Lessons Learned Running West Marches

Long-time WaHNtHaC... readers will remember that from 2018 to 2022, I ran a West Marches campaign. The other day, some folks in the TTRPG Finder: Korea Edition group chat (KakaoTalk...it's like What'sApp for Koreans) were talking about West Marches, asking if anyone was currently running one. I of course mentioned that I had run one, but I don't have the time to start it up again. 

It did get me thinking about the campaign I did run, though. I've been going over what I did right, what I did wrong, what I did different than Mr. Robbins' original WM campaign that worked, and how I might do it again if I were to do it again. I'm sure a lot of this is in the various posts I made about the campaign over the years. I should probably read over those posts myself. I'm sure they'll jog a few memories. 

Well, I'll get what I'm thinking down now, and maybe edit in some insights if I find time to re-read those old posts. These are in no particular order, just as they come to mind. 

Change: I'm not a bachelor in my 20s working a McJob. I've got a wife, kids, and a sometimes demanding job. The original WM campaign happened when a group of players got together, picked a time that worked for them and the DM, and made it happen. Not so for my game. It happened on my schedule.  That meant bi-weekly in-person games (usually every other Sunday), and occasionally (regularly during the pandemic) online games using Roll20. This meant that the player planning aspect of the original game was lost, and I tended to have a stable core of players that attended most sessions, but it still worked out OK in the end. 

Mistake: Starting the campaign with 5E. Not that there's anything wrong with 5E per se (yeah, some people will argue that point), but I wasn't an expert on all the spells, monsters, etc. I picked it because it was the current edition and I knew I could get players for that. But in the end, all the feats, spells, class abilities, monster abilities, and whatnot that I couldn't recall from memory slowed down the game and made it a pain in the ass to prep for. 

Correction: Switching to Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins (basically BECMI with my house rules) made it something I was much more familiar with, easier to prep, and easier to run at the table. Yeah, I lost a few players, but gained a few players as well. And I enjoyed it a whole lot more that way. 

Lesson: Next time, start with a system I know well. With random encounter tables being a big part of the game, and a rotating cast of players/characters, I need to know the system much better. Yesterday, I was even considering using BECMI/RC (minus the weapon mastery rules) to make it even simpler for players to drop in, roll up a PC, and game.

Change: Ben Robbins would provide the players with the AC and hit points of creatures they were fighting. I didn't do that. Even with 5E rules, which are a bit more tactical, I kept those secret. And the game worked just fine. 

Mistake: Working inside out. Obviously, I started preparing content for stuff close to the starting town (mine is called Silverwood), and prepping areas further out as we went along. I'd try to stay at least a session's worth of play ahead of the players. The problem is, not knowing exactly what was further out made it hard to include clues to things farther on in the Marches. I was often dropping rumors when the PCs went back to town, rather than letting them discover clues within the locations they were exploring. 

Lesson: Work outside in, at least on the big picture. THEN work inside out to flesh things out. If I do this again, I'll create a map and note the dungeons and special locations throughout it FIRST. All I really need to know is their location and a general idea of what they're about. Then I can plant seeds in areas closer to home that lead the PCs to explore further. 

My abandoned plan for a East Marches (using TS&R Jade) was started this way. I've got a map with dungeons and special locations scattered all through it, all named and with a bit of description. Of course, I used some of them in my current campaign, so if I did restart that project, my current players might be bored going over dungeons they've already pillaged. 

Change: Safe Havens. Rather than enforce a return to Silverwood at the end of every session, I had certain areas that could be found (or converted) into safe havens, where a session could end outside of town.  The next session, different PCs might be in the party, but we didn't worry about "continuity errors" like that. It allowed the players more confidence to explore, knowing they would only have to retreat a short distance to the closest safe haven at the end of a session, rather than save time to get all the way back to town. 

Lesson: I dropped a lot of TSR modules in my West Marches. Quasqueton (B1), the Caves of Chaos (B2), the Moathouse (T1), Castle Ravenloft (I6), White Plume Mountain (S2), the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (G1), Xak Tsaroth (DL1), and plans to use more (like placing the Tomb of Horrors somewhere!). I wouldn't say it was a mistake using these module dungeons. We had some great sessions exploring them. But at the same time, having these generally large dungeons meant multiple sessions would be spent on them. And the PCs didn't always want to get to a safe haven to continue their explorations. So I broke the rule of always ending a session in Silverwood or a safe haven several times. 

If I were doing this again, I'd skip the modules. Sure, they allowed me to get a lot of content in one hex, and the players did have fun exploring them. But smaller dungeons specific to the campaign are better and easier to implement.  

Improvement: In addition to XP for creatures slain and XP for treasure (at least after switching to TS&R), I included XP for exploration. Every new hex explored, every hex crossed (explored or otherwise), and each dungeon or special location found were all worth XP. And the XP awards scaled up the farther out the PCs went. What I could have done better, and will strive to do better if I run this gain, is telegraph these awards more. Often, I'd just tally all the XP for a session at the end and award it, rather than let the players know how much was from each of the three sources. I think if they'd known how much pure exploration gained them, they might have pressed deeper into the "white space" on the map. 

While you're here, why not get yourself a gift?

 My blog traffic has been up, by a LOT lately. I'm getting four to eight times the hits I usually get on my posts. Fingers crossed it's not just Russian or Chinese bots. 

If my new readers are actual flesh and blood humans (get those Voight-Kampff tests ready), and you haven't yet, why not check out my RPG store on DriveThruRPG? 

Here's a handy link! 

That's where you can find Chanbara, my OSR RPG of fantasy feudal Japan. 

And Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins, my OSR fantasy heartbreaker. 

It contains the Ruby Players Rules (classes, equipment, spells for Euro-fantasy), Jade Players Rules (the same for Asio-fantasy), Ruby and Jade Bestiary & Treasury (monsters and treasure for both Euro and Asian fantasy campaigns), the Game Master Guidebook (rules to run games for either Ruby or Jade), Ruby and Jade Rules Reference books (handy table lookup books for the two sets). 

And then there are my printable paper minis! I've got character types and lots of monster types, covering the Basic and Expert (BX/BE of BECMI) monsters, including all the dinosaurs and weirdos from the Isle of Dread. 

Chanbara is reasonably priced (digital or print), the paper minis are cheap (digital), and TS&R books are all pay what you want (digital only for now). 

So why not get a gift for yourself and help a brother out? Let's see if I get a small sales spike, or if these really are just bots.  

TTRPG in Korea Online SummerCon is Finished

 So, the Online Summer Con is over. I think the game I was in Sunday evening closed out the event, since we went about 30 minutes over the end time (and the new semester started yesterday so I was introducing my courses on not enough sleep). I wasn't involved in the start, though, since I didn't play anything Friday evening. 

The games I was in were all really fun, although the three I was a player in all had different styles. 

Saturday morning, my friend Justin ran a Monster of the Week/Jinkies! mix game (both are PbtA games, so he used MotW on his side, but we used Jinkies! playbooks for our PCs). It was called The Coffin Nails, and was a mystery game. 

I played Jimmy Switzer, a college dropout and loner (The Tough One playbook). A player with the online nickname Mildew played Cal Whitmore, the local newspaper editor (The Leader playbook). A third player named Kojak played Antoine Pier, the university librarian (The Smart One playbook). We made our PCs before the game.

The mystery involved a pair of researchers at the local university trying to cover up a failed insomnia experiment that led to people acting violently. There was also a ghost involved. We managed to solve the mystery, but unfortunately, not in time to stop the researchers from getting away and getting a lucrative contract with a defense contractor. 

It was a fun, goofy game, with us mostly laughing our way through the tense moments our PCs found themselves in. 

___________________

Saturday afternoon, I was in a Mothership game run by Michael (first time meeting him). He ran a module called Gradient Descent that Justin told me was pretty good. And it was. It was also a mystery game, but with more action and also very much a Philip K. Dick style mindfuck. Sorry, some spoilers in this game description follow.

I played Mifune, a Marine. Michelle played Blaise, a Scientist (botany specialty). LP played Emmanuel, a Teamster (pilot). Carly played Bianca, a Scientist (surgeon). Kinsella played Amirah "CIB", also a marine. CIB stood for "Cast Iron Bitch" and she really played that up! We also made these PCs before the game started.

