So we're still doing this thing where we crowdsource campaign material...
The Lottery in Babylon
Like all men in Babylon I have been a proconsul; like all, a slave; I have also known omnipotence, opprobrium, jail. Look: the index finger of my right hand is missing. Look again: through this rent in my cape you can see a ruddy tatoo on my belly. It is the second symbol, Beth. This letter, on nights of full moon, gives me power over men whose mark is Ghimel; but it also subordinates me to those marked Aleph, who on moonless nights owe obedience to those marked Ghimel. In a cellar at dawn, I have severed the jugular vein of sacred bulls against a black rock. During one lunar year, I have been declared invisible: I shrieked and was not heard, I stole my bread and was not decapitated.
-- from Jorge Luis Borges, The Lottery in Babylon(translation by I actually don't know)
The Babylonian Library still exists, though now it is practiced mostly by jackal-headed men who live beneath the earth.
All who would pass through the doors that stand at the entrance to the territories of jackalmen must first draw a fragment of carved bone from a Well of Fate.
Each bone marks s/he who drew it with a symbol (on the forehead, usually, if the creature has one), and the faith of the jackalmen demands that all jackalmen obey the mark until it fades (usually after one day), treating each visitor as the mark demands, no matter how s/he behaves.
The bond is not magical (though the forces that keep the doors of the realm from opening for any traveller who does not bear a mark and the forces which cause the mark to appear on the bearers skin are) and the jackalmen obey these marks in obedience to sacred custom, rather than mystic compulsion. The marks never literally grant the bearer abilities or compel them to commit acts.
The marks are:
1. The bearer of this mark must be ignored.
2. The bearer of this mark must be given fresh meat three times. (The bearer may be slain, but must be fed first).
(your turn)
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Gygaxian Democracy #6: 37 Villains
More Gygaxian Democracy
Here are 37 villains--not just foes, but arch-schemers.
I rolled up random traits for each one using Jacquays' "Central Casting".
All you have to do is pick one and make it make sense. Elaborate in any direction that will make the villain usable and interesting--including tying one villain to another.
Making it goofy is easy--a manticore with a mold allergy is already goofy. Making it not goofy is harder...
1. an unusually intelligent, independent eye of dread born in a bar, serves a harvest god
2. blubeard, a drunken pirate king, someone important died when he was born
3. mad king from a foreign land, left hand is scaly claw
4. a young witch betrothed in a political marriage to be consummated upon reaching age of majority
5, a red drider queen living peacably among humans
6. immobile whispering statue* (crow tattooed on face) knows magic
7. eel medusa (married)
8.albino (intelligent) flail snail who serves an infamous master
9. pudding, skilled at math, controls animals has adopted a young human
10. Chasme with mind control powers served by a gobiln
11.seahag who lusts after luxury
12. fishwife who is an informant to a higher power
13. goblin attempting to end his life of villainy skilled at duelling
14.maggot naga with healing abilities
15. (ordinary) naga once enslaved and forced to bear children
16. sorceress medusa whose lover's parents were slain by an artist
17. nephilidian vampire queen who serves a baron as part of a complicated wager
18. unicorn-head guy who is a friend of a much older character
19. mind flayer whose ally died of a disease
20. demon who will inherit a kingdom if it can first produce an heir
21. giant centipede with excellent hygiene
22.vampire vengeful and EXTREMELY (rolled it twice) angry
23. depressed white elf sorcerer
24. white tiger rakshasa female w/ a phobia about magic
25.manticore with a vulnerability to mold
26. succubus with an unconscious physical tic
27. necrophiliac slaad
28. marilith allied to a half-elf
29. eye of fear and flame that's also a baron
30. beholder served by a cat
31. an orange eye of the deep
32. lich who was told to seek out his sibling companion by a mysterious voice (my guess is the sibling is the eye of fear and flame)
33. demilich obsessed with a half-elf rival (same one marilith is allied to?)
34. Glasya (from MM2)--who is allied to her second cousin
35. jubilex-allied to a dragon
36. demogorgon--a marquis
37. tiamat--served by an serpent
_____
*courtesy of greypumpkin's response to the last Gygaxian Democracy post
Here are 37 villains--not just foes, but arch-schemers.
I rolled up random traits for each one using Jacquays' "Central Casting".
