Developing a New Campaign Setting - Welcome to Kraken Isle

I've spent a bit of free time working out the details for my campaign setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics. It actually took a bit of debate going back and forth between that and Adventurer Conqueror King System. In the end I decided on DCC, largely due to its somewhat lighter workload for the Judge, though I definitely want to run or play a game of ACKS at some point. I've posted some previous musings on this setting and this may contradict some of them - as the game gets closer to its first session the setting is becoming more concrete as some ideas are modified or discarded.

As I mentioned previously I'm inspired by what I consider to be TSR's old "mini-sandbox" adventures. I don't foresee running a "true" sandbox game with everything wide open but I do want to incorporate a large element of player control. This is what I observed TSR doing in several of their early adventures. While the Lendore Isle series of adventures remains a big inspiration, I am going with a time period of Late Antiquity instead of the Middle Ages as the inspiration for the feel of the cultures. To me that seems more true to the "Appendix N"-ishness of DCC. It seems a setting that has barbarian tribes, decadent cities, slave markets, battles between city-states, and ancient ruins.

I've been bouncing back and forth between starting the game on an island chain off the coast of a main continent or one in a sea resembling the Aegean branch of the Mediterranean. Regardless, I've mapped out the islands themselves:

You can click on it for a bigger version of the map. I'd originally named it Chronos Isle, named after the Greek god of time (and an homage to Lendore Isle from the World of Greyhawk, named after the Suel god of time). However, one of my players got a look at the island and immediately called it "Cthulhu Island". I wasn't about to rename it that but it did get me thinking about its squid-like look which led me to renaming it "Kraken Isle". The main port is on the bay at the northwest quadrant of the island - Rel Kelenan. The naming style is inspired by the World of Greyhawk's Great Kingdom, which often prefixed Aerdy city names with "Rel". This is definitely a city, albeit a smaller sized one, possibly akin to early medieval London in size. I decided I wanted it to have a little bit of character so it is built over a lagoon and therefore resembles Venice in character, with traffic going along its canals and providing protection from ay marauders and invading armies. There are several villages and towns in its vicinity to support the city with crops and there is a another grouping of settlements on the island around Turin's Pasture, on the other side of the Central Highlands. There isn't as much trade as there might be between the two groupings given the marauding tribes that dwell in the woods and mountains of Kraken Isle.

Lets talk about the marauding tribes. If you're like me, when you read that you probably pictured orcs and goblins. (Or you came here to learn about illegal drugs of the 1970s, one of the oddest search terms to ever reach this blog...) James Raggi's The Random Esoteric Creature Generator makes a most excellent suggestion regarding humanoids (and demi-himans):

Eliminate them from the game. If it has two legs and two hands, remove it and replace it with humans. The important thing is – don’t change the cultures or characterizations involved! The ones that were “dwarves” are now mining clans, short and stocky, the “elves” are forest-dwelling hunters, “orcs” are remorseless and savage barbarians, etc. Perhaps they should even keep their special racial abilities (now labeled “cultural abilities”), although it might be difficult to justify seeing in the dark. But really, is there any reason to use an ogre when a human warrior with a few levels on him will do? Is that adding to the danger, the suspense, or the mystery of the game? Details don’t even have to be changed in doing away with non-humans. Normal unclassed humans have roughly the same stats as goblins in most of the individual systems, so there would be no real balance issues in doing this. Don’t make the converted humanoids any more cultured, either.

Raggi indicates going this far out may not be for everyone:

Such issues may not be of interest to every referee or player group. And perhaps the classic fellowship of characters as presented by Tolkien, his peers, and followers is the basic lure for fantasy gaming in the first place. Fine. Use the races, but go back to the source if you do so – Tolkien brought his races together only in the direst of circumstances. 

Assuming a humanocentric focus to the game, every other demihuman and humanoid should be very rare. This does not mean limiting your players’ character choices! Let them be as they wish, but a referee should always be sure that the players are aware that their non-human characters are unusual and never trusted by more superstitious members of the population.. The average human never came into contact with elves or dwarves.

Raggi also goes on to discuss how humanoids such as orcs and goblins appeared only rarely in Tolkien and in special areas. This is a model I want to use. I want to include the classic races (species really, but the term race is perhaps unavoidable in gaming) but I want them to be special. Where are they on my island? I don't know. If there are no PCs of the given race they might not even be there. As far as orcs and goblins go, I'm going to hold off using them at the start. That doesn't mean I won't be using the stats for such races as he suggests if I need quick stats for brigands or barbarians. But I want to save orcs and goblins to be the servant of some wicked sorcerer who may have been responsible for their creation in the first place.


So back to the island. It is nominally part of the empire on the mainland but the empire isn't likely in the best of shape and is far-off. It isn't going to be sending troops to help with marauding humanoids in all likelihood. The ruler of Rel Kelenan is in charge of the archipelago but his control is limited to the settlements - the regions between are wild. And his control of the settlements isn't incredibly powerful either, given his lack of ability to clear the island of threats. But it is a good place for adventurers, with a volcano-destroyed city in the center of the island and ruins to the north reclaimed by wetlands.

But this scope is still a little on the large size. Which brings us the island known as "Little Brother" to the south of the island. I sized it so I would be able to map it in its entirety at a small scale. The map shown here is at a scale of one mile per hex.

The hex grid is a little tough to make out unless you click on the image to see it at actual size. Little Brother is an island that is lightly settled along its southern side with a main town and several villages close to it. To the north I created contours to show a hilly forested region that surrounds a swamp. Some ruins in both the swamp and the hilly region with bad reputations. To me this felt like a starting point for low level adventurers.