The jumping off point was that we were going to an abandoned space station to loot it, but just as we board, we get knocked out and wake up in a trash heap deep in the station. We've got some good loot, and need to get to the top of the station where our hired ship is waiting for us, but the station AI thinks we're all androids and its property so we can't leave. 

We managed to get to our ship in time, without loss of PC life (we lost an android friend we picked up along the way), but one PC was suspected to be an android replicant and our crazy Russian pilot wouldn't let her board. So that PC volunteered to stay and the rest of us got away...but with lingering doubts about whether or not we had also been replaced and didn't know it, or if the one we left behind was actually human or not (there was evidence that she WAS human, but also evidence that she'd been replaced). 

This game was fast paced, tense at times, very funny at times, and required some lateral thinking along with some gung-ho bravado. 

_______________________

Sunday afternoon was the game I ran, Into the Dragon's Den. I had revamped an old dungeon from 20 years ago, and used my TS&R rules but with BECMI style race-as-class demi-humans. This was a fairly straight dungeon crawl, with a variety of challenges to exploration, combat, and puzzles but the party bypassed quite a few of the puzzle type encounters (which is totally fine, I made quite a few paths through the dungeon). 

Richard (my CoC Keeper friend) played Grimsteel the Dwarf. Ian (who plays in Richard's CoC game and I met IRL in Seoul last week in the Perils and Princesses game) played Peralay the Elf. Kinsella (CIB in the Mothership game) played Aleena the Cleric. Zen played Morgan Ironwolf the Fighter. Ren played Ismene the Thief. Yes, these were pre-gens I made, and yes, I stole names and art from the BX, BECMI, and other TSR books for the pre-gens. The players had selected their PCs before the game started.

I gave each PC a different set of rumors, including rumors about the various ways into the dungeon. The town wanted them to either slay Kelek the Wizard or Grimflame the Dragon (or maybe both). They decided to try the wizard, and started exploring the most difficult way in first, but then decided to move to the easiest way in. They found a hidden passage in the first room which led them to Warduke (Kelek's captain) who they defeated, then up to find Kelek who they also just managed to defeat without losing any lives. They also found Kelek's stash of anti-dragon magic items along the way, so maybe I'll see if these players want to have a second go at it and try their luck with the dragon some day.

We went over time, because no one wanted to stop until Kelek was dead. I think everyone had fun. I definitely had a great time running it. 

____________________

Sunday evening, I was again a player in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game, run by Marley. This was the first time I've had a chance to play DCC, and it did not disappoint. Marley's DMing style was a bit different, though. She had us pick pre-gens at the start of the game, asking us each to run two or maybe three. We all picked two, then she asked if anyone wanted to run three. I said why not, and picked a third. Then two other players picked third PCs...so we kinda had too many PCs in the game. Should have kept my mouth shut, maybe. 

I played a Thief named Jinx, a Magic-User named Alexy, and a Fighter named Torgo. I didn't write down all the other PCs names/classes, but Dee played a Dwarf and a Thief. Zen (Morgan Ironwolf in my game) played a Cleric, Magic-User, and Thief. Gheist played a Dwarf, a Cleric, and an Elf. Marley had a bit of characterization to each PC for us to use, but we got to pick names for ourselves. 

The adventure we were sent on was that a bunch of low-level losers were sent to stop a world-ending bad guy from destroying the world by solving the mystery of the dungeon. The dungeon itself was a big puzzle, and we spent way too much time in the second room with the primary puzzle, trying to figure it out, before Marley clued us in that the rest of the dungeon had clues to solve the primary puzzle. Of course, we failed to stop the demon thing from emerging, and almost all of the PCs died in one hilarious way or another. 

Marley's DMing style was interesting. After a very exposition heavy start, she just sat back and waited for us players to do something once we got plopped into the dungeon. And she had an assumption of incompetence for our PCs. For example, if we wanted to light a torch, we had to roll to see if our PC knew how to do that. It was interesting. Very different from the assumption of competence I give PCs in games I run. It did suit the game style, though, were we were supposed to be in over our heads, and likely going to fail anyway. 

As I mentioned, this game also went about 30 minutes over the limit since we all wanted to see how the last few PCs would die or escape screaming from the dungeon. My PCs all died. 

____________________

Final thoughts? Next time, I will probably DM more and play less. And not the late night slot on a night before I need to go to work the next day. It was fun to try one game I had never tried before (DCC), and to get to play a few games I had played before but in different styles. And Justin, Scott and I will probably be meeting soon to plan a face to face Busan game convention. Since I'll be one of the organizers, I'll also probably run a game or two but likely not play in anything, so I can be available to manage things at times when Scott and Justin run or play something. 

TTRPG in Korea Online SummerCon has Begun

 The TTRPG in Korea SummerCon has begun already. I'm obviously not playing in any games right now (Friday night) but I've got a weekend chock full of gaming coming up. 

 Tomorrow morning is Justin's Monster of the Week/Jinkies (PbtA mashup) game.  I'm playing Jimmy Switzer, an outcast and college drop-out. A little bit punk/metalhead, a little bit incel, and a little bit weirdo.

Tomorrow afternoon is a game of Mothership where I'll be playing a space marine named Mifune. He's probably gonna die. We'll see if it's in a blaze of glory, or cowering in fear. 

 On Sunday afternoon, I run my TS&R game, Into the Dragon's Den. 

And Sunday evening, I'm playing in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game. I've never played DCC, so I'm really looking forward to this game. But it's 8pm to midnight, so we'll see if I'm able to stay awake after all the gaming before it. Not sure who/what my character(s) will be in this game. 

I'm off to bed a bit early tonight. Gotta get rested up for the all-weekend gaming.  

Gaming in Seoul: Perils and Princesses

I was up in Seoul most of this weekend (Sunday evening as I type this) for an academic conference. But I was free Friday evening, so stopped by Dice and Comics Cafe (formerly known as Dice Latte, which a lot of people still refer to it by). 

There was some sort of Western RPG in progress when I got there, but the owner told me that most pick up games start around 7pm. So I ordered some food and listened in on the Western game while I ate. I didn't interrupt to ask what game system it was, but it was definitely not Boot Hill. It had a mundane setting (no magic, undead, or steampunk from what I could tell), or at least the encounters I overhead didn't include anything like that. 

When other people started arriving, I joined them. There were two games brewing, a Call of Cthulhu game set in space, and a Perils and Princesses pirate adventure. I joined the Perils and Princesses game. Ian, who plays in Richard's online Call of Cthulhu games, was also in this game but all the other players were people I had just met. 

Perils and Princesses is an NSR type game, similar to Black Hack, Into the Odd, Mothership, PbtA games, etc. You play a princess with certain magical gifts, and need to survive adventures by wits, resolve, and sometimes swinging swords. 

Morgan was our GM. 

My princess was a knight/healer named Valerian.  

Ian played an alchemist/water mage princess named Talia.

Margot played a wild card/con man princess with a pet parrot named Whistle (the parrot was named Polly).

Oliver played a scholar/thief princess named Clara.

Riley played a barbarian/beastmaster princess named Fern. 

The adventure we went on was basically The Blues Brothers. The orphanage we were raised in (yes, we're princesses, but also orphans. Stop over-thinking) was in danger of being bought and torn down by an evil merchant. Luckily, we heard of these pirate ghosts with treasure in a sea cave south of town, and an old matron in town gave us a map if we promised to recover her family heirloom cursed dagger.

Well, after romping through town for a bit, we set sail for the caves, and avoided, fought and befriended various monsters. We recovered the dagger and other treasure to save the orphanage just in time. We literally played until the shop was closing, so had to wrap up the game in a hurry. 

It was fun, and like a lot of NSR games, it was easy to pick a character and just start playing. I'm not sure it would have a lot of long-term campaign value, though, as there only appear to be four levels to the characters (we were playing at level 2). 

_________________________________

In other news, I've almost completed my revisions to Flying Swordsmen 2E. I need to read through the monster section very carefully one more time. I've also been pondering ideas for a short campaign to play test the game with my local group. People in one of the RPOL games I play in have been asking when it will be available, so I should get to work polishing up and testing the rules.

In other other news, next weekend is the TTRPG in Korea Online SummerCon. I'm in two games on Saturday as a player. Justin is running Monster of the Week in the morning, and in the afternoon I'm in a Mothership game. On Sunday afternoon, I will run a TS&R(ish)* game, then in the evening play in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game. And then classes start on Monday...

