Keystone Treasure Examples

A while back I wrote about an idea for 'Keystone Treasures' or named items of value within a dungeon or wilderness that serve as hooks to get players interested in exploring.

The idea is that any dungeon should have a few special items--gems, jewelry, art objects, heirlooms, etc.--that can be used in rumors, as the object of 'quests' assigned by an NPC, or as the treasure hidden at the X on the treasure map.  Of course, magic items can also be used this way, but I'm talking about items of monetary value only, with no real use in further adventures.

I see them as basically a way to telegraph to the players a goal for their explorations.  Wanna level up?  Here's some phat loot that will garner you lots of XP.  Ignore the kobolds on the left and the five headed hydra on the right, go for the gold!

On the subway this evening, I pulled out my handy pocket notebook and jotted down the following names for some Keystone Treasures to put into my megadungeon's early levels.  I figure with 100-150 rooms on a level, about 10 per should be good, along with 5 or so permanent magic items. 

• Eye of the Frost Troll
• Baroness Lysette's Brooch
• Jewel of Vendredi
• Harun-Sha's Amulet
• Golden Calf of J'Sibob
• Edreal's Heirloom Mirror
• Green Goblet
• Coronette of Valegosh
• Dagmar's Mead Horn
• Serpent Idol of Toralesh
• Oberon's Emerald
• Ivory Bust of Pallas
• Jirto's Star
• Sacred Stone of Ravalpindi
• Royal Sword of Kel
• Dragon Mask of Brakis
• Mantle of Sir Bartolek
• Pearl of the Mist Dragon
• Sorcerer's Cauldron
• Lost Jewel of Nabooti
• Scepter of Olden Lords
• Caliope's Necklace
• Rainbow Gem
• Golden Apple of Hypernia
• Tooth of Glaurung
• Helm of the Chaste Knight
• Bracelet of Contessa Vey
• Glass of Sycorax

I haven't set values to any of these yet, but likely they'd all be priced high enough to get a standard group a fair way towards their next level.

Transylvania Map

Based on Castlevania II and III's locations outside the castle. 

Planned to come back and make a decent quality version that doesn't look like it was made with crayon (used Photoshop's 'parchment' texture and it came out this way) some day, but then gave up on the project. 

Still, it's functional for a small horror fantasy campaign centered around the megadungeon that is Dracula's Castle, with occasional side quests to various towns, forests, mansions, or other sites.

Non-Combat Gameplay, XP, etc. Follow-up

After all the posts about what should XP be awarded for, how it should be used to spur gameplay that matches what the DM and players want out of the game, and how at least D&D is set up to reward certain actions, I've come to this conclusion.

Let's start with our fictional missionary Cleric.  He's gone on his share of dungeon crawls and wilderness adventures.  He's faced some monsters, recovered some gold, and found a couple nice magic items in the process.  Maybe he's even made a bit of difference in the Grand Scheme of Things toward his church/deity's goals.

Now he wants to spend time converting the masses to his way of thinking.  He stops going on so many 'adventures' and focuses his time on building his congregation.

Should he receive XP for this?  I'd say in general, no.  If the player is having fun running the character that way, then by all means continue to do that.  And the character will reap in-game benefits such as wealth, power, prestige, and followers.  Those are the rewards for that sort of activity.

Now, I can see awarding XP for this if it becomes something the ENTIRE PARTY decides to devote their time to.  If the Cleric is out there preaching it, while the Fighters are protecting the flock, the Thieves are rooting out spies from other sects, and the Magic-Users are researching how to take down the avatar of the Chaos Frog God of the Swamps, then I can see awarding XP for it.

Otherwise, it's doubly rewarding divisive play.  It's great if everyone has personal goals for their character.  Maybe one Fighter in the group is recruiting a crew to go viking with him, while another is training to win the King's Joust and be knighted.  The Thief is working on building a network of contacts to create a rival Thieves' Guild.  The Elf is creating intentionally cursed armor and trying to come up with a scheme to get it to an enemy as a "gift."  The Halfling is searching for the perfect seeds to grow the best crop of pipeweed ever next season. 

