Post Easter Update

Just over one week to go on the OpenQuest Bundle of Holding. To repeat everything I’ve released for OpenQuest in pdf at crazy low prices that I’ll never be repeating.

Just noticed that Paul Mitchener’s  new 11 page mini-supplement for OpenQuest The Clockwork Palace has been added to the Starter OpenQuest bundle (which goes for $8.95 which is pretty much everything for OQ except The Crucible of Dragons which is in the Bonus Collection).

Also the updated OpenQuest Basic book, which now features full colour art, is in the Starter bundle (if you downloaded it previously through DriveThruRpg.com your file has been updated 🙂 ).

Also in case you missed them, I wrote some posts about the making of the various OpenQuest books to introduce them to people interested in the OpenQuest Bundle of Holding. More of these to come (I think Savage North is next on my list).

For those of you following the progress of Crypts and Things Remastered there will be an update later in the week, probably at the weekend (April 2nd-3rd). Lot of work being done in the background that isn’t quite pulled together yet, so that’s why I’m holding off saying anything for now.

 

Of Dragons Old & Original

Tim Kask writes on his blog of his involvement in the early days of Original D&D (Three Book) and how that transitioned to AD&D.  The following really struck home with me:

We all as DM’s created our own worlds in which things worked in certain ways. Don’t like psionics? Fine, they don’t exist in your world. Think that vampires as presented are too tough or not tough enough? OK, make them fit your world. Think something ought to work a certain way, or not work a certain way? No problem, they worked the way you felt “right” in your world.

I love this, I was an B/X & AD&D 1st kid brought up on early White Dwarf whose articles were originally written for OD&D (with the rather embarrassed note about how they had been updated for the new AD&D books), so it always struck me the early D&D stuff was a riot of fun, calmed down by the ‘you must do it this way’ attitude of AD&D. This article confirms that.

Read the full article here.

Crypts and Things Remastered Assembled!

I’ve finally edited all the new content (140 pages!) along side the existing Crypts and Things material (150 pages). Its a double the size of the 1st Edition, since as well as the revision of the existing rules, the backers of the Kickstarter voted with money to expand the content (five new character classes, new setting information etc).

So here’s the current break down by chapter of what’s going to be in the book.

This main rule-book is split into two parts, the Players’ Scrolls of Wonder and the Crypt Keepers’ Book of Doom.

The Scrolls of Wonder

Behold brave Heroes and Heroines emerge from the broken lands of the Continent of Terror to bring their own style of Freedom to the oppressed masses!

This first part of the book contains everything that the Players need to know to play their alter-egos in their adventures in the dying world of Zarth.

The first chapter details the process of Creating a Character.

Crypts and Things has nine Character Classes and this reference chapter, since it is used alongside chapter 1 above, details both the Core Character Classes of familiar Swords and Sorcery literature (Barbarians, Fighters, Sorcerers and Thieves) and the Exotic Character Classes (Beast Hybrid, Disciple, Elementalist, Lizard Person and Serpent Noble) which are inspired by Swords and Sorcery literature and the setting of Zarth.

Life Events is another reference chapter used alongside chapter 1, that has all the random tables needed to create characters with backgrounds and special abilities coming from their life history before they started adventuring.

If you are spell casting class (Sorcerer or Elementalist) you’ll want to refer to the Spell Lists chapter to see what magical powers your character has.

How to Play contains all the rules, such as Combat and Sanity, you’ll need to play the game. It outlines how the dice are used to resolve in game situations, when common sense roleplaying doesn’t quite get there.

The Continent of Terror is the Player’s overview of the setting. It may not be exactly what their characters know, since most of the characters come from areas which are isolated from the rest of the world, but it’s a quick orientation for the players so they have an idea of what the adventuring opportunities their characters may have.

The final chapter is What My Elder Told Me. These are questions and answers for each of the eight human cultures that the player characters typically come from. They are intended to give players a better understanding on how to roleplay their characters and hints of the wider setting background their characters come from.

The Book of Doom

Tremble mere mortals. This blasphemous knowledge is for the eyes of the Crypt Keeper only, for they are the Keeper of Secrets of the Sunless Vaults of Zarth.

This second part of the book isa collection of reference articles that helps the Referee of the game, The Crypt Keeper, run the game.

The first five chapters deal with setting information about Zarth’s Continent of Terror.

Secrets of the Continent of Terror is the Crypt Keeper’s setting chapter, which details

Dealing with Others is a short chapter on how the Crypt Keeper should deal with the issue of summoning the Demonic Others to Zarth.

The Greater Others and their Works details three of the Godlike Demons, their servants, cultists and associated Religions.

The five Scourges of the Dying World are player character Nemeses who can be used as reoccurring villains in your adventures.

Snake Dance is a chapter which details the Serpent Men, who can be seen as the major antagonists of the Continent of Terror, their history, their society and the ways that they attempt to enslave mankind.

The next two chapters deal with various game objects that the Crypt Keeper can used to populate their adventures.

