As much as Crypts & Things rooted in the dark D&D gaming of my 80s teenage years, it is inevitable that some of the music I was into at the time spills like warm blood into the work….
Celtic Frost “Circle of the Tyrants”
Motorhead “Iron Fist”
Venom “Welcome to Hell”
Kreator “Pleasure to Kill”
and of course…
Slayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyerr!
This train of thought started with me thinking about the infamous Appendix N (the section of the 1st Ed Dungeon Masters Guide which listed all the books that had influenced the development of D&D).  Of course everyone knows that Appendix N stands for Appendix Newt, but they are just too scared to admit it 😛 But seriously folks there will be an Appendix N in Crypts & Things, since I think its important (and fun) to show the game’s influences. Initially I thought that I’d put it in the Crypt Keeper’s chapter (notes from the Abyss), then I thought that it would be more fun (and Old Skool) to actually have an Appendix N, in a series of Appendixes at the back. Then the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Both AD&D 1st ed and my beloved RuneQuest 2 have copious  Appendix sections, where a number of misclanous topics are address as well as giving very brief and to the point GM guideance notes.
So this is the road I’ll be going down with Crypts and Things. As well as my version of Appendix N, there will be appendixes that detail Crypt Creation, the Weirdlands, a City Events table, Â a random stuff table (which includes tricks and traps) as well as some other topics, see the list below.
Crypts and Things Appendixes
A. The lifecycle of a character
B. Â Blasphemous Locations
C. Â Crypt Design
D. Random objects
E. Who is thine Enemy?
F. City Events
G. Araskia’s alternative experience system
H. Horror
I. Â Into the Weird Lands
J. Â Descriptive phrases
K. Killing Time
L. Love and Loss
N. Bibliography
This morning I sent out the current draft of Crypts and Things to those people who answered the initial call for playtesters.
There should now ensue a a month or so of playtesting, during which time I’ll sort out finalising the text and layout in parallel.  Hoping for an August release 🙂
Things have been ticking over nicely here under the Mountain. Highlights from the bank holiday weekend.
OpenQuest is still Open and Legal, despite some what a troll on various forums with the lack of brain running around saying that now Mongoose has lost the RQ licence the MRQ SRD (which OQ is based on ) is invalid. I have it straight from the folk who matter that OQ is still cool with them 🙂
Crypts & Things reached two milestones this weekend. Internal play testing was completed and much fun was had by all 🙂 In short it survived contact with my players, much grisly fun was had and some useful ‘tweaks’ to the rules were discovered and no show stoppers. Milestone 2 was the completion of 90% of the Crypt Keepers section. All that’s left now is the CK’s advice section, which to be honest I’m going to mull over and take my time. External play testing starts tomorrow, so if you’ve already signed up expect a mail from me.
I’ve gone through my old RQ notes from the early 90s and found an absolute gold mine of material. I was thinking the other day it would be nice to have an OpenQuest scenario book of quick easy adventures, that are reasonably straightforward but still ooze D100 style. I was looking at writing this from scratch, then my old notes provided a good 5 scenarios worth 🙂 Obviously I’m going to have to put the time in expanding them from note form, but the basic ideas are there and that’s half the battle.
Finally the notes also offered up a good deal of potential OpenQuest goodness in the form of stats, which gives me a head start on my Karia book – which is a write up of my old Gloranthan campaign. Initially this book was going to be for HeroQuest only, but after a quick chat with the good folk at Issaries Inc they are happy for me to have OQ stats in the book 🙂 Karia was the RQ3 campaign where allot of the ideas emerged from so its nice to see the circle completed. To say that I’m a bit over giddy about his an understatement.
So the long-weekend was good for both OQ & C&T 🙂
Phew, just finished the monster chapter for Crypts & Things. 119 monsters in total, 65 new ones, which means just over half the list is new 🙂
For the interested here’s the list
This is the only picture for the setting chapter of Crypts and Things, except for the map, and I knew that it had to nail the sheer bleak brutality of the setting with it.
John Ossoway has delivered in spades on this one. Its a scene on the slopes of the active volcano Mount Terror, the heart of all evil in the world of Zarth. In the foreground a sacifice to the alien Locust Star, a gateway to demonic otherworlds that hovers in the sky above, is being dragged to his fiery doom by the Evil priests who live in the fortified temple in the background.
I’ve had a couple of comments both here on the blog and privately via email about the size of Crypts & Things. I have my own ideas, but I’d be interested in what others think.
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“Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!”
Inscription on the Saint Benedict Medal.
I can see the way that I deal with magic items and C&T may niggle some D&D purists. To them I say simply ignore it and use the standard Swords and Wizardry tables, or those of your old D&D edition/retroclone of choice, perhaps reserving the fifty or so new items for special/artefact status.
This is from the current draft of the Treasure chapter, which sums up my philosophy here:
Magic items in Crypts and Things are rare special items. They are artefacts of numerous ancient wars and demonic summoning, and as a result their purpose is always malign. At most only one is found in a particular Crypt or adventure and they are the stuff of legend and renown. Also quite literally they are always a Poison Chalice, being at least as much a curse as well as the blessings they bestow. Often their long term use is hazardous to the mental and physical well being of the character that possesses them. If for nothing else that other powerful jealous sorcerers and villains desire them, making the character the target of theft and assassination.
Part of my reasoning behind it is a better modelling of how magic items are presented in Swords & Sorcery stories. Take Elric (from the Michael Moorcock books), he doesn’t go around weighed down with magic items of all manner of description. He’s just got Stormbringer and from memory the only other magic item he ever possesses is the Horn of Fate. I’m also not a big fan of the rather bland +1 Sword, +1 Leather armour approach to magic items, which sees players discard or trade items as they seek ever more powerful items. Why not put those items in their hands and make them colourful and dangerous 😉
Here’s an example:
Black dread wings
These black leathery wings with a wingspan of ten foot are living and demonic. They attach by grabbing into the character’s flesh and they cause causing 1d4 damage when attached or unattached. The wings allow the wearer to fly at a rate of 18. Their use terrifies the innocent, -4 charisma when dealing with NPCs and hiring retainers.
I had this realisation for a month or so,but only today twigged there was this song that summed it up.
Tenatious D – Tribute.
OK the time has come to stop teasing you with tit bits about an upcoming “old school game”. Ladies and Gentlemen, Wild Things of all ages I present:
What is this game about?
It’s about exploring the ruins of the dying world of Zarth. Fighting off the Others, alien monstrosities from outside of your reality. Making your mark on the world before it dives into the sun Nemesis.
In short its a Swords and Sorcery role playing game using the original edition of the world’s favourite role playing game.