However, I'm a constant tinkerer and to be honest I was less than thrilled with the way the map came out. I liked how Kraken Island came out (using Campaign Cartographer) but the map I generated for Little Brother didn't quite feel right. So I went ahead and traced an image of it into Hexographer and tried making a pure hex map, making use of contour lines to show different degrees of hilly and mountainous terrain. I liked this result a bit better:

Again it needs to be expanded to see it in detail. Interestingly, when I tried to generate the map in Hexographer initially I had little luck - my creativity wasn't sparked. However when I started with a Campaign Cartographer 3 drawing as my starting point I found I was better equipped to make the map I wanted to of Little Brother.

My plan is for the characters to begin on Little Brother and those who survive will make it to 1st level. They will in short order go adventuring on the larger Kraken Isle, allowing me to exchange a tiny sandbox for a medium sized one.


One final note. My DCC campaign is currently scheduled to start on Monday June 25 at 7 PM Eastern Time using Google Hangouts. We probably have room for another player if anyone is interested - give me a holler.

Read More

Developing a New Campaign Setting - Broad Strokes

Previously I examined some of the early TSR D&D adventures which effectively doubled as settings. In this installment I'm going to begin constructing my own in broad strokes. The goal isn't to design everything about the world but rather to think about the world at a high level, enough to properly place the local setting.

As I'd mentioned, I'm a big fan of nautical elements to campaign settings. I'd given some thought to a water world like Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea or a Pacific setting inspired by the Aubrey/Maturin series and Polynesian history and legends. However, while a campaign setting should engage its creator, I do want to be careful not to overdo it with extreme detail - the Judge's hobbies should not interfere with the enjoyment of his players. ("Wait a minute, what time is it when it is seven bells?") There is something to be said for a certain amount of familiarity. I know there's some controversy on George R.R. Matrin's Song of Ice and Fire Series. I myself fall on the side who enjoy it. One of the strengths of his series is, in my opinion, how grounded it is "reality" - it has fantastic elements but it also feels like a real world. The use of magic, the appearance of a legendary creatures... all these things feel special when when they happen.

This brings me to the idea of starting the game in an equivalent of the Aegean Sea, a large bay within the Mediterranean, with gazillions and gazillions of islands. The Aegean is the setting for most Greek mythology, one of those things that I've found most gamers run into in their youth.

I'd mentioned previously how much I enjoyed The Secret of Bone Hill and will be using Lendore Isle as the inspiration for the starting point. We are looking at an island small enough to be mapped in its entirety at a fairly small scale and large enough to be a good starting point for adventure. If the mood of the game makes nautical adventures seem the way to go we have a location for which that works well but we also have a mainland available to us. In the World of Greyhawk, Lendore is the Suel god of time. While I'm not setting this game on our Earth, I am aiming for a pastiche liberally borrowing from sources such as our own history, the World of Greyhawk, the works of Lovecraft, C.A. Smith, Tolkien, and Leiber. With that in mind Chronos Island, named for the Greek god of time, seems a nice homage to The Secret of Bone Hill's Lendore Isle.


But while grounded in reality I want some elements of the fantastic. Dungeon Crawl Classics is designed to emulate Appendix N of the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide. My own favorites from that list are Leiber's Lankhmar tales and the Middle Earth stories of J.R.R. Tolkien. Though he's not on the official Appendix N list, I've also been greatly enjoying the tales of Clark Ashton Smith and I feel his exclusion was an oversight.

I really like the tone of the Lankhmar stories. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser would fit in well within a D&D campaign. They like treasure and adventure. I also want to note that while it won't be where the game starts, a city like Lankhmar in the vicinity seems like it would be a good thing.

One element from Tolkien I'd like to emulate is the dangerous wildernesses and the emptied out feeling of Middle Earth. Consider Aragorn's lost Northern Kingdom - people still live there though there is no longer a king or even a nation and the ancient cities of Arnor and its successor states lay ruined and abandoned. Tolkien also gives us an interesting mix of fantasy races, one of the few works in Appendix N to do so.

From Clark Ashton Smith I really like the idea of borrowing his wizards. They feel to me a lot like the wizards of D&D. I also enjoy the "weirdness" he injects into his tales. He's got a lot of Lovecraft in him but his heroes seem a bit less intimidated by the horrors they face.


So let's try our first pass at combining all those elements. Islands. Creepy wizards. A lot of empty lands and ruins. Lots of races. Big city. So we've got our starting island, so where to go next?

I'm going to start with the ruins. What happened to civilization? Where is everyone? The answer lies with the fall of a local empire. If I'm basing the game on the Aegean and the rest of the Mediterranean we've got some powerful empires that have been there. Rather than the traditional Roman Empire I'm going to think more about the eastern Empire. They considered themselves the Roman Empire as well but they are more commonly known as the Byzantine Empire. They endured throughout the entirety of the medieval world that D&D invokes for much of its feel. But I'm not seeing this empire fall the same way the Byzantine Empire did - by the time the Ottoman Empire finished them off the Byzantine Empire was pretty much a city-state centered around Constantinople. Rather in our setting it was that evil wizard and his damn orcs.



One of the scenes added to the Lord of the Rings films was showing the orcs being bred by Saruman and his talk of how the first orcs were corrupted elves (YouTube clips of those two scenes below).

I think in this setting I like the idea of orcs and possibly goblins and other nasty humanoid creatures not being "natural". Dungeon Crawl Classics suggests as much and similarly Adventurer Conqueror King has rules for wizards making their own critters. The orcs are bred by wizards, using some source material as their starting point. We'll need to think about if they can reproduce naturally and how long they live barring accidents. I have this vision of orcs returning with prisoners to their creation pits to be used as the raw material for new orcs.