But all of this should happen in the background, in solo sessions, or just as color.  Otherwise, everyone's sitting around the table bored while one character is being played, or everyone's fighting for the DM's ear to get their shot.

Actually, I can think of one instance where I would reward that sort of play where it's not the focus of the party.  It's if we're using the Arneson rules of spending your hard earned gold to convert it into XP.  If you spend it on that proselytizing then you get XP for it.

By all means roleplay it out.  That's, I think, the fun of the Arneson carousing rules.  Getting to roleplay out how you spend that gold to get XP adds lots of depth to the characters (or at least it can).

Then, I think, we could have the best of both worlds--adventurers focus on plundering ancient tombs and dragon hoards, then focus on their own personal goals once they've gotten those treasures out of the dungeons.

Thanks to everyone reading WaHNtHaC

Well, I'm up to 60 followers now.  And not that long ago, a good post of mine pulled in maybe 40 hits to the site.  These days, my poor posts are getting about that many reads, or at least quick views before clicking that browser back button, and the good posts are getting about double that.

So thanks to all of you reading this blog. 

All I'd ask is that you share the love.  If you see a new picture in that list of followers of mine, check out their blogs and see if you like them.  Knowledge is half the battle, after all!

Would a koala break immersion?

I had this great idea for a blog post yesterday, but forgot it before I had time to write it up.  So you got a half drunken ramble about how I dig the Castlevania games last night.

Waking up refreshed, I remember!

I was wondering why there aren't many Australian animals in the Monster sections of D&D products.  No kangaroos, no dingos (although the blink dog is described as dingo-like), no wombats, no cassowaries, no frill-necked lizards, no bandicoots, no Tasmanian devils.

The standard D&D milieu has a mix of European, Asian, African, North American, and South American animals.  You can find all kinds of animals from these five continents in a standard D&D wandering monster list, often jumbled together.

Monsters also range in source.  It's no problem to have a minotaur lair near a troll, with an oni (ogre mage) around the bend, and the PCs summon a djinni from a ring to help them battle all three.

Would throwing in a herd of blood-thirsty wallabies really harm immersion in that sort of setting?

And who wouldn't want to use a Giant Carnivorous Platypus in their game?

Giant Carnivorous Platypus
AC: 5 (15)
HD: 8*
Move: 90 (30)
Attacks: 2 claws
Damage: 1d4/1d4 plus poison
Save As: F4
Number Appearing: 1d4 (2d4)
Morale: 8
Treasure Type: C
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 1200

Giant Carnivorous Platypuses are 10' long, duck-billed, web-footed nocturnal monstrosities that live in rivers, lakes and dungeons.  They prefer to feed on giant insects, but savor the taste of human flesh as well.
A Giant Carnivorous Platypus attacks with its clawed feet, inflicting small amounts of damage, but the victim must Save vs. Poison or die in 1d6 rounds, writhing and screaming in agony the whole time.  Even those that pass the save will be unable to take any actions for 1 round as the poison burns through their veins.
Platypus bills, claws and pelts are sometimes prized by wizards for spell research.  It is rumored that the platypus is a combination of a duck, beaver, and scorpion by a crazed wizard.

Edit--forgot the number appearing!

October! Castlevania!

It'll be October 1 hour from now.*  That means Halloween is coming, and I've got that itch to replay the classic trio of NES Castlevania games. 

When I was a kid, I always loved Halloween more than Christmas.  Not only were the decorations wicked cool (ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, vampires, etc. beat out reindeer, elves, and a fat bearded guy in red), but you got to wear costumes and go around scaring people, and the school Halloween party we had in elementary school always resulted in lots of cool (if cheap) swag.

Then I got into RPGs.  Sorry Santa, you may have beaten the Martians, but the Monsters win the title.