 *I'm using my TS&R rules to run the game, but I found an old set of BECMI pre-gen PCs that I wanted to reuse, so Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling are classes for this game, and all the Clerics, Fighters, Magic-Users, and Thieves are Human. No Druids, Rangers, or any of that AD&D add-on either.  

Gearing Up for the Online SummerCon

The TTRPG in Korea community is hosting their online SummerCon at the end of the month (Aug 29-31). I'm signed up to run a Classic D&D game during the con. Hopefully, I'll have time to play in a few other games as well. It's right before the start of the new semester (Sept 1), but I'm more or less ready for my classes. 

I posted about my idea for the con game a few weeks ago. And in the mean time, I've redrawn the maps, revised and switched around some of the encounters, and added a few puzzles/challenges for some of the extraneous monsters. I also updated the pre-gen characters that I posted about a few weeks ago. 

This weekend, I created a Roll20 game for the adventure. I also digitized the maps using Dungeon Scrawl (a crash course in that app, which I'd only noodled around on before). I've got the basics of that down now, and the maps in the R20 game look pretty good. Not professional level, but good enough. 

I spent a lot of time today creating custom character sheets for the pre-gen PCs. Roll20 has a BECMI (RC) sheet, and a BX sheet, but neither exactly fits my house ruled version of D&D. I'm not running full TS&R rules. I've still got Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling as classes for this game. But otherwise, I'm using my house rules. I've got all 14 pre-gen sheets done -- two for each class. I still need to make token images for them, and get the tokens set up. 

I've got the character sheets set up with macros to roll for attacks, saving throws, and things like Thief skills or Turn Undead. That way the players can just go to the sheet and press a button to roll, and all the math is done for them. It will save a lot of time dealing with new to old school players. Considering the types of games on offer (5E/Pathfinder games of course, some neoOSR games like Bastionland and BlackHack derivatives, Free League games, various story/indie games), I'm likely to get some newbies. 

 ________

In other news, I've been playing at the cafe I think would be good for our face-to-face Busan Tabletop Con, and it is a pretty good place to play. Scott and Justin have both visited, and they approve as well. Scott is pretty busy right now with the SummerCon, but after that's settled, I think we'll get to work organizing our local event. 

I plan to run this same adventure, and maybe either a Flying Swordsmen 2E adventure or a Chainmail-based tabletop skirmish/dungeon crawl game. AKA, reviving my idea from last year.  Probably more Chainmail than Gauntlet, but similar. I'd need to get off my ass to prepare for either of these two additional games, but that's a good thing. It will keep me engaged with the ideas. 

Some Updates to an old Dungeon

The Seoul-based TTRPG in Korea group is gearing up for their Online Summer Con. The days haven't been decided yet, but it will be a weekend in August. I'm hoping it will be either the 2nd or 4th weekends, because on the 3rd I'll be up in Seoul for an academic conference and won't have a lot of time to get online and play games. 

Of course, the 2nd week is the final week of English Camp, so I can't play in any Friday games, but Saturday afternoon/evening, or Sunday will work for me. 

The 4th week is best for me. Nothing much else going on that weekend. 

Assuming I have time to run something, I've been working on updating an old one-shot adventure I made during my time in Yamanashi. I ran it for them so they could experience a mid-level game, with more powerful characters and enough magic items. They ran through the adventure, but I don't remember exactly how it turned out. I have a few notes from those sessions (I think we spent two evenings on it), but they're incomplete. 

So I'm updating it for the Summer Con. And if it goes well, I'll also probably run it for the Busan Tabletop Gaming Con (that's not the official name yet, just the one I prefer) that Justin, Scott and I are organizing. 

The adventure as I wrote it back then (20ish years ago) had too many monster encounters and not enough interesting puzzles/situations. I redrew the maps, simplifying them a little but also making them less linear at the same time. I took out or changed some monster encounters, rearranging a few things. I added more exploration/navigation/spelunking challenges. I've upped the treasure a bit, but since this is a one-shot, that's probably not so important aside from magic items. After the Cons, I'll probably format this and sell it through Hidden Treasure Books, though, so the treasure content may matter to players in the future. 

The basic premise is that there is a tower built by a wizard. A dragon destroyed the wizard long ago, and has laired in the caves beneath the tower ever since. A new wizard has shown up and taken over the tower, but stirred up the dragon. Both the wizard and dragon are problems for the local lord, so he's asking adventurers to deal with one or both problems for him. 

So players may decide just to deal with the dragon. Or just with the wizard. Or get ambitious (in a 3-4 hour time slot) and take on both. And of course I'm prepared with ideas for if they try to team up with one side to take out the other.  And the inevitable double crosses that may happen. 

I found a file with some pre-made BECMI characters that I used for another project. That means Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling are classes, so it doesn't completely follow my TS&R rules, but I'll use them anyway for simplicity. They were 1st level, so I updated them to be anywhere from 5th (the Elves) to 8th level (the Thieves). I had pre-made magic item packets from the time I ran this adventure in Yamanashi, so I added those magic items (with a few changes here and there) to the characters. And updated them with TS&R abilities (mostly for Fighter types, since I have rules for Sweep and the like). 

I need to finish up a few more encounter area descriptions (the wizard's lair). And for the Seoul Summer Con, scan the maps and prepare them for a VTT. I'm looking forward to running some old school D&D for hopefully some new blood.  

Looking Ahead

Happy New Year, everyone! I know it's a little early to wish everyone this, but if you look at my posting rate this month, it shouldn't be a surprise. 

2024 wasn't a great year over all, but gaming wise, it was pretty good. My TS&R Jade campaign is going well. Everyone is enjoying it. My side campaign of Star Wars d6 is also going well. We just played it yesterday, and had a good time. The Call of Cthulhu game was pretty fun, and hopefully it continues into next year [This one isn't actually a campaign, as we make new characters for each scenario]. And here and there, we got to try out a few smaller games as one-shots. 

In the realm of play-by-post, the long running 1E game had a reboot, with new PCs starting at level 1. It's not so bad, when the other option was the DM shutting the game down. I really enjoyed playing my primary PC in that game, but at times I was thinking it was time to retire him anyway. The one 5E game I still play there has been pretty slow due to the DM's real life schedule, and honestly, I keep forgetting to post there. I got into the ground floor of a RECON game, but different player styles/expectations frustrated the GM, and now maybe one of the players will take over. We'll see. 

The two games I'm running there, Gamma World and Star Wars d6, are moving along just fine. 

Looking forward into 2025, I see these trends continuing. Well, hopefully the 5E game picks up the pace a bit. Otherwise, things seem to be going well gaming wise. 

On the game design front, I'm plugging away at Flying Swordsmen 2E. Over the weekend, I made some character templates as the equipment chapter was kinda boring me. I'd been somewhat reluctant to get into the weeds of templates, but so far, it's been kinda fun trying to figure out the basics of different martial arts/wuxia stock characters within the framework of the game I'm creating. 

The other thing that's been on my mind lately is an idea I've had of converting the Isle of Dread for my TS&R Jade campaign. It would be a fairly superficial thing, but at the same time it would take a fair amount of rewriting. I'd want to change the Isle's native culture to be less Polynesian and more SE Asian in nature. And of course the wandering monster tables and a few of the encounter areas would need to be reworked to include more SE Asian style monsters along with all the dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. 

But do I really want to put the breaks on the local campaign to send the players off to a multi-session arc on the Isle of Dread? I mean, it's a fun module, but I'm not so sure it's the right thing for the group. Maybe I'll make some notes and then throw a few rumors/hooks their way. If they bite, I'll finish fleshing out the idea. If not, then I'll drop the idea.

First Turn at Mapping, and Using His Head

 Last Sunday, I ran my TS&R Jade campaign. Only three players showed up: Steven (my 10yo), Charles, and Nate. They hired half a dozen men-at-arms, purchased a few torches, and headed into the Pits of Lao. For some reason, Nate and Charles thought it would be fun to let Steven be the mapper this time. It took him a bit of practice to get used to translating the descriptions into lines on the map, but once he got the hang of it, he did really well.

Steven had been thinking about the campaign rumors over the weeks (scheduling nightmare) we weren't playing, and he had a plan. We'd been discussing the use of his locate object spell. One rumor was from a former adventurer who had located a machine that allowed him to find a big score of treasure and retire. He wanted to find that machine. I told him that his locate object spell could help with that. 