So we've got some evil wizard who bred himself an army of orcs in his effort to conquer the empire. He was partly successful - the empire did indeed fall, with entire cities and nations being destroyed by his orc hordes. But there was little to rule over after this and his orcs quickly fell into infighting, greatly reducing their numbers. I want orcs and similar creatures to be things to be feared, at least by the commoners of the setting, in a way that brigands and human or demi-human barbarians are not..

This devastation was probably a while back - a few hundred years ago at the least. Long enough for tales of the empire and its fall to be dominated by legends as opposed to facts. It does sound a little like D&D 4e's "Points of Light" concept but then again Middle Earth, Greyhawk, etc. all fit within such a model rather well.

Now what about a big city? It is possible that the capital of this big empire did technically survive these "orcwars" but was reduced to being little more than a city-state, much as Constaninople became in our own world. Indeed just like Constantinople, large portions of the city might be empty, making the city itself a possible location for dungeon crawls - but that will be in the future. Nearby will be a more settled city for urban adventures. My first pass of a name for this is Miklagaard, the name the Vikings used for Constantinople. Though I'm not even remotely a Glorantha scholar, I am aware that they did something similar, having a huge ruined city near the city of Pavis.

There's a lot of ideas here but these are more for background, ideas that I believe will work well with the smaller setting I will take on creating next. If this smaller setting demands some of these larger elements change then, assuming the game hasn't kicked off and made use of them, those elements will change. What I'm trying to do is a hybrid of top-down and bottom-up design. I'm not all that comfortable designing a setting that is just a small area in vacuum without having broad strokes of what the world is like. But I don't want to overdo the design to the point that it winds up restricting adventure opportunities rather than create them.

Being a bit of a map geek I've drawn up a map to help me in my creative process - it is of medium scale, 1000 x 800 mile. To the south of the map we can see Chronos Isle. I've added a Mordor-like region called "The Scar" - I'm thinking this is where bad ole wizard created his orcs. I used Campaign Cartographer 3 to create this map, representing my first real effort with the Herwin Wielink overland style, designed to evoke the feeling of a "dark fantasy". With an empire in ruins that seemed appropriate. You should be able to click on the image to see the map in greater detail.

Next up will probably be an examining Chronos Isle in more detail, as that is where we'll be starting the game.

Read More

H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth

I made my first attempt at reading H.P. Lovecraft in the summer of 1989, between high school and college. I was taking a pre-calculus class that summer to allow me to start my engineering studies at the University of Connecticut with that prerequisite met. It was an awfully boring class as I'd taken non-AP pre-calculus and calculus in high school (though regretfully didn't do well enough to test out of it). Summer classes were rather long and had an intermission. I usually brought along a book to read during break in case I wanted to be alone. One of the authors I brought along was H.P. Lovecraft.

The first few stories I read didn't grab me too much. I wasn't much into Lovecraft's evocative descriptions at the time, wanting more to get to the point. Then one afternoon I came upon the novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth. That was the story that got me hooked.

For those unfamiliar with the work (and as usual I will stay clear of  big spoilers as much as possible) it deals with the young narrator taking a tour of New England on the cheap. While in Newburyport (a real Massachusetts town) he learns of nearby town of Innsmouth (a fictional town) which the residents of Newburyport view with superstition and dread. Researching Innsmouth he learns how the town had once been wealthy but had fallen upon hard times and decides to visit it.

The visit to the town is where the story truly comes to its own. The town itself just isn't right. Boarded up houses, natives with a strange "Innsmouth look" - a fishy look to them. Touring the town he learns much of the town from an out-of-town boy who works in the local supermarket and from the town drunk. He learns how Innsmouth merchant Obed Marsh made bargains with undersea creatures and as time goes on the price they must pay for what they get from these creatures, known as the Deep Ones, increases.

The boy had planned on spending just the afternoon in Innsmouth but the only bus that can take him out has "broken down", forcing him to stay in a hotel in Innsmouth. Needless to say the townspeople are on to him and what follows that night is Lovecraft at the peak of his powers as he weaves a tale of horror with the townsfolk coming after the narrator and the narrator engaging in an effort to escape, sending him in a chase throughout the hotel and out into the town. Here is where Lovecraft's wordy, evocative style pays off. The narrator sits in his bed while the natives make their first attempts to get to him as the doorknob is attempted and then the narrator hears a scuffle in the hallways around him. Lovecraft builds up the tension slowly, allowing it to seep into his readers.

Every year or two I find myself rereading this story. During a vacation in New Hampshire I once found myself in a hotel that greatly resembled the hotel that Lovecraft portrayed in Innsmouth. Thankfully it was in a town north of the White Mountains and far from the coast, but it still brought back some chilling memories.

Now being a Massachusetts resident, a few years ago I had reason to visit Newburyport, a Massachusetts town along the North Shore. Lovecraft described Innsmouth as a "considerably twisted" version of Newburyport. While the residents were friendly and lacked any "Innsmouth look", the layout of the town was quite different from what I was used to in the western suburbs of Boston. Lots of narrow, twisty streets. The presence of the ocean felt inherent to the character of the town.


So for members of the gaming community, what does this story bring? Obviously if you are playing in or running a Call of Cthulhu game it is in your list of must-reads. But it is also an excellent work for those running any horror or fantasy game. It even is workable for science fiction, considering some of the strange alien planets visited in Star Trek or Doctor Who. The techniques Lovecraft uses for building the horror and, more importantly, dread, make for excellent study. Like in the films Alien or Jaws, Lovecraft takes his time building things up before revealing the full horror. In a role-playing game I believe this to be an especially important skill. In my experience genuine horror is a difficult feeling to evoke in a gaming session but dread is something that can be carefully cultivated and Lovecraft illustrates how to do so in a masterful fashion.

