 Wonder Woman series. They weren't all noble, but they were essentially really powerful superheroes -- enigmatic but understandable ultra-high level superheroes / cosmic entities.

The current creative team's take brings the gods back to an earlier perception and sentiment -- they are fickle and vicious and constantly scheming and conspiring against one another. And one seldom profits from being entangled in their games.

Excellent source material for fantasy games, and a good inspiration for Enigmundia's take on Greek / Roman Gods.

So far, Hera and Hermes my favorite depictions, though Apollo is creeping up there. The missing Zeus is one I suspect I'll rather enjoy, as he's been mentioned as always appearing in a form most desirable to the woman he wants, and that's likely to be Wonder Woman down the line.

Hermes is interesting with his affinity to birds, the constant referring to him the messenger by the other gods, and the obvious visual cues to render him avian-like. And even he suggests that as a messenger, he seldom traffics in truth.

Hera is portrayed as powerful, dangerous, and desirable -- I hesitate from using the word sexy because the body language shies away from 'sexy' poses except when she is resting from her labors. Although, I wonder if the choice to suggest her nakedness beneath the peacock cloak was really necessary. I like that she dresses up when she gets home -- perhaps one needs to be naked when cloaked in that artifact?

I'll admit that the modifications to the Wonder Woman canon are severe, and definitely require parental guidance, but they have caught my interest due to their non-sanitized take on the Greco-Roman gods in a modern idiom.

Enigmundia: Clerics are Believers, Wizards are Pagans

As I was reading the latest post from Blood of Prokopius tangentially related to the Civilization vs. Wilderness concept, I returned to an old idea that I'd forgotten.

Assuming a centralized, established, hierarchical church, Clerics have divine rituals that grant boons and supernatural effects, while Mages have systematized pagan rituals that draw on fallen, yet bound gods (or demons, if you will) for their preternatural effects. In Enigmundia, I was planning on having the fallen gods represent spirits and angels and laws that were set over aspects of Creation by the One God, and when they rebelled and were replaced, their innate ability to bend the rules of Creation became accessible by supplicants who know the old ways.

Introducing this concept into a campaign will naturally drive a wedge between cleric PCs and wizard PCs, though perhaps not so much in the early levels. This can lead to a nice "we were friends once, but even then he'd already started down the wrong path" vibe for the cleric, and a similar reaction from the wizard once they hit name level.

Another twist that this can add is the extra layer of complexity to the cosmology of deities and devils: who is the established god or pantheon? who are the fallen pagan gods that still grant power through spells (answering through specific, jealously-guarded formulas that have survived the religious purges)? who are the demons and devils that may have one or two spells mixed into the wizardly body of work?

It can also explain why there are certain new spells or spell variants -- it's from a different fallen god, it's a different sect worshiping the same god, it's a new version that allows the fallen god to break the bonds that imprison it, etc.

Reading Room: Adventures Dark & Deep - Player's Manual (Part 2)

My last post in this series saw several Adventures Dark & Deep character classes being evaluated and assigned common roles in my Enigmundia: Zan Lasario setting.

More Character Classes

Fighter

The quintessential warrior who lives to fight and fights to live. Fighters do not possess many skills, but have the broadest ability to use weapons of all sorts, and advance in fighting skill at the fastest rate of any class.

A must-have character class, of course. But can it tackle all the different types of fighters? Particularly the fencers and the martial artists?

Barbarian (Fighter sub-class)

A man from the uncivilized lands who relies on skill and instinct to give him superior fighting skills. The barbarian has an innate distrust of all things magical, and must rise to higher levels before he can even associate with mages or other spell-casters. The barbarian is a sub-class of fighter.

Despite the potentially offensive reference to uncivilized lands, the greater concern tends to be this weird, innate distrust of all things magical. Still, it can be argued that wilderness tribesmen only trust the druids / wise men of their own tribe and mistrust all other spellcasters.

Ranger (Fighter sub-class)

A woodsman, skilled in surviving in the wilderness, tracking prey, and the like. Rangers view themselves as guardians of civilization from the perils of the wilderness, and thus all rangers must be of good alignment. They are by nature loners, however, and groups of rangers are almost never seen. At higher levels they gain some small spell-casting ability. The ranger is a sub-class of fighter.

This is actually what I'd argue would represent the native tribesmen more, leaving the Barbarians a rarer, more feared encounter. Not so sure about them being loners, but they would certainly be familiar with the perils of the wilderness.

Mage

The model caster of spells, possessed of an enormous potential repertoire of spells, some effective in offense, some in divination, and some in protection. Although they begin relatively weak compared to other classes, at higher levels the spells of the mage make them the most powerful class in the game.

Most of these would come from the colonizing population, with a smattering of mestizos in their ranks. It would be centralized instruction, to keep the foundation of national magical power strong and controlled.

Illusionist (Mage sub-class)

A specialist spell-caster who uses his magical powers to influence the minds of others. The illusionist specializes in creating visions and shadows, but as they continue to gain in power, their illusions can become real. The illusionist is a sub-class of mage.

I'd actually bring this into the Gremio Poetica grouping of classes as well -- the artists and writers and poets and performers who can make the illusory seem real. The other possibility -- it is associated with the hedge witches and perhaps a character class for the shape-changing aswang as well.