A Compendium of Fiends is full bestiary chapter of XX creatures, monsters and opponents that crawl, gibber and slither under the Locust Sun of Zarth.

Ill Gotten Gains of Dark Desire starts off with a short article on Treasure generation and then goes on to detail fifty magical items of dubious power and dangerous nature.

The next three chapters present three different types of Adventure as working examples.

The Halls of Nizar-Thun is an introductory underground adventure taking place in a old sorcerer’s palace for beginning adventurers.

The Haunted Ground is a Weird lands adventure, where the characters explore a dark and twisted land in search of a kidnapped child.

Port Blackmire is a setting for City Based Adventures. This city state ruled by the Pirate Captain of a demonic pirate fleet, can be used by the characters as a place to rest up and sell treasure gained on adventures as well as being a source of its own adventures.

Finally Notes from the Abyss is a collection of short articles, random tables and lists of inspirational reading and listening material to help the Crypt Keeper in their job of running entertaining adventures for both themselves and the players.

I’ve got a final bit of self-editing to do and then its all off to others to proof read. Estimated time of arrival end of March 🙂

D101 and the Old School in 2016

I’m going to be doing my traditional State of D101 Games later in the week. However fresh from taking two weeks off for Christmas/New Year, I arose this morning and made two proclamations about our traditional fantasy games.

First off the latest state of play with Crypts and Things

Then what my plans are for OpenQuest in 2016.

Here’s some new stuff to look at, one of the latest batch of fantastic Crypts and Things art , the insidious Serpent Noble by David M. Wright.

Serpent Noble - Ink - DMWright-for-web

A Jam of OSR Goodness

At Last….. Vegas, Adventures in Jam. It started off as pisstake of the most fabulous excuse that came out of the very very late James Wallis’ Alas Vegas Kickstarter , an almost non-update where James made excuses and then stream of consciousness rambled on about Jam making while on holiday in the South of France, but has grown into a OSR UK scenario/mini-rpg pack.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter.

I’ll let creator Mick Reddick explain:

So my spoof kickstarter has funded and is pushing it’s way towards the third and fourth stretch goals! For a measly £2 [about $3] get scenarios for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Swords and Wizardry, WHFRP, Into the Odd and a new standalone game/scenario…. With random tables, jam based recipes and more in fact there are still two limited edition dice bag pledges left!!!….. its a deal, it’s a steal, it’s the sale of the f*****g century 😊

Fiendish Friday: Dangerous Cities

Recently I wrote the City Adventure chapter of Crypts and Things Remastered, which centres on the Demonic Pirate city of Port Blackmire. I wrote it pretty much in a couple of intense sittings, and after completing it I reflected on where it had come from.

From the introduction to the chapter:

Magnificently vast ancient crumbling cities are such a staple of the Swords and Sorcery Genre that they become characters in their own right. They are the back drop to many a caper, such as magical heists, murder stories, clashes with dark robed cultists who have set up murderous shop just down the road from the character’s local tavern. With this in mind I present Port Blackmire, a city straight out of the British Grimdark tradition of the 1980s, of dangerous city states where all residences within the city walls are trapped to keep out not only the thieves but the dark things that prowl the streets, either openly or in human disguise, and the city’s ruler is the most evil thing in the city. A place where even the good pay tribute to the city’s vile old temples to keep misfortune from their door.

This is the playground for the characters, whether they are blowing their misbegotten gains in the taverns on grog or on some high stakes game of chance or earning some extra coin by locating missing persons or burgling some fool with more money than sense. Sometimes it’s the place where adventure comes straight at them, dragging them out of their comfy beds when they most need to rest up and heal from their last venture.
Welcome to Port Blackmire.

Much of the inspiration came from the Fighting Fantasy books of the 80s and their spritual descendants, the pages of White Dwarf Magazine and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay First Edition.

Port Blacksand (City of Thieves) – was a principle inspiration, heck the name is a clue here 😉 Black Sand is the star of the Fighting Fantasy book City of Thieves, a character in its own right, a dangerous port controlled by a mysterious Pirate Captain Lord Azzur. The place is filled with traps and monsters, and is an active risk to the heros life.

Khare (Sorcery book 2:Cityport of Traps) – My memories of Khare are slightly less well defined, but it carried on the theme of the Dangerous City as a character in its own right. Here the traps of the title are set by the Lawful members of the city to stop their Chaotic neighbours from helping thierselves to their treasures.

Irilian (White Dwarf 42-47, Best of White Dwarf Scenarios III). This high medieval city state in decline is the star of a 3 issue mega scenario from the early days of White Dwarf. So much detail was crammed into it that they used a slightly smaller font to keep to the alloted page count. The city, orginally rich from the jem trade, is well past its best. Yet it has all the Guilds, Temples and monestries from its hayday. It’s state of social torpor makes it the target of attack from ancient evil, that is more an impersonal force in the tradition of Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising Trilogy. In fact its the city and its institutions, possesed by this force, that is the opponent in the scenario.