I believe that in fantasy games like D&D The Shadow Over Innsmouth provides special inspiration. There are a number of aquatic humanoid monsters that can be made a great deal creepier when viewed through the lens of the Deep Ones. Easily coming to mind are the lizard men, the Sahuagin, and the Kuo-toa. The Kuo-toa are clearly inspired by the Deep Ones and in later incarnations of the game the resemblance increases. Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG includes the Deep Ones themselves in their list of monsters.

The idea of a town like that of Innsmouth lends itself for a variety of fantasy adventures, from dealing with the cult infiltrating the town to an undersea adventure to the home of the Deep Ones.

If you've not read this story, read it. And if you're read it, it is in my opinion well worth a reread.

I believe The Shadow Over Innsmouth has entered the public domain and can be found at the H.P. Lovecraft Archive and is found in a variety of Lovecraft collections. I am also fond of the audiobook version as read by Phil Reynolds.

Read More

de Camp and Pratt's "The Roaring Trumpet"

Appendix N of the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide lists among the sources for AD&D The Mathematics of Magic series by L. Sprauge de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. de Camp is probably one of my greatest gaps in the category of classic fantasy and science fiction writers, writing, for example, the classic time travel/alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall.


To be honest, I've stayed clear of The Mathematics of Magic series, of which "The Roaring Trumpet" is the first novella. I'd heard them described as "comedic" fantasy. Having recently completed my first read of "The Roaring Trumpet" that was clearly a mistake. It was an amusing tale with some things to smile about, but much in the sense that your typical D&D session often develops its own sense of humor and jokes.

With that in mind let us investigate "The Roaring Trumpet". I'll stay clear of spoilers but I will of course have to discuss the story in broad strokes. This tale was first published in the May 1940 issue of Unknown magazine. Our hero is Harold Shea, psychologist. Harold wants adventure - he takes up fencing, riding, etc.

As our tale begins Harold works at a hospital is in a conversation with his boss, Reed Chalmers. Dr. Chalmers theorizes the reason for some of his patients' problems is that their brains aren't aligned for this universe. Through use of symbolic logic it should be possible to realign their brains and in so doing project them into the correct universe from them. During this conversation they discuss possible laws of magic in another world, where magic could work because everyone would believe it would, albeit with certain rules.

Harold decides this is the opportunity to the adventure he seeks. He decides to visit a world of Irish myth and develops the formula for that universe, gathering all the gear he would need for such a trip. He then goes through the logic he has developed and, in so doing, crosses universes.

However, it seems poor Harold has made an error in his calculations and he arrives not in the universe of Irish myth but rather that of Norse myth. He encounters the likes of Odin, Loki, Thor, Heimdall, and other Norse gods and discovers the giants are up to no good, having stolen the weapons of Thor and Frey in preparation for Ragnarök.

That's the extent of the plot I will detail, suffice to say Harold goes adventuring with the gods in search of Thor's hammer. There are indeed some humorous moments in this tale. For example while at a hall he asks for vegetables, earning the name Turnip Harald.

In his adventures Harold discovers that the laws of physics and magic are indeed those of this realm and not his own - high-tech items from his (and our) no longer work for him. This also serves to explain why it is he's able to communicate with the natives of this realm, as even he himself has been changed to belong to this word. Reading these sections gave me a glimpse into what Gygax and other early authors of extraplanar adventures had in mind.

I also encountered some additional some concepts which found their way into D&D. Being a tale of Norse mythology it was no surprise to find hill, frost, and fire giants and to see the clear inspiration they served for D&D. One surprise I did have is when Harold receives a scroll which allows him to cast a spell - I'd not anticipated I'd encounter the origin of D&D's spell scrolls. There was also an encounter with a dragon who came accompanied by a strong chlorine smell.

Beyond learning about an additional inspiration for the D&D game "The Roaring Trumpet" most definitely served as an enjoyable story in its own right. The characteristics of the Norse gods and giants made for enjoyable reading as did the adventure they go on. As someone who once had a dog named Loki (who managed to get playtester credit along with the rest of our group in Decipher's Star Trek RPG) it was nice to see a non-villainous portrayal of Loki.

"The Roaring Trumpet" can be found in the collection The Mathematics of Magic. Unless my search skills have failed me it is unfortunately only available in physical format (i.e. no e-book format, at least in the United States).

Read More

Appendix N - Checkpoint and Thoughts

I've mentioned the inspirational reading section of the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide a few times in this blog. It seems worth it to show it in its entirety and discuss it a little bit. In the list following the authors in bold represent those of which I have done at least some of the relevant reading.

APPENDIX N:INSPIRATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL READING
Inspiration for all of the fantasy work I have done stems directly from the love my father showed when I was a lad, for he spent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors and dauntless swordsmen. Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence. In fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young, from fairy tales such as those written by the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Long. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultation of compilations of the myths of various lands and peoples. Upon such a base I built my interest in fantasy, being an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950. The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as just about any other imaginative writing or screenplay you will be able to pluck kernels from which grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!

Inspirational Reading:

• Anderson, Poul. THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORD

• Bellairs, John. THE FACE IN THE FROST

• Brackett, Leigh.

• Brown, Fredric.

• Burroughs, Edgar Rice. "Pellucidar" Series; Mars Series; Venus Series

• Carter, Lin. "World's End'' Series

• de Camp, L. Sprague. LEST DARKNESS FALL; FALLIBLE FIEND; etal.

• de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" Series; CARNELIAN CUBE

• Derleth, August.

• Dunsany, Lord.

• Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" Series; et alal

• Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" Series; "Kyrik" Series; et of.

• Howard, R. E. "Conan" Series

• Lanier, Sterling. HIEROS JOURNEY

• Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" Series; et ofal

• Lovecraft, H. P.

• Merritt, A. CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al.

• Moorcock, Michael. STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)

• Norton, Andre.