Savant (Mage sub-class)

The savant is a scholar and worker of magic whose spells are focused on divination and dealing with creatures from the other planes of existence. At higher levels, no secrets remain so from the savant. The savant is a sub-class of the mage.

This could belong to either the Inspanialo (Spaniards) or the Katao (Filipinos) or the Tsino (Chinese) who are more concerned with these types of spells. In fact, the organization of scientists / astrologists / natural philosophers would have a number of these.

Thief

The thief excels at stealth and nimbleness of hand. Whether used to steal wealth from those who cannot keep it, or to discover and disarm deadly traps, the thief’s talents are useful for going where brute force cannot take you.

I actually prefer the term rogue, or LOTFP's specialist to reflect these guys. Thief, while old school, always intimates that theft is the primary goal of this class.

Acrobat (Thief sub-class)

The acrobat is a split-class; a thief of sufficiently high level and ability scores can opt to leave the thief class and become an acrobat. The acrobat is skilled at leaping, vaulting, tightrope walking, hurling weapons, and the like.

Can be a street performer, or a more cultured member of the Arts & Culture crowd represented by the Gremio Poetica. Most are street performers who do extra work on the side.

Mountebank (Thief sub-class)

A skilled con-man, the mountebank uses his formidable talents at persuasion and misdirection to confuse enemies and marks alike. Beginning at middle levels, the mountebank gains the ability to cast magical spells, which he uses in the furtherance of his craft. The mountebank is a subclass of thief.

An interesting class, one seldom seen, that seems to add to the interesting mix of civil strata emerging in Zan Lasario, perhaps more than con artist -- they are the default class of the various guilds and traders and businessmen in Zan Lasario.

Overview

The exercise has been very instructive, though of course not all the classes don't quite fit my needs exactly. And character classes are very important, as they tend to define what PCs will tend to be in the game.

Still, some do fit quite well, and may add interesting twists to gameplay.

Piecemeal System Reviews: Saving Throws in D&D and related systems

First Encounters

To be honest, I didn't hate saving throws at first. D&D was the only RPG I'd ever played, so I figured that saving throws were how you handled certain things.

Sadly, it was the vagueness of what those "certain things" were what initially gave me trouble. Unless it was explicitly stated in the rulebook, I didn't call for saving throws. And because of that it was hard for me to judge when -- in an adventured I'd created -- something would get a saving throw unless such a thing was stated in the monster description, or spell description, or magic item description.

I was very young back then, didn't really get the idea of 'guidelines' as opposed to 'rules', and even when that was brought up, didn't know when you could 'guidelines' something or stick to the rules because the other folks I played with would then attack with very rudimentary rules lawyering arguments.

Failed Save = Death

Eventually, a growing dissonance between the hit point mechanic and the saving throw mechanic emerged in my mind. It was too easy to die by failing a saving throw in comparison to melee combat.

You had two chances to avoid certain death: (1) a botched attack roll; or (2) a low enough damage roll, as opposed to the classic "save vs. poison or die" scenario, where a single die roll decided everything.

It was because of this, and the fact that I didn't really understand when a given saving throw would be applicable ("don't I get a saving throw vs. death every time I'm about to die?" "do I save vs. wands or save vs. magic in this instance?") I eventually began playing to avoid any situations where a saving throw might be needed - but still held the mechanic in contempt.

Departure and Return

Saving throws become a non-issue when I eventually left the system and began my march through many different RPG systems, some of which stayed with me (HERO), some of which I never wrapped my mind around (Cyborg Commando).

Then 3rd Edition happened, and there were only three saving throws -- Fortitude, Reflexes, and Willpower -- which didn't matter so much to me as a simplification, but as a revelation. I finally realized the whole character class + racial bonus/penalty = your chance to avoid something nasty. After that, I had little issue with saving throws as a mechanic.

Expanding on the Saving Throw (M&M, True20, C&C)

I've actually been interested in some of the variants on the saving throw rule since. In particular, I like Mutants & Masterminds / True20 and the way that the extended the saving throw rule to handle damage and eliminate hit points. I also like the way Castles & Crusades extended the number of classic saving throws to six so that there could be a correlation with each stat.

I wonder what other uses this old mechanic has in store in the future?

Reading Room: Adventures Dark & Deep - Player's Manual (Part 1)

Adventures Dark & Deep, an RPG written by Joseph Bloch and carefully playtested by a community of gamers at the ADD message boards, has been of interest to me for the past year.

The conceit of this set of rules (which claims not to be a retro-clone) is that it is a "what-if" type of ruleset (placing it in the Alterclone or Neoclone arena), positing that the rules contain within might be what the AD&D 2nd Edition ruleset would look like if E. Gary Gygax hadn't left TSR when he did.

I'm only covering the Player's Manual (and only a small portion of it right now), but there is a Bestiary and a Gamemaster's toolkit for the curious -- also available for free on RPGNow.

Character Classes

They key area of interest for me is the character classes, and this is primarily due to my upcoming work in Enigmundia.

