Doratas & Philosophia

 Another thing I did during my quiet time was create a game...kinda.

I've always wanted to write/create a roleplaying game.  I've never had the discipline nor the imagination to do so.  I've had thoughts on how to heavily house rule something like White Box to fit a certain vision but I haven't got around to it for the reasons above.  So I cheated.  I hacked Lasers & Feelings.

Lasers & Feelings is an ultra-lite game that has been hacked in nearly every way you can think.  It is very easy to modify and change to whatever genre you want.  Heck, there's actually a template where you can just fill in the blanks to make your version of the game.  So I did it.  See, cheating.  But at least I did something.  And it might help spur me on to other things.

Thus, I present a draft of Doratas & Philosophia (Spears & Philosophy).  It is a mashup of Mythical and Archaic Greece for the players and GM to use as their playground.

Click Here

I used several inspirations and resources.  Lasers & Feelings, of course.  I used used Template Hack for L&F and {{Blanks}} & [[Spaces]] to help me organize the document and make sure I didn't miss anything. I also looked to the L&F hack Glory & Gold and good old Mazes & Minotaurs to spark my imagination (i.e. plunder shamelessly.)

Outdoor Survival, Tolkien Style

 John Salway mentioned in a post that it would be interesting to see the Outdoor Survival map done in the style of a Middle Earth Tolkien map.  I did some poking around and it turns out that Ray Otus has created one.  Ray Otus is the author of one of my favorite RPG related blog posts, 1937 Hobbit as a Setting, and the nifty little game that resulted, There and Back Again.  His post and game inspired me to start muddling around with my Hobbit inspired setting.

Anyway, Gary Gygax suggested using the game board/map from Outdoor Survival be used in conjunction with the original version of D&D.  So it has a long connection with RPGs.  Ray posted the map and wrote about how he created it here.  And this is what he came up with:

 

Mini Six: Bare Knuckle Edition

I'm often oblivious to things happening in the gaming world.  I'll get focused on one or a small handful of games to the exclusion of all others, even favorites.  Well, that has happened again.  AntiPaladin Games came out with a new version of Mini Six.  Eight months ago!  And Ray Nolan, the author, has been working on it and talking about it for at least a year!  Talk about head in the sand.

So what's different?  Mini Six: BKE is non-OGL.  It is not a complete game.  It is intended to be used as the basis for others to build their games on.  Thus, there is a lot left out like the mini settings.  And there is some changes.  I haven't read it yet so I'm not sure what has changed.  I'm still surprised there is a new version.

You can find it free at the AntiPaladin Games website.

Perilous Shores Hexcrawl Campaign

It's been quite a while since I've written anything here.  But there's always something going on in my head.  (Be afraid.  Be very afraid!)  Here's one of the things I've been pondering.

I've mentioned the online map generator Perilous Shores before.  It is a really useful tool then and I really like it.  Well, it keeps getting better.  Watabou, it's creator, keeps adding features that improve it and make it more flexible.  He also has several different generators including a village generator, a city generator and a one page dungeon generator.  All of which have options to customize and/or modify the output.

One of the really cool improvements to Perilous Shores is that Watabou connected the other generators to the map maker.  So, if you want to instantly create a village that is on the map, you right click the village and you have the option to have the village generator create it.  The same for adventure sites and the One Page Dungeon generator.

This got me to thinking.  If you wanted to create a hexcrawl but were feeling lazy you could use the generators to get a head start.  In fact, if you combine it with other generators for NPCs and monsters you could create an entire hexcrawl pretty quickly.

Here's a short example:

This is the bare-bone beginnings for the Island of Storms hexcrawl using Watabou's generators.

First, I generate a map.  I'm going to make this a small map just for sake of example.

This entire map was created by the map maker, including names.  I did modify it.  As generated, it had a city but no adventure sites.  Being a small, isolated island, I didn't want it to have a city so I deleted it, leaving only the village of Crimson Gate.  I also added the two adventure sites so there would be places for characters to explore.  This is all menu driven so it's simple to do.

Next I created a players map.  I would only do this if I wanted the players to know the geography of the area.  The generator makes it easy to modify the map to hide the adventure sites and other features.

Second, I'll create the map of the village.

Then on to the adventure sites.

The information is automatically generated with the dungeon.  And it can be formatted in a couple of different ways.  This is just the default style.  However, if you want complete control over stocking the dungeon or want to use a different generator you can hide the descriptions and just have numbers.

Now the second dungeon.

The integration of the generators isn't perfect as you can tell by the description of the Haunted Vault.  It does not lie in the bend of a river.

It took me about ten minutes to put all of this together.  Now, I'll need to come up with some NPCs, stock the dungeons, create a wandering monster table for the island and I'm set to go.  Or as I mentioned, find generators to do this for me.  They are out there.

Inspiration for The Hobbit Inspired Campaign II: The Man Himself

Art created by J.R.R. Tolkien about The Hobbit:

Smaug and Bilbo.  One of my personal favorites.

A Hobbit Inspired Campaign V: System

I was debating whether to talk about system or the setting first.  I've decided to tentatively select a system because I believe it will help focus the setting creation.  And I can always change the system later if I'm not satisfied with the outcome.

For this exercise I am going to use White Box: FMAG with a few modifications.  This was a difficult choice.  I was sorely tempted by both B/X and The Hero's Journey.  But for simplicities sake I am going to go with White Box for now.  For the most part the changes will be plug-and-play.

Starting with base SW: FMAG I would make the following changes and additions.

From James Spahn' White Box Omnibus and Compendium I would add:

• Greenleaf Elf - Although elves are magical, some are more magical than others.  Greenleaf Elves do not command magic but are very attuned to the forest and have forest related skills.

• The Ranger - The Ranger would not use the magic option.  This class, as well as the Fighter, would represent the Woodmen.  I was also considering the Barbarian for this but went with the Ranger instead.

Other changes I would make:

• Remove Cleric.

• Elves would use the variant rules if they are not Greenleaf Elves.  They would use Clerical magic. I still need to decide whether they would use the Elf Variant spell progression or the Cleric Spell progression.  And I would lower the XP needed to reach second level to 4000.  Since Elves are not fading and disappearing into the west, I may let elves progress to the 10th level.  This is were White Box maxes out.

• Half-Elf - Though I can't quite figure out how to do it.  The one Half-Elf mentioned is Elrond and he seems like any other elf.  The Half-Elf classes I've seen aren't satisfactory.  They usually give the half-elf a single first level spell and some of the Elf abilities.  I might just make Half-Elves the same as elves.

• Berserker - If I can find a Berserker class that I like I will include it to represent the skin-changing Beornings.

• Experience Points - Ultimately, The Hobbit is a treasure hunt. And the characters get their hands on two hoards during their travels, the trolls' and the dragon's.  However, gold as XP doesn't necessarily feel right for a game based on the book.  I could either substitute or supplement the traditional system with one that rewards reaching goals, completing quests or being heroic or something like that.  The Hero's Journey has an experience system like this.

And a couple of house rules off the top of my head:

• Shields Shall Be Splintered! and Helms Shall Be Dented! (Also known as Helmets shall be sundered.)

• Though there is no mention of Plate Armor that I recall it will exist but will be rare and VERY expensive.

• Add Scale Armor -3 [+3]

• Max HP at 1st level.

This is what I have so far.  I may add more or change my mind on system completely.

Inspiration for The Hobbit Inspired Campaign

Art from the Swedish and Russian versions of The Hobbit.

Tove Jansson

Mikhail Belomlinsky