• Offutt, Andrew J., editor SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS Ill.

• Pratt, Fletcher, BLUE STAR; etaf.

• Saberhagen, Fred. CHANGELING EARTH; etal.

• St. Clair, Margaret. THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS

• Tolkien, J. R. R. THE HOBBIT; "Ring Trilogy"

• Vance, Jack. THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al.

• Weinbaum, Stanley.

• Wellman, Manly Wade.

• Williamson, Jack.

• Zelazny, Roger. JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" Series; et al.

The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, REH, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, HPL, and A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.

As can be seen my familiarity with the inspirational reading of Appendix N is moderate at the time of this writing. Over the next several months I endeavor to expand my exposure to these works.

As I go through some of these works for the first time (for example, the works of Norton and de Camp & Pratt) I have been amazed to see just how strong an inspiration they were. Upon reflection, that should not have been that surprising considered the clear inspirations from the works I have already cited - for example the thieves of Lankhmar, the magic of Dying Earth, the halflings of Tolkien, etc.

Read More

RPG Review: Dungeon Crawl Classics

The intent of the Open Game License that Wizards of the Coast released with the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons was to encourage other publishers to support the D&D game with adventures, something they had viewed as less profitable than rule books.

Goodman Games, the creators of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG made good use of the Open Game License in this manner, producing a successful line of adventures in a line called "Dungeon Crawl Classics". They were designed to hearken back to the adventure modules released by TSR in the late 70s to mid 80s with their gatefold maps in blue and white, about 32-48 pages in length, with killer dungeons, treasures galore, and dragons at the bottom of the dungeon. They released products in this line for the 3, 3.5, and 4th editions of the D&D game as well as the occasional special 1st edition AD&D adventure.

What I imagine must have surprised Wizards of the Coast is the fact that publishers and independent authors determined it was possible to release their own complete rule books using the Open Game License.The first RPGs made in this manner tended to stay close to the D&D 3.0/3.5 rules but time brought the development of retro-clones - making use of the material available via the Open Game License to recreate older versions of Dungeons & Dragons. The first generation of these tended to deliberately mimic the feel of specific editions of rules. For example Swords & Wizardry clones the pre-AD&D "original edition" or 0e rules while Labyrinth Lord at its core clones the Basic and Expert D&D rules of the 1980s (with supplements to incorporate elements of AD&D or the original edition).

What we've seen of late are a series of what I would consider "second generation" retro-clones. While hearkening back to various incarnations of the D&D rules they also put their own unique stamp on their games. It is as if they go back to a certain point of time in D&D history and then explore others roads that might have been taken by TSR. The three that come most to my mind are Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics (obviously named from their adventure line, which will continue supporting their new game), Lamentations of the Flame Princess' Weird Fantasy Role-Play, and Autarch's Adventure Conqueror King. In this review I will discuss Dungeon Crawl Classics.


With all the preliminaries out of the way, let's get to discussing the Dungeon Crawl Classics (or simply DCC). What I will be reviewing here is the PDF version of the game which I received with my pre-order of DCC. I do not yet have a physical copy of the book.

The PDF itself meets the most important criteria I have of that format - it is easily navigable. When using my Galaxy Tab or Kindle Fire I do not experience delays while navigating and it has a nicely formatted table of contents allowing for quick jumping through the book. The game is nicely illustrated with black & white images strongly reminiscent of both the style and of specific illustrations from the AD&D 1st edition rule books (with many TSR veterans of that era).

Despite the pedigree of the art, the rules of the game do not take the traditional retro-clone route. It is very much its own game that in my opinion takes many of the best things from 1st edition AD&D and 3rd edition D&D (oddly 3rd edition D&D is really a misnomer as in many ways it is the 3rd edition of AD&D but anyways...).

So let's walk through the game and see what we see.

Overview

I'm going to do this review with an overview of each section (which will include my own opinions where appropriate) followed by an overall impression.

Qualifications

The game begins with a list of "qualifications" for the reader. Kind of a manifesto. It does suggest it is not really intended as a novice game but rather for those familiar with the works of Gygax, Arneson, Bledsaw, Holmes, Kask, Kunzt, Mentzer, and Moldvay. It goes on to talk about the artists and style of the game.

One thing of note which may surprise veterans is in addition to making use of the traditional d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d% it also makes use of d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, and d30. The reason for these funky dice is not given in this section but later on the book we learn that the main purpose of these different dice it to allow for "shifting" upward and downward of dice as modifiers. For example, when making additional attacks or spells or other actions a character keeps his normal bonus but rolls a lower die - a d16 instead of the traditional d20. Though my gaming group is fairly geographically dispersed requiring virtual dice I picked up some of these odd dice out of curiosity. The d3 is fine, albeit odd-looking. However the d5 and d7 seemed very odd and not evenly shaped - kind of like a wheel. For example the d5 is a three dimensional triangle with 1 and 5 as the bases and 2, 3, and 4 on the sides of the triangle. To be honest I don't quite trust it to roll randomly, though that might be my own prejudices.The patent indicates otherwise.

Introduction

The introduction explains the core mechanic which is familiar to players of the 3.x and 4th edition D&D games - roll a d20 (possibly shifted to a different die-type), add or subtract modifiers, and try to beat or match a target number.

It then talks about how this game differs from 3.x and AD&D. It is worth summarizing this:

• Unlike 3.x, no prestige classes, attacks of opportunity, feats, or skill points
• Like Basic/Expert D&D, races are also classes
• Uses an ascending armor system
• Three saves like 3.x - Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower
• Clerics turn what their religion considers unholy
• All spells are cast with a spell check roll. Higher results indicate better results, customized by spell. Lower results mean failure. Only on a  failure is a wizard spell "lost" and a very low failure may result in some corruption (for wizards) or disapproval of the deity (for clerics).
• The game makes use of a critical hit matrix.
• Ability scores can be temporarily or permanently burned for special benefits/reductions in penalties.