In Adventures Dark & Deep, there are a series of core character classes, with several other character classes known as sub-classes -- classes that give more special abilities than the core class but also have more stringent requirements. Let's take a look at them, how they are described in the book, and how I plan to use them:

Bard

A performer and entertainer, but one with the ability to cast spells through their music and songs. They specialize in manipulating the emotions and feelings of others.

I can use this in my Zan Lazario setting, though I'd prefer to expand this to other performing arts such as stage plays and storytelling. Just to break away from the image of the lute-playing bard. This tradition would probably come from both the "Spanish" equivalent and the "Filipino" equivalent cultures.

Jester (Bard sub-class)

Another sort of performer, but focused on distraction and misdirection. They rely mostly on their verbal patter and entertainment skills, but at higher levels gain some ability to cast spells.

Interesting, and comes across as an alternative to the more traditionally-trained bards, it's curious that it's a sub-class instead. May have to study it further as to integration into the setting.

Cavalier

The proverbial knight in shining armor who follows a strict code of chivalry. The cavalier is a skilled warrior, with a focus on horsemanship and melee weapons. They are forbidden most sorts of missile weapons, feeling them to be less than chivalrous.

Huh, that's interesting -- a class with missile weapons proscribed. Not so sure how that will work given the existence of gunpowder at the time, but it can help with the feel by reducing the presence of bows and arrows with the higher up military types. These guys can be from the Ispanialo (Spanish) noble families or from the warrior culture of the Katao (indigenous Filipinos).

Paladin (Cavalier sub-class)

A holy warrior. All paladins must be of lawful good alignment, and follows a code of behavior even more strict than that of the cavalier. He possesses innate powers to help combat evil, and at higher levels gain the ability to cast clerical spells.

Defenders of the faiths will be interesting in Zan Lazario, but they should be rare.

Cleric

The cleric is a priest, who may serve some deity or even an entire religious pantheon. They are skilled in combat, may wear any sort of armor, and have the ability to cast spells, most of which are geared towards healing, divination, and protection.

The presence of a Catholic Church-inspired faction is very important in Enigmundia's Zan Lazario, so these are obviously a must-have.

Druid (Cleric sub-class)

A priest dedicated not to a god or gods, but to Nature itself. They are limited in the armor they can wear, but their spells are very effective in dealing with the natural world, plants, and animals. At the highest levels, they are effective at manipulating the very elements themselves.

I'd make these guys to be the main mystical opposition to the clerics with a little reskinning. They're not necessarily enemies, but they're the main spell-casting opposition of the colonizers, hampered by a tendency to be anti-social and a territorial gunslinger culture.

Mystic (Cleric sub-class)

Another sort of priest, but one who attempts to come to an understanding of, and ultimately become one with, the multiverse itself. Their spells emphasize personal development and harmony with the universe.

Another indigenous tradition in Zan Lazario, these guys would tend to be more mentors and spiritual advisors to the leaders of the various local kingdoms and warrior clans.

Next Up:
Fighter, Barbarian (Fighter sub-class), Ranger (Fighter sub-class)
Mage, Illusionist (Mage sub-class), Savant (Mage sub-class)
Thief, Acrobat (Thief sub-class), Mountebank (Thief sub-class)

In Search Of: Go-to OSR Ruleset(s) for 2012

So I'm looking at the various Retro/Neo/Alterclones out there for several reasons:

(1) holidays are stressful;
(2) need moderate complexity ruleset for one Enigmundia subsetting;
(3) need light ruleset for the various OSR setting offerings out there (Carcosa, Weird Adventures, Blackmarsh, Vornheim, etc.).

It's fun looking through the ones I have and seeing which one fits my needs.

Of course, Lamentations of the Flame Princess is really begging to be purchased now... stupid collector's impulse.

Armchair Reviews: Weird Adventures

Damn, what a densely-packed sourcebook. And I couldn't even cite a specific entry that I liked for fear of spoiling player enjoyment by revealing what I liked (twists and surprises galore). Anyway, here's my review as it appeared on RPGNow.com.

Weird Adventures is a sourcebook for a game setting that is a mixture of traditional fantasy elements and a mad infusion of weird pulp fiction (mostly) set in a strangely familiar nation and city.

The sheer density of setting texture and detail alone makes this sourcebook a must-buy, but it's tied together by a weird conglomeration of almost-recognizable elements taken from history, period culture, myth, movies, fiction, comics, and pulp novel arcana that works as a setting. There is some lacuna left for the tastes of the DM -- but those spaces are easily filled by nabbing from both traditional fantasy and 1920s Americana.

It is a bit light on the game mechanics for a sourcebook, but the new monsters have stats that can be extrapolated to any D&D ruleset, and the DM is open to establishing how prevalent and powerful guns and transport might be in his/her campaign. I do recommend allowing yourself to be inspired by both magic and mad science in answering these questions, as the setting seems to excel at keeping players and GMs on their mental toes in anticipating secrets and twists to the adventure hooks. I'd love to give examples, but to do justice I'd have to give an entire entry away!

The art truly evokes both the feeling of the source material and the conceit of being a travel guide of sorts into this strange realm, and -- while I only have the PDF version -- I think that the printed copy will make a handsome, conversation-starting addition to any gaming collection.