Every October I get that itch to play the Castlevania games.  Something about the original three on the NES just really hit that sweet spot for me.  The first one is uber-tough, the second is not that hard at all, but is just fun to run around the map searching for all the goodies, and the third has a bit of difficulty and also tactical choices about which way to go and which allies to take and when to use them.  Of course, I love Symphony of the Night too, but those 8-bit games are what I think of when I think of Castlevania.  There's a reason I named my blog this way.

I'm also reminded of my success three years ago running Ravenloft (the original module) for my friends in Yamanashi.  That was a fun mini-campaign.  It was meant to be a one (maybe two) shot, but took us 5 sessions, I think.  Strahd won in the end, but it was a lot of fun getting there.

Man, I'm glad it's October!

*yes, this post is basically pointless

Endless Quest #3: Pillars of Pentegarn

"You are Jaimie, a young villager with a love for the enchanted forest that everyone else fears.  Will you find the secret power that now rules Castle Pentegarn?"  --from the back cover.

Endless Quest Book 3 is another Rose Estes authored tale, and it is a good, solid installment of the series, despite having both major flaws of the EQ series.  The 'you' in the book is an unseasoned kid, and you have not one but TWO talking animal sidekicks (and a treant, but it doesn't get to go on the adventure).

You, as Jaimie, are hanging out in the woods with the cleverly named Fox, Owl and Tree when some goblins happen to come along.  You hide from them, they throw a few spears into Tree and Owl, then go along their merry way chasing a group of adventurers you saw headed for the ruins of Castle Pentegarn.

Problem #1 with the book is that the first choice is not really a choice at all.  Do you wish to warn the adventurers or just go home?  I hate choices like this, as it's obvious that going home will lead to a quick ending.  It's a wasted page and a wasted choice.  I get the feeling Ms. Estes threw it in there just because there are so many pages of introduction before you get to the first real choice of the book.

Anyway, assuming you don't wuss out and run home like a baby, you go to the ruins and meet with kindly but weakling wizard and former king Pentegarn, his burly Fighter Baltek, and sexy Elven Thief Lydia.  You've got to get to the evil Master who rules the ruins (I don't think there's any relation to the Master of the Desert Nomads).  You're given your first real choice--follow Pentegarn's idea to get some powerful magic items, follow Baltek's idea to assault the keep, follow Lydia's idea to sneak up to the tower, or come up with your own idea.

One cool thing about the book is that several times you're given choices to fall back and pick another path if you think it's too dangerous to press on.  This gives the book a bit more of a 'sandbox' feel to it.

Also cool is that you have an actual adventuring party.  And there are several of different 'good' endings which allow for some of the companions to bite the dust along the way.  This contributes to the sandbox feel, and is just cool in general for a kids' book.  And it's very D&D.

The Master has a limited set of monsters at his disposal.  Goblins, Skeletons, Wolves and Bats.  It's on the cover so it's no surprise that there's also an animated dragon skeleton in the ruins as well.  With a limited palette of monsters, they can be a bit repetitive.  Especially as certain paths from different ways will converge, meaning you might end up reading the same encounter multiple times on what started as separate ways through.

Overall, despite its flaws, Pillars of Pentegarn is a good book, and a solid part of the series.  It's not quite as good as Dungeon of Dread, but it has an evocative and interesting setting, a good cast of mixed characters, a somewhat more free-form exploration feel, and some cool situations and ideas to plunder.  On the down side, you've got a child protagonist, two annoying talking animals (who thankfully seem to disappear in certain paths, at least until the ending), and a limited number of monster types to go up against.  I think the best way to use this book as a teaching tool for kids learning to play RPGs is in its value as a mini-sandbox, showing that it's okay to double back, retreat, and try other options.  It also shows some good strategies for tackling dungeons (attack, sneak, magic, or using wits).

Protagonist: A child who can talk to animals, develops some capability as the story progresses.
Sidekicks: A pair of bickering talking animals, one reckless the other dull.
Adventure: Moody and tense in many areas, but somewhat repetitive.
Artwork: Very good.  Elmore cover, and Harry J. Quinn interiors.
Endings: Varied, with multiple good endings.  Some are a little too easy to get to if you make the right choices, however.
Overall: Very Good