Middenheim (Warhammer 1st Ed, City of Chaos). On the surface of it Middenheim is a massively bigger rerun of Irilian set in the Warhammer Fantasy Old World. Its a high medieval city undersiege by the forces of Chaos and the players must interact with the city’s instituions and power players to win the day. What makes Middenheim interesting is that it focuses on Politics as well as the nitty gritty of the city encounters.  That and the scale of the city, which magificiently sits atop a mountain with a flat top rising up from the forest floor.

Cover prints (and more) from Jon Hodgson

Just found this by acciedent this morning. Jon Hodgson (Art Director at Cubicle 7, artist for One Ring, Dragon Warriors plus a gazzilliion other things) has a Red Bubble shop, where he’s selling framed prints, tote bags, cards and CUSHIONS of the OpenQuest 2 cover , the OpenQuest 2 Basics cover and the cover he did for Crypts & Things 1st Edition.

Here’s the direct links

This of course is but a small selection of what John has available (he’s also got covers for the work he’s done for The Guide to Glorantha, Cthulhu Britianica and Dragon Warriors).

Fiendish Friday: Come Visit Bloodstead and Die!

An excerpt from the upcoming Crypts and Things Remastered ( latest update on progress on kickstarter), which is part of the Crypt Keeper’s Secrets of the Contient of Terror chapter.

Blood Stead

The power base of the Sorceress Rula and her berserker followers. At first a  typical Wolf barbarian city , with long houses, drying fish nets, until you notice all the dead bodies hanging from masts, skulls and heads on stakes,  and red banners hanging above every building entrance.  Rula claims to be the Wolf Mother come to Zarth in a bloody form,”the Red Wolf Mother”, seeking to purge the unclean and destroy Khaos once and for all, but in reality in secret she and her followers are devotees of the Blood Throne.

Adventures

Sneak into the city and out again to rescue people taken as slaves in a recent Blood Berserker raid.

Two seasons ago a local Chief from Longren was killed by Blood Berserkers and his head taken by them. The characters are hired to regain the dead chief’s head ball, which is now being used as a drinking cup by the war leader of the Berserkers.

Find out what is really going on In the Temple of the Red Wolf Mother, so the priestesses of the Wolf Mother temple in Longren and Bulwulf can stop arguing amongst themselves and unite against Rula and her followers.

Notable events

Roll d20

1-8 One of the Berserkers, backed up with 2d6 of their mates, comes up to the characters and starts a fight.

9-14 A bone seller comes up to the characters and tries to sell them a dead body (“Its dead good its got a complete set of teeth, you can use it for offerings or hang it over your hall to drive off evil spirits”)

15-18 A Blood Priest asks the characters to causally go and murder someone (50% of being an errant Berserker who has threatened the Priest) saying that it will bring them great glory with Rula the Red Wolf Mother.

19-20 Rula appears in public to whip the population into a blood-letting frenzy, in advance of some great raid against the city’s enemies or a magical ceremony to summon a Greater Other.

Last Days of the Last Prayer of the Dying Kickstarter

Want a 5th Ed D&D scenario from the gritty Brit School of module writing?  Then check out this Kickstarter to fund an adventure called “The Last Prayer of the Dying” for 5E. I’ve backed it since artist Jonny Gray  has done various bits for D101 over the years, plus the premise sounds right up my street.  Kickstarter is already funded with multiple streatch goals and ends this Saturday.

The Last Prayer of the Dying cover by Jonny Hodgson

The Last Prayer of the Dying cover by Jonny Grey

The Last Prayer Of The Dying is an adventure module for 5E (5th edition fantasy roleplaying game). For 1st level PCs

Module Synopsis The party are travelling to the new frontier to help return an ancient Duchy to its former glory. A chance encounter with the legendary ‘Arisen Knight’, a very old hero, sets them on a path to adventure. Like most published scenarios there are some railroad parts, but enough choice to provide the feel of a sandbox

The publication will be about 80 pages in size. It includes:

  • A brief gazetteer of Keranow, the Duchy where the adventure takes place.(Size of 3-8 pages)
  • 10 wilderness encounters to get a feel for the setting.
  • A small settlement in the wilderness frontier lands.
  • Three dungeons (each about a dozen locations). A) The tomb of a mythical knight, now infiltrated by despoiling fey priestesses; B) An old dwarven fort used by hobgoblins who have been driven to the edge of despair by the alluring voice of a bloodrose witch; C) The scheming feys base of operations, from which they seek to begin a reign of chaos and insanity over the newly re-established Duchy of Keranow.
  • 8-12 quarter page pieces of high quality art (some of which is shown on the Project front page)
  • The PCs should start at 1st level and be 4th by the end of this adventure
  • An adventure outside the axis of good versus evil: betrayal, treachery, duty and the consequences of choice.

OSR UK Hangouts gaming on G+

If you are on G+ and use hangouts for your gaming and are either UK based or within the GMT timezone,  there’s a new group that has just been set up to organise OSR based games within that timezone.

OSR UK Hangouts gaming
A place to organise GMT friendly OSR gaming via Hangouts

I’ve signed up since I’m planning to run some games of C&T and OQ, kicking off some games in the next week or so.