Just make sure your friends don't borrow it without you knowing!

I'm think that an appropriate expansion would be various rulesets expansions for the appropriate retro-clone, but that's another post.

OSR Cycle of Innovations & Critique Criteria

Fantasy Heartbreakers and militant OSR purists aside, the indie OSR movement has -- in concert with other industry-wide learnings and trends, of course -- produced a lot of quality material. Few are perfect, and of course different people will have varying opinions on the products, but there are best practices that are added to the body of OSR work grows.

Because of the exercise of RPG product review, I've realized several things about my preferences in source material:

• Dealbreakers - there are certain things that make the product irredeemable or just not worth my time to find out if the content is worth it; this includes layout decisions that make it a pain to read through the material, or painfully inept writing or editing. Bad art, it turns out, I can forgive.
• Consistency of tone - I don't mind informal writing of source material, nor do I mind material that's meant to evoke a certain emotion or atmosphere (even if done badly). I do mind writing that alternates between the two, especially if the informal tone tends to break the so-called fourth wall. If you're going to poke fun at the atmosphere you're trying to build, just start off informal.
• Synergistic Crunch and Fluff - I don't think there's a magic ratio of crunch to fluff; I do believe that key elements of your setting demand crunch -- even if you have to say: use the crunch in some other RPG sourcebook. I hate floating pieces of fluff that are ill-defined and yet are intimated at being an "encounterable" bit of fluff.
• Organization matters - group useful bits of info together, stick them in some place close to where they're mentioned, do it consistently and I'll be happy. Throw in some indexes and I'll be even happier.

I have more, but I realized it might be good to build up a list of this criteria AND to get some folks talking about what they felt worked and didn't work in various source material according similar lists of criteria so that there's a large amount of talk about what makes an RPG sourcebook good aside from just the material in it. And perhaps how certain source material can overcome key failings, break the rules, and become must-haves -- while others languish in the hell of mediocrity.

Armchair Reviews: Isle of the Unknown PDF edition

Something with the title Isle of the Unknown conjures up an island far from the outposts of civilization, shrouded in mystery, brimming with strangeness and wonders. In this case, only the first aspect is untrue since the island in question is 35,00 square miles in size, broken up into 330 land hexes (each 86 square miles), and each hex is keyed with a central point of interest which includes a number of towns and one city (ruled by a king). But there is mystery, strangeness and wonder aplenty on it.

The island in question is 35,00 square miles in size, broken up into 330 land hexes (each 86 square miles), and is described in much the same way that the Carcosa sandbox setting was -- each hex is keyed with a central point of interest.

Comparisons to Carcosa are unavoidable because Isle of the Unknown is written by the same author, published by same publisher, and is presented in roughly the same format (which is not a bad one) as Carcosa, though it does lack the extensive hyperlinking. So let's take a look at what some of those similarities are.

Like Carcosa, the hexmap is numbered -- each numbered hex corresponds to a location or entity of interest. Like Carcosa, Isle of the Unknown is not a sourcebook that deals in minutae, but provides sufficient information for a GM to flesh out (or even run a fast-and-loose game, since Hit Dice, hit points, and other key information are provided without resorting to stat blocks).

Unlike Carcosa, however, Isle of the Unknown is less concerned with emphasizing the non-standard nature of the setting. On the contrary, Isle of the Unknown takes great pains to allow easy slotting of the setting into an existing campaign -- the culture and political structures of the cities and towns and churches are tackled with the lightest of broad strokes.

Instead the book focuses on three primary types of encounters / hexes of interest scattered throughout the island: magic-users, statues, and creatures.

• The magic-users are clearly non-standard ones: they tend to wear armor not normally associated with their kind, have special innate abilities above and beyond normal mages, and tend to enjoy painted full-page, full-color depictions (which are quite evocative).
• The statues are strange, powerful, and attired in clothes and armor evocative of a fallen Roman Empire (though clearly, one can insert the attire of another great fallen empire appropriate to one's campaign) and can grant abilities, aid or curse visitors, or attack them outright.
• The creatures are primarily chimerical creatures, ranging from larger versions of normal animals (a 6' tall roadrunner), twisted versions of normal creatures (an 8' tall humanoid swan with sleeping human faces on its torso), and -- of course -- mix-and-match combinations of creatures.
  

Taken individually, these encounters can be used as a magical rogues gallery, a statue encounter list, and a large monster's manual. Together, it suggests something else: perhaps the last flowering remnants of a vastly powerful empire, or a land touched by forgotten gods. The magic-users as described and depicted evoke the feeling of Greek or Roman gods, playfully skirting direct analogues and clearly being less powered; the statues smack of powerfully wrought enchantments that once served some greater purpose, and the creatures seem like echoes of an age when rampant magical experimentation on creatures was the norm.

There are, of course, other types of encounters, but the preponderance of these three suggest that a campaign geared towards exploring the unknown nature of the island would do well to focus on these elements.

Isle of the Unknown wraps all this up with the keyed map, printable Player and GM maps, and appendices that list the locations of all magic-users, all statues, and even provide a visual listing of all the creatures grouped by HD rating.