All you have to do is pick one and make it make sense. Elaborate in any direction that will make the villain usable and interesting--including tying one villain to another.
Making it goofy is easy--a manticore with a mold allergy is already goofy. Making it not goofy is harder...
1. an unusually intelligent, independent eye of dread born in a bar, serves a harvest god
2. blubeard, a drunken pirate king, someone important died when he was born
3. mad king from a foreign land, left hand is scaly claw
4. a young witch betrothed in a political marriage to be consummated upon reaching age of majority
5, a red drider queen living peacably among humans
6. immobile whispering statue* (crow tattooed on face) knows magic
7. eel medusa (married)
8.albino (intelligent) flail snail who serves an infamous master
9. pudding, skilled at math, controls animals has adopted a young human
10. Chasme with mind control powers served by a gobiln
11.seahag who lusts after luxury
12. fishwife who is an informant to a higher power
13. goblin attempting to end his life of villainy skilled at duelling
14.maggot naga with healing abilities
15. (ordinary) naga once enslaved and forced to bear children
16. sorceress medusa whose lover's parents were slain by an artist
17. nephilidian vampire queen who serves a baron as part of a complicated wager
18. unicorn-head guy who is a friend of a much older character
19. mind flayer whose ally died of a disease
20. demon who will inherit a kingdom if it can first produce an heir
21. giant centipede with excellent hygiene
22.vampire vengeful and EXTREMELY (rolled it twice) angry
23. depressed white elf sorcerer
24. white tiger rakshasa female w/ a phobia about magic
25.manticore with a vulnerability to mold
26. succubus with an unconscious physical tic
27. necrophiliac slaad
28. marilith allied to a half-elf
29. eye of fear and flame that's also a baron
30. beholder served by a cat
31. an orange eye of the deep
32. lich who was told to seek out his sibling companion by a mysterious voice (my guess is the sibling is the eye of fear and flame)
33. demilich obsessed with a half-elf rival (same one marilith is allied to?)
34. Glasya (from MM2)--who is allied to her second cousin
35. jubilex-allied to a dragon
36. demogorgon--a marquis
37. tiamat--served by an serpent
_____
*courtesy of greypumpkin's response to the last Gygaxian Democracy post
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Gygaxian Democracy #5: The Tower
You know the drill...
This Is The Tower (click to enlarge)
(feel free to fill in more than one, there's like 60-some things on there)
This Is The Tower (click to enlarge)
(feel free to fill in more than one, there's like 60-some things on there)
Just Not A Farmer, Owen
I have nothing against halflings, really, per se. I mean, I'd play one. Connie plays one. I bear her no ill will.
However, I keep not putting any halfling settlements on the map anywhere. There aren't any in the random tables I draw up, for the most part. Like if you were like "Where do halflings come from?" I'd be like "Fuck if I know."
I don't mind them. It's just the comfortableness and sandals, really. The Tolkien.
Anyway I figured out what I'm doing with them--in the macro sense (and I have to do something with them, Connie's got one, ergo, they exist on Planet D&DWPS):
Connie's rogue halfling is actually a rogue. An aberration.
The Preferred Class for Halfling is Paladin. Cavalier, really, if you have that, because they're not religious, or Knight, if your system has knights. Or just Upper Class Prick, really.
Here on Earth-Gigastructure, the typical Halfling isn't Bilbo, it's Napoleon. With a side of High Elf. They see the rest of us as "giant-class" monsters at best. They have colossal empires that stretch across parts of continents I haven't drawn yet. They sneer in their shining plate mail from atop their ponies and warboars. They keep griffins in cages and force them to tell jokes.
They're the sort of self-deluded-worm-ouroboros-monologuing-Nietzsche-quoters. As is usual with this sort of thing, it's all pretty funny until they start in with the genocide.
Unlike your bread-and-butter High Elf there will actually be an identifiable underclass keeping these aristocrats aristocratic, but they'll never be halflings. A halfling would never be caught dead pitchforking straw around like some Breughel yokel. They have half-orcs for that.
However, I keep not putting any halfling settlements on the map anywhere. There aren't any in the random tables I draw up, for the most part. Like if you were like "Where do halflings come from?" I'd be like "Fuck if I know."
I don't mind them. It's just the comfortableness and sandals, really. The Tolkien.