Chapter One - Characters

DCC makes use of an interesting character generation system referred to as the "funnel". The intent is each player generates several random zero-level characters using 3d6 for every stat. It's been a long time since I've seen rules for zero-level characters. The intent is that you run all the characters at once in the first adventure where you will presumably lose some or even most of these poor, vulnerable characters and after the first adventure you pick your main 1st level PC(s) from among the survivors. Your characters' occupations (including race) are determined at random which will go towards what skills you have.

I like the idea, though I'd have preferred a little more detail. The rules as written basically give you 1st level abilities upon reaching enough experience and unless you rolled a non-human you get to pick your class. There was an AD&D adventure called Treasure Hunt which had a similar premise - you started out with a zero-level character. I like the DCC approach of multiple characters a little bit better - it gives a character with good stats a few "redshirts" to protect him and encourages extreme caution. However, one thing I liked about Treasure Hunt better is that  your actions in the adventure determined your class and over the course of the adventure you began gaining class abilities.

The abilities are a little bit different from traditional D&D games. They are:

• Strength
• Agility (effectively Dexterity)
• Stamina (effectively Constitution)
• Personality (a combination of Wisdom and Charisma)
• Intelligence
• Luck (new stat)

Luck is an important stat, perhaps too much so. (I think I'd make certain any character with a low Luck gets red-shirted in the funnel adventure...) It is used for:

• A modifier to a certain kind of roll (determined at random) for the character's entire career. This modifier never changes even if luck goes up or down.
• Modified critical hits, fumbles, etc.
• Can be burned to get bonuses.

For the most part burned luck does not automatically come back though it can go back up very slowly. Thieves and halflings however automatically regain burned luck.

DCC makes use of three alignments - Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic. Looking through the sample monsters we see goblins listed as Lawful while orcs are Chaotic, breaking away from the normal Lawful=Good convention Basic/Expert D&D used.

Unlike most D&D incarnations the maximum level is 10 and the game uses a fairly coarse experience system. It is designed like older D&D incarnations such that earlier advancement is quicker and 10th level characters are considered akin to demi-gods.

DCC features seven classes:

• Cleric - able to cast spells, turn the unholy, and lay on hands to heal. Laying on hands is more beneficial to characters of the same alignment and/or religion. Every time a cleric fails in one of his attempts increases the chances of deity disapproval. A cleric knows a certain number of spells that increases with each level and never "forgets" a spell, even if his spell check is a failure.
• Thief - Thief-abilities are, like everything else, resolved by d20 vs. Difficulty Class. Interestingly the thief's alignment determines his bonuses. For example, Chaotic thieves are best at back-stabbing while Lawful thieves are best at stealth and trap-handling. As mentioned before, the thief ability to regain luck is huge.
• Warrior - A massive fighting machine. Instead of a straight bonus to attack rolls warriors get an ascending attack-die, +d3 at 1st level and +d10+4 at 10th. This is added to his normal attack rolls. Also, in place of feats this random die (called the Deed Die) is used for various stunts. To succeed in a stunt (like disarming, shoving a character, etc.) the attack roll must succeed and the Deed Die must meet a certain difficulty - 3 at the least, higher for more difficult stunts.
• Wizard - Not surprisingly, a caster of arcane spells. Unlike traditional D&D games, a wizard does not usually "forget" spells upon casting them. Rather for every spell there is a table indicating the result for a given spell check roll, ranging from horrible failures such as  corruption (which can be super-minor to massive physical changes such as a character's mouth being replaced by a beak) to the mother of all magic missiles... A wizard knows a set number of spells that increases per level. Unlike traditional D&D games a wizard cannot expand his library by finding a spellbook or scroll. However, he can use this to determine what new spell he gains upon gaining a level, otherwise the new spell is chosen at random.
• Dwarf - the first of the demi-human (returning to the pre-3.0 terminology) classes. The dwarf is very similar to the warrior, a tad less effective at warrior abilities but gaining special dwarf abilities such as infravision, underground skills, special abilities when using a shield, etc.
• Elf - a combination of a wizard and warrior. Unlike the dwarf the elf does not gain the warrior abilities. An elf is also uncomfortable wearing iron armor, eventually taking damage. An elf is however about as effective as a wizard. Indeed, I could think of few, if any reasons, that you would choose an elf instead of a wizard. However since race is chosen at random, with the great majority of characters human, that may be as intended. One of the elf's initial spells must involve an extra-dimensional patron, a pact which is to the elf's benefit but at a price. Wizards can choose this as one of their initial spells but are not required to. The rules mention how over an elf's long life he probably makes use of consulting the same extra-dimensional multiple times. This puts a bit more of a sinister bent to elves. That said, I always found the wood elves of The Hobbit as kind of creepy and there is Schubert's Erlkönig for good examples of some less than frolicky elves.
• Halfling - Halflings are a bit different than I'm used to. They are masters of two-weapon fighting and are very stealthy. Unique to this game (but in my mind, very in keeping with Tolkien's hobbit-folk), halflings are very lucky. Like thieves they regenerate luck. They also gain larger bonuses for their expended luck. Finally, unique to them, halflings are "good-luck charms" - they can spend luck for other characters. You can bet this would make having a halfling in the party a very popular option. 

Chapter Two - Skills

Skills are handled very coarsely in DCC, Based on a character's background (especially as a zero-level character) the Judge (not called DM or GM...) decides if the character is skilled or unskilled and either rolls a d20 or a d10 vs. a difficulty, with modifiers from ability scores, circumstances, etc.