All in all, a rich setting with a lot of usable material the could have perhaps benefited from a few more hints on the origins and nature of the mysteries of the island -- without necessarily setting it in stone, of course.

Armchair Reviews: Carcosa PDF Edition

After that spectacular sale on all the Lamentations of the Flame Princess imprint mentioned earlier in my blog, guess what I get to review first as a DriveThruRPG / RPGNow reviewer? One of the newest offerings (at least on RPGNow / DriveThruRPG) from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess imprint: Carcosa.

Here's the review I gave:

This PDF edition of Carcosa is apparently a compilation and revision of material that has appeared before -- material I'm not familiar with in detail, but have passing familiarity with from the OSR blogosphere.

In a market that often seems to be divided between super-slick hi-resolution imagery and sadly amateurish attempts at passable gaming material, Carcosa manages to stake a claim for solid gaming bang for buck on its own terms.

As stated in the Introduction of this sourcebook, Carcosa is not a sourcebook that will drown its readers in setting minutae, but will give sufficient information concerning the setting that will allow GMs and players to use the material any way they wish -- even if they wish to cannibalize the material for monsters, ideas, rules, and adventure seeds.

Fortunately much of that material is very good, despite my misgivings about the 'mature nature' of the setting and the Weird Science Fantasy label is well-deserved -- it somehow manages to merge legacy alien technology, macabre sorcerous rituals, and a decadent, decaying, dangerous world filled with terrible creatures and awful gods into a uniquely setting that comes across as both challenging and interesting to adventure in.

While some may be more used to slicker and cleaner art styles, I feel that the art direction and execution is excellent -- it captures the weirdness of the setting, and evokes the feel of the sourcebook as an old-style travel guide or almanac for a foreign land. I would go as far as saying that the linework and the composition tends to connote its subject matter more than denoting it -- they have the feel of being "artist's interpretations" of people, places, and things that are real and were lifted from an accomplished artist's sketchbook.

The PDF has the following sections:

• Introduction -- does much to frame the understanding and use of the sourcebook
• Men and Magic -- describes rules such as dice conventions, allowed character classes, and building characters in this setting
• Sorcerous Rituals -- talks about nature of rituals in sorcery; extensively hyperlinked to the appropriate Monster Descriptions
• Monster Descriptions -- the monstrous menagerie of Carcosa; externsively hyperlinked
• Hex Description -- there's a Hex Map of Carcosa with number hexes; you can find the descriptions of each number hex here; extensive hyperlinking to monster descriptions and sorcerous rituals
• Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorceror -- a short sample adventure that takes place in one of the Hexes
• Addenda -- lots of good stuff here for the GM

The PDF also sports features like a default two-page spread, a handy table of contents sidebar, and meticulously hyperlinked text. That last bit, by the way, is what pushed this product from a four-star product to a five-star product for me -- it may not be as slick or flashy as some other sourcebooks, but in terms of content, design, and utility it was a winner for me.

I don't know if it should be longer, but Carcosa is definitely something I'll be referring to now as one of my favorite sources of gaming material.

Fantasy Hero -- a different philosophy from OSR

In comparison with the more abstract combat of classic D&D, Fantasy Hero (based on its rules lineage of Champions and the Hero System) is much more tactically complex. But it also does give more tactical options in combat, options that would be eerily familiar to D&D 3E aficionados.

What I do like about the current (Hero 6th Edition) version is that there's a clear dedication to giving a taste of not only the tropes and elements of the genre -- there are quotes from the many varied novels and short stories and other source material that serve to illuminate each of them.

Like prior versions, though, it provides options for running fantasy games: racial templates, class templates, varied magical systems, equipment lists, martial arts (weapons and barehanded), genre and subgenre definitions, and so on.

In short, a gold mine of tools to put together your own campaign -- whatever your chosen ruleset.

Of course, the Hero System is one of my favorite systems, because it taught me (someone who didn't quite understand the concept of game balance/imbalance early on in my gaming career) how to evaluate what trade-offs are done between advantages, disadvantages, abilities, penalties and so on.

Reading Room: Two from the OSR

I rarely get to run games these days. But I do like to collect RPG games and sourcebooks. This means that most of my posting about RPGs comes from the point of view of a non-active GM or Player -- hence the title of blog.

However, I do like to read and occasionally put together an idea for a one-shot game that really allows you to get to the meat and the flavor of some games. I do this because it motivates me to read the damned stuff in my library (paper and electronic) and because it readies me for the off chance that I actually do get to run one of these games.

As far as systems go, I'm pretty much a HERO System fan when it comes to very detailed yet flexible rules -- and a number of other systems that I've run tend to get a sprinkling of HERO System philosophy in the house rules.

With simpler rules, I tend toward the much-maligned core mechanic unless the rules have some other design purpose than merely simulating a plausible genre reality.

What really catches my eye these days is settings. I can always whip up a HERO conversion if I don't like the rules, but good settings always inspire me and get the imagination going.

Therefore, my very short post this night -- so that I can begin reading -- are these two setting sourcebooks: Red Tide and The Majestic Wilderlands.

Both of these settings have been reviewed elsewhere online, and have caught my interest for different reasons.