When they got down to the second level of the dungeon (there is a set of stairs leading down from the entrance room), they bribed a group of bakuto (gambler yakuza) who collect tolls there with some wine, then went on their way. At first, the spell didn't detect the machine. It has a radius of 120', and the target was a little out of range...but none of them realized they had explored and mapped to just a room or two away from the target. Luckily for them, they decided to explore east instead of west or south, and moving to the next room allowed Steven's PC to get a ping with the spell. 

The next room had some low level Taoist mages and their ashigaru bodyguards. Reactions were positive, so they discussed trading information. I had to come up with a reason why the mages were examining the room they were in, and I decided they were doing an inventory for the Lao family (the last Lao, the crazy wu jen daughter of the Venerable Lao, having died 100+ years ago). This led to a brief discussion of the Dungeon as Underworld for the benefit of Charles, who is new to RPGs. After the game, I sent him a link to Oakes Spalding's blog, which has a copy of Philotomy's Musings on the subject. He was thankful for that. 

Anyway, the party found a well with treasure but the "water" was actually acid, and didn't try to recover it after Saro, Nat's PC, got singed. Then they wandered up and fought some giant toads, but had a surprise round so they weren't in any danger. Finally, the locate object spell led them to the Fighting Ring, an area they'd been to before, where you can summon a Level 2 Random Encounter to fight for cash prizes, while phantasmal fans cheer on the fight. They'd been here before. 

Just beyond it was the room with the Potion Transmuter machine. The machine has two settings: healing potion and potion of treasure finding. After a bit of examination and experimentation (a healing potion poured in became a potion of treasure finding, wine poured in became ruined wine). Nate's henchman had another healing potion, and he decided to convert it as well as Saro's (the first experiment). Then Saro drank his potion and off they went, trying to find treasure. 

Pro Tip: I had marked my dungeon map with gold dollar signs using a colored pencil in any room with monetary treasure, and with blue stars for any room with magical treasure. That made it easy to let them know which direction the nearest treasure was. Of course, the nearest treasure to the transmuter machine was the gold down the acid well that they had already found... But there was more treasure beyond that. 

They ended up with a really nice haul in the end. Slider, Charles' Thief, made it to Level 4, so Charles can make a henchman for him. He's considering a Wu Jen. Niko, the henchman of Citizen Snips (Steven's character), also leveled up. It was a good session, and I'm really happy to see Steven getting into the game a bit more, rather than just trying to make jokes and do silly kid stuff.

Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Rules Reference books are available!

 After way too long of a wait, I've finally got around to adding my Rules Reference books for Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins on DriveThruRPG. There's one for Ruby and one for Jade. 

These are meant to be table reference books, with just the rules, procedures, charts, etc. that the GM might need while running the game. If you don't need all the instruction of how to run the game or how to build your adventures and world, but need refreshers on the mechanical bits, this is the book for you! 

Ruby Rules Reference (standard Euro-style setting)

Jade Rules Reference (Asian inspired setting)

They're both Pay-What-You-Want titles, so you can go grab them for free and check them out. As always, if you like it and find it helpful, why not return and throw a few dollars my way? I reinvest the money I'm making from TS&R back into the gaming community. I'm not trying to make a million on this. But a few dollars here and there is nice. 

Oh, and in hopeful news, my younger son Steven is interested in maybe trying to DM his own game. He did some crazy free-form DMing when he was 5 or so. Now he's 10, and is thinking about maybe trying to learn how to DM the "right" way. I'm gonna order him a POD copy of Moldvay Basic to read through. This could be fun!

Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Game Master Guidebook is Now Available!

 I have just completed uploading the GMG to my Hidden Treasure Books store on DriveThruRPG. 

Here's a link!

It's got advice and rules for running a game the way I do it (mostly), including what I feel a new GM should know about running a game, or advice for people trying out old school style gaming for the first time. 

Most of you veterans who read this blog probably won't find much use out of most of it, but I do have some home-brewed modifications to the BECMI domain and war machine rules, and a different system for creating artifacts. Also my own version of the planes of existence. 

So there are some nuggets that might be useful even to the old, jaded gamer who's seen and done it all. Or at least I hope so. 

It's fully compatible with both my Ruby (standard Euro-D&D) and Jade (Asian D&D) sets. Oh, and I've made a few updates based on the past year of gaming with these rules to both the Jade and Ruby Players Rules books and the Bestiary & Treasury books. 

If you've already downloaded them, you might want to get the updated versions. There aren't many changes, but some mistakes have been fixed and a few things have been modified.

Projects Old and New

I've managed to finish up the semester, so I should have some free time over the next two months to get some gaming projects advanced, along with preparing my next academic research project for work. If any of y'all are thinking that teachers get to laze around all summer vacation, you're wrong. We've got stuff to get done before classes start up again in the fall. 

I've gotten some feedback on my TS&R Game Master Guidebook, but other things have been keeping me from getting to the final edit of that. I will be getting it, and the Rules Reference books for both Ruby and Jade, up on DriveThruRPG soon. 

The GMG is designed for game masters new to running games, or at least new to old school style exploration-focused gaming, including advice on running the game and creating adventures/campaigns, and optional or alternate rules. The RR books are a condensation of just the charts and rules that an experienced GM needs to run the game at the table. Other than having a few areas specific to the classes/races/spells of Ruby (traditional D&D) and Jade (Asian fantasy D&D), the RR books are nearly identical.

I also had a bit of an epiphany this evening, and started working on a framework for a 2nd edition of Flying Swordsmen, but using the Open d6 system rather than a Classic D&D system. I think it will work out better this way. The way actions in-game determine Character Points earned, and the way Character Points are used to develop Skills, will help give it that feeling of training up your martial arts. Having earning CP tied to upholding the Code of the Xia (act with courage, benevolence, loyalty, righteousness, and individuality) should help drive the emergence of wuxia style stories through game play. One problem with Flying Swordsmen 1E is that the mechanics allow for cool action scenes, but don't support the sorts of drama that set wuxia media apart from simple martial arts media. 

I think the basic mechanics are sorted out. I have my list of six Abilities, and what they govern. I need to decide on the actual lists of Skills under each Ability. I have several Powers that PCs (and NPCs!) can learn, and each will have a basic use, and Techniques that can be added as more dice are gained. Similar to the Force Skills in Star Wars d6, templates will have to put Ability Dice into Powers, but after that Powers will be improved with CP just as with Skills. New Techniques can be added with each full die gained in a Power. 

I think the Techniques will be sort of like feat trees, with prerequisites of either a certain number of dice in the Power, or certain lower level Techniques learned first. This will cover things like light step, Qi, divination, or straight up magic. I should probably get a hold of d6 Fantasy before I get too far into designing Techniques to see how they balance wizards compared to how SW balances Jedi. 

Once I've got the Skills and Techniques sorted (or at least a good first iteration of them), I'll create some templates of common wuxia archetypes and see how they look. 

I have no idea how much of this I might get done over this summer break, but I will keep you all posted! 

The Planes, Boss, The Planes!

I've got the draft of the TS&R Game Master Guidebook edited and formatted. I've sent a segment to a friend who's never run a game to review. If he says the initial advice on how to run a game is good and easy to understand, I'll release the book. If he says it's confusing, I'll spend a bit more time revising. 

Today, I'd like to share an excerpt here. I've taken a different approach to the Outer Planes than Gygax. No Great Wheel in my games. My conception is a lot closer to Mentzer's in the Masters and Immortals sets, which is probably no surprise, but unlike Frank, I really don't care how many square miles or how many planets are in an Outer Plane. I'm not trying to quantify things for Immortals level play. Outer Planes in my conception have always been a mix of mythological afterlife realms and dreamscapes. The ones I've listed here are primarily from myths and legends, a few from more recent fictional works, and a few just from my own imagination. Of course, even the ones from myths and legends have my own takes on what those places might be like. 

Example Outer Planes

The following are examples drawn from myths, fiction, and the author’s imagination. These are not fully fleshed out ideas, merely springboards for each GM to get started creating their own Outer Planes.

Avalon: This plane appears to be a mist-shrouded island, or island chain, with plentiful apple trees. It may be a small plane, or one that is recursive; explorers are not yet sure. Time flows 100 times more slowly on Avalon than on the Prime. It is ruled over by a trio of Enchantress Powers, and they seek to gather great heroes from the Prime, and send them back later when they are needed to deal with a great threat.