Chapter Three - Equipment

Nothing terribly shocking here. A few things to note:

• Some weapons (daggers, blackjack, etc.) do extra damage when used by thieves for backstabbing.
• While wizards and elves can wear armor, the armor check penalty applies to their spellcasting checks.

Chapter Four - Combat

I've covered combat quite a bit with my discussion of warriors. A few interesting things that separates DCC from other D&D variants:

• There are critical hit tables. Different tables are used depending on class, level, etc. Some of the criticals are brutal with limbs flying away. (Fortunately there are cleric spells that can patch those up, so make sure you save your severed limbs).
• There are also fumble tables. Fumbles get worse the more heavily armored you are.
• There are special rules for spell duels, involving the casting of spells and counter-spells.

Chapter Five - Magic

The chapter on magic is huge. The great bulk of it is made up of descriptions for spells. I've touched on the magic system quite a bit already. I'd have to say there are too main differences.

1. Magic is not quite "Vancian". A character typically does not forget a spell after a successful casting, though a failure for wizards and elves does indicate a lost spell. Clerics increase the odds of gaining the disapproval of their deity with every failure (it starts as only happening on a natural 1 but increases with 1 for every failure).
2. Magic is not predictable. To cast a spell you make a spell check, rolling a d20, adding your level plus your Intelligence (wizards) or Personality (clerics) modifiers, attempting to beat a Difficulty of 10 plus twice the spell level. Extremely low rolls may result in deity disapproval (for clerics) or misfires/corruption for wizards. Extremely high rolls result in some powerful results.

The system presents a setting where magic is very powerful but it is neither predictable or safe. Deity disapproval can have clerics making all sorts of sacrifices, working hard to evangelize new converts, etc. Corruption can be specific to a given spell or it can be generic deformation with skin growing scaly, hair changing colors. etc. It gives the tone of the corruption suffered by wizards in the Lankhmar and Conan novels. That said, it isn't severe as rules for corruption I've seen in books like the AD&D and RuneQuest Lankhmar sourcebooks. Odds are a character will suffer some corruption over time but not to the extent in those settings - and corruption can be avoided by permanently burning a luck point.

There is also some discussion on ritual magic - the idea that there are versions of spells that can be cast using rituals, harnessing the power of multiple casters and taking advantage of increased time to cast.

Chapter Six - Quests & Journeys

This chapter is primarily an advice chapter. It discusses some quests for powers that have no "spell" to gain access to - raising the dead, taming a dragon, special weapon proficiency, etc.

There is also a discussion about the setting, being a medieval world where most people do not travel and that travelers are special people. It has some basic information on travel times, gaining retainers, and other planes, suggesting that extraplanar situations be introduced early.

One thing I found a little disappointing is there isn't very much detail on travel, consisting pretty much of distance covered by varying modes of travel. There is no detail on terrains slowing you down, the possibility of getting lost, finding food in the wilderness, etc. I can certainly find that information in other D&D-style games but I would have liked to have seen it here - the dangerous wilderness seems such an important part of the genre that it seems a shame to "handwave" it.

Chapter Seven - Judge's Rules

This chapter has rules and guidelines for Judges with topics like familiars for wizards, consulting spirits, supernatural patrons (including new spells a wizard or elf might learn from his patron), divine aid for clerics, special magic regions, etc.

There is also a section on the frequency of heroes and on handing out experience points. DCC sugests for example that perhaps 5 people out of a hundred ever make it out of zero level and perhaps 1 in 10,000 people are fifth level.

Finally there is a section on Luck, including under what circumstances any character (including non-thieves and halflings) and gain or lose luck. This brought to mind some of the Lankhmar tales with Fafhrd and Grey Mouser earning the support or annoyance of the unworldly.

Chapter Eight - Magic Items

Magic items in DCC are all unique - there are no generic magic items. That said it has guidelines for the manufacture or finding of various items, especially magic swords with tables resembling those found in B/X D&D and AD&D for intelligent weapons with purposes. Of note is the fact that the gods do not care for powerful magic items and characters who bear them are subject to Luck penalties. (Did I mention it seems definitely worthwhile to dispose of any characters you roll up with low Luck during the Character Funnel adventure?)

Chapter Nine - Monsters

The Monsters chapter of course includes a listing of monsters with a lot of new critters such as androids, deep ones, etc. However, a large part of the chapter is dedicated to making monsters as unique as possible with advice such as "don't refer to a dragon, refer to the dragon".  Referring to Goodman Games' own Random Esoteric Creature Generator (by James Raggi of Lamentations of the Flame Princess) as inspiration it includes random tables for varying humanoid and a discussion on how to make other creatures as unique as possible. There are also critical tables for various creature types (if PCs get criticals so do the beasties).

Appendices

There are Appendices covering curses, languages, other "Old School Renaissance" games, poisons, a discussion on rules complexity, guidance on names, titles, and Appendix N (below) for inspirational reading.

Appendix N - Inspirational Reading

Appendix N reprints the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide Appendix N list of inspirational sources and talks about the influence they had on the original D&D game. It also recommends Clark Ashton Smith who was somehow left off the original Appendix N and also recommends a pair of films for inspiration - the 1963 version of The Raven for its wizards' duel (I've never seen it) and The Horror of Dracula for its clear inspiration of the cleric's ability to turn the unholy (I have seen it and can definitely vouch for it).

Sample Adventures

There are a pair of sample adventures, one for zero-level characters and one for fifth. 

Both are pretty brief. They are interesting and useful but I think a Judge would want to expand them - especially "The Portal Under the Stars", the zero-level adventure.

Overall Impression

Well that overview wound up being awfully long - but it is hard to give a good impression without a good overview. I've also not shied from giving my opinion in my discussion of the contents.