Red Tide is of interest not only due to the intriguing campaign setup involving the Red Tide itself, but also the mix of cultures and unusual takes on normal D&D races and cosmology.

The Majestic Wilderlands caught my fancy because the wilderlands have always interested me (though I only knew it as the areas around City State of the Invincible Overlord way back in my gaming infancy), and I wanted to see the rules mods for Swords & Wizardry in the book as well.

Fuzion Reactions: Overview

Fuzion was an RPG system that came out close to the millenium (1998 says Wikipedia) and I was an instant fan.

How could I not be? I loved Cyberpunk 2020 and the entire Hero System ruleset -- at that time in its 4th Edition.

Heck, my old gaming group in the U.S. had already merged portions of the two rulesets very loosely for our Military Science Fiction campaign for the mech-fighter squadron portion of the game (we'd alternate between storylines for the special forces group and the space navy).

Furthermore, I was looking forward to the new ruleset for Champions and, clearly, Champions: The New Millenium was it! Right?

Well, in terms of ruleset Fuzion both exhilarated and disappointed me.

It was exhilarating because it opened my eyes to the concept of designing game rules to reflect the setting or genre being emulated. I mean, I sort of new it already with Hero and other rulesets with the concept of "optional rules" but I always attributed it to the preference of the players and the GM. It was here that I realized that every choice -- even the dice rolled -- impacted not just game balance, but also game play. Especially when the stated goal was to integrate the Hero System ruleset with the Interlock ruleset.

What can I say? I just never really thought about it before -- I was just there to play.

Ever since then, I've paid closer attention to rulesets (light and otherwise) to see what the designers were trying to go for.

However, Fuzion disappointed me in several areas.

One was the super-powers section -- Champions: TNM just lacked the same depth and breadth of 4th Edition Hero (and made many of us aFuzionados suspect that this was NOT in fact the 5th Edition of the Hero System ruleset). I know that many shared my disappointment because there were several power rulesets that came out from the Fuzion community.

Another problem area: combat skills. I preferred OCV / DCV (which is akin to Dex-based Armor Class rules for OSR folks who don't really care that much, but want to get some idea what I'm referring to) over the concept that the difficulty in hitting someone was based on their ATTRIBUTE + SKILL in Evade or Dodge. It also meant that certain skills could logically pull double duty, raising some issues about game balance.

Another problem area was the shoe-horning of portions of the mecha-building rules of Mekton (which is, admittedly, one of the unique elements of the Interlock System) into the Hero System, which has its own rules for building vehicles and powered armor suits.

Two of the saving graces of the Fuzion revolution were: (1) the sheer volume of professional settings and RPGs that came out for it; and (2) the sheer volume of hobbyist rule variants and settings that came out for it.

In many ways, the OSR movement is -- for me -- what that outpouring of material for Fuzion could have been. If only blogs and social media had been as prevalent as they are now. If only PDF publishing and Print On Demand had been a stronger industry at the time.

If only, if only, if only.

Think I'll take a trip down memory lane for the books I picked up and share some of what I find with you in the coming months.

For the guys in the OSR who've produced one or more products, and for those who haven't stopped: keep on, keeping on. I'm blown away by everything I've seen.

Nothing wrong with nostalgia, but guys and gals -- what's come out is beyond that. There's passion, thought, and attention to detail. I can see there's a concern about pushing the envelope for everything that made OD&D, D&D B/X and BECMI, and AD&D work for you (and hopefully for others). There's a passion about fanning the flames of what hads been the dying embers of a ruleset and sending it roaring to the four corners of the gaming world.

And while I won't always game in the D&D realms, it's something I'll keep coming back to.

Enigmundia: Kingdom of the Wheel

Warning: radius and size of spires and circle not to scale.

In the Kingdom of the Wheel, magical teleportation is stymied by the very earth itself. It is possible, with sufficient power in teleportation magics to reach one of the moons in the sky, but it is not possible to teleport beyond the horizon (unless one is at sea). This limitation on teleportation (or property of the soil and sand of the land) secured castles and fortified cities from efforts that would compromise the very nature of their defenses, but it also made it difficult to rapidly transport military forces and much needed supplies across the Empire.

That is why the ancients built what was once known as the Silver Spire, and its sister spires known as the Cardinals. These towering crystal-shaped stone monoliths, flecked with streaks of unknown metals, were once able to teleport huge amounts of personnel and resources across the Empire. It is theorized that they somehow break the limitations of line-of-sight teleportation from spire tip to spire tip, but that knowledge was lost in the war against the Overking and his Chaos Courts 986 years ago.

In the war, the underground complexes that once moved the men and material that shaped a continent, were warped by Chaos magics, turning them into labyrinths filled with strange creatures. Many heroes and villains of that age died in those underground bastions of the Empire, many finding themselves fighting side by side against overwhelming odds -- but in the end they succeeded.

The Overking was imprisoned, the power that fueled the Courts somehow leeched by the Silver Spire itself (turning it black as night),  and the Chaos Courtiers were left to fend for themselves. Some fled into the spaces between the former Silver Spire (dubbed by many as the Shadow Spire) and carved out realms of their own; others ensconced themselves into the caverns and labyrinths and dungeons all along the perimeter of the Kingdom of the Wheel.