Battle World: This plane consists of a single planet in a vast empty void. The planet is made up of a patchwork of bits and pieces from various Prime and Alternate Prime worlds. It is a place of constant battle, with creatures from the various worlds that make up the Battle World, and planar creatures from all over the multiverse constantly engaged in conflict. It is ruled over by a distant and mysterious Power known only as One Beyond All Others. Legends claim that if one faction ever gains complete victory, the faction’s leader will be able to overthrow One Beyond All Others.

Dawn Lands: This plane consists of a variety of planets, each mirroring a prehistoric era. Some planets may contain an anachronistic mix of prehistoric eras. Pre-Cambrian sea creatures, dinosaurs, and Pleistocene beasts roam the various worlds, along with neanderthals and other primitive humanoids. A pantheon of Powers called the Lords of Time rule.

Divine Path: The Divine Path consists of three interconnected planes. Each is an afterlife realm, where spirits of the dead gather, and planar beings serve the Powers of each plane. From the Astral, travelers must first enter Inferno, then travel through Purgatorio, before begin allowed access to Paradiso, if worthy.

Inferno: This lower plane is a huge subterranean cavern of eight concentric rings descending to the central circle. On each circle, the souls of those who failed to live up to their religious obligations are punished by devils. It is ruled over by the Chaotic Power Luferno, who is frozen in the bottom circle.

Purgatorio: This gray and dismal plane is a series of seven mountains, each taller than the last. On each mountain, souls of those who were indifferent to their religious duties toil and struggle to purify themselves, lorded over by yugoloths. The plane is ruled by the Neutral Power Beatria, who washes away memories of the souls after their penance is served.

Paradiso: This bright, cloud-skirted mountain rises high to a glowing sun-like light at its peak, and is divided into seven levels. On each level, angels tend to the souls of those who performed religious duties faithfully. The upper plane is ruled by the Lawful Power Trinity, who resides atop the mountain.

Dragon Mountain: In the midst of a vast, endless sea, a great mountain rises up so high, it can be seen from anywhere within the sea. In fact, boats that turn toward the mountain always find it within a day’s sail, no matter how many days they have sailed away from it. The mountain consists of a variety of biomes, each corresponding to those preferred by various dragons. Gold and bronze dragons live along the coast, blue and brass in the dry plains that slope up from the coast, green and black in the forests and swamps on the far side of the arid slopes, copper and silver on the lower slopes, and white and red on the highest peaks. The planar dragons are the Powers, with Tiamat (Chromatic) and Bahamut (Platinum) ruling over the mountain, while Demodragon rules over caves deep within the great mountain.

Halls of the Ancestors: This is the afterlife realm of a shamanistic religion. It appears as a land of wild forests and hills, rocky coasts and narrow seas. The world contains scattered settlements of primitive design, populated by the spirits of deceased ancestors living in harmony with various celestial animals and spirit creatures. Around one in one hundred settlements contains a pyramid, temple complex, or great feast hall made of stone. The Neutral Power that rules the plane is the Great Spirit, a being that is an amalgam of ancestral spirits from long ago. Each spirit residing on the plane hopes to one day join with the Great Spirit.

Heavenly Palace of the Jade Emperor: Numerous rounded mountain peaks arise from a sea of cloud on this upper plane, which may stretch on to infinity. Those that fall into the cloud ocean may end up in a lower plane. The highest, “central” peak contains the Palace, where the Power August Jade Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi rules over the workings of the universe. A host of celestials, immortals, and powerful spirits serve as the emperor’s bureaucrats and army. Each lesser peak hosts a bureau or division of the Celestial Bureaucracy, overseeing some facet of nature or civilization on the Prime. Messenger spirits constantly flit form peak to peak on cloud chariots. This Lawful plane is highly organized, and efficiency is prized.

Land of Milk and Honey: Within a landscape of arid hills and plains, a large, lush, fertile valley containing a huge lake sits surrounded by rugged cliffs. Natural springs, both hot and cold, feed the lake. The water is always pure and sweet, and each dawn bread appears on the ground and can be collected by the residents. The trees and plants are always bearing ripe fruit, and the bees that flit constantly here and there never sting. This ideal land of plenty is ruled over by a Lawful Power residing in a nearby volcano named Iam. Iam does not allow any spells that cause damage to function on the plane, and all weapons brought to the plane are transformed into innocuous tools or other items until they are taken away from the plane. Time does not pass on this plane in comparison to the Prime or other planes, no matter how long one stays.

Lands of Nowhere and All: This Chaotic plane is constantly in flux, and no two regions are the same. In fact, no region stays the same for very long. Some mortals on the Prime believe that this plane is just a dream, as the sensation of impermanence on the plane mirrors that of many dreams. The Power that rules this plane is often called Dream Master, but the real name and real form of the Power is a mystery. Demons and other lower planar creatures abound on this plane, but there are other creatures, even some upper planar ones, to be found amid the eternal flux.

Mt. Sumeru: This great world-mountain is made up of ninety-nine levels, rising to an upper planar paradise of oneness with the multiverse known as Nirvana. It is unknown whether Nirvana is sentient or not, but it seems to be the Power of the level, or else the hidden Power resides as part of Nirvana. Each level is populated by an assortment of angels, devas, immortals, and sacred spirits. The levels all have various characteristics that are intended to reward the just, but also to prepare souls for reincarnation and rebirth. It is a fantastic land, gaining in oddness and beauty as one ascends the levels of the mountain.

Naraka: Known as the Ten-Thousand Hells, this lower planar region is a place of torment and suffering, but one that is designed to purify souls of the deceased so that they may be reincarnated and live again. Whether or not there are actually 10,000 levels to this plane is left to each GM, but it is vast, with each level devoted to a different type of punishment for different types of sins or crimes. Souls of different races have their own levels of punishment within Naraka. Each level has its own Power, with each known as a Yama (Hell King).

Olympia: Three outer plane levels form an afterlife realm ruled by a pantheon of Powers called the Olympians. Their palace sits atop the great mountain Olympos, on a continent of cloud above the levels.

Elysium: Residing “above” the other levels, this idyllic grassland is the Lawful realm where great heroes’ spirits reside after their death. While none of the natives of Elysium are hostile, creatures from the other realms appear from time to time, and the hero spirits dust off their arms and face them, or allow visiting mortals to take care of the deeds so they may rest.

Oceanus: Residing “between” the other levels, this vast ocean is a Chaotic realm of deep seas and small islands. Most of the plane’s residents are found beneath the surface, in great palaces and cities. Monsters abound on this level, both beneath the waves and on the islands.

Hades: Residing “below” the other levels, this great cavernous realm is a Neutral realm of the dead. Those who were wicked in life are punished with poetic justice, while those who simply lived their lives exist as shades with only faint memories of their former lives. The realm is a vast storehouse of treasure, but monsters and lower planar creatures abound.

Pits of Tartarus: The cosmic prison, a truly bottomless pit where overthrown Powers are chained and bound, or forced into eternal slumber, is a colossal tunnel digging deep down a twisting path into jagged rock faces. Ledges and caves dot the walls of the endless drop. This dark lower plane is ruled by the Lawful Power Cronus, who manipulates time itself to keep other Powers incarcerated in the Pits. Because of Cronus’ temporal powers, visitors may find time passing extremely slowly or quickly compared to time on the Prime. This makes visits to Tartarus risky affairs.

Realm of the Thirteenth Night: This lower plane is an endless void of howling winds and dark storm clouds pierced with pinkish-purple lightning. There is no ground, and those without flying or levitation ability will be tossed about at random by the winds. Winged demons, shadow creatures, and other horrors stalk this vast plane, which is ruled over by a Chaotic Power known as The Witch of Storms.

Sheol: This afterlife lower plane is the location where all souls without another place to go end up after death. It is a dark and hopeless domain, and nothing can break the constant silence. While most souls that end up in Sheol are simply bound here for eternity, the Neutral Power Tan-Golath who rules the plane will punish those that were particularly evil or who try to escape by throwing them into the Lake of Fire.

The Bottomless Dungeon: This entire plane is a seemingly endless dungeon. Some sections are worked dungeon, others seem to be natural caverns, but there is no exit and no bottom. Within the dungeon are settlements and shops, lairs and tombs, and everything else one might expect from the ultimate mega-dungeon. There are creatures, traps, oddities, and of course treasures strewn throughout the depths, but often no rhyme or reason for the contents of this bizarre plane. A Neutral Power known only as the Master rules over the expansive dungeon universe. GMs wanting to use this plane should develop many random tables to fill sections of the plane as it is explored. Standard dungeon stocking takes too long.