Overall, I like what I see a lot. I greatly admire its boldness. You really can't call it a retro-clone, it is its own game which takes D&D as its starting point. And that may not even be fully accurate. I'd have to say it takes all the incarnations of D&D prior to the 4th as its starting point for its rules and takes the inspirations for original D&D as its inspirations. When I picture DCC adventures I don't really visualize characters dividing their +1 swords, their buffing items, etc. I picture the warrior as a battle-scarred dealer of death, the thief constantly pressing his luck and laughing at fate. I see clerics working to stay in their deities good graces, having reasons to go on quests and evangelize on behalf of his deity. I see wizards who possess great powers of which they are not fully the masters of. I see alien elves who have long-term relationships with demons and spirits, who are feared by humans with mothers who worry about children being kidnapped for the Elf-King. I see dwarfs as hardened warriors of the mines, looking for all the world like one of Thorin's folk. And I see halflings who survivors where you wouldn't think they would be, who manage to bring out the best in their companions.

While it's a thick book, there are a few things more I'd like to have seen in it and a few things I'm not convinced about. For example, Luck seems too important an ability score and elves seem to be able to do about everything a wizard can do and more (with there being only one experience table that all characters use). I'd also like to have seen a bit more detail in running wilderness and dungeon adventures. The book states it assumes that the Judges running this are experienced but I still think those are the sorts of thing that should have been included.

Beyond running this game, would I want to play in it? That depends. It certainly doesn't lend itself to carefully building a character to get every bonus possible, the sort of mini-game that the 3.x versions of D&D embraces. That's not to say you can't have an impressive character - the various classes all become powerful in their own ways. I think its appeal would lie in the accomplishment of developing your character - and surviving to that point. To do so will require intelligent play, to know when to be bold and when to hide. When do you burn that Luck point, risk angering your deity, etc.? Do you save that Luck point or risk further corruption.

I've been flirting with the idea of doing a D&D-esque game (right now we are playing Call of Cthulhu) and DCC definitely has a strong appeal.

Read More

Andre Norton's Witch World

To start off this blog it seems reasonable to give a review of a book I've just finished reading, Andre Norton's Witch World, first published in 1963. And me being me, the mere use of the word "reading" needs a bit of explanation. A few years ago I began a subscription to audible.com and have greatly enjoyed reading unabridged audiobooks. I listen to them when I'm driving alone in my car and when I go for walks or do "mindless" chores.

What brought me to this book? Amusingly, the famous "Appendix N" of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide (1st edition), a bibliography of literature that helped inspire the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game of the late 1970s. I recently received my pdf copy for my pre-order of Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game which aspires to provide a D&D-like game for playing an "Appendix N"-like game (indeed, they reprinted Appendix N in its entirety).

As I read through the list of works in Appendix N I realized there are a number of authors listed there of whom I've read none of their works. Andre Norton was one of the most obvious gaps in the works I read and so I picked up the unabridged audio recording of it.


So, what is it about? Without going into massive spoiler territory, it begins with Simon Tregarth, a disgraced World War II veteran of our world being hunted by people who clearly mean to kill him. Simon Tregath is not a man to hide in a corner and weep about his fate. Rather, realizing he is running out of escape options, decides to enjoy one final good meal and gets his pistol ready. He is clearly not a man who will go down quietly. He doesn't want to die but he realizes he is out of options.

Or so it seems. A man visits him and gives him an opportunity to escape, an escape which takes him to another world. (A "Witch World" you could say.)

It is worth discussing the character of Simon Tregarth a bit. I found him a very enjoyable protagonist to follow. He is a very practical man who does not doubt what his own senses and intellect tells him. Finding himself in a world where magic is real and wielded apparently exclusively by women he accepts this reality immediately. He is a man who trusts his instincts, who won't waste time thinking too many steps ahead but who also won't allow himself to be blinded to long-term consequences. All in all, the type of character you find yourself enjoying the experience of watching. In a fight of Simon Tregarth vs. Chuck Norris, I'm betting on Simon Tregarth.

But Simon is not the only character of interest. Simon immediately rescues a witch of Estcarp and quickly finds himself in their service. The names of witches are secret, for names have power. Norton ably handles having as one of her main protagonists a nameless character. Estcarp finds itself dealing with enemies assembling around it. In Estcarp another of the protagonists is introduced, Korus, a former noble of one of the neighboring lands.

While Estcarp is a land ruled by women, its neighboring lands are not. The final protagonist is Loyse, daughter of a minor noble of one of the lands neighboring Estcarp. We see her being forced into a marriage for her father's benefit. Though she is no witch, she too is a powerful character in her own way and one determined to find her own destiny.

To give away more of the plot or characters would spoil the book. It is worth noting that while having a character from our world  making a journey to a fantastic one is a fairly common literary device, albeit one not used as often as it once was, Norton puts her own spin on this, suggesting that Simon is not the only person or thing not native to this world.

Overall I give a very strong recommendation to this work. I say this as one who knows next to nothing as to what Norton did next with the setting and characters - a quick glance at Wikipedia shows me that there are a lot of Witch World books out there. I do know that I'm interested in the characters and setting enough to want to know what happens next.

Since I mentioned this in connection with AD&D, what does this book bring to gamers? Quite a bit I believe. Simon Tregarth is definitely a "player character" type of protagonist. He does not wait for action to come to him, he seeks out action. He's a careful protagonist when required but a bold one when that is needed as well.

The nation of Estcarp is an interesting take on a fantasy realm which does not seem like it was taken right out of our Middle Ages while still seeming believable. The lands they visit and the allies and enemies they encounter are excellent sources of inspiration. Finally, I recall from the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide and old Dragon Magazines the suggestion that older D&D games made liberal use of world-jumping and this novel shows how this could be done very smoothly.

Read More