It is rumored that the wondrous teleport halls of the spires must all be found in the mega-labyrinths beneath the Shadow Spire and the Cardinals so that the Empire might once again regain a semblance of its strength and find a more permanent solution to the Overking. It is rumored that the luminaries of that legendary age knew that solution, but were slain before it could be enacted. It is rumored that the Overking's imprisonment -- the result of a mad, one-in-a-million chance taken by the ragtag aides and retainers of the legends of that time -- would last only a thousand years, and time is running out.

Will you join the expeditions into the spire labyrinths, map out their secrets, and prepare against the Overking?

Behind the DM's Curtain
So where did this come from?

This was started because I realized several things about my 'Karameikos-and-Philippines-inspired-setting': (1) it's gonna take a while before I start posting key location stuff; (2) I wanted to create a setting in the same cosmology that was less culture-focused and more dungeon / castle / weird creatures / evil mastermind oriented; (3) I took a look at OSRIC and was wowed by it, and remembered a classic campaign by a friend -- Bill Homeyer -- known as the Kingdom of the Wheel; (4) I remembered that it was structured really nicely to maximize the usage of a lot of random tables in AD&D; (5) I realized that some tweaks to the Kingdom of the Wheel allowed people to create mini-sandboxes with at least one mega-dungeon per spire.

So I decided to stick posts about the Kingdom of the Wheel (a lot of the Wheel ideas were from him, but the stuff I don't remember because it was quite a while ago, I'm filling in with embellishments and rationale because he was very stingy with revealing secrets, dammit) in between my efforts to create my original Enigmundia setting just to share some of the joy and sense of wonder that Bill's old campaign imparted to me.

Furthermore, rather than my proposed HEROic D&D ruleset, this one will use OSRIC for game mechanics -- primarily because I played this setting in AD&D and it feels right.

Wherever you are Bill, thanks for taking pity on a stupid kid fresh from the Philippines who didn't quite understand what a rune of death trap was and kept trying to read it.


About the Spires

The spires are artifacts and are protected by powerful arcane and divine magiks for some reason unknown to mere mortals. They are really tall -- I've not done the math yet, but I'm thinking at least a 5000 feet up. That makes the distance to the horizon around 30 miles. So the empire is 60 miles across? Then again, the spires are tall, maybe they can be seen above the horizon and I can stretch it out a bit more. What's the curvature of the earth? Hm, I'll need to revisit my math and geometry.

I'll need to figure out how to use some graphic design software to superimpose the darn thing on a map. Here's a mockup of the Kingdom superimposed on the map from the excellent Roma Imperious setting (Hinterwelt). Still not to scale, but it helps me get an idea of how I can proceed.

Deconstruction in RPGs

I was reading the intro to one of the Astro City comics compilations and read something along the lines of "what's the point of taking things apart and learning how they work if you're not going to try to make something better?"

They were of course referring to the slew of 'grim & gritty' comics that came out in the 80s and 90s, along with the various deconstructionist treatments of various iconic super-heroes and super-hero teams -- some of which were watershed events in the history of the art (The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Marvelman / Miracleman) while others were mediocre to bad attempts at the same fare. And some were just on the bandwagon to cash in on the trend of tearing down specific super-heroes or the entire genre itself.

Astro City, on the other hand, was successful in deconstructing and reconstructing superhero comics to achieve a different type of effect: having a surface story that appropriates many of the tropes and archetypes of the genre and layering it with more character and metaphor.

It was a revelation for me on two levels:
(1) it is possible to do satisfying riffs on superheroes and villains without being total rip-offs by drawing from earlier archetypes and / or mixing and matching;
(2) tearing apart stuff you liked while showing what parts don't work helps if you attempt to build something new after learning from the old.

So the big question is: how does this marginally interesting observation and possible epiphany relate to RPGs, thus justifying its inclusion in the blog?

1. Character creation with archetypes

When it became more possible in games to build the character that you wanted to play (character creation) rather than a character that you rolled up and made the best of (character generation), the desire to portray specific characters from inspirational material -- short stories, comics, novels, movies, TV shows, history -- was easier to satisfy.

Assuming that the game system, game setting, and game master were able to accommodate you playing a fairly well-known character ("Do you think you can stand against the power of Vecna, Conan?"), and assuming that it is capable of replicating the feats that these fictional characters are known for ("Vecna fails his saving throw, and loses the drinking contest. Conan wins!") sooner or later you'll run into the issue of canon -- because the player, or the GM or some other player will feel that the main body of work in being contradicted or even violated somehow ("No, I refuse to portray a female Conan just because of that stupid sex-change trap -- and tell Vecna to stop laughing!").

The next obvious step is to create someone reasonably close to, but not exactly like that character, often with an allusion in the name ("Call me Mississippi Smith."). Another tack is to create a character that amalgamates elements of characters into one. ("Of course we have a room for you and your female companion, Mr. James Westbondkirk.")

Some of the attempts (well, a lot of them) are juvenile, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's all for fun, and if it doesn't contradict the gameplay style being attempted, go for it.

However, Astro City has a plethora of characters that show that with some care mixing and matching the quintessential and archetypal elements of well-known super-heroes can create new characters that are familiar enough to draw upon the connotations of those archetypes, yet different enough to allow different portryals and stories to emerge.

In the above picture, there's a statue of the Silver Agent -- which appeared and was mysteriously alluded to in nearly every storyline of the series but whose history and significance was only recently detailed with a story -- a character who, despite the lack of a shield, has echoes of Marvel's Captain America and DC's Guardian.

Because of this visual short-hand, it suggests a character who upholds ideals at great cost, but is also a leader and an inspiration. I suppose that's why the mysterious story of the Silver Agent (only recently revealed) begged telling. Especially with a statue / monument to him with the following words inscribed below it: "To Our Eternal Shame".

In the future, I do plan on revisiting other characters from Astro City and other comics that have drawn on other archetypes. In the meantime, I invite you to search online for Samaritan, Winged Victory, and Jack-in-the-Box and see if you can identify their respective inspirations (visual and otherwise).

2. OSR, D&D, and various retro-clones and neo-clones

This was my first RPG experience:
reading T1 without a ruleset. It was
still awesome though I had barely
a clue about how to use it.

Of course, the other point here is relevant to what has gone on with the OSR movement -- and in theory with every RPG that was inspired by one or more RPGs that have come before.

I see the OSR movement, and the indie movement, and the whole mess of games coming out now, and the analysis of these games in terms of system and setting, and the house rules and the rules editions as part of this process and passion.

I think that at some level we're all going back to those games that first made our eyes light up in wonder, that took us to places we'd never been to before, that taught us how to see things differently, how to say things differently, how to think about things differently. I think we're trying to find out, with our older and wiser minds and hearts, what made these things work for us and for our friends.

And I'd like to think that the ultimate goal for all of this is to make games better, so that more of our circles of friends and family and strangers might experience what we did -- only better.

Not Enough Time

It's not my shelf, but I've got a similar collection of stuff. Across several shelves and boxes.

There are so many good things out there in the gaming world. And there are so many things I missed out on the first time around. And there are so many games I would like to read, to try, to house rule, to convert, to run, and to play.

But I just don't have enough time. I don't.

Even if I gave up on Real Life, which -- of course -- I won't and can't.

So it's time to review all the things that I spend my time on in this hobby of mine and see what things I should be spending my time on.

The Short List
News and Feeds
Well, first and foremost I do enjoy hearing about the latest and greatest news and controversies about the hobby. I'm fascinated by the emergence of the Indie RPG, and the developments in the 3.5E / OGL industry space (especially Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, Stars Without Number, True20, etc.). I'm fascinated by FATE, and all this stuff spurred on by stuff from OSR enthusiasts.

So feeds and blogging and news sites will be important.

Systems
I'll have to narrow down the systems I try to learn, and have some favorite go-to systems if I ever get to run games again. On the list right now are:

• For the fantasy genre, I tend toward the D20-inspired branch of systems, I'm looking at Castles & Crusades and True20;
• For the supers genre, I'm looking at Hero System, M&M, and either Icons or BASH;
• For the SF genre, I also look at the Hero System, EABA, and True20.

Of course, I do like reading up on new systems. But I will have to limit it to a certain number a year. And currently, one of those slots is taken up by Cortex-Smallville.

Settings
I always want to learn more about settings I like. But I really have to temper it somehow. After all, even if enjoy the exploration of various aspects of a setting -- at some point it becomes tedious, or boring, or more simply, enough.

For example, D&D 3E's Forgotten Realms main sourcebook, plus the Lords of Darkness book were enough for me. Other books were nice to have (Faiths and Pantheons and Magic of Faerun, for example), but the fleshing out of other areas started to become too much.

Also, I'm not a total slave to canon either -- I like to retain key elements of settings but would prefer to have space to insert my own ideas into the world.

Right now, my favored settings include: the iconic DC Universe & the iconic Marvel Universe, Forgotten Realms 3E, Mystara, Blue Planet, Fading Suns, Babylon 5, and the meta-setting of Call of Cthulhu (which includes 1890s,1920s, and Delta Green).

Runners up include Eclipse Phase, SF settings like Lightspeed that allow combining Star Wars and Star Trek elements into it, and city-based mini-settings like Lankhmar, Thieves' World, and Freeport.

Old School Thieves' World Goodness from Chaosium

One of the RPGs I wanted to own, but never got a copy of was the old Thieves' World RPG by Chaosium.

While still lacking in that arena, I've come across information from that old set that makes it all the more interesting: AD&D stats for a lot of the characters from the early books! Thanks to whoever that was who typed out all those AD&D stats -- I heard there were other things in there too, but don't gots the actual pages.

Did you know that Molin Torchholder was an equivalent 8th level cleric? That Tempus was a 15th level fighter? That Enas Yorl was a cursed, constantly shapechanging 18th level magic-user? I didn't. And I know that it's not an exact fit, but it's interesting to see someone's take on their conversion to the old rules.

Yes, I agree with a lot of Green Ronin's take on the setting: no alignments, much multi-classing, and so on. But hey, there's something about seeing these familiar characters through a hazy mirror of time and older gaming sentiments.