The Cosmic Ocean: This plane is a hollow sphere consisting of an ocean surrounding a crystal that glows like the sun for 12 hours then like the moon for 12 hours each day. The plane is 10,000 miles in diameter, with gravity pushing outward from the central crystal. Weather varies from region to region, with “sunny” weather in one area and raging typhoons in another. The ocean surface has many small islands, floating raft towns, and the like, as well as many vessels of all ages and descriptions sailing it. The undersea realm is also active, with multiple nations of mermen, sahuagin, and other undersea beings. Creatures from the Prime oceans as well as the Plane of Water and upper planar creatures of aquatic type can be encountered on this plane. The Chaotic Power Nautolus rules this maritime upper plane, and Nautolus can be vengeful if angered or not given due respect from residents and visitors.

The Cyclopean Forests: Everything native to this endless primeval forest plane is scaled twelve times larger than on the Prime, so visitors to the plane act as if under the effects of a potion of diminution. This also includes astral projections that visit the plane. The GM should populate the plane with gargantuan versions of normal creatures, but with normal numbers appearing for the creature type. A trio of Powers rule this land: Arda, Lawful ruler of the land, Urda, Chaotic ruler of the waters, and Erda, Neutral ruler of the skies.

The Grey Wastes: This Chaotic lower plane is a dull, sterile, dusty wasteland, where only sparse, wilted plants and twisted dead trees occasionally dot the landscape. Jagged slivers of rock protrude from the broken ground, and dust constantly blows through the gray skies. Demons and devils of all sorts may be found here, ruled over by the Power Agransh the Witch-Queen, a powerful demon lord.

Tir-na-nOg: The Land of Youth is an upper plane paradise, a land of eternal youth, vigor, and plenty. It is a land of low, rolling hills, vast forests, and flowery meadows ruled over by a pantheon of Powers known as the Tuatha De Danann. The number three is sacred in this plane, and things often appear in trios. Visits to this plane invariably last three hours, three days, three years, or three centuries, although time here is not connected to time on the Prime. Travelers here may face many adventures. While this is an upper plane, it is one where many monsters may roam. Druidic magic works normally on this plane, but clerical magic may not function or may misfire when spells are cast.

This plane may be divided into levels if the GM likes, but the borders are hazy and it is easy to slip from one to another. Some of the regions that may be considered levels include Tir fo Thuinn (the Land Under the Wave), the Island of Lir, Mag Mel (the Plains of Delight), and Idathach (the Place of Colors). Each region or level will have its own alignment, but Tir-na-nOg overall has a Neutral, bordering on Chaotic, alignment. The magical horses of Manannan Mac Lir allow mortals to cross physically into this plane.

Yggdrasil: The cosmic World Tree of Yggdrasil is a set of ten interconnected outer planes. The cosmic tree itself forms the initial level of the planar group, with other planes accessed from its roots, trunk, or branches. The Norns, three sisters of fate, are the Powers of Yggdrasil. The Tree is the home of many monsters and several unique creatures, and residents of the other levels traverse it often.

The roots of Yggdrasil connect to:

Niflheim: The cold, misty abode of the Power Hel. This is the land of the dead who die from disease or old age, and Hel’s fortress is said to hold vast treasures. Demonic giants called thurs and goblinoids are common in this realm.

Svartalfheim: This is the cosmic underground realm of dwarves and goblins, ruled over by the Power Ivaldi. It is also known as Nidavellir. The residents of the plane are famous as craftsmen of magic items, but fierce dragons also inhabit the realm.

Ginnungagap: A great void, a plane of dark nothingness from which magic springs. The Power that rules over this realm is unknown.

The middle branches of Yggdrasil connect to:

Jotunheim: The cold, mountainous plane of frost giants, ruled over by the Power Mimir, a secretive being of vast knowledge.

Midgard: A realm similar to the Prime in appearance, with many fjord-carved islands, dark forest, and rugged mountains. It is ruled over by the Powers Jord (goddess of the land), Sol (goddess of the sun), and Mani (god of the moon).

Muspelheim: A fiery realm of fire giants and red dragons, ruled over by the Power Surt. This is the home of many monsters and giants who want to conquer and destroy the other realms of Yggdrasil.

The upper branches of Yggdrasil connect to:

Asgard: A realm of gold and beauty, ruled over by a pantheon of Powers known as the Aesir. This realm includes the Hall of Valhalla, where those slain in battle await the final conflict with the giants of Muspelheim and Jotunheim, and the monsters of Niflheim.

Ljosalfheim: The cosmic forested realm of the elves is ruled over by the Powers Erlking and Erlqueen. The elves of this realm are magical craftsmen, and rivals to the dwarves of Svartalfheim.

Vanaheim: A land of wild, untamed nature, ruled over by the pantheon of Powers known as the Vanir. This lush land appears as an idealized counterpart to the Prime, and many wild creatures live there.

Progress Continues on TS&R

The revision/editing of my Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Game Master Guide is going well. I'm about 2/3 through the draft. Last Friday, I made a copy of the file in order to pare it down to a table reference book. That will include all the useful charts and procedures (how to manage an exploration turn, combat round, etc.) and that includes stuff from the players books and monster books, too. 

The GMG is targeted at GMs who are new to RPGs or at least new to OSR style game play. It's got lots of explanations of how to run things, why to run them that way, and examples. Honestly, it could probably use more examples, but I've been working on it long enough. It's not perfect, but it should be good enough. 

The companion book, which I think will be called Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Rules and Procedures, will be for the experienced GM. I plan to make it as short as possible, but a useful reference while preparing dungeons/adventures, and also while running things at the table. Experienced DMs don't need to leaf through pages of explanations and examples at the table. They need just the facts, Ma'am. 

I'm around 2/3 through the GMG draft, so if things keep up, I should be done with it soon, and ready to format the book for release. The R&P book should be a pretty quick thing to slap together, since it's just a collection of the useful charts, tables, and rules for play. 

I've been putting off a few blog post ideas I've got the past two weeks. For one thing, my mother is in the hospital and it was pretty serious, but she's recovering, so that's one load off. There's been a bit of work-related frustration as well. Not quite drama, but just annoying bureaucratic BS that we need to deal with. But I think that's mostly blown over as well. And we're rolling up on the end of the semester, so that's just generally busy. Oh, and despite all of the above, I've actually been gaming a bit too much. We played CoC last Friday evening, and I just ran my Jade campaign this afternoon. S&S board gaming on this upcoming Thursday holiday or possibly delayed until next Sunday, which is also when Dustie wants to resume her Monster of the Week (a PbtA X-Files/Stranger Things type game). And a friend of a friend has a brand new home-brew game they want to play test in two weeks. 

I also still haven't play tested my mass combat rules for TS&R with actual other people yet, so I should probably do that soon. I'd like to give them a run through with some other people. Even though they're just modifications to Mentzer's Companion Set War Machine rules, I want to make sure I haven't screwed anything up with them in my tinkering. 

Plus, it might be fun to just stage a little war game scenario for the group. I just need to find the time!

d6-y Time

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the release of Star Wars (what the kids today know as Episode 4: A New Hope) in theaters back in 1977. And yes, I'm running another session of my Star Wars d6 game. The players from my May the Fourth game are returning, and two more players are showing up. Richard is our Call of Cthulhu Keeper, and recently joined my TS&R Jade game. Randy is a friend who's been interested in getting into RPGs, but had a new baby late last year so hasn't had much time for gaming until recently. 

The d6 system, in its more generic form, was on my mind recently. I actually woke up from a dream yesterday in which I was modifying the system to create a Mabinogion/Irish Myth based fantasy game. I've never played, or even read, the official d6 Fantasy game that came out 20-some years ago, but in my dream I was coming up with a list of skills for magic: enchantments, transmutations, illusions, etc.

Then I come across Tim Brannan talking about Star Wars d20 and mentioning how he prefers those rules to WEG d6, and also Weregrognard talking about WEG d6 Star Wars and the d6 System in general. So it seems to be a bit of a mini-topic these days. 

About 10 years ago or so, when Jeremy Hart and I were gaming together more actively than we are these days, he often talked about wanting to run something with Mini Six, the slimmed down d6 System game. But then he'd run something else, home brewed or Black Hack, or something interesting he'd found and wanted to try. So we never got that Mini Six game going. But at that time, it did get me to download Open d6 and I did really like what I saw in it. 

In fact, I've considered making a 2nd edition of Flying Swordsmen using Open d6! I had fun playing Dragon Fist for a bit when it came out nearly 25 years ago, and had fun with FS for a while, but honestly, it's not the best fit for a long term wuxia style game. With the bell curve results of a totaled die pool, the flexibility to determine what attributes and skills are in the game, and the lesser focus on tactical placement and more on descriptive engagement with encounters, I honestly think it would be a better fit. OSR style mechanics are great for a game where exploration and acquisition, plus combat, are the key drivers of play. Good wuxia stories are about exploring relationships and social norms as much as they are about the martial arts combat. I think d6 would be a better fit, honestly. 

Finally, yesterday this YouTube video on various die rolling methods was recommended by the Almighty Algorithm. Now, before you click on it -- I am not the intended audience, and you, my reader, are most likely not as well. It seems to be pitched towards teens/tweens who are just getting into RPGs, based on the guy's content and his delivery. Why I mention it is that while he mentions the White Wolf style # of successes die pool system, he doesn't mention the WEG d6 die pool vs target number system. There are lots of other die systems he also neglects...like I said, the target audience seems to be kids just getting into gaming, not us old fogies. 

While I didn't learn anything from that video, it did get me thinking about the way that certain systems seem to promote different aspects of play. I'm currently involved in games using d20 for combat (TS&R, although it's got percentages, x/d6, and 2d6 roll mechanics as well, and Gamma World 4E), exclusively d% (Call of Cthulhu), and dice pool (WEG Star Wars) systems. 

The swingy d20 and d% systems are geared around exploration. TS&R (D&D) and Gamma World are about exploration of the setting. CoC is about exploration of mysteries. 

Dice pool systems like WEG (and what little I've played of WW d10 dice pool games) are more focused on telling an interesting story, or at least entertaining the players and allowing them a structure to immerse themselves in their character. I've used some dungeon crawling and wilderness hex-ploration in my Star Wars game from time to time, but for the most part the challenges I set up are situational, with a lot of if/then triggers, rather than site-based. The d6 Star Wars game was designed with this sort of play in mind, and I think it works really well to encourage that. 

Also, the way that the probabilities work out with a dice pool means that characters are a bit more consistent in performance than those using a flat distribution mechanic like d20/d%, although things like the Wild Die, losing dice for multiple actions, and opposed rolls do keep things interesting. 

I'd been thinking that after I finish revising/editing/formatting the TS&R Game Master Guidebook and editing it down to a Rules & Procedures table reference, I'd try my hand at another setting/genre set of players' book/monster book. Middle Eastern/Arabian Nights style gaming, or retro Sci Fi rockets & rayguns, maybe. Now, though, I'm wondering if maybe that Celtic Myth fantasy game or a revision of Flying Swordsmen, both with the Open d6 system, might catch my interest more.

First Draft Complete

I've finished the first draft of my Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Game Master Guidebook. Well, not technically the first draft, but the first completed draft. I made three or four abandoned starts at it before I got the book I wanted. And I've still got to write the Afterword. But pedantics (yeah, I know that's not a word) aside, the first complete draft is done. I've got all the explanations of game play, advice to the new (or new to OS game style) GM, game systems for dungeons, wilderness exploration, town adventures, domain administration including warfare, planar exploration, and high level epic quests. I've also got a fairly lengthy section on alternate or optional rules and suggestions for limitations or allowances to make the game fit the GM's campaign world and preferred style of exploration-focused play. 

I've got to get my notes organized for the next Star Wars game coming up in a week and a half, but after that's done, my game time will be devoted to reading carefully through this whole 128 page document and revising/editing. Then I'll format it, and I should have it up on DriveThru some time this summer. 

Once it's up, I'll also make a condensed Rules Reference book, with just the rules and system guidelines that can be easily used at the table, without all the explanations for new GMs. Experienced DMs who aren't curious about my gaming philosophy and don't want to bother with yet another explanation of how to play the game, but just want something to use to check the rules, this will be the book for you.

 I also want to do a few updates to both the Ruby and Jade players' books, based on play at my game table and also a few mistakes I've found here and there. And that will make TS&R complete...until I decide to add a Middle Eastern/African fantasy supplement, or a pulp sci-fantasy supplement, or a Pre-Columbian Americas supplement, or an Australian/Oceanian supplement. Potentially. I'm not as well versed in the myths, legends, or history of some of these other areas as I am with European and Easter/Southeastern/Central Asian myths, legends, and history. 

Anyway, it will be a complete fantasy heartbreaker soon.

More Star Wars (and other gaming) Coming

My May the 4th game went well, but I'd still like to try and get a few more people interested in the campaign. So I'm gonna try again. May 25th is the anniversary of the release of A New Hope, and it's also a Saturday. Perfect timing. 

I've got a very busy gaming schedule at the moment. Tomorrow evening, Richard is running his Call of Cthulhu game. Taking a cue from me, he'll be running it face-to-face instead of online. 

Sunday is my regular TS&R Jade game. For the past two sessions, the party has been trying to reach some dimension door portals in the Pits of Lao (the micro-mega-dungeon) to restore companions who were bitten by spectral hounds. They finally achieved that, and there are seven portals in that room, and they only know the destinations of two of them. There's also a lot more dungeon to be explored. But some players mentioned that they want to return to the 18 Chambers of Lotus Fist temple to continue clearing it out (that's where there met the hounds). So I have no idea how this session might play out! 

Wednesday next week is a public holiday (Buddha's Birthday), so I'll be heading down to my friend Adam's house to continue the Swords & Sorcery board game campaign. 

And then there will be Star Wars on the 25th. The 26th should be my next Jade game, too, but we'll see if my wife will allow me to spend that much time gaming on a weekend. Hopefully, she'll be busy with her badminton club! 

 As Wayne and Garth famously said, "Party on, Wayne!" "Party on, Garth!"

___________

In other news, I was watching a Bob Worldbuilder video on YouTube where he was praising the 5 Room Dungeon. For D&D, I find the format a bit too stiff, because it's purposefully made to mimic the rising/falling tension of a movie's five act structure. If you don't use the encounters in that order, you don't get that rising/falling tension, so why not just create a small dungeon as you like? And if you do the dungeon rooms in that order, it's railroady.

For Star Wars, however, I think it might work a bit better. The d6 game is designed to be "cinematic" and the modules I've looked at so far seem to be saying "Choo Choo, Motherfuckers!"

I may not go full on railroad with these adventures (my game the other day was set up as presenting the challenges, but not expecting any particular attempts at solutions), but the idea of an initial "guardian" encounter, followed by an unexpected complication, then a trap/setback/lateral thinking challenge, then a confrontation, and finally a reward or twist seem reasonable for a cinematic style game. 

Of course, I won't force the plot on the characters, and I'll give them plenty of opportunity to flip the script or make an end run to skip stuff, but for my notes, having a chain of encounters set up for the most passive play style seems handy. I can riff off of that when the players go "off script."

Alright, time to decide what exactly the next adventure should be about! I've got an idea involving the death of Jabba the Hutt. The campaign started shortly before the Battle of Hoth, and it's probably been going on long enough that they're coming up on the Battle of Endor (not that the players have ever had much interest in joining the Rebellion).

Combat As War

 On Sunday, I was running my TS&R game, and the party was exploring more of the mini-mega-dungeon. They were basically looking at their map, and trying to fill in gaps on the 1st level. 

The party consists of: 

Koles' Human Wu Jen 4 and henchman Holes' Human Wu Jen 1 (my son Flynn's characters)

Citizen Snips Human Blade Mage 4 and henchman Niko Human Fighter 1 (my son Steven's characters)

Fei Mao Crane Hengeyokai Kensei 4 and henchman Snakebite Human Mudang 2 (Denis' characters)

10 Bad Habits Koropokuru Yakuza 4 and henchman Savage Poko Raccoon Dog Hengeyokai Fighter 1 (Justin's characters)

4 Men-at-Arms, wearing leather armor with axes and short bows. 

They returned to the Underground Garden and bought some fruits, vegetables, and flowers from the treants that tend the garden. They made peaceful contact with some tengu and got a tip that it might be possible to get some swordsmanship training at the tengu encampment south-west of town (I need to flesh out that spot on the map now!), fought some astral projecting evil spirits called berbalang and got some treasure, discovered a secret door that led to one of the areas they'd explored in the previous sessions where a black bear was snacking on dead goblin rat and giant rat corpses (they used some purchased fruits and flowers to discourage the bear from following as they retreated), and then they came to the first of several locked doors. 