Anyway I figured out what I'm doing with them--in the macro sense (and I have to do something with them, Connie's got one, ergo, they exist on Planet D&DWPS):
Connie's rogue halfling is actually a rogue. An aberration.
The Preferred Class for Halfling is Paladin. Cavalier, really, if you have that, because they're not religious, or Knight, if your system has knights. Or just Upper Class Prick, really.
Here on Earth-Gigastructure, the typical Halfling isn't Bilbo, it's Napoleon. With a side of High Elf. They see the rest of us as "giant-class" monsters at best. They have colossal empires that stretch across parts of continents I haven't drawn yet. They sneer in their shining plate mail from atop their ponies and warboars. They keep griffins in cages and force them to tell jokes.
They're the sort of self-deluded-worm-ouroboros-monologuing-Nietzsche-quoters. As is usual with this sort of thing, it's all pretty funny until they start in with the genocide.
Unlike your bread-and-butter High Elf there will actually be an identifiable underclass keeping these aristocrats aristocratic, but they'll never be halflings. A halfling would never be caught dead pitchforking straw around like some Breughel yokel. They have half-orcs for that.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Gygaxian Democracy #4: The Dead End
More fun with crowdsourcing...
The Dead End
It appears to be a dead end, which is impossible because you know the monster ran in here...
And, oh fuck, the door just closed behind you. And it won't open.
Show the players the image on the left (click to enlarge), this is where they are, the details are as follows...
A: The halfling knight's shield is real and can be used as a buckler. However, it was actually made from an ancient gong, and if struck it will summon d4 Chasme (demon fly) larvae, who will crawl out of the nearest body of water and move toward the sound s fast as they can.
(your turn)
The Complete Text Of A Sticky Note I Have Filled With Notes On Old D&D Products
-Elemental planes, in Planescape = marioworld
-Caverns of Thracia--players having rumors, some false, good way to skip boring bits, incl. speaking some of the language as possible rumor roll result
______
-DM DESIGNERS KIT:
-villain weakness: lack of familiarity, love, secret embarrassment, villain related to hero
_______
-Unsung Heroes of rpg art: nicholson in the Folio, people in slaves to darkness & lost n damned, guy in tmnt Camelot and tmnt Australia.
-Fiend Folio: Why doesn't your new monster have some weird new power? What's the point?
-Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in Polish--I can't read polish why do i own this
_______
Caverns of Thracia
-illusory walls-boring? maybe. think about it. decide.
-"Unless cut open, there is a 05% chance that the egg sack will burst open, unleashing a torrent of mouse and rat-sized baby spiders. Most of the youngsters will busy themselves with eating each other, but 10 - 100 will attack something else, adventurers most likely. Each baby spider has I - 2 hit points and is AC: 7."
-item in room A affects conditions in room B. Usually visit B first (otherwise who cares?). There are always monsters between A & B.
-PCs find ancient unconscious adventurer with WTF are you talking about interpretation chart
-"The frescoes in this room are intact also and show images of a giant winged Lizard Man (the Immortal King) devouring huge numbers of Humans, Lizard Men and Dinosaurs"
-TRAPS CREATE MYSTERY OUT OF PROPORTION TO THE MYSTERIOUSNESS OF THE MECHANISM itself because they make everybody look at every dungeon feature from then on sideways. Everything gets poked w/stick.
Density of traps required to provoke this reaction is Classic Dungeon design.
-Room 87).
"An ... Empty Room: Yes! In every dungeon complex there has to be at least one. A room with nothing interesting in it. A space to rest momentarily from pursuit. A place no monster would think to look. This is one of those places. Except for a giant pair of baleful, glowing amber-colored eyes on the north wall and secret doors hidden in the east, west, and south walls, disguised as unadorned marble panels, there is nothing here. Did I mention that the eyes radiate a definite feeling of evil and seem to chill the very soul? Well, they do. Any character staying in this room more than 3 melee rounds must save vs magic or he will think he is being paralyzed (a delusion"
-At this point jacquays seems to go mad. 87 rooms into the module the writing gets real "loose"...
-A dog brother, Wark, AC: 6, Move: 12", HD: 4, Damage: sword for 1-8 and bite for 1-4, HP: 20, is being entertained by a trio of comely (to another dog brother) young dog sisters, Flashtail, Prettyclaws and Pinkfang,
First of all: Mandy would totally name a PC Flashtail, Prettyclaws or Pinkfang. Maybe not Flashtail.
More disturbingly: This is an old school module, therefore tableaux aren't supposed to arrange themselves in rooms just because the PCs showed up to see them. Therefore this must mean Wark is being entertained by Flashtail, Prettyclaws and Pinkfang all the time.
-"the walls will seem to sprout hands on long arms. The hands will be the temperature of rock but will be fairly soft. All they will do is feel anything passing through them...The hands are harmless unless they are attacked" Seriously the girls would attack them.
-"The Mysterious Missing Chamber: Look as you might you will not find this room on the map. It never was there and exists only in the mind of the designer, who refuses to admit that he may have made an oversight when numbering his creation and doesn't feel like sticking the number "102" somewhere on the map and letting it go like that" see?
-"of skulls and scrapfaggot green"
-Mordenkainens Big Adventure...
-"Arley says they are socks of fire walking. They are actually socks of sweating." Damn!
-"Within this area are two large chests, positioned across from each other along the east and west walls." I know the feeling, Rob.
-Fiend Folio: tirapheg. show them the Tirapheg picture. They will be disturbed.
-Book of Lairs I: rakshasas
-PTOLUS:
"The Ptolus Campaign is the d20 rules with the volume turned all the way up. I created this world with the game rules in mind. The conceits of the game were the conceits of the setting. The feel of the rules was the feel of the city. If the rules suggested that something might happen a lot, then in Ptolus, it happened a lot...
I loved it when one day a player of mine said, “I polymorph myself into a troll and run out into the street after the thief.”
Another player said, “Dude, you can’t go out there like that!” And the first player replied, “Don’t worry about it! This is Ptolus—they see this stuff all the time.”
I knew then that the first player really got Ptolus....
Every player should have a copy of this guide to learn about the place and get a good feel for the setting. This Player’s Guide is required reading for a player creating a character for the Ptolus Campaign."
all that is pretty much the opposite of what I got planned...
"If you like Ptolus, you'll hate the Vornheim City Kit".
(shouldn't tell Raggi, he'll stick it on the front of every copy...)
*<----ASTERISK
_______________
Mordenkainens Whatever Adventure
-"a whip shaped like an octopus tentacle" why just "shaped like"?
-"This is where Tomorast readies himself to visit Kerzit, the demon of the caverns. Tomorast always dons the vestments seen on the table: a pure black undecorated robe, a solid silver face mask (worth 450 gp)carved in the likeness of a leering wolf-head"
-"Then, resuming his chant, he returns it to Key #67b. His stamina wanes-if he makes a but a single mistake (1% chance upon initial entry and 2-127’0 upon his return), the demon will attack him with great vigor."
____________
Dwellers of the Forbidden City
"Unlike many other adventures, a party may find the presence of a druid helpful."
___________
*Since this is the fucking internet I feel compelled to point out that despite all that, I think Ptolus is a fine and impressive piece of work with some good ideas in its 7 million pages. It's just the overall conception is totally different than what I'm aiming to do. Blah.
-Caverns of Thracia--players having rumors, some false, good way to skip boring bits, incl. speaking some of the language as possible rumor roll result
______
-DM DESIGNERS KIT:
-villain weakness: lack of familiarity, love, secret embarrassment, villain related to hero
_______
-Unsung Heroes of rpg art: nicholson in the Folio, people in slaves to darkness & lost n damned, guy in tmnt Camelot and tmnt Australia.
-Fiend Folio: Why doesn't your new monster have some weird new power? What's the point?
-Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in Polish--I can't read polish why do i own this
_______
Caverns of Thracia
-illusory walls-boring? maybe. think about it. decide.
-"Unless cut open, there is a 05% chance that the egg sack will burst open, unleashing a torrent of mouse and rat-sized baby spiders. Most of the youngsters will busy themselves with eating each other, but 10 - 100 will attack something else, adventurers most likely. Each baby spider has I - 2 hit points and is AC: 7."
-item in room A affects conditions in room B. Usually visit B first (otherwise who cares?). There are always monsters between A & B.
-PCs find ancient unconscious adventurer with WTF are you talking about interpretation chart
-"The frescoes in this room are intact also and show images of a giant winged Lizard Man (the Immortal King) devouring huge numbers of Humans, Lizard Men and Dinosaurs"
-TRAPS CREATE MYSTERY OUT OF PROPORTION TO THE MYSTERIOUSNESS OF THE MECHANISM itself because they make everybody look at every dungeon feature from then on sideways. Everything gets poked w/stick.
Density of traps required to provoke this reaction is Classic Dungeon design.
-Room 87).
"An ... Empty Room: Yes! In every dungeon complex there has to be at least one. A room with nothing interesting in it. A space to rest momentarily from pursuit. A place no monster would think to look. This is one of those places. Except for a giant pair of baleful, glowing amber-colored eyes on the north wall and secret doors hidden in the east, west, and south walls, disguised as unadorned marble panels, there is nothing here. Did I mention that the eyes radiate a definite feeling of evil and seem to chill the very soul? Well, they do. Any character staying in this room more than 3 melee rounds must save vs magic or he will think he is being paralyzed (a delusion"
-At this point jacquays seems to go mad. 87 rooms into the module the writing gets real "loose"...
-A dog brother, Wark, AC: 6, Move: 12", HD: 4, Damage: sword for 1-8 and bite for 1-4, HP: 20, is being entertained by a trio of comely (to another dog brother) young dog sisters, Flashtail, Prettyclaws and Pinkfang,
First of all: Mandy would totally name a PC Flashtail, Prettyclaws or Pinkfang. Maybe not Flashtail.
More disturbingly: This is an old school module, therefore tableaux aren't supposed to arrange themselves in rooms just because the PCs showed up to see them. Therefore this must mean Wark is being entertained by Flashtail, Prettyclaws and Pinkfang all the time.
-"the walls will seem to sprout hands on long arms. The hands will be the temperature of rock but will be fairly soft. All they will do is feel anything passing through them...The hands are harmless unless they are attacked" Seriously the girls would attack them.
-"The Mysterious Missing Chamber: Look as you might you will not find this room on the map. It never was there and exists only in the mind of the designer, who refuses to admit that he may have made an oversight when numbering his creation and doesn't feel like sticking the number "102" somewhere on the map and letting it go like that" see?
-"of skulls and scrapfaggot green"
-Mordenkainens Big Adventure...
-"Arley says they are socks of fire walking. They are actually socks of sweating." Damn!
-"Within this area are two large chests, positioned across from each other along the east and west walls." I know the feeling, Rob.
-Fiend Folio: tirapheg. show them the Tirapheg picture. They will be disturbed.
-Book of Lairs I: rakshasas
-PTOLUS:
"The Ptolus Campaign is the d20 rules with the volume turned all the way up. I created this world with the game rules in mind. The conceits of the game were the conceits of the setting. The feel of the rules was the feel of the city. If the rules suggested that something might happen a lot, then in Ptolus, it happened a lot...
I loved it when one day a player of mine said, “I polymorph myself into a troll and run out into the street after the thief.”
Another player said, “Dude, you can’t go out there like that!” And the first player replied, “Don’t worry about it! This is Ptolus—they see this stuff all the time.”
I knew then that the first player really got Ptolus....
Every player should have a copy of this guide to learn about the place and get a good feel for the setting. This Player’s Guide is required reading for a player creating a character for the Ptolus Campaign."
all that is pretty much the opposite of what I got planned...
"If you like Ptolus, you'll hate the Vornheim City Kit".
(shouldn't tell Raggi, he'll stick it on the front of every copy...)
*<----ASTERISK
_______________
Mordenkainens Whatever Adventure
-"a whip shaped like an octopus tentacle" why just "shaped like"?
-"This is where Tomorast readies himself to visit Kerzit, the demon of the caverns. Tomorast always dons the vestments seen on the table: a pure black undecorated robe, a solid silver face mask (worth 450 gp)carved in the likeness of a leering wolf-head"
-"Then, resuming his chant, he returns it to Key #67b. His stamina wanes-if he makes a but a single mistake (1% chance upon initial entry and 2-127’0 upon his return), the demon will attack him with great vigor."
____________
Dwellers of the Forbidden City
"Unlike many other adventures, a party may find the presence of a druid helpful."
___________
*Since this is the fucking internet I feel compelled to point out that despite all that, I think Ptolus is a fine and impressive piece of work with some good ideas in its 7 million pages. It's just the overall conception is totally different than what I'm aiming to do. Blah.