10 Bad Habits picked the lock, and there was a short corridor with another door. He was unable to pick this one, so they bashed it in after listening and hearing nothing. 

This was a subsection of the level that has been taken over by bandits as their lair. And a random roll showed me that no bandits were in the common area, but that there were 60 bandits plus their leader, a 3rd level Xia (martial artist/monk) in other rooms of the lair. The bandits were in three rooms, 20 per room, and the leader in his quarters.

Bashing the door made noise, but a surprise roll gave the players time to set up their forces. There were four doors into the common area that they could hear unlocking. They arranged their men-at-arms in the center of the room to fire arrows, and each pair of PC and henchman took a different door.  Koles' and Holes' weren't next to a door, but they had spells prepared for the door the others hadn't covered. 

When the bandits opened their doors, Koles' used phantasmal force to make the floor lava, and after 20 saving throws, all but three thought they were being incinerated and fell unconscious to the floor, as the arrows from the men-at-arms eliminated two more bandits in the 'lava' room. 

Holes' turned to use his sleep spell at the southern door where 10 Bad Habits & Poko were waiting, and his sleep spell took out nine more bandits. 10 Bad's backstab missed, unfortunately, as did Poko's attack. 

Meanwhile, Fei Mao used his Sweep ability to attack four times against 1HD opponents, and took out three of the 20 in the room he and Snakebite were at, while Snakebite went defense mode to avoid taking massive damage. 

Finally, at the leader's door, Niko hit the leader with his magari-yari +1 doing some decent damage, and Snips used cause fear to make him run back  into the room and cower. 

With their leader running in fear and half their forces eliminated before they knew what was happening, I rolled morale for the bandits and they failed. They surrendered, and were all tied up. 

One 4th level party took out an encounter with five times their numbers without taking a scratch. And the bandits had a Type A treasure, which was mostly jewelry and art objects, so it was easy to transport back to town with their captives. The treasure from the berbalangs and the bandits was around 34,000gp, so everyone but the Blade Mage leveled up, and Niko the henchman is 1xp shy of 3rd level due to the rule on gaining only one level per adventure. 

And now that they have access to the bandits' secret entrance to the dungeon and that easy to seal off section of the dungeon, the players are thinking to convert that to their dungeon delving base. 

This was much more fun and exciting than if it had been a 5E style "balanced encounter" with just a handful of bandits attacking at a time. Oh, and for anyone wondering how fair it would have been if the party had discovered this area while they were 1st level, the bandits aren't killers. They would have used non-lethal attacks, disarms, overbearing, etc. to try and capture the party and demand ransom from town if that had happened. I don't mind it when PCs die in my game, but I'm not out to kill them. That's just too easy.

TS&R GM Guidebook Progress

In the past week or so, I've made some good progress on my TS&R Game Master Guidebook.

I finished up rules for naval mass combat (modified and simplified from those in the module M1 Immortal Storm), wrote some general guidelines for high level epic quests, and revised the section on artifacts. I still need to write up some more sample artifacts. I had an example of creating an artifact from an earlier draft, so that got a touch-up, and I have a list of legendary items from various myths and legends that I plan to give the 1E AD&D treatment, describing the item and its purpose, but leaving the specific powers and drawbacks to the individual GM. 

Oh, and now I'm working on describing the Planes of Existence. 

Once I get the artifacts and planar stuff done, all I have left to do is outline some optional or alternate rules (like suggestions for different ways to do energy drain attacks, or using X in d6 for Thief Skills instead of percentages, or optional rules for multiclassing, or using BX/BECMI style race-as-class). I do have 1st drafts for some parts of this last section done already, as the ideas come to me. 

Once that's done, I was planning to put in a section with quick reference charts from around the book, but I realized that I already intend to release a simple rules reference book for more experience GMs, so this might not be necessary. It would be roughly the same thing, and since the majority of people will own these as PDFs, it might be easier to have quick reference stuff in one document window and more detailed rules explanations in another. 

Once all that's done, I'll give everything an editing pass, and see if I can get someone else to read through it as well. Sometimes I get to rambling and over-explain things, or make an assumption that some point is obvious and don't explain it well enough. When I'm teaching in class, I can tell from student reactions that this is happening and correct myself. When I'm writing, I don't have that luxury. So a pair of fresh eyes or two will help me to improve and clarify things a bit. 

The book chapters are: 

The Basics: what is an RPG, how do you use these funny dice, what is the reward-feedback loop, player-centered play, etc.

Running the Game: How to manage character creation, how to manage a game session, procedures for dungeon/wilderness/town-social exploration, rules for combat, advice on adjudicating rules.

Preparing the Campaign: How to set up a campaign, create a home town, create dungeons, wilderness, NPCs and factions, and how to bring it all together into a campaign world.

High Level Games: Running domains, mass combat, magical research, epic quests, planar adventures, artifacts. 

Modifying the Game: Advice on limiting races/classes/spells to fit the campaign, optional rules, alternate rules systems. 

If I can keep up the pace over the next week (the final week of winter break for my university), I may be able to knock out the first drafts of the sections I still have to write. Then, if I can find a few people to give me some feedback, I will hopefully get this thing ready to release sometime over the summer or fall of this year, along with the Rules Reference book. And then I can consider compiling everything I've put out for TS&R into a print-on-demand volume, and also work on player and monster books for other genres besides Euro-fantasy and Asian fantasy.

Price Discrepancies

I'm continuing to work on the GM Guide for TS&R. I'm at the Dominion Management section now. I've never really come up against the prices for stronghold construction in the Expert Set/Rules Cyclopedia before, but while putting my version together (including some Asian style architecture and a few other things that I thought should be added), I checked out both the 1E DMG and the 2E Stronghold guide (one of the splatbooks...which I could only find in a fan-edited OCR version, not a scanned original PDF) and there are some big differences! 

The BX/BECMI prices are generally a lot higher for most buildings compared to 1E. 2E goes a bit overboard IMO with a whole formula to calculate the type of terrain, climate, vegetation, available materials and workforce. So instead of a simple price list, there's a (badly formatted in the version of the book I found) table with lots of numbers that seem all over the place. It may be a list of prices for the example castle they present. It doesn't seem very usable to me. Maybe if I had the original version with proper formatting, it would make more sense. 

Anyway, this leaves me with BECMI and 1E for my sources (and I suppose I could look at 3E+...but nah). 

For the construction costs, I stuck to the numbers I know. It's more expensive, but castles and other strongholds should NOT be cheap. 

However...in addition to structure costs, the Companion Set (and RC) have a list of monthly wages for various retainers and officials for your stronghold and the domain at large. Some of these seem very overly priced to me these days, and others are comically underpriced. Really, the Seneschal of the castle, the most important person you can hire, only gets Mercenary pay rates? Assuming it's a human knight (heavy horse), you only need to pay 20gp per month for this official. Meanwhile, the guard captain gets 4000gp per month. Say what? 

1E doesn't actually provide listings for these sorts of officials, from what I've found so far. Maybe it's in a sourcebook I haven't looked at, or a Dragon Magazine article somewhere (I don't have the archive...maybe I should track that down). So I had to just adjust the numbers to something I thought was more fitting. Every official I list is given a price to hire them, and most have had significant reductions from the Companion Set numbers. 

When we were kids, first making our own strongholds, our PCs were already pretty wealthy for their levels (my cousin Ben was a bit of a Monty Haul DM when he ran games), so paying the prices in the book for the various retainers didn't seem so bad. Besides, as we got up into the high teens and low twenties in level, we had copious amounts of treasure even without Ben giving out generous amounts. 

But if, going by the rules, a PC were to start a domain in a Wilderness or Borderland territory, it would take them a long time to build up the funds just from the domain income to hire many of these positions, so the money would have to come from adventuring spoils (as we did as kids). And going by the rates of treasure going to my group these days, by the time they reach Name Level, they will be spending most of their money on the strongholds, not leaving much for staff. So I feel fairly justified in reducing the staff costs. I may want to reconsider the construction costs as well